Suggestion Saturday: August 16, 2014

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, paintings, rants, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

The American Room. My family lived in all kinds of places while I was growing up: an apartment; a (fairly) modern, cookie-cutter, suburban house;  multiple old, drafty farmhouses; a trailer; and, my favourite, a century-old house that was actually just across the river from our town library. Only a couple of these homes had what this article describes as “American” rooms!

Vegetable-Free Living. This is one of the most interesting rants I’ve read in a long time, although I vehemently disagree with the author on one important point: a lot of people get flack for their diets. I know vegans and vegetarians who often have to answer ridiculous questions about why they eat the way they do. There has been more than one person in my past who thought my allergy to milk was something I chose to have. What can I say? People are weird sometimes.

Tiny Embroidered Animals via ChloeGiordano. Embroidery has always seemed like a terribly old-fashioned hobby to me. Until I found this link, I genuinely couldn’t understand why anyone would be interested in it. Now I get it (and not just because they included a rabbit! 😉 )

Edible Chocolate LEGO Blocks. There are candy shops here in Toronto that sell non-chocolate versions of this. These candy LEGOs kind of taste like smarties (for my US readers) or rockets (for my Canadian readers), except that they’re not quite as chalky. If anyone ever tries the chocolate version, I’d love to know what it tastes like.

The Artist via ShelbyFineArt. I’ve often wished I could ask painters what their works mean to them. Every short story, painting, and sculpture is open to interpretation, of course, but there’s something special about knowing what those things represent to the people who dreamed them up. What I like the most about this post is how Shelby describes her thought processes and why she chooses the subjects she does.

From Tracing the Rainbow Through the Rain: How Does Your Mindfulness Smell? via AEJ1967:

I can really savour the moment, taking my time to taste and enjoy the melting, soothing flavours. But how often do I stop once I have unwrapped it to really absorb its smell? I’ve been slower to first notice and then learn to practice smell as a mindful practise. Yet, along with listening to music, this is probably the most evocative and vivid of my senses.


This week  I was blown away by My Real Children. The premise of the book is simple: an elderly woman who has dementia remembers who very different pasts for herself. She can’t figure out which one is real and which one is a figment of her imagination.

Some of the character development wasn’t as thorough as I would have liked to see, but I chalked that up to the narrator’s unreliable memory. I suspect that both of her spouses were much more well-rounded people than she made them out to be. In my mind, she’s choosing to only report the things about each of them that fit their particular timelines.

If you’ve read this book, I’d love to hear your theories about it. The ending will stick with me for a long time.

What have you been reading?

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