Loose Leaf Notes

1. When the Japanese mend broken objects, they fill the damaged parts with gold. They believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.  See an example HERE.

2. I love that Ethan Estess spent four months building sculptures using only San Francisco’s garbage. My favorite was a piece called “Resilience,” a found globe that was mounted on a pedestal with a drum pedal that when pressed caused the globe to wobble but not fall.  

3. Howard Stern practices TM (Transcendental Meditation).  So does Jerry Seinfeld, Clint Eastwood, Russell Brand, Sheryl Crow and the whole of Harpo Studio. 

4. When we were kids we believed we were made to be angels / and the wing bones on our backs were proof / We propelled ourselves in dreams about flying / but let no leg hang over the bed  … Read this poem, Flying Dreams, in its entirety HERE.

5. At a dinner party Joe and I went to on Sunday I kept having the strange feeling that I left a curler on top of my head.

6. A few weeks before poet William Stafford’s death in 1993, the Portland Poetry Festival honored him. One speaker after another showered him with praise, and afterward his wife asked him how he handled it. “Oh, I don’t inhale,” Stafford answered.  

7. What’s the difference between faded glory and old glory?

8. It seems that I remember whole days when we would walk on furniture because we had decided that the floor was water, and if we fell in we would surely drown or maybe be eaten by sharks.  Jim had cars made of clay with wax paper on their bottoms, which would make them zoom across the kitchen table when he gave them a push.  Dan, who only ate cucumber sandwiches back then, played outside with his best friend, Robert.  We had elaborate ways to tease each other, like when Kathy typed a formal-looking document and tried to convince me with it that I was adopted, or when I scared Sherry with an invented devil that I named “Beggorah” and left notes from him under her pillow.  We made paste from flour and water, and beauty potions at the bathroom sink.  We wore sweaters on our heads for long hair and bath towels for skirts, playing “teenagers,” or we looked at the Sears catalog for hours making imaginary orders.  ~ From The Jim and Dan Stories

9. I’ve been reading about TM Town in Fairfield Iowa where 1/3 of the population there meditates. HERE are some of my own connections to TM and other forms of meditation.

10. I’d prefer to be thought of as an oldie but goldie in my old age, rather than a faded glory, which is the brand of underwear I wear. I’ll try not to read too much into that.

 11. Today’s “I’m toast” is yesterday’s “I’m dead meat” and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  The peonies above drew me in even more after their petals dropped.

12. Gold and silver and precious gems are not usually found laying around on the surface of the earth.  It’s the same with us, we have to excavate our own treasure, down through the door of our childhood, through the pain of what hurts, into the grief of our losses.  Life nudges us to go deeper because to live only on the surface is superficial.  There’s so much more.  ~ From The Jim and Dan Stories

 13. There is no “Happily Ever After” because life is a bittersweet balance that we have to choose to be happy about.

_____________Thirteen Thursday