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Here are some links, thoughts, and ‘stuff’ I shared on my blog posts this week or intended to (!) that might be of interest as well as other links you might find useful in the week ahead.
- Just to introduce myself in the spirit of this week: I have just spent 15 minutes looking for my glasses in order to do this newsletter. I found them alright. I was wearing them. Hello, pandemic. I can see you, now.
- You may have forgotten to laugh after this week, but fear not, I’ve got another recommendation that will remind you of the sound you make when you are laughing: an Irish Catholic stand up comedian. I rewatched (probably for the fifth time) a comedy special by Kathleen Madigan on Netflix. It’s called “Bothering Jesus.” I have watched all her specials and like Sebastian Maniscalco from last week, I simple laugh out loud each time. If you don’t have Netflix, it’s a reason to consider it. But, also check out YouTube clips of her stand-up and you’ll see what I mean.
- The painting by William de Kooning at the top of this newsletter is my theme for the week creatively. Ever had something just get your attention (in a good way) and not let go? This painting this week did that to me. I just immediately felt better looking at it. The color palette knocks me out so I’m going to try and use it in my daily drawings with my grand nephew, create a fabric design using this palette, and also use it as a “search” motif in google to find other artists using
this palette. It is a great example of how being at home can be put to good use. The title of this painting from 1947 is “Event in a Barn”. Now, do you see anything “barnlike” in this painting?? Many abstract painters just titled their paintings with numbers but William de Kooning nails it with specificity. Is he messing with us? I do not know but it makes me laugh to try and conjure what event? What barn? All I know is, based on the painting, I want a barn. Why not
look up one of your favorite painters or artists and spend part of your exile looking at their work?
- Museums are closed. But, the internet is open. Here’s a link to some museums and cultural sites you can visit on line without leaving home. Some of them are a bit wonky to view but stop whingeing. There are no lines.
- Here is a view of Paris from something I didn’t know existed until this pandemic: Google Architecture. It is a 360 degree view of Paris from the Opera House.
- I am instituting a new habit to accompany my isolation and I recommend it to you as well. Do something everyday that you did not do before this crisis impacted all of our comings and goings. Single out something you have wanted to do, entirely within your own control, but simply haven’t done because you didn’t have the time, didn’t have the focus, or maybe even the desire to really do it. For me, I am getting up each morning and NOT checking anything about the outside
world on my phone, IPAD or computer but making my coffee and doing a half hour of meditation first thing into my consciousness. Now, for those of you who don’t meditate, I would just do something else you know is helpful to you. Read. Declutter. Cook. Paint. Draw. Cut up paper for a collage. Look out your window and see what you see, take notes even. Ok. For example, I now see snow on my flippin’ tulips! See! You can get aggravated about that in a way you didn’t have time for
if you were starting your day worried about the pandemic. Just do every day something that you know adds something to your life rather than potentially threatens it like news alerts. Yes, we have to still stay connected to the outside world but we don’t have to start our day with it. Along that line, I am also using more music. Instead of the radio or daily podcasts that would be background music to my house or car, I use music instead. I honestly do not have to
follow the cratering stock market minute by minute. Does that help me in any way? No, it does not. I’ll have to deal with each day’s events but I am now going to try to do it after 6PM. Not a steady drip throughout the day. I may even subscribe to one of those music playlists like Apple Music or Spotify. It’s Beethoven’s birthday after all! “Alexa, play Beethoven, please.”
- Today is St. Patrick’s Day and all the bars are closed. It makes me think of a St. Patrick’s Day long ago when I looked across a crowded and a loud, loud bar and saw this man looking at me. I did not know him. I was there with my boyfriend standing next to me but to be honest he may have been atop the bar doing an Irish jig that he truly shouldn’t have ever tried even if sober. So, I had time to look back. I’m not kidding, it is the only time in my life when I looked
at someone, a total stranger, and thought, OMG. I might be in love. In the course of the night another man came up to me, stranger’s friend apparently, and introduced himself and said he was the friend of that man and pointed to him across the bar and he wondered if he could buy you a drink. I smiled back over to him but declined the drink as my date, Michael
Flately, would not have appreciated it one bit. Ever have moments like that and wonder years later, “Hmm..what if?”. Anyway, Here’s a song by Ben Iver you can listen to if you do. I downloaded one of his albums years ago called “00000 Million”. I think I’ll listen to it today and think about my mystery stranger and wish him well!
- One of my meditation apps has decided to do a LIVE daily (workday) meditation with some very good leaders on a free YOUTUBE channel. I think it is a fabulous idea as daily habits are key to managing my current world. (And past world but I didn’t realize it then!) It has made me think maybe I’ll try to repost some of my Art of the Diet interviews and posts over the past five years on www.artofthediet.com so anyone hunkering down and trying to manage their food choices might have some practical as well as entertaining advice on a regular basis. So, I’ll try to figure out that whole “repost” process in the coming week.
- Here is another of those Google Architecture links that has all these places I have never heard of never mind visited. Honestly, it is amazing what we can do while at home and wired up.
- I am also trying to figure out how I can help others during this time because not only is kindness needed, it is something that makes me feel less like a victim. I can do stuff, like make arrangements to have my groceries delivered, (the first order arrives tomorrow and no, they don’t have toilet paper either) and so perhaps I can knock on my elderly neighbor’s door who has mobility issues just getting to the mail box and ask if I can help her grocery shop by adding her order to
mine? Yep, I think I’ll do that. Plus, I know of a young woman who is a principle caregiver to her grandmother and I think I’ll send her my “f-it” cafe apron because this girl is also known for her colorful language! Maybe I’ll send things in the mail to my no-school grand nieces and nephews that will make them laugh. My latest drawing was a self portrait and when I sent it to my niece she said, “Why did you draw yourself with a beard?” Um, I didn’t. That was my
turtleneck. So, I’ll report back and see if my good works department stays open during this period.
- All the public libraries are closed, of course, but my branch figured out a way to get the already ordered books to us! I got a call to say my book had come in and if I wanted it, they would leave it out on the bench in front of the locked door. I should come to the library and call the library and tell them I was there and someone would bring it out. Sure enough, out Jill came and put my book on the bench. “Hey, Pat, take care of yourself”, she waved, and went back inside!
What was the book? “Last things” by Jenny Offill. My final message to myself and you? We Shall Figure This Out. And, PS, Grammarly addressed me this week in their weekly summary of my writing “You’re Quite the Word Wonder” and then listed a few hundred reasons why their premium (paid) version is needed!
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
Carl Jung
Dammit.
You can read all the new blog posts here and can share this link with anyone you think might need some survival suggestions. If you are not subscribed but would like to be, click here.
I called one of my oldest friends in San Francisco last night who knew me in my early twenties. I had just heard that SF was suggesting everyone quarantine themselves. He has health problems already and was a committed bar hopper all his life whether he was drinking or not. He’s not a reader nor does he have a smart phone or a computer
so can’t use his downtime as I do. I told him I had just sewed a pencil skirt from fabric I had designed from my years of walking in parking lots from asphalt markings. He laughed so hard I thought I’d lost the connection. “Wait,” he said, “Stop right there.” His laughter now a simple rolling wave. “The image of you at a sewing machine may be enough entertainment to get me through this crisis.”
We evolve into different people over the years, apparently, so why stop now? See you next week.
Pat Coakley • I’ve been told I have ADHD of the Arts. Look,
gel markers are on sale at Michaels! Let’s color.
Links to My Other Stuff Below.
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