Lightly Child, Lightly.

My paintings have neither object nor space nor line nor anything – no forms. They are light, lightness, about merging, about formlessness, breaking down form. You wouldn’t think of form by the ocean. You can go in if you don’t encounter anything. A world without objects, without interruption, making a work without interruption or obstacle. It is to accept the necessity of the simple direct going into a field of vision as you would cross an empty beach to look at the ocean.

Agnes Martin, Agnes Martin: Writings


Notes:

  • Photo: Daybreak. March 18, 2023. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. More photos from this morning’s walk here.
  • Quote. Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

Life is soupy, mixed up, and tumultuous. Muddying the waters is precisely the point because it’s from such nutritious streams that life grows…

[KP: How would you start to answer this vast question of what it means to be human? Perhaps, how has that evolved how you might start to answer that question?]

What it is to be human is such a small thing…in this universe, right? Just try to be nice, be kind babies, be kind. As Vonnegut wrote. That’s the only guide. Try to be good and try to do the least harm and be kind. That’s the only human bit. But what it means to be more-than-human, that’s something else. That’s the bigger question, I think, for me is what it means to transcend that narrow frequency of being human in this time here to perhaps partake of something far greater, something more-than-human. That is actually the more deep or meaningful connection to everything around us…

Every time we train our most sophisticated tools upon the central questions of our existence – Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? – the answer comes back clearer: Everyone and Everywhere…

—  James Bridle, excerpts from “The Intelligence Singing All Around Us,” an interview with Krista Tippett. Onbeing, March 2, 2023.


Notes: Portrait: Quantum

Read it.

Take a moment for yourself…Every day. A Moment. A moment where YOU are your own priority. Just you… Not your work…not your filthy house, not anything. Just you…. Whatever you need, whatever you want, whatever you seek, reconnect with it in that moment…Then recommit…

On the other hand, wasn’t that the very definition of life? Constant adaptations brought about by a series of never-ending mistakes? ….

And as humans, we’re by-products of our upbringings, victims of our lackluster educational systems, and choosers of our behaviors. In short, the reduction of women to something less than men, and the elevation of men to something more than women, is not biological: it’s cultural. And it starts with two words: pink and blue. Everything skyrockets out of control from there…

Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel (Doubleday, April 5, 2022)

Lightly Child, Lightly

Even now,
decades after,
I wash my face with cold water –

Not for discipline,
nor memory,
nor the icy, awakening slap,

but to practice
choosing
to make the unwanted wanted.

—  Jane Hirshfield, “A Cedary Fragrance

I’ve written many, many poems out of the need to find a way to say yes to what I would, at first, rather say no to. Because our whole lives consist of such moments. Many things will happen to us that we would prefer not. We would prefer our loved ones don’t die. I would prefer the world were more sensible and kind and compassionate. I would prefer there not to be forest fires of such extraordinary devastation as we’ve been having, or fill in the blank.

But a human life requires all of these things. And so to every day begin the day with this simple affirmation of “I will make the unwanted wanted” has been a practice of decades for me now.

Jane Hirshfield, from an Interview with Ezra Klein in The New York Times, March 3, 2023


Notes:

  • Portrait of Jane Hirshfield by Nick Rozsa in The Marginalian
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.

Nostalgia

I have a great deal of nostalgia for Wigton. I had a very rich childhood in everything that mattered. I liked being able to knock on friends’ doors to ask if they were coming out to play. Looking back, I seem to have spent an awful lot of time playing. Wigton gave me a sense of friendliness towards everybody. You just nodded to people and said hello. That ease was helpful.

Melvyn Bragg, from ‘At 83, time goes round too quickly’, in an interview by Kate Kellaway in the ’The Guardian · March 4, 2023

Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

He picks up on three themes: first, that mastery is the “slow carpentering of fragments into a harmonious whole”. The expert creates the illusion of something unified by learning each tiny step – whether those steps are the small melodic ideas of a jazz pianist or the rhythmic pattern of a boxer’s jabs.

Second, mastery is about humanity, not perfection. “We never really love an artist’s virtuosity, or if we do, it feels empty,” Gopnik writes. “We love their vibrato, their … way of entangling their learned virtuosity within their unique vulnerability.”

Third, it’s not about “life rules, but real lives”. Gopnik thinks mastery can be found everywhere, from his mother’s kitchen to his driving teacher’s car. “We always overestimate the space between very good and uniquely good,” Gopnik says: we know the names of the Michael Jordans and the Leonardos, but there are countless people who are nearly, if not quite equally, brilliant. And even if most of us won’t become household names, “we are all more varied and capable than we are often allowed to seem”.

— Matthew Cantor, from “The Real Work: On The Mystery of Mastery” by Adam Gopnik book review – the art of expertise” (The Guardian, March 4, 2023)


Notes:

Watch it…


Thank you Sawsan…

Wally’s Great Adventures (51)

Wally’s Great Adventures (51) hello friends, wally here. mom went to run errands so i was helping dad work. i figured if i could stare at dad long enough maybe he would get off the phone and play with me. he told me if i was good for 20 minutes, just 20 minutes, he would give me some treats. 20 minutes is like forever. so while i waited for dad to get off his stoopid call i decided to chew on the black stringy cords, and that made dad very unhappy, and he told me to stop that. i then decided to check out the back of dad’s desk, i put my paw on top of something dad calls a home-pod, which then turned on loud blaring music, and dad whispered to me, ‘wally, i’m begging you, please stop.’ then i banged my head on the big screen, and started chewing on the corner of the computer tv, and dad’s eyes went bug-eyed and he said ‘that was that, i had to get down, and i was a super bad boy.’ just then mom came home, i was so happy to see mom because working with dad was no fun at all! have a good evening everyone. Wally.

Wally’s Great Adventures (50 – ‘let it snow’ – VOLUME UP)

 

Wally’s Great Adventures (50 – ‘snow day!’ – VOLUME UP) hello friends, wally here. i woke up this morning to see the world painted white. amazing! magic! like cottonballs all over. dad came back from his walk and i helped mom and dad clean the driveway. mom said that i was an excellent helper. dad smirked and looked at me and said ‘what are you doing?’ ‘what do you mean dad?’ ‘what are doing walking on your tippy-toes, and shivering like a little kitten? do you know you are canadian?” and dad told me that while i’m sharing my Great Adventure stories across the internet, to tell all you nice ladies out there he had nothing to do with me going out without my coat on. i told mom that i love her but i hate those stupid itchy jackets and i won’t put them on. and after all that fresh air and running on and eating the cotton balls, i took the world’s longest nap. so good. have a good evening everyone. Wally

Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

I do not live happily or comfortably
with the cleverness of our times.
The talk is all about computers,
the news is all about bombs and blood.
This morning, in the fresh field,
I came upon a hidden nest.
It held four warm, speckled eggs.
I touched them.
Then went away softly,
having felt something more wonderful
Than all the electricity of New York City.

—  Mary Oliver, “With Thanks to the Field Sparrow, Whose Voice is So Delicate and Humble” in “Evidence: Poems


Notes:

  • We’ll ignore the consequences of touching/picking up bird eggs from a nest… 🙂
  • Poem: Thank you Make Believe Boutique
  • Photo: Eva Bronzini via Pexels

Wally’s Great Adventures (49 – ‘yakety yak’ – volume up)

 

Wally’s Great Adventures (49 – ‘yakety yak’ – VOLUME UP) hello friends, wally here. mom bought me a yak cheese bone that she said came from Nepal, wherever that is. dad overheard that and said what? you paid how much for what from where? mom asked dad if he was hard of hearing, and repeated that it was a yak cheese bone from Nepal. dad said it might be a cheese bone, but there’s zero chance it’s coming from a yak or from Nepal, and likely coming from some con man milking goats in new jersey. i didn’t know what all that meant but this man from New Jersey makes great cheese bones. tgif everyone. Wally

Tuesday Morning Wake-Up Call

You know what, explain this to me. We live with miracles at our fingertips. We fly to the stars. We split atoms. We’ve got robots taking out the trash. Why, are we all still waiting, to live our dreams? Well, there’s a technical term for that in my business, that’s called a shit deal. Our best days are piling up in the rear view, and that hope, it keeps us going, it’s wearing down to the bone. Some of us are losing people we love. And just like that, any day now, that turns into too late. Gone forever. Because every day we’re not living for now, right now, we’re waiting around dying, one empty promise at a time. I’m not waiting around anymore God damn it. Neither should you. The time is NOW. And regret is a killer worse than death.

— Jack Billings (Billy Crudup), Hello Tomorrow! (S1:E1 – Your Brighter Tomorrow, Today. AppleTV+ Original)

Wally’s Great Adventures (48 – ‘mission not impossible’)

(VOLUME UP on VID). hello friends, wally here. all week i’ve been watching dad give sully a peanut butter snack, and what do i get, absolutely nothing. my 10 kazillion smell receptors go wild for that peanut oil smell but dad said no treats until i shape up, and get on the road to show quality, and at the pace i’m going that could be years from now, with my lack of discipline and mom, the world’s biggest softie. that wasn’t nice at all so i barked at dad, and when he left to go upstairs i decided to take matters into my own paws, and i reefed on the towel that was inside sully’s crate, dragged it out, and licked the tiny little morsels of peanut smear that sully left on the towel. i have to say it tasted so good, that little bitty amount of peanut butter, and next time to show dad, i’ll drag that entire crate around the house until i can flip it open on its back…desperate times call for desperate measures. happy monday everyone. yours truly, your peanut-butter-yearning Wally.

Wally’s Great Adventures (47 – ‘learning to fly’)

hello friends, wally here. BIG DAY. BIG. as you know, today dad was on a mission to execute his show-quality-training regimen, whatever that means. dad said we couldn’t take naps or horse around eating sticks and scat, and we wouldn’t be running and hiding behind mommy, this was serious business. dad also said absolutely no tennis balls for sully, at which point sully fell to the ground, rolled on his back and wailed like a baby. mom yelled at dad and said that he wasn’t training, he was bribing, and he’s drained most of the dog food. anywho, you just have to see dad’s last training session. (VOLUME UP ON THE SLO-MO VIDEO.) this was my first ever jump up to the ottoman unassisted by mom or dad. dad is best show-quality-trainer ever. mom said sully and i did an amazing job, and dad just looked like a giant walrus. good one mom! have a great weekend everyone. Wally.

Where there is no democracy there is bound to be more human suffering.

There is a correlation between the lack of democracy in a country and the level of destruction left in the wake of natural disasters. In a functioning democracy, those in power can be held accountable, a system of checks and balances will control spending and the public will be informed of every step. Where there is no democracy there is bound to be more human suffering.

The state also failed to carry out swift, systemic emergency rescue efforts. In many parts of the disaster zone, people were left to their own devices, trying to save their loved ones with their bare hands, digging through rubble with whatever they could muster. Some of them could hear voices from under the ruins and experienced the immense pain and trauma of not being able to help their families and friends. A father sat for hours holding the hand of his dead daughter, only her arm showing through the concrete. For impossibly long hours no official help arrived in cities such as Hatay. People trapped under demolished buildings sent tweets giving their location, begging for help. It is mind-blowing that the next day access to Twitter was blocked, at a time when every minute was critical to save lives.

Elif Shafak, from “Erdoğan, the earthquake and the failings in my homeland.” The writer Elif Shafak on a natural disaster compounded by man-made greed and corruption. (FT.com, February 10, 2023)


Notes: Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels)

Wally’s Great Adventures (46)

hello friends, wally here. my new winter coat arrived today, just in time for the cold snap. check out my fancy yellow jacket, dad said that all the girls will swoon over me, la de da, he said. dad took the shot, just b4 we went for our walk, and he called sully and me The Blues Brothers… “everybody needs somebody to love…I need you you you…I need you you you…I need you you YOU…” wow, happy dad. freeze this dad moment. TGIF everyone. Wally.

Wally’s Great Adventures (45)

hello friends, wally here. long day. got a lot done. electrician came to fix the internet, dad begins to get the shakes if wifi cuts out for even 10 seconds. i was helping the nice man who had lot’s of cool tools, i chewed on his leather tool bag and the bottom of his jeans, while sully was going mental barking at the neighbor dogs out for a walk. mom took sully and me to the park, i walked the whole way by mysself keeping up with sully, and i told dad that mom called me something special, which made me feel good. dad laughed and said everybody is special to mom, she’s mostly a saint except when it came to dad as she rides him mercilessly, and she won’t let him get a kitten, a little bitty kitten. i didn’t get that at all, because mom is so nice, and a kitten would be nice. anywho, between the long walk with sully, wrestling with sully all day long and watching spaz sully chasing tennis balls in the back yard, i’m like totally exhausted.  dad has a day off tomorrow, sully is already amped up about chasing the tennis ball for 8 hours straight, and dad said he will spend all day tomorrow whipping me into show-quality shape. i can’t wait! good night everyone. Wally.

Lightly Child, Lightly.

 
You know how every once in a while you do something and the little voice inside says, “There. That’s it. That’s why you’re here.” …and you get a warm glow in your heart because you know it’s true? Do more of that.
 
Jacob Nordby, author of The Creative Cure: How Finding and Freeing Your Inner Artist Can Heal Your Life (Hierophant Publishing, February 16, 2021)

Note:

  • Photo: DK @ Daybreak. Come fly with me. 6:41am, 46° F. February 16, 2023. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT.  More pictures from this morning’s walk here.
  • Quote: Thank you Make Believe Boutique
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

Wally’s Great Adventures (44)

hello friends, wally here. my big bro sully is visiting this week. let the good times roll. dad says its a good damn thing he loves sully so much or rachel wouldn’t be so quick to dump him at this no-charge high end kennel service and run. dad says rachel does share such nice photos on instagram from the beach in naples while mom and dad are at home up north wiping sully’s a** after he poops. i can’t tell if dad is really irritated from wiping sully’s a** or irritation is just his normal state. anywho, during training today mom explained that today was valentine’s day so i have been giving sully kisses all day. (see great photo mom took of me giving him smooches) i’m really good at giving sully kisses and cleaning up his juicy saliva drips. i do wonder if sully is irritated all the time just with me or its because he hangs around dad so much. dad said I really shouldn’t be kissing my brother, he said it’s something bad like in-pressed or in-chest. and then he said that while it’s ok to be kissing boys, i should really try kissing girls instead, not like mom or rachel, but girl puppies. i told dad that there were so many rules, can’t kiss my brother, better to kiss girls but it would be ok if i kissed boys sort-of-like, but girls would be nice, but not mom and rachel. i was so confused, so i told dad i’ll do my best but he should line up some girl pups and let me go at it. during training today, mom explained to me what hump day was, i didn’t really get the problem with it. later when sully, dad and i were playing, dad said he never saw anything like it, describing me having a sick obsession with sticking my wee wee in any part of sully that moved. i barked at dad and said that wasn’t nice, and told him i was just training up for when he brings the girl pups over. otherwise, it was just such an awesome day today to be alive and spending time with my best big bro sully. have a good evening everyone. i need to rest up for tomorrow! it’s HUMP DAY! Wally.

Watch it!


Notes:

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