26 December, 2016

Why is This a Mystery and Not Common Sense?

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...In 2010 the Smithsonian Channel did a Mystery Files special on Leonardo Da Vinci.  It received about 3 1/2 stars around the web when I looked it up, and had 2 on Netflix. I thought it was informative and well put together, though there was no real "mystery" to it. The narrator was making a big point of the fact that Leonardo most likely didn't "invent" any of the technological "innovations" and engineering "feats" found in his published notebooks after his death.

Well duh! These were private notebooks, like his artist's sketchbooks were he sketched and scribbled and generated ideas and kept journal entries. They were THOUGHTS. I keep various notebooks around with notes from other sources in them and ideas expounded in them and links and notes and generate ideas and add and subtract and I'm not even particularly a genius, or am I?

My point is, the narrators were making this big point about Leonardo as if he was defrauding history. LOL And the historians were very carefully saying that he was a genius man of his times who was a member of a select glitterati and had exposure to educated and talented minds and so had the opportunity to expand upon their thinking, that's all. This wouldn't be considered strange at all today; we would still consider him a learned and wise man with far ranging interests and a "Renaissance Man", to the narrators, it seemed a shock. It disappointed me a bit in the quality of writing from an institution of the caliber of the Smithsonian. I felt that they had dumbed down the presentation with narration for a fifth or sixth grade audience when it wasn't necessary. On the other hand, the quality of their renaissance experts were wonderful and the information that THEY imparted was well worth watching the show to see and hear. That alone was worth a solid 4 stars.
from a puzzled goddess mystifying on the history

25 December, 2016

Yuletide Cheer and all that stuff...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I love the holidays. I love entertaining and seeing my family and having people over. I always have. But I don't like the drama. I really just want everyone to get along and have a life supported by loving people. My mom was a drama Queen. She was in a tizzy any time we had people over and would clean a clean house for days. ;P

 I SO wasn't going there. I was informed by my soon-to-be-ex many years ago that I was turning into my mother. I would get all tense before we left to go anyplace and scream and have fights...I then realized it was because I was always ready 30 minutes early and he was always 30 minutes or more late and didn't have his stuff together. So on top of doing my stuff and being disabled and feeling like crap I'd be trying to organize his at the last minute and get the kids moving, because they knew that the time stated meant 30 minutes or more late, and it was ALWAYS more stress than I wanted to deal with. LOL My daughter still fudges times with us both to get us going "on time." She's starting to realize that I'm actually getting ready at the time she says and now am considering HER late. LOL My son...well...we're always walking out the door while he's still brushing his teeth or getting his coat or something 10 minutes after it was time to go and waiting for him outside.

But all of this aside, making food for people I love and seeing them enjoy it. Being able to give them some small gift of my heart even when I'm broke. Letting them know I thought of them and love them and welcome new members to the family table. No matter when the holiday is celebrated.  (and no matter how many pain killers I need to swallow to get through the day!) I'd almost  prefer Christmas or a Yule celebration in July...just to divorce it from all the rest of the crazy of the season and get the family together for some gathering time to bond in a time less fraught with stress for all. But then employers don't give time off for the Summer Soltice do they? and when you are baking and sweating it just doesn't seem as fun to get together with family as when you can go sliding through the ice and snow.
from the puzzled goddess shivering under her nice warm blankets on this Christmas Afternoon.

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