Quilt Project

Honoring my grandmother's handiwork:

Sometimes

You just don't know what great things you'll find in your own hometown.

War and Peace

I just finished watching "War and Peace." I very much 

enjoyed it overall. The march of the French army 

across Russia in defeat was singularly effective. 

I enjoyed seeing Henry Fonda in a different role, 

too. Overall, not what I expected, but very much 

worth the viewing. Very lush in many aspects.

Shakespeare - with a twist!

How happy is this??

Off!

We're off to Rome! I ask for prayers for safe travels from all my dear ones here. 

Lots of pictures to share on return - I'm sure!

Remembering too...

A tiny friend who went on today...I'll miss you little guy.

February 25th

Remembering "the quiet one" on his birthday...when really he was the one who gave them their sound.

Detail

I'm working on a project at Cumberland Gap this week. It's a project to get all their archival material in order. I love these trips. I've been to Cumberland Island National Seashore, Moores Creek National Battlefield (and wonderful Wilmington, NC in the process), and now here. It is this time, with this group of people, that makes going back to my "real" job more bearable.

In preparation...

In getting ready for our upcoming trip to Rome, what more appropriate thing could we do to prepare than watch...

These superb actors seemed to enjoy each other and making this film so much. It comes through on the screen. I recommend it to everyone!

Spanish Dancer

As a wooden match held in the hand, white,

on all its sides shoots flickering tongues

before it flashes into flame—: within the inner

circle of onlookers, hurried, hot, bright,

her dance in rounds begins to flicker and spread.

And suddenly, everything is completely fire.

One glance and she ignites her hair,

turning all at once with daring art

her entire dress into a passion of flame,

from which, like startled snakes,

the naked arms awake and reach out, clapping.

And then: as if the fire were growing scarce,

she takes it together and throws it off,

masterfully, with proud, imperious gestures,

and watches: it lies there raging on the ground,

still flaring up, refusing to give in—.

Till triumphantly, self-assured and with a sweet

welcoming smile, she raises her face,

then stamps it out with small, powerful feet.

Rilke

"How else is life made real, but by story and song and fiery dance?"

Ahab's Wife

Margaret Fuller

I've just discovered Margaret Fuller. What a life! From her conversations for women to her travels out West and abroad, she is truly an inspiration. At one time she was known as the most well-read person in New England, male or female. Her contemporaries included Emerson, Thoreau, and the Alcotts. Amazingly, however, this is the only daguerreotype known of her...


Interestingly enough, she was sent on assignment overseas. She sailed to Liverpool. She also met Italian revolutionaries in her travels as she interviewed famous authors, and she moved in with one of the exiles in Italy - they even had a child. All three were drowned 50 feet from shore when their return ship to America hit a sandbar. None other than Thoreau came to the beach to try to find her.

Major works: Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Summer on the Lakes, and Papers on Literature and Arts

To learn more of her see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller

For the dark winter months...

I'm thankful for Chris Stevens, even in imagination. The world needs more like him. I'm glad this show embraced my life when it did ~ and that it still does.

February 12, 2009

Happy 200th Birthday to

President Abraham Lincoln!

1939

Yes, M., this one was the first classic I saw on t.v., and the second classic I ever read in my teens. (Jane Eyre was the first). I don't think I slept for weeks after seeing this one. Interestingly enough, I wish this had been another movie that Olivier and Leigh had done together, but notice the year. She was busy with Gone With the Wind...

In this season of long, cold evenings, there is nothing like revisiting an old favorite classic. The Bronte~Austen cycle continues.

Wintertime readings...

I love having time in winter to settle in with books. Here are a couple I've enjoyed over the cold evenings...

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund is a lyrical book. I had seen it for years, and finally bought it this winter. 

"I have ever feared the weathervane in me. Sometimes I point toward Independence, isolation. Sometimes I rotate - my back to Independence - and I need and want my friends, my family, with a force like a gale. I have in me a spinnaker sail that finds the breeze and leads all my sails in that direction. I do not count myself fickle, for I have much loyalty in me, but I am changeable."

There is also A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. It was revealing to read something autobiographical from "Papa." It brought to life the people and the times of Paris in the 1920s. 

"I've seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil...wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

MORE SNOW!! And sledding in three stages...