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Monthly Archives: January 2022

It’s cold but that’s cool

26 Wednesday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in Exercise, Random

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commitment, outside dance, show up

Only three of us showed up for dance fit class this morning. Maybe because dance class is outside, and when it’s below freezing it’s hard to get motivated. Our instructor had a great lineup of tunes, though. Got to love a class where Russian hip hop precedes Elvis Presley.

The air was so cold ice crystals shimmered around us. It takes about five minutes to get warmed up. When it’s over, 50 minutes later, you have to scurry to the car because the sweat instantly chills you. But the post-workout natural euphoria is worth it.

Now that’s a metaphor

19 Wednesday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in Random, Retro reads, What they said

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great quotes, history of Lane County

Shout out to historian and newspaper columnist Patrician Ann Edwards for capturing this great quote in her history of Lorane Oregon, “Sawdust and Cider,” now sadly out of print.

She’s quoting farmer and former Lane County Commissioner Oral Crowe: “This soil is so bad that a man couldn’t raise hell on it with seven naked ladies and a barrel of whiskey.” 

I believe our local library has a copy and I will be tracking it down. Edwards’ blog also looks pretty delightful.

Keep getting up

14 Friday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in Exercise, learning, outdoors, Random

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be here now, beginner's mind, outdoors, positive thinking, skiing

I am the perpetually novice skier. I’ve been downhill skiing since I was 19. I’ve been cross-country skiing since I was 28. But years (heck, decades) can go by between outings. Every time I do go, the downhill slope looks as daunting as the first. Then I ski down it and a hint of muscle memory returns. Then again, a bit more. Every time on cross country skis, I freak out when the trail turns and drops. I can turn. I can descend, but not simultaneously!

I was feeling somewhat sad about this. How is it I am six decades along in life and still skiing only the easiest of runs. But after a three-day weekend of doing both kinds of skiing, I realized, this is me. Perpetually novice skier. So I will just enjoy all the best parts of it and laugh about the tumbles.

The best parts: three days in a cabin on a lake with the amazing Craig and the wonderful Isaac. Beautiful mountains, stunning night skies. Occasional encounters with people in an actual sleigh being pulled by a muscular clydesdale. Feeling that muscle memory return.

First principles: Imperfection

08 Saturday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in creativity, Random, What they said

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creativity, first principles, imperfection, serendipity

Thanks, Google, for letting me know that I am reading “A Brief History of Time” on author Stephen Hawking’s birthday. And thanks for creating such a great animated video with Hawking narrating. One of the quotes: “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist. Without imperfection neither you nor I would exist.” What a stellar human.

A musical pact with a 96-year-old

07 Friday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in family, Random, What they said

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buddy system, daily practice, inspiration, moms, resolutions

My mother and I confessed our shameful secret to each other on New Year’s day. Irene told me she had stopped practicing the piano and I said I couldn’t remember when I last picked up my guitar. We commiserated on our failure to be our best selves, and then agreed that we’d help each other by promising to report via email every day that we had done at least a little practicing, even just 10 minutes.

And this is what I adore about my mother. That at 96, and wheelchair-aided and living in a nursing home in southern Alberta, she’s still got game. I took this picture of her when I visited in November 2020 — height of covid, no vaccines available. I had to quarantine in Canada for two weeks before I could see her and let me just say that she was worth it. We had so much fun. On the last day of my visit it had been snowing, and when I arrived at the nursing home for a last goodbye Irene was busy putting on coat and hat and gloves.

“What are you doing?” I asked

“I’m going outside. It’s snowing!” she said with that gleam in her eye that always brightens a room. I would say she wears her soul on her sleeve, not just her heart.

So. We didn’t say anything about resolutions for the new year. We just agreed we’d be a practicing support system for each other. We are a week in, and we are good.

Everybody needs an editor

06 Thursday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in creativity, Story, writing

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daily practice, editing, writing

I wrote a farewell piece to a chef and a restaurant that closed at the end of the year. The place is just a few blocks from where I live. Craig and I probably ate there once a week over the last five years. Cozy ambiance, friendly staff, amazingly delicious food: It was hard to say goodbye.

Eugene’s scrappy weekly (slogan: We’ve got issues) published the piece, and it got a fine edit from Camilla Mortensen.

Lessons:

  1. Everybody needs an editor.
  2. I am longwinded at the beginning, essentially clearing my throat with way more wordage than actually needed.

My writing group can also be good for this reminder. At our last meeting, the first 600 or so words of a short story I’m working on did not pass muster. But the writing group can be ignored. (What the heck do these veteran and well-published writers know?) The editor of an actual publication cannot be. I confess I mentally harrumphed at Camilla’s notes, but once I made the changes I agreed with her. So, um, on that short story…back to the drawing board.

Being edited also reminds me of the overlap between beginner’s mind, where we are at play, and expert’s mind, where we employ the skills we’ve honed while at play.

Photo above by writer/editor/photographer/friend Bob Keefer. (If you don’t know Bob’s work, do yourself a favor and check out his web site.)

Let the basting begin

05 Wednesday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in Making it home, Random

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creativity, fabric, projects, quilting, Sharon Schamber

I cannot pass a fabric store, especially one of the touristy kind where they lure you in with gorgeous stuff in the window and half an hour later you walk out with $100 worth of product that you tell yourself you will sew into a quilt even though you haven’t been involved in quilting since you were in high school.

OK. That was last June in Ashland Oregon at Sew Creative. Now here we are in January and I am resolved to start quilting. It’s a single fabric quilt, not something I have to piece together so I can jump right into layering the front and back with the cotton batting middle. Lacking a quilting frame, this is not the easiest task but I found a wonderful quilter, Sharon Schamber whose video tutorial walks you through a clear way to combine the layers and baste them in place. I say “clear,” but do not for a minute think “easy.” It involves wrapping the two pieces of fabric around flat straight 3-inch boards to reduce wrinkling. You slip the cotton between them and then baste in manageable sections.

The good news is that I have a large enough dining room table to lay this queen-sized quilt project out on (wrapped around the boards). The other good news (in the lemonade-out-of-lemons category) is that since the pandemic continues with us, I won’t mind commandeering the dining room table for a while. The first photo shows the fabric wrapped on the boards and the first section rolled out for basting. The next photo shows that first section basted.

The basting will hold the three layers together so that I can hand quilt using a hoop. In my project completion fantasy it will be gorgeous. I’m blogging my progress so that I will have a hope of actually making progress.

Follow your curiosity

04 Tuesday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in Random, What they said, writing

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Dominic Walliman, learning, quantum physics

screen capture

I like serendipitous encounters. I had been trying to get my mind around a particular area of quantum physics and stumbled on Roger Penrose, the Nobel prize-winning physicist who shared a Wolf prize with Stephen Hawking and who did the math on how stars collapse to form black holes. I found a YouTube video interview with Roger Penrose that I completely could not follow, and as I was sitting there feeling dumb, YouTube dished up another random video, a Ted Talk with Dominic Walliman, whose specialty is explaining quantum physics to kids. There were many fine moments in his 15-minute talk, but my favorite came at the end when he said: “You know, science shouldn’t be about whether you’re good at it or not. It should only be about whether you’re interested. …. There’s so much good information out there these days, just pick a subject that you’re interested in, find some material and then from there, follow your curiosity.”

I think “Follow your curiosity” will be my mission statement for 2022.

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