Glorious!

That's all I have to say about this weekend's weather. I'd like to order a boxcar full of days like this for the rest of the summer--and into the fall too. Sunny, warm and breezy, that's just the way I like 'em.

Have you been writing? I took Friday and yesterday off, just because, but today I'm back at my notebook. I like that this Art calender has both weekend days on one page so I can take one day off and still keep my resolution to write every day. I confess I felt guilty about not writing Friday so I wrote that one first today and then the weekend one.

I'm still Wii-ing every day, letting that silly little talking tray shame me into doing it. I don't want to have it chide me, even though I know it's just a computer program written to make a certain response at a certain time. What a pleaser I am. Pathetic.

So, let's move past the self-recrimination onto more cheerful stuff. Writing!

July 10--Hieronymous Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights: Allegory of Luxury. Jacob and Marla's life had degraded into a race for more things, better things, more and better, more, more, more. They ended each day panting from the exertion of finding and acquiring whatever was the latest and greatest. They sought the finest of foods, the most savory, most delicious, the sweetest, the sharpest, the trendiest. Marla combed the world for shiny things, jewels of legend, furniture sat on by kings, art so sublime it brought tears to the eyes. Jacob managed their investments, choosing only those offering the greatest risk and biggest return. He piled up wealth as if there could never be enough. Together they sought sensations, the feel of silk on skin, the silky feel of the ocean, the pulse of wind, the sensuous allure of skin to skin. They "encountered" and "spa-ed" on every continent. They visited romote mountain temples and hushed cathedrals in the middle of bustling cities. They acquired and stockpiled, hoarded and bought. They lusted for more and better but were never satisfied. They both contemplated divorce until the economy failed, they lost it all, and could no longer afford a divorce. They looked at each other across their empty house and saw the emptiness of their lives. They changed.

I saw where this was going, into a sappy spiral of finding happiness in simplicity, and quit before I succumbed. You can imagine it for yourself. Onward.

July 11 & 12--Sven Richard Bergh, Nordic Summer Evening. See them? See how far apart they stand? How they hold themselves from each other? It looks Nordic, cold, in so many ways. The woman and the man aren't even looking at each other, and yet I feel that they are a couple, married even. She had her hands behind her back, arching toward him, offering herself to him. He has his leg up on the railing as if to display his manhood and yet his arms are crossed as if to refuse her. They have such a beautiful view. I hope they make up soon.

Predicable and trite. I'm quitting while I can still stand myself.
--Barbara