A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam that flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his own thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a sort of alienated majesty. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote was mentioned, very briefly, in Creative Authenticity by Ian Roberts. He says:

We are not mere receptacles of this expressive power. Things do not just pile up inside us waiting to be regurgitated. We are conduits of spirit, of the divine. The spirtual flows through us, endlessly. Emerson called it "gleams of light" which flash across the mind. They are seed ideas that need nurturing and developing. They seldom come fully formed. The doing clarifies them. That is what creativity is -- the gleam that passes so quickly through our mind and the catching of it and forming it into something.

I went in searching for the full Emerson quote because I love the image of ideas gleaming across my brain. Doesn't it feel that way sometimes? Those little sparks, those bigger flashes. Sometimes they're hard to capture. Sometimes they're beyond description. Sometimes, as Roberts says, it's only by putting ourselves in action that we are able to create, using these gleamings for fuel.

Written at: 11:13:00 PM

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This week just sort of disappeared. I can't say it flew by because some of it was downright boring and slow. Most of the week was just plain ordinary.

Although it started on such a good note: some of the best beef mushroom barley soup I have ever made in my life. The best soup ever. Some good cheap beef, a big pile of mushrooms, some onions, some carrots, a whole lotta carrots actually, some celery, a good dash of thyme, salt and pepper.... and good shot of a plain red wine. Later, soup fit for the culinary gods.

Unfortunately for them - I didn't invite them to dinner.

I thought about the new quilt. I played with a totally different project. I read some of my favorite books. I listened to a work by Beethoven I wasn't familiar with (you can hear a bit here (requires iTunes). I thought about work and what is important in life. I had a brush with the stupidity and incompetence that is the government.

So here it is Friday again and none too soon.

And a big shout-out to our local Town Clerk who was still at her desk tonight as I drove past and who notarized the form that I needed notarized again. Thanks Rita!

Written at: 10:38:00 PM

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Warning! Obligatory Cat Photo! Warning!

What can I say? Deirdre, Boopsie, Gus: all together, mellow and ever so cute.

Written at: 12:07:00 AM

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Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-- Robert Frost

Although weather-wise, The Onset is probably more appropriate.

Written at: 8:57:00 PM

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A little bookkeeping stuff today. Blogger problems persist so archives are incomplete and posting is erratic. Despite it all, I managed to update the links at right to include the newest quilt, current postcards and a link to my folks' website.

Meanwhile in the kitchen is brewing some really excellent beef mushroom barley soup. Tonight -- some postcards perhaps if I can figure out how to do the stitching part. Or if there's not any instantly apparent answer there, there's always the piecing to begin.

Today was pretty bright, cold and blowing here in upstate NY. Pretty wintery feeling. Guess March will be coming in like a lion, eh?

Written at: 6:10:00 PM

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Bill 1985-2005

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Maggie 1985-2003

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