Dreams Underfoot

November 10, 2009

the cradle of true art

cirquedusoleil.com

My friend Paula once said to me (on the occasion of my remarking that I longed for a feather cape like the one I'd seen in Cirque Du Soleil) that, by wearing ordinary clothes, people lose many opportunities for self-expression.

Fashion should be fun! she said...Not just a way to cover your body! Why shouldn't you have a feather cape if you want one?

But where would I ever wear such a thing? I asked.

To the grocery store. You would wear it to the grocery store, and by doing so, you would give everyone who saw you permission to wear their feather capes, too, she replied.

I never did get a feather cape, and I don't even really want one any more. But she was right. Every day when we get up and get dressed to face the world we have two choices: toe the line, blend in - or put on our feather cape.

What are you wearing tomorrow?

photos: magxone.com

Harper’s Bazaar India, November 2009

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious -

the fundamental emotion which stands

at the cradle of true art and true science.

- Albert Einstein

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

November 9, 2009

Something there is that doesn't love a wall...

Berliner Mauer: 1961-1989

photos: claremontconservative.com, cbsnews.com

Mending Wall

by Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Glücklich tag, Berlin!

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

November 7, 2009

you just have to reach out

Today we made an offer on River House. Technically we offered to purchase it in exchange for a specified amount of money, but it feels like we offered much more than mere money. We offered our hearts, and our hopes for the future. We offered our dreams.

Offerings are traditional in many cultures and religions. They are given to appease, bribe, or express gratitude to the God/dess. I'm not sure this is all that different.

photos: foxnews.com, frenchtoastgirl.com, mine, flickr.com/photos/ridoneko,

archiexpo.com, flickr.com/photos/75085262@N00,

andrew4jc.blogspot.com, catherinehilker.files.wordpress.com,

flickr.com/photos/59392666@N00

"Sometimes you just have to reach out

and grab what you want,

even when they tell you not to."

- Rebecca Wells

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

that would suffice

I had hoped to be in the new house (which we don't have yet) by Thanksgiving. It seems like such a perfect Thanksgiving setting: a log house nestled among the maple trees, the family gathered 'round the table, fireplace crackling, after-dinner coffee on the big porch overlooking the Blue River. I more than hoped - I expected.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Our house still hasn't sold (not that it's been long - only 4 weeks on the market - I'm just anxious) and we haven't secured River House yet (although that will change soon). We're going to have one last Thanksgiving in this, our downtown house. With everything packed away, it will be a simpler affair than years past, but that's alright. I'm learning that simple can be beautiful, and I've always known that what's on the table isn't nearly as important as who's around it.

photos: victoriamag.com, cookestudio.com (2-6)

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was,

"thank you," that would suffice.

~Meister Eckhar

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

November 5, 2009

pins and needles

We're on pins and needles.

We've lowered the asking price on our house, and found out today that River House is now being offered at a lower price as well. We've notified our Realtor that we want to make a contingency offer on River House, even though our house isn't under contract yet - indeed, we haven't even had an offer. We're waiting to hear back from her, to see if the seller accepted our offer.

So: We HAVE TO sell this house.

We CAN NOT lose River House.

Yep. Pins and needles. Needles and pins.