100 happy days :: day 63

doesn't this look like about the most perfect little café? we were able to score some macaroons, but they were closing and there was no pot of tea for us. still a happy place, tho'.

taking a dose of my own medicine

from tuesday's vision wall brainstorm.

today i erased and brainstormed again, all by myself. it's an interesting process.
some of the same things came out and some new. 

i find it's helping me hone my thinking.

we're onto something with this vision wall thing.

and at last, this came. 

i ordered it like 3 weeks ago from the library and waited with increasing impatience.

the universe seems to be listening

you know how once you start thinking about something, it keeps popping up right there before you? that's what's happening with the concept of coworking for me at the moment. i also like the idea of global knowmad. what's interesting is that many of the people speaking in this piece seem to be foreigners who are apparently hanging out in oslo. i wonder what affect it's having on norwegian culture?

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it's a little unlike me to share a body-image link, but somehow this piece spoke to me.

and while i was on huff post,
this piece on being more mindful in the face of technology resonated as well.

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and then there was this on overcoming creative blocks.

i liked this quote:

Real creativity transcends time. If you are not producing work, then chances are you have fallen into the infinite space between the ticks of the clock where reality is created.

universe, are you listening?

what if it was possible to have a place where you could combine all of the things you want to do in your life? a place full of good energy, inspiring surroundings, nurturing, caring people. a creative place, where you could do business, come up with great ideas, learn new things and spend time with people who make you better at what you do and challenge you in a good way. and what if you could get a cup of really good coffee there? what if that place didn't exist, so you had to create it yourself? and what if there just happened to be a charming old train station building, standing empty, just waiting for you to make it awesome?

and what if it needed a whole lot of paint and elbow grease? would you do it? would you, on the theory that writing is the new praying, write it down here for all the world to see and hope that the universe is listening so that all of the pieces would fall into place to make it happen? would you dare to believe and do all that you could yourself to make it happen? even if people thought you were crazy?

exposed or concealed?

hol(e)y valentine's day!

these two little lovelies - the latest in my hol(e)y stones series are now in my shop.

lisa and i were discussing the felted stone thing not long ago. i had snatched up her cocoon stone as soon as it was listed (i was lucky) and even as i'm striving to expose my felted stones after swathing them in wool, i loved the notion that she had concealed beads within her stone for texture and to embrace the notion of something hiding within. concealment and exposure, those are notions to ponder. 

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Art-o-Mat is seriously cool.

and speaking of lisa, even cooler that her stones will be available there!

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and how much do i want a storytelling house in my yard?

and to host retreats for wild, awesome women?

what future for libraries?

i've spent some of my happiest, most productive hours in libraries over the years. the reg at the u of c, my friend's study carrel in the law library at the university of iowa. harper library at the u of c (an oasis between classes). the hayden library at arizona state. libraries are where i've read and written some of the best things i've read and written.

the hush. the hum of enormous heating (or air conditioning) systems. soft voices of librarians helping library patrons. the smell of books. wandering through the dark, slight mustiness of the stacks, looking for one thing and finding something else and something else and something else. sneaking in a cup of coffee. chuckling over arguments in the marginalia. i just love libraries, also my own collection of books, which is still mostly boxed up here in our home, awaiting remodeling (these photos are from the old house). but you know all that about me if you've been reading mpc for any length of time.

there's a lot of talk about the role of the library in denmark these days. our own little town is going to get a new combination library/culture house - where all kinds of activities will take place. increasingly, libraries are moving more digital - with islands of devices and digital lending of books, music and movies onto your own device. stacks of musty books will, probably within my lifetime, become a thing of the past.

i spend a lot of time at my local library (which is alive and well, even as we await decisions about location and arrangement of the new one). going there helps me concentrate and focus on my often solitary work. just as it always has. just being there, with my laptop, working, i have occasion to see the enormous variety of people who use the library. elderly people who come in everyday to read a selection of newspapers. young people asking help from the librarian for their research project (and here i thought people just googled everything these days - it's refreshing to know they don't). people looking for a bit of inspiration for something to crochet or cook. folks who come in to use the computers. and something called "citizen service" - which is a screen connection to municipal services (i don't know if they use skype or something else - but it's video conferencing with a real person (during certain hours) who answers questions) from a special screen at the library. but the librarians get a lot of questions of well - things i wouldn't have imagined were within their realm to have to know - tax questions, questions related to welfare benefits, etc. i guess what i'm trying to say is that the library is much more than just books these days. and that's only going to continue.

i'm going to teach a blogging course (i think two of them actually) at the library, starting in january - when i went in to ask yesterday about the possibility of doing that, they said yes immediately. they said that was precisely the kind of thing they wanted to support. there will also be more exhibitions and events in the new year. a whole fierce tribe of local, awesome, creative women are going to make art that tells each of our (because obviously i'm one of them) stories and it's going to be on display - so we will both create together and exhibit our creations together - all facilitated by the library. there are music events for and featuring children. an antiques expert comes one saturday per month and values people's treasures. there's a knitting club. and i've held some photo events for both children and adults. the library is so much more than books. it's a place for the community to come together - to share interests and to expand horizons. it's probably the place most responsible, at least where i live, for creating a sense of community.

but i can't help but think that i will still always love the hush. and the smell. and the feel of a physical book in my hands. even as libraries are changing, i hope there will always be at least a corner of actual books. i'm not really ready to let that go quite yet.

do you use your local library? what do you love about it?

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the s boards on pinterest: sawing logs b&b. shoe fetish. sinking. soup's on. soviet. sparkle. stashable. stitching (by far my most populated board, now if i'd just stitch something already). stones rock. styling. surreal.

fog brings clarity

i love a foggy morning. with the fog, there's a hush, a dampening of the noise of the world. out of the fog comes, most strangely, a kind of clarity. likely due to the stillness and the quiet - we finally breathe deeply and our heads clear in the silence. as i wandered the yard, taking these photos, only a few minutes ago, the only sound (other than the occasional crow of one of our many roosters), was the occasional plop of big drops falling from the trees. it brought such a feeling of calm over me.

i find my thoughts already turning to the end of the year and to the new year ahead, from what has been to what may yet be. looking towards what may be approaching out of the fog, but feeling quite unafraid of it, instead, looking forward with a tingle of excitement that comes of the stirrings of imagination as to what may be.

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slavoj zizek is a lunatic. he keeps his clothes in the kitchen cupboards.
(hmm, might be worth pondering why i feel that's a symptom of lunacy.)

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it was time someone said this about anthropologie. 

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the meeting i attended on wednesday (which, for the first time i can remember, has actually inspired me to think i have a novel in me and not just non-fiction) was well-reported in our local paper.  (only in danish, but if you can read it, you should). the best bit about it that you should know is that while brock is a name, if you leave out the c, it means both complain and hernia and that in pronunciation, the two words are indistinguishable. and if you only knew how very fitting that was in the context. there is a changing of the guard from old to young and it's painful for all concerned. don't you think that's a good underlying story for a novel?

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the e boards: Education (a shared board, work-related, hence the capital letter), environmentally conscious. ethnic. excess of eggs.

back to basics

i remember a time when i rushed to my blog to share every stray thought that excited me. or to share all of the good links i came across in the course of my day. things like this - the whole voynich manuscript, online and available for your perusal - maybe you'll be the one who cracks it!

but my blogging is diluted these days by other venues - primarily facebook, but also pinterest (for the pretties i used to share), google+ (where i put links to articles and websites that i want to find again - does anyone bookmark in a browser anymore?), twitter (for the quickie shares that reach a different audience than those i put on facebook). not to mention instagram (i'm julochka there too, look for me) (tho' i mostly post all my instagram photos to FB, twitter and flickr as well). it's all very diluted. and i think i don't want it to be. i want this to be the space which serves as repository of the things which interest me at a particular moment - my memory, if you will. i'm not sure when it changed or how or why, but it did. and i'm going back (well, not entirely, as i do like pinterest as a format - it's what i always wished flickr could be - a place to categorize and save pretty and inspiring images and be able to find them again). and speaking of flickr, is it dead yet? i use it only for my 365 project and as a place to easily retrieve instagram photos for use in blog posts. but i want my blog to be where i store my memories and my thinking and well, my brain. somehow i got away from that.

thoughts like these:

~ what if the voynich manuscript was just someone's art journal and they wrote it in a language of their own, so no one could read it?

~ is handwriting inherited? in my own handwriting i see shades of my dad's and my aunt's. is how i write (scrawl, scribble, whatever you want to call it) mandated there in the very architecture of my hand?

~ this is very interesting - niels peter flint on micro living:



i'm clearly not thinking big enough.

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and as for pinterest, i've decided to share some highlights here. i currently have 98 different boards on pinterest. here are the ones starting with a: art journal/collage and atmosphere. check them out, i guarantee you'll find pretty, inspiring things.

the coolest and fresh insanity

i forgot i had this shirt. i think i bought it ages ago in manila. i may have pretended it was for husband, but really, it was for me. and i by no means mean to make fun of people with a psychiatric diagnosis - but i think that we could all use a bit of insanity in our lives. a bit of the good kind - not the madness that has become politics and the financial sector.

the kind that makes you dare to go for something you really want, but which to others seems impossible. the kind that sends you out on a limb. the kind where you are scared, but you do it anyway. the kind that makes your heart race and makes you a little dizzy to think of your own bravery.

i'm working on that. are you?

checking in

whoa! where did a whole week go?  i've been flying and visiting (and talking politics) and visiting (and drinking gin) some more and laughing and baking in 107°F/41°C temperatures.

we got to spend a little bit of time at the farm on st. mathias, near brainerd, minnesota. they were holding a celtic festival last saturday. the fabulous lisa of lil fish studios was demonstrating needle felting at the event, which also featured sheep-shearing, spinning, irish music, a guy who was forging swords (the vikings could totally have taken those celts) and wonderful organic, locally-produced food. it was so inspiring. i definitely want to stage a viking version at our place one day.

we also fell in love with a kitten and may have brought her home and are getting the health papers and ticket arranged so we can take her home to denmark. we can't seem to find the right name for her. every name we suggest, she shakes her head and vetoes it. if any names come to mind, please do let me know in the comments.  she's absolutely adorable.

lisa demonstrated how to make her little sheep and you can buy a kit and make your own if you'd like one. i got to help her pack the kits, so i can vouch for how awesome they are! they come with everything you need - wool, beads for eyes and felting needles and all!

and now we're off to go find a cool spot at the river. hope you're all having a fabulous summer.