Intro
There are weeks that feel bloggier… weeks that I take more pictures, eventful weeks, or weeks where my reading and listening had themes that converged. This wasn’t one of those weeks. I wrote, ran errands, failed a cookie recipe, and set up starter. My husband’s colleague’s chickens have begun laying eggs, and the shades of beige have been nice to see again!
The cold is holding on, but the evening skies glow like in summer… I like how the transmission towers and street lights reflect light from the setting sun…
Swimming - Part 3
“Where your fear is, there is your task.” So says Carl Jung as perfect encouragement for continuing to throw myself into a pool. A bit of the excitement from early days has worn off now… Since last writing, I can swim with my arms and legs, but I still need a snorkel. I’m envious of the older women I see who swim purposefully and peacefully their laps, with fine nonchalance. I’m still afraid of drowning. It’s very much like Kaitlin Frehling describes… the hardest thing to do as an adult learner is to trust the water. I’ve begun to think of my weekly pool visits as exposure therapy. The next challenge is rolling over in the water. (For example.) I think it’s very scary.
Cooking
The easiest meal that makes everyone happy in this house is pasta with Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter. It’s a nice break on the last day of the week, when you’re happy its the weekend and you’ve reached the end of your ambitious meal plan! What does this “ambitious” look like? Oh, not much really… We had Deb Perelman’s Crispy Lamb and Lentils on Sunday and it was a perfect meal!
Enjoying
Last year I listened to this documentary on René Girard and felt a little depressed about his all-encompassing theory, and how widely it was accepted. It was a relief to read an essay this week by Joshua Landy, titled: “Deceit, Desire, and the Literature Professor: Why Girardians Exist.” It concludes: “All in all, then: the Girardian theory is not true; it does not make us better readers; and it’s not an exaggeration of anything important”
I liked Dwarkesh Patel’s podcast with Ada Palmer so much I reserved a copy of her book at the library. I brought it home but was too busy to get past the first few chapters before I was obliged to return it for other patrons who requested it. Still, the podcast was a really fun, enthusiasm-sparking listen!
This documentary by Samuel-Goldwyn titled The Booksellers was briefly available for free on Youtube and it was a fascinating look into the lives of book collectors… (Another channel has a copy here.) I especially liked the part where some booksellers reflected on the historical aspect of their work:
“A good bookseller is another kind of discoverer, historiographer, and thinker-of-history… […] They also provide a really important context. That’s why when you acquire things, you generally keep the descriptions they gave because sometimes you see a box - it doesn’t tell you that history that they understand and have done work to understand.” (at 47 minutes)
Walking the Dog
Some snow…
Some phantom-like fallen tree
The impressive stump of a tree cut down earlier this winter.
And spring tentatively pushing through…
Happy Sunday!
