I am now thinking about the effects of beauty on my workspace. At this moment, my workspace is a mess. I have a number of things I love on this desk. However, it is difficult to enjoy them fully when the space is so cluttered. I “see” my office without the paper clutter. I see my office with shelves. I see the cupboards with bins in them that make pulling out what I need easier. As it stands now I have to struggle to get to what I need. If there were bins, then I could pull whatever bins I … Continue reading
Tag Archives: vocation
Our culture does not value beauty beyond its relationship to function or earning power. Girls are taught to pursue careers and earn good money; they are taught to develop a career before they consider marriage and family. Men seek wives who can add a solid second paycheck; men used to seek wives who had the skills to create a beautiful home for a family. There was a time when the beauty created by home makers was valued. Girls were taught the skills and could expect to have those skills valued. Those days are long gone. Our culture glorifies the career … Continue reading
I’m still blogging on my responses to the book THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. Today I wanted to think on my Living Room. My living room is a long room, a bit on the narrow side, with lots of but in shelves and cabinets. Storage is no problem there, but getting to the storage is! Too much stuff left over from the last move, sitting there, in boxes, and I cannot find what I need, and I suspect a lot of that needs to GO. But today I am to be visualizing. So here I go. … Continue reading
Today I am moving my visualization to the center of our house, a roughly octagonal library space. I am continuing with the book THE LIFE-CHANING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. The library is my favorite part of this house, or would be if I could see it properly and walk through it. Due to lack of display cases for my beautiful collection of antique typewriters, they are in huge boxes with huge amounts of packing material, being safe, but also filling the entire middle of the Library with their presence. I visualize the Library so very very differently. … Continue reading
I spent a fascinating hour discussing the function and definition of beauty with someone who is a philosophical follower of Ayn Rand. Now, I am an admirer of but no follower of Ayn Rand on the subject of Beauty, being that I am of the philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand, Saint Josemaria Escriva and Saint John Paul II. I see beauty as the reflection of the creator, thus as a higher good. Ayn Rand’s is a view that true beauty has no aesthetic beyond the mechanical function; I argue that beauty is more than but includes that function. My parents have a … Continue reading
Once more, I visit the topic of visualizing my space. This is supposed to help me learn the mind-set that will make keeping a tidy home possible. I am getting these ideas from the book THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. Today, I am visualizing my kitchen more fully. I have a lovely huge kitchen. It has granite counter-tops which are pretty. The backsplash is white tile with colored tile here and there in a random pattern. The cabinets, a bit battered, are cherry. The appliances are a mix. There are black and white and stainless finishes … Continue reading
People in our culture are starving for beauty. I remember when Trudy Krise, a wonderful woman, would bring her deserts to class for the snack. Those days we had standing room only! People stood around the table exclaiming over the beauty of her deserts. They were indeed a work of art, and what is more, they tasted BETTER than they looked! People are so starved for beauty that knowing her art would be at the next class was all it took to get standing room only. Why the popularity of the Extraordinary form of the Mass? We often call it … Continue reading
Continuing with visualizing my home as directed to in the book THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo, I am thinking only of the front entry, the first view visitors have of my home, and my first sight each time I return home. Right now, the front door bumps up against some things my husband has stored there. When the things that do not belong here first arrived, it was supposed to be temporary. I can do with anything temporarily. I have, sadly, had to face the fact that what I consider temporary and what my husband considers … Continue reading
Beauty is missing from our culture. Oh, there are still a few beautiful buildings put up, and you can buy pretty things, and you can find artists making art, but the everyday making of beauty is missing. We have devalued it until it has almost completely vanished. The mentality that if your work is not producing a paycheck then your work has no value is killing off everyday beauty. Home making is both work and an art form that is almost dead from neglect because it does not bring in a paycheck. Few are those who knit or crochet beautiful … Continue reading
Reading in the book THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo has gotten me visualizing my space and life as I would like it to be. I am visualizing my house. I can actually see it. I can see the entry, with the piano and two chairs with a tiny table, and the glass cabinets displaying that gorgeous type-writer collection of mine. A bench to the left as you come in to catch coats and shoes. I next enter the Library. The walls are full of books, and in the center of the room is a round table … Continue reading