Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer (1889) gave me a headache, so I suppose it was aptly named. I suppose, with a name like “Nietzsche,” he’s bound to be grumpy.
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Old Posts: A Beautiful Day
This was one of the firsts posts from my former blog, “Careless Talk Costs Lives.” I am moving some of the old posts that I don’t want to lose over to Squirrel’s Spot. Today, while marveling at the beauty of autumn in New York, I again pondered the question that I ask in this post–“I never quite realized how much my sense of natural beauty is biased towards lush greenery. …I wonder if I would think differently if I had been born and raised here. What if the landscape I’m used to, attached to, were the alien one?” As they say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I am glad that I had opportunity to live in El Paso so that I could ponder these things.
A Beautiful Day
Posted on May 9, 2012
It was cloudy today. I stepped outside to do laundry and it smelled like rain. It was cool. I wanted to throw open the window and doors and let the rain-smell come into the apartment. Later, it did rain. Today was a refreshing break from the monotony of sun and heat that has been with us since March. It was a beautiful day.
I am from New York State (you know, that land mass next to New York City). It’s green. Rain is not a big deal. Often, it’s an annoyance. Moving down here to Texas and living in the desert has given me a greater appreciation of rain, and of water in all of its forms. The landscape is like the moon, if the moon had prickly scrub everywhere. It’s brown and tan with splotches of tired, dusty-looking green. I never quite realized how much my sense of natural beauty is biased towards lush greenery. Not that I can’t find beauty in other landscapes, but lush green is a beauty that I’m comfortable with. I wonder if I would think differently if I had been born and raised here. What if the landscape I’m used to, attached to, were the alien one?
When people ask if I like it here, I respond that I like three things: the mountains, the sunrises, and the sunsets. I do think the mountains are beautiful–in a harsh way. They’re kind of cool, in any case. In the Northeast, you often can’t see the mountains for the trees. Here, the mountains are the only thing blocking your view of the horizon. And since the only thing they are covered with is some scrub, it’s easy to see their folds and undulations. I think that’s pretty neat. And in the light of the rising or setting sun…well, they can be downright gorgeous. I now know what “purple mountain majesty” means. Although you have to drive about 20 minutes away to find the “fruited plain.” The day we discovered *that* was pretty exciting. I had my nose glued to the car window–”Look! FIELDS! PLOWED FIELDS! Oh my gosh, we just passed over a RIVER!!! Look, an orchard!” Can you tell what I miss?
The mountains here in Texas.
Up in the Adirondack Mountains in New York.
Lab Mice Greeting Cards available on Etsy!
Lab Mice greeting cards are now available in my Etsy shop! I have quite a few designs, so it will probably take a few days to get them all listed. Individual cards are $2.00 + $1.50 shipping to the U.S.
Check it out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/SquirrelsSpot?section_id=14235507
“Astronautical Birthday”–available both as a birthday card and a party invite.
“Princess and the Frog”–a card for a bridal shower, or to congratulate someone on her engagment
“Just Don’t Bust a Stitch”–a get well card.
12 Years
…O beautiful for glorious tale
Of liberating strife,
When valiantly for man’s avail
Men lavish precious life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
- ~”America the Beautiful” by Katherine Lee Bates
This is the First Post
“The world needs people like me, Anne, just to amuse it. It would be a terrible place if everybody were intellectual and serious and in deep, deadly earnest.”
~Phillipa Gordon, Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
There, I have made the dreaded and awkward First Blog Post. By the way, welcome to Squirrel’s Spot–my own little corner of the world wide web, a place to consolidate my Lab Mice comic, Etsy endeavors, and extraneous musings. Hope you’ll stop by often. Hope I’ll remember to post often……
Ash & Acorn 