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Showing posts from January, 2011

Amphibians and their flighty friends

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Who doesn't love bees? Hmm. Aside from my sister in law, who is massively allergic to them. And other people who are afraid of being stung. But otherwise, aren't they lovely? Etsy seller KandiceInWonderland introduced a treasury, Bee! I'm Expecting You , including the animals from this Emily Dickinson poem: Bee! I'm expecting you! Was saying Yesterday To Somebody you know That you were due— The Frogs got Home last Week— Are settled, and at work— Birds, mostly back— The Clover warm and thick— You'll get my Letter by The seventeenth; Reply Or better, be with me— Yours, Fly. -Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 My little frog painting is among the amphibian representatives. The Dickinson poem reminds me of the wonderful stories I recently read with Lucy: The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties , by Toon Tellegan. A delightful collection for adults and children, similar to Winnie the Pooh in its prosaic but poignant revelations about small things.

Hello Honey Honey

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For Christmas Lucy had asked for an American Girl Doll, but I told her that would be over my dead body, which she agreed to, but I had second thoughts... Anyway, after a long search for an alternative, she chose a doll from Hello Honey Honey , on Etsy. Émile is a huge fan of this doll. I love the idea of factoring composite numbers into their component monsters. I'm not sure if children will agree about its intuitiveness, but I am thinking of getting You Can Count On Monsters for Lucy, after hearing about it on NPR . I really have enjoyed listening to The King Is Dead , by the Decemberists, brought to me by NPR. I loved Shankhill Butchers off of the 2006 album, Crane Wife , with its nursery rhyme malevolence. This new album is much lighter, but very good. I have the tunes humming round my head all day. Especially January Hymn . I have started reading The Dancing Wu Li Masters , by Gary Zukov. I have two categories of books I enjoy reading these days: inconsequential fantasy,

On Gender

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I listened to Claire Dederer on OnPoint , and feel like I recognize her story of growing up in the 70's with a mother who felt trapped by motherhood, unable to find herself, to be free. My mother's answer was to meet a new man, dance and drink all night, and forget about her daughters, until the day, a decade later, that she had a religious revelation. Dederer's mother sounds a little less troubled, but her mother's new man was named Larry, just like my mother's... And, after listening to the interview with Cordelia Fine , Laurent and I discussed an old chestnut, whether or not there are hard wired sex differences in the brain, taking chess achievement as an example. But then, it only takes a minute on the internet to refute the idea that men and women are very different there: Judit Polgár was chess Grand Master at a younger age than either Kasparov or Bobby Fischer, and chess people tend to care about such things as "how young was x when amazing achievement

Lucy's writing

Lucy wrote an email to my sister (below) and this is my sister's response: What an interestingly cryptic work. Tell her I approve both of the local, personal and liminal natures of it; as well as the wisdom of including numbers (never to be overlooked as valuable members of the communication structure). LUCY MAMAN PAPA EMILE JAUNE MOUTON MANTEAU MOINEAU 12-3

Resolved

I once made a New Year's resolution to get back my stomach muscles. That didn't happen. I can't remember any other resolutions... But I'm considering taking resolutions seriously this year, after I coming upon the Kabbalah "ten questions to ponder", written up in the Huffington Post by Levi Ben-Schmeul . I had a vision of myself being wise and long-sighted, okay with letting my daughter be who she is, even when I don't like it (like tonight), and picked out these three points of meditation from his list: What will make me wiser? A hallmark of wisdom is seeing a greater picture than what your ego wants you to believe is true. Is your vision narrowly focused on personal gain? Imagine a larger vision of yourself as a powerful person living to fulfill a greater good. Strive to achieve outcomes in what have been difficult situations that embrace your larger vision of yourself. How can I deepen my listening? We have numerous voices clamoring for attention i

Progressive stages of beardedness

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Émile watched the denuding of his Papa's face this week. We were afraid he would cry, and refuse to be held by the naked-faced stranger. Does that baby look alarmed to you?

Final Selection?

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I am putting together a few paintings for my friend Elyse's new yoga studio, Om Kids Yoga Studio , and I think this might be the poses/critters I use for the paintings. Thoughts?

Deer and Rabbit work on the half moon and tree poses

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Reflections on New Year's Eve

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Taken by Lucy's 4 year old friend, Iliana. Still in love with the photography of children by children.

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