Birthday Bouquet

This is the thirteenth birthday of The Cassandra Pages, and what better way to celebrate than with some spring flowers (especially when the reality outside the window is snow on the ground, and 4 degrees Celsius.)

This blog began during a grim time, as George Bush Jr. insisted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and the nation geared up for war. 2016 feels grim, too, with Trump poised to clinch the Republican nomination, and the only progressive candidate, Bernie Sanders, increasingly unlikely to become the Democratic nominee. Everyone is affected by American politics, and Canadians are watching this election with stunned dismay. I'm glad we moved to Canada, but of course we will vote in the American election: as citizens of both countries, we are able to have two passports, vote in both places, and required to file taxes to both countries.

I can tell you that it feels good, however, to pay most of those taxes to a province and country whose values are largely very similar to Sanders' -- the fight for progressive policies for the benefit of the common people and a sustainable future must continue, no matter where we are.

Looking back, I realize that this blog has been an important way for me to deal with the vicissitudes of these years, and I've tried to make it both a calm, steady place for myself and the readers, where we can concentrate for at least a short time on the things that make life meaningful and often beautiful, not glossing over difficulties, but at least trying to keep them in perspective. I've been immensely grateful for the companionship I've found here, as well as your encouragement about the various endeavors that have been described or illustrated.

Thank you, and onward!

(and thank you to our friends G and M, who brought us this pot of narcissus last weekend - I've enjoyed watching them bloom this week so much!)

Comments

[sam kerson]

I really like the direct quality of your drawing..

[Parmanu]

"A calm, steady place" -- yes, and thank you for that. Happy thirteenth, Beth!

[John]

I hope you two might find your way out West one day.

[Natalie]

Happy blogday Beth and may Cassandra Pages keep on providing calm, peace and beauty to this corner of cyberspace for a long time to come. These lovely drawings are a perfect accompaniment to the expression of your thoughts

Indeed these are troubling and troubled times everyhere in the world, impossible to ignore, impossible not to feel frightened, angry and desperately sad about the plight of some many of our fellow humans. Blessed be the peacemakers, however we each can interpret those words.

[Rabbi Rachel Barenblat]

Your blog is indeed a calm, steady place of beauty -- it has been a haven for me these many years, and I am so glad that you are here.

[Duchesse]

Thank you for sharing your bouquet- and your other bouquet, to the country that welcomed both of us, decades apart, but for similar reasons. Thirteen years is a constant contribution; thank you for your writing and for showing what you have painted, printed, knit, quilted, and collected.

[Beth]

And thank you all so much for stopping by and leaving a message - they are all deeply appreciated!

[Jean]

Happy Blogiversary, Beth - belatedly, I think, by now! Hard to take in that you've been creating words and pictures here for thirteen years, and I've been reading them for eleven or twelve. But what a resonant record it is of the passing of daily life - like the paper diaries and commonplace books of earlier times that now feel so precious.

I've been thinking a lot about what you wrote in recent posts about creating art in these times - challenging and fragmented thoughts that made it difficult to formulate the response I meant to post before this.

I loved the sculptures of Marin, and your photos of them - very glad to know his work. At the same time I found myself bristling a bit at some of what you wrote, but it's a kind of provocation that's ultimately only positive, and the direction of my thoughts was really a lot like yours in your second post.

I appreciate and respond to lots of writing, music and visual art that is overtly political and lots that isn't. The bristling, I guess, came down to: well, one might criticise Vermeer or Morandi, for example, for the quiet interiority of their art in a brutal and tumultuous world. But I think one would be wrong because what they depicted is the very texture of life and of perception, and that is no retreat from anything.

In terms of my own creative expression, for the past nine months - suddenly and surprisingly - it's been mostly writing and translating poetry, and being so new to this it's been mostly, and justifiably, experiment, play, and all over the place. But continuing beyond this stage means changing and developing, writing stuff that is both more personal and more political. And that can mean so many different things and take so many forms.

My reflections end, for now, very much where yours do - with questions and openness to what Korean Zen practitioners call "don't know mind", which can be hard for your average Protestant, or someone who is, like me, from that background.

These are fruitful thoughts. Thank you for provoking them. I look forward to seeing what you will create next, but today I find the daffodils just right and not "just daffodils".

[Martine]

Joyeux bloganniversaire! Merci de continuer!

[Andrea Murphy]

Thank you, Beth, for continuing to create Cassandra Pages. It's the best! xo

[Leslee]

Happy Blogday, Beth! Glad you're still blogging - I have enjoyed your posts this past year from your travels, and of course also following your blog over most of the 13 years. Best wishes for another year of splendid posts!

[Huw]

To chime in with another happy blogday (!), Beth. I rarely comment but always appreciate your considered and well expressed thoughts, and you sharing your art and slices of life in Canada with us. Thank you.
And throughout the year I always consider your end-of-year reading lists and often refuse to start a book knowing that I wouldn't be able to justify it (to myself) when sharing the list. I still read nonsense, just not as much as I would otherwise!
Best wishes,
Huw

[Marja-Leena]

Belated congratulations on your blog's anniversary, Beth! I'm so happy to have discovered it many years ago when I started blogging and it is always on my reading list, always inspiring in many ways. All good wishes for more, with thanks!