NOVEMBER SWEEP

It’s time to clean off the laptop screen and my desk of oddities I found interesting during the past month.  I need a journal to keep such gems in retrievable  order. Instead, I scribble on the back of whatever is handy - BJ’s recipe, invoice from Warren Phillips Framing, correct spelling of “Griebsch.” I drag odd photographs over to the desktop screen and when I can no longer actually remember what I found so thrilling about that plant or that story, they go into the trash. (Don’t you love that fizzy sound that trash makes when you hit “delete”? Almost as good as the smell of my glass cleaner: both give me an instant sense of accomplishment.)

So here are a few pieces from my vegetable stew.  First, check in on hyperallergic.com  once in awhile.  You’ll find stories pertaining to (mostly) the arts that send you on excursions you never knew you wanted to take!

Today’s hyperallergic.com story of interest?  Poisonous pigments in 19th century British Wallpaper.  Arsenic was a common standby in 19th century households.  Used for everything from rat and mouse poison to face powder, it was also the ingredient that turned William Morris’s wallpaper into delicious shades of green.  Yes, people did eat/lick wallpaper. Why? I always wonder why children would lick lead-filled paint. Historically, they seem built that way and some died from licking arsenic-dyed wallpaper. If you are curious, read Lucinda Hawksley’s new book “Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper and Arsenic in the 19th Century House.”

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Speaking of wallpaper….I have wallpaper fetish! When I can’t sleep and don’t want to disturb the dogs or Chip, I cruise around on my laptop at WALLPAPER SITES. I know…weird! Here’s the one I fell in love with recently. Have you ever noticed that no two people EVER love the same wallpaper? Really…I don’t know how wallpaper printers stay in business! Every time a potential buyer walks into any house, the first things they say is “OMG, that wallpaper has to go!” We just this summer papered our powder room and office. The paper was MEGA-EXPENSIVE and IMPECCABLY TASTEFUL (not literally - no licking, please.). I’ll make sure that’s in the listing info with # of bedrooms and central air when we sell.

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My writing group met as scheduled Monday -  Halloween. We had a raucous good time.  If you don’t belong to a writing group, start one! You won’t be sorry. Keep it ultra simple, no more than 8-9 people - no boss. Share leadership. No nibbles; no treats.  And invite people who don’t know each other to begin. It’s taken a year and we’re still learning new things about each other; we are about as different as 8 women can get in background, training, ages, etc. We used Halloween as “prompts” (half the fun of writing group is forcing the nostalgic memories out of our minds’ attics. FYI, we get through about 3 exercises in each morning session.) 

This time last year, Chip and I were in Hillsborough, North Carolina, working with Patrick Dougherty on a huge twig installation.  A small donation to the Hillsborough Arts Council now gets me regular newsletters; here are some photographs from their annual “handmade parade.” 

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Yes, in spite of rotten weather (rain, black ice, sleet and finally snow!) , Chip and I drove to MassMoCA last week to see the Nick Cave installation.  I have pictures - still sorting.  I’ll write about that (maybe)  another day.  I also have parts of Alain de Botton’s TEDtalk “The Religious World” swirling around with notes on this scrap of paper that seem really fascinating…if I could only read it. 

I’ll listen again. Or maybe you could listen and share your input with us?

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