Our Colorful World
A multi-hued palette for dreary days...
I’m no artist (I leave that title to my very talented sister Carolyn, and to budding artist Peter), at least not in the traditional sense. But I have come to believe that every life IS a work of art, a masterpiece in progress until the final brushstroke. And while some of our choices are definitely not in our control, there are so many that are.
It can take a crisis to recognize the smorgasbord of choices, from which we can select experiences, thoughts and emotions. During the years since my bipolar diagnosis (talk about an out-of-control choice!) I have really made more of an effort to craft my life, to consciously decide what I want the rest of my time on earth to look like.
On some level, that’s what this newsletter is about. I began “E-Musings” as a way to just share stuff I already knew and loved, with a wider audience. Over the months, though, the lens has widened—now, I spend time each week searching for NEW things to love and share, in addition to old favorites. In the process, the portrait I’m painting of my life has become richer, fuller and more colorful. And I hope you too may find value and beauty in some of my discoveries, to add to your own works of art.
Watercolor of baby Sheridan on beach by Aunt Carolyn Majewski
And by Peter, age 7 (“Portrait of the Artist as a Young Squid”)
MUSIC: SILENT MOVIE SCORES-ART INSPIRING ART
We take recorded movie scores for granted now, of course, but in the early days of cinema things were different. Steve’s Grandpa Clements was a violinist who traveled around the Midwest, helping to provide a live soundtrack to silent movies. Just a few months ago, Sheridan and his cellist friend Jonah Kim performed improvised music for part of The Ten Commandments, on the occasion of the classic Cecil B. DeMille silent film’s 100th anniversary.
Here’s a recent discovery of mine—composer-pianist Michael Oldham’s lovely accompaniment to a Harold Lloyd silent movie scene…
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Edwin O’Connor
I am amazed (and a bit saddened) that so few people remember this remarkable Irish-American novelist. O’Connor’s best known work, The Last Hurrah, perfectly captured the rough-and-tumble of the old time American political machine, and the final, tumultuous campaign of former mayor and governor Frank Skeffington. The Last Hurrah was made into a terrific Spencer Tracy movie in 1958. A favorite moment: the priest at Skeffington’s deathbed says, piously, that he assumes Frank must have wished he would have lived his life very differently. Skeffington rouses briefly, says “Like Hell I would!” and dies. Touché!
However, to me, the best O’Connors are his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Edge of Sadness, a tender book about a recovering alcoholic priest, and I Was Dancing, the hilarious story of an old vaudevillian who schemes to get out of moving to a retirement home. Steve actually has used part of I Was Dancing as a comic monologue for auditions.
Pivoting now to a new occasional feature…WEIRD FOODS I HAPPEN TO LOVE:
#1: SEA URCHINS
I first learned about eating sea urchin when I read John McPhee’s splendid New Yorker portrait of chef Alan Lieb (disguised in the article as “Otto.”). Whenever he heard they were available, Lieb would drive from the Poconos up to NYC’s Fulton Fish Market to procure these rare creatures for his restaurant. While they were never on the menu during our many visits to the Liebs’ sublime restaurant Le Gorille, Alan’s rapturous description of the urchins stayed with me. Finally, I encountered them, at Sushi Hatsu in Ambler, PA, and it was love at first bite.
Nowadays, my fish counter buddy Frank at George’s Market calls me when he gets some in, usually the uni (the strips of organs nestled within the spiny structure of the urchin), though, just before Christmas, Frank was able to snag some in the shell. Tasting the soft, salty, orange uni is like tasting the ocean itself. Try them—I bet you’ll like them!!
BLOG PREVIEW: CUSTOM-IZED
Our colorful world is filled with people and their fascinating customs. Join me tomorrow over at Working Title for a look at some unusual traditions. Did you know January 6th—besides being Epiphany, and, of course, a dreadful recent anniversary—is ALSO known in Southwest Ireland as Nollaig na mBan/Women’s Little Christmas? On this day, the hard-working women of the households take a well-earned day off, after the holiday magic they’ve made for their families. I’m all for that!!
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
May you find the beauty within you this week, color and delight no matter how gloomy the January weather. Let’s pick up our paintbrushes, friends, and create!
