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Willy, nilly, silly old bear

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Naomi

Pooh hasn’t aged a bit since his debut in 1977 (note to self: start bathing in that anti-aging honey!). There were three things about this movie that stood out to me.

1) The literary-ness of the storytelling. The movie begins “on set” in Christopher Robin’s room, reminding us that the Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh, and all Pooh’s friends are indeed characters that come alive as part of a little boy’s imagination. We see the book open and we see the characters walking on the words themselves. (At one point, they even use some letters to climb out of a hole.) The narrator (John Cleese) inserts himself in the story sometimes as well.

2) It’s classic childhood innocence. I was worried that we were going to be seeing a different Pooh than I had grown up knowing, especially after running from the theatre with my crying daughter because the previews were SO LOUD and bright and flashy boom boom (that’s a word, right?). But nope. Same Winnie the Pooh. Same innocence and sense of wonder. So wonderful in it’s simplicity! (And yet, I appreciated the humor sprinkeled liberally throughout the movie for the adults in the audience.)

3) The take-away message: Friendship before honey.

My daughter was engaged the entire hour and laughed a few times… full, belly laughter that made my husband and me smile at each other, thinking, “Isn’t this the coolest thing ever? Her first movie and she’s getting it?”

Posted in Books, Motherhood | Tagged movie, Winnie the Pooh | 4 Comments

Farewell Borders – the end of an era?

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Naomi

“We had worked very hard for a different outcome. The fact is that Borders has been facing headwinds for quite some time, including a rapidly changing book industry, the e-reader revolution and a turbulent economy. We put up a great fight, but regrettably, in the end, we weren’t able to overcome these external forces.” (from Borders’ letter to customers) (photo credit here)

I suppose this was inevitable, but I am still saddened by it. We need bookstores because we need a literary culture. I’ll do what I can to keep that culture going by going to indies when possible (My favorite in Houston is “Brazos Books“), but I admit that I rarely buy books at physical bookstores anymore. I usually use my iphone to request the book from the library or, if they don’t have it, to see if it’s cheaper on Amazon or elsewhere and get it through the mail. Yeah, so I’m using the brick and morter stores as showrooms and if everyone does that, I see what can happen.

Borders was using Amazon.com for their online ordering. I think Brazos Books uses the new Google e-reader, which gives them a portion of the sales revenue. They also have several author readings or events each week to draw people in. They are an amazing success story: they almost closed in 2006 but 14 loyal customers and private investors came together to rescue it. (They have a great page on their site about why it’s best to buy locally, i.e., keeping money in the community, providing local jobs, staff with better expertise, etc.) And BookPeople in Austin, well… I would live there if they’d let me.

I ~~like~~ ~~love~~ LOVE going to the bookstore with my daughter for an hour or two and reading together whatever she finds of interest. I remember going to our mall’s B. Dalton growing up and getting the latest Babysitter’s Club or Sweet Valley High book. I felt so grown up once I owned their frequent buyer card. It was a small store but it felt enormous to me. And I want my daughter and her generation to know the joy of holding a book in their hands, turning the actual pages, not just tapping a screen with their fingers. (I think I’ll start taking my daughter to Brazos Books because I know they have a huge room of kids’ books.)

It’s difficult to forecast, of course, and I do know that the publishing industry has changed a great deal in the past 10 years or so, but I don’t think this foreshadows the end of paper books. It may mean the end of an era, especially since Borders has been in business for 40 years, but we can still learn from reading, both in print and on e-readers (not that I’ll ever own one!).

Posted in Books | Tagged books, Borders, closing, e-readers | Leave a comment

A child’s heart

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Naomi

I just have to share a few things that have recently struck me about this whole mothering thing. I am seeing my heart walk around outside my body and sometimes that can be quite painful and heartwearming at the same time. I’ve been watching my daughter through the photographer’s lens, which for me adds a poetic, timeless dimention to her youth… playing with dolls or with the ipad, at the grocery store or at home… her imagination afire with ideas.

When she’s galloping down the hall outside our apartment and then she stops just before the parking garage because she knows she needs to hold my hand, and she turns, waits for me, holds out her hand for me, and smiles at me, I melt a little.

When my husband asks her who her favorite person in the whole world is and she says “Mommy, of course,” I melt a little more.

When she kisses my mosquito bites or asks me at bedtime if I’ve had a good day or asks my husband “how was work, Daddy,” she shows a compassion that I don’t think is common for young toddlers and I marvel (and melt) at her.

When I feel her little hand in mine, I know that this moment is the same as all the moments in my mothering of her. She trusts me, she needs me, she is right here in this moment.

Her heart is wide open with love for all of life – for new ideas, for things large and small, for singing and galloping and laughing. And my heart has completely melted.

Posted in Motherhood | Tagged compassion, heart, Motherhood, toddler | 2 Comments

The Daily Gift

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Naomi

Jo Anna from The Receiving Project sends out daily e-mail “gifts” that often help me focus my day. In line with yesterday’s post about intuition, I’d like to share this one with you.

Remember that things always seem to work out for you… just as they were meant to. So when things seem topsy turvy, remind yourself that this is just The Universe’s way of ironing out the wrinkles and bringing your life into even better balance.

Thank you, JoAnna!

Posted in Photography | Tagged The Daily Gift, The Receiving Project | 1 Comment

What does home feel like?

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Naomi

In making decisions about our future home, we have had to imagine what our ideal home would be like. We seem to choose simple, clean lines and warm colors, and yet I am drawn to cottage-like white fences and cozy coffee mugs too. Honestly, I am so exhausted right now from this stage my daughter is in that I really only need a comfortable and quiet bedroom and could leave everything else in boxes.

Today I have to make the final decision on our paint colors and finishes, as well as the stain color for the kitchen and bath cabinets. The real quandary is: what feels like home to us? It’s difficult to answer truthfully rather than what we’d like it to be! Yet we are in a position to have it just as we wish.

Home, to me, is lots of lovely natural light, comfy chairs with soft blankets within reach, lots of books in sight no matter where you are, and plenty of uncluttered space. Of course it includes our daughter, but I want a fantastic storage system for her myriad of toys. Of course it includes our kitties, but I don’t want to smell or see their kitty litter. I want our home to “rise up to meet us,” as Oprah often says. I want it to be our place of comfort and rest in our busy lives.

Our kitchen has been planned to be the spiritual center of our home. My husband and I have always wanted a kitchen with a large island that would be a gathering place for our family to visit, do homework, and cook, of course. We are going to have storage space for all the necessities for the holidays and entertaining, which were stored in our office closet in our former home. We’ll have open shelves for our cookbooks so we can look to them (literally) for inspiration. I envision sharing the warmth of Shabbat dinners with friends and family. I envision joyous, special occasions as well as coming in with the groceries on ordinary days. I envision home.

P.S. Mom, I know you are thinking about Passover over there…

(photo taken at The Great Indoors)

Posted in Home | Tagged comfort, home | 2 Comments

Whirlwind changes

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Naomi

Since my last post about our house renovation, SO MUCH has changed! We may be packing sooner than we think. Yay!

Almost all the cabinets and drawers are in place. We’ve measured for granite and it will be installed later this week.

Greenboard is up, insulation is in, sheetrock is happening! Textured walls are next. We are selecting interior colors and putting in all sorts of things that you never really see.