Mother's Day...

This box was added to The Love Boxes Etsy Shop this morning...

inside it reads, "Mother, I love you..."

Pansies...

Where flowers bloom so does hope.- Lady Bird Johnson

Sorry about yet another picture of pansies, I am so in love with them.

Summer Of Love...

Summer Of Love aired last night on American Experience, a PBS program that we always find interesting around here. This program was no exception. It chronicled the summer of 1967 when many young people across the country went in droves to join The Hippie Movement in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

I had read several things about this movement before and so I was amazed that many of the people who participated in this movement still had positive things to say about it. Peter Coyote, who is extensively interviewed in the program, makes the point that The Hippie Movement was not able to end Capitalism and Imperialism as it set out to do, but it did accomplish some good things. His list of good things included, organic food, yoga, and alternative medicine.

Some of those things are good things, but the film footage provided makes it difficult for me to judge the movement in a positive way. Film footage of the Haight-Ashbury area before the Hippies cames shows a lovely and well kept neighborhood that quickly became filthy while they were there.

The Hippies themselves were filthy bringing back diseases that had not been seen since Medival times because they had been cured by soap. Venereal diseases were spreading through the area rampantly.

Art Gerrans, a San Francisco police officer durring that time said, "These people were supportive of the anti-war movement, but on the other hand, back in the Haight-Ashbury, where they were living, their culture there -- having sex with minors and committing statutory rape and using dope and murders -- they were violating the law, so we were arresting them. I guess they were rebelling against authority."

The idea of rebelling against Capitalism in reality turned into living with out working. Subsequently, funds soon ran short for hippies. Young people as young as twelve and thirteen were roaming the streets filthy and starving.

One of the women spoke glowingly of what the hippies called, "the free store" where you could go in and just take what you needed. The problem I saw when they showed film footage of this store, was that no-one would want anything in it. It was all garbage. It made a great summation for me of the whole movement.... You get what you pay for.

If you are interested, the next program will be a co-production with the program Frontline. This program airs April 30th & May 1. It will be a four-hour program called The Mormons. You can also learn more about the Mormons right from the source, here.

Trees I Covet...

Lord, the air smells good...
by Rumi

Lord, the air smells good today,

straight from the mysteries

within the inner courts of God.

A grace like new clothes thrown across the garden,

free medecine for everybody.

The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,

the first blue violets kneeling.

Whatever came from Being is caught up in being,

drunkenlyforgetting the way back.

A Bouquet For Mom...

This box will be in the Love Boxes Etsy Shop today...

This box is still in the shop and is my favorite one of the Mother's Day boxes... Inside it reads... Mother's love is peace... Erich Fromm...
The little house box that was in the shop sold this week, but this one, although a bit different than the other one, has the same quote, "your heart is my home..." and will be added today.

All of these will be included in a small shop update in the Love Boxes Etsy Shop today...

The Princess Academy... by Shannon Hale

... a report by little c.


Brilliant! I think if you click the pictures that you will be able to read the text. She worked a long time to get this put together for the due date this morning. Good job c!

On a more cheerful note...

My original floral photographs like this one...
...have become a line of seasonal note cards...
...like this one. They are original photographs mounted on good archival cardstock, signed and dated. This first series is entitled, Spring...
...and I am hopeful that they will be successful and available for each season. They will arrive picture perfect in a cute box with a bow as shown above and would be a great Mother's Day item. See them in the Love Boxes Etsy Shop.

True At First Light... Ernest, Bill and The Great Liberal Ideal...

I mostly like to post about the bright and happy, but I did promise to review this book and I did finish this morning on schedule. The book was published posthumously in 1999 and edited by Patrick Hemingway, the second son born to Mr. Hemingway. I felt that the afterword included by Patrick was the only part of the book with any emotional value.
It was soon after Hemingway wrote what is included in this book that he ended his life by suicide in Ketchum, Idaho on July 2, of 1961. Last time I was in Ketchum, I visited the lovely memorial that was erected in 1966 to his memory.
His family has quite a terrible history of mental illness something that his own behavior must have exacerbated greatly. If you take his view of himself at face value from this book, he was a faithless, debauching, alcoholic who was emotionally stunted and selfish. He reminded me so much of Bill Clinton, it was difficult not to compare them.
Bill Clinton claimed to be part of and spoke the language of what I like to think of as The Great Liberal Ideal. Equal treatment under the law for every human being, respect for all people and cultures, you know THOSE great liberal ideals. These are the people who came up with and passed sexual harrassment laws that are meant to protect women in the work place. But, no spoken ideal can speak louder than the way a man treats his own wife.
Hemingway had been married four times. In the book, he talks about what makes a really loving wife... one that will hunt lions with you.. great. Also on his list is one that will allow, even encourage you to keep a concubine. His mention of women in the book makes them more like a consumable product, to be used up and thrown out.
Bill Clinton liked to support those tired and old social programs that originated with Johnson's Great Society and now have shown to be a recipe for keeping the poor in their tenaments for how many generations and those who promise to keep them on the dole in power.
Ernest Hemingway mentioned the poor treatment of Native Americans in the book and yet his own behavior and example toward the East Africans would make them tribes of syphilitic alcoholics.
Why is his writing so famous? It is difficult not to admire his clear prose and unmistakable style, yet, his content fails to inspire me. In college I read a paper written by Marilyn Arnold called Art and The Noble Idea. The article argues that it is not good enough to have great truth or great style. Great writing must have both. I really don't find any truth in True At First Light.

Do you have a different opinion? I would love to hear why.

Oh, What a Busy Day!

Design Mom posted about a favorite childhood book of mine. It brought back a lot of fun memories. Read her post here.

America at a Crossroads... PBS

America at a Crossroads is just about the most timely television you can get. A documentary series by PBS that shows the history of the United States path to war in Iraq, the history and culture of the Middle East, and actually far more topics than I can list here. As President Bush fights it out with congress over budget that will allow troops to stay in country in Iraq or force them to abandon their mission there, this is program shows both sides of the debate and much more and is something I think every American should see. If you haven't seen it, see it. I missed the first part myself and I am going to find a way to see it. Part 4 airs tonight and I don't think it's necessary to see them in order.

PBS steps up again... this is really great television. Read about it here.

Another Pineapple...

Available in The Love Boxes Etsy Shop...

Two-Part Invention...

Though I am not a fan of fantasy or sci-fi writing, A Wrinkle in Time is among a very few exceptions for me. It seems that whatever Madeleine L'Engle chooses as a subject she fills the pages with truth. This week I am reading True At First Light by Earnest Hemingway, which I will review on Thursday. In that book Hemingway's character makes a speech that I like where he says that fiction can have more truth than non-fiction because it includes emotion and perspective.
Two-Part invention is the true story of Madeline L'Engle's marriage, but it still includes so much of emotional truth. And, it is a great love story. The book reminds me of the kind of love that you hope for, the kind of love mentioned in protestant vows that say, "for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health." We all want to be loved in every part of our life, even when we are not our best self. We want there to be someone to know us for who we really are and forgive those little annoying things, to stick with us even if the going gets tough for awhile knowing that we are greater than our weakness and faults.
In that spirit, this book is a real love story, the nitty gritty if you will, of really what we all hope for... a love that lasts.

Cath Kidston Stationery...

These are my colors. Love this stuff. See it here.

More Mother's Day Options...

Inside it reads, "Your heart is my home..."

See it here.

Hand Painted Love Boxes for Mother's Day...

There have been several requests regarding Mother's Day Love Boxes... This is the deal. There are quite a few in the Etsy Shop and the Ebay Shop already that may be perfect for your specific kind of mom. I will be adding a few more over the next few days and highlighting them on the blog to give everyone a few ideas. If you remember something that isn't listed, let me know and I will look through my stock. Thanks for your support everyone, it is much appreciated.

The quotes in these deep plum boxes with red roses read:

Box 1. A mother's arms are made of tenderness... Victor Hugo

Box 2. I remember my mother's prayers... they have clung to my all my life... Abraham Lincoln

Box 3. A mother's love is peace... Erich Fromm

My Mother is like Midas...

...only instead of turning things into gold... she turns everything...
PRETTY!!!
These are pictures of our belated Easter dinner that took place yesterday because of scheduling.
Everyone had a marvelous time! Thanks Mom! You have always been a great Easter Bunny...

Granny Chic Movie of the Week...

Of all of my favorite old time movie actressess, Jean Arthur is dear to my heart. Smart and funny, she could play every emotion and was darn cute in the bargain. She had a thirty year career and played in dozens of films another of which is the classic, You Can't Take it With You, with James Stewart.

We watched The More the Merrier for the first time over the weekend and it was an instant new favorite.

Jean Arthur plays an attractive, single professional living in Washington D.C. during a severe housing shortage. She decides it is her patriotic duty to rent out half of her apartment to an aging millionaire who makes himself a marvelous roomate by deciding that she is a cute girl who should be married. The millionaire, played by a darling Charles Coburn, decides to rent out half of his half of the apartment to a handsome military officer on his way to fight in North Africa.

Don't miss this one, it's so fun!

The History of the Tabernacle at Temple Square...

Little c and I spent Saturday photographing more flowers and a friend at the Temple Square Gardens. We then went over to the Museum of Church History & Art on 45 North West Temple. There is currently an exhibit about the history of the LDS Tabernacle that is really amazing. Don't miss the pieces of the dedicatory prayer that are in lettering on the walls. Very beautiful.

Random thoughts about The Crucible...

Last evening, I attended my sister's school prodution of The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this play as a protest against McCarthyism. Naming names and making lists is dangerous to any society. Under the fifth amendment which guarantees due process to the accused several things are required to convict someone, "the presumption of innocence until proved guilty, trial by jury, representation by counsel, the right to present witnesses and evidence to establish one's innocence, and the right to cross-examine one's accusers..." While this was the standard set forth by wise Founding Fathers, it has not been always followed in these United States. The internment of Japanese Americans during WW11 is one very sad and ugly example. Franklin Roosevelt is credited with saying, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." How often is that true?
There are still so many societies in our world that live under the politics of fear. Earlier this year I read James Michener's book, The Bridge At Andau, and I still think about it everyday. It is a powerful book that shows how a society of fear comes to be. It is quite ironic how the power structure of communism (the theme of McCarthy's Red Scare) is based on this same naming of names that is so terrifying in The Crucible. In a way, McCarthy was participating in exactly the thing he feared.
I have often felt that the High School curriculum is very harsh and I worry that we turn children off to literature because they are asked to read Lord of the Flies, The Crucible, Crime and Punishment & Heart of Darkness all rather dark and depressing. However, last night as I watched these High School kids perform The Crucible, I thought it would truly be a great thing if these kids learned the lessons of The Crucible now.
For me those lessons are these... Due process is a sacred gift. It is inconvenient and painful when you are the one who is wronged because it would be nice, believe me, to point a finger at someone and have them sent away. Liberty costs, and it is a price worth paying. Secondly, we need to be involved and informed about those that we elect and appoint to rule over us. We need wise judges in the land. Lastly, and most importantly, we need to have charity for all.

Dear Jackie, you and your class were absolutely fabulous! Many, many congratulations! Your big sister is very, very proud!

Granny Chic... Cute of the Week...

This little bag is not my colors at all, which is a huge disappointment because I would buy if it were. April Cornell's new site is up and running and she has lovely offerings in muted earth tones for spring/summer. I love the shape of this "Poetry Bag" ... very Granny Chic... Anyway, everyone who loves sage and salmon should hop right over there, you find lots of things you'll like.