A trip to upstate New York. Hours spent in the rehab wing of a nursing home to visit my father in law. Thoughts about care: his, my sister’s. Unavoidably depressing.
The weekend also featured a 60th bday concert (for my brother in law, who’s in the band). Pretty amazing to get out on a Sat. night and well worth the effort. It was really fun.
More generally, drab weather has conspired with the news in maintaining a grim outlook. Day after grey day of clouds and rain and cold. Day after day of astonishingly bad news.
But! While sweeping out leaves and dirt from the garage on Sunday (because making decisions about STUFF was beyond me and because I needed a job with tangible results), I listened to a freakonomics podcast about the psychology of gratitude. Take away: we tend to notice headwinds more often and more readily than we notice tailwinds. So, notice the tailwinds. Interestingly enough, it’s not the same as cataloging things one is grateful for. Try it. The practice dovetails with attending to white privilege, if that’s something you’re thinking about.
And there was this, too: sitting next to my father in law in his wheel chair, watching the AHCA go down in flames (yeah!), knowing he hates Trump as much as I do (yeah!). And yesterday, there was the morale-boosting weekly teleconference call with my small Indivisible group. We offer each other accountability and support.
The free form appliqué experiment (“keeping to the original idea”) has turned surprisingly disappointing. Turning over the question, ‘why?’
I pinned up two little house quilts last night that may be reactionary. They offer straight lines and recognizable forms — pleasing, even if trite and familiar (or maybe because they’re trite, familiar?).
It’s all a process. I’m curious and engaged.
Could really use a day of sun.
I like the little houses! Maybe we need a sense of order and fun rather than chaos in the world now. I’ve been watching Mosul on the news, such sadness it brings me. Think I’ll go make a happy little house, Sue, Australia
Yes Sue. Finding pleasure where it presents itself. Apropos of disaster in the Middle East, I stood in a looooong slooooow grocery line (a pet peeve. Chatty people. People running back for forgotten items. Inefficient bagging. It all drives me nuts!). I found peace by saying: I don’t have to worry about this building being bombed. Wow. Did that shut up the inner critic. So many others do not have that luxury. What a luxury!
Ah, I like the houses so much. The colors are SO nice together.
Dreary here today, cold, the sun came out for just a moment when it first started to rain, go figure. Thundering now and more rain. I was so tired I got in bed at 730. Maybe it was being cold all day that did it. Thought I was too tired to stitch, but I got a second wind and am back in bed surrounded by fabric and thread!
I have been cold too! And it makes me tired. Been living under a heating pad. But a 7:30 bedtime sounds kinda nice.
I ended up stitching for hours…instead of sleeping! But it was nice to be in bed.
The Rosebud looks as if it was great fun. I like the houses, too. Because we are slammed almost daily with so much incredibly awful news, I’m grateful for the “ordinary” pleasures that come along.
We actually went to an Irish pub called “The Burren” the next block down. I really like ironing as a simple act of domestic pleasure, too.
Happy little houses, have me singing: “Little Boxes on the hillside…”
My brother-in-law was in a band too, drummer.
xo
Busy, engaged and some of it was fun. This is a fiune post but I’m too sick to respond creatively.
simply love your houses, always do
re feelings-of-all-kinds and how to respond, when feeling down I often ask self ‘what did you expect then?’ obviously more fun stuff than what’s happening, or maybe no actual thoughts just an assumption life would be good once I grew up, haha…..well it seems that just isn’t about to happen any time soon, sooooo what then?
as you mention,realizing how priviliged we are in our Western bubble of higher educated beings, especially as a woman (I did read an article the other day stating girls are now appreciated in many Asian countries where as before they were aborted!, restoring my hopes for humanity) and being white helps, although I suspect racism is far more invasive in Amercian society, or I am blind to our home-grown variety
at the same time I feel I cannot deny my emotions, nor deny yours’ as they feel real, making sense of a life is a challenge, sometimes downright shitty….and therefore also sometimes so incredibly uplifting, joyous and giving, not to mention an adventure, at times all it takes is a sunny day…………….. I’m not sure I have answers Dee, just random thoughts and I’m guessing we’re on the same page here
“By creating millions of networked people, financially exploited but with the whole of human intelligence one thumb-swipe away, info-capitalism has created a new agent of change in history: the educated and connected human being.”
it’s time to change the dominant paradigm
here’s a link from back in 2015 must read the book!
“Postcapitalism” by Paul Mason
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/17/postcapitalism-end-of-capitalism-begun?CMP=share_btn_link