When I pulled back the shower curtains on Sunday, Nimue was all curled up in the bathroom sink. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized that it was just her size.
Where do YOU like to nap?
All posts by verily sherrilee
Sparking Joy?
Marie Kondo and her book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” has come up in conversation several times the last month for me; her method of de-cluttering your life is all the rage right now. So it wasn’t a complete surprise to see an email from my “Word of the Day” website, mentioning the phrase “sparking joy” and leading to a fairly long online article about what “joy” translated into in Japanese and why the phrase “sparking joy” was chosen when the initial translation of her book was done.
Although I’m not completely onboard the Kondo train, I do recognize that her de-cluttering method comes from a place of finding gratitude. While a corkscrew may not give me a physical thrill of joy, the memory of good times with friends around a good bottle of wine, or the hope that there will be more of those good times does. I’m grateful, not so much for the corkscrew itself, but for what it represents in my life.
Some of you know that I have been on a mini-Kondo mission the last year or so. It’s a slow process and I’m actually trying to think of my departing items (to Goodwill or trash bin) with gratitude, instead of just the items I’m keeping. Even if I don’t need them any longer, I’d like to think those items had a good place in my life at some point. Doesn’t mean I need to keep them, just to recognize that my stuff was my stuff for a reason.
Anything bringing you joy/gratitude this weekend?
Straight River
The sun was thinking about poking out of the clouds as tim and I drove down to the Central Park Coffee Shop in Owatonna for the launch of Straight River by our own Chris in Owatonna. There was a nice crowd to welcome Chris’ new book, which is a “prequel” (is that truly a real word?) to his first book Castle Danger. Chris read a chapter from the book and also introduced the head of his local Big Brother/Big Sister organization. A portion of Chris’ proceeds goes to support BB/BS, a group he has volunteered with for years.
It’s been three years of hard work for Chris, re-working, editing, sending the book to beta readers, re-working some more and editing some more. It was a nice launch for the book (cookies and lemonade too) and I’m looking forward to reading it. Maybe this summer it can be one of our Blevin’s Book Club titles. (It’s available already on Amazon in kindle format and Chris has links on his website to other ways to purchase it.)
Congratulations Chris – hope the third book in the trilogy comes a little easier!
You’ve just written a book. Describe your main character!
RIP Peter
I was a little too young to be a full-on Beatles fan. In the mid-60s, I hadn’t quite hit puberty yet and didn’t have any of the drama and angst about pop idols that was needed. But that changed just a few years later when the Monkees hit the pop scene.
Along with my friends, I papered by bedroom walls with Monkee posters, I watched their tv show religiously, I bought every single and album, I read every Tiger Beat and Teen Idol that I could get my hands on. In 1967 at the age of 11, I convinced by folks to let me go to their concert with some friends when they played St. Louis (there was a chaperone with us). It was the first pop concert I ever attended.
Peter was my favorite Monkee. Davy was most people’s favorite, but I liked Peter; he was portrayed as a little dorky and scatter-brained, the underdog. I am always attracted to the underdog. So I was sad earlier this week when I heard the news that he has passed away at the age of 77. Not distraught but it somehow feels as if a stage of my life has passed as well. I’m listening to the Monkees right now on my pc.
Who was your first idol?
Attention Span
While I was standing next to my car last week, filling up the tank, I realized that the screen embedded in the fueling station didn’t just have some pop-up ads showing but an actual video stream of a basketball game. TV.
At my gym, there is a speaker OUTSIDE that plays music as you are approaching/departing the building. Equipment like bikes and treadmills all have individual tv screens and for the weight-lifting machine there are big screens hanging from the ceiling. There is even a TV in the locker room. In most airports you can’t find a space that doesn’t have something blaring at you. With everyone glued to their phones these days, it seems a waste of electricity.
It made me think that we have become a society with such a limited attention span that we need 24/7 entertainment. There are several folks here at my office who use earbuds all the time – even when they are away from their desks and I often see people walking along, looking like they are talking to themselves, but of course they are on their phones.
In college I had a professor who had memorized all of Paradise Lost by John Milton. Today he’d have it downloaded to his phone so he could access it whenever he wanted!
What the largest thing you have memorized?
The Six-Tripper
You saw what happened to my studio a couple of weeks ago. I got advice from a construction buddy of mine about how to re-hang the shelves so they would be sturdy, to hopefully avoid ever having them fall down again. As you can see from the above photo, everything is back in order, but it’s a good thing I like the folks at my local hardware store. It was an epic number of times stopping by before I was done.
- Trip #1: Bought the new shelf brackets and toggle screws
- Trip #2: Bought the correct drill bit since I apparently didn’t have that size after all
- Trip #3: Bought the little washers when it turned out the screws were a teeny bit too small for the holes in the brackets.
- Trip #4: Bought longer screws when it turned out the first screws weren’t long enough to push the toggles all the way through the plaster and wood
- Trip #5: Bought 3 more toggle screws to replace the ones that fell down behind the wall when I put the first bracket on upside down.
- Trip #6: Bought the spackle to fill in the spots where the old shelves had been attached.
I’ve never had a 6-trips-to-the-hardware-store project before. I’ve had lots of 2-trippers and a few 3-trippers, but never more than that. The worst part of this 6-trip debacle is that each and every step was a different day; I was working on this at night and every time I realized I needed to go back to the hardware store, they were closed for the night!
If you’ve seen photos of my studio before, it probably doesn’t look any different to you but it feels different to me – all put back together as well as nice and clean now. And I doubt anything will bring those shelves down again – fingers crossed!
When have you had a frustrating project?
Keeping Warm
Photo from IMBd.
I’m not sure why but the cold weather this week found me yearning for our old Monday morning song by the Sons of the Pioneers. Luckily you can find this kind of thing on the internet. I’ve played it several times over the past few days. It doesn’t warm me up physically, but gives me an inside warmth that comes with good memories.
Here’s another:
Just one more:
What warms your heart?
Burger & Fries
Once a month, after I volunteer at Loaves & Fishes, I drive east on 98th Street on my way back to 35W to get home. Imagine my excitement to see that the Denny’s there has been sold and will be a new Snuffy’s coming spring. While the Edina Snuffy’s isn’t actually that far from me, it’s not convenient to get to so I don’t think about it often.
But a Snuffy’s where I have to drive right by it? I’m thinking I’ll be having Snuffy’s take-out once a month from now on. Veggie Burger, fries and a malt – either Oreo or Brownie or the Dreamsicle. I’m drooling just thinking about it.
Do you have a favorite take-out place or meal?
The Bad Dream
I had a nightmare last night. Don’t need to go into it but it combined two things I’m not crazy about and I even know what I’ve seen/thought recently that most likely triggered it. However at 3:25 in the morning, you just want to go back to sleep. I turned on the TV and pulled up Laura with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb. I know the first 10 minutes by heart because that’s about how long it takes me to fall back to sleep with it playing. I didn’t make it 10 minutes in this time.
How to you deal with bad dreams?
Rituals
Today’s post comes to us from Port Huron Steve.
The debut broadcast of CBS Sunday Morning aired January 28, 1979. Because I was a fan of the host, Charles Kuralt, I made a point of watching that first show. I’ve seen many of the broadcasts that have aired in the 40 years since. While my life is mostly unstructured and variable, I try to catch that show. It pleases me to have something in the week that is fixed and predictable. Watching it has become a ritual for me.
Most of us have rituals. They can be annual (like how we celebrate Christmas) or monthly, weekly, daily or something altogether different. If I can believe his songs, a ritual for folksinger Greg Brown is drinking coffee in the morning. My parents couldn’t go to sleep until they had told each other, “I’ll see you in the morning.” Some people meditate. Many folks couldn’t feel right about a week that does not include going to church.
For several decades our family had just one ritual. On Saturday nights we gathered to enjoy the Prairie Home Companion broadcast. We were heartbroken when Garrison quit—was it two times or three?—and thrilled when he came back. I used to walk dogs with a woman who was close to Garrison. She assured me that he needed to do the show as badly as I needed to hear it.
In 2000 I acquired a puppy, an exceptionally affectionate English setter. Katie and I both needed exercise, so we adopted the daily ritual of hiking the off-leash dog park that lies between Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling. We had many friends there, human and canine. Our route took about an hour to walk. I used my time in the park to reflect on my life. I couldn’t afford a therapist with an office and a couch, so I relied on the park walks to help me sort out my past and make plans for the future. Katie and I walked that park virtually every day of her life for eleven years.
Like many fans of Trail Baboon, listening to The Morning Show was once an essential ritual for me. I remember thinking I couldn’t bear starting the day without the help of Dale and Tom. Even so, I always knew that someday the show—wonderful as it was—would come to an end. Shows do not live forever, although The Simpsons carries on as ever. The LGMS remains one ritual I’ve never been able to replace.
What role does ritual have in your life?
Trail Baboon 