Category: deep thoughts

  • gem

    A thought gem from this article:
    Greg Dening, “Performing on the Beaches of the Mind: An Essay,” History and Theory 41 (Feb. 2002): 1–24.

    “I read fast most of the time. That is because reading books…is my conversation with the world. My eyes are ahead of my mind when I read fast. I gobble sentences, paragraphs, pages whole. There is a white noise in the back of my mind as I read. It is the babble of worldwide conversations that affect my thinking. I’m in conversation with novelists, philosophers, anthropologists, historians, critics in this sort of reading. It is full of erotic, ecstatic moments when I think that what they are saying is what I myself am just about to say. But I am going to say it better!”

    I like his certitude. Often when I read what others write and I have one of those moments when I realize that they are saying what I wanted to say, well I just throw my hands up in the air and despair of ever having something important to contribute…

  • a tale of three homes

    Swung by a colleague’s house in a nearby city in the morning to drop off a batch of exams. She lives in a craftsman-style two-story home with a plaque on the front stoop noting that the house is listed in the local historical registry. Between the front gate and the massive front porch was a zen-style rock garden. The porch was not only larger than my living room, but had a cozy couch, overstuffed chair, and a suspended bench swing. I won’t even start to discuss the huge row of rosebushes across the front. Wow. It was so hard to not to just move in on that veranda. CatGirl accompanied me up to the porch just so she could try out the furniture. I was too shy to try out the swing, but it was mighty, might tempting. Intense houselust. Just intense.

    While we were in the neighborhood we stopped by the Goodwill to pick up some more glassware. At less than $1/glass it’s the best deal around. IMO even water tastes better in a goblet. I love all of the different shapes, cuts, and colors of stemware. I also pick up a few other good deals (including a darling deep green jacket for me and a bright green hoodie for CatGirl).

    From there we had to drop CG off at a friend’s house to work on a school project. We had an address and a vague notion of where said friend lived. As we neared it we realized that it was the gated community that we’ve entered only occasionally before when GameBoy’s had school projects/events. It’s hard to explain how exclusive, upscale and remote this place is. Hidden in a nearby canyon, the surrounding hillsides are craggy and carefully landscaped to resemble a mediterranean village. Each of the expansive homes clings rather precipitously to the hills, each built of old-world stonework and landscaped with lavender, grape arbors, and such. From the website I learned that all of the rockwork is in the “Provence” style, there are “Approximately 400 luxury homes and homesites are dispersed within a total of 1,070 acres of some of the OC’s most pristine real estate. And the luxury custom homesites average 27,000 square feet.” Yah. wow. (this is in a city where a one bedroom condo costs more than $350K)

    So this friend of CG’s doesn’t live in just any of these homes. She lives in the furtherstmost tippyity-top home. We went through two different sentry gates to reach her street and then found ourselves at yet another series of gates to actually enter the housesite. We opted to park on the street and I walked CG to the pedestrian gate. We buzzed and her friend soon appeared with her mother. We chatted a few moments about when I would pick up CG later and then I left. Her Mom was dressed super-casually like me : t-shirt, no makeup, sweatpants. But I couldn’t help but marvel and the differences between our two lives. The vista from her front yard–looking out over rolling hills and an open space preserve–it’s a multi-million dollar view. I wondered if her porch had a swing (I wasn’t allowed through the inner gate to actually see the front entrance) and if all of the iron bars make it hard to see the sunset?

    So now I am at home curled up barefoot on my groovy purple couch. I just finished a little project on the back porch to hang some candle lanterns from some hooks that I bought 1/2-price at Goodwill. John is cooking up a huge feast for dinner: ratatouille(!), our new favorite leek soup, green bean salad, and an apricot compote. The “new” glasses are lined up on the table for me to scrape off the pricetags and wash before dinner. Some F/friends will probably drop by later and I’m sure a good time will be had by all.

    I know that all three of these homes house good people who love each other and have purposefully chosen their particular lifestyle. I’m awed by the size and scale of the two homes that I mentioned earlier when compared to ours. I mean, I would love to live in a historical home–especially one with a grand porch (yes, especially that), but I really can’t imagine myself in such a large space. And the villa lifestyle, whoa. What would it be like to have a yard that’s even larger than my entire community garden? Unfathomable (though you can imagine that I would be growing a heckuva lot of organic food!)….

    UPDATE: The price tag of the house adjacent to CG’s friend is 15 million. Gasp.

  • My new favorite word

    One of my students used the following word on one of their Final Exams, perhaps ya’ll can help me come up with a good definition for it:
    HYPOCRIPSY

  • gettin’ fancy with the spices…

    Why, oh why, did Disney/Pixar have to go and make a new movie about French cooking and Paris and a protagonist named Remy (one of my very favorite names in this whole world, btw) and make said main character a RAT??? What were they THINKING???

    Note to Pixar/Disney:
    Paris + Gourmet Food + Cat, Dog, and/or Platypus = good film
    Paris + Gourmet Food + Rat = Wrong, Wrong, Wrongity, Wrong

  • because it takes stamina

    From an interview with author Terry Tempest Williams:

    “Most of the day I am doing nothing,” she confessed of her writing process. “I am waiting. Writing is a natural process, like evaporation, we might not see it going on but it is happening.” As a writer she keeps a candle lit in her workspace, a sacred space she says, one that is spiritual. She also has a bowl of water nearby, in the writing room, because even if she is not writing anything, it is good to know that there is still evaporation – that something is happening in the room. “Writing is saying the things you don’t want to say, and this takes stamina.”

    Today I am writing much. Finishing up an encyclopedia article and preparing tomorrow’s Disability Blog Carnival (which I’m hosting. yippee!). Perhaps I should light a candle…

  • questions…

    “Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers which could not be given to you now because you would not be able to live them–and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now, perhaps then someday far in the future you will gradually without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
    – Rainer Maria Rilke

    This week has been a flurry of busy-ness. Thank you to all for your kind comments and personal email messages. I am in the midst of many projects right now, including plans for summer research, reorganizing my home to accommodate for various recent acquisitions (i.e. we have some comfy upholstered furniture now that warranted a wholesale re-thinking of our LR space), and I’ve been reading and acting on the advice of Plenty–even to the point of nearing a full-time commitment to eat locally (anyone know of a local wheat source? That’s what’s holding me back right now).

    And of course, there’s the garden…this time of year the garden demands so much! I got my cucumbers and more flowers in this week (yay for free flowers from Aunt Suz’s yard!). I discovered from a garden neighbor that many are suffering from a complete lack of pollinating bees–she’s only seen one (ONE!) bee in her plot at all this month. My garden: bees EVERYWHERE. They love love love the lavender and the sage flowers, especially. I am so glad that I made flowers a priority as they will bless my veggies, too. :)

    Well, ’nuff of my rambling for now. The garden is beckoning…(and, yes, I will be taking more plant photos for you this weekend–I especially can’t wait to show you the kiddoes’ purple bean teepee. The vines are nearly 4 feet high and it’s such a magical space…)

    PS: What questions are you living (a la Rilke)? My question for life right now: “What is it like to live without fear?”

  • loss

    “The greatest danger, that of losing one’s own self, may pass off quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc., is sure to be noticed.”
    – Soren Kierkegaard

  • headed up that mountain…

    Today’s thought brought to you by 37 Days:

    There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
    all leading in the same direction,
    so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
    The only one wasting time is the one
    who runs around and around the mountain,
    telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.
    -Hindu teaching

  • pilgrimage


    canterbury cathedral & me, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Today in Meeting I thought about my life’s journey. So many unexpected twists and serendipitous surprises! I think I’ve always been curious, a seeker, the type of person who relishes life and who savors each moment .

    At lunch today with Friends we spoke of our family’s trips to Europe. I shared the deep connection I feel to places like Paris and London. CatGirl added her insights from our various journeys abroad. Such lovely memories!

    As we talked I thought about how my travels are a pilgrimage of sorts–yes I’m sightseeing, but I’m also feeling to places on a more metaphysical level, using my imagination to get a greater sense of the people who inhabit these places now or who have lived there in years past. Canterbury cathedral was such a powerful space that my bones nearly vibrated with the thoughts, hopes, and dreams of the many pilgrims who had trod its well-worn steps. Our wizened guide opened our minds to the legends and lore that surround each stone in the structure. Our visit to the petite hospital where the infirm awaited their anticipated healing was heavy with the hopes of thousands of pilgrims, as was our cruise around the river running through the town. Such a holy place. And such a privilege to have experienced it with my loved ones.

    Someday I intend to make a pilgrimage journey on foot–to somewhere old, ancient and meaningful. But for now I navigate this path of my everyday life and I attempt to imbue each step with the fervor of my convictions. For I desire to live each moment as if in expectation of the miraculous, or as if a prelude to divinity.

    PS: Kudos to John and the many lovely photos that he’s taken of me during our travels together!
    PPS: Do note the presence of my favorite black sweater in this photo. :)

  • proclivities


    pink&purple, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Picture: Close-up of a small purple flower with pink stamens.

    Recently we watched the movie “Amazing Grace” (which I highly recommend to each of you). The main character, Wilberforce, realizes that he could easily spend his life enjoying nature–studying spiderwebs and gazing into flowers. He find so much satisfaction in his communion with the natural world. Yet he comes to realize that this isn’t his mission in life. Instead, he becomes a politician and is instrumental in ending the British slave trade.

    Some days I feel like I lose myself in a flower. Time flies by while I’m in my garden and I start to only care about growing things. The rest of life seems so mundane in comparison. Yet I also have this feeling that I am supposed to do so much more. That gardening is important, even bedrock, for my life. But it’s not the whole of it. There are books to write, and children to raise, and friends to meet. And the flowers will continue to grow. Whether I am wholly absorbed in them or not.

  • an end…and a beginning

    So today I finished the required coursework for my Ph.D. That means that from here on out I may sit in on a few classes, but that’s entirely at my discretion.

    So, what now? My Qualifying Exam (a rather grueling oral exam) will be on April 20th.

    Then the dissertation work commences…

    Yeah! :)

  • when i grow up

    When I grow up I want to be Dorrit Hoffleit, slowing down to writing only five articles per year when I’m 98. Yah.

    Happy 100, Dorrit!