Fostering a new renaissance through creativity, authenticity, spirituality, and art
This website and daily blog have been going for a year! Thank you so much for your continued readership. It is fun journeying with you and I appreciate all your ongoing comments. Keep them coming! It seems appropriate to review some of the best posts from my blog of 2009, as we look forward to … Read more
Ever since I was little, I’ve loved a pithy quote. These are the ones I’ve been pondering and applying recently: “We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.” – The Talmud “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not … Read more
I brought my two homeschooling kids (12 and 15) for a weekend of classes at MIT Splash which is a wonderful program we would highly recommend. It is held at MIT every year on the weekend before Thanksgiving and this is our seventh year coming, as their older sister started coming in sixth grade. It … Read more
I really enjoyed these two sets of CD’s of a favorite NPR radio program, and give them 5 stars. These two CD sets showcase the 3 minute credos of famous people and everyday people alike. There are housewives, truckers, doctors, astronauts, gang members, mothers, teachers, young people, old people, believing in everything imaginable. There is … Read more
The parents were given the homework of reading Plato’s Apology, which is his account of Socrates’ defense at his trial. (Apologia in Greek means defense, not to say you are sorry…) The parents then, on Saturday morning of Parent’s Weekend had our own seminar on this reading to experience what it is like for our … Read more
It has been our role today to rejoice in our oldest child thriving in a rigorous college setting. She is happy, stimulated, challenged and exhausted. We are proud of her hard work and ongoing diligence to a demanding program. We sat in on her class today – a baffling discussion where no right answers were … Read more
I went to a talk by David Dunlop (see here) at a local library on how the eye perceives art. He has an Emmy award winning show on PBS which is in its 13th season. He is also a painter and teacher with DVD’s for sale on his site. (The above is one of his … Read more
My town has one of the largest celebrations of Halloween around. See the Bethel Pumpkin House YouTube videos here (toward the end) to see what the sight in the photographs below looks like at night when you don’t see the scaffolding or the wires and only the glowing faces. The party goes from dusk to … Read more
I enjoy twitter and from it over the last six months, I’ve collected the inspirational art quotes below. I’m sharing the list now as it is beginning to get cumbersomely long; now I’ll start gathering afresh. Thanks to ArtbyScott2010 who I do not know but who contributed many of these! And to find me on … Read more
I was inspired to invite my husband on an unusual walk today, where we both agreed in advance that we would not say one word for the entire walk. We are of a marriage of many words, maybe too many, given how wonderful this wordless walk was! Friends of mine with taciturn husbands often marvel … Read more
I have been contemplating rainbows recently, spurred by something I read in the Sentinel magazine (see here). As a physicist, I know that a rainbow does not exist “out there” but actually exists on the retina of the eye. You can never get to it or touch it, because that remarkable beauty you see is … Read more
A friend of mine used this title phrase in casual conversation last night, and I can’t even remember what she was referring to in the flood of connections I made the second I heard it. It resonated with me as the answer to art questions I had been getting as well as parenting advice I … Read more
I have some awesome friends. One of them is Judy Reilly. She was a fellow church member here for some time before moving to Vermont. I miss seeing her regularly! She is an amazing quilt artist. I love her quilt’s color and whimsey and insight. My three photographs on this post are of quilts of … Read more
I checked this book out so many times from the library, I finally bought it with one of my amazon credit card coupons. I’m so glad I did! I find this book very inspirational. Claire Harrigan’s paintings I think are stellar but her advise is just as good. You can see in the sneak preview … Read more
This is a great movie which I would strongly encourage everyone to see. I give it five stars. Not only is there important information shared but a real need for individual action afterwards on the part of the audience to remedy the situation. Consumers, like all of us, are the ones that will have to … Read more
When I bought this book in 2001, I read the preface describing his “spiritual healing” during medical intervention, and I put the book down. Now, years later, I picked it up and persevered past language about “energy” that was not phrased as I would say it, to embrace the true universal meaning the author was … Read more
I have started working on de-cluttering and streamlining my office which is one of my major goals for this year. Those that know me are skeptical. They are convinced of my inability to accomplish this, due to my lack of success in doing it in the past. My office is truly a disaster. It started … Read more