archaeologists of the everyday

each day, as millions of bloggers sit down to compose the day's post, we dig into our experiences and often, our photo libraries. why do we do it? out of a desire to share? to connect with others? to show off? to get something off our chests? to keep those nigglings of insanity at bay? to construct an album of a life? an everyday life?  russian has a word for that everyday life - byt' - which somehow carries more meaning - it captures something of the underlying sorrow of the quotidian sameness of the everyday. and also the kitsch that it contains. and the poshlust - which nabokov called "petty evil or self-satisfied vulgarity." because there is some kind of narcissistic self-satisfaction in all of this blogging and all of the pretty pictures shared on flickr.

we are such a NOW kind of culture - i say as if there is but one culture. but i guess i mean the culture of the interwebs. we want to share things as they happen - works in progress, often unfinished. we can hardly wait to share. me, i seldom use photos that are more than a couple of days old - i have a need for the documentation to be of now. we do 365 photo projects, where we document every day. and while i'm grateful for the project, as a repository of my memories, there isn't something worth documenting every day. some days, it's just a box of vegetables from the garden or some walnut (or pecan) honey. because not every day is filled with exciting events. these traces we leave of our everyday...what do they mean? and what will they mean to future analysts? are they worth analyzing at all? or are they just byt' in all its glory.  what, if anything, is all of this doing to art and literature?

heavy questions for a friday. but i'm grateful to dubravka ugresic's museum of unconditional surrender for getting me thinking again. (and sorry that i can't seem to produce the right diacritics on my keyboard to spell her name correctly.)

wednesday musings or seven random things

1.  many mornings, when i step outside, edie brickell's song picture perfect morning runs through my head unbidden. the light, no matter what time of year, is spectacular and somehow unique and singular. this morning, filled with a cold, steady rain, was not one of those mornings. as you may imagine, this photo is not from today.

2.  one of my favorite things is to hear husband talking to the cats when he thinks no one is listening.

3.  the new issue of *joie* is out. it's a gorgeous online magazine by indiefixx and lisa and i wrote a story about foraging for it. get a fresh cup of coffee or tea and enjoy it. the whole issue is just lush and gorgeous.

4.  one of husband's favorite things is to reread john seymour's classic complete book of self-sufficiency (the version from the 70s, with those wonderful 70s illustrations). he reads it over and over again. with a cup of tea, in the big armchair in the living room. he learns something new every time.

5.  me, i'm reading dubravka ugresic's museum of unconditional surrender. (hence the numbered paragraphs, it's a stylistic device of hers.) amazon just helpfully informed me that i purchased the book august 3, 2004. i do love that about amazon, even if it is a bit big brotheresque.

6.  speaking of the 70s, husband announced yesterday that he has a crush on them (he was reading john seymour at the time). he feels like it was the last time anyone truly believed in anything. tho' he admitted he wasn't ready to embrace bellbottoms and a granny square vest. there was an earnest innocence to the 70s that i think he feels nostalgic for. me, i just really like orange and yellow.

7.  is it just me, or are those blythe dolls that seem to be everywhere on flickr really friggin' scary? people not only sew for them, but make them new hair! actually, i think dolls in general sorta skeeve me out. (see what i mean about being out of touch with the latest cool phrases? i'm so 90s.)

stop harshing my mellow

i read that phrase - harshing my mellow - the other day on facebook and it's totally stuck in my head. one consequence of living outside your native language is losing touch with what all of the cool kids are saying.

but i get it, i get that phrase. my mellow has been harshed a bit of late. and i'd just really like it back, please.

this basket of meaningful stones normally sits on the shelf beside my desk, tho' i've moved it to my standard windowsill scale for its photoshoot. it's raining and wildly windy outside today. and dark. but as always, these stones help me get back my mellow - they're calming and soothing somehow. except when people pile papers and books and assorted lint (and screws) from their pockets on them. people who shall remain nameless, but who may or may not have been formerly known as the keeper. that totally harshes my mellow all over again.

i suppose the prime thing that can harsh one's mellow is one's own expectations. when we expect things...behaviors, levels of intelligence, stuff to make sense - we can only be disappointed. because people will never behave as you expect, nor be as smart as you'd like, and the world will ultimately never make sense.

save the drama for your mama

i realized something tonight, once and for all. it's pretty much over for me with pretend, made-up drama. i don't want it in my life anymore. whether it's of the corporate variety or of the local. i love a dramatically-told story, don't get me wrong, but i'm thinking of the kind of drama where people get all worked up over something that's really not important and which doesn't actually exist except in their own head (usually because they're not listening). i'm done with that kind. this evening, i had occasion to observe some drama of that sort and i found myself physically backing away from it. slowly, but surely moving my chair back to physically remove myself from the scene. it was uncomfortable for everyone concerned - participants and observers. and totally unnecessary. pettiness and condescension with overtones of sexism and a bit of martyrdom thrown in. it makes me shudder now, just thinking about it. life is simply too short.

*  *  *

so onto more positive things:

like these thoughts on my film swap with shokoofeh

and pressing our first cider.

and sweet bobbaloos with mushrooms from minnesota.

and the fact that monday is almost over.

what the weekend brought...

it feels like all of that work in the garden is starting to pay off at last.

the weekend brought the first test of the cider press (more about that tomorrow over here - i have 138 photos to sort before i can write) and meals consisting of nearly only things from the garden (reminder to self: must plant a bacon plant next year).

it also brought spontaneous guests, deep philosophical conversations about the meaning of life and two more wine balloons bought for a song on den blå avis (our version of craig's list). it brought a bunny photo shoot and phrases to memorize the dressage arena (A Fat Black Mama Cat Has Eight Kittens). it brought a walk in the woods looking for mushrooms.

it also brought a run-in with a nasty, mean hawthorne branch (lest you think it was all fabulousness). but mostly, there was a lot of laughter, relaxing and enjoying being together, even while we did mundane things like clean the bunny cages.

another busy week awaits, but we're refreshed, renewed and ready for it.

magical mushrooms

it's mushroom season. the forest floor is carpeted with a huge variety. i lament my slim knowledge of mushrooms again and again. i need a mushroom mentor. i know that the red ones are beautiful, but will make you quite sick, yet still i'm utterly charmed by them. 

yesterday, i found a nice patch of chanterelles, which i made for dinner (but neglected to properly photograph, other than with instagram). that little yellow one is plentiful and delicious -a yellow swamp brittlegill. the bottom one, i want to know more about...it somehow seems like pure mushroom perfection...velvety, perfectly shaped, the very picture of how a mushroom should be. i wish someone would invent a mushroom identifying app. because i would totally use that.

if anyone knows what any of these are called, please let me know!! (i know red ones are amanitas.)

happy weekend!

our first jacabob - patoot and our latest - pogwell, showing off a very small portion of the chanterelles i found today. finding dinner rocks.

wishing you all a wonderful weekend!