Sunday, May 1, 2011

Eye and heart

First order of business: I am grateful to Antares-Cryptos for his recently-presented blog awards, on which list I was included. Thank you for your ongoing comments and for beginning your own posts, which entertain and inform. I am delighted to be in such rich company.

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In a previous life I worked in network television, tangentially connected to the departments involved in selecting the pilots which would become series on the fall schedule. The first of May meant longer office days, weekend work, seeing my family less and, often, having to be at my post on Mother's Day. That was two decades ago and I have tried to pay attention to what spring, or May, means now. To judge by the past few weeks, it signifies an unhealthy lust for new art supplies.

Some of you will recognize the symptoms and others may see their own obsessions, translated into the language of paper arts. After learning what local artist/teacher Kelly Kilmer considers the best permanent glue stick (I KNOW! A question you never thought to ask), I spent too many hours on line trying to find a source of fewer than ten sticks at what I considered a reasonable cost for shipping. This took place over two, possibly three, days.

Earlier I devoted much of the week looking on-line at floral scrapbook papers, now plentifully available as opposed to their non-existence last year when I went ahead and created my own. My eventual choices cost as little as 20 cents a sheet. I felt like my child self with a nickle to spend on candy at the neighborhood market, my Puritan ancestors whispering, warning me not to make any foolish choices.

It may come back to recent thoughts about being in love with beauty, the ways in which what pleases the eye gladdens the heart. A glue stick may not be beautiful, but the Coccoina brand, in its silver tube with its almond scent, comes close. The papers and a small but choice clutch of Mrs. Grossman's stickers make me smile. So do the commemorative stamps, including Negro League Baseball, that will further brighten decorated envelopes.

The relationship between eye and heart is as indelible as first love, as inseparable as macaroni and cheese. The past week also brought the gift of a couple dozen poetry books to expand my slim collection and explode my imagination. Looking at their spines, titles and writers, I swear made me light-headed. As I began to flip through the volumes, thick and thin, what my vision took in began to fill my heart and caused tears...and laughter.

To compare flowered cardstock to words of immortal significance is not to trivialize poetry but to indicate that we love what we love, we respond to beauty where we find it. It may be the new drill press, sewing machine, game console or designer bag. It may be Chanel lipstick or the Houdini biography. The yearning and delight are not restricted to spring; we are allowed to lust year-round. But when the clouds part or retreat altogether, the sun glints off shiny new growth, the heaviest of the blankets can be put away and our hibernating minds return to life and its possibilities, what is good becomes better in the company of visual happiness. If I could only decide which is the most perfect spiral-bound journal.

12 comments:

Robert the Skeptic said...

I have found that glue sticks and Chap Stick are remarkably interchangeable in certain applications.

Antares Cryptos said...

Marylinn, thanks to Kelly,I too have developed a need for this glue stick. When I discovered that it is solvent-free, made in Italy and allegedly with potato starch and almond oil...let the hunt begin.

Art supplies...I should...I was...where am I?

I know, my dear, I KNOW.:)

@Robert, lol, if the claims are true, the Coccoina sounds edible.

Antares Cryptos said...

P.S. I got so distracted by art supplies, you're most welcome, you deserve them.

Also, I replied to comments you left on previous posts. Thank you.

I have developed an "addiction" to the Pilot V5 or V7 (nib size) Hi-tecpoint
"Pure Liquid Ink". Cheap, office supply store, waterproof and great for sketching and doodling.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Robert - This could be one of the great discoveries...the way Heloise used to tell us other uses for things like panty hose and dryer sheets. I think I'll try the Chapstick on the journal first.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Antares Cryptos - Kelly delivers many of us from too little information and tempts us beyond our strength...pens, tape, books...where does it end? You have been selected to see if Coccoina can, in fact, be eaten.

I will stop by your blog...need to learn more about your experience with the Playstation game...bad week for PS gamers. Thank you for the newest pen advice. :)

Antares Cryptos said...

Yes, I like that she only recommends what she actually likes. I've been using the Pilot for a long time, the ink does not dry out, quality seems consistent.

Experimenting with edible glue sticks? You're channeling Cave Johnson;)
I hope your son's information is safe.

BTW, the link posted is currently directing writers and poets to designer colored turrets and a re-enactment of William Tell by robots. While this makes geeks happy, confused band mates can view the awards you have received at this link:
http://antarescryptos.blogspot.com/2011/04/three-months-and-awards-go-to.html

=O.O=

Marylinn Kelly said...

Antares Cryptos - Thank you for the precise link. When I began my post, that was the current item on your blog. Then time passed. Confusion happens here but not on purpose.

So far, so good as to fall-out from the Sony hacking. And I guess reports say that most functions will be restored by Friday. With charming, compensatory gifts.

What does it say about a woman of a certain age that Cave Johnson makes her laugh? Off to see about the pens. -0v0- (I have much to learn about creating emoticons)

Jayne said...

Oh Marylinn--you make me want to sniff glue again! ;)

Jayne said...

And congrats on your award from Antares! :)

Antares Cryptos said...

I doubt they'll include notebooks or pens in their compensatory package;)

It says that your sense of humor and your inner child are alive and well. I keep seeing the "lemon speech" on "serious" science sites:)

That new emoticon looks like a birdie. Creativity in punctuation. Who knew?

Marylinn Kelly said...

Jayne - I'm sure mean glue stick, right? The tasty almond scent, not the fry-your-brain kind. My short-term memory, it took me a moment to remember the glue stick and I had a bit of a turn, thinking anything I'd said made an intelligent woman want to sniff glue. All cleared up. Sheesh. Thank you for your congrats. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Antares Cryptos - My inner child does seem to be alive and well and humor is one of the great gifts of being here and being human. Not expecting much in the compensatory pkg. Maybe a free month of upgraded access...could be an owl emoticon? We need more symbols on our keyboards. xo