Rock Paper Scissors Store in Wiscasset, Maine
Charity of the Week:
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
Blog No. 175: What Makes a Good Life, Ben and Jerry's Oreo Bar Graph, Traditional Women's Dress
What Makes a Good Life?
Charity of the Week:
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
Blog No. 164: Sandra Mujinga, Caroline Myss: Sacred Contracts, Fast Car :Tracy Chapman/Luke Combs
Artist Sandra Majinga
Multidisciplinary artist/musician Sandra Mujinga could be called a citizen of the world. She was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but grew up in Norway from the age of 2 (why am I not surprised—those Scandinavians!) and also moved for a few years to Kenya as a teenager. Her mom was a fashion designer and was intent on exposing her to all different kinds of culture.
Mujinga's art was a standout at a recent visit to the magnificent Guggenheim Museum (the building never disappoints) as part of a show entitled Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility.
Mujinga's installation piece consisted of tall, thin, towering figures draped in fabric, bathed in lime green light, making for a mysterious "afrofuturist" alien vibe while at the same time mirroring the suits of medieval bee keepers.
Mujinga's Louisianna channel interview reveals a very thoughtful and engaged artist—well worth the listen…
Caroline Myss Sacred Contracts
I have come across Caroline Myss's name before but couldn't remember in what context. I am so glad I found her again, this time on an interview with Oprah Winfrey from her program Super Soul Sundays. Myss's book, Sacred Contracts is not new, but her message is still relevant and maybe a game changer for some of us in search of our purpose in life…
According to Myss, so many of us have no idea why we are here on this earth and what our purpose might be. As a result, anxiety, depression and fatigue run rampant, symptoms of a general malaise among our population.
Myss has developed an insightful and ingenious process for deciphering your own Sacred Contract—or higher purpose—using a new theory of archetypes that builds on the works of Jung, Plato, and many other contemporary thinkers. All of this is explained in detail in this interview, and it is one of the best examples of a practical and useful self-help guide I have come across...
Fast Car: Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs
No need to introduce this more--you have probably heard about it already--Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs knocked it out of the park with their Fast Car duet on last week's Grammy Awards--one of the all time great songs of our time. What a wonderful sight to see their pleasure at performing together and the joy it brought their audience.
Combs is a star in the country music world: 2x CMA Entertainer of the Year, multi-platinum, award-winning artist from Asheville, NC.
Tracy Chapman often avoids the spotlight and has not emerged often in reccent years. That is why her Grammy appearance made even more of a sensation.
For the story behind the song, click here.
Painting of the Week
Charity of the Week:
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
Blog No. 163: Two Dogs: Poundcake and Milkshake, Heather Mader Wild Story, Cat Stevens
Two Dogs:
Poundcake and Milkshake
Here is a sweet story about a beautiful rescue dog named Poundcake, who happens to also be deaf. Poundcake was finally adopted by a nice loving couple who gave her the proper attention she needed after living in a shelter for quite a while. The new owners even learned sign language and taught it to her so they were able to communicate with her that way. But there was something missing...And then along came Milkshake...
Heather Meder Wild Story
At the risk of being called crazy, I share with you here a story that defies logic yet is so intriguing that I thought I would share it with you in any case. Whether you believe something like this is possible or not, whether you take it as pure fiction or in the realm of possibility, it is a good story nonetheless as heard on the Jeff Mara youtube channel, a podcast that explores paranormal phenomena.
Meet Heather Meder, an artist/painter in her own right, who claims to have encountered and lived with a real life true extra-terrestrial alien. Sounds unbelievable. As she herself states, she is just a normal person who never thought anything like this could happen to her. If you stick to it, you might find this interview utterly fascinating as I did. Judge for yourself while watching the video...
Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens was such an important part of my teenage years and coming of age. His songs evoke so many memories and a friend just reminded me that I even went to see him in concert at the Westchester County Center when I was in middle school. She reminded me that we baked him some banana bread and left it on the stage for him (no recollection).
Born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London, England to a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mom, and whether you call him Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam, simply Yusuf or his original stage name Steve Adams, the man has had a complicated history and illustrious life as seen through this video. One thing remains consistent—-his ability to play amazing music and write compelling songs that have stood up throughout the years…
Here are a few of my favorites:
How Can I Tell you
If I Laugh
Father and Son
Morning has Broken
The Wind
RubyLove
Photo of the Week
Charity of the Week:
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
Blog No. 162: Inge Schuster Art, Jenny Cockell's Past Life, Rumi Poem
Inge Schuster
Art
Came across these digitally manipulated compositions by artist/photographer Inge Schuster on instagram (@inge.schuster), full of luscious color and stark architectural structures, combining them in an innovative and beautiful way. The creative and innovative photo compositions, sometimes coined as "urban minimalism" immediately called out to me for their zen-like, simple, poetic quality. "With a keen eye for detail, a lot of time and care is put into editing the images to achieve a unique end result. She often combines elements from different photographs."
For more of her stunning and varied works, follow her on instagram: @inge.schuster
Jenny Cockell's Past Life
The story of Jenny Cockell/Mary Sutton is perhaps the most remarkable story I have read on the subject of reincarnation, shared with me by a good friend in Maine.
Cockell claims to have remembered many of her past lives--the story in this video from the Phil Donahue Show details one of those lives which preoccupied her deeply throughout her current life. In that past life which she had definitive memories of, she died at a young age, leaving her eight children to fend for themselves. She worried about them incessantly in her current life and set out to see if she could figure out what happened to them. She managed to succeed and twenty years later, ended up finding her (now adult) children who were still alive and who were able to corroborate her story.
Sounds too crazy to believe...as fantastic as it seems, you will have a hard time disproving it. It will all make (more) sense after watching this incredible video.
If you have further interest, you might want to take a look at her books Yesterday's Children and Across Time and Death by Jenny Cockell and read another one that started me on my journey: Many Lives, Many Masters, written by psychiatrist Dr. Barry Weiss of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida, which opened the possibility of reincarnation for me. I have been down that rabbit hole, and many other related ones, ever since.
Jalaluddin Rumi Poem
THE GUEST HOUSE
by Jalaluddin Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Translated by Coleman Barks
Photo of the Week
Charity of the Week:
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
Blog No. 161: Jamie Raskin/Cassidy Hutchinson, Birds of Paradise, Rudyard Kipling Poem
Jamie Raskin and Cassidy Hutchinson in Conversation
Two of my favorite people in politics these days—ones whom we owe it to if democracy does prevail… Congressman Jamie Raskin (representing the 8th district in Maryland) and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Raskin asks very compelling of questions of Hutchinson that give us a glimpse of what it was like for her to be on the inside of the Trump administration, realizing she was no longer comfortable with what was going on… Here is their conversation.
I've written about Cassidy Hutchinson before. I read her book Enough, highly recommended from this awesome young person who is wise way beyond her years. She was drawn to Washington DC since she was a little girl and I Wonder if she was in politics in a past life...
Birds of Paradise
Not much to say about these surreal creatures which have rendered me speechless (and that's saying a lot if you know me). Watch this video below that hopefully will provide some distraction from all the overwhelming man-made problems in the world. These birds of paradise are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. Be prepared to drop your jaw in utter awe of mother nature…
If
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream- -and not make dreams your master;
If you can think- -and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on! ‘
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings- -nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And- -which is more- -you’ll be a Man, my son!
Photo of the Week
Charity of the Week:
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.