five things friday: these times, Pamela, seek beauty
Published: Fri, 10/13/23
October 13, 2023
Hello there,
Some weeks punch you in the gut don't they. It is hard to know what to say when all my words sound trite or naive or uninformed. When big events full of tragedy
hit I tend to go private and personal rather than bold and public. There are many voices much better suited to comment and offer education and context. I've been reaching out to those in my close orbit and let them know I see and I care. Family, friends, strangers at the store who need someone to agree that, to grieve with them that, yes, this is horrible and awful.
It is hard to know what the right thing to do is when awful things happen because there is not just one right thing. There is the thing that is right for me to do and for you to do. Hopefully enough of right things keep getting done, large and small, to tip the balance towards more love in the world than violence.
One of the things I know to do is to keep noticing the beauty in the world. Not in a bypassing way, but in a both/and way, a healing way, a way to affirm love in times when it is so horribly tested. A remembrance practice that us humans hold multitudes and to not loose connection to the good in us and the
world.
So here are some small points of the beauty of the multitudes we are. May they bring you goodness and may you find many of your own.
1.
Find your art. Make time for your art. Maybe yours is finding art in surprising places that others overlook. The beauty and sometimes the ugly in the beauty
is what helps us make since of our lives and the world. It doesn't have to be good, just true.
2. There is something extra about a Friday the 13th in October. I
love Friday the 13th's. I love the number 13 and don't find it unlucky at all. I like giving space to the spooky, the macabre, the witchy. It started young.
When we moved the last time we were having a lot of trouble finding a new place to live. It was just days before we needed to be out of our previous
house when we made the appointment to look at this place. It was #13 and took it as a good omen. The tree in front was just starting to show its fall color glory. With just a couple of days to spare we signed the lease.
3.
I am taking inspiration from Pamela Anderson recently. Yes, the one of the impossibly cut Baywatch bathing suit, Playboy covers, and sex tapes. Watch Pamela, A Love
Story and hear her side of all the fame and all the jokes and all the ways the world is wonderful and cruel.
She recently went to Paris fashion week and wore wonderful high fashion and no make-up saying she feels more herself with out it and is prioritizing feeling good in her skin and this is what feels good now. We are different people in different seasons of life. I love when a woman allows herself to change and not be held to the confines in who she was at a different, younger time
in life.
Take a look at her Instagram. Pamela still knows how to glam and sex it up, and how to pare things down. I enjoy her weekly letters which share tiny moments of her life.
It is liberating to strip down to who you are now. I hope we all give ourselves this grace.
4. 'Tis the season of pumpkin spice and I love it. I'm making this over the weekend to add to my afternoon chai, courtesy of Brunch with Babs. Who needs Starbucks.
🍁Pumpkin Spiced Syrup ½ cup pumpkin puree 2 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice ½ cup water ¼ cup maple
syrup 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp sugar
Combine the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Cook for about 1 minute. Add maple syrup, sugar, water and vanilla and stir to combine. Simmer for about 2-3 minutes until sugar is dissolved and syrup is a pourable consistency. If the syrup is too thick, add additional water. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.
Pausing for something
delicious and taking a moment to rest will always land on my beautiful things to do list.
What are some things on your beauty list that in themselves may not be what comes to mind as beautiful but help you
connect to what is?
5.
A blessing for your
week:
(The Halloween Oracle by Stacey Demarco, art by Jimmy Manton)
May you find in the darkness the beauty you wish to bring into new life.
