News Trend Rearranging The Furniture|Actual

I suppose it comes as no surprise that the Covid quarantine is affecting us differently.

I understand that many people - especially older people - have been shut up in their homes painfully and utterly alone for weeks on end.

I get the economic free fall some families face, and I know how scary that can be.

I appreciate that parents accustomed to raising their kids with a supportive team of teachers and day care providers are suddenly going it alone, and I can imagine that feels wildly overwhelming.

I also have compassion for extroverts who feel frantic to get out and do something - anything! - besides hang out at home for one more day.

But I am none of those people.

I count myself so lucky to be at home with two daughters and fully employed husband, with my two separately quarantined daughters doing quite well, and my faithful students diligently keeping up with their algebra while the world goes upside down. My friends are faithful texters and I feel as connected to them as ever.

And I'm incredibly blessed to be an introvert. Honestly, the truth is that I'm really loving all this forced time at home, and the beautiful extravagance of extra time to be thinking deep thoughts inside my head.

More than ever, I'm passionately concerned about the world around me. I care so much about mothers and want to celebrate the many ways women bring our best nurturing selves to not only raise our bio kids but to mother others. I advocate for those struggling with depression, anxiety, and addiction - so many people are suffering  trauma in their lives, and desperately need our support and understanding. I care about people whose lives are profoundly affected by Covid - the marginalized people are suffering the worst. And I'm trying to keep up with the way our world is changing as a result of the epidemic, and listening to the emerging voices of reason. Western state governors, I'm looking at you.

I want so much to think and write about all those fascinating things, to process more deeply, to hear ideas that are no doubt bouncing around in other people's brains, to compare notes, to move ahead together.

But do you know what I've been doing instead?

Rearranging the furniture.

I know. It's so weird and avoidant and unproductive. My furniture does not need rearranging. But somehow this is what I can do in this crazy upside down world of ours that is soothing to me.

Oh, and I've been obsessing over art work too.

Mhmm. I know. So important, right?

For the past week, this room has been constantly in my thoughts.

Call it a den, an office, or as we always have referred to it, a library. But since early March, this room has also been my husband's work-from-home place of residence. And besides squeezing his multi-screen desktop situation onto our relatively tiny work stations - I allow him to trespass onto my space, because, you know, I like his paychecks - the arrangement has worked perfectly.

Until I noticed the carefully stacked heaps of reports beginning to pile up along the floor like drifts of new-fallen snow blown across the wide open prairie, and decided that there had to be a better way.

Which, after hours of brainstorming and analysis, inspired me to drag this white piece of furniture in from the garage. Owned by my fourth-born but temporarily on hiatus, this desky tabley kind of thing is just perfect for my husband's overflow without causing any huge design catastrophe in the room.

Okay, so the table is working fine, but what is up with that janky art arrangment?

Well, once upon a time, there was a small cabinet on the right side of that wall, which filled in the corner and made sense of the two pieces on the right side of the arrangement, currently hidden by the plant.

The plant is a different story. Let's set that aside for now

Anyway, last year we had the floors done, so along with every other stick of furniture on the first floor, the small cupboard was removed. And when the floors were done and it was time to move everything back in, I decided I didn't want that piece in the corner any more. Apparently I suddenly became a fan of open corners.

Since that fateful decision, the art scenario has just struggled along.

But all these months, I have been playing with a plan to balance out the arrangement. And once that table-desk was put in place, I realized it was high time to finally rework the art.

So then this happened.

Besides moving that poor plant around yet again, I added two pieces to the arrangement.

The piece in the bottom right is an amazing DIY I found on Design Sponge many years ago. The link to the instructions has been sitting in my Pinterest account for what seems like eternity, but finally last weekend, I dug it out, dusted it off, and put it to good use.

As a fan of geometry and particularly rectangular solids, I found the process of making one out of balsa wood and tacky glue to be a fascinating challenge. And I adore the finished product. But I'm just gonna say, if you are not a fan of fiddly projects whose instructions are useful but only to a point, and eventually must rely on your own gut instinct for spatial accuracy and sticky engineering, cut yourself a wide berth around this one.

This project was definitely not as easy as I thought it would be.

But with the help of a few replacement pieces and a whole lot of washi tape to hold all the moving parts in place, I persevered, and love the finished effect.

Above my groovy 3-D cube is a painting I bought at a thrift store.

For months on end, I've been scrolling past photos of homes decorated with tons of adorable vintage art, and hundreds of times, I've thought Where in the heck do people find such cute cast-off paintings?

Covid note: Jimmy Fallon's work from home situation is a huge case in point. So much crazy cool art in his house.

So when I found myself in a thrift store back in January, and this oil painting fairly jumped off the rack at me, I thought Huh, so this is how it happens.

And even though the painting didn't entirely rock my world, I bought it. Because at thrift stores, that's what you do.

Several members of my family reacted to the painting by saying, "It's so Bob Ross." Now, I love Bob Ross as much as the next person, and I don't think any of us consider that comparison a slam, but it puts a finger on my unease.

After endless weeks of Should I or shouldn't I? I decided to go ahead and hang the thing. It fits perfectly into the corner of my arrangement, and when (not if but when) I decide I can't handle its Bob Rossiness any more, I'll paint my own piece to hang in the same frame.

So here is where my wall stands today.

Well, technically yesterday. And now the oil painting is hanging on an actual nail so I no longer need to stand out of frame and hold it in place for photo shoots.

Current conundrums:

The paper tiger. He used to be centered above the art when it was just the four black frames and the yellow painting, which are now on the left. So now he's off to the left of center. Is it too wonky to leave him hanging out where he is? I'm kinda liking his asymmetry and leaning toward a no.

The table/desk. Can I style it just a little while still reserving its right to be a landing pad for fifty pounds of paper? Leaning toward a hard yes on this one: as of tonight, I added a candle (currently burning) and a small plant.

The plant. Will he ever find a forever home? Maybe. But probably not.

In the meantime, as I search for answers to my burning decor questions, Gracie sleeps on. We both have found ways to cope with our currently unstable world, and I admire her spirit.

Currently I have no plans to move the couch.

* * * * *

It was just last weekend that I rearranged the bookshelves in this same room. Read about that here:

Rainy Saturday Sorting Out

And here's how I styled them before that. Ranger helped.

How To Style Bookshelves

Then there was the time I got a little crazy with book storage

Adding Fuel To The Fire

News Trend Rainy Saturday Sorting Out|Actual

I had big plans to work outside today.

Those weeds were finally gonna get what they had coming to them, and I was going to whip the patio into shape for summer.

Or at least late spring.

But I woke up to the splash of raindrops so my gardening plans, alas, were scratched.

I wandered downstairs, looking for a satisfying rainy day project, and blundered onto a gem.

My After shot. I'll be fine-tuning the details for weeks, no doubt, but this is a good day's work.

I cleaned and reorganized my library bookshelves.

Now I'll be the first to admit that they weren't a total disaster before. I mean, if you don't mind a few years' accumulation of dust, which isn't so bad if you don't disturb any of it too much. Once you start sliding a dust cloth around, the smoke and mirrors disappear and suddenly you realize it's an armageddon up there. So I've been careful not to touch any horizontal surfaces.

I found this shot from March 25, 2020 on my camera roll. A bit too cluttery for my peace of mind.

Here in my Before shot, the issue becomes a bit more clear. The shelves were stuffed. And while that isn't necessarily a bad thing - I'm a fan of book-filled bookshelves - these shelves happened to be stuffed with my husband's nonfiction collection of history, biography, and business books, which he has not touched in years. No, make that decades.

And I promise that this is not because he's concerned about disturbing the dust.

So while he was wrapping up his third crossword puzzle for the day, I proposed to him that we sort through this entire collection and let him test for the spark of joy.

He's not much of an organizing enthusiast, my husband, but I can be quite persuasive.

With a minimal amount of arm-twisting, he signed on.

So before he could change his mind, I promptly yanked all the books off the shelves.

Is there anything sadder than an empty bookcase?

Now we were properly committed.

I set about wiping down the shelves, sorting through my part of the inventory, and replacing them as my grand scheme dictated.

You bet your bottom dollar that I had a grand scheme in mind. I rarely start a project without a clear vision of the outcome. I want to see the sasaran before I nock the arrow.

As you can see, Gracie made major contributions to this project.

As for my husband, I sat him down on the far side of the room, behind the towers of books, and encouraged him to begin sorting. "Just browse through them," I coaxed. "I'm not saying you have to get rid of anything; keep whatever you want. I just want to make sure you value every book we put back on the shelves."

Mhmm. Took that halaman right out of Marie Kondo's book.

Now I'll tell you what I was actually thinking: If he decides that he wants to keep all - ore even most - of these books, I will surely lose my mind. Guaranteed.

But the fates were kind today. My husband spent hours assessing his towering piles of tomes, and decided to get rid of nine paper grocery bags full of books. Along with a few more bags of my own donations, we did some good letting go.

* * * * *

Next came the job of putting the books all back on the shelves.

Now it's fair to say that while we both like neat and clean, my husband and I have quite different ideas about bookshelf aesthetics.

Which is to say, I'm about form as well as function, and I am not ashamed to turn a book around to hide its color, if need be.

My husband disagrees. Vehemently. Bookshelves exist purely for their function. And he thinks my backward books are the sure sign of an imbalanced mind.

In the interest of family harmony and me not throwing all his books out on the front lawn in the rain,  I proposed a compromise. Just as he prefers, his books are organized by set and subject, each one put into proper order upon his exacting specifications.

But if I don't like the color of the spine, that sucker does a 180.

The result feels like Ahhhhhh! on my brain.

Yay! It's done and I'm happy.

And now my attention turns to the big red dog who is patiently waiting for her walk.

Not a bad result for a rainy Saturday sorting out.

* * * * *

I love to browse through other people's bookshelves and see what they like to read, so here's a quick rundown of what you'll find on our new and improved library bookshelves:

Top row

Left: Multi-volume book sets on United States history, great classics (Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare), more U.S. History, and behind the little brass cannon purchased on a family vacation to Gettysburg, Shelby Foote's history of the Civil War.

Right: More multi-volume sets: Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and a totem pole from a different vacation to Alaska.

Second row down:

My collection of orange, red and yellow books, a mixed bag of fiction and nonfiction, anchored by a book of photographs from Berlin on the left and a shadow box on the right, along with two white origami animals.

Third row down:

Left: My history books, a geometric ball, and two old school wood file boxes full of addresses cards.

Right: A dictionary and encyclopedia set, my camera, and four art-related titles of mine.

Fourth row down:

Left: A basket full of field guides, hiking books, copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and a book of flags around the world, two big books of photographs, and our old Nikon.

Right: Big, beautiful art books inherited from my parents-in-law, a two-drawer chest filled with my collection of miniature notebooks, some black and white books (vertical and horizontal) on secara acak subjects that I love the look of, plus a gold squirrel.

Fifth row down:

Left: A gold wire basket full of envelopes, a gold piggy bank, a stack of my husband's old chemistry textbooks.

Right: Fifteen years worth of National Geographic magazines dating from 1888, along with an index to the rest of the magazines dating through 1988, which my father-in-law meticulously collected and passed along to us, plus my mother-in-law's point and shoot Nikon from the 1980s and another shiny geometric thing.

Sixth row down:

Left: A considerably whittled collection of business and history books.

Right: Old books from relatives on both sides of the family tree, a copy of Century which just looks so great on the shelf, and my husband's beloved textbooks.

And on the bottom shelf are left a few odds and ends that we are undecided upon, because Rome was not built in a day, people.

News Trend Finishing Strong: Chicago|Actual

"Art takes time - Monet grew his gardens before he painted them." -Atticus Poetry

Had to be at least ten years ago that I went through a phase of fooling around with white oil pastels on ordinary white tissue paper.

Now that in and of itself is not much of an artistic experience. The marks of the pastel crayon barely leave a trace behind.

But load up a paintbrush full of watercolor and push it across that tissue paper - carefully, so as not to completely demolish the wet tissue - and suddenly those almost invisible markings leap into bold relief.

One day, after an hour or two of .playing with this process with no particular end in sight, as one does, I looked at my work and a theme jumped out at me. My creations reminded me - not just a little but a lot - of my  post-college twenty-something life in Chicago.

Then and there, I decided to make some sort of a little book about that life, and use these papers as the background motif.

After prowling the aisles at the craft store, as one does, I found a perfect blank make-your-won-journal kit with heavy card stock pages and a cover, complete with instructions for how to bind everything together in the end.

So I ripped and layered my tissue paper paintings into agreeable fragments, glued them into place with watered-down Elmer's for a nice collage-y look, and sat back to admire my progress.

And then, I was fresh out of ideas.

The Magnificent Mile at night, starring the Water Tower

Well, to be fair, I probably had a few other items ranking higher on my priority list than a book about my past life, but in any case, this project got put on the back burner for a while.

But not too long. Within a year or so, I came up with an idea for illustrations. Since my Chicago life was pre-smart phone and even pre-digital camera, I didn't have many photos to draw upon. So Google came to my rescue. I spent a few nostalgic hours looking at photos of my old stomping grounds in the Loop and printed off my favorite scenes on glossy photo paper.

Thank you to all the photographers whose work I, um, borrowed. I appreciate your artistry.

In 1980, it was called the Xerox Building. Now it's something else.

When I went to mount those photos in my book, I realized I had a new duduk perkara. The Elmer's glue that held the tissue paper in place was completely dry but not quite, cured, I guess you would say. The surface of the pages was a bit tacky, and some of the pages occasionally stuck together. I was not about to let my pretty purloined photos or my perfect pages get ruined, so I now needed to engineer a solution around that.

More time passed.

The Picasso. Love.

Eventually, genius struck. I used manila arsip folders to build little flaps for the photos. Fashioning a custom shelter for each image, I then glued them into the book, creating a kind of lift-the-flap experience.

Successful troubleshooting is a heady experience, and I was rolling forward with a full head of steam.

Until the next dilemma struck.

What to do about words?

Bitty little Water Tower and soaring John Hancock. Don't make me choose my favorite.

I wanted to provide some narrative, a bit of storytelling about how I was impacted by the sights and scenes of the photos, but my options were dismal.

I could not write on the pages. Too bumpy and also sticky. See above.

I could write on a different piece of paper and then cut and glue that paper to fit on my pages. But that would cover up my fabulous tissue collage. Not an option.

I could write on the manila flaps of my photo protectors. Hmm. I pondered this for a long time but decided that strategy would not give me enough room to write. Sadly, the flaps were just too teeny.

Once again, I set the book aside.

The only down side of my binding technique is this bulky knot at the back of the book. I'm fine with it.

And by aside, I mean that I put all the loose pages with their adorable tissue collages and manila-flap-protected photos and the equally adorable cover into a Ziploc bag, along with instructions for binding the book, and ignored them for many years.

Probably eight years.

The L rolling through the Loop.

A year ago, the book resurfaced. I looked through my work so far, remembered how happy I was with the start of the book and also my frustration of stalled ideas, and decided to keep it.

But these old directions on how to bind the book? Pssh, I didn't need them. I'm sure there are plenty of ideas online, I told myself. Let them go.

And so my binding instructions went into the recycling.

So this winter, when I pulled this book back out onto the table and resolved to finish it, I realized I now had two problems.

!. Still didn't know how to add text to the book.

2. Now I didn't know how to bind it either.

Much to my chagrin, my Google searches turned up plenty of binding tutorials, but nothing that would work for a book, like mine, with three holes for binding. So after another week of horsing around, I improvised with a long leather cord, and a simple X pattern that efficiently and effectively holds the book together.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

With that persoalan solved, I went back to the issue of how to add the text. Once day, as I sat at my dining room table, looking at the pages and wondering what to do, I absent-mindedly admired how the tissue paper layers so beautifully, and allows me to see traces of the bottom layers through the top layers. If only, I mused I could add a top layer of words that would still let me see through to the patterned layers below.

And that's when it hit me.

Tracing paper.

Calder's Flamingo. Adore.

Fast forward one more week, and I was scribbling out my thoughts about each Chicago landmark onto bitty scraps of translucent tracing paper and then, when the ink was good and dry, gluing them onto the collaged pages where the underlying colors and patterns still peek through.

Miracle of miracles, my Chicago book was finally done!

Goodbye, Chicago!

I mean, never mind the fact that it took me almost twice as long to make the book as the six years that I actually lived in Chicago. But art is a stern master, and I've learned - as one does - that I cannot rush the process.

* * * * *

Want to see the other journals I've finished? Check them out here:

The Presidents' Pocket Biographies

My Princess Book

My Stash

Chicago

News Trend May Day |Actual

In my mind, May is a month for mothers. Of course, the second Sunday of the month is traditionally celebrated as Mother's Day, but this is also the month when I first became a mother. So it's only natural for me to consider the many dimensions of mothering whenever May rolls around.

* * * * *

Today, the first of May, is also May Day, a holiday that has mostly fallen out of favor in my world. My mom used to tell me precious stories about how she and her sister would make little flower baskets from paper, fill them with fresh blossoms from their mother's lilac bush, and secretly hang them on their neighbors' door knobs.

As a little girl, my heart yearned to follow that tradition. But, at the time, we had no lilac bush and I was much too shy to go up to our neighbors' doors alone, so that tradition never took hold in my life.

I'm sorry about that.

Blooming lilacs also put me in the mind of another sweet memory - the arm loads of the fresh purple flowers that my fellow students would bring into my first grade classroom and present to my teacher. For the journey to school, the stems of the lilac branches had been carefully wrapped in damp paper towels and then waterproofed with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, which Mrs. Newheart would ceremoniously remove before placing the lilacs in a vase on her desk.

On some spring days, an entire row of lilacs would line her desk and fill our classroom with the irresistible aromas of spring.

As I admired my own lilacs today - propagated from a sprig of my mom's old Michigan bush - I thought once again of my fellow first-graders and their beautiful bouquets, and a new thought took me totally by surprise.

Six-year-olds did not go out before school into the cool April morning to trim off those flowers and carefully wrap them for transport to school.

Their mothers certainly were the ones who did that.

I thought to myself, what a wonderfully thoughtful thing that was for a mother to do, to make time in her busy breakfast routine to prepare a sweet surprise for her child's teacher.

And that, I reminded myself, is exactly the sort of thing that makes mothers so special.

* * * * *

For more reminiscing about the lilacs of my childhood, read this:

My Lilacs Are Blooming

* * * * *

My latest thoughts on mothers and mothering:

May Day

Grandmother's Christmas Cactus

Mothering

Passionate Moms

News Trend Cinco De Mayo|Actual

A hundred and fifty some-odd years ago, France tried to bully Mexico into paying up on an old debt. In a little town called Puebla, ragtag Mexican resistance force put up a good fight against robust French invasion forces and decisively if unexpectedly won the day-long Battle of Puebla on May lima. Though the Mexicans' problems with the French were far from over, this relatively minor scrimmage gave rise to a strangely significant celebration of Chicano culture in the United States.

Welcome to Cinco de Mayo.

^ As usual, my family honored the day by tucking in to a Mexican-inspired meal. By no means am I an authentic Mexican cook, though as my daughters well know, I'd love for one of them to bring into the family a lovely abuela who can teach me how to make authentic handmade tortillas. So if you know of any eligible and muy guapo bachelors from south of the border, by all means hit me up.

This year's sajian featured fish tacos. As has been well documented in these pages, I'm obsessed with fish tacos and besides devouring them in mass quantities in Cabo, I have tried my hand at making them at home.

They're not difficult, though a well-prepared and completely homemade fish taco involves quite a few steps and fiddly processes. Which is fine sometimes, but other times, not so much. So I have also developed a high speed bullet train approach that serves me well when time is limited.

Like today.

Ingredients:

Fish, fresh or frozen. I like cod and salmon.

Olive oil

Chile lime seasoning

Kosher salt and pepper

Shredded cabbage

Coleslaw dressing

Oranges

Green onion

Cilantro

Salsa. We are huge fans of Paul Newman's mango.

Sour cream

Guacamole

Tortillas

Directions:

^ 1. Cook the fish.

I started with frozen cod. After defrosting it part way - hey, I ran out of time - I drizzled both sides of the fish with olive oil, then shook on the seasoning, salt and pepper. Popped the sheet pan into a 425 F degree panggang and set a timer for ten minutes. When it's white all the way through and flakes under a fork, the fish is done.

^ dua. Mix the coleslaw.

This is pretty self-explanatory but I do have a few hot insider tips:

a. Spring for the ever so slightly more expensive Dole coleslaw rather than the store brand, which tends to be a bit bitter. My husband did the shopping today and ended up with the store merk but I suspect they must have been out of the Dole because he's the one who pointed out the difference to me. Covid strikes again.

B. It's super easy to whip up homemade dressing but if saving time is of the essence, go with Marie's. We've tried quite a few different brands of store-bought slaw dressing and this is our favorite.

^ tiga. Chop up the freshies.

A splash of citrus is critical to the swoon-worthy spectacle that is a fish taco, and while many chefs go with lime, I am a fan of the orange. I highly recommend. I'm also a cilantro person - no, it does not taste like dish soap to me - and a sprinkle of green onion lends a lovely crunch. Sometimes, but not today, I go for some thinly sliced red onion as well. Definitely worth the effort of picking up a knife.

^ Now grab the tortillas, salsa, sour cream, and guac, and layer all this deliciousness onto the table with some tortilla chips, bowls of berries, and a cerveza fria.

^ Dig in! Relish every tangy morsel and think of those feisty Mexicans giving it to the colonial French forces. Huzzah,guerreros valientes!

^ Here is my plate. I went the deconstructed route, which just means I left out the tortilla and ate it with a fork. I won't be putting any fish taco gourmet chefs out of work any time soon, but this is a fast and delicious short cut version that I had on the table in just over fifteen minutes.

^ As usual, our Cinco de Mayo giraffe donned his kecil sombrero and reigned supreme over our dinner table.

^ And then it was Gracie's turn.¿Qué onda wey?

* * * * *

Care to learn more about my obsession with fish tacos? Read this:

My Fish Taco Challenge

News Trend Reading Rowling|Actual

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rowling

In which we meet an eleven-year-old boy who is chuffed to learn that he is actually a famous wizard, and accompany him through his first year at wizarding school in which he makes lovely friends, learns to play Quidditch, and defeats the dark lord who killed his parents.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K.Rowling

During Harry's second year at school, he deals with the foolish new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, unravels more mysteries, and once again confounds He Who Must Not Be named

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K.Rowling

There's a big black dog stalking Harry and also an insane escaped inmate who is linked to the Potters' deaths and apparently skulking about Hogwarts. Harry and his friends solve another curious case using a magical necklace, a spot of time travel, and a wink and a smile from Headmaster Dumbledore

When it comes to Harry Potter, I?M a terrible snob. The movies...Well, let's not even talk about the movies. How far they fall short of these marvelous stories. Of course, the books are marvelous, through and through, and back in the day, we spent endless hours reading them aloud as a family. But even more spell-binding and infused with rich storytelling are the audio books. Narrated by the extraordinary Jim Dale, his crisp British tone, brilliant pacing, and amazing range of character voices boost the entertainment value of the Harry Potter franchise through the roof. We own the CD sets of all seven books; my daughters grew up listening to them endlessly and to this day, I break them out whenever I'm facing a long road trip or a big painting project. These audiobooks are, in a word, magical and I recommend them with highest praise.

News Trend Forgiven|Actual

It's not just anyone I would allow to step through the miracle of my blooming wood hyacinth. And, you would think, especially not a rampaging, rabbit-hunting, red-headed eighty-five-pound beast.

But as we were crossing the street on the way home from our walk, Gracie saw a bunny in the neighbor's yard. She couldn't help herself; she simply took a direct line through my garden and under the bushes to where the rabbit unsuspectingly posed.

And I'll give her credit. Even in the thrill of the hunt, my lady stepped delicately through the blossoms and as far as I could tell, didn't trample a single stem.

So. She is forgiven.