The Sustenance of Color - Georgia O'Keefe

Calla Lillies and Anemone

Purple Petunias

Red Canna

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.”

~Georgia O'Keefe

Wintry Thoughts

The Sun by Edvard Munch

It's been school vacation all week and I could really go for this life on a regular basis; particularly in winter. Each winter season I experience increasing difficulty with going outside. Reclusiveness has been perfectly heavenly this week. I'm fortunate to have a partner who accepts unconditionally my desire to stay in.

It's snowing moderately today in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts. I'm thinking about several things, among them, the fact that I can't write for shit! Maybe I should take J.F. up on her many kind offers to attend her writing workshops. It will have to wait until winter is done, as I currently cannot make myself go out once I'm home from work.

Could it be SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)? My older daughter of 20 (I have two), whom I will refer to as Mimi, makes no apologies about her distaste for wintry weather. When she was a little girl, on the first warmest days of Spring, Mimi would come home from school, rush upstairs to her room and come down dressed in shorts and a tank top. She would place a blanket on the deck and lay hopeful in what was left of the day's sun. If only for 15 minutes, she would come back in renewed; perhaps knowing that it wouldn't be long before school was out and that precious 15 mintues turned into all day sunning. Mimi relishes the hot sun on her skin. It makes her feel normal again.

The sun is both good and bad for us. On the one hand we crave it for our mental health, absolutely need it for life itself and on the other we need to protect ourselves from its harmful rays. I'll protect myself in spades as long as I can indulge in its warmth, its light and in the inspiration it provides us to keep on going until it returns in its full glory in spring and summer.

Meanwhile, the snow continues to fall...

P.S.

Feminists For Peace and Barack Obama

Connect to the linked title of my post to read a petition signed by an ad-hoc group of feminist whose support for Barrack Obama rests upon his anti-war stance. Clinton, on the other hand, has only recently made overtures about ending the war, which appear to me to be in the interest of political gain.

There is also an article in The Nation about the petition: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

As one who has apposed the war from the beginning, I am joining these women in signing the petition and in giving my vote to Obama.

P.S.

One Million Blogs for Peace

Change of Heart

I thought I was fairly computer literate until recently when I entered the world of blogging. I've found that I can only do the most minimal things and I'm a bit frustrated, though intent on figuring it out! Meanwhile, I don't know how to include ( I don't even know what to call it) a little film I saw on the blog called Beautiful Day Rule into this post but you can either use the aforementioned blog link to find it or go here http://www.storyofstuff.com/blog/.

So with that out of the way, I wanted to comment on how seeing this great little presentation changed my mind about buying a new laptop. I have an old HP clunker that mosty sits on my desk because it's too heavy to lug around; not to mention noisy...it breathes real heavy and runs real hot. It's also rather slow and clogged with junk from my endless travels on the web. I try to clean it up once in while but it's doggedly determined to hoarde some of the rubbish and make my life miserable.

I've been longing for a light, sleek, sexy Macbook Air and almost came close this past weekend to hitting the checkout button. Practical considerations kept me from it - with two kids in college, I can't really afford it. Today, after seeing The Story of Stuff, I see other reasons for hanging on to my clunker laptop. Not that I wasn't previously aware of some of these issues but that's what I love about the web - I do searches for information on things that interest me and through the efforts of others, I'm reminded to make better,more thoughtful decisions.

So, thanks to Karen, keeper of Beautiful Day Rule and to Annie Leonard who produced The Story of Stuff. It did its job in influencing me in regard to buying a new computer but will also serve as a frequent reminder to ask myself: do I really need this? More and more, I'm finding that when I ask myself that question, I consume less.

P.S.