Comments for ...the house I live in... http://thehouseilivein.me ...for readers and writers of northern New England Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:49:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ Comment on Like a language disappearing by Doug Bruns http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/22/like-a-language-disappearing/#comment-509 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:49:24 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1484#comment-509 “Do your art and be good to people” is more a curse than “you’ve got one year to live.” Being good to people is a thing one can understand and work at. “Do your art”–well that drives people crazy. As I’ve said, The Road Home changed my life. I can’t explain how or explain why, but it did and remains a touchstone. You know, those times when you just need to understand one thing for everything else to sort of fall in place. But “Do your art” implies that one is capable and being capable, one knows how to set forth. It’s a loaded admonition and that’s the joke. But the point is lost on me, dipped in irony though it is. It is understandable that the simplest thing remains the most complex. That seems the role of the teacher and mystic. Strikingly simple, as you say, being the ying and yan of it all. So it seems, me being simply a pilgrim.

]]> Comment on Like a language disappearing by Susan of CW http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/22/like-a-language-disappearing/#comment-508 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:07:15 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1484#comment-508 RE: freedom from the weight of the past and avoidance of rush to the future…

in The Road Home, by Jim Harrison (an author you recommended in a prior posting, TY),

John Wesley Northridge felt it was “utterly liberating” to find out he had one year to live.
“I began to tentatively forgive myself for being an angry and wild asshole much of my life, partly because forgiveness seemed to exhaust the alternatives.”

When he sought counsel from the local medicine man, I thought the response was strikingly simple, “Do your art and be good to people.”

He seemed to find that elusive “room to either side.” Thanks for reminding me of this scene.

]]> Comment on Like a language disappearing by Susan of CW http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/22/like-a-language-disappearing/#comment-506 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:25:34 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1484#comment-506 Your blog inspired a meditation on the joy of notebooks. Followed by the joy of: counting, describing, organizing same. Neurosis or edification? You can choose. I find the practice of notebook-keeping spritually uplifting. I currently have eleven in use (more or less).

A. Everyday use without any need to be wise or thoughtful.
1. Uncalendar-brand spiral, week-at-a-glance for daily schedules, to-do, notes, contacts.
2. Everyday composition book (the black marble kind) for vignettes, intentions, contemplations.

B. Special occasion reporting
1. Favorite menus. Date/occasion, guests, menus with execution notes on facing page.
2. Travel journal. The kind with the picture of the Eiffel Tower on cover for details of travel.
3. Project book. Notes made specifically for a particular writing project.
4. Family. Highly-embellished, floral-pattern book for funny or otherwise memorable times.
5. Book of books. Handsome Black ‘n Red brand hardcover with notes, quotes from those books I want to remember and/or have as ready reference.
6. Single event. Slender paperbacks, mostly found in European museums. Mixture of reporting and reflections from emotion-heavy events like yoga retreat, triathlon training, Europe.

C. Intending to be thoughtful.
1. All-topic. Hardcover, artsy-styled. Prolific intention, but seldom use.
2. Anonymous friend. Small size with notes on life struggles… looking for patterns, insights.
3. Personal challenges. Another small volume with notes/insights from specific interpersonal or health challenges. Used only twice, which I consider positive.

If the practice is neurotic, it is also harmless, relatively cheap and a source of pleasure. Thanks for the topic!

]]> Comment on The thoughts in my pointy little head. by Susan of CW http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/19/the-thoughts-in-my-pointy-little-head/#comment-505 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:35:26 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1477#comment-505 Hail, Hail,
…the house I live in…..has returned!

This reader/responder appreciates the invitation to join you
paying closer attention to life, nature, books, thoughts.

Bring it on, Brownie!

]]> Comment on The thoughts in my pointy little head. by Doug Bruns http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/19/the-thoughts-in-my-pointy-little-head/#comment-504 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:18:37 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1477#comment-504 Thanks for reading–and commenting. Pass the Red Bull, please…

]]> Comment on The thoughts in my pointy little head. by Doug Bruns http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/19/the-thoughts-in-my-pointy-little-head/#comment-503 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:18:01 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1477#comment-503 You’re welcome! Thanks for reading–and thanks for being so kind.

]]> Comment on The thoughts in my pointy little head. by A Hemingway fan. http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/19/the-thoughts-in-my-pointy-little-head/#comment-502 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:15:57 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1477#comment-502 DOUG! Thank you for coming back. Thank you.

]]> Comment on The thoughts in my pointy little head. by ediliociclostile http://thehouseilivein.me/2012/02/19/the-thoughts-in-my-pointy-little-head/#comment-501 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:57:50 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1477#comment-501 I can feel a lot of energy here!

]]> Comment on The Year in Reading – 2011 by Doug Bruns http://thehouseilivein.me/2011/12/03/the-year-in-reading-2012/#comment-484 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:33:27 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1452#comment-484 We did not get to discuss your lists–most excellent, indeed! I think you should start your own blog.

I have been kicking around the idea of turning …the house I live in… into a “readers & writers of northern New England” blog slash resource slash lit-community water cooler. I even went so far as to write Susan Conley (The Foremost Good Fortune) and Gibson Fay-Lablanc (poet and former director of The Telling Room), two writer friends, to contribute postings about books read in 2011. But didn’t hit send. Alas, I don’t have the mojo. Maybe later…(I was going to ask you to share the editorial responsibilities with me, that maybe we turn the site into something cool for readers and writers stuck here up north.) Oh well…

Thanks for sharing this list. I really love seeing what books you gave and to whom. Was it during one of our visits we talked about Robert Pirsig, living up the coast somewhere, a recluse?

Reading for 2012 is going to take a different turn.

]]> Comment on The Year in Reading – 2011 by Susan of CW http://thehouseilivein.me/2011/12/03/the-year-in-reading-2012/#comment-480 Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:42:08 +0000 http://thehouseilivein.me/?p=1452#comment-480 Before the Blog closes, one last book list. I decided to give each family member a book this year, inscribed with a greeting and an explanation of why I chose the book for them. I have a fairly small family, so the list shouldn’t be too long:

Husband: “What it is Like to Go to War” by Karl Marlantes (He loved Matterhorn by same author.)

Daughter: “Then Again” by Diane Keaton

Son-in-Law: “Winter Trails Maine” by Marty Basch

Son: “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig

Daughter-in-Law: “Robert McClosky: A Private Life in Words and Pictures” by Jane McClosky

14 year old Grandson: “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson

10 year old Granddaughter: “The Moleskin Journal of Cats”

8 year old Grandson: “The Lego Ideas Book” by Daniel Lipkowitz

6 year old Granddaughter: “Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy, Snowflake Edition” by Carl Same and Jean Stoick (This is one of the most beautiful children’s book I have ever seen!)

I think these gifts were the most meaningful I gave and I intend to continue the tradition each year.

Thanks for keeping the blog going long enough for me to report these.

Happy Holidays!

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