Lens Zen! Midweek Smooth Brain Edition!
Who needs to put the balm on?
Friends-
I put this piece together on Sunday when I was feeling a lot more optimistic (understatement). I meant it to be something silly and light regardless of the election outcome. But today I am struggling and I want to be sensitive to everyone else who is nursing shock and heartbreak. Humor is my lifeline; my armor and my sword; the cheapest way I know how to cope—that’s what this short post is designed for, not to diminish the gravity of what’s happened in America.
I’ve been thinking about an anecdote I read about Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard. It was 1939. Hitler was ranting on the radio. Leonard was outside working in one of his flower beds. Virginia called out to her husband to come inside and listen to this “lunatic” Hitler.
“I shan’t come,” replied Leonard. “I am planting irises, and they will be flowering long after he’s dead.”
I will not let fear and despair paralyze me this time around. I will figure out where my unique talents and skills can make a difference and that’s where I will focus my energies. I will plant my irises.
But today I will grieve and that’s good work, too.
Peace, humanity, and art.
X-She
Hey Everybody!
It’s Sunday, November 3 and I am a dish rag. Wait, that’s not quite right. Dish rags are still marginally useful even when they are pretty worn out. What’s below that? I’m an out of order motel ice machine. I can’t even perform a simple chemical reaction at this point. I’d wish for a six month coma, but I’m too afraid that I’d wake up to a world where Candy Crush tournaments have replaced baseball as the national pastime and prop comedy is back in style. What I’m saying is that despite the general atmosphere heading into the most terrifying and historic election of my lifetime, I guess I’d rather be awake during the procedure sort to speak.
I publish on Wednesdays, but I know this week will be a mental and emotional wash for me and probably for a lot of people. I doubt I’ll be able to concentrate very much on November 6, hopefully because I will be wrung out with some sense of relief that we decided to accessorize the 2025 America collection with democracy.
With that in mind I’m putting out a Lens Zen! Midweek Edition! I pulled a few images with soothing vibes for obvious reasons. That made me think of Bob Ross, Air Force veteran (!), artist, and Patron Saint of Smooth Brains. Who better to hold our hands and gently remind us that at the end of the day we’re all just happy little clouds, laying around in the same sky, no matter who you voted for. Unless it was for the wrong side of history. Then I think even Bob Ross would want a word.
Hello, happy little sailboat. Piloting bravely along in the fog. That’s okay, isn’t it? You’re not lost, you’re just having an adventure, a happy little adventure. We all need to slip into the fog every now and then. I like to do that with a warm bubble bath, some Al Green on the high-fi, and a juicy blunt stuffed with California green. That should be right there on your palette, see? Next to the titanium white and bag of Doritos. You got it.
Here’s another misty scene. Looks like early morning when the light is low. I like the low light. Dawn, you know, when it’s nice and quiet. No one’s up just yet. It’s like you’ve got the whole world to yourself. And maybe you do. Maybe the zombies have just eaten your entire family, wiped out your block. That’s okay. Because look what’s here: a happy little church lives here, a good place to hide…for a while at least. And look what else: see that nice and pretty red maple–what is that, permanent red? Yeah, you saw a lot of that this morning, didn’t you?--I can almost hear those maple leaves just whispering through. Whispering through.
What a beautiful, happy little heron! Look at the light streaming through the tree, soft and gentle, sparkling it up. This heron…see, they’re just taking a rest in this happy, little river spot. They’re paying the world no mind, no mind. They just let it all flow by, just drift on, not a care in the world. Doo-dee-loo-doo-dooo. Incredible. We could learn a thing or two from this heron, couldn’t we? Happy little denial. Remember: it’s your world, you can create any kind of delusion you want. Beautiful.
Thanks for this glimpse of beauty in an otherwise dark day. Hope you are okay.
The sun rose this morning. It will rise again tomorrow as it has every day for billions of years. And as my mantra, I choose Julian of Norwich's words. "All will be well and ALL will be well and all manner of thing will be well." Your photos leave me breathless, Sheila. I have never seen any more beautiful.