i'm reading 'the slave' by isaac bashevis singer. the most i've enjoyed a book in a long time. it's set in 17th c. poland. for some reason it makes me very happy or something like that (comforted, nostalgic) to read how the main character jacob takes a wagon between lublin and cracow, then walks into the mountains near cracow at night. and all the polish names, and all the streams running to the vistula, and peasant folklore, and just all of it, even though the story's not very happy or rose-colored at all, and not that my time in poland was so rose-colored either, but places, people, experiences just get into you, happy or not.
in a different way it made me feel tingly to read on a placard today at the museum of modern art that the artist martin ramirez (with spanish thingies over the 'i's) was in a mental hospital in auburn, ca for a good portion of his life, making hundreds of drawings with crayons, watercolor, newspaper and magazine collage.
this weekend's been very relaxed and mostly so has my internal state, though i continue to feel a pull on my heart. i have to work not to become too focused on it. i breathed some today, how i learned from luke, did some kitchen samba-ing, baked an apple, an omelet, oatmeal. it rained this morning, then snowed in the afternoon. and now the branches are blowing outside the kitchen window and my knees are cold.
yesterday i had ethiopian food with hillary, which i haven't had since martin and i bought spongy bread and made some of our own. we also saw a big plastic-y children's play for free at the arden theater. tomorrow i have off work cuz of mlk day, but we're rehearsing with sally in the afternoon and i've got to have some more inspirations for this duet. so now to listen to the music more more more.
posted by Liza 18.1.04