Accumulation

It has been a little more than a year since I returned from Rhode Island. I am fully aware that I was barely there long enough to breathe it in, but it has been the event that I refer to most frequently when I want to mark the passing of time.

When I returned and moved in with Carolyn, I had very little to offer in the way of filling our shared space. If not for her, I would not have a place to sit on while writing this. I look around me now and realize how much clutter I now contribute. In a year I have managed to fill the space in my room and even expand beyond it to the point that I am annoying myself with my own possessions. Lately I have taken to buying every plant that I see and only just today consolidated a number of succulents into one pot, so that there would be fewer separate tiny green growing things on every surface in the living room.

There are half-read books and magazines everywhere, or at least on the tables. Clothes that I didn't own a year ago need to be folded on the bed that was not mine a year ago, before being put onto shelves that are also new. Granted all of these things are used to some extent. The bed is G & J's, who have another where they live now, the shelves purchased from a friend and then repainted, and the clothes generally from thrift stores.

I have new things besides the plants, too. Nothing fancy or large. Just new socks, underwear, and a few new kitchen utensils. The carboy that I am brewing wine in with friends is new, although I barely knew them last year. Someone else's collection of vinyl is stored in my bedroom until he can find a more permanent home for them, and himself.

Today I stayed home sick from a job that I couldn't have conceived of having a year ago. Time that is spoken for weeks in advance is normal now. I look forward to my time spent without serious commitments, in a way that seems alien from who I was just twelve short months back. Then I wanted nothing more than to be so busy I couldn't think. Then the idea of having to stay home from work sent me into financial panic. Now, I have a cushion. I can breathe. I have more things to take care of, more places to be, people to be with, and I can still breathe more easily than I was able to then.

On the surface it may appear that I have cluttered my life again with possessions and activities, but my reality now is that there is so much more room for me.

Moons

I have been performing in Lullaby Moon for six "moons" now. This project is by the same director of last year's Ooh, La La!. Click on the link for the full effect since our photos are usually just of me or our friends who are involved.


John and Chris

Kale Crisps

Easy, peasy, pudding n'pie:

Chop washed kale into ~3" pieces. You can leave the stem intact or cut it out. Toss kale with olive oil and salt or other seasonings. Bake at 400 degrees for about 4 minutes, or until crispy.

Better than popcorn.

Sourdough attempts 1-3

First try: flat.
Second try: flat.
Third time: short.

Recipe from the Fiddlehead Cookbook from Juneau. I have been substituting spelt flour for wheat and have been told that the spelt gluten fibers are shorter. That is a possible explanation, but I have also discovered that because this dough is so wet it spreads on the cookie sheet. I've switched to a loaf pan, but the dough will only rise a couple of inches before the top dries out, even if it is covered in a damp cloth. The sourdough itself is delicious, but the bread is still dense. Any ideas? I would like to keep it wheat-free.

The Naked Scientist

...is currently my favorite podcast. If you are a pop science geek and want to know more about everything, then you will do a geeky happy dance every time you listen.

Happy Birthday Ivor Novello!

While watching Robert Altman's Gosford Park last night, for the twelfth(?) time, I finally decided to find out who Ivor Novello really was. Boy am I ignorant! He was one of the leading men of twenties and thirties films, and a prolific and popular songwriter who still has an award given in his name today. Coincidentally, his birthday is today.

Happy 116th, Ivor!

The Passion of Joan of Arc

A French silent film released in 1928, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc is Carl Dreyer's supposedly lost masterpiece. The original negative burned, but a well preserved copy was discovered in 1985 and restored. While it is a silent film, there is the option of viewing the DVD with Richard Einhorn’s stunning "Voices of Light" musical soundtrack, which I would recommend.

The film itself is shot almost exclusively in close-ups with an almost photographer's obsession for composition in what the director has described as documentary style film. All of the dialogue is taken from the original transcript of her trial. It appears to me to push the envelope of early film making with it's extraordinary camera angles and it's distillation of the emotional anguish that Joan must have felt. It is admittedly highly stylized, but that is what I enjoyed the most about it. It was as though I were watching a Giotto painting or Man Ray photograph come to life.