mourningdove

Winter Harvest

No, this is all of it…. And those carrots are about 3 inches long. I can’t blame this on the RBQ, so I think it’s official that I’m a terrible gardener 🤣

A friend and I were talking the other day about the word “lazy” and all the baggage it had in our families of origin. We were both from families that equated *doing* something all the time with virtue. We talked about the difference between resting and feeling unmotivated or exhausted. We talked about the differenceContinue reading “Laziness and Efficiency”

Upcycled Red Carpet Scarf

I can’t even remember which awards show it was last year, maybe the Oscars? But the New York Times (I think) ran a red-carpet slide show that sorted the looks by color and then put them in a gradient that started with black and went through gray to white, then did the metallics starting withContinue reading “Upcycled Red Carpet Scarf”

Ceramics Saturdays: John Almeda

You can’t tell from this image, but these pots are TINY. The bowl on the left is just big enough for the tip of my thumb to fit into and as thin as an eggshell. And John Almeda throws them en plein air on a tiny portable wheel the size of a big poker chip.Continue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: John Almeda”

Friday Favorites: “Foodly” Clean-up

Hope you’re not reading this week’s list hungry! I’ve wanted this for so many years: How to scale cake recipes for any size pan from the redoubtable Stella Parks. Also, the Serious Eats guide that taught me at least a few of my Unauthorized Uses for the microwave. This is a priceless project: an onlineContinue reading “Friday Favorites: “Foodly” Clean-up”

Letter of Recommendation: David Byrne’s Reasons to Be Cheerful

You’d be forgiven for thinking the world was going to hell in a handbasket–even if you just stick to mainstream news. That’s why David Byrne’s (yes, that David Byrne) Reasons to Be Cheerful newsletter really hit the spot for me. It’s all stories about really amazing things that people are doing around the world toContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: David Byrne’s Reasons to Be Cheerful”

The Philosophy of Packing

I really admire people who have put in their 10,000+ hours to become expert at some particular craft or art. I am not those people. My friend Jen and I were just talking about this last night–how we’re both too interested in too many things to dedicate the time it takes to become really expertContinue reading “The Philosophy of Packing”

Other People’s Lives

I came across something the other day that reminded me of a time about 12 years ago or so that I briefly cyber-stalked this couple who ran adventure biking tours in the Himalayas. Well, cyber-stalked is an exaggeration, but I did end up spending literally hours Googling to find out what had happened to them,Continue reading “Other People’s Lives”

Aikido and Rhetoric: Emptiness

If you have notLinked yourselfTo true emptiness,You will never understandThe Art of Peace. Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace This one of you, O human beings, is wisest, who, like Socrates, recognizes that he is in truth of no account in respect to wisdom. Plato, Apology As martial arts aimed at resolving conflict, both aikidoContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: Emptiness”

Ceramics Saturdays: Picasso

I’ve never been a fan of Picasso’s paintings, certainly not of his treatment of women, but I surprised myself by finding his ceramics utterly charming when I first encountered them in the Albertina in Vienna several years ago (where I took the picture of the goat dish above). They’re joyful, whimsical even, but paradoxically spareContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Picasso”