Jelisava

An impromptu feast

Happy hour in the courtyard / Ocean City, NJ / July 2009

Why do foods eaten outdoors taste so good? A little wine. A little cheese. Some nuts. An impromptu feast.

The sea, the ship, the day

Basking in the glare of a summer day's sun / Ocean City, NJ / July 2009

“... and it all
glowed in blue, all like a single star,
the sea, the ship, the day were all exiled together.”

~ Love Sonnet XXIV, Pablo Neruda

Their vibrant presence

In solidarity with the Iranian women / Kostrena, Croatia / May 2005

“Of all the images I've seen emerging from Iran this week, those of fiery women beating policemen and leading protests have moved me the most. Throughout the past decade, Iran's extraordinarily sophisticated and well-educated women have sought for peaceful change through the existing system. Accounting for 60% of university students, Iranian women emerge from university armed with career expectations and modern attitudes toward their role in family and society. They have patiently petitioned the state to grant them more equitable rights before the law. But at each opportunity, they have been treated with contempt. Their vibrant presence in these protests is signalling to the government that they will not tolerate its discrimination and disdain any longer.”

~ Why Now by Azadeh Moaveni

Bread as an edible plate

Bread as an edible plate: pizza on the boardwalk at the Olympic Flame Restaurant / Wildwood, NJ / June 2008

Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band
Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.
Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:
“See, we devour the plates on which we fed.”

~ from the poem the Aeneid by Virgil

You are the bread beneath

You are also the “in croûte” around my potatoes; Another recipe for hard times: Pommes de terre Boulangères in croûte (“Baker's Wife” Potatoes in a Pastry Crust) — looks fancy but is filled with potatoes and onions; this was fun to make as it uses puff pastry and smelled fragrant and exotic while baking / June 2009

“We had just received a platter of kebob barg, made of strips of beef tenderloin; koobideh, of spiced ground beef; and another composed of the tiny, yogurt-marinated joints of Cornish game hen. One sister tipped the platter to gather the meat juices, and explained that to declare adoration for someone, one can say, in Farsi, 'You are the bread beneath my kabob.' After cleaning my plate with some of the still warm flatbread, I got a visceral grasp of its meaning.”

~ Sara Dickerman writing in the NYTimes about a Persian restaurant in LA

... thinking of the elections being held in Iran today and hoping that the Iranian women can gain more freedoms ...

Whose circumference is nowhere

Bruno's circle drawings / Design As Art

"If the square is bound up with man and his works, with architecture, harmonious structures, writing and so on, the circle is related to the divine. The circle has always represented and still represents eternity, with no beginning and no end. An ancient text says that God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.

The circle is an essentially unstable, dynamic figure. From it arise all rotating things, and all vain efforts to produce perpetual motion."

~ from Design As Art by Bruno Munari

Hard Luck Pound Cake

The Hard Luck Pound Cake / New Jersey / June 2009

Last week I went to see the doctor. On the way I heard the radio talking about how if Woody Guthrie were around he wouldn't be writing songs about “the economy” but rather how “times are hard” or these are “hard times.” My doctor asked about business and I said, oh, a bit slow — it's the economy I guess (in my head I thought “hard times”). He said that with the exception of one man (who sold some sort of internet-connection widget), all his patients talked about business being off, losing their jobs, losing their health insurance, etc. Driving home I got it in my head that I needed to make a pound cake (partially attributed, I am sure, to the weakness that comes after getting my blood drawn). I found a recipe for a swirled pound cake —the dark and light mixed together, kind of like life — and made a few “hard times” adjustments. The recipe called for 1 cup of butter; I substituted canola oil for half of the butter (butter is expensive and has more health-problem fat). The recipe called for 2 cups of white sugar; I substituted dark brown sugar for half of the sugar (dark brown sugar seems like the poorer relation to white sugar). The recipe called for 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract; all I had was a drop (I protest buying vanilla extract because it costs so much and I can never taste it in what I bake). The recipe called for a cup of milk and I had none; I substituted a cup of Paulo's Half-and-Half (it was in the refrigerator and is a little hidden richness to add comfort). The cake was wonderful — hard luck doesn't feel so bad with a good piece of cake. (Full recipe after the jump.)

Chairology

More of Bruno's wonderful chairs / from Design As Art by Bruno Munari / the Munari Principle: lucidity, leanness, exactitude and humor

“I had three chairs in my house:
one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Chairs and chairishness

And when we are there we need some place to sit down / Bruno's chair sketches

"So there we are. Chairs must be made for indoors and out, for the drawing-room, the office, the waiting-room at the doctor's or at the railway station, for playing cards in, for taking tea in the garden, for lunch, for the seaside, for holidays in the mountains (a vast range), very low with a very high back, very high with no back at all (for the bar), for boutiques, for buses, for churches, for camping."

~ From DESIGN AS ART by Bruno Munari

Where the day rests longest

Paulo sees flowers growing in the microwave oven / New Jersey / May 2009

The blessèd stretch and ease of it –

heart’s ease. The hills blue. All the flowering weeds
bursting open. Balm in the air. The birdsong
bouncing back out of the sky. The cattle
lain down in the meadow, forgetting to feed.
The horses swishing their tails.
The yellow flare of furze on the near hill.
And the first cream splatters of blossom
high on the thorns where the day rests longest.

All hardship, hunger, treachery of winter forgotten.
This unfounded conviction: forgiveness, hope.

~ May by Irish poet Kerry Hardie; from: A Furious Place

Need to be at ease

The ease of the backyard garden and the deep brilliance of spring blooms / New Jersey / May 2009

When you're at the top of your game, it's because you've surrounded yourself with stimuli that make you feel peaceful and comfortable. Other people may work well under pressure and accomplish most when they're driven by stress, but you usually need to be at ease in order to access your deep brilliance.

~ Rob Brezsney puts me at ease by describing me

A reverse beginning

Pap's bird house with nest / Mountain House / Sept. 2000

Relation
a reverse beginning
on the way of lost voyagers of dreams.

~ GOD'S SMALL BEINGS (3) by Iranian poet Robab Moheb

A reflection of existence

Carving above a door in / Ljubljana, Slovenia / May 2005

"Art in the end, is a reflection of existence, yearning, suffering, epiphany and love."

~ artist John Urbain

Of making many books there is no end

New curtains brighten the front room as late afternoon sunlight (fabric is Volumes and Plumes by Anna Maria Horner) / April 2009

Books, books again, and books once more!
These are our theme, which some miscall
Mere madness, setting little store
By copies either short or tall.
But you, O slaves of Shelf and Stall!
We rather write for you that hold
Patched folios dear, and prize “the small,
Rare volume, black with tarnish'd gold.”

~ by British poet Austin Dobson (1840- 1921)

It's on the bag

A fabric patch adds style to a dull bag (Anna Marie Horner's Drawing Room line of heavy-weight cotton; Pressed Flowers in Rose) / May 2009

Renew. A tired old bag gets new life with splashes of color and design. My travel bag was looking dull and bedraggled. I sewed on two fabric panels to spruce it up. The front one covers the flap and ugly logo (see a before picture after the jump). I measured the size of the patches, made a template, cut the fabric and then hemmed the edges under. At first I was going to use fabric glue, but wasn't sure it would adhere well enough and I was worried about lots of air bubbles. It was easy to sew on and if gets dull and bedraggled again I can easily sew on another patch.

A fountain's slender spurtle

Dusk in Anita's magic garden with the Manneken Pis fountain / New Jersey / April 2009

SIR POET, ere you crossed the lawn
  (If it was wrong to watch you, pardon),
Behind this weeping birch withdrawn,
  I watched you saunter round the garden.
I saw you bend beside the phlox,
  Pluck, as you passed, a sprig of myrtle,
Review my well-ranged hollyhocks,
  Smile at the fountain's slender spurtle;

  ~ from A Garden Idyll by Austin Dobson

The ink sings

ink not ink exhibit of Chinese contemporary ink painting; the building was designed by Frank Furness as the Centennial National Bank building (circa 1876), it is now the Paul Peck Alumni Center at Drexel University / Philadelphia, PA / May 2009

The brush dances and the ink sings.

~ Chinese saying

Creatively endowed it

Fashion City by Nan Xi, 2008, ink on pape / ink not ink exhibit

Nan Xi composes his art using fading ink dots -- similar to a faxed or newspaper photo with many round dots -- and the techniques of broken-ink, accumulate-ink, stained-ink, and washed-ink.

He has "created a metaphor-featured painting mystery close to history and reality. The intention and value of the original images has been doubtlessly disrupted to a large extent and provoked brand-new reflection and questions. Therefore, his recent works always give people various thoughts -- it is certainly not easy to achieve."

"Nan Xi brought us great inspirations. Under the circumstances of digital age, when somebody considers the wash and ink media insignificant and no longer coordinated with the colorful and volatile new life, and have to develop towards abstract ink and wash, he has not only persisted in seeking the new possibilities for this traditional media, but also creatively endowed it with new cultural attributes and mode of expression."

~ Lu Hong writing about the works of Nan Xi

Desire to fly

Ink on hemp paper mache, silk, iron wire; ink not ink exhibit

I'm here and desire to fly
~ by Chinese artist Peng Wei

A release of mood

Detail from The Night, III, ink on paper, 2008 by Wu Yi; part of the ink not ink exhibit

“I think I draw for a release of mood rather than anything else,” said he, “and I do my works according to intuition and nature only.”
~ Chinese artist Wu Yi

In the realm of ink and wash Chinese painting, Wu Yi advanced the theory that color and ink are of the same origin, thereby bringing change to the traditional school of Chinese painting, which has favored the ink and wash technique. Art critics praised his paintings which combine tradition and originality. In their words, Wu Yi represents a new generation of artists who paint images embodied with meaning.”
~ a description of Wu Yi from the Association of Modern Chinese Art

Art as therapeutic agent

Detail from a work by Li Jin; ink on paper

... In the appearance it seems like the promotion of business world in a fine line, but in fact, it is quite a contrary to the capitalist proposition with conspiratorial strategy to push people to consume and enjoy the world so as to destroy the rivals. And actually no one can live a good life in the crazy consuming pushing but intensive competition among people only. Perhaps art enjoyment is the only therapeutic agent for human being in our era.

~ Li Xianting writing about the art of Li Jin; from the ink not ink exhibit

Like the back of a picture

Anton's Prayer book in Croatian that traveled across the sea to America and then back to Croatia / Published in 1902 

Certain words now in our knowledge we will not use again, and we will never forget them. We need them. Like the back of the picture. Like our marrow, and the color in our veins. We shine the lantern of our sleep on them, to make sure, and there they are, trembling already for the day of witness. They will be buried with us, and rise with the rest.

~ Language by W.S. Merwin

Love for all we did have

Irma didn’t want my Dad to take her picture so she grabbed her skirt and pulled it up over her head while Christine and I watched. I’ve never forgotten the moment or the picture. [Happy 90th birthday Irma] / Ricketts Glen, PA / August 1964

“There isn’t many days that go by that I don’t think of the good family I had and the wonderful times as a child on up to old age. We all didn’t have lots of money — but love for all we did have.”

~ cousin Irma

Tangled in memory

So many memories; some lost; some recalled; new ones made; maybe exact memories cannot be recalled but their remnants remain, feelings that glisten like jewels / New Jersey / 2009

I tangle myself in memory,
in my senses, and I drift.
Laws exist,
but I do not know them.
I am watching the wind and the fog
through the branches.
Through petunias and lines of poetry.
On an old cup
something gathers,
and slips inside me.
Poets are good as long as they crack
like fresh asparagus.

~ Meta Kušar, 26

On the vernal equinox

A look back at a wintry scene on this first day of spring (it actually sleeted for a while this afternoon) / Northeast PA / Feb. 2009

I placed an online order for a CD with CD Baby.com and received a reply that made me laugh out loud. I don't know if they did this just for me ... but it is, without a doubt, the best "we are shipping your item" email that has graced my In Box:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, March 20th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sigh...

Life is a mystery

Cafes at night in a livable city / Ljubljana, Slovenia / May 2005

Cleaning off my desk trying to make some space in my mind and calm the demons I find a scrap of paper that says: A mystery is not the same as a puzzle.

Listen over and again

Two of the things that make us human: work (technology creates new paradigms for where and how we can work) and creativity (creativity feeds on itself . . . the fabric for new curtains waits patiently to be sewn) / New Jersey / Feb. 2009

How terrible to lose the share
of being human.
Hirelings on horseback, princes on foot.
Do you think you can live that simply ?
Listen. Over and
again the aria is beautiful.

~ “21” by Slovenian poet Meta Kušar

My officemates

Out my office window in the AM / February 2009

I heard wild noises outside my office window. Drawing back the curtains, I beheld my turkey vulture office mates on break. They strutted. They flapped. They swiveled their heads this way and that. They sat staring intently. They soaked up the sun on the rooftops and chimneys while I basked in the warm rays that streamed through my back window. Soon break time was over and the pack of them were off again soaring through the trees. I was left alone at my computer.

The pattern of my life

Notorious Non-cooperative Knitting / bag before felting / Feb. 2006

“After a dead serious consideration of the effects of this committee's work and of my relation to it, I find that for the following reasons I must refuse to cooperate with this body.

... as a poet I must refuse to cooperate with the committee on what I can only call esthetic* grounds. The view of life which we receive through the great works of art is a privileged one — it is a view of life according to probability or necessity, not subject to the chance and accident of our real world and therefore in a sense truer than the life we see lived all around us. I believe that one of the things required of us is to try to give life an esthetic ground, to give it some of the pattern and beauty of art. I have tried as best I can to do this with my own life, and while I do not claim any very great success, it would be anti-climactic, destructive of the pattern of my life, if I were to cooperate with the committee. Then too, poets have been notorious non-cooperators where committees of this sort are concerned. As a traditionalist, I would prefer to take my stand with Marvell, Blake, Shelley and Garcia Lorca rather than with innovators like Mr. Jackson. I do not wish to bring dishonor upon my tribe.”

~ Thomas McGrath's Statement to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

* esthetic: a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful

The light of heart and eye

I take with me a taste of earth / Feb. 2009

Take me behind your eyes...
Restore the color of my face;
my body's warmth,
the light of heart and eye
and salt of bread and song
and taste of earth.

~ from "A Lover from Palestine" by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish