(no subject)
I've been carrying around a pocket full of pebbles all week, smooth largish oddly-shaped ones I found by the barn while I was helping Dad put the roof on the new chicken coop. I've been keeping them in the pocket of my sweatshirt to fidget with, I love the feel of them in my fingers. One's elongated and bumpy, like the handle of a bicycle, one's white and perfectly smooth and silky, and one's flat, thin as paper, and perfectly round, about the size of a quarter. We surround ourselves with softness as much as possible; it's strangely calming and sort of empowering to have something so unyielding at your fingertips for a change. I'm thinking it helps with balance, in some combination of feng shui and the five elements. I was noticing too that (in one of those grandiose life-metaphors my mind seems to be perpetually inventing) it's only when you push and squeeze and scratch against them that they seem hard; when you run your fingers softly over the surface, appreciate their texture without trying to force them to yield to your touch, it feels more like holding someone's hand.
I've been picking up interest in the five (or six, depending on whether you include both metal and air) elements recently, particularly the idea of trying to bring them all into balance. Being a Water/Earth m'self, (noting that this has more to do with the various personality traits each logically represents, as opposed to some kind of froufrou mystical magicky thing), there's already an intrinsic balance between the two, but the idea of introducing the other elements into everyday life more, for the subliminal affects they have and as kind of an object of meditation, so to speak. Balance between all aspects of life. It's devilishly hard to find non-flakey information on the subject, though; honestly, if you look at it, it's an extremely practical, logical concept -- why in heaven's name are all books on it so mystical and flakey? Sigh.
Got to watch Dad & Joel & Cousin Steve take down one of the big spruce trees this afternoon. Cool to watch, but always makes me a little melancholy. It was cute -- as soon as it was over, all three middle-aged men ran over to the stump and started counting tree rings.
It's almost impossible to get any kind of extended internet access with all seven of us home for the holidays, which is my excuse for the fabulous week-long dearth of entries. However, some of my favoritest Christmas presents included:
* Rosewater from Prantik, with which to make many delicious sweet lassis
* New York, New York (impossible-to-find early Deniro/Scorsese musical) (from Mommy)
* One of the original scripts of Dead Poet's Society, with a lot of the scenes they ended up cutting out (also from Prantik)
* Amazing Grace, by Kathleen Norris (author of The Cloister Walk -- about her grappling with the meaninglessness of most church jargon, how off-putting it was initially, and how she had to bring herself to an understanding that she had to essentially reinvent the meanings for herself -- one of the things I adored about The Cloister Walk was how completely free of nauseating Christian jargon it was, how she actually managed to convey Christian concepts without using these disgusting, constantly-parroted clichees. Can't wait to read this one -- expect excerpts posted :)
* Lots of framed pictures from the wedding (from Em & Joel)
Favorite presents given include:
* the Sherlock Holmes cap I made Joel
* Brady's Lord Byron smoker's candle
* Dad's sea-turtle necktie
* Mum's Albert Einstein action figure ("Chalk in hand and coiffure askew, he saves millions from bland scientific ignorance...")
Oh, and because I'm proud of it, my reading list for this break:
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman
Like Water For Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
The Universe in a Nutshell, by Steven Hawking
Cleo, by Jean Brody
Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance, by some biographer person
Feynman's Rainbow, by Leonard Mlodinow
Wisdom from the Monastery, by various authors
I've been picking up interest in the five (or six, depending on whether you include both metal and air) elements recently, particularly the idea of trying to bring them all into balance. Being a Water/Earth m'self, (noting that this has more to do with the various personality traits each logically represents, as opposed to some kind of froufrou mystical magicky thing), there's already an intrinsic balance between the two, but the idea of introducing the other elements into everyday life more, for the subliminal affects they have and as kind of an object of meditation, so to speak. Balance between all aspects of life. It's devilishly hard to find non-flakey information on the subject, though; honestly, if you look at it, it's an extremely practical, logical concept -- why in heaven's name are all books on it so mystical and flakey? Sigh.
Got to watch Dad & Joel & Cousin Steve take down one of the big spruce trees this afternoon. Cool to watch, but always makes me a little melancholy. It was cute -- as soon as it was over, all three middle-aged men ran over to the stump and started counting tree rings.
It's almost impossible to get any kind of extended internet access with all seven of us home for the holidays, which is my excuse for the fabulous week-long dearth of entries. However, some of my favoritest Christmas presents included:
* Rosewater from Prantik, with which to make many delicious sweet lassis
* New York, New York (impossible-to-find early Deniro/Scorsese musical) (from Mommy)
* One of the original scripts of Dead Poet's Society, with a lot of the scenes they ended up cutting out (also from Prantik)
* Amazing Grace, by Kathleen Norris (author of The Cloister Walk -- about her grappling with the meaninglessness of most church jargon, how off-putting it was initially, and how she had to bring herself to an understanding that she had to essentially reinvent the meanings for herself -- one of the things I adored about The Cloister Walk was how completely free of nauseating Christian jargon it was, how she actually managed to convey Christian concepts without using these disgusting, constantly-parroted clichees. Can't wait to read this one -- expect excerpts posted :)
* Lots of framed pictures from the wedding (from Em & Joel)
Favorite presents given include:
* the Sherlock Holmes cap I made Joel
* Brady's Lord Byron smoker's candle
* Dad's sea-turtle necktie
* Mum's Albert Einstein action figure ("Chalk in hand and coiffure askew, he saves millions from bland scientific ignorance...")
Oh, and because I'm proud of it, my reading list for this break:
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman
Like Water For Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
The Universe in a Nutshell, by Steven Hawking
Cleo, by Jean Brody
Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance, by some biographer person
Feynman's Rainbow, by Leonard Mlodinow
Wisdom from the Monastery, by various authors