WORTH DRIVING

The annual Birds in Art Exhibition is gracing the YAWKEY MUSEUM in Wausau until November 28th before it goes on tour. If you love birds and you love art, it’s an orgy of wondrous beauty. Keith and I have made it an autumn ritual for decades, timing our visit with the leaf color peak.

Is it just us, or is there never enough time to savor the delicate subtleties of a work of art in one pass? Maybe, because we live with so much art and come to know its brush strokes, its shadows, its hues so intimately, we want more. Of all the Birds in Art exhibitions we’ve attended, this was my unmatched favorite.

If you can, visit Birds in Art at least once in your life. The opening in September is the best time slot. Artists from around the world are there, workshops with artists are offered, and there is a week of family friendly festivities. During your visit, make sure to enjoy the sculpture garden throughout the grounds and the installations on the rooftop. And we always try to have lunch at Milwaukee Burger Company if you’re hungry.

”I would like to paint the way a bird sings.” — Claude Monet

Artwork from 113 artists from throughout the world.

WORTH READING

Keith and I are tickled by this. Never in the entire universe of football did we see this coming. After Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a Packers wide receiver, asked Aaron Rodgers for book recommendations during training camp, Rodgers started thinking about the idea of starting a Book Club. So he did, because he is the incarnate fierce leader of warrior unicorns and can do anything. The titles so far are extra wonderful reads, which I consider proof of my claim.

Each week, the new book is announced on the PAT McAFEE SHOW (available on YouTube with liberal sports fan cussing). It is part of Aaron Rodgers Tuesday, the show which features live interviews with the MVP himself to talk about the game, life, and, of course, the book selection. Sometimes Rodgers even brings out his guitar to tease us with some chords. It has become a weekly ritual in our house.

I digress. Back to the Book Club. What a seductive way to get young football fans interested in life-changing books, right? If your sports idol is telling you to read some amazing book, that recommendation carries gravitas that parents and teachers lack. Aaron’s picks are such philosophical and spiritual ringers, I think it’s fast becoming the “Hail Mary” of book clubs. (Sorry, Oprah). People are hungry for meaning.

There is also an Aaron Rodgers Book Club T-shirt available all over the internet. I like the Artist Shot website because they have a wide color selection. (Keith, this would make a nice Christmas gift for your wife). All proceeds go to literacy programs. Check out the T-shirts by clicking HERE GO PACK!

AARON RODGERS BOOK CLUB TITLES

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Be Here Now by Ram Dass

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz

You Are the Universe: Discovering Your Cosmic Self by Deepak Chopra

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

And more to come throughout the season!

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”A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
— Cicero

WORTH PAINTING

This month’s art by Keith is an acrylic painting (24” x 30”) of two fox squirrels on a misty morning. They lived in our silver maple trees. Squirrels seem to weave their way into Keith’s world in the strangest ways. I am thinking of making a little storybook, or even better, a video, called Keith’s Squirrel Stories. They love him too much. They fear him too little. The entire lineage has repeatedly endangered his life and destroyed our home with their zealous begging. But we love them and it’s such a privilege to get to know the animals that share our little spot on the planet.

”People look at me like I'm a little strange, when I go around talking to squirrels and rabbits and stuff. That's ok. That's just ok.”
— Bob Ross

WORTH REMEMBERING

Keith and I think it’s important to periodically refresh the kid’s memories of their great grandparents. Some were well known to them, some never known, all are gone. We recently marked the birthday of Keith’s father, Grandpa Bob. Our grocery store makes inexpensive little celebration cakes, so we bought some and Keith delivered them with a little story to reinforce how much Grandpa Bob loved them. The cake is magic. We said, “if you close your eyes and take a bite, you can feel how much he loved you.” I think maybe the best part of this tiny ritual is the kids seeing Keith getting choked up and even fighting back tears as he talked about how much he loved his dad. Keith admired his father greatly, and it showed.

”When you have children yourself, you begin to understand
what you owe your parents.” — Japanese Saying

WORTH CRAFTING

My oldest daughter is a mathematician specializing in Geometric Topology. This is relocation week for her and her family. They are moving to a new home in the country with a barn no less. I wanted to make Maggie something for her new home office. Her wall of windows offers a wooded view worthy of Aldo Leopold’s dreams. I made her this little plaque. In its own way, it matches the wonder and awe of her new habitat. It is called “Euler’s Identity” (after Leonhard Euler). It is thought to be “the most beautiful equation" because of its profundity and elegance. Here’s the gist.

First, the letter "e" denotes an irrational number with infinite digits that begins 2.71828... , and governs the rate of exponential growth.

Then, "i" represents the "imaginary unit" (square root of negative 1). In reality, there’s no way a number can be multiplied by itself to produce a negative number (and so negative numbers have no real square roots), but math often requires the square root of a negative in all sorts of circumstances. The letter "i" is used as a shorthand to mark places where this is done, but it’s imaginary.

Next is Pi which is more familiar to most of us. It’s the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Good old pi.

“Putting it all together, the constant "e" raised to the power of the imaginary "i" multiplied by pi equals -1. And, as seen in this equation, adding 1 to that gives 0. It seems almost unbelievable that all these strange numbers — and even one that isn't real — would combine so simply. But it's a proven fact.”— Natalie Wolchover

And that’s why the renowned physicist Richard Feynman called this  "our jewel" and "the most remarkable formula in mathematics." And that’s why it gives Maggie goosebumps.

"Like a Shakespearean sonnet that captures the very essence of love, or a painting that brings out the beauty of the human form that is far more than just skin deep, Euler's equation reaches down into the very depths of existence."
- Kevin Devlin, Stanford mathematician

I spotted this online, and loved it’s irreverent and resilient message so much that I also made Maggie this one to match. It means “Negative Shit = Nothing.” This might be Euler’s too (or maybe not), but I bet it will give Maggie goosebumps.

WORTH CARVING

As we continue our month long Witch School and celebration of all things spooky, this past weekend, we had the awards for the art contest Ugly Bugly sponsored this year. Her rules were unconventional:
”Express your creativity using the theme of pumpkins. You can paint one, carve one, use a magic spell, make-up your face to look like one, or just crumple up a piece of orange paper. Your art. Your rules.”

Entries varied across the spectrum. Roland dressed up as an impressive animated pumpkin. Ada put a piece of masking tape on her forehead that said in Sharpie “La Calabaza” (“the pumpkin” in Spanish). Keith drew a portrait of himself as a pumpkin. And most of the others did some version of the classic carving. Every participant won a giant bag of Trick or Treat candy which Ugly Bugly stole from me. Lilly (in the header photo) won the drawing for $50.00 which Ugly Bugly also stole with my entire wallet and credit cards. It’s not easy being cursed.

“A witch never gets caught. Don’t forget she has magic
in her fingers and devilry dancing in her blood.”
-- Raold Dahl

WORTH PRAYING

Speaking of Halloween terrors, peek through the lilac bushes. There’s not many things more frightening than 70-year old men climbing up and down 2-story ladders replacing boards, scraping, caulking, priming, and painting. I am quite certain my cortisol levels directly correlate with Keith’s height on the ladder. If he were to unexpectedly fall (as occasional vertigo may precipitate), I worry I’d never find his body. We are both so brittle and crispy at this age, I fear he would just powder and disintegrate among the autumn leaves.

Keith is one of those stubborn do-it-yourself types. I assumed his self-sufficiency streak would at some point be supplanted by self-preservation, but there’s no inkling of a shift. He continues hurling himself toward dangers like house painting, hurrying to finish before snow. Historically, his ambition exceeds the weather’s cooperation, so I think he’ll be forced to end this suicidal gesture. I’m holding my breath.

”There is a certain part of all of us that lives outside of time.” — Milan Jundera

WORTH PHOTOGRAPHING

Keith and I take thousands of photographs over the course of a year. It sounds sweet, but it’s more like a blood sport. We have always been fiercely competitive and this is one of the places it manifests. We have this ongoing Photo Shoot where we compete for the best photo. This week, I won hands down because of this snapshot. It captures a glimpse of our neighborhood through the melting ice on our windshield. We think it’s awesome. I’m excited to try some portraits through windshield ice. Free fun is the best kind (especially when I win which is almost never).

”It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
— Henry David Thoreau

WORTH DOWNLOADING

Here’s some groovy nostalgia links for vintage TV shows you might love.

It's a self described “great novelty website to kill some time and easily lose yourself for hours with nostalgia.” Basically, it uses YouTube videos to simulate watching TV in 90s and you can specify what year you want and what categories you want to see when you change channels. Click on any of the links below to pick the era from which you want to select your shows.

My 60s TV
My 70s TV
My 80s TV
My 90s TV
My 00s TV

“Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.”
— Doug Larson

Happy Halloween
from
Keith & Mary!

— Monkey in Your Soul performed by Steely Dan
Pretzel Logic - 1974
CLICK TO LISTEN