Mosaic
March 7, 2012 § Leave a comment
On Saturday, my family and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. This mosaic, which hangs in a hallway and which we almost sauntered right past, was created in Syria around 4 or 5 A.D. In another room we saw a statue from several centuries B.C. I have been to many museums and marveled at much art. Still these things sort of stop me in my tracks. First: it is amazing that they are so very old, and have somehow managed to last until today, and even found homes in the Midwestern United States. Second: it is a wonderful thing that art in itself is so timeless, so instinctive, and so intrinsic to humanity. That in all times and cultures it has sprung forth. Yes. Art matters.
Let the dogs out
February 28, 2012 § 1 Comment
The nice thing about rural areas? Hardly-traveled dirt roads. Ditches and fields. Places for dogs to be off the darn leash without all sorts of regulations.
Miss T. loves it out here. Even if the other two are best buds and she is the old girl who stays closer (and listens when you call).
Let ’em play.
Home, family, and traveling
February 28, 2012 § 1 Comment
Do you want to hear some good news? I am getting interviews!
Yesterday my mom and I drove to Cedar Rapids to pick up a truck – a red Chevy Silverado! – for my dad. We had our usual fervent discussions about life, faith, art, careers, personality types, travel, and the future. In the midst of this my phone rang and Interview #3 has been scheduled for the week. None of these jobs may pan out, but then, one of them might! I smiled for five minutes. Finally, the resume is doing what it was designed to do.
Iowa is brown, flat, hilly, barn-speckled. We drove through many tired-looking small towns. They fascinate me with their combination of rustic-ness and run-down-ness. Sometimes I like them in their familiarity. Other times I want to give them a good New-England-style overhaul. I like small towns, but I’m more of a quaint village kind of girl. Things can be small AND pretty.
(European countryside. Yes.)
One day when I settle down in my semi-remote (or maybe not remote?) wherever, it’s going to be lots of fun to consider how I can help make my nearby town (or neighborhood) veer towards quaintness. If they let me. Once they learn to like me. I’ll give it the good ol’ stubborn Dutch girl try.
So, anyway, I will be rambling around for the rest of the week. I aim to take a few photographs to show you some of these places. The fun thing about getting into photography is how you take on this mission to find things that are beautiful and interesting wherever you go. In unexpected places. From otherwise unconsidered vantage points. It gives one a new sense of purpose.
Around here, in the log-house-that’s-for-sale, we have been taking walks with the dogs, planning future books, planning future Etsy shops, baking, cooking, sweating in the sauna, trying out new hairstyles, and writing down to-do lists both ordinary and ambitious. I have ordered a proof of my novel, which will soon be available in paperback! Today is one of those days when opportunity seems within reach. Despite the gray skies and the ice that fell all night long. Despite getting home in the wee small hours of the morning and waking up later than industrious girls ought to do. Despite this tangle of hair on my head and the laundry waiting to be folded.
I have a Pinterest board full of dreams, and seed catalogs in the cupboard.
What is happening in your world?
A snowy view
February 23, 2012 § 2 Comments
Some dogs get to sleep inside when a blizzard swirls outside. My shoes often serve as a security blanket. This causes me to wander around the house trying to find them when I must go somewhere.
We watch the snow from big windows.
While the dog dozes, I sort through illustrations my sister has done for my book. Finishing touches are so exciting!
And drink coffee all morning, while snow collects in corners.
Roads ought to wind
February 21, 2012 § 2 Comments
At least a little. It allows us surprises.
Do you know what I found beyond this turn? A view reaching across open green hills. Warm sunshine. A bookstore.
Who’s your favorite president?
February 20, 2012 § Leave a comment
Teddy Roosevelt is mine.
From Roosevelt’s 1912 campaign platform: “To dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”
This guy was an active conservationist, spent tons of time discovering America on horseback, explored the world, and believed that the role of the president was to be “a steward of the people.”
As president, Roosevelt created five national parks (doubling the previously existing number); signed the landmark Antiquities Act and used its special provisions to unilaterally create 18 national monuments, including the Grand Canyon; set aside 51 federal bird sanctuaries, four national game refuges, and more than 100 million acres’ worth of national forests. (www.pbs.org)
No president is perfect, but this one ranks pretty high in my books! Read more about him here.
Frost
February 8, 2012 § 3 Comments
Iowa gave me a pretty, pretty present to welcome me back.
These are the kinds of frosts that remind you that the world contains magic.
Explain it away as scientifically as you please, and I may even listen with interest. But that won’t take the thrill out of waking up to this.
Everything’s changed. Made at once softer, colder, lace-trimmed. Given that sort of peace that falls with a covering of white, and its gray and blue shadows.
Step carefully, outside. Try not to bump branches or brush fences, or they’ll lose their fair dusting. Breathe quietly.
Wonder, won’t you, at frost’s fine spell?
Kinds of Honey 