Artists...who do you remember?

 

Jane was a fabulous artist

Quick, name ten famous artist that you love. My guess is not one of the ten is a woman artist. Or if I asked for twenty names I seriously doubt a woman's name would appear. No shame on you. This is the state of the world.

As my poor father used to say in 1863, once people start on all the Art  Goodbye, moralite! What my father used to say is good enough for me.                       A.P. Herbert

Sad to say, women have been horribly discriminated in all fields but none so blatantly as the art realm. Go into an art gallery anywhere in the world and you will find, no surprise,  95% of the work therein is done by men. This is true throughout history. I realize this is not true in the field of crafts, the one area, like quilt making, that has been deemed appropriate for women artists. Indeed women's brilliance does shine through the ages in crafts. What we have lost through the ages is many magnificent women artists who were equal to and sometimes superior to the males artists of their time. All lost. Sure a very few are recognized somewhat begrudgingly like Frieda Kahlo, Mary Cassat, Georgia O'Keeffe or the famous photographers Anne Liebowitz or Diane Arbus. Scanty recognition for women and with rare exceptions little money and not much fame. 

Do you recognize any of these names?

Julia Margaret Cameron. Pomona.

1. Properzia de Rossi. Properzia de Rossi. ...
2. Elisabetta Sirani. Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664.
3. Edmonia Lewis. The Death of Cleopatra.
4. Judith Leyster. ...
5. Sofonisba Anguissola. ...
6. Saint Catherine of Bologna. ...
7. Levina Teerlinc.

The above list from Google search is of the most famous women artists from the 15th to the 19th century. That's it. They forgot Artemisia Gentileshi [1593-1653] There's a marvelous film about her from 1997 called Artemisia. Only twenty one of her paintings survived. She was raped by her art teacher and took him to court, they found him guilty and he was incarcerated for two years.  This was unheard of in the 16th century, most often men were excused from the crime as a sin of passion. Interestingly this rape lent itself to the violence in some of her art work and most probably the notoriety in her day.

Kathleen Ricketts Shaffner

Speaking of violence, at the London Museum in 1914 a suffragette Mary Richardson took a cleaver and slashed at the Velazquez's painting of Venus' body. This was not a crazy woman or a random act, the woman replied, 

"I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government destroying Mrs. Pankhurst who is the most beautiful character in modern history." Richardson was referring to the abusive and brutal treatment of imprisoned suffragettes. Force feedings, beatings and maiming women in the prisons and on the streets as they demanded their right to vote. Although I don't approve of her method, her point was well taken that men value paintings more than they do actual women.

[This story was taken from a book by Catherine McCormack, Women in the Picture.]
                                                            

                                                        I guess one of the reasons that this is such a hot topic for me is my little sister struggled mightily to be a recognized artist. She entered show after show and gallery after gallery in her area, southern Illinois, to no recognition and no avail. Then most excruciating she died in 2019. Kathleen Ricketts Shaffner did remarkable works and I'm happy that I had bought many pieces of her art through the years. It wasn't until her death of a heart attack that she finally got some recognition. I realize this is a sad although very familiar story but it does gnaw at me. Where were all the people who shunned her work? Now all of her paintings and shadow boxes have sold. It breaks my heart that women artists rarely get any acclaim.  Some of the profits from her work did go to a local women's shelter which somewhat assuages me. 

My plea, is people please buy art, please find the beauty and originality in some of the women artists who have been left behind. 

susansmagicfeather 2022 Susan R. Grout 

 

Books and the Library

 What is more important in a library than anything else---than everything else---is the fact that it exists.  Archibald MacLeish

 The lover of books is a miner, searching for gold all her life long.             Katherine Peterson  

Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for five thousand years, the right to learn is undoubted the most fundamental.             W.E.B. DuBois

Our little library is under attack. Although we are drastically short of space and room to grow there are those in our community that want to stop and inhibit this little library. We currently have a levy that could fix that problem and give this community a bigger library that we desperately need.

Predictably the people against the levy rarely to never enter the library and really haven't a clue as to how valuable this library is to most of our community.  Sadly they have lied about how much money we need to build the new, library which is truthfully 12 million dollars, because we have grants and generous donors. It's only going to become vastly more expensive in the future. We need to act now.

Libraries have been under attack on and off throughout history. In the past, and now sadly in the present, thousand of books have been banned in various countries all around the world. There is a physical and graphic example of this below, in front of the world's oldest public museum in Kassel, Germany.  On this spot in 1933 some two thousand books were burned during the Nazi's nationwide campaign against the "Un-German Spirit". Why is this hauntingly familiar? Here we are over almost ninety years in the future with people in many countries suggesting the same thing. The conceptual artist, Marta Minujin's sculpture  was first created in her native land of Argentina in 1983 where titles were being forbidden by the military dictatorship. Then, Marta did it again with more books in Germany 2017. 

The Parthenon of Books, made from 100,000 banned books, a conceptual piece opened in 2017  Kassel, Germany

You also might be asking yourself as I did myself, "what are they so afraid of that they would even think to attack an inanimate object?" Books don't bite, they don't rob you or even poison you, unless you consider an open mind poisonous.  BTW I consider some books written to be full of lies and depressingly stupid but I defend your right to read them. 

In a way I believe this is unspeakably sad, here are people all around the world worried about books they consider dangerous, whereas they have no such consternation about losing democracy and freedom of speech.  The word freedom currently has been usurped to mean 'anything that I do or believe should have no consequences'. They want the right to infect their neighbor or their family by not wearing a mask or getting vaccinated yet have no problem swiping a woman's right to privacy with her doctor. But then I realize some consider women and people of color fairly scary.  

I cherish books.  Books are my 'go to' for comfort, understanding and relaxation. I'm always on the look out for another great book. I have spent many, many happy hours wandering through our local library. I love and depend on this little building for supplying me with the ability to travel to other worlds, to meet characters both real and fictitious, to expand my definition of what's human, to increase my knowledge and to learn about many different subjects about which I have very little information. A treasure trove of learning awaits all who enter. Yes, I admit, it's a dependency but one I count on as being a rich essential for my life and growth as a member of the human race.

This was brought home to me because of the pandemic. We were without our library for several months last year. With a great deal of understanding and kindness the librarians gave all of us a heads up because they, for safety's sake, were going to close for an indefinite period of time in March of 2020. They made an announcement to the community so all of us would have a couple of days prior to the dark shuttering, to gather as many books, magazines and videos as we desired. It was absolutely laughable. The crowd of excited but dazed patrons rushed into the library to take out literally dozens of books and DVD's a piece. The terror of having nothing to read was upon all of us! That's when I realized how important the library, a favorite spot in our town, was in my life.  

Mom

 

I don't know what I'd do without books.                                                            Jane Ricketts

Sure, I have lots of books and truly could spend several years reading  the books I have on my shelves, but there's nothing like picking up a brand new best seller and diving into it.  Like most of the people who are bibliophiles I read the book section of newspapers, eager for a good review of a new author I've never heard of. What a pleasure to read book from vastly different points of view or a book about different cultures or walks of life. Despite Covid-19 I walked through many different countries, cultures, and even restaurants with the book's author leading the way.

To pay back some of my gratitude I'm volunteering at our local library and I feel so fortunate to be doing so. While tending to the books, the DVD's, graphic books, etc. on the shelves I've gained a knowledge of just what a huge collection we have in our small town. You might think about wandering around your own library for the sheer pleasure of being around the books and possibly [probably] finding some treasure you didn't realize was there.  For example, our DVD section of the library is rich with movies and series both old and new. This collection is vast and rich. Any treasured movie from the past 40 years is probably found in our shelves.

Then there are the librarians. These librarians are helpful, knowledgeable, generous and gracious. Yet these marvelous professionals are being attacked by screaming parents and furious people who probably have not even read the books that they're screaming about.  Texas has a bounty on women who are seeking an abortion, and are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can stop a woman from seeking an abortion. The Supreme court sided with this misogynistic decision. Next up in the idiocy race, Oklahoma has proposed a $10,000 punishment per day to any school library that has their list of banned books on their shelves. 

Where does this insanity end? It takes a nation to come together and stick up for the right to read. I grew up Catholic and at that time so many years ago the Church had lists of books [Index Librorum Prohibitorum] basically banning books. The practice ended in 1966 but though it never effected me,  it made and impression. Let's vote for sanity and the right to read and be educated.

PS  If you've read a great book I want to know it's title...

susansmagicfeather  2022 Susan R. Grout

  

 

Logical Consequences

If it's a rain river, some roads are going to wash out.

If there's not a proper culvert, roads may be impossible to ford.

 If you ignore abuse and violence or minimize them it only gets worse.

If we neglect education and caring for our children we'll have uneducated and impoverished adults.

If we allow the huge inequality in housing, food, and voting the consequences are angrier adults seeking more authoritarianism.  

Democracy is currently at stake. How can anyone who witnessed the brutality, disrespect and lawlessness of 1/6/21--- by an angry Trump mob--- not be concerned about this country?  They sought to overturn our democratically elected president by force, after it was encouraged by the ex president.

I have been increasingly worried about the state of our democracy and democracy in the world. Here in the USof A there are obvious crimes being committed on a daily basis by the previous president, his administration and his followers that are acknowledged but so far have suffered few to no consequences for the crimes. They are hoping the clock is going to run out on their illegal actions.  When and how can this be rectified? How can we at last punish sufficiently these egregious offenders? 

When I was raising my sons a sentence that reverberated for me was 'raise your children by having reasonable, logical consequences' for their behavior. If they spilled the milk by fooling around at the dinner table they were to clean up the mess. If they were fighting with each other they were to sit in separate chairs until they calmed down. If they avoided curfew, they were restricted for one night at home. Logical, the consequence made into sense for their behavior as a repercussion. Yet there is a vast difference in who gets the consequence for bad, illegal behavior in our country. We all have witnessed that and it is beyond frustrating.

I figured most people knew that logical consequences made sense in life, but found out this is just not true. At first this was brought home to me when I was working as a psychotherapist. I worked with people from all walks of life and with numerous kinds of families. In one family the step Mom was very authoritarian. When her step daughters didn't do whatever she wanted, [get all A's on their report card, keep their room tidy at all times, no disagreements or arguing with their parents] she came down--- overly harsh.  The Dad was fairly ineffectual and would not intervene on his daughter's behalf. The step Mom had some wildly unhelpful consequences for the daughters: no dinner and do all the dishes for a week; confinement to the house for a month; no socializing with their friends. This woman was so ill prepared to be a parent and no one had told her that her punishments were outrageously overboard. 'Let the punishment fit the crime' I pleaded. To my surprise at this suggestion she started crying because 'that's how I was treated as a child' and figured she had turned out alright. I took a deep breath and I told her I was sorry she was treated that way and she needed to lighten up considerably on the daughters [who were teens]. A sad situation all the way around.  

Then there were the other extremes, the sons who had been caught drinking and driving by the parents with the evidence of a car accident. These were the parents who would then help hide the dented car from the cops. The parents who provided beer for their teenagers parties with the idea that drinking at home would be better than being out drinking at someone else's house. Mind you they were hosting other people's teens.  Parents who regularly were called to school because their child was bullying other children and these parents would vehemently defend their son. They falsely believed their progeny walked on water and could do no wrong. They most probably continued to be abusive as adults. No consequences.

What is this world coming to if big businesses don't clean up their messes and there are no consequences for their bad behavior? What is this world coming to if people are told obvious falsehoods by their "news" station, then their viewers die of the virus and there are no consequences? What is this world coming to if a young man is allowed to walk around with an AK17, kills a few people because he is frightened and there are no consequences. I heard that he recently got a standing ovation at a conservative rally. Bullying and murder rewarded.

How is this doing unto others? How are these loving acts? What can we do about it? 

• Vote the perpetrators of falsehoods out of office.
• Vote out the ones who side with the bullying and abuse and excuse this behavior.
• Speak up to the ones who've been told falsehoods about accurate science.
• Work for the Democrats, I don't see many Republicans championing truth these days
• Run for office, there are people running for school board and volunteering at polling offices who's soul purpose is to intimidate and bully.
• Buy newspapers! it costs far less than daily coffee out
• Be willing to volunteer for causes you care about.
• Put your money where your heart is,  make donations to good candidates, environmental causes, local food banks, etc.

susansmagicfeather 2022 Susan R. Grout
                                        

WEIGHING IN

  I think women tend to be very hard on themselves and push themselves very hard to get things right.           Helen Fielding

I have my annual doctor's appointment and as silly as it sounds I actually had a moment of trepidation. Was it about an illness, was it about my high cholesterol, was it about ageing?  No. I'm delighted to say it was about my weight. Why should I care if the scale goes up or down a few pounds? Why? Because I've been indoctrinated since I was a teen to believing that there is a right look, a right weight and a right style. None of this, in my feminists heart, do I truly believe--- but the malady lingers on. 

First of all, and I'm admittedly a shrimp. Definitely off the norm. I am universally shocked, momentarily, when I see pictures of myself next to my family, I'm little and yet I don't feel that way ever. As a joke my Dad used to say I was "Mrs. Take Charge" when I was a young girl. I guess that's why in my perception of myself I can't possibly be small. And in my guts I believe that most of the time I'm very big and mostly always right. Huh?

If a man speaks in a forest and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong.  Jerry Dennis

Is my delusion about my height also about my appearance?  Probably.  I believe as my mother said when in her seventies, "out of these eyes is a 35 year old woman." I literally hold that to be the absolute truth. Ageing? Nonsense!

Him: Mom! You used to be really good looking!                                   

me: Zach! 

           Him: I mean it, you used to be...                                                                                                said my teenage son after viewing photos of me in college.                                                                                             

The Waist is a terrible thing to Waste.                                                             Susan Grout

One of the shocking things about ageing is the changing body when your mind is stuck in another era.  Perhaps this is a cliche but I believe that many of us in our 70's who've made a viable effort to take care of our bodies do hope, in our souls, that this diligence is going to pay off. Unfortunately, my skin hasn't gotten the message. Although I'm fairly fit I really do look approximately my legitimate age. Another shocking thing is what I took for granted with this small body. I thought if I kept about the same weight and exercised most days than not, that I would retain my teenage figure. Sadly no. I never appreciated the relatively slim waist until it became, let's say, less narrow. I would have, should have flaunted it. Like the nearly eighty year old woman I met in California. Here's the story:

Years ago I was in a lovely coffee shop with my husband and granddaughter. In marched with a great deal of flamboyance an older woman who was perfectly coiffed, beautifully made up, wearing a flaring skirt, tight blouse and, the piece de resistance, a very wide leather belt.  I spotted her and said, "Isabel?" She fell upon me with open arms crying, "It's so good to see you!" This, my friends, was none other than Isabel Allende, an author I've greatly admired since her first book, The House of the Spirits.  Such a charming lovely woman with the obvious spectacular look. BTW we'd never met before. I understood her willingness to believe we had.  I have a rather ordinary face with regular features and people often mistake me for, "aren't you my cousin Kate's friend?" and etc. I went in and got paper for her as she wanted our address to send me and my granddaughter a book. She did and I cherish this chance encounter in more ways than one. Isabel flaunts what's a pretty good waist, I appreciate that. 

  

My mother was notorious also for the rather comical jabs.  I once told her that I was thinking about losing five pounds and she said, "don't bother it'll just hang." Another time I was complaining to my mom about wrinkles and she said, "go look in the mirror." I did and came back to her comment, "it's all down hill from here." She was right but please!

The truth is I have no legitimate complaints about my body or about ageing. I'm still feeling mostly good despite the aches and pains associated with arthritis. So, the wrinkles, the enlarged waist, the arthritis I will take with gratitude that I get to live and enjoy my life even if once upon a time I was really good looking.

susansmagicfeather  2022  Susan R. Grout 

 

 

 

Revving

 

gorgeous yet stuck in the driveway

I believe that the world has slowed down with this plague and so have I for a number of different reasons. Aging bones, an accidentally cracked tooth that impeded my eating for a couple of months, and the very few visits with friends and family that used to pack my schedule.  However, my reality--- also a blessing in my life--- is the incredible amount of energy that I have. I'm revved and ready to go. The only time I have a case of the 'slows' is when I'm sick or injured. Unlike most people, when I'm upset I pace instead of going back to bed.  It's just my nature to move around.

This surplus of energy, though a blessing, can sometimes be a curse. There are times when so much is going on in my life that my brain insists on processing things over and over again. Sometimes I've been wide awake until 2 or 3 a.m. mind a whirl and thinking. Conversely I get to sleep relatively early like 10 pm and then awaken at 4 am. unable to fall back to sleep. The thoughts keep coming and my brain's not letting me rest. Wide awake. Granted this is not an ordinary occurrence but it's so annoying when it happens. 

What to do, what to do with my brain that's on the squirrel cage yet again?  Truthfully I try all kinds of things but here's what's most effective.  Below is a mix and match list, try any or all. As I used to say to my clients, nothing is 100% effective but 90% is a definite plus.

 tea and a fire 

1.    1.Meditation. I'm not the world's best at this but I figure if I lay there and concentrate on my breathing sometimes it slows the body's revving and I fall back to sleep.
2.    2.Read until your eyes are closing and the book is about to crash on to your face. Always have three or four really engaging books by your bed. 
3.     3.Get out of bed and do some gentle yoga. All postures I use are: downward dog; child's pose; cat/cow; side angle pose; supine twist; legs up the wall and of course, corpse pose when I'm back in bed.
4. Visualize what you want and tell it to the brain: "I'm asleep, I'm so tired I'm sleeping"; "I'm calm and relaxed" repeat endlessly. This last one I use during the day along with saying the word SLOW to myself when I'm hurrying for no good reason.
5. Do a full body scan relaxing each part of your body: "my face is relaxed; my arms are relaxed; my torso is relaxed; my legs are relaxed; my mind is clear." Let's not kid ourselves that last part about the clear mind is the most difficult. 
6. Breathe in for the count of 4, hold the breath for the count of  6 and breathe out for 8. Repeat often or at least until you're sick of it.
7. It might seem counter intuitive but get a snack that helps to induce sleep. A favorite of mine is several walnuts with tart dried cherries and a glass of milk. I read while I eat and when I'm tired enough I go back to bed. Walnuts and tart cherries have melatonin in them that promotes sleep. 
8. Write a list of all that's bothering you, no matter how slight, then come up with solutions. Grief is excluded here, there's no running away from the necessary expression of sorrow, simply allow the sadness. Let it speak to you.
9. Take an ibuprofen and Tums to settle the body and calm the stomach.
10. Mentally drive yourself somewhere in an imaginary car ride. Boring but it works. 
11. Try a gratitude list of favorite people, places and dreams which is quite soothing.
12. "When you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings." sung by Rosemary Clooney
13. Makes sure you get outside each day, preferably with a long walk. 
14. If you have a favorite prayer or inspiring sentence this is the time to concentrate on it.
    
    
    
    

I have to laugh. Here I am being a smarty pants  and I went to bed early last night and slept soundly until 4 am then couldn't get back to sleep. Ironic or pre programed?  Fortunately I have two really good books and finished one and started the other, and then the mediation which was pleasant. Finally I got up for my day at 7 pm. A lovely morning and because it wasn't a struggle or a fight to induce sleep,  I felt and feel fine. 

Happy New Year and may all the blessing of good health and a good attitude come your way.

susansmagicfeather 2022 Susan R. Grout

Pictorial of the Year 2021

 

New years day 2021

As usual I'm posting pictures of the year and hope you enjoy them in lieu of sending cards instead I'm sending well wishes for 2022 and a great deal of love.

Christmas 2021 with grands

The Grouts live near 

Here's the photos that stand out for 2021. As you can see, not a lot has happened.  New Year's Day I'll be home on the couch with a cup of tea. This won't change as I'm unsure we can make it out of our driveway. See below.

Overall the year was like another year of plague and for that very reason I re read A Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks written about the plague of the 17th century. This was an excellent reminder of how very fortunate we are to have the vaccines [and boosters] to protect us from the worst of the ravages of COVID. 

We had a small window of opportunity to see the entire Grout clan in early August and I am beyond grateful for that. 

Outside yesterday

summer at a pond

the best of being together is eating and talking

 Volunteering at the library, I especially enjoyed playing guitar for the preschoolers. My speed. 

Fairgrounds guitar and reading for preschoolers

Dick and I continue to be active in political campaigns

Lots of hiking in 2021--- on island

                                                        

Bliss of being at an outdoor restaurant 

                                                
                   
       

A wonderful committee that successfully got a levy passed

               

the thrill of getting a jab for our health

This last picture was taken prior to our weekly guitar zoom which revved my guitar playing and song writing. 
STAY HEALTHY!

susansmagicfeather 2021 Susan R. Grout 

Eating

a teen enjoy his food 

 Seeing is deceiving. It's eating that's believing.                     James Thurber

I've witnessed babies throw themselves on the floor wailing and crying after being given a taste of asparagus and then proceed to pick a piece of dirty lint off the floor and pop it, delighted, into their mouth.  Susan Grout

Artichokes: These are things are just plain annoying...after all the trouble you go to you get about as much actual 'food' out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking thirty or forty postage stamps.                  Miss Piggy as told to Henry Beard 

Mom at 83

Don't get between Jane and her food or you'll get a fork in the back.                  a brother in law

 My mother was a most notorious championship eater. She had an enormous appetite and six darling children. At the Sunday dinners, that our Mom laboriously prepared, she would inevitably with great enthusiasm clean her plate. Then she'd motion to my siblings, especially the picky eaters, to "pass your plate"  to her and Mom'd finish off their leftovers. Granted Mom grew up during the Depression when getting an orange in her stocking for Christmas was a deep thrill. Also during the Depression many Americans were victims of scarcity and often hungry.  Look at the pictures of the American people in the 1920's through the 1950's and try to find anyone who was overweight. Why aren't there many? Several factors, people walked everywhere, they cherished a good meal and they had no experience with fast foods or convenience foods. That craze started after the war in the late 1950's. We've paid for it in pounds, higher blood pressure and diabetes.

Me about to attack the cake

Bread that must be sliced with an ax is bread that is too nourishing.                Fran Lebowitz 

I started thinking about food and eating when I overheard my son say, to someone at Thanksgiving,  "She doesn't eat that much." Meaning me, I was surprised. I'm not the gourmand my mother was but I eat plenty, just more cautiously than my mother. I'm also a selective eater. I survived the Carob fad, the bread made to taste like a brick fad and the no butter anywhere fad in the 70's and declared that I would never eat anything that was supposedly healthy but tasted dreadful.  However I'm sometimes rather oblivious. 

Recently, at a very nice restaurant I unwittingly chomped down on a bit of metal that was in the salsa. I cracked my molar and endured lots of pain. The results involved several visits to the dentist and a very long drawn out procedure that ended in a root canal. Ugh x 2. So for a couple of months I was so cautious trying to avoid more pain. I needed to be super careful about what I ate and how I ate. The interesting part is I've became a slow, careful eater.  Naturally I did lose weight [which was unintentional] but the temporary debilitation also showed me how to value being able to eat with abandon. Not sure if I'll ever go back to bolting my food. I realized that I really don't like the feeling of being stuffed like the turkey. 

The ironic part in my gourmand mother's story is she was never overweight in her life.  The guesses I have about why she wasn't hefty is probably her genetics and also the culture of the day was not about overeating all the time. In her early days prior to marriage, getting food required some effort, some luck and some preparation. Overeating just wasn't normalized as much as it is today. There was no directions about what a portion of food was at that time and certainly none of the foods were highly processed--- there was no such thing as a Big Gulp. About portion control, for example, when I was a child in our school lunch box was--- a sandwich, period. Great days for me at school involved perhaps a cookie, only one, in the lunchbox. Once in awhile we had the privilege eating from cafeteria at school which the adored Myrtle the school chef made. I dearly loved her Spaghetti with brown gravy.   I was a most fortunate child in that I never remember going hungry for long. One of the reasons, peculiar to our family, was my parents owned and worked in our family restaurant. We always had fabulous food from the restaurant when Dad would remember bring it home. When I was working at the restaurant I remember snacking but never sitting down for an entire meal.  I suppose looking at food and serving it all day long actually acted as a deterrent to overeating for me and most probably for my parents as well. This would absolutely not be true if I worked in a bakery.

The two biggest sellers in any bookstore are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food, and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it.                                                                                                  Andy Rooney

What's  also happened in the last decade is people are discovering they have sensitivities to various foods. These are not true life threatening allergies like the few who unfortunately suffer from extreme reactions to peanuts or truly have Celiac disease. I've about given up asking if people have food sensitivities, figuring they can bring extra food that they can eat rather than me scrambling to cook yet another dish that might not even get touched. How many rice crackers have I tossed into the compost that have gone stale from neglect? Too many to count.  And worse in my estimation: the enormous waste of food in our country. I'm lucky to have a vigorous compost pile and grateful for every last worm. This, sadly, is the exception rather than the rule, in our country the waste is 125-160 billion pounds of food a year. Prior to food going bad in the refridge a good strategy is to not over buy. Don't people know about food banks? We all need to shop more judiciously. 

Ah but compost is such a glorious answer to much of the waste. Another answer could be to estimate how many dollars you're throwing away in food and penalize yourself. Then donate that amount of money at the end of the year to Feeding America or Feed the Children, or your local food bank.  Win/win is my favorite.

susansmagicfeather  2021 Susan R. Grout 

Uncool

Writing about art is like dancing about architecture.  Anon

Me and Kathleen

I'm increasingly amused by the vogues of the day, the trends as in "trending", that we are supposed to pay close attention to or... what? I don't know.  I suppose the curse is that we will be labeled "uncool" by someone. Horrors! In the picture on the left you see two women [one is me] who are riotously unfashionable though having a perfectly marvelous time on a paddle wheel boat in New Orleans several years ago. Both of us shop for comfort and more times than not, in thrift stores. When I saw this picture it made me smile because we are so oblivious to what the fashion was at this time in our lives.  I've been thinking about uncool a lot lately. 

One of my newfound delights is volunteering at the library. The task I was given is to make sure that the books, DVDs and graphic novels are absolutely in Dewey Decimal System and alphabetical order.  I now have the joy of discovering parts of the library that I've neglected for many years . The last group of books I organized was the Oversize Books.  How incredible to find art books with glorious illustrations from famous artists from many different eras. I just returned a wonderful Thomas Moran book and reveled in the glorious [although mostly fantasized] scenes he had of the northwest and the west.  

Life is very nice, but it lacks form.  It's the aim of art to give it some.              Jean Anouihl

Next, out of curiosity, I brought a large book of Norman Rockwell's many illustrations home with me.  I knew  as a young woman I was amused by many of his illustrations and admired his handicraft. Sadly, I never knew the depth and breath of his work. When I was growing up his work was belittled by critics as sentimental tripe, very uncool, which I supposed influenced my understanding of Rockwell's work. Then I read about Norman Rockwell's work and viewed the decades and the depth of his art--- I found myself bewildered. This man was an excellent artist and superb craftsman of the highest degree. Yet he was scoffed as uncool and second rate. Why? Because the "trending" art at that time was all about the expressionist, the avaunt guard and modern art that was so popular at in the 1920's through the 1980's when he was producing his amazing and interesting art. Basically Norman Rockwell was declared uncool by the powers of the press and critics. Yet the people who were not critics, loved and appreciated him. Very few of the critics could or would see the artistry and beauty of his work. The picture above of Rockwell's 'Do Unto Others' has deep relevance and meaning today although it was painted in 1960.

more on uncool outfits

Although I chuckled at Norman Rockwell's portraits of the salt of the earth types, I also realized the skill it took to make you look at the image before you and immediately be in on the joke with the artist.  That brought a smile and joy to millions through out his career. It seems to me that it the essence of cool. Joy and laughter.

It's strikes me as interesting that Rockwell's art is every bit as well executed as Andrew Wyeth's art.  I realize this is a shocking and strange comparison. In 2017 had the privilege of seeing Wyeth's work at the Seattle Art Museum. When looking at the two artists, the contrast is acute. Rockwell's art is rich with incredible detail, often funny, whereas Wyeth's art is dramatic, well executed and achingly spare. So, I asked myself, does being amusing distract from the quality of the art? I'm thinking to me, somehow it must. Because the overall question: would I like a picture on my wall of an Andrew Wyeth or a Norman Rockwell to look at forever?  I'd  honestly have to go with the Wyeth. Does that make me a traitor to my own argument?  Worse things have happen to my thoughts.

man in a boat

Wyeth is cool, literally and the art world was, as it certainly should've been, wowed by his impeccable technique and craftsmanship. Rockwell is frankly corny but his craftsmanship and technique are also impeccable, brilliant even. Is this a case of apples and oranges or Caravaggio and Bosch? I'm kind of baffled as to the answer, if there's even a correct one. As my Grandmother used to say, "to each his own, said the old lady as she kissed the cow."

susansmagicfeather 2021 Susan R. Grout 

  

Flunking Retirement

 

Retirement at 65 is ridiculous. When I was 65 I still had pimples.  George Burns

 Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed.                                                                    Anthony Powell

It was new for me to retire, I was only a couple of months away from my sixty seventh birthday and I loved my job as psychotherapist and especially the people who were my clients. But I also knew that I needed more in my life. More stimulation, more challenges and new adventures. One part of me was definitely hesitant to retire because I was reminding myself of several older gentlemen that I'd worked with over the years. These very energetic men were bored out of their skulls in retirement. Being a woman of action, I gave them tasks to do and to my delight and surprise, they did each one. I gave them homework assignments and they turned up at my door with the results. Here is a partial list.

1.  I encouraged them: to do volunteer work with whatever interested them, 
2.  to take up or re do a hobby,
3.  to learn a sport or a game they'd never tried before,
4.  to travel to places new to them,
5. to start or join a book club,
6. to read all those books that you've saved,
7. to find a hiking buddy--- preferably one who'll discuss those books,
8. to take University classes.

All of these men tried on many different hats and the numerous things I suggested and came up with interesting takes on their own. The tests, if you will, lasted about six months and then--- guess it's not a surprise--- many of these men [interestingly very few women] flunked retirement. Also, no surprise  many eventually went back to their jobs or took a job they found that they loved.  Retirement is not for everyone. I jokingly said they were allowed to flunk retirement. 

Also reminiscing I realized that many times in my life I've had the opportunity to retire. Before I had small children I stopped working while pregnant. I pictured that I'd take leisurely long baths, I'd write a novel, I'd go for long walks and I'd make endlessly delicious meals. Then once the babies were born I found it laughable that I even contemplated all the leisure I'd have. Full time and plus was my experience, as is true for most new parents. But the years rolled on and when my littlest one went to kindergarten and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what mothers did with themselves all day long until the children returned from school. I'm sorry to say I found being a stay at home mother boring. So I went to work. My first job was volunteering for our local co operative preschool and I did enjoy that but it wasn't paid position and I decided I needed more plus a salary. 

The job I got was working for the newly formed Drug and Alcohol center as a junior counselor. I'd been a psych major and that suited my new boss just fine as qualification for the job. Totally inexperienced for dealing as a counselor, I optimistically pictured myself learning right along with my clients.  Little did I know the office was set up to take care of the burgeoning case load in our local district court system. Truly it was a revolving door: in came the court ordered people with their list of problems from drugs or drinking and out they went most often to re-offend and end up with  our office again. There were successes and that was gratifying but most of the court referred clients really did not want to be there.  I stuck with this crazy system for nine years. Along the way I became familiar with AA and Al anon, many, many workshops and I successfully completed credits for a masters degree in psychology. 

Since I had nine years of practice and the new six months of the masters degree under my belt, my mentor and co worker showed me that I could be making approximately twice the money if I started my own counseling practice. I did and I never looked back. Instead of a revolving door, I had a rich, full opportunity each day to work with people who had a vast array of issues that were related to many different areas of their lives. I rarely worked with the courts.  It was rewarding to watch as people desired and wanted change and to get healthier and many times became happier.

I loved my work and found that most days were exhilarating rather than exhausting. I was in this lovely profession for almost thirty years. Then as I was nearing my retirement age I decided to finally take the social security and run. Except I didn't. I stayed on a couple of years more. Then a series of events: my husband retired and seemed to thrive in his new freedom, then my beloved Mom died and finally I had to put down a dear faithful cat. 

I knew after awhile that needed more in my life. More stimulation, more challenges and I needed to let go of being in charge of another person's welfare. This is hardly a fair statement, I really was just the mountain guide. The client would have to climb that mountain to wellness, with some safety tips. 

My sisters announced they were going to attend a guitar workshop that summer and I wanted to join them. So then retirement became a relief and a joy. Interestingly, re read all of those tips and encouragements I gave above for the older gentlemen. Now, it revealed itself to be my list, the list I still adhere to for a rewarding and full retirement. In addition to that list I have a delightful Zoom each week with six other musicians, [two of whom are the sisters], and we write a song and tell stories from our life or experiences on various interesting topics. Also I work for the Democrats locally and have been involved in getting many elected. That work is hard, laborious but ultimately satisfying labor. The latest volunteering has absolutely been the most fun---working for our library in their children's reading program. I play the guitar and sing songs. My fan base in nine months to five years. Bliss. 

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.               Steven Wright 

Being of an independent mind I never dreamed of going back to an office but I will never give up the skills I learned from the more than thirty years as a psychotherapist. I love sharing the tips that have helped many people. It was my great privilege to work with all kinds of people, all ages and all nationalities. Though I loved my work I'd grown weary and wanted to travel, to reintroduce myself to writing and my music, and to be with my grandchildren before they became completely disinterested in me. Now I have that freedom and am attempting to make the most of it. 

susansmagicfeather 2021 Susan R. Grout rights reserved.