Mind wanderings
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Letters from my future self…
I’ve done a lot of self-help books. It started back around 1995 when I bought The Celestine Prophesy because it looked cool. I’ve started The Artist’s Way more times than I can count, but I never seem to actually get past the week where you’re supposed to take yourself on artist dates. Because I have a lot of excuses about that one. Excuses which would be totally awesome to bust through, but right now those excuses are still stronger than the reasons to bust through them. One book I really enjoyed was How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. I made it through that one. Side note: when I lived…
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Chapters, ritual, and change
I read an article in the Atlantic recently about the importance of “chapter breaks” in life, and how we collectively missed that as a society in 2020. And while the article was specifically about the year of lost rituals during the pandemic, the idea of chapter breaks got me thinking about midlife crises. While not by design, we had a kiddo later in life, which gave us plenty of time to have adventures. Now that we have H, I can see how, for now at least, life is about her. It’s about her school, her activities, her goals. And while I haven’t lost myself, and we’re still pursuing our own…
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Child-caused music funks and frozen Andalucia
I’ve been in a random music funk the past few months because my child has completely destroyed my Spotify algorithm. Every time I log on I’m bombarded with JoJo Siwa and music from the Descendants (which is surprisingly good, it has to be said). And this wouldn’t be a problem except I use Spotify to discover new music, and that has gone all haywire now. I finally got around to signing her up for a Spotify Kids account linked to mine (not an easy task because we live abroad, and because with a family plan you all have to be in the same household, when I try to do it…
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Guillaume le Gentil, and when your goals just don’t work out…
This week is the height of the Geminid meteor shower, which is one of the highlights of the night sky this month, the other being the appearance of the Christmas Star for the first time in 800 years. Sadly, I’m striking out with the Geminids myself because it’s raining this week. And this reminds me of a book I read several years ago about the 18th century quest to track the Venus Transit. Every 240 years or so, Venus transits the sun, which means that it will cross over between the earth and the sun. And this event happens in a pair 8 years apart. Back in the 18th century,…
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Don’t rush into Christmas so that you miss Advent
Frederick Buechner said: In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment. This is the magical time of year when we go in, quietly meditating, watching and waiting for magic, for light, for the extraordinary. In my personal faith tradition, this is the time when Christians meditate on the…
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It’s okay to be comfortable
I’ve spent the past five years in varying states of discomfort. And I thought this was how things had to be. I thought that this was the only way to push through your self-imposed boundaries. Get uncomfortable! You don’t get anywhere sitting around in your comfort zone! Life begins at the end of your comfort zone! I took all the quotes and incorporated them into my life. I got seriously Uncomfortable. For example: I threw up before going on live radio (twice). I threw up when I published my first book. I threw up before Tudorcon (three times). I didn’t sleep at all the entire weekend of Tudorcon, actually, because…
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Stargazing: Cassiopeia
We live out in the countryside here in Spain, on the side of a hill that overlooks a long shallow valley. And we have a huge sky. I can easily see everything from west, to north, to east clearly. South gets a little bit obscured by the lights from town, but other than that, it’s all clear. And one of the things I’ve really fallen in love with the past few years is getting to know all of these stars who have been watching down on us for millennia. I often think about who else stood here where I am now, and looked up at those same stars, and wondered…
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It’s time for a quiet November
I think after the week we’ve all been through, collectively, it’s time for a deep breath moment of calm, no? Man, the past seven days have been rough, haven’t they? No matter who you voted for, we’ve been through the ringer. Raise your hand if you spent the week consuming every news site available, hitting refresh like a hamster who gets a treat each time, and getting very little work done. It’s not just me, then? Didn’t think so. But hey, it’s a new week, right? And we’re deeply into autumn, and it feels soooo good. Stews, sweaters, apple spice candles, and Jim Brickman holiday piano music are all making…
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My Perfect Fall Day Cutting School in 1992
I’m in the midst of a nostalgia kick, which always happens at this time of year. Autumn seems to have been when a lot of huge life events happen for me – my kiddo was born in August, so I will always associate autumn with sleepless nights, and figuring out breastfeeding. I got married in October. I met my hubby at the end of August, so autumn was when we were in those heady first days of romance. But I always go to this wonderful perfect October day in 1992 when I get super-nostalgic. My parents were going through their divorce, so I was on my own a lot of…
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Life Update September 23
So, an update on life from Spain when I haven’t blogged in a month (note to self: seriously, write every day. It makes you feel so much better). Covid cases in Spain are still going up, and in the middle of that they decided to open schools. Not only did they decide to open schools, but home schooling is basically illegal here, and they prosecute truancy really strict – parents have lost custody of their kids for keeping them home too long – so there is some uproar over the whole school-situation. We’re okay with it because our kiddo goes to a school out in the countryside with small classes…
