All Consuming : New Isabella

A story about "Metropolitan Museum Of Art"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:47:18 GMT

by Howard Hibbard

I just happened to take this off my bookshelf the other day, and came across two paintings that reference Homer and “The Iliad”. I wrote about it here on 43 Things.

A story about "Voices of Christmas"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:18:50 GMT

Voices of Christmas

by Voices of Walter Schumann

I wrote a little bit about this old album here on 43 Things. Also, one of our favorite songs on this album was a goofy one called “Christmas Tree”, and I found the lyrics on-line here.

A story about "The Ray Charles Singers Here We Come-A Caroling"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:11:15 GMT

The Ray Charles Singers Here We Come-A Caroling

I wrote a little bit about this album here on 43 Things.

Consuming "Metropolitan Museum Of Art"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:24:56 GMT

Metropolitan Museum Of Art

by Howard Hibbard

Consuming "ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:07:21 GMT

ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life

by Judith Kolberg

A story about "Altar in the World, An: A Geography of Faith"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:30:03 GMT

Altar in the World, An: A Geography of Faith

by Barbara Brown Taylor

I wrote a little comment about this book here on All-Consuming.

Consuming "A Winter Name for God: Reflections For The Christmas Season"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:23:17 GMT

A Winter Name for God: Reflections For The Christmas Season

by R. Scott Colglazier

Consumed "Sister Wendy's American Collection"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:53:12 GMT

Sister Wendy's American Collection

by Wendy Beckett

WORTH IT!

A story about "Sister Wendy's American Collection"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:53:12 GMT

Sister Wendy's American Collection

by Wendy Beckett

This story is a rant and a rave.

The rave is for the book in general, which is an introduction to five art museums across the country. I’ve been lucky enough to visit two of them, the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. And I’m glad to also find a web site connected to the book and its corresponding tv series, and especially glad to find images of one of my personal favorites included on the web site, namely, The Hours of Queen Isabella. I especially love the wonderful flowers and butterflies that decorate the margins of the pages.

The rant is for the Cleveland Museum of Art, which has copyrighted the images from “The Hours of Queen Isabella”, and apparently all its other art images as well. What’s with that? Queen Isabella’s Book of Hours, dating back to at least the early 1500’s, is not on display. In fact, I stumbled across some beautiful large images from this book awhile ago on-line, and now I can’t find them anywhere. I guess I have to be grateful that the museum makes at least some images available on its website here, and allows one to send for “study photographs”, and has consented to allow Sister Wendy to include some of these images in her book.

Sigh. Next they’ll be copyrighting genes. Oh, wait, they already are doing that.

Consumed "Monadnock: More than a Mountain"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:32:19 GMT

Monadnock: More than a Mountain

by Craig Brandon

WORTH IT!

A story about "Monadnock: More than a Mountain"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:32:19 GMT

Monadnock: More than a Mountain

by Craig Brandon

My uncle lives in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire, and can see Mount Monadnock from his house. He and his family have climbed it many times. He had this book on his desk, and I learned from it that Monadnock is a rather famous mountain, in part because it stands alone and can be seen from miles around, including the Boston area. (My uncle tells me that, on a clear day, he can see the Hancock Building in Boston from the mountain summit.) Many famous people who’ve visited this region and who’ve climbed the mountain have written about it, including Henry David Thoreau and Mark Twain. And the author makes the case that this mountain has been climbed by more people than any other mountain except for Mt. Fuji in Japan.

Unfortunately, the weather was not good when I was visiting in late August due to a hurricane that came up the East Coast, and I was not able to climb it. Maybe I’ll put it on my 43 Places list.

Consumed "The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocust"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:04:58 GMT

The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocust

by Edith Hahn-Beer

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Coaching the Artist Within: Advice for Writers, Actors, Visual Artists, and Musi"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:31:53 GMT

Coaching the Artist Within: Advice for Writers, Actors, Visual Artists, and Musi

by Eric Maisel

WORTH IT!

Consumed "The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:30:35 GMT

The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred

by Phil Cousineau

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:58:41 GMT

Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity

by Eugene H. Peterson

WORTH IT!

Consumed "In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:57:14 GMT

In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership

by Henri J. Nouwen

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Lord of the Flies"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:03:09 GMT

Lord of the Flies

by Peter Brook

WORTH IT!

A story about "To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:46:47 GMT

To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration

by Gertrud Mueller Nelson

I’ve just now returned home from a long and exciting and difficult trip, and I’m reminded of a passage I greatly love from this book which concerns transition:
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Colin Turnbull, in his marvellous accounting of the Mbuti peoples of Zaire, passes along to us their understanding of the dangers in transition. The Mbuti see the person as being in the center of a sphere. In moving from here to there, the sphere moves too and offers protection. If movement in time or space is too sudden or vehement, we risk the danger of reaching the boundaries of the sphere too quickly, before the center has time to catch up. When this happens, a person becomes wazi-wazi, or disoriented and unpredictable. If you pierce through the safe boundaries of the sphere into the other world, you risk letting in something else which takes your place. If the Mbuti know of and guard against such violent and sudden motion ~ and that without the experience of automobiles or jet planes ~ what do we, the so-called civilized people of the world, know of our transitions in space and time? I think we are a whole society in a state of wazi-wazi, beside ourselves, and possessed by imposter selves.
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I’d say I’m in a state of wazi-wazi right at the moment. I think I’ll go read the rest of the chapter while soaking in a hot tub.

A story about "Walden"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:57:37 GMT

Walden

by Henry David Thoreau

I wrote a story over here, under another edition of Walden on all-consuming. I read the book some time ago, so I have no idea what edition I read, or if it is still in print, but it really doesn’t matter.

A story about "Walden and Civil Disobedience (150th Anniversary)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:44:45 GMT

Walden and Civil Disobedience (150th Anniversary)

by Henry David Thoreau

I consumed this book repeatedly when I was in college and then when starting at my first full-time job. I recently came across a wrinkled old index card containing one of my favorite quotes, which I’d typed using an old-fashioned typewriter:
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I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.
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Looking back over many years, I can’t claim any great or brilliant success at doing this, and often I’m quite a failure at doing it, and yet this quote is still full of inspiration and hope. Maybe re-typing it today will help remind me to carefully and creatively attend to the details of today, and thereby make it a worthy one.

A story about "Acedia & me (A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (New Isabella) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:29:48 GMT

Acedia & me (A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life)

by Kathleen Norris

I’ve written about it here on 43 Things.