life — Page 222

From My Desk

September 1, 2013 at 9:26 am by Claudia

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Good morning. We had big old thunderstorms last night, with lots of lightning and cracks of thunder. I awoke to no internet this morning, which had me a wee bit worried. It was soon back on, however, so all is well. It’s a little worrisome that my first reaction upon failing to connect to the internet is “What will I do?”

Uh….Claudia? The same thing you did for all those years pre-laptop and internet. Read a book. Slowly sip your coffee. Thumb through a magazine. Meditate. Do a crossword puzzle. Somehow I managed to fill my time for, ahem, decades without automatically checking my email or surfing the web.

The other day I saw a commercial for Angie’s List where a woman was talking about the rescue dog she adopted and how she found all sorts of references for reliable Vets, groomers, etc., through that site. The rescue dog’s name was Riley. I was immediately in tears. I cried again yesterday, just thinking about the commercial. I miss my boy.

I thought I’d share a few interesting links for you today. I routinely bookmark all sorts of things that strike my fancy, then I promptly forget about them. Yesterday, I was cleaning out and deleting some of those bookmarks and I found a few that might be of interest to you.

• This piece, written by Tom Hanks for the New York Times: an ode to the typewriter. He loves them, collects them and I found myself smiling as I read it. I bought Don a vintage typewriter a couple of Christmases ago and, though it’s not the same vintage that Mr. Hanks raves about, I dream of owning an IBM Selectric. I typed on many of those in my temping days and there is nothing like the sharp rat-a-tat-tat sound that happens upon touching the keys. It’s on my wish list.

• These sheds, called Studio Sheds, that I think are so nifty. I’d love to have one. It could be a retreat or a studio or an addition. I love the modern design and they seem relatively affordable if you have some extra cash. Which I don’t.

• This great tutorial on the Simple Details blog for creating a concrete garden sphere. I want to do this next year.

• This armchair. I want it. It would be a beautiful replacement for my blogging chair, which, under it’s ratty slipcover, is not only quite old, but is slowly falling apart. Maybe this will go on sale some day? I keep clicking on the site and hoping.

• And finally, this interview with one of my favorites: Joni Mitchell. Oh Joni, you are amazing. (I saw her in concert in an outdoor venue on the night that Richard Nixon resigned. She announced it from the stage. I’ll never forget it.)

There you go. Enjoy.

Happy Sunday.

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I’m Wondering Why

August 29, 2013 at 8:25 am by Claudia

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I’m wondering why, in all the ridiculous hoopla over Miley Cyrus’ performance at the VMA awards (which I didn’t watch,) Robin Thicke’s performance isn’t being measured by the same ruler. After all, he was a part of the whole thing and he’s married and a father. I get real tired of double standards.

I’m wondering why the media covered the above performance like it was the most important thing in the world when the Fukishima Nuclear Reactor in Japan, site of nuclear meltdowns caused by an earthquake, is leaking 300 tons of contaminated water a day into the Pacific Ocean. Why are we not more alarmed by this?

Or why the media spends inordinate amounts of time on who’s tweeting who and what’s trending (also a twitter thing) but doesn’t really spend much time on our melting Polar Ice Cap or any one of a number of pressing social issues that need to be addressed.

In that same vein, why do any or us care for one millisecond about the Kardashians? Where are our priorities? What do we value?

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I’m wondering why I see more and more females (and males) in the entertainment and news industry with cheek implants, face lifts, botoxed and re-botoxed faces. Why do we hold those in the public eye to impossibly youthful standards? It’s not natural. It looks absurd. It’s getting to the point where, if I see an aging actress who hasn’t had work done, I shout out loud because I’m so excited. Because that’s the exception, rather than the rule. This obsession with youth seems especially prevalent in the United States. I have to watch a foreign film to see an actress who is aging gracefully and honestly. Each time I see someone in the public eye who has succumbed to that false standard for beauty and has had work done, I sigh in disappointment. “Not you, too!”

I’m wondering why television series have impossibly youthful and beautiful actors playing FBI agents, CSI investigators, doctors and nurses and detectives. I won’t watch them because, to me, they are simply laughable. Stop it. Again, I have to watch something from another country to see character actors playing those roles – character actors with interesting faces that show a life lived. That have lines and wrinkles and large-ish noses and less than perfect complexions and greying hair. Read my lips: I don’t buy all these young, pretty faces in roles that require some gravitas, some depth of experience. Stop it.

I’m wondering why the media and advertisers constantly cater to the 30 – 40 something set. It’s as if those of us who are older than that don’t exist, except to buy Depends or Ensure or fall prey to warnings to buy this or that medicine from pharmaceutical companies. I even see it in the advertising possibilities for my blog. No, I’m not a mommy blogger or even a forty-something. I am, however, smart and experienced and savvy and hip and I’m a consumer. Pay attention. Or as Linda Loman says in Death of a Salesman, “Attention must be paid.” Stop catering to one age demographic. Stop generalizing about everyone in a certain age range. We aren’t all alike. We aren’t a mass of people who seemingly have lost any capacity for desire or enthusiasm or passion or knowledge or humor or vigor. Just stop it.

On that note, let me point you to a site I discovered. Of course, it comes from another country. It’s called The Amazings – Craft and Wisdom from Amazing Elders. There should be more of this sort of thing out there, especially in this country.

Happy Thursday.

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I Really Don’t Know Clouds At All

August 17, 2013 at 7:25 am by Claudia

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I was going to insert a little poetry here, as I have the last two Saturdays, but I cannot look at a cloud without hearing the words of Joni Mitchell and then the voice of Joni Mitchell. Or Judy Collins.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now,
from up and down, and still somehow,
it’s cloud’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all.

And so it goes. The melody, the lyrics, endlessly looping through my brain.

Do you have an ongoing bit of music playing in your head all the time? I do. I hear snatches of melodies, a bit of this, a bit of that, all the time. If not music, it’s dialogue of some sort. It used to be when I had to transcribe lots of text into a dialect using phonetics, I would have a running transcription session endlessly playing in my brain. I would dream transcription. Same with typing on a keyboard. But it’s mostly music that is always there in the background and I’m often unaware of it until I focus for an instant and realize the same tune has been repeating itself over and over like the soundtrack to a movie. Or the soundtrack to my life.

I can’t be the only one this happens to, can I? I bet not.

In other news, I was looking at my hastily pinned up row of strips,

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and thought how like artwork they are. I pinned them (with sewing pins) to that wall just to see how they might look bordered by white fabric. But I’ve left them there because their bright colors make me happy and enliven a bland corner of the room.

Sort of a neat idea for a graphic splash in your home, don’t you think? Pin some strips of fabric to a wall and presto – you’ve got instant art.

I’m rather liking them here in this temporary living space. Such a wonderful punch of color.

Glory be, I get to go home for two days this afternoon! I have a morning rehearsal for Macbeth, then Don will arrive around 2 pm and we will make our way to the cottage. I have to be back on Monday night for a Tuesday morning rehearsal. That’s okay. I just need 48 hours or so with my little family.

I told Don to bring Scout along on the ride here because I simply cannot wait to see her. My plan is that Don and Scout will arrive, she can briefly come up to the apartment (she stayed here for 3 days in January and she loves the elevator) and we will take her for a walk in the park, which she really loves. Then we’ll pile in the car and head for Mockingbird Hill Cottage, where I will reacquaint myself with the now, I’m quite sure, overgrown garden, immediately decide that I need to weed-wack and, upon entering the cottage, see every surface that needs cleaning.

Happy Saturday.

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From My Desk

I’m Wondering Why

I Really Don’t Know Clouds At All

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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