Starry-Eyed Wonders

I’m pretty astonished that it’s Friday already – this has been one of those weeks that took off and flew like a kite in a strong March wind.  But be that as it may, Friday it is, and that means time for a peek into my week and what’s been holding court in my brain, filling my heart, and occupying my time.

internal landscape:   I feel as if I got a bit more of my productive mojo back this week.  It feels like some puzzle pieces have fallen into place and more of the picture is available.  I always feel a sense of delicious excitement when I’m moving forward with something and so that’s the state I like to be in.  But the truth is to get to this state I need lots of incubation/reflection time as well.  Over the years I’ve come to understand my rhythms much more clearly and that’s a good thing; but still I’m always surprised when I forget.  I fret I’ll never be creative again and that I’m stuck or that things are taking too long, or any number of unhelpful stories.  I’m glad when I remember deep breaths, and heavy on the swaddling of compassion and self-forgiveness, and most of all huge doses of trust.

good things:

•  I’m celebrating a week of decluttering and paper pitching and all sorts of releasing as part of the SoulSpace project.  While we’ll officially be moving on to the next step outlined in the book next week, I’ve got more of this releasing still to do.  But I’m riding on the high energy of what I have accomplished.

•  Year-end closing of the biz books and prepping stuff to turn over to the tax preparer.  It always feels so good to get that done.

•  While the week slipped away from me and I didn’t get a chance to blog about it, January 18 was Thesaurus Day.  No doubt my love of words was nurtured by my deep friendship with my well-thumbed high school copy of Roget’s Thesaurus.  After all these years I can still see the well-worn spine and feel the tactile pleasure of turning those pages, hunting and seeking words, trying them on for size, rolling them around in my mind and my life.  Yes, I think that deserves a day of celebration.

epicurean adventure:   I am on a serious avocado kick these days, and when I saw this recipe I knew I wanted to try it.  Spaghetti with Avocado Sauce.

turning the pages:  No finished books to report on this week, but I did read a delightful short story on the recommendation of my husband.  Eleanor Arnason’s Telling Stories to the Sky from the current issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction periodical.  It’s about a time when women weren’t allowed to be story tellers so the heroine of the story circumvents the rules by writing a story on a kite and flies it so the sky can read it.  The North Wind ends up taking the story and invites then woman to his kingdom to share more tales.

As much as I enjoyed the story I was even more delighted to discover the author has just published a book Hidden Folk: Icelandic Fantasies.  I have become obsessed with Iceland and this discovery felt like a charming little cosmic wink.

on the playlist:   I’ve had Rae Morris’ Grow on constant spin this week.  I’m always curious when a song feels so strongly like a theme, and this one certainly does.

on the screen:  I’m a big fan of Maria Popova and I love this little video of her’s – 7 Things I Learned in Seven Years of Reading, Writing, and Living.  I want to hold this tightly and show it to everyone and say YES, YES, YES.  (P.S.  I’m getting infinitely inspired to write manifestos and this just adds fuel to my fire).

favorite word of the week:

 oddment – (noun)  1. an odd article, bit, remnant, or the like.  2. an article belonging to a broken or incomplete set.  3. In printing, any individual portion of a book excluding the text, as the frontspiece or index.

I’ve been entertaining myself by considering how often I’ve thought of myself as an oddment, and how I now claim that as a good and beautiful thing.

on the wish list:  Who doesn’t want an wondrous animal mask by Ninn Alarco?

fabulousities, curiossities, and brain igniters:

• I swear I think the world is the most fabulous place and wonders surround us at every turn.  And in those moments of serendipitous finds or affirming synchronicities I’m certain the universe is conspiring to make me burst with delight and/or be struck with awe.  For example, last night I had a dream in which I was in a forest at midnight and surrounded by a circle of magic animals.  Under the star-filled sky each creature had a blessing to deliver or a word of encouragement or some gift to share.  I will be unpacking the deliciousness of that dream for quite some time I’m sure, and no doubt will return and talk more about it.  But in addition to the straightforward fabulousity of the dream itself, today something else remarkable happened.  As I was typing up my favorite-word-of-the-week entry above, I was inspired to look and see if there were any blogs about oddments.  And I cannot believe that one of the links I clicked on led me to this extraordinary photo of a screech owl with star-filled eyes.  And yet I do believe it – the magic of my dream continues in my waking life to remind me it’s all whole – there is no separation.  Magic, magic, magic everywhere.

• While living rough means one thing, living ruff means something altogether different.  And tell me, how does this not fire up one’s desire for costumes?

• I love this 2013 project, a collaboration between artist Lisa Congdon and writer Maria Popva, which was “a yearlong celebration of remarkable women who have changed how we see the world.”  Do poke around, enjoy and be inspired.

• I’m fascinated by this work in contradictions of Rachel Dein.  She casts fragile things like flowers in plaster.

•  I love mendhi and these designs by Kenzi are gorgeous.

•  I was once trapped on a crowded bus in summer in downtown Chicago for what seemed like a billion years because a drawbridge got stuck in the open position.  It was a traffic nightmare.  I often marvel at bridges and am in awe of their construction, but frankly they’ve never inspired delight in me with regard to their artistic design.  Oh, but THESE bridges – now we’re talking ingenious fabulousity!

And there you have it – what’s been up in my week.  Hope you haven’t had a week where you’ve been stuck.  Has any magic shown up for you?  Any low-down on owls you care to share?  Feeling starry-eyed or hands- (decorated or not) to-work?  Been a week of treasure gathering or clutter busting?  Ever write a story on a kite?  Do tell – you know I love to hear.