Do Not Enter The Tea Room

Around Christmas 1995 a friend came to visit me in my newly married, presumably happy, life in Michigan. We went to a museum where we saw an exhibit of a Japanese tea room. Outside the display was an attempt to describe this exhibit. It started with something like: “Within the tea room, one feels loneliness which penetrates into the marrow of one’s bones...” and ended with the caution “Please do not enter the tea room”. I laughed out loud. If you don’t get it, you probably should leave.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Beautiful blueness

Today looks amazing. After days under ambivalent clouds, waking up to a shiney self assured blue sparkle of a sky put me in a nice mood. I think what makes it so dramatic is that the sky has the same depth it has in November but without the sorrow of completely bare branches framing it. Today, there are still enough leaves left to wave off thoughts of an over-close Winter.

My unbelievably sore ankle and continuing email discussion with a couple of poorly behaving students are testing that mood, however I am going to think of what today looked like when I first saw it. I think it is powerfully beautiful enough to get me through.

Summer