Thursday, July 30, 2009

pillow cloud moon at dusk

the golden fish blog was a flurry of activity yesterday with all the excitement of inspiration wednesday.
i met so many people. smart, creative, cool incredible people. i learned so much!

thankyou to all of you for visiting and leaving your kind comments!!

in addition to responding to the many amazing and varied comments i received (and replied to), i continued with my "list of things that can only be done in the summer holidays that must not be left until it is too late."

progress was made with sorting through my clothes closet. it's an amazing place filled with heaps of prints that i have bought from really good young artists, stacks and stacks of end-of-the-year letters and cards from students and their parents, there are even clothes in there!

a "what's in your closet" meme could be ugly and fruitful. all sorts of frightful insightful soul-baring could come out of that!! hmmmmm.

many of the clothes in my closet have great memories (i mean i have great memories of them) - some of them even have a place in history - but apparently some of them embarass my kids.
i've never cared that much about being stylish except for a powerful stretch in grade 7 - 10
when it mattered almost as much as anything could.

when cool clothes equalled attention.

and "attention" was optimally provided by as many girls as possible.
which made it all so very very worthwhile.

both my kids are now in that age group and so they are being washed ashore and back out to the sea on waves of whims and wishes, not the least of which are to have cool and cool looking parents whose coolness almost matches their own incredible cool quotient.

nowadays i buy clothes and wear them to reflect my state of mind, my need for warmth or not, and my affection for the item. i love shopping, but i don't like trying clothes on. i see something, it hums for me, i check the tag to see if i can stand the pain, and if i can then it's up to the checkout, into a bag and it's off to the closet.

but eventually all these items reach that point of no return where there are no justifications big enough or truthful enough for my family. so a big bag of well-loved clothes will be headed back into the world for someone else to wear and perhaps cherish.

so that was my day.
~
and
after a day of rain and sun
the evening spread soft and pink against a deep blue sky

the moon floated on a pillow of clouds

clouds come from time to time -
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

basho


a peaceful day to everyone out there in blogland!!

20 comments:

Delwyn said...

Hi Steven

well I won't do very well in the closet revelations - mine is almost empty...I clear it out savagely and take bags to the op shop after each cleanout. Like you I am not that interested in buying clothing although I do like some nice things...I would rather spend my money on books...

Being in this boot for 5 weeks I have alternated between two pairs of track pants and a handful of T shirts for the entire time... so easy...usually I wear my gym gear to walk or work out and am inclined to be lazy and stay comfortable all day...I think I am become a sloth...but a happy one...

Happy days

Reya Mellicker said...

The clouds are incredible! Wow.

What's in your closet? Yikes! Even I don't want to know what's in there!!

Glad your day yesterday was inspiring. As it should be, since you, Steven, are the essence of inspiration. Hope today is just as interesting and enlightening. xx

Jinksy said...

Should I be worried? The first cloud looks like a Chinese Dragon...

steven said...

hi delwyn, i should have added in the post that i have no deep attachments to anything material. but the surface attachments are fairly powerful and accompanied by all sorts of rationales for why something must stay. i love to create little spaces where all sorts of odds and ends get stuffed. it's like a gift to my future self who gets to go in there at some point and unpack it.
sloths seem like pretty contented creatures delwyn so no shame in comparing yourself to one!!! have a lovely moonboot free day. steven

steven said...

hi reya, the clouds have been amazing recently which is the silver-lining to all the cloudy rainy days. if you click up the first image you can see the half-moon - i was reading outside and looked up and there it was sailing along on a bed of clouds.
i wish you a glorious day!!!! steven

steven said...

hello jinksy - you know i hadn't noticed that - i saw a big lion which makes sense because it's leo time!! i think we're all safe and good!! have a sweet day. steven

Anonymous said...

I always look for UFOs in and around clouds. A friend of mine saw them in the 1960s when we first moved into this area and he worked in R&D where I worked. I still look up when there are clouds expected to see something behind them.

As far as closets goe and ours or mine is no exception. It is filled with stuff (stuff) most of which is recycled from hangers to tubs and back the next season. The only thing that stays anywhere all the time is socks and underwear. LOL

We do donate a lot of pretty decent clothes to our local GoodWill stores.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Hi Steven:

Very interesting post yesterday about Robert Fripp. I was intrigued and will make it a point to learn more about him. Thanks.

Closets are interesting metaphors for who we are. I am always editing, but it seems to be like a magic container that seems too full regardless. Now, how can that be since I am not interested in shopping - do not want to accumulate or care for anything accumulated??? So, I keep editing and donating . . . In fact, thanks for the nudge . . . if you are looking for me this afternoon, I'll be in the closet. I am hoping I feel the weight off my shoulders as well as out of the closet. :)

Gorgeous clouds!

steven said...

good morning abe! i've read lots and seen dcumentaries about ufo's but i've not seen anything of them - yet. i figure it'll be a personal contact, "thanks for your work here steven, it's time to go home!"
the underwear feature of closets is one that i understand most men share and that is that we keep it until it is held together by the idea rather than the reality of molecular connection! have a great day! steven

steven said...

good morning bonnie, thanks!! i like your thought about closets as metaphors. hmmmm. i was wondering why i keep all sorts of amazing artwork tucked away inside my closet? what does that say? it should be up and out and available. enjoy the journey into your own closet today bonnie. i find it really relaxing and fun of a sort to be in there unpacking all the stuff and picking and choosing and sorting and chucking out!!! have a peaceful afternoon. steven

Tess Kincaid said...

Oh, dear, my closet is in a sad and sorry state of affairs. Instead of my annual spring purge, my closet got a mild straighting. I need to get tough and weed out the stuff I haven't worn in several years and donate it to my usual charity dumpster. It's much easier to part with items if my daughter happens to be in town. "MOM, you actually WEAR this this thing???!!!" always helps.

Your clouds look like they could be in a painting by one of the old masters.

ellen abbott said...

I have recently winnowed out my clothes. I try to do it every couple of years. My test of keep or get rid of is if I have (or have not) worn it in the last two years. Heven't worn it in two years? Out it goes. Except. Except for the one or two items that I have never worn and keep thinking I will some day. Go figure.

steven said...

hi willow, the closet piece is a summer task for me. the rest of the year there's a real l'aissez faire approach to how things get in and out of it. so there atimes when it's ugly, doesn't smell that great, is hard to find things in, and definitely isn't somewhere you want to be alone at night!
i looked at the clouds again and i see what you're saying about old master's paintings. my favourite clouds are salavador dali clouds. i'll see if i can put together a post of what i mean . . . . have a beautiful day at the manor! steven

steven said...

hello ellen, i love your plan. i have managed to do that in my classroom where stuff arrives all the time and it all has value but where can it all go?! well the answer is it can go to jamaica or africa where the stuff that i just can't get to or use has huge value and makes the lives of people i'll never know ever so slightly better!!! at home, well stuff sticks around quite a bit longer but i'm gradually lightening the load, lowering the piles, and winnowing - what a sweet word eh? winnowing. from a time and a place long past. have a sweet day out there. steven

Eryl said...

One of the advantages, for me, of living where I do is that it is so far away from the shops that I have to plan a shopping trip. As I'm terribly disorganized this happens only when the clothes I have are too shabby to be seen in, so I never have to clean out my closet: pretty much everything gets replaced in one fell swoop. The disadvantage is that I only look reasonably fashionable about once every two or three years.

steven said...

hi eryl, that made me laugh actually. a large part of why my wardrobe doesn't enjoy the high rotation my kids and my students wish it would is because i have to haul everything home by bike unless i luck out and get a lift to the shops or head down to the big smoke (toronto) on the bus for a day. i say we define our own version of cool and let fashion go flying right by!! gave a lovely day out there. steven

The Weaver of Grass said...

What beautiful clouds steven.
Glad you enjoyed yesterdays meme - wasn't it fun to get all those visitors - and weren't they inspirations inspiring!
Don't expect me to join in a meme of what is in your closet - I dare not reveal.

steven said...

well hello weaver, thanks for the kind comment! i have a meme bubbling in the back of my mind that i might give a try to sometime later this month. nothing as nasty as a "what's in your closet?" meme though!!! have a lovely evening. steven

Titus said...

I am in the awe of the moon and clouds photograph. Have a peaceful evening (I have no idea what the time differential is!).

steven said...

hi titus! well i'm on eastern standard time. so i dont know if that helps you at all? the clouds and moon photograph was very lucky and lovely. i am so glad that so many people have had a chance to see it and enjoy it! have a lovely day. steven