No Longer Updating This Blog

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Going Home

This blog serves little purpose. In the beginning it was a lot of fun. I dumped all sorts of random stuff here and my life is better for it. I might be all dumped out. Time to go home.

Documentaries for Breakfast

A 13th Century map of England from
Ian Mortimer's book, "The Time
Traveler's Guide to Medieval England."
There are no dragons or troglodytes here.
They're on another map.

What's really happening is not so much laying fallow as collecting material or storing up images and sensations. Documentaries about ancient Africa, Alexandria, and eastern religions (particularly Yoga, Hinduism, and Buddhism) are what interest me. And a book: "The Time Travelers Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century" by Ian Mortimer.

This interest emerged years ago when I read most of the books in the Sister Fidelma series; as accurate a depiction of the Celtic world as Perry Ellis (aka Peter Tremayne) can make. He's a serious scholar and authority on the period of the Celts. I still think of how his heroine traveled and lived in those fictions. Because, although the stories are fiction, the way she and her contemporaries lived is based on as much fact as can be garnered from history.

So, I can't say it's all about history because I'm not obsessed with dates and politics. I'm obsessed with how people lived and what they thought and believed. And how those thoughts and beliefs evolved.

One of the most telling chapters of "The Time Travelers Guide to Medieval England" is the one on Health and Hygiene. Medical practices were an amalgamation of astrology, superstition, and badly transmitted ancient knowledge. There's a lot of blood letting. A fun segment of a Saturday Night Live episode (Season 3, Episode 18 - April 22, 1978) shows what a pastiche of concoctions such treatments were. Steve Martin, as doctor, suggests treatments which patients are lucky to survive. Ian Mortimer presents the same case in his book; that you are healthier without a doctor in the middle ages.

A time of collection is a known part of the creative process as explained by Julia Cameron in her book "The Artist's Way." Although I had lived through this phase previously, I hadn't isolated it as part of a process before doing the 12 week self-directed workshop using her book. If I had, momentarily, acknowledged my laying fallow it was with a lot of guilt about "doing nothing." Which might be why I'm doing so much knitting and crocheting. Keeping my hands busy and feeling productive while letting my mind wander. Collecting.

My collecting process is more like stocking
an antique/junk shop than filing things
away neatly.

Following a Pattern

Back on the left. Sleeve on the right.

I can't believe I have knitted the back and one sleeve of a sweater. I usually struggle to finish caps and scarves. I've fallen into crochet and knitting the way I fell into spending days with my grandchildren and making day trips to Yogaville. It's the only path open to me.

Sure, there are other things I can do and have done. I still have novels, poetry, blogs, landscapes, and other art. Somehow, none of those activities are as compelling. Handcrafts seems more important to do right now. Like spending time with my grandchildren was important. The way falling into a variety of spiritual experiences was important.

Like knitting and crocheting, tending children and practicing spirituality are crafts that accrue through small accomplishments over time. The relationships builds as does the practice. Slowly accruing anything has been near impossible for me.

Jumping to conclusions, seeing the big picture, dreaming, visioning—all of these are easy for me. I can see things coming a mile away. Or even further.

I'm enjoying looking closely and seeing what is right in front of me; taking it one step at a time.

So, anyway, I have two parts of a sweater now. I've been helped along the path to steady accruing by the Lion Brand Knit Along which I followed on Ravelry. Thanks to the Lion Brand instructor (who offered a lot of excellent tips) and all of the other participants (who offered a lot of great photos of their progress and more great tips), I actually finished a vest that fits. I got the correct gauge and only made one serious mistake: a dropped stitch on the back and I was able to fix that.

I don't know where crocheting and knitting will take me. It simply seems important to do right now.

The Elaine Report

Today's items of interest, variously posted, and now here all in one place for your browsing pleasure.

• Digital Product Placement and the Rise of MiriAd
New fields to furrow and brows to burrow.
• 21 Tips to Keep Your Shit Together ...
Ways to lift your spirits and other suggestions on how to suck it up.
• Chowder Clam knitting pattern Cuteness break.
• Severe Weather Forecast for Topeka
Wondering wether I have time to walk to the library this morning without getting sucked up by a tornado. Answer: yes, I do.
• Saudi Arabia Denies Paralysis Punishment
Keeping an eye on the tiny changes that happen in a country ruled by Islam.
• Gulf of Mexico Deep Cleans Itself
But for how long? And does that mean we can use it as a dump? I think not and neither does Professor Hazen.
• Easy-to-make tasty frozen drink. Just in time for summer!

And a late addition: How to Really Manage Creative People. 

I signed up for 3 Coursera Classes

Know Thyself (already in progress) because it offers a wide-ranging view of what a self can be.

... viewpoints of philosophy, psychoanalysis, experimental psychology, neuroscience, aesthetics, and Buddhism.

Writing II: Rhetorical Composing because it's a "II" and I'm impatient with long introductions and I missed "I." I also like the attention to "rhetorical", a word I've long wanted to have pinned down.

to help you become a more effective consumer and producer of alphabetic, visual and multimodal texts.

It's visual and multimodal that's appealing.

Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society because I'm always willing to learn more about design. Karl T. Ulrich, the instructor, has a wide-ranging view of design and artifacts and he offers a free book to match. After reading the first chapter, I signed up for the class.

Creativity, Innovation and Change because these are my favorite topics. There are three instructors. I'm hoping to get some far-ranging views as well as some practical application in work and life. Wish it started sooner.

All of the classes are free. Registration was the most pain-free account creation ever as was registering for multiple classes. It really is one-click. Good thing I've learned a bit of restraint along the way or I would have signed up for ten classes.

I am Elinor Dashwood!

Take the Jane Austen Character Quiz here!

One Mystical Boat

In her book, The Wisdom of No Escape, Pema Chodron writes about sticking with one boat, going deep along one path instead of shopping religions every time you come up against pain. During one of my recent stays at Yogaville, I had a consultation with Mataji (Swami Gurucharanananda) who advised me that “sampling here and there is not a path.”

My first path was Catholic. I had nothing to do with that. I was born Catholic and followed that path for 18 years until one day I looked at the genuflecting congregation and saw that they were just following a routine. There was no spirituality involved.* They had this memorized routine for mass: words they said, sitting, standing, kneeling. None of it was spiritual. I could see right through them. That was when I decided to go on a spiritual quest.

I began my quest by partying because I was a freshman in college and that’s what freshman do. After a couple of deathly experiences, I began investigating the Mormon church because my best friend and everyone we knew were doing that. So, I “investigated” and “prayed about it” and “received a testimony” that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the one true church.

I transferred to Brigham Young University. I met a man and got married in the temple and brought my children up in the convenant. I was a Mormon for 18 years. And then one day it hit me that there was no spirituality in my path and I left that church.

For years I wandered with no path until I met a group who had decided to make up their own religion. So I did, too. I created my own goddess. From there I began investigating the basic and ancient religions, and acquiring gods and goddesses. After 12 years of snatching the best bits from other religions, I finally wanted to know what I really believed. I took the famous Belief-O-Matic quiz and learned that I was first of all Neo-Pagan, second New Age, third a Liberal Quaker, and fourth Unitarian Universalist (UU).

I had heard murmurings of Neo-Paganism in the various online discussion groups over the years but figured that real pagans were hard to find——what with the Inquisition and all. I felt I had a grasp on New Age and wasn’t interested in Liberal Quakers because sitting around not talking didn’t seem like a good way to investigate spirituality.** There was a UU church I drove by frequently and that seemed a convenient place to start.

In the Sunday services I found the first spiritual lectures I could relate to. The minister spoke from experience with facts and research. It was a thoughtful approach with nuggets of wisdom that catalyzed my quest. I joined the local UU congregation and plunged into a plethora of small groups investigating various spiritual paths i.e., Taoism, Buddhism, Humanism, and Yoga.

This led me into the wider community where I joined a local Buddhist group, a local pagan church, and a Shamanistic journeying group. This has been my path for five years: investigating and living various paths in an earnest effort to walk my own personal path. Which is what led me to Pema Chodron and Sri Swami Satchidananda. UU reorganized and focused my spiritual quest.

I am in one boat. A boat of my own device. A boat that lets me investigate creeks and rivers, canals and oceans. With it I’ve discovered there is only one path: the path to my own true nature. This is what Buddha, Jesus, Patanjali, Guru Nanak, and Mohammed were all talking about. True spirituality is the path to one’s true nature. The one and only boat. Or in Yogaville parlance: Many Paths. One Truth.

---

*As part of my investigations through my UU membership, I have reclaimed the parts of Catholicism that are good and precious to me.

**It’s ironic about my aversion to Quaker silence because that’s a big part of my practice now: meditation. Sitting around quietly, breathing and noticing. Also, the Richmond Quakers sponsor the Dances of Universal Peace. Shows what prejudice will keep you from.

About Those Flowers ...

I might be done. And done with the whole Make Something 365 thing. I did make a lot of things for a lot of days, including the years I did the daily Morning Pages which were quite liberating and which I recommend for everyone, whether you believe you're an artist/creative/writer or not. In fact, creating something unique and expressive that responds only to your rules is the best thing a person can do every day.

That and meditate. Or at least have some kind of spiritual practice.

Which makes it difficult to admit that I have done neither for two days now. I'm just sort of hanging out, writing a novel, watching shows and movies, and crocheting and knitting. The whole crocheting/knitting thing is sort of like making something everyday. And then when I'm done I'll have a thing: a scarf, a hoodie, a shawl, a pair of leg warmers. Kinda cool.

Dried gourds, photographed and enhanced.

Just thought you ought to know.

Temporarily Off Grid

There hasn't been a Flower-A-Day for five days, so far. I've been off-grid in Yogaville. And my phone died. If I had thought about making photos of the lovely flowering plants at the ashram, I couldn't have anyway. The Yogaville phone system was also offline and I didn't inquire about using the internet as I was totally offline myself, deep in spiritual experiences and in recovery from clearing out and leaving my home. I plan to post today's flower later and continue this fun and inspiring daily series.

Sorted, once and for all: Ravenclaw

Ravenclaw is the house I chose once upon a time. That time was after I was sorted the first time into the original Harry Potter site; yes, the one built by a 13-year-old girl. Then I was sorted into Slytherin simply because I chose a snake for a pet. I chose the snake because it was different. So, I probably should have been sorted into Ravenclaw. No one asks you your motives!

After reading the descriptions of the houses in the book, I figured Ravenclaw was me.

At the Pottermore site, sorting is more complex and based on answers to more than one question. Possibly two. Because I was sorted into Ravenclaw (as far as I can determine) for choosing to study ghosts and preferring to gain a lot of wisdom (over, say, being loved a lot). I'm still wondering what difference choosing the white or black chess piece makes.

After reading JK's new description of (and welcome to) Ravenclaws, I'm very certain that is where I belong. Parts of it are similar to the way members of Mensa see themselves. So, I am doubly at home.

I tried to brew a potion. It's quite difficult. I haven't even got to the "real" potions yet, as I am still trying to learn the training potion. I haven't figured out how to wave my wand.

And I have a lovely wand. It's very flexible, made of Acacia, and has a Phoenix feather core. Being selected by a wand is another nice sorting process. Although you don't get video from JK like you do before the sorting hat.

Overall, the site is really lovely, filled with beautiful all new art, because, well, WB owns the other art. The navigation takes some getting used to. Took me a couple of scenes to realize I should double click to zoom in. And wave the cursor around to make things highlighted so I could collect them.

Returning to locations is really funky. There is a nice sort of path thing. Yet even with that it took me three visits to figure out how to leave Diagon Alley.

Wish me luck in potions! The interface is proving to be one of those oddball things that is obvious to everyone but me. Guess I'll have to ask the other members of my house how it works and risk being ridiculed for not being smart enough!

BTW: Yes, I am WingWave15886. Feel free to friend me! I didn't choose the name. Not really. I  was presented with four choices of randomly generated screen names (for my own protection) and chose the least odious. Well, maybe not odious exactly, merely closest to what I might have made up. And that's my pet frog as a profile photo. I am so protected I feel positively impervious.

365: Sky 100 - portrait of a cloud

The sky this morning was amazing. I sat and watched it for about five minutes. This was not it. This is the sky a couple of days ago. I just didn't feel like making a photo this morning. Dunno. I have moments like that. One of my cousins says some moments are too sacred for photography. I agree. This morning was not one of those moments. I suspect it has more to do with privacy. Sometimes I just don't feel like sharing. Actually, most of the time I don't feel like sharing. This is what makes being an artist and writer a random problem. Creating is not the problem. Sharing is.

0321 - Retrospective: Sky

Spring Moon (3/21/09)

This might be a better post for "The Unplanned Eye" but it's really part of my daily retrospective. Although the project seems dead, it's still having an effect on my creativity.

In addition to the immediate benefits of my failed "365 Make Something" project, I've been experiencing a strange revival in my art marketing. I suddenly found myself renting a wall at Art Works and hanging my art (Wall "N", beside the exit/entrance to the cafe). Another spur-of-the-moment thing was submitting work to the monthly juried All Media Show. I happened to have a spare frame and a couple of works that just needed printing. And I'm making a Facebook artist page.

Today I'm working in Bryce, realizing that posting a sky a day would be possible. Especially if I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Generating a random sky would be acceptable because it would be all about choice – choosing the best sky of the day. I suppose I could also post a photo. Especially in the spring there are some great sunrise skies. In the winter it's sunset skies. So, something to think about.

My 365 Project - Retrospective Dailies

The thing is, there isn't anything I like repeating on a daily basis. I don't mind repeating certain tasks, but hardly ever in a planned, regular repetitious way. Which is why this project is such a challenge. Generally the gaps get larger and larger until I quit (or give up). I might continue posting sporadically on days I feel like posting. I don't want to say this project has ended, even though (obviously) it has.

I have gained from this practice, as I mentioned previously. I'm sure if I were to continue religiously there would be more benefits. That's just not enough incentive.

When we can commit to our priorities, take responsibility for our choices, and communicate them honestly to others, there will be no need to make excuses, and we will have much more energy to dedicate to all the things we love. Daily OM 

words (020511)

0212 - Words and Art

I thought again, as I have thought before, that I should have a theme each day, or try to pull something cohesive from these random acts. However, so far the only thing that unites them is that they are created on the same day in history. I could fabricate a theme on slender tangents. I won't.

i feel i have missed the boat. and yet somehow the deadlines go by and i regret them but that doesn't motivate me to meet the next one or to even get going. (2009)

2/12/98c3 (1998)

Spurious profile art for my Facebook page. (2010)

0210 - No Words and Art

This project has brought one good physical change: my stack of artwork is better organized. I could, possibly, find a work if I needed to. I also value my work more and I'm less embarrassed about the stupid junk I've made. 

Historically, February 10th is a low point for me. I generally do hardly anything on this day. Typically I'll be working, i.e., doing something productive to take my mind off of life. However, absolutely no "Morning Pages" have happened on this day, or if they have I didn't keep them. 

02-10-98c (1998)*

I Just Wanted You to Know (2008)

*OMG! I was creating in Illustrator as early as 1998! wow ...

0131 - Wordless and Art

Today is a good day for art and a bad day for writing. Something wells up in me on the last day of January that quenches writing. The only words I have for this day are job related in pursuit of that perennial project: finding work I really like and am good at. Here's a summary from one in a million self-assessment tests I have taken (this one from assessment.com in 2003).

• I naturally generate lots of new ideas and ways of doing things. 
• I like to be included in brainstorming sessions, or whenever new and different solutions must be found.
• I will automatically see the big picture first before seeing the details. I can be a big help with strategic planning, and identifying possibilities.
• I naturally see the links, relationships and patterns between different ideas. I see the “big picture.”
• I thrive on change, and know how to capitalize on it. It is important that I have enough change and variety.
• I have a creative imagination and am gifted at using words (verbally and/or in writing) to express new ideas, concepts or plots. I can be called on when a fresh, new way to communicate important information is needed.
• I am an “idea person” and can quickly understand the essence, potential and significance of the situation. I can be a major contributor when work deals with options, strategies and possibilities.

background for an iPhone decal (2010)

untitled-1 (2006) proof that I make garbage occasionally

pastello (basho) - 2001

untitled-1ii (2001)

startup screen* (1996)

* I didn't really make this one. I believe it may be a screen capture. But it's a real early file and I find it intriguing that I still have it. The duck is from a funny show and I can't now remember the name of the show. If you know, tell me. In the foreground image he's naked. Since he's a duck it's okay. On the ancient Macs you could create a start up screen to replace the factory-supplied Mac OS screen (you remember - the double face image in shades of pale blue). As a geek in a pre-press shop it was compulsory to make your own. This is one of many that I made. The others (I am happy to report) were actually my original work and may still be around here some place.

0126 - Words and Art

lessons: 1 look on both sides of the car. 2. have a duplicate set of all my keys made and put where i can get them. (2005)

in a way i'm fairly mercenary since the paid projects tend to get done sooner and easier than the ones that don't get paid for. there it is. and i guess that' how it works although the unpaid shit is a lot more fun. (2008)

Once again I have no art created exactly on this day, so, instead, here's a proposed winter holiday card image that I never used. Created in December 1998 in Bryce.

Trees (2)

0122 - Words and Art

Profile image for blog profile and other places. (2006)

there here weher where there everywhere nowhere it is nowhere it is no here and there and wear and hear hair (2008)

Tunic Guy experiment (2008)

One thing I have discovered is that my mood seems to follow the seasons. I mean, can I say this after a mere 22 days? Still, it looks that way. Generally around this time I feel very much alone. Why after the holidays and not during? And why now, weeks after and not days after? Perhaps all the family activity is distracting.

my favorite tunes

Bigger type means I have more of their stuff.