"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."
--William Morris
Let's continue checking in each month on what is UP! This time I'm looking back at February and covering some New Things, media that I consumed, and Favorites, plus photos.
New Things
StarDragon Oracle: Happy Year of the Dragon! I am interested in dragon energy. In the Western culture that I know, dragons are often villains. Think Smaug sitting steaming on his stolen hoard. The virgin-eating monster in "Dragonslayer." The poor dragon that St. George is always standing on. The creepy edges of old maps marked "Here be dragons." Dragons are sometimes called "worms," even though they are obviously much more sophisticated and magical (sorry, worms). Yet I think in other cultures dragons are powerful otherworldly entities that are not necessarily evil. Because I'm interested in exploring dragons this year, I ordered myself the StarDragons oracle cards by Paolo Barbieri. Here are two of the cards that I particularly like.
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THE SELF: Gathering your power
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MIRACLE: Making a difference
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La La Land piano music: I recently re-watched the film La La Land and it's so good. It's a story of youth, love, Hollywood, music, ideals, and then what happens when your real life path unfolds. Actual life is not the same as what you dreamed, but it can still be okay. The music in La La Land is vivacious and catchy so I ordered the piano music to try it out for myself.
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La La Land film music next to my beloved Joe Hisaishi film music
(the genius behind Studio Ghibli soundtracks)
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Consumed
Maggie O'Farrell: I'm always on the hunt for novels that don't make me feel cringey or miserable along the way. I am tired of stories about people being mean or horrible situations or just dreadful, eye-rolling material. "Instructions for a Heat Wave" by Maggie O'Farrell was a great relief and I devoured the book over the course of a week. It's about a family in 70s London that has a specific issue and they get back together to hash it out. The writing also has lots of time-hops to give background on everybody. It reminded me of "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen, which I really like. (I wrote about The Corrections in my 2021 Reading roundup.)
Scamanda: This is an 8-episode investigative podcast about a California woman who started a blog about her cancer diagnosis and then began requesting and accepting donations to cover her enormous medical costs... except there's a major twist to the story. Most podcasts that I listen to are single episodes about a particular topic or an interview, so I got hooked on this long narrative arc that was really well done. You can listen to Scamanda here (or on your favorite podcast app). Since finishing Scamanda I've been on the hunt for similar long-form podcasts, and have listened to both "Behind the Magic" and "Filthy Ritual." (All 3 of these have British hosts with plummy accents that adds an extra level of goodness.)
Favorites
Sourdough: In 2023, a family member got into the idea of bread-baking and sourdough starter, and made a batch of starter named Joseph. Joseph still lives in our fridge, though that family member's baking interest waned somewhat. This past month I decided to feed Joseph and try baking some Rustic Sourdough loaves. They were not bad! I have a lot to learn about baking so I'm going to keep trying.
MassMOCA: Over school break, our family went back to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMOCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts. The Gunnar Schonbeck interactive music room and the James Turrell immersive light installations are still there (I wrote about them in this 2018 blog post, and we like to visit them every time we go).
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section of wall painting in the Sol LeWitt retrospective
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Just a few of the ready-to-play instruments in the Gunnar Schonbeck rooms
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Photo of a photo in the Elle Perez "Intimacies" installation
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"The Tarses Family Presents an Exit Sign Pointing to Another Exit Sign"
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"Cosmic Latte" by Spencer Finch, one of my favorite spots
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Ghost silhouette of old factory stairs (not part of the art... or is it?)
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Museum cafe window view, with sculptures by Franz West in the background
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Phone Photos
First snowdrops of the season were spotted blooming in early February (earliest ever that I can recall).
A boisterous lunch at a town cafe included listening to the album "Jeff Wayne's Musical War of the Worlds" to celebrate the 126th birthday of the HG Wells novel. This specific music is a major part of my childhood but I've never run across anybody else knowing what it is, so hearing it on a random Friday afternoon in Brattleboro was a mindblowing experience. (This photo shows the album on display in a plastic sleeve with a sign about the 126 year milestone in front of it, and a little flying saucer on a pendulum swinging on the shelf above it.)
