Roz Chast’s “Wonderland” describes the rabbit hole the internet can be, enticing us to follow the trail of astonishing treasures we never knew existed. In true Chastian fashion, she illustrates each discovery and their additive nature, shouting “I COULD NOT STOP LOOKING….”. Chast almost seems to be channeling Japanese de-cluttering philosopher Marie Kondo…
Read More‘You’ve got to Jump’ via Annie Dillard and Ray Bradbury
For years writer Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek“, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, shaped our thinking and way of seeing — observing — the world around us. With her new book ‘The Abundance“, she has entered our minds again and is actively in the zeitgeist; her original, quirky, daring view of life continues to surprise, resonate…
Read MoreShiny Mud Dumplings, Pies + Other Favorite Spring Recipes
(Video link here.) Friday is the day we usually publish a recipe, hoping that it will prove a delicious weekend activity for our readers. While we recommend your checking out the menu and recipe links for the birthday dinner we’ll be cooking for a friend (at bottom), we can think of no better Spring activity than making…
Read MoreArtist’s Studios with Sofas + Rest Spaces
Bored Panda’s slide show of 300 artist’s studios is illuminating on many accounts: it provides an edifying survey of art works in process, as well as a look into work styles and spaces, with a number of interesting home design ideas. Like Roy Lichtenstein, above, quite a few artists have a sofa or easy chair…
Read MoreThe Transformative Powers of Cheap Wigs
The extraordinary silvery wig above is $13.88 worth of identity experiment: a bargain. Having discovered that searching “wigs” at Amazon, yields an astonishing array of styles and colors, I bought the 32″ Long Curly Hair Lolita Custom Party Wig (Grey) to see what would happen if I went from brown to gray in a flash. I discovered way more.
Read More6000 Matches Burning: A Personal Virtual Fire Ritual
(Video link here.) When we saw this 6000 match chain reaction, we immediately flashed on the practice we’ve done a number of times: writing down something we’d like to be done with —say, a behavior, pattern, a grudge or the emotional charge around past hurts or difficulties — and then setting it afire until it…
Read MorePain-in-the-Ass Poetry Chain Letter: Our Guilt-Free Hack
After we received the same poetry chain letter from two different friends, we felt ourselves resentful and beleaguered by the work it took. But we love the idea of emailing poems to friends. So we created a guilt-free, no-obligation, joy-based email.
Read MoreMary Oliver: Taking Yes for an Answer
Mary Oliver’s Morning Poem starts our week with the recognition that it can be challenging to embrace even the simplest aspects of life that we ALL deserve. If we look around, we find that the goods were delivered despite our best efforts at self-sabotage. Brene Brown described it:
Read MoreHappy Easter! Joyous Spring!
Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs Made Simple
Two thoughtful contributors sent us info about making natural dyes to color your eggs for Easter or spring celebrations. It spurred us to hone a simplified method for naturally coloring glorious eggs, just in time for the Sunday hunt or gathering…
Read MoreA Solution for Paint-Crusted Moldings and Doors
Recently I skyped with a colleague who just moved into a prewar rental in Brooklyn; she asked me to see if I could come up with solutions to the various challenges imposed by the wonderful but imperfect and not-hers-to-renovate space. So we did a video tour of her space. (I hope show some before and after’s…
Read MoreWallace Stevens: Patron Saint of Creatives Held Captive by Work
We know many people who work hard at jobs they don’t love in order to pay for the lives or creative work they do. Our role model for how to do both kinds of work is the great poet Wallace Stevens, who was an insurance executive for much of his life; many of his greatest poems were written…
Read MoreYour Body is a Museum with Ancient Roots
(Video link here.) Vox’s compelling little video provides a fine bit of reflection for the morning: You don’t have to read high-brow research to find signs of our evolutionary history; you can see it in each of our bodies. Your body is a museum of natural history…(though they seemed to have missed the most wondrous…
Read MoreGutenTag’s Graphical Day Planner Inspired Our Own
We’ve tried numerous day/task planners in our quest for one that really works. We recently came across a graphical way to plan time that claims to liberate us from linear agendas and apps. The GutenTag Method features a clock face that you stamp into a notebook so you can graph you day around it. We found downsides and wonderful benefits once we started hacking the idea.
Read MoreWondrous Daisy with A Few Wise Words
This wondrous gif is a poem in itself. And we found some other illuminating fragments…
Read MoreMagic Peppers (Oven-Roasted Peppers with Many Flavors + Uses)
My favorite hors d’oeuvre is also a brilliant material for improvising; oven-roasted pepper slices are so easy, delicious and versatile I call them Magic Peppers. I learned the basic approach in Italy: brushing pepper slices with olive oil and roasting them at a high heat, with whatever flavorings I feel like, from slivers of garlic—and—anchovy…
Read MoreDoable Ideas from a Luxe Tuscan Home
New York Times’ T Magazine recently featured a tour the Tuscan home of Roberto Baciocchi’s, architect of Prada and La Perla stores. There are a wonderful slide show and video of the luxurious mashup of antiques, art and materials — including bark painstakingly harvested from 300-year-old pine trees —in a medieval-era tower that adjoins a mid-Renaissance…
Read MoreWhat if Age, Mood, or Worldview are Nothing but a Mind-Set?
What if Age is Nothing But a Mind-Set in The Sunday Times Magazine describes the astonishing results of Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer‘s studies into the way routines and mental habits determine our behavior. We are especially taken with Langer’s unique practice of mindfulness, achievable without meditation:
Read MoreTransformative Phone Diversion for Idle Time
Another utterly simple, surprising, transformative use of technology from digital product designer and consultant Bryan Landers:
Read MoreSublime Chaplin: Wise Words and a ‘Nonsense Song’
(Full video here). We laughed out loud when we saw this riff of Charlie Chaplin whose only prop was his baggy pants and his body. Laughing made us feel a whole lot better. As did Chaplin’s very wise words:
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