On Dreaming (#13)

A rather dark and bleak dream sequence that my unconscious conjured up early Sunday morning. Not for the extremely anxious types. The details that follow have more to do with the past and present instead of the future. I am not a prophet.

(Two eerie and frightening scenes from one of my favorite movies, The Time Machine, the 1960 version.)

A Movie Review (#1)

I was trying my hand at something different. Except, the same old managed to get in the way. So, this is more of an experiment. Well, really, a first draft. Hopefully, it will become something better. 

In the end, it is yet another window into my mind..

(I love this part of history, the stuff that went on more than we are led to believe--not just the tawdry subject matter itself, but how people captured it in stories and images. Here we have a work by John Collet, called the Unfortunate Discovery. The lady of the house walks in on her husband playing with the chambermaid. I love how the broom is placed. And apparently the book in his pocket is called "An Essay on Woman", which, according to Wikipedia, is a "... a pornographic poem dedicated to he courtesan Fanny Murray ... as a parody of Alexander Pope's 'An Essay on Man'.")

A Deep Breath (#2)

I wanted to say more in this post, but I figured, I should not push myself. Instead, I should accept what I have written in the time that I have allotted. Now that it is completed, I can get back to being laid back on this dreary Sunday afternoon.

I just have to remember to publish it at 10 pm. 

(This is Kiki from the movie Kiki's Delivery Service. This is how I envision my youngest daughter making her way through the neighborhood on her new "broom".)

 

A Brief Interlude (#18)

Currently, it is 9:19 on a bright, cold Sunday morning. Having avoided activity and exercise these past few days, I contemplated taking a walk. A bit of sunshine would have done me good, while the low temperatures would have invigorated my soul. With my daily chores completed--clearing the sink, feeding the cat, reading the news, medicating the cat--there is no urgent excuse to prevent me from taking that thirty minute journey through my neighborhood.

(A self portrait by an Ukrainian artist.)

A Brief Interlude (#17)

I did it! There was a moment when I considered putting it off. But, I pushed through the voice telling me to surrender. And now to do my chores.

(A Street in Venice by John Singer Sargent)

On Dreaming (#12)

Sigh. Once more, procrastination and lack of confidence strike again. What I want to say, I am unable to dredge up from my mind's depths. Instead, I am going to fall back on an old stand by of this blog. Well, not quite old, because it was the subject of last week's post. But definitely a regular topic, because this is now the twelfth iteration.

But to keep this habit alive, I must inject something, anything, into this blog. So here goes.

(Art by Albert Edelfelt. Not sure I came by this man's work. The first painting below caught my attention--click here or on the image to see more of his work. The Second one came from further searching through his work--I think she's smirking. I enjoyed sifting through a lot of his other works.)

On Dreaming (#11)

I almost didn't blog today. Not that it was a bad day. There were definitely good moments. But good times can still be exhausting. Especially when it involves travel and physical excursion. By 3 pm I was already in my pajamas. In fact, it took some effort to get the fireplace going, a traditional experience on Sundays during the winter. However, at some point, I told myself that after the evening chores were completed, I needed to sit down and produce something. Anything. After all, I skipped last week's post. Today's blogging will not be what I intended at the beginning of the week. Nor will it cover my reactions and reflections of current events that arose during the week. Instead, it will be whatever I manage to pluck forth from the maelstrom of thoughts churning in my brain at this very moment.

Here goes...

(I have an affinity for Van Gogh's works, especially his self portraits.)

My Reading Habit (Part 2)

I kept this one short today. Partly because I have only forty minutes before I have to start dinner. And partly because I am not ready to share what I have been feeling these past few days. Okay, also I procrastinated. There, I said it.

(Yes, there is reading, but also, there is something about their outfits: the color, the texture, and the way they flow. I found it listed on this interesting, and amusing, website.)

Revelations (Part 2)

Looking for inspiration for tonight's post, I scrolled through older ones, looking to see what I wrote around this time last year. Well, once again, divine providence--or sheer coincidence--steered me in the right direction. On January 10th, 2021, I uploaded my reactions to events that unfolded four days prior: the January Insurrection. It also included how people, thoughts, and events emerged in my life, intertwining and coalescing like eddies of insight at the right time and place. It has happened often to me. This past week, which harbored the one year anniversary of that shameful historic event, has been no exception. 

(Not sure why, but I was inspired to search through the work of Russian painters. Through Google, I discovered Ivan Vladimirov. But I also found Vladimir Makovsky. And I could not decide between these two paintings.)

A Deep Breath (#1)

I will keep this brief.*  This blog is closing in on its second anniversary--April 5, 2022 to be exact. In the beginning, its purpose was three fold: build a habit of writing regularly, recount some of my life choices, and share some of my inner thoughts. I wanted the blog to evolve eventually beyond personal stories. My intention was to expand into other topics. The weekly checkup and vegetable gardening posts were my first attempts. They ran for some time. However, other things took priority. Namely, my commitments to my daughters' dance studio. In addition, ignoring my garden for a year did not help. Finding myself distracted, I focused on publishing once a week.

* (Addendum: Sigh. It is not very brief.)

(Ah, Edna. I shared her in my first "Weekly Checkup". Art, particularly drawing, is something else I want to focus on this year.)