bon vivant tuesday: thanks be....

....is served

we return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.

we return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.

we return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

we return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.

we return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.

lastly, we return thanks to the great spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of her children.

~ iroquois prayer, adapted

i am thankful …

for mr c who challenges me daily and has become a part of my dna

for our little kitten who loves to sit on my lap while i work and occasionally crawl up to purr his affection in my ear

for the ever changing path towards inner tranquility…

for the feeling that i am getting closer…

for family
for the ability to travel

for lungs that breath

for hands that write

for love

oh so thankfully ~ mrs m

whatever makes me happy monday: luv rain and all things exquisite

things that make me happy on this 22nd of november

rain storms...the love kind

the ability to see the exquisite in everything

in the introduction of the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite, Jessica Kerwin Jenkins calls her book an “ode to life’s many luxuries that don’t require much spending.” inspired by a file kept on her desk filled with scraps which she titled ‘why i like it here,’ ‘here’ being earth, jenkin’s book is a delightful collection of the beauty all around....a lovely christmas gift for those who like to dream....

time with a true soul sista

and .....

my kind of thanksgiving prayer

you say grace before meals. all right.

but i say grace before the concert

and the opera,

and grace before the play

and pantomime,

and grace before i open a book,

and grace before sketching,

painting,

swimming,

fencing,

boxing,

walking,

playing,

dancing,

and grace before i dip the pen in the ink.

~ g. k. chesterton

thankfully ~ mrs m

far flung friday: big a

so it’s a stunning friday. a crisp and sparkly, bright blue skies and crunchy leaves beneath by boots kind of day. and it has been a great week too.

 it started off with a trip to dc to celebrate my father- in- laws 75th and then a work trip to houston where yes…the meeting went well!! that said, we could still use all the love, luck and wishes out there while we wait to get it across the finish line, so cross those fingers and toes and i’ll take all the positive vibes you’re willing to blow my way.

but the best part is.... i am about to hop on the train and head into nyc to see my lovely friend karina. i haven’t seen her since the wedding and while she was in town last weekend, i only got to see her for one evening….and with krinks…that’s just not enough

so tonight….a girls night!

xoxo ~ mrs m

thursdays child: hoooooowl

just a little collection of fun for a thursday....

yes, franco is just plain hot but he also happens to be a brilliant actor.
in his most recent flick howl, franco plays a feverish and fabulous ginsberg. his soulful narration brings howl to life and leaves you wondering...

how could one ever question the glorious freedom of speech and creative expression.

love after love

~ derek walcott

the time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. eat.

you will love again the stranger who was your self.

give wine. give bread. give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

sit. feast on your life.

and a cool idea for the readers on your christmas list

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/02/how-does-your-garden-grow.html

find inspiration everywhere ~ mrs m

this weeks far flung friday has been interrupted to bring you, this....

so last fridays post never posted. 

and upon reflection, i am tempted to believe that maybe that happened for a reason....

but, here it is anyway....for better and worse.

this has been me the last few weeks…trapped in a restless state of limbo.

hummm, except i suppose by choosing this image i am making limbo seem glamorous….seeing as this woman is trapped in a streak-free bubble, floating down the seine, looking quite pensive yet put together in a 50’s ish way and all.

in fact, there is nothing glamorous what-so-ever about limbo….so perhaps this is a more accurate representation of my aforementioned mental state.

yep, that's it.

it has been some 18 months since i received a proper paycheck and while i am all about hard work…there is something about hard, corporate work for free that is just de-motivating and de-moralizing.  if i am going to work for the man, sell my soul and contribute very little to the betterment of the human race...i think compensation, only fair.  top this off with the fact that the thing we are working on is something most people don’t think we can pull off, that my “colleague” consists of one mr. franklin....
 (making water cooler chat some-what limited)

mr f

and that mr c thinks i should get an additional job when the one i already have and don’t get paid for wears me out…. and well…

why so bummed right now??
if i am brutally honest with myself i am in mental limbo land because
…i’m not making any money.
there, i said it.

and not making money means i am not “contributing” and therefore am dependent.

and being dependent at 34....
sucks.

not for any other reason than i was raised to be self-sufficient and right now, i’m not.

so what does it say about us as a people that we live in a society where our sense of who we are is so closely tied to the money we make, NOT the job we do, that without the salary, we lose a sense of self? more pointedly, what does it say about me that although i have other interests and other passions, that although i think i am a relatively decent person who saves feral kittens and isn’t terrible in the kitchen, and that i am actually working hard…none of those things keep the scale from tipping towards self pity?
(* those of you reading this who have civic oriented professions where you positively impact the moral development of the population on a daily basis, aren't concerned with salaries and somehow missed being sucked into this narcissistic, capitalistic mentality…bless you) .
for the rest of us out there…???

so what’s a girl to do?? firstly, i am going to absorb the following

and then i am going to go into our big meeting next week and kick some serious arse.

m

thursday's child: wabi sabi

when mr c and i were in the hamptons we stumbled into a store in sag harbor and fell in love. rough wooden floors provided the stage for simple furniture covered in taupe’s and beige's. chunky pieces of drift wood suspended from simple wire hung from whitewashed, vaulted ceilings and served as shelving for gently folded clothes. funky earthen bowls stacked neatly on a harvest table were honored by the black and white photographs of local images dotting the walls.

it was a wabi sabi wonderland (ok, a rich people's wabi sabi...but still wabi sabi)

pared down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. it's simple, slow, and uncluttered and above all, it reveres authenticity. wabi-sabi is underplayed and modest, the kind of quiet, undeclared beauty that waits patiently to be discovered.

i only learned of this phrase a couple of months ago...
but my mom taught me elements of this when i was a child....
i just didn't have a name for it then. 

i remember waking up early to go to "tag sales" in ohio, excitedly rushing home to show my grandfather our little finds and later feeling giddy over some treasure mom and i  discovered on one of our many antiquing expeditions....

wabi sabi is flea market finds, not michigan ave purchases. it celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. it reminds us that we are all transient beings, that our bodies as well as the material world around us are fleeting. through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace wrinkles and rust, grey hairs and frayed edges and the march of time they represent. it's a fragmentary glimpse of the part, not the whole, the journey not the destination.

so bring the outdoors in, shop markets for once loved items, create a sacred space in your home and learn to embrace flaws….

flaws in things, flaws in others and most importantly

 in yourself.

because really...."flaws" are beautiful.

namaste ~ mrs m

payback's a b*$@h

partied to hard?

stressed too much? 

slept too little?

whatever the reason...it got me. 

an icky, sniffly cold.

ugh.

my creative juices have left the building.

back with more when i am human again.

xoxo ~mrs m