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Posts Tagged ‘favorites


3.15.14 … A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March …

Tags: "Into the Wild" Moose Hunter Killed, A Survival Guide, abc11.com, Bath Chronicle, Beware the ides of March, Chris McCandless, Colossal, Delaware man's self-penned obit takes internet by storm, Download All 51 Volumes as Free eBooks, favorites, impatient dog honks car horn for 15 minutes, Jane Austen, KKLB in Beromünster Switzerland, Life-sized Origami Elephant from Single Sheet of Paper, LOL, Mail Online, MH370, News from the Field, NY Daily News, Open Culture, OutsideOnline.com, quotes, real-life Mr Darcy, restaurants, Scotland, shacking up before marriage, Shakespeare, Sipho Mabona, sofa, Spectacular Views, The 'singing' stones of Stonehenge, The Harvard Classics, The Spring Break College Tour, thin places, TIME.com, Walter George Bruhl Jr., WSJ.com

Beware the ides of March, Shakespeare, quotes:

Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.

Caesar: What man is that?

Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

via Beware the ides of March – Shakespeare Quotes.

And there is always someone who can add a new twist, LOL. The ‘singing’ stones of Stonehenge, Bath Chronicle, favorites, thin places: Love this place and the ancient-ness of it. Now Ifind out it sings!  My sis and I visited when I was 18, and we hunted for her boyfriend’s initials which he supposedly had carved in a stone as a teen. You could walk all around the stones way back when … It has long been a mystery to even the most learned expert of the Stonehenge monument – what is so special about the stone in west Wales that it was worth carting 180 miles to Salisbury Plain?

Most theories concentrated on how the famous bluestones of the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire can be buffed up to a strikingly polished shine. But now experts in the arts, rather than archaeology, have come up with a different theory – and it is not to do with how they look, but how the sound.

Researchers from the Royal College of Art in London spent months taking one lump of stone and tapping it on more than 1,000 rocks in the Carn Menyn area of the Preseli hills, and discovered something so remarkable it may well rewrite the history books about Stonehenge.

The bluestones ‘sing’ when they are hit, resonating with an apparently unique twang that does not appear to reach the same pitch or musical note as other stones which merely ‘thud’.

Some previous theories surrounding Stonehenge’s sonic qualities – the way the stone circle would have captured and reverberated sound – had been rather dismissed by the experts concentrating on astronomy and landscape, but the new study appears to reinforce the importance of sound, and the sonic qualities of the stones themselves.

“We found it was a noteworthy soundscape, with a significant percentage of the actual rocks making metallic sounds like bells, gongs, tin drums, etc, when tapped with small, handheld ‘hammerstones’,” said Paul Devereux, the study’s co-leader, a research associate at the college and an expert in archaeo-acoustics.

It is a phenomenon anyone sitting inside the stone circle during the summer solstice celebrations each year amid the cacophony of a dozen or so drummers can attest to.

“The stones may have been thought to have magical, qualities, mana, because of their exceptional sonic nature,” he added.

via The ‘singing’ stones of Stonehenge | Bath Chronicle.

Sipho Mabona, Life-sized Origami Elephant from Single Sheet of Paper, Colossal, KKLB in Beromünster Switzerland: Colossal art! Following a successful campaign on Indiegogo which raised nearly $26,000, artist Sipho Mabona followed through on his promise to fold a life-sized elephant from a single giant sheet of paper. The piece stands over 10 feet tall (3 meters) and took a team of nearly a dozen people over four weeks to fold. The final sculpture is on view at KKLB in Beromünster, Switzerland. Photos by Philipp Schmidli. (via My Modern Met)

via Artist Sipho Mabona Successfully Folds Life-sized Origami Elephant from Single Sheet of Paper | Colossal.

Delaware man’s self-penned obit takes internet by storm, abc11.com, Walter George Bruhl Jr.: I love a good obit! I “will do an unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness for some poor unfortunate soul in his name.”


Everyone who remembers him is asked to celebrate Walt’s life in their own way; raising a glass of their favorite drink in his memory would be quite appropriate.

via Delaware man’s self-penned obit takes internet by storm | abc11.com.

shacking up before marriage, TIME.com:  Interesting.

“It turns out that cohabitation doesn’t cause divorce and probably never did,” says Kuperberg. “What leads to divorce is when people move in with someone – with or without a marriage license – before they have the maturity and experience to choose compatible partners and to conduct themselves in ways that can sustain a long-term relationship.”

So what’s the magic age? Kuperberg says it’s unwise to either move in or get married before the age of 23. But other family experts say that’s lowballing it. Economist Evelyn Lehrer (University of Illinois-Chicago) says the longer people wait past 23, the more likely a marriage is to stick. In fact, Lehrer’s analysis of longitudinal data shows that for every year a woman waits to get married, right up until her early 30s, she reduces her chances of divorce. It’s possible that woman may also be reducing her chances of marriage, but Lehrer’s research suggests later marriages, while less conventional, may be more robust.

via How Shacking Up Before Marriage Affects a Relationship’s Success | TIME.com.

MH370: Can this be possible? This is from a few days ago.  this story keeps getting more and more unbelievable.  Sounds like a Clancy thriller.

U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky. http://on.wsj.com/1fsKDV5

Malaysian officials say they have no data indicating flight MH370 flew on for hours after last contact as reported by the WSJ. http://on.wsj.com/1kmANcz impatient dog honks car horn for 15 minutes, Scotland, NY Daily News: She’s cute! via ▶ Dog blasts car horn in Broughty Ferry – YouTube.

So the 18-month-old pup did what she thought was best: She laid on the horn for 15 minutes.

“I came out of the gallery and looked down the street about a hundred yards away and saw a crowd gathered around a car and heard a honking sound,” Graham said, according to the Daily Star. “Then I did a double-take and realized that it was my car and I wondered if it was anything to do with the dog. She was sitting in there casually honking the horn.”

Several onlookers snapped photos and took video of the scene.

“I heard it and thought it was an impatient driver,” one video commenter wrote.

The Express reports that Fern’s anger didn’t subside when she saw Haddow returning.

“Usually when Fern sees me she stands up and gets excited with her tail wagging,” Haddow said. “But this time she just gave me a sideways glance and kept on honking the horn.”

via Dog Honks Horn When Owner Takes Too Long To Return To Car.

The Harvard Classics,  Download All 51 Volumes as Free eBooks,  Open Culture:

Rather than simply curating for posterity “the best that has been thought and said” (in the words of Matthew Arnold), Eliot meant his anthology as a “portable university”—a pragmatic set of tools, to be sure, and also, of course, a product. He suggested that the full set of texts might be divided into a set of six courses on such conservative themes as “The History of Civilization” and “Religion and Philosophy,” and yet, writes Kirsch, “in a more profound sense, the lesson taught by the Harvard Classics is ‘Progress.’” “Eliot’s [1910] introduction expresses complete faith in the ‘intermittent and irregular progress from barbarism to civilization.’”


Over a hundred years, and several cultural-evolutionary steps later, and anyone with an internet connection can read all of the 51-volume set online. In a previous post, Dan Colman summarized the number of ways to get your hands on Charles W. Eliot’s anthology:

You can still buy an old set off of eBay for $399 [now $299.99]. But, just as easily, you can head to the Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg, which have centralized links to every text included in The Harvard Classics (Wealth of Nations, Origin of Species, Plutarch’s Lives, the list goes on below). Please note that the previous two links won’t give you access to the actual annotated Harvard Classics texts edited by Eliot himself. But if you want just that, you can always click here and get digital scans of the true Harvard Classics.

via The Harvard Classics: Download All 51 Volumes as Free eBooks – Open Culture.

“Into the Wild” Moose Hunter Killed, News from the Field, OutsideOnline.com, Chris McCandless:

Samel was described as a passionate outdoorsman but also someone who had lived a troubled life. Late Sunday night, Samel was involved in a police chase after he was reported for drunk driving. Following a sustained pursuit, police units ultimately surrounded Samel as he sped toward an officer approaching on foot. The officer and another trooper opened fire on the pickup, killing Samel and injuring the other male passenger.

Samel had been under court orders to not drink after a DUI arrest in September, when he picked up two hitchhikers before crashing into a roadside ditch. Sunday night marked the end of a nearly 30-year criminal history for Samel.

In 1992, Samel was with a group of three moose hunters when they found McCandless almost three weeks after he died. According to Jon Krakauer, when the hunters arrived at the old Fairbanks city bus, a couple from Anchorage were already there but stayed back because of the stench and unsettling SOS note. It was Samel who eventually discovered McCandless in his sleeping bag.

via “Into the Wild” Moose Hunter Killed | News from the Field | OutsideOnline.com.

The Spring Break College Tour, A Survival Guide, WSJ.com: Been there, done that.

via The Spring Break College Tour: A Survival Guide – WSJ.com.

Jane Austen, real-life Mr Darcy,  sofa, Mail Online: A vintage sofa that belonged to the real-life Mr Darcy from Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice has sold for more than twice its estimate bid at £2,300.

The George III mahogany framed sofa is thought to have belonged to Thomas Lefroy, a love interest of the famous author who is believed to have provided the inspiration for romantic hero Mr Darcy.

The upholstered Art Nouveau piece was expected to sell for just £1,000 at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester but today shocked collectors as a fan took it for £2,300.

via Jane Austen’s real-life Mr Darcy sofa sells for TWICE its estimated bid at £2,300 as Pride and Prejudice fans snap up historic piece | Mail Online.

restaurants,  Spectacular Views: I’ve been to one! You’re sitting: on top of a cliff

At: Post Ranch Inn

Looking at: the Pacific Ocean

Ordering: the nine-course Taste of Big Sur tasting menu

via 32 Restaurants With Spectacular Views.

salt, 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics:

via A Mad Dash for Salt Rescues Olympic Slopes – NYTimes.com.

via ▶ Rachel Ries ‘Mercy’ – YouTube.

Humans of New York,  Susie’s Senior Dogs:  Loved this … “It was a dark and stormy night.

Winnie-the-Pooh, favorites:  And another favorite … 

via Molly Wilmer Barker.

“Le Tricorne”, Picasso: Tapestry travesty. 

Stephen Curry,  Bay Area Warriors, Davidson College, CharlotteObserver.com:

via Europe’s 12 most impressive metro stations – CNN.com.

Passing on body hatred, Essential Mums:  A good lesson …

At first I didn’t understand what you meant.

1. You must be fat because mothers don’t lie.

2. Fat is ugly and horrible.

via Passing on body hatred | Essential Mums. 

via Twitter / alphacomics: Written by @nathanedmondson ….

google doodles, Harriet Tubman: Richard Harbus for The New York Times

Tags: Chef Mario Batali, Crocs, Dr. Who, favorites, google doodles, If— BY RUDYARD KIPLING, kith/kin, random

A favorite!



If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

At ATL … Picking up “my” Edward who is flying in from DEN where it is SNOWING! He will get in a visit with his grandmama Lindsey then off to UGA to visit friends and try out a game Between the Hedges.

Edward and his grandmother .. And of course a few random ones for you …

Well, of course, the Google designers are Dr. Who fans. Brilliant. Chef Mario Batali’s world came crashing down on him when he realized that Crocs, purveyor of foam comfort shoes, was discontinuing his favorite color: orange.

He literally wears them everywhere

via Mario Batali Orders 200 Paris of Orange Crocs | TIME.com.


7.15.13 … Chardonnay Pinot Noir, who knew? … MY DOG BURNS … royal babies/special babies … Aparecium! … favorite children’s books …

By teaguenc 1 Comment
Tags: 'Cuckoo' Mystery Author, 10 Degrees South, @nprbooks, A Hole is to Dig, A Long Way from Chicago, A Wrinkle in Time, Aparecium!, ‏@ajc, Boschendal 1685 Chardonnay Pinot Noir, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, favorites, Goodnight Moon, Harriet the Spy, Harry Potter Series, Harry Potter Wiki, J.K. Rowling, labor, lists, Lun Lun, Madeline, Mark Twain, Mortality Paradox, MY DOG BURNS, Our 7 Favorite Children’s Books, Peter Rabbit, pets, poem, Revealing Charm, royal baby, Southeast Psych, Trixie Belden Series, Where the Wild Things Are, Zoo ATL's giant panda

Boschendal 1685 Chardonnay Pinot Noir, 10 Degrees South:  I am not a wine connoisseur, but I enjoyed this South African Chardonnay Pinot Noir. I actually did not know blends of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir existed. I did not like it alone, but it enhanced my South African meal at 10 Degrees South.

Viticulturist’s DetailsA blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir from two specific vineyards situated on the gravely Boschendal slopes of the Simonsberg mountain.

via 1685 Chardonnay Pinot Noir | Boschendal.

pets, Mortality Paradox, Mark Twain,  poem, MY DOG BURNS:

A Dish reader reflects on the moral and emotional turmoil of pet mortality. Pair with John Updike’s heartbreaking poem “Another Dog’s Death” and Fiona Apple’s stirring handwritten letter about her dying dog, and Mark Twain’s little-known verses mourning the loss of his beloved canine companion.

Meanwhile, the Mortality Paradox looms over all of us.

via Explore – Your love for them compels you to let them die….

Here’s the Mark Twain poem referenced above:

Though a far cry from John Updike’s heartbreaking poem about the last days of his dog, Twain’s verses mourning the loss of his beloved canine companion don’t fail to stir:


No more shall bear beauteous form

Be seen in the raging storm.

No more shall her wondrous tail

Dodge the quickly dropping hail.

She lived a quiet harmless life

In Hartford far from madding strife;

Nor waged no War on peaceful rat

Nor battled with wild fierce tomcat.

No, No, my beloved, dear ’cause dead

What tough thy coat was a brick dust red?

Like a good author, thou was a trusty friend

And thy tail, like his, red to the very end.

via On Loves, Lunacies, and Losses: The Little-Known Poetry of Mark Twain | Brain Pickings.

royal baby, Zoo ATL’s giant panda,  Lun Lun,  labor,  ‏@ajc:  Another fun tweet …

AJC ‏@ajc 31s

No #royalbaby yet, but Zoo ATL’s giant panda Lun Lun is in labor. http://bit.ly/12synyC

via Twitter.

Aparecium!,  J.K. Rowling, ‘Cuckoo’ Mystery Author, @nprbooks, Revealing Charm, Harry Potter Wiki:

NPR Books ‏@nprbooks 4m

Aparecium! J.K. Rowling Revealed As ‘Cuckoo’ Mystery Author http://n.pr/146o1cT

via (2) Twitter

OK, I had to look up “Aparecium!”

The Revealing Charm[1] (Aparecium) is a charm that forces invisible ink or other hidden messages to appear. It is also possible this spell can be used to make other invisible things reveal themselves. Hermione Granger used this spell on Tom Riddle’s Diary to see if anything could be read. Nothing appeared after she used the spell because that was not the enchantment placed on the book.

via Revealing Charm – Harry Potter Wiki.

Our 7 Favorite Children’s Books, Southeast Psych, lists:  My favorites from my childhood: A Wrinkle in Time, Trixie Belden Series (I read these at the beach when I was in second grade), Peter Rabbit, Harriet the Spy.  And from reading to my children:  Harry Potter Series, A Hole is to Dig, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon, Madeline, A Long Way from Chicago …

When the Harry Potter books splashed into our pop culture as the 20th century closed, I knew that I would love them (I played my share of Dungeons and Dragons as a kid).  But a little voice inside my head kept me from plowing through them- it told me to wait and enjoy them as a father.  My oldest son, now 9, finally expressed interest in HP this year, so off we went- reading them in tandem.  This shared experience has been wonderful, and got me thinking about my all-time favorite children’s books (or should I say, books for the young at heart?).

via Our 7 Favorite Children’s Books | Southeast Psych.


7.14.13 … worst airports … “the only alternative is to become guest of honor at the crematorium” … 10 Degrees South … Robert Galbraith’s ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’ … “To thine own self be true” … RIP, Finn … I am J.K. Rowling …

Tags: 10 Degrees South, Atlanta GA, Beijing, education of women, favorites, JK Rowling Pseudonym, kith/kin, lists, Malala Yousafzai, restaurants, Robert Galbraith's 'The Cuckoo's Calling', Roger Ebert, The Quartet, twitter, United Nations, World's Worst Airports, worth watching, WSJ

Beijing, World’s Worst Airports, lists, WSJ, kith/kin:  My personal experience supports this.

Stories of travel in Chinese airports are a horror genre in their own right, and with good reason: When it comes to on-time arrivals or departures, the country’s airports are literally the worst in the world.

According to FlightStats, which tracks airport statistics, Beijing’s airport ranks dead last among the world’s top 35, with fully 82% of flights failing to leave on time. Second worst was Shanghai, at 71%.

Such chronic tardiness has led to periodic passenger meltdowns and even physical altercations. Last year, the country’s Civil Aviation Administration was prompted to issue a circular urging officials to maintain better order and ensure that overexcited passengers who vent their rage by “smashing counters and rushing onto runways” are punished.

Even Hong Kong, which prides itself o

via Beijing, Shanghai World’s Worst Airports for Delays – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Malala Yousafzai, United Nations, education of women, worth watching:

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for promoting education for girls, celebrated her 16th birthday Friday at the United Nations by demanding that world leaders provide free

via Malala Celebrates 16th Birthday With UN Address – YouTube.

The Quartet , Roger Ebert:  Who recommended The Quartet?  With lines like, “the only alternative is to become guest of honor at the crematorium,” I am not not so sure …

In a luxurious British retirement home for retired musicians, two questions circle each other. One involves former opera stars who were once married, long ago and briefly. The other is about a gala that may be able to raise enough money to keep the home from closing.


We understand that these characters made a lot of money in their lifetime and can afford this expensive retirement. But practical details at Beecham House are murky. There seem to be no elevators, and all the octogenarian residents, even Jean with her hip replacement, use the stairs. The staff consists of the supervisor and a few nurses. We understand why that would be enough for the stage, but Hoffman’s film accepts all the limitations of a stage play and just doesn’t care. It’s curious, for example, that not a single one of the residents seems to have a single relative. No children. No grandchildren. Nobody.

This movie will no doubt be pitched to the same audiences that loved “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” It even brings Maggie Smith along. But it lacks that film’s life, intelligence and spirit. It has a good heart. I’ll give it that. Maybe what it needs is more exotic marigolds.

via Quartet Movie Review & Film Summary 2012 | Roger Ebert.

10 Degrees South, restaurants, Atlanta GA: South African restaurant … very good. 🙂

BOBOTIE SPRING ROLLS $8.50sweet ground beef curry, served with chutney.

BILTONG $10.00cured beef slices.

CALAMARI $9.00grilled and tossed in lemon caper butter sauce.

LOLLIPOP LAMB CHOPS $14.00 two marinated chops, served over mashed potatoes.

via 10 Degrees South menu – Atlanta, GA 30342 – (404) 705-8870.

JK Rowling Pseudonym, Robert Galbraith’s ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’:

The novel was published in April by Sphere in the UK – the same imprint at Little, Brown as her first fiction novel after Harry Potter, The Casual Vacancy. Set in London, it features a one-legged private detective called Cormoran Strike, who is hired to investigate the death of a supermodel called Lula Landry. The book’s description on Amazon says “You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you’ve never seen them under an investigation like this.”

Harry Potter fan site The Leaky Cauldron says the book has so far sold just 1,500 copies, and that a second Galbraith book is to be published next year. Update: Since the news broke, New Statesman reports that the book’s Amazon sales have gone up more than 150,000%.

via JK Rowling Pseudonym: Robert Galbraith’s ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’ Is Actually By Harry Potter Author.


Born in 1968, Robert Galbraith is married with two sons. After several years with the Royal Military Police, he was attached to the SIB (Special Investigation Branch), the plain-clothes branch of the RMP. He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry. The idea for protagonist Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who have returned to the civilian world. ‘Robert Galbraith’ is a pseudonym.

Ten things, freshman,  college, lists, http://www.ajc.com, worth reading:

10. Use this time to plan for your future.

“Know thyself” (Socrates), “To thine own self be true” (Shakespeare), and “Just do it” (Nike) are good words to live by, Appleby said.

“College is a time to explore and get to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, dreams and passions,” he said. “If you do that, you’ll make a plan to take the courses that will help you be who you want to become.”

via Ten things that every freshman needs to know about college | www.ajc.com.

RIP, Finn,

Cory Monteith, ‘Glee’ : Sad … Cory Monteith, the handsome young actor who shot to fame in the hit TV series “Glee” but was beset by addiction struggles so fierce that he once said he was lucky to be alive, was found dead in a hotel room, police said. He was 31.

Monteith, who played the character Finn Hudson on the Fox TV series about a high school glee club, was found dead in his room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel on Vancouver’s waterfront at about noon Saturday, according to police.

Deputy Police Chief Doug Lepard said there was no indication of foul play. Monteith’s body was found by hotel staff after he missed his check-out time, Lepard said.

“We do not have a great deal of information as to cause of death,” Coroner Lisa Lapointe said.

Lepard said Monteith had been out with people earlier and that those people are being interviewed.

“I have no words! My heart is broken,” Dot-Marie Jones, who plays football coach Shannon Beiste on “Glee,” said in a post on her Twitter account Saturday night. She called Monteith a “hell of a friend” and an “amazing” man.

via Cory Monteith, Star of Hit Show ‘Glee,’ Found Dead – ABC News.

Twitter, favorites:

Jane Austen ‏@DailyJaneAusten 3m



Albert Brooks Verified account@AlbertBrooksFilmmaker, actor, author Albert Brooks. Originally joined Twitter to promote my book. Now trapped. Cant get out. Help. http://amzn.to/gUl6Fb

I am J.K. Rowling.

via 12 Twitter.


7.11.13 … Maira Kalman: “Without cell phones, just walk and observe what’s around you for half an hour. And I am sure—I’m very sure—that asking them to spend half an hour without a cell phone is like asking them to take their clothes off. No cell phones, no cup of coffee—just take a solitary walk.”

Tags: cover art, favorites, Home Design Spring 2013, Isaac Mizrahi, Maira Kalman, Maira Kalman's Philosopher's Walk, New York Magazine, The New Yorker

Maira Kalman’s Philosopher’s Walk, cover art, The New Yorker, favorites:  Every once in a while I search Maira Kalman because I just love her work.  I found two today … “I’m going to be teaching a short seminar to fourth-year illustration students in Jerusalem,” says Maira Kalman, the artist behind this week’s cover, “Canine Couture.” “I gave them a few pre-assignments: one is to take a half hour walk every day for ten days. Without cell phones, just walk and observe what’s around you for half an hour. And I am sure—I’m very sure—that asking them to spend half an hour without a cell phone is like asking them to take their clothes off. No cell phones, no cup of coffee—just take a solitary walk. If you want to be pretentious about it, Immanuel Kant is famous for taking his walk everyday at 3:30 P.M., so I suggested that time to them. It’s a good time of day; it’s a little bit tired, a little bit sleepy time of day. I’m hoping good things will grow out that.”

See below for a slide show of Kalman’s New Yorker covers, many born out of her solitary walks.

via Cover Story: Maira Kalman’s Philosopher’s Walk : The New Yorker.

Isaac Mizrahi,  Maira Kalman, Home Design Spring 2013, New York Magazine:  Mizrahi and Kalman, interesting neighbors, don’t you think?  … “But if I had to choose one thing that I love, there is nothing. I am very sad to think about having stuff, and not having stuff. There is a sense about wanting to have nothing, and then there is a sense about having everything and not giving anybody anything and keeping it all.”

Maira Kalman’s Dream Place The artist draws the room of her fantasies—and talks to longtime neighbor and friend Isaac Mizrahi about how her Tel Aviv has influenced her New York.

Do you think that Sara Berman, your mother, understood aesthetics and design principles on the same level as you do?

No, no. I think that she just wanted to have nice things around her. But she also never spoke very much. She was a wonderful mother in amazing ways, but we never had conversations about things. You know, I have no idea what she thought of anything. It was more like, Pass the salt.

Where do you think you got such a sensibility about … objects?

Well, my sister is an artist and an interior designer. She went to high school for art. I went to high school for music. But then it was in the air, it was all around us. And then it was meeting [Maira’s late husband the designer] Tibor and graphic design, so that whole world opened up, kind of from nowhere.


Which object in this apartment do you like the best? Which means the most to you?

I still do have the little lunch bag that my mother made out of a towel and embroidered with my name on it for when I went to kindergarten. And it’s this big. I think she gave me five sandwiches and three apples, it’s huge! But if I had to choose one thing that I love, there is nothing. I am very sad to think about having stuff, and not having stuff. There is a sense about wanting to have nothing, and then there is a sense about having everything and not giving anybody anything and keeping it all. But the things that I have keep changing and go into different rooms. It is always a conflict.

Is it a commitment thing, the fact that you change so much?

In the I regret everything I say mode? [Laughs.] I regret everything I do.


I regret everything: nice “up” ending for our talk!

But does it come from a joyous place when you choose things, or does it come from a critical, mean place?

I think it is like starting fresh. Every Monday morning is new hope. And I just like the idea that the set changes. It is a set. That is my home.

via Home Design Spring 2013 – Isaac Mizrahi and Maira Kalman — New York Magazine.


3.20.13 … my favorite verse with a twist … “Be still and acknowledge that I am God” … A Still Place in the Market …

Tags: Be Still, favorites, FPC 2013 PW Retreat, Henri Nouwen, Kanuga Conference Center-Hendersonville NC, know/acknowledge, Psalm 46:10

Henri Nouwen, Psalm 46:10, know/acknowledge, Be Still, favorites, FPC 2013 PW Retreat, Kanuga :  I very much enjoy The Henri Nouwen Society’s daily meditations.  Today his service (he is deceased) focused on my favorite bible verse.  I will remember that it is important to keep a still place in the market. I am also interested in their translation and the use of the term “acknowledge” rather that “know.”

I also loved hearing the story at the FPC PW Retreat of how one woman wanted to hear Nouwen speak at Kanuga and when a snow storm came through and made it impossible for some to attend, she got a seat!  It was meant to be.

A Still Place in the Market

“Be still and acknowledge that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  These are words to take with us in our busy lives.  We may think about stillness in contrast to our noisy world.  But perhaps we can go further and keep an inner stillness even while we carry on business, teach, work in construction, make music, or organise meetings.

It is important to keep a still place in the “marketplace.”  This still place is where God can dwell and speak to us.  It also is the place from where we can speak in a healing way to all the people we meet in our busy days.  Without that still space we start spinning.  We become driven people, running all over the place without much direction.  But with that stillness God can be our gentle guide in everything we think, say, or do.

via Daily Meditation: A Still Place in the Market.

I found this online …

Henri Nouwen talked with his hands. He told stones, mostly about himself. Most of aU, I remember a story told and a story lived.

Henry told about being invited to visit The Hermitage in Russia to see Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal.” Other viewers filed by at a rapid clip, but he was allowed to sit in a chair for two hours and just look. He looked at the figures in the background, the father and the broken son.

The father had both hands on the boy’s shoulders. One hand was the gnarled hand of a working man. The other, Nouwen said with a dramatic pause, was the delicate, tapered hand—”of a wotnan”! God suddenly became larger for this Catholic priest.

It was a stunning moment. Over four hundred people—power people, mostly—looked through Nouwen’s eyes and saw the feminine nature of God. People wept.

Later, as Nouwen told about the L’Arche Daybreak Community in Toronto, where he served, he told about his friend Bill, a mentally handicapped man who was in the scholar’s care.

Bill was on the stage with Henry, as was a nun from Daybreak. When Henri invited Bill to come to the microphones and speak, I remember thinking that people had come a long way to hear the Dutch scholar, not Bill.

To give Bill support, Nouwen stood next to him at the microphone. Bill was overcome by the prospect of speaking. He simply laid his head on Nouwen’s shoulder and wept.

A room filled with church leaders suddenly glimpsed the incarnate nature of true ministiy. Our work isn ‘t about liturgies that we fight over, buildings that we fight over, books of worship that we fight over, hymnals that we fight over, small bits of institutional power that we fight over, or doctrines that we are willing to kill over. Our work is to stand next to one another and provide a shoulder for weeping.

via The Wayward, Wanton, and Wasteful Daughter | Reformed Worship.





