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I know it might not seem like it but my time on the internet is blissfully limited now that I'm no longer working outside the home. I have a small person that I'd rather spend time with, and I might be online looking, researching, writing, and communicating but it's dotted time, not really focused. I'm constantly up playing games, have long times in between where I'm cooking, cleaning, organizing, teaching Xander, taking walks, riding bikes, giving time outs, creating forts, making art, doling out clay and paint, etc. etc. etc. Just as I'm writing this I'm holding an intense conversation about the dreams we had last night, and we're also discussing whether Yoda can swim or not.
Late, late, late in the evening I have more focused time, but by then my contacts begin peeling off my eyes and I'd rather turn to my more ethereal writing and haiku. I also work on a project that my husband and I are working on during the wee small hours. So my point is (though this is a wavering point because I'm still fielding questions about Yoda and am a bit distracted) that I squeeze a lot into a little bit of time.
Like all of us I need reassurance and guidance in my professional (ha) life, in my case writing. I hunt and gather different sweet smelling books, magazines, and websites to boost up morale and siphon advice and tips that I might not have known about. And of course, I'm fixing to share some of them here.
Zen Habits: I have a blog crush on Leo Babuta. He's taken his personal life changing journey and turned it into an empire of simplicity. His articles are peacefully written and helpful. His Simple Links hop over to interesting places, people, writings, tips. His other blog Mnmlist hearkens back to the original blogs of yesteryear: simple and straightforward. His Zen Family Habits offers practical and reassuring articles from someone who's really a parent, and is totally non-judgmental. You'll like it.
Margaret Atwood's blog: Now I know that this might not do something for everyone. It just so happens that she's my favorite writer and it just so happens that she has a blog. It also just so happens that she offers tips and helpful advice from time to time and I love her even more for it. The Queen of Introspective Science Fiction (and regular fiction), the Poet Laureate of the Smirking People of the World is also an approachable, amicable, tweeting person. Check out her Ten Tips for Writer's Block.
(Image Courtesy CBC)
Brainchild Magazine: If you're a mom or dad or caregiver who's ever felt a little bit preached to from all sides of the spectrum (Holy hell the scare tactics of Last Child in the Woods and the Focus on the Family - how's that for two ends of the spectrum - and everyone else who blathers on and on about how we should be raising our children or the world will implode). Brainchild is smart. Funny. Subversive. Love. It. I need balance and slaps on the wrist back to reality daily and this magazine offers it all.
Deepak Chopra - Chopra Center blog: I really love the "Laws of the Day". You don't have to be a spiritual person or anything to use these words of wisdom. Here's an example, The Law Of Attachment: "Today I will commit myself to detachment. I will allow myself and those around me the freedom to be as they are. I will not rigidly impose my idea of how things should be. I will not force solutions on problems, thereby creating new problems. I will participate in everything with detached involvement."
Of course we all KNOW this and it's not anything NEW but sometimes we need reminders and blows to the head to bring us back to balanced living.
That's unfortunately all I can share today, as I have a particularly high strung kid today and it's taken me an hour to write a paragraph. Every 30 seconds some small disaster strikes and I am being called to active duty.
Have been thinking about spooky images lately. Like that scene at the end of The Shining, with the slow push zoom towards that group photo at the Overlook in 1924(?):
And can't you just hear the trills of "Midnight, With the Stars and You"...? Here's the scene. I recall the first twenty times I saw that film, that bit gave me the willies about as much as Grady with his unfortunate head wound in the mirror.
I was thinking about that scene this weekend, and about old photos. Don't we all just love old photographs? I used to love to slink around antique shops in Ohio and Tennessee, pawing for old photos, making up stories in my head about the strangers caught forever on film. There are several places online to do this right from the relative comfort of your computer, and I'll share a few that I frequent. In the coming weeks I'm going to dig out more, and if anyone has any suggestions...comment them here please and thank you.
#1: http://foundphotos.com: My knowledge of this site is relatively new, but thanks to Katie in Australia I'm a convert. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated in a while but there's enough in the archive to click for a while if you've never visited before. These aren't very old photos, just candid, random, and fascinating.
#2 Shorpy: Oh, I'm a huge, huge fan of Shorpy!! Nicely organized, nice collection, nice feature to zoom into a high-res version and really explore each image. The other evening I was just totally engrossed in their collection of Dorothea Lange photographs, exploring some of the ones that I wasn't familiar with, like Wapato Ennui:
1939 - Dorothea Lange
and 535-07-5248 and Wife:
1939- Dorothea Lange
Dear Lord the STORIES in those images! Shorpy categorizes photos by photographer, era, "Pretty Girls", World War Two, Civil War, Kodachrome and tons more.
#3
Albert's Eye: I know next to nothing about Albert's Eye, I can't even tell you how I FOUND Albert's Eye - a beautiful flickr photostream full of vintage charm. Some of my favorite sets are St. Vincent's Orphanage (there's the beautiful and heartbreaking), American Studio Portraits, and In the Photobooth.
The beauty and heartbreak of humanity is all over these collections. I hope you feel as grounded and grateful of life when you browse them as much as I do...
Coincidentally, if it's vintage Photobooth images you love, here's a wonderful little book with a nice collection of them:
Photobooth - Babette Hines.
*I've added the above links and a few more to the Reference Library page*
UPDATE: Thank you Princess Sarah for the following links:
Black and WTF
Vintage Child Abuse
- 1920's and 1930's music from www.live365.com (Radio Dismuke), reminds me of the tinny goodness my husband and I listened to in his tower room when we first started dating.
- DVD cover art from my favorite darling letterpress Yee Haw Industries in (say it) Knoxville, TN. And yowza it's for Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train! What a match made in a guitar from a Tupelo Hardware Store heaven.
- Spotted these little darlins from a friend of mine's vintage-sweet blog Garage Sale Girly. While Gary and I have decided to have just one child I will admit the sight of these ducky leg warmer buggers from Saint Raegan's Hollow made me spontaneously ovulate -
(Saint Regen's Hollow)
- Have also been salivating over my friend Michelle's trip to India. Perhaps simply because I feel the need for a hot climate right about now - here in Alaska SNOW is still our constant fishwife - or perhaps because I've always been drawn to all things India. Her posts about the voyage are captivating.
- And here's today's "Photo I Want to Live In":
I can't decide which lady or gent I want to be. The bride with her little cap and silver draping? The sailor girl in the back - because I'd get to stand on that fabulous deco set piece? What was it like to live in a time without hipsters? When legs were plump and humor was more than a bit corny? When lips were painted maroon and eyes smoked with kohl? Oh, I know we can do all those things and more now, but what was it like to have a hat and gloves with every dress? And to purchase something like a jet bead bag - just ripe for the picking in crystal department stores with newfangled escalators? To talk like this? It would be the berries, and how!
