Poetry on Thursday

 

This little book is magical. It was a thoughtful gift from Kym, and no matter what page I open it up to, I am thrilled and surprised to find a poem that speaks to me deeply. Here is the one that was chosen for me (and you!) today.

Any Morning

William Stafford

Just lying on the couch and being happy.

Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.

Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has

so much to do in the world.

People who might judge are mostly asleep; they can't

monitor you all the time, and sometimes they forget.

When dawn flows over the hedge you can

get up and act busy.

Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven

left lying around, can be picked up and saved.

People won't even see that you have them,

they are so light and easy to hide.

Later in the day you can act like the others.

You can shake your head. You can frown.

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You can read more about William Stafford here. 

Stafford, William. "Any Morning." How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, edited by James Crews, Storey Publishing, 2021. p. 92.

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I wish you mindfulness, peace, good health, your own pieces of Heaven to pick up and save, and poetry as the week winds down.

Unraveled Wednesday

I'm joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday today. I've been involved in all the details of buying and selling houses over the last few weeks, along with spending time with my sister, so knitting and reading time has been minimal. But I think (fingers crossed and knocking on wood) that we are officially under contract with selling Ryan's house in CO, so I sat down last night for some much-needed knitting time.

It's still the second Nervous Breakdown and I'm alternating skeins. Once I finish with the tiny little ball (maybe another four rows?) I'll start on some stripes and be heading to the finish line. 

I want to finish (or almost finish) this Hitchhiker before I wind and start knitting with my Mother's Day gift from Ryan.

Behold Wollmeise Pure in Drachenblut:

I was very tempted to just wind it to get a better idea of the colors, but I know if I wind it, then I'll just cast on a few stitches. Before you know it, I'll be working on a new project and abandon the Nervous Breakdown. So I'm focused on finishing first!

Reading has also taken a back seat except for listening to audiobooks while I'm driving and falling asleep exhausted at night, but I still managed to finish two books. The first is a cute story entitled How the Penguins Saved Veronica. It was a solid three stars and just the thing to listen to when my mind was often in other places. I also read a stunning Elizabeth Strout novel that I was lucky to get from Netgalley, Oh William! It's the latest installment in her books about Lucy Barton, this time in the form of a novel rather than interconnected stories. It was a five-star read for me, and I may even go back and read the first two books again. 

I've started Writers & Lovers and Project Hail Mary, so I hope I can continue to make some reading time every day. (Part of my own Personal Compost recipe that Kym wrote about!)

What are you making and reading this week?

It's Crazy!

And by "It" I mean real estate. With more people being vaccinated, at least a year of pent-up demand, and a low inventory of houses for sale, all bets seem to be off if you're looking to buy a house. Things are much better and there is a lot more control if you're lucky enough to be selling. Thankfully, we've been able to do both.

Ryan's New House

So we bought Ryan a house. He found it online, but John and I have seen it in person and it seems like just the right place for him. We don't close until July and moving plans aren't definitive yet because the sellers are building a new house. They may need to stay for another month after closing, but by the end of August, Ryan will live about 30 miles away from our place in NJ and it will only take me 50 minutes to get there.

There were multiple offers, and we had to pay over asking price and make the home inspection for "informational purposes only" (meaning no negotiations with the seller). That was a bit scary and we've never bought a house under circumstances like that, but luckily, it worked out and was a small price to pay to have Ryan back here. There are some possibilities for him to work online from home, and if that doesn't pan out, his new house is in a location with a lot of other possibilities. 

Ryan's Current House

Then we had to list his place in CO. At least this time we were sellers instead of buyers, but it was equally crazy. His real estate agents had several offers an hour after his house was listed, before it had even been shown. The listing agents decided to do an open house on Saturday and another one on Sunday rather than a bunch of showings, set a deadline of last night for any offers, and then we would have until 1:00 pm today to respond. We haven't yet made a final decision, but I got my wish that we would have multiple above-asking price offers to choose from.

There have been a lot of things going on around here, but I'm glad to report that despite the craziness, several of them have been happy, and Ryan will be moving back this summer. I can not wait. <3

Thank You

I took a break last week because my sister's youngest son died unexpectedly last Sunday. Bryan was only 33-years-old and his passing left the whole family shocked and deeply saddened. John and I drove home from Maryland, then he turned around and went back down as he had to be at work this week. But my place was with my sister, so I've spent the week with her, making food, folding laundry, and maybe most importantly, re-learning how to play Barbies. 

When I got to her house on Sunday, Jill had two of Bryan's three children with her, and it looked like she desperately needed a nap. The girls are four and six years old and were playing with multiple Barbie dolls and Barbie's multi-level pink plastic camper. Jill and I played with Barbie, Midge, Ken, Skipper, Alan, and Tutti quite a bit, so I thought I could take over while Jill rested a bit. Surely playing Barbie was still in my skill set and it would all come back to me, just like riding a bicycle. 

But I had forgotten a few things. The last time I played with Barbie was probably more than 50 years ago, Barbie and her accessories have changed quite a bit in that time, and I had completely forgotten that small children have a miniscule attention span. 

I was slightly fascinated with the camper's cab. It seemed to double as both the bathroom and the area where the driver sat. See those rear view mirrors? The sink flips over to reveal the steering wheel. I was amazed and amused at all of this and the girls thought it was funny that I was having trouble making Barbie drive from the bathroom. So instead we made the Barbies do flips and gymnastics, took them outside to climb trees, swing on the swing set, run races, and play hide and seek. Then we played with ipads so I could rest a bit. Jill reminded me that much of what we did when we played was spend hours setting up Barbie, her furniture, food, and wondering why the only clothing we had for Ken was a bathing suit and a tuxedo. 

Barbie has changed, I've changed, and our families have changed. The changes haven't all been for the better, but I'm glad I could be with my sister when the worst happened. 

I'd like to express sincere thanks to those of you that e-mailed, texted, and sent loads of support and strength. I could barely stand to see my sister in so much pain, but your kindness and thoughtfulness made it much easier for me to help her. I thank you.

Time for a Break

 We've had a terrible loss in our family, so I need to take a break for a bit. I'll be back soon.

Let's Watch a Movie

I'm taking a little break from poetry today, but you get some science instead.

A Beautiful Mind

I saw this piece about meaningful movies and was intrigued. How could watching meaningful movies help people cope with life's difficulties? What movies were considered meaningful and where could I stream them? It took some reading through a fairly boring research paper, but here are a few things I gleaned from it. 

First, I learned a new word — eudaimonic. It means the type of happiness or contentment that is achieved through self-actualization and having meaningful purpose in your life. In psychology, this is opposed to hedonic happiness, which is achieved through experiences of pleasure and enjoyment. It's not the kind of word I'll be able to casually use in a sentence, but still interesting. 

Next, results showed that people who recalled a meaningful movie were more likely than others to say the film helped them make sense of difficulties in life. For example, the film helped them "feel like struggles in life are for a reason" and "more easily handle difficult situations with grace and courage."

Meaningful films were also more likely than the other movies to help viewers accept the human condition. Participants recalling these movies said that the film left them with the feeling that "both happy and sad experiences give meaning to our life"

How did meaningful movies have these positive effects? The study found that the key elements of these films were their poignancy, the mixture of happiness and sadness; their emotional range; and their ability to make people feel elevated and inspired by watching them.

Gran Torino

Lastly, what movies did the researchers consider more and less eudaimonic? Here you go:

I think that overall I would agree with many of these classifications. I love The Shawshank Redemption, A Beautiful Mind, Good Will Hunting, and Gran Torino. I also like The Big Lebowski and The Princess Bride, and I could argue that they might be somewhat meaningful. There are also plenty of these movies that I haven't seen, so I will be looking for Slumdog Millionaire, Up, and The Usual Suspects. 

The Princess Bride (It's hard to believe that the Princess Bride became Claire Underwood!)

"We found that people felt better able to make sense of difficulties in their own life when they recalled a movie that focused on values that were important to them," Michael Slater (one of the authors of the paper) said. "That happened even when the movie was classified as one of the less meaningful films."

So basically, the message might be "just watch a movie." You might feel better!

What are your favorite movies, eudaimonic or not?

Unraveled Wednesday

I'm joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday, with the second Nervous Breakdown once again.

It doesn't look a lot different, but some decisions have been made. Ryan would like it to be knit from mostly Nervous Breakdown yarn, with some contrasting vivid stripes, much like my original one. I wound the second Nervous Breakdown skein and have started knitting with it, alternating skeins so hopefully the changeover won't be obvious. Now that I'm done with taxes and no longer have them hanging over my head, I will hopefully have more knitting time. 

I finished The Invisible Life of Addie Larue (sadly, it just wasn't the book for me) but also read Gone to the Woods, Gary Paulsen's autobiography. This one was easily four stars, and I might bump that up since I find myself still thinking about it and his life. Gary Paulsen's books have been reading material in our house for several decades, and I thought this was one of his best survival stories. Justin was recently looking for his copy of Hatchet and the sequels and we were both shocked that we couldn't find them anywhere. His birthday is on Saturday, and I've selfishly ordered the whole Hatchet series for him (that way I can re-read them, too). I'm still reading The Premonition, but also casting about for some really good immersive fiction. 

What are you making and reading this week?