Due to my advanced technological approach to filing away potential {b&p} material (namely, opening a bunch of tabs over the course of weeks and then accidentally having the browser close on me and for whatever reason, after the seventh tab-gathering/browser-closing, not being able to “restore previous session”), I don't actually have much to share with you today.
I'll just go ahead and start with my top pick for this week:
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In Defense of Domesticity. This article is so good. There is so much to unpack here. Do you remember how I brought up koselig that last time? Here, the author delves into this current topic of Nordic “coziness” and brings it home to so much more. From the article:
“Marriage and family were no longer the shared life they used to be. Processed foods and laborsaving devices removed much of the art, and much of the dignity, from the woman’s role as mother. She was left at home to manage menial household tasks. Domesticity became dull, something to be outsourced. Even a woman’s role as child-bearer and mother has been taken out of her hands and into those of specialists, often men. Hark! The advertisers are singing! The domestic arts can be traded in for purchasable products so everyone will have more time to sit around. We have been so successful at freeing up time to sit it’s actually killing us, and it will take more than a height-adjustable standing desk to get us on our feet again.”
Read it as a reminder of many of the things we are getting at here at LMLD.
- Another great read, from the NYTimes: Our (Bare) Shelves, Our Selves. Don't underestimate the power your physical book collection imparts to the collective memory in your household and your culture!
- Ever wondered what the story was behind that funny quasi-accent in old movies? I definitely have – many times! At last, an explanation (short video).
- Do you have any plans with your Pocket in the New Year? Don't forget to snap a photo if you get together, so that we can show your shining faces here on the blog and get some encouragement from you! I have been so grateful for my Pocket here in Manchester in this past year. In some ways, it feels like we're just getting a slow and creaky start as a group and there is so much more to come (because it's happening naturally, it takes time); in other ways, it feels like we have bonded a lot in a short time! This morning I started a meal train for the mom of the newest “Pocket baby,” and there were four meals listed on it by noon. I was so proud.
- Sometimes I like to dig for something random from way back when, like this post from 2008: A pink and green baby quilt
Claudia says
Love old movies, and, now, love knowing about Mid Atlantic accent. Thank you!
Jen says
the bookshelves were the first thing I wanted to comment on! sad that I can’t go out and buy them but yay to your DH…wow! I definitely do not have the problem of empty shelves!
Josie says
What Jen said! Love those bookshelves! God bless!
Erica says
Small world, Tyler Blanski is a friend of mine from college. I really enjoyed that article.
Lisa G. says
Deirdre, that article on koselig is pure gold. I need to shortcut it to my desktop, print several copies, and read it often – not that it’s anything I didn’t know, but just for reinforcement, because the world does seep in. So well put, and that fellow looks pretty young from his photo. Anyway, I’m workin’ on it, all the time.
At first, I thought your nativity was chocolate. Glad it isn’t – it would be kind of difficult to eat the Holy Family!
And, what is the image in the gold frame? Christ the King? and who’s the child?
Have a blessed Christmas!!
Kelsey says
Great articles! The “bookshelf one” makes me chuckle – I’m always a bit bemused by all those how-to-style-bookshelves tutorials on Pinterest, etc. Um, how about putting some books on them?
I really loved the koselig article, too, especially the mention of how odd it is, relative to most of human history, for even fathers to leave their homes to work. I have thought this same thing so often, especially since my husband and I had our first child. (We now have two.) It is easy to feel like we’re living some sort of parallel existence at times, and I often yearn for the sort of unified family life that I imagine family farms fostered. I don’t see us abandoning the suburbs anytime soon, though! We’ll have to forge a path in our current situation.
Mrs. B. says
Good job, Artist! Those shelves will never buckle under the weight of the books, they are so thick! They’re going to be there for generations…
I loved the Crisis article, you are right: a lot to think about. In the meantime, we’ll have a fire and hot chocolate tomorrow…
Josie says
“In Defense of Domesticity” is so nourishing!-a great and needed gift! Thank you for posting it!!!
Becky says
Any info on the nativities? Both are beautiful, but I am especially interested in the one you have for your little ones to play with…I have been on the lookout for a fairly plain/simple wooden nativity for a while now…