If I had a younger horse, I could ride there

Paige — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:00:48 +0000

It occurred to me this morning as I waited for the kettle to boil, that my life here is much smaller, or perhaps, narrower, than the one I had in Los Angeles. But I mean this as a compliment. Here, I more often know the sources of the objects I interact with, the things I consume. And I like that connection, that knowing. It grounds me. It was my tea that brought this point home.

I don’t usually have much interaction with the anthroposophist (Rudolf Steiner devotées) communities which abound in this area. I like the people, usually, very much, but the dogma is too heavy for me. Camphill is a Steiner project that cares for developmentally disabled adults in a village setting, where they live and work side by side with normally-abled adults and their families. Its presence here (about 10 miles from my house) means that we often see the residents out and about, which I think is a great thing for my kids, and for me. (In California, I now realize, I almost never saw disabled adults, and rarely children. Where were they?)

Anyway, the people at Camphill tend an herb garden and make wonderful teas (really, tisanes) with lyrical names like Douceur de Fete (one of my favorites.) They also make the prosaically named Tea for Colds, which seems to actually help. So, with my head stuffed and snotty with a cold, I made myself a cuppa just now, using my newest (non-local) fave acqusition, my Tea Stick. (Pricey, but genius. If you drink loose leaf tea, get one.) And I poured the nearly-boiling water into my favorite new mug (one thing you may not know about me is that for years now, I’ve been searching for the perfect mug. It’s more challenging than you might think, but I think the search is over.) My mug was made by a potter/friend down the road who gave it to me in exchange for using my home as a location for a photo shoot for her new website. So my soothing tea was in my perfect mug, which soothes the palm of my hand in addition to holding my medicinal tea, and I thought: this is all from right.here. If I had a younger horse (and, let it be said, was a better rider) I could get to both of them in an afternoon. And that thought just made me so happy that I live in this random, odd, lovely place.

Meanwhile, last night I made a discovery that also has everything to do with where I live and what I do here, and it also made me shiver with quiet joy.

Mary Oliver is one of my favorite contemporary poets, but I only recently discovered this work of hers. To make it even better, I found it on a work of art made by my teachers and friends Karen Arp-Sandel and Suzy Banks Baum. If you live near me, check out their collaborate mail art show, Femail, at the Berkshire Art Kitchen.

Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patcha few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorwayinto thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak

~ Mary Oliver

Change.31–Twenty Five Things

Paige — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:23:59 +0000

You know that “25 Random Things” meme that’s been flashing around FaceBook? I got tagged weeks ago, and kept putting it off. (Do you sense a theme this month? Oh, be quiet.) But then friends, who are as busy if not busier than I am, managed to make their lists, and, shamed, I decided I better get to it.
1. I tend to feel overwhelmed by my life a lot of the time.
2. I know that it’s ridiculous for me to be overwhelmed by my life, which is fun, and cushy, and healthy and full of love. But I am.
3. I love old dishes, silverware and crystal. This used to get me into trouble on eBay.
4. I recently started spinning (bike, not wool) and I’m a little obsessed with it. We’ll see if it lasts.
5. When I was 7 years old, I wore bifocals.
6. I once had sex in a tree. (Sorry, Mom.)
7. I took Mandarin Chinese for a while in high school, and I loved drawing the characters.
8. When I was a little girl, I had penpals around the world: England, Japan, France, Vermont…
9. My first pet was a black and white rabbit named Scrambley. When she died, a mean kid in my eighth grade class made a crack about “the rabbit dying” (you know, the old school pregnancy test) and I neither understood it nor found it funny.
10. One of my gross habits that I don’t want anyone to know about is that I love to pick at my toenails.
11. I met my husband at an Ethiopian restaurant. He was with his girlfriend.
12. I have several first cousins I have never met.
13. I have lived in four countries and thirteen cities.
14. When I was three, I loved a statue in the Cincinnati Museum of Art called “Eve Disconsolate.” I always thought that would be a good name for a band.
15. My favorite slow-dance song in high school was “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones.
16. My favorite Rolling Stones cover is “Beast of Burden” by Bette Midler.
17. I often have insomnia. I’m writing this at 2:20 a.m.
18. I am infinitely better at starting things than at finishing them.
19. Some of my favorite works of fiction are all of Robertson Davies’ books, but I cannot remember the plot of any of them.
20. The best experience I’ve ever had in a museum was a Rothko retrospective at the Whitney about ten years ago.
21. My favorite flowers are bachelors buttons and pansies.
22. I always think I might see a plane fall out of the sky, or drive off the edge of a bridge. Maybe that’s why I don’t travel much.
23. One of my earliest memories is walking in the woods with my mother. I must have been three.
24. One of my biggest regrets is that my father never got to know my kids, and vice versa.
25. I have always loved poetry, and write a lot of it in my head.

Tales from the Park Side » 25 Random Things

If I had a younger horse, I could ride there

Change.31–Twenty Five Things