I Am This Woman

Idle hands are the Devil’s playthings.

The Waldorf/Steiner philosophy holds handwork in high regard for the development of the mind through motor control (ha ha, I almost wrote ‘development of the motor through mind control’ — Waldorf joke!). The theory is that handwork can guide the developing young mind as well as express some inner traits not seen in traditional learning methods. Teach a child to knit and you give them a peaceful way to contemplate abstract and spatial reasoning as well as mathematics and even sociology.

Handwork, such as knitting, sculpting, sewing, even gardening, washing dishes, kneading bread or chopping vegetables, gives the mind an immediate task to work on, while other areas of the brain are engaged. If the task can be accomplished by rote, the brain can also wander blithely off to mini-fantasy camp. (more…)

Watch this video, and then think about whether or not this guy has a talent, or a gift.

Britain’s Got Talent - Opera Singer from Cardiff

I would venture to say he has a gift for singing, and the talent required to get up there and do what he did.

I love the expressions on the judges’ faces too, esp. old Simon Cowell.

(When I heard that the guy is Welsh, I was expecting good, but not quite like that!)

Follow-up: the finals of the Britain’s Got Talent 2007 competition is here.

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Call me “Four Eyes.” Actually, I have bifocals, so that would be “Six Eyes.”

One part of aging is the inevitable need for glasses. This started for me in my mid-30s when I was in graduate school and reading a lot. But I didn’t believe it. I look back and see the truth now. However, at the time, I thought it was just overuse (which it probably ALSO was). Lots of reading in grad school and not all of it can be done at optimum ergonomics.

Finally, around 42, I succumbed to getting some “cheaters” as they are called, and it rocked my world. (more…)

pretty in pink biscornu 05-08, originally uploaded by tmcg61.

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This is a “biscornu” done by my dear friend Terri. It’s possibly the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen! A little pillow (way way too pretty for pins) on its own pedestal!

Even if it is a kit, there is an essential pleasure one gets from making something so pretty from bits and bobs of string and buttons and wood. Everyone who sees it can enjoy that pleasure, but only the maker gets to experience the transformation from ordinary kit to EFO (extraordinary finished object).

Actually, I believe this is the lounging cushion for a petite and lovely faerie.

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I’ve been trying to upload a silly video of my silly dogs in the back yard for two days now, but the software (iMovieHD) I was using doesn’t have an automatic YouTube output setting. So, the result is a really bad QuickTime video that snapshots all over the place. Not very appealing.

There is an “upgrade” for iMovie in iLife 08, which I have, but I lose the timing and transitions when I port it over into the new one. So it’s back to the drawing board to re-engineer the thing.

That’s a technical snafu. Happens all the time with any kind of creativity - you lose a Word doc in a crash, your paint separates or cracks, your yarn breaks or bleeds, the glue dries out or the paper just won’t cooperate with your vision.

So you do it over again. I try to tell myself that it means I will learn more, have a chance to make it better. But right now, I have an empty blog page and a missed self-imposed deadline. C’est la vie!