PNewL PNewS
Volume 16 No. 5 “All the pnews that phits.” January er February 2009
Volume 16 No. 5 “All the pnews that phits.” January er February 2009
Strain of Thought
Back in the old days, when I had parents, my mother really laid on the “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” bit. It was ironic. It’s not like she wasn’t just a teeny bit critical. And it’s also ironic that while I don’t follow that in conversation so well, it gives me pause when it comes to the PNewS. I have been struggling a bit lately without much nice to say. Ann Marie introduced me to “struggling” as a condition as much as happy sad angry etc. It’s not struggling as in to make ends meet, or in relationship with another person. It’s just me and the world. ’nuf said. As it was written in the office of Professor Smith, No damned excuses.So I have been waiting for a time when I have nice things to say or if not nice, at least more interesting than the cyclical hoo-ha that goes around my brain. With that moment not immediately in sight, I thought I would wing it.
I was in yoga class recently, a place I find to be very nice. It was a class of only three, also nice. The teacher said that this time, in the beginning of the day, is when women, in particular, are setting out their plan for the day and that right this moment, as we are straining in some wacky position with our knees in our ears and everything else kinda quivering and aching, is not the time to be making grocery lists. I looked at her and she said, “Busted, eh?” I was not making grocery lists by the way, but my thoughts were not, shall we say, in the room. I think the whole being present concept would be really helpful. If only I could “get it.” I am working on it, but forget a lot. I am also working on Pema Chodron’s advice to insert the word “thinking” non-judgmentally as my thoughts get busy when they are supposed to be quiet, but I forget that a lot too.
Meanwhile, it feels like time to communicate something and so here I sit at the computer typing away. It’s 16 degrees out, a new experience for me who has lived in relative warm weather since 1975. It is the second snow day in a row. The roads are icy, the snow thick and blanket-like in the land surrounding my house. The sun is out and the frost sparkles. When I was out walking, I kept wishing I had my camera. I feel lucky that I have managed to live in places where I have always felt there were more pictures to take of scenes I didn’t want to forget. The light just so…the crystal-like sparkle… the cerulean blue sky…the fog or mist or whatever it is that hovers over the fields which looks so mystical with the sun shining through it…the horses all frisky in the cold. I’m even liking the shades of grays and browns in the woods though the green of spring will certainly be welcome.
Well, that was pretty nice. That’s enough for now. Here’s wishing you find the nice-ness in your world.
Things I am Learning & Miscellaneous Observations
- I participated in an activity on Facebook: 25 Random Things About Me, which can be similar to Things I am Learning, so I am going to pop a few of them in here for those of you (smart people) who have not succumbed to the black hole of time that Facebook is.
- #23. My favorite place these days is the library. Volunteering at the Sanibel Library, everyone loved it there—it’s a remarkable place—and I told people it was the happiest place on earth (sorry Disney), but now that I am hanging out at the Weaverville Library, I just think it’s the library-ness of it. Such opportunity, comfort, peace.
- Another thing I really like about the library is that it is so much more complex than I thought it was. I listen to the librarians talk and realize how many systems and details there are to keep the place running smoothly.
- #5. I can’t seem to own enough shoes.
- I am still getting used to my new house. One of the things that takes getting used to: the vinyl siding speaks to me. I know the second the sun comes out in cold weather because it kinda squirtchles. I can’t find a word in my vocabulary, so let’s say squirtchle. Kind of a squiggley snap crackle pop with lots of tch on the side.
- We have had a cold snowy winter here in western North Carolina. It’s a shift for me but I feel I am adjusting well. It’s quite lovely when the snow hangs around. With the big full moon, I kept running the words from ’Twas the Night Before Christmas: “The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.” It’s magical.
- I took a fun class the other day called “Low-tech Screen Printing.” The teacher suggested a product that will remove dried resist from the screens. I said, I don’t clean so I am not be familiar with this—is it a cleaning product? She looked at me oddly. When I came home from the hardware store with a mop (which I hadn’t had for the first seven months of living in this house), I realized I wasn’t exaggerating.
- Chris and I went to see Christo and Jean-Claude the other night. It was a fascinating evening. Just standing in front of the crowd, they were entertaining. They have been together since 1958—they were born in the same hour of the same day of the same year. (Both are 73 years old.) They are working on a couple projects now—one is hanging fabric panels over the Arkansas River in Colorado. They are in the process of raising $2million for an environmental impact report. If all goes as well as it could—which it doesn’t usually—the project might happen in 2012. Amazing patience. The Gates in Central Park took something like 26 years. Wrapping the Reichstag took 24 years. Really amazing patience. Their website offers a taste of their style. If interested, check out, http://christojeanneclaude.net/error.shtml
- The NC legislature is debating a ban on “texting” while driving. Can you imagine arguing for it? Talking on the phone is bad enough but this is definitely all about distraction. When I first moved here, there was a grizzly accident on the highway when a trucker hit several cars and killed several people because he was looking at the computer screen in his truck. Some things just shouldn’t be in the front seat of a vehicle…but once again…they didn’t ask me. When I am queen…
- I just participated in my first day of Women Build at the local Habitat for Humanity. The project is completely staffed by, yes, you guessed it, women. It was a blast. The day was gorgeous: bright blue sky and lots of sunshine, though it started chilly and remained very windy. It wasn’t until I was leaving that I realized I had not been quite that physically exhausted since (well, moving was pretty hard) our week of gutting houses in New Orleans. I called Sara who was one of the crew and when I told her I would go back to Women Build, she said, so you are going to prolong the pain over several weeks rather than getting it all in one week? When I told Gini, she asked if I had learned a lot. I paused to think and said, Yes, I learned I never want to stucco anything anywhere ever. And that any physical job hurts if I do it long enough. But as Allison (who wasn’t in New Orleans but was at the Women Build site) said, it’s a good hurt—actually she said it’s a good tired but I bet if I had worded it differently, she would have said the same thing about pain.
Get your calendars out: June will be here before you know it.
Angel Island Picnic #28
Saturday, June 27th Perles Beach
Be there or be square.
“Life may be a chemical electrical process but living is a procession of
uncertainties, one damn thing after another.”
Randy Wayne White, “Black Widow”
Saturday, June 27th Perles Beach
Be there or be square.
“Life may be a chemical electrical process but living is a procession of uncertainties, one damn thing after another.”
Randy Wayne White, “Black Widow”
