Marilynne Robinson

My favorite quote lately comes from an interview with Marilynne Robinson in The Paris Review, Fall 2008:

People are frightened of themselves. It’s like Freud saying that the best thing is to have no sensation at all, as if we’re supposed to live painlessly and unconsciously in the world. I have a much different view. The ancients are right: the dear old human experience is a singular, difficult, shadowed, brilliant experience that does not resolve into being comfortable in the world. The valley of the shadow is part of that, and you are depriving yourself if you do not experience what humankind has experienced, including doubt and sorrow. We experience pain and difficulty as failure instead of saying, I will pass through this, everyone I have ever admired has passed through this, music has come out of this, literature has come out of it. We should think of our humanity as a privilege.

Another Twizzletop

I made this hat to cover my thin-haired head in Mexico.

Two quotes that are unrelated to these photos:

1. Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?"
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2. There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.
-John Erskine, author

Today is my youngest grandchild's first birthday. So long to infancy. Happy Birthday, Dexie!