Sienna Moonfire Designs

for a while there i was really hating being alone * it wasn't the sleeping alone so much as the feeding myself that i hated * i have a couple favorite bedtime albums to bring on the dreams & a puppy to keep me warm (& pushed way over to the side) so sleep is rarely a problem * feeding myself is always a problem * not only is there nobody else to come up with dishes to cook & go to the store & prepare the meat but there's nobody else to get hungry & force me to take good care of myself * i mean, i think an artichoke & a big ol' salad is a fine meal but you can't get away with that sort of thing more than once or twice a week * maybe it's that it's spring & the farmers' market is finally open, but i've been enjoying cooking a lot more lately * i'm really looking forward to going home & being able to have dinner with the family more often -- learn some of their tricks!

outside right now there are 3 baby starlings (bad birds, invaders along with that evil ivy that will not go away, but cute as kids) fighting over one of the suet baskets outside & there's a mama house finch teaching two of her babies about the bird bath -- oops, chased away by a black-headed grosbeak, a gorgeous bird, after his evening bath * a little while ago there were a couple of brewer's blackbird babes learning about all the seeds & suet bits that fall on the ground * the goldfinches go through an amazing amount of seed & the hummers make it easy to keep the feeders cleaned regularly by draining them within days of a fill * to top it all off, last week i found a frog living in the little frog house (half a broken mug for shelter & the dip side of a broken serving platter for water -- yeh, i'm a real slumlord!) i set out in my gorgeously happy columbine planter *

was i complaining about something?

the stunning movie The Pillow Book is the inspiration for this ever-evolving page of lists * there are lots of links mixed in on my lists -- if i could find a good link on any item, i included it * some links go straight to Amazon.com or the IMDb but watch that bottom status bar because there are some other great links hidden in there * if you're interested in a little history, follow the story behind this page on the one that came before it, otherwise, click on for more rambling words and lists of beloved things -- is that an oxymoron?

the lists below may look the same but they change every time i update the page * not all of them every time, but all of them over time * as it's a new year i'm going to give them another thorough going over, keep my mind moving on to new obsessions, even though i don't completely let go of the old ones *

the 2 spots at top i'll keep -- they're always changing & besides, they please me (i'm the only audience for these pages for all i know, so why not?) * my horrorscope: i'm a woo-woo type, part pagan, so why not revel in it? & the hotties in the movies: what's life without some tasty crushes? i try to keep the list short, but when i really fall for somebody it's usually because of a generous genuine nature & then i never want to take him&her off my list * like Viggo, like Salma * i saw the elvin Cate Blanchett on Inside the Actors Studio & wow... she said "It has to be a generous act" about really giving herself to a performance emotionally, going all out as she does * the generosity of creative expression is one of my favorite concepts, the one i've begun the last 2 years with (see Viggo for last year, & Brezsny for this) * see, it's all connected *

Wabi-sabi is your guiding principle this week, Aries. It's a Japanese term for a kind of beauty that's imperfect, transitory, and incomplete. In his book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers, Leonard Koren says wabi-sabi differs from the Western notion that beauty resides in things that are "monumental, spectacular, and enduring." It's about "the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent they are almost invisible at first glance." Be calmly eager for these small wonders, Aries. Let wabi-sabi be a magic spell that opens up the secret joys concealed within the passing moments of your everyday routine.

wabi-sabi... i like it! i didn't know the word but i've always appreciated it (note sometimes squeaky voice and big lip scar on my favorite obsession; note which hobbit i named my pup after) * i like magic * i like secret joys * i like passing moments * i like everyday routine * i am certainly calmly eager & the big wonder is that in only a few months i'll be with my family again -- talk about strength, balance & love!

my answers to those questions he always asks on Inside the Actors Studio are as follows (today):

my mom & i were walking along an old dirt road when we came to a path down to a lake * we were with Iverson & she had his leash but she let him off it & he ran down the hill * a woman coming by said that tomorrow we better keep a better hold on our dog because the next day they were going to burn it all * i was worried about Iverson but my mom told me he was just fine & he was * when we got to the bottom he was waiting for us on the platform at the edge of the lake * there was a rope to go across the lake & at first it was easy but then in the middle the rope was broken * my mom wanted to go back but i wanted to go forward * i jumped & caught the next rope & then i was pulling myself along it by my arms -- i don't know what i'd been doing before but it was much easier * still, she was following right behind me & when i got to the other end i realized it was broken there too & i wanted to go back * we turned around but somehow i was in front again & when i made it to the middle where it was broken then suddenly i was on a platform on the other side of the lake with the end of the rope still in my hand * it was a long way across but the only thing to do (i asked the lady on the other side) was to leap for it * i knew i would fall in the water & i didn't want to (lingering fear of water i can't see through) * the water was glowing blue even though it was murky * very beautiful * the woman on the other side got in the water to swim & to show me that it was not to be feared * so i swung out on the rope as far as i could & i plunged down down down to the very bottom of the lake, which was soft & muddy & i could feel the mud & the water very vividly * i was held at the bottom for several seconds by the force of my plunge & when i surfaced i was close to the platform * it turned out i had jumped almost right on Iverson who'd swum out after me & he was scared & hiding underneath the platform boards * i moved one away (it was a good solid platform but somehow the boards moved easily) & told him not to be scared & pulled him up *