Falling short of the Mark

Dear Readers,

It is the one-year anniversary of The Way of The Dodo, and so my thoughts turn to you.  Writing to you here has been a great pleasure, and I have but one regret.  I think I shall name this regret "True Feeling."  I name it thus, because I see, peripherally, the big gap, the missing chunk in the proscenium; and this absence is as in describing the sea, to a person raised inland of anything but a small lake:  How can one taste the salt?  Feel the grit of foam-floated sand?  Or smell the myriad creatures and plants decaying on the air?  One cannot.  One cannot describe it but in smallest part, and one cannot imagine it but in smallest shade.

And yet, you know that you must go to the sea yourself.  Here, then, is the ineffable, with its lack of True Feeling, once more, for your pleasure:



Sailors, Take Warning!

Dear Bird-Voyeurs and Folks at Sea,


A section, of that well-known poem, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, to celebrate the Albatross Nest Camera.  I hope that you will read the whole glorious thing, loudly and with gusto, right here. 

And a good south wind sprung up behind;

The Albatross did follow,

And every day, for food or play,

Came to the mariner's hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,

It perched for vespers nine;

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,

Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

May all your albatross hatch, or soar in poetry,

and your neck unburdened be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Flowing River of Time

Dear Women of Distinction,

You may find yourself, one day, in the unexpected and downright shocking position of 'having aged.'  Discomfited by this realization, you may look to others for help in weathering the storm of time.  You may look to women who appear to be aging elegantly, like Catherine Deneuve, and say to yourself, "aha!  I need better lighting, and a coterie of stylists."

And there is something else you can do, you can skip the studio lights and the stylists, and adopt a little bit of style.  The library is a great place to acquire a little bit of style.  The have books on antiques, painting, history, fashion, music, and great literature.  If that isn't enough, they have the charming stop motion animation Wind in the Willows video recordings made by Cosgrove Hall Films that you watched in the previous link.

 Here is a book filled with style to inspire you.  If your library doesn't have it, why not buy it, and then give it to your library?  In a few years, after the book circulates a bit, your whole community will be overflowing with style.  You can look around at your stylish, cultivated, charming, and/or well-dressed friends and neighbors and know that you helped to shape this utopia!  Brava!

Dressing...UP!

Howdy All,

I especially want to encourage any clothes horses to tour around the links I have for today.  The phrase has two meanings.  It is either a folding frame to dry laundry on, or a person who can't get enough clothes- a person just a leetle bit obsessed with clothes and fashion.  We are very lucky at the Dodo, because we have one of each.  Well, what are we waiting for?  Clothes that are in every way worthy of a clothes horse!

 

 

 

I know, isn't it the most wonderful expression of fabric freedom you have ever seen?  These fabulous clothes are designed by Krista Larson, and sewn in the U. S.  See more of them at her online shop, Blue Polly Boutique.

Let's have one more Krista Larson ensemble:

These pieces are so modern in their sensibilities.  I adore them.  Let Krista Larson guide you in combining your clothes in new and exciting ways! 


Next, another fine U. S. made clothier, Alabama Chanin:

See all about Ms. Chanin, at Alabama Chanin.  Be inspired by her hand sewing and detailing.  I have a wool jersey top I am sewing ever so slowly together by hand, with silk embroidery floss, and it all started by poring over her clothes' lovely finishes and embellishments.


Lastly, for your dressing bliss and enjoyment, Treehouse28.  Find these affordable knit pieces at Alix's shop on Etsy, right here.

Alix  will sew them to your very own dimensions, and she gets it all done in a twinkling!  I have some pants and a sleeveless top.  The clothes horse (in the laundry-drying sense) and I wear them all the time.


You might, though, wonder just what to do about foundations, because, as you read everywhere, the right undergarments are the key to looking good.  Have a look at these beauties, at Marlies Dekkers.  Oh, and don't forget shoes!  Imagine your feet in gorgeous Chie Mihara shoes!






Worrying about being a tall poppy?  One bit of musical advice and encouragement, then, to ease you into more daring and expressive dressing:   Banana Xylophone.

A Little Less...

conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Honor and Pleasure

Dear Voices,

When I was much younger, I used to sit in dread fear, at funerals; for the folks who choked and stammered out their eulogies; the pitiful bereaved who sang their songs and read their poems, saying final goodbyes to their beloveds.  How could they face all these people in their deepest sorrow?  So raw, so vulnerable; where did they find this courage? 

A little window opened for me, many years ago now, in my grief, and I saw that it was an honor and a privilege to be the voice of our farewells.  To be left as the ones that remain is our duty.

Sing, then, for Pete Seeger, as an honor, a privilege, and a pleasure.  And if you won't have a hammer, if you refuse action, then read about his remarkable life.

Here, Kitty, Kitty

Dear Viewers of Distinction,


I attended, a few days ago, a screening of the Internet Cat Video Festival.  You might be thinking... "Cat videos?  We needn't visit the Dodo for those- there are ten forwarded and unwatched ones sitting in my email in-box right now."  How about a little tune to put you in the mood?

It is an intriguing inversion- a crowd, an audience, a huge loud and messy tumbling group of people who elected to get out of their pajamas to watch You Tube videos together?  A 'curated' selection of cat videos?  This really turns the isolated loneliness of our living in the ether on its ear.  Doesn't everyone cringe at the phrase "online community?"

Needless to say, the cat videos said a lot more about humans than they did about cats. So, from the Walker Art Center's 2013/14 festival selection, I bring you just one clip:  Rufus Tower - It isn't the funniest, and it isn't even the cutest one, but I represent it here for two excellent reasons:  It is sweet, so sweet,  to build such a thing for a pet;  and it is enjoyable to watch these towers of Hanoi rise before us, in curious speed-o-rama video.







PS
We have five on staff at the Dodo.  Feeling like more songs about cats?  Try this collection.

PPS
By the way, The Cat Came Back is another fine choice for guitar; only 4 easy chords, and the delicious themes of death, destruction and dismemberment.  Don't you want this to be the song you hear kids singing?  Instead of the unbearable contemporary misogynist anthems of Robin Thicke or Psy?