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VXV: Miscellany.01
Welcome to the first edition of the VXV “Newsletter”! Thank you for your interest despite having no idea what it will hold. I don’t really know either….
The idea here is to share when sharing feels right, to inspire when inspiration strikes, and to be vulnerable when the instinct is not to be.
My method: communicating in snapshots – in vignettes, if you will. I like the word for its dramatic imagery, and its actual definition:
Vignette:
vi•gnette
/vinˈyet/
noun
- a brief evocative description, account, or episode.
- a small illustration or portrait photograph which fades into its background without a definite border.
- a small ornamental design filling a space in a book or carving, typically based on foliage.
verb
- to portray (someone) in the style of a vignette.
- produce (a photograph) in the style of a vignette by softening or shading away the edges of the subject
- to describe something briefly.
There’s an artistic quality to a vignette; it reveals something but not everything. It’s still hiding something else, waiting for the right way to reveal it. It makes you want to see a touch more past those blurry edges, and leaves you without all the answers or the bigger picture. Perhaps you have to finish it for yourself.
I think one of my strengths is noticing the smallest details, things that are otherwise probably insignificant or negligible to most people, but that stand out in technicolor to me – beautiful and full of wonder. Capturing these simple bits and pieces is a way I can participate in the beauty of the world when for many, it’s easier to notice the ugly.
So without further ado, I invite you to participate in beauty with me in this series of unrelated vignettes….
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1) Catching, out of the corner of my eye, a single snowflake resting on my hair as I walked the dog along a quiet path. The snowflake reamined suspended there between strands of hair, accompanying me silently the whole time. It wasn’t even supposed to snow today; what a pleasant surprise.
2) Sharing homemade banana oat pancakes with my mother on a quiet Sunday morning. Just the two of us, sitting at a table in a sunny window, a little bouquet of springy mums popping their pink colors beside us in the window. The only thing we put on the pancakes was warm maple syrup, nothing extravagant today.
3) To relish in the loveliness of a superbly clean room, ready for its closeup on the cover of a lifestyle magazine. In this snapshot, no one would even be able to tell I live mostly out of boxes and on a blow up air mattress.
4) How the low angle sunrise on a particular early morning walk made the telephone wires lining the street look like shimmering, deep gold ribbons of icing on a decadent wedding cake.
*A theme: I’m noticing that lots of my happy little moments of reflection and presence are happening on dog walks lately. Honestly, it’s not all that surprising. These things are just good for the soul, plain and simply.
5) I was craving spring, and new leaves, and budding flowers, but as I looked at the still naked trees all around me, I noticed that the spaces between the branches are quite beautiful too–unique windows to glimpse blue skies through.
6) Yesterday was a rough day. I was overwhelmed and close to tears, which is quite uncommon for me. So I dropped everything and joined some friends going salsa dancing for the night. This morning, to reset, I wrote down a list of all the things that have been stressing me out and started to do something about them, one by one.
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Now, a couple of things to think about:
1) What is your first reaction when you feel stressed or overwhelmed?
2) What is one thing you’ve been really moved by in the last 3 weeks?
If you feel like giving it a try… send me a response to these questions or a vignette of your own! I’d love to hear how others out there are participating in beauty during chaotic times.
VXV
