Just about fainted when I opened the bill from the cleaners: The total was $4,178.50. This is for cleaning all of the textiles that were covered with debris when the tree fell on our house. The tree punched five holes in the roof, including several on the main floor and a big one in our bedroom … read more Taken to the cleaners
Month: September 2016
Kandinsky on materialism
Feeling deprived of spirit and art, I started the morning by re-reading Wassily Kandinsky’s “Concerning the Spiritual in Art.” That got my day going right. One of the quotes I highlighted: Our minds, which are even now only just awakening after years of materialism, are infected with the despair of unbelief, of lack of purpose and … read more Kandinsky on materialism
Rainy day spirits
It’s just crumpled plastic wrap. It’s sitting there in the trash can in big wads. I took a quick snapshot of the plastic wrap to illustrate my post about unwrapping. But the light in the office is good – subdued, cloudy, coming through the windows and skylights in filtered soft grey because the rain is pouring … read more Rainy day spirits
Unwrapped
Once I got a mud wrap at a spa. Two people slathered a slippery brown mud mixed with herbs all over my body, and then wrapped me in cellophane. After that, they swaddled me in a cotton sheet. I figured that was for pure aesthetics rather than any therapeutic reason, because who could relax when … read more Unwrapped
Lofty ideas
My new office is uplifting. Today I was up lifting boxes of files. And down carrying empty boxes. I’ve claimed the loft in our rental house for my office – and what an office it is. A skylight illuminates the room and frames blue sky with the highest tips of leafy branches. To my right, a … read more Lofty ideas
Whatever makes you happy
I got a free therapy session, courtesy of a fellow caregiver. He wrote, My counselor asked me last night, “what makes you unhappy?” I was struck by that. I struggled to find something that made me unhappy. I started to blame (my ill spouse) for not taking care of herself, to justify my unhappiness. But … read more Whatever makes you happy
The woman with the dirty T-shirt
She wavered at the car and the crosswalk, not exactly weaving but not quite steady either. Her hair was six ways to Christmas, unbrushed; her skin was blotchy and eyes baggy without makeup. Her shorts were too short for a 50-something woman out in public, her T-shirt was stained and crumpled. It seemed she hadn’t … read more The woman with the dirty T-shirt
Cement truck
On our drive from the mountains to Atlanta, there’s a 10-mile road that has no opportunities for passing other cars. It’s too curvy, too many blind spots. It never fails: In a hurry to get to Atlanta, appointment that we’re trying to make on time – on this road, we will get stuck behind a … read more Cement truck
Shifting light frames
The sky has been strange lately, like it can’t make up its mind. Rain, or not rain? Clouds move in and out, the light changes, but no rain. This kind of light, though, frames single objects in a particular way that makes it easier to see beauty. Today I was hiking along a lovely and … read more Shifting light frames
Flying, falling
The smoke poured in from the hallways. The fire below raged like a huge demon. They could die of smoke inhalation. They could die in the flames. They could die when the floor collapsed under their feet. Or they could be free. They made a choice. Perhaps for some there was a wild glimmer of … read more Flying, falling