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Toothpaste Troubles

April 20, 2009 – 8:44 am

“Money in the bank is like toothpaste in the tube. Easy to take out, hard to put back.”

American journalist Earl Wilson (1907 to 1987)

Our toothpaste is causing me stress. The other day, we bought new tubes for the kids called Fun Sparkle – while my dentist recommended Age Defy for me. I am embarrassed to be seen at the check out counter buying Age Defy! Don’t marketers realize the havoc they wreak with such names?! Why can’t I have Fun Sparkle at my age? I think I’ll throw caution to the wind and add a little sparkle to my day.

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The Goldilocks Principle

April 17, 2009 – 12:56 pm

“This idea that the way forward lies in finding an exact middle path between opposites is of extraordinary importance in storytelling.”

English author Christopher Booker had this to say about The Story of the Three Bears. Or as Goldilocks would simply say, “just right.”

English Poet Robert Southey (1774 to 1843) was the first to tell The Story of the Three Bears in print — and in a kinder, gentler way than it had been told. While first versions depicted menacing bears, Southey’s were good-natured. Also, the first versions listed the many ways the bears tried to kill the ugly old woman who ate their milk (who later became Goldilocks who ate their porridge) until resorting to chucking her aloft on a church steeple. Not exactly a cozy family tale!

Years later, Joseph Cundall re-told the story, praising Southey’s version but changing the old woman to a pretty girl. Goldilocks had many names through the years including Little Silver Hair. To me it remains an odd tale with an uncertain interpretation. What do you think is the moral of the story?

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Wicked

April 12, 2009 – 8:09 pm

No rest for the wicked…

I just like how this sounds. This phrase originates from the Book of Isaiah where it had a serious meaning as in, “There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.” So literally – the wicked shall be tormented. Somehow it has crossed over into an idiom with a more light-hearted meaning and has been used by authors and rock bands. Now the saying suggests paying a penalty for a fun time.

Did you eat too many chocolate eggs yesterday and are now headed to the gym – no rest for the wicked!

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Caught on Canvas

April 10, 2009 – 10:49 am

“Art is the insightful journey of the soul; where emotions spill out upon a canvas or a page, and leave behind lasting impressions of the heart.”

This was said by Lisa Weedn Gilbert, an American author who often co-writes with her mother, the inspirational author and artist Flavia.

I don’t think art can ever truly be defined… however, this thought of emotions made visible and of lasting impressions are features I would include in the definition. Looking at it this way, art is an emotion frozen in time — one which is long gone yet captured to contemplate again.

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Spring has sprung

April 6, 2009 – 9:44 am

“April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go.”

American author Christopher Morley from the novel John Mistletoe

Ah, yes, the daffodils blooming, the red-winged blackbirds singing, dusting off the deck furniture and flip flops — that’s spring to me! I joke that we have two seasons here – snow boot and flip flop season. One company, Havaianas, created a whimsical print ad series to celebrate this harbinger of spring; they planted flip flops in public places around Europe. It’s enough to make you smile (and get a pedicure!)

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Papa’s Advice

April 1, 2009 – 9:34 am

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.”

That was Ernest Hemingway’s quest as a writer. Sounds easy – but is hard.

Many famous artists are known for their breakthroughs to fresh styles and the same is true for Hemingway. He sought to simplify, to write with understatement. Hemingway’s quest makes for enduring writing. For writers, his novels are especially worth re-reading (you know, the books you were forced to read in school). Perhaps a bit of his economy of style will rub off.

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Weston’s Photographs

March 29, 2009 – 8:43 pm

“The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh…”

so wrote famous photographer Edward Weston in 1932. Weston immortalized the California coast and made shells sensual. He knew the greats from Ansel Adams to Georgia O’Keefe and was a great himself. But Weston began by peddling his real, sculptural photographs for mere dollars; in death, they have gone for millions. What made his view through the lens unique? Weston looked for what was real, no artifice, so that objects and landscapes were almost more real than the thing itself. He died in 1958 in his home in Carmel and his family continues the legacy.

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Heat of the Moment

March 25, 2009 – 8:02 am

“Forgo your anger for a moment and save yourself a hundred days of trouble.”

A simple Chinese proverb to ponder… But what works for five year olds?

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Art & Sanity

March 22, 2009 – 7:54 am

“Art is a guarantee of sanity.”

Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris on December 25, 1911, and is still going strong as an artist though she turned 97 last January. Bourgeois is known for her sculptures, especially her large spiders. She has created within the many movements she’s encountered in her decades as an artist – more about her current activities here. Her art seems as integral to her being as breathing. This is an interesting discussion of her impact as a woman artist during times when there wasn’t much room for her gender in that field. On that point, she said:

“A woman has no peace as an artist until she proves over and over that she won’t be eliminated.”

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Murphy’s Law

March 20, 2009 – 8:00 am

“I never had a slice of bread,
Particularly large and wide,
That did not fall upon the floor,
And always on the buttered side.”

I’m an optimist. Really. But what are the odds that in the days before packing up the family for Spring Break, we should have a big leak from the upstairs bathroom showering down on our dining room table, one garage door should break, a rare cougar is sighted making outdoor play nerve-wracking, and a woodpecker in a misplaced effort to attract a mate should start pecking on my metal chimney flu while I’m attempting to finish some writing deadlines?

This little ditty is one of the precursor’s to Murphy’s Law. History seems a bit murky on exactly who Murphy was but we all know whoever it was said, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” It’s against my nature to think like that. So I will just add to my To Do list and count the hours until we’re whizzing away blissfully down the road (hopefully from a dry house with our sense of humor in tact!). Happy Spring Break!

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