The Friday Five - Truth, Beauty and Goodness for your weekend
Dwelling in the Lord, Practically; the best version of the song "Summertime"; Trauma & the Midlife Crisis (a poem I wrote); rereading The War of Art; vintage photos of summer in NYC
A quick personal note
Happy Friday! The four of us just got back from a short trip to the beach in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. It was a fruitful trip and it has inspired me in so many ways, including my main article from this week and a post I’ll be sharing next week about living with the seasons and why that’s important for us to do.
The beach trip, although soul-nourishing, again reminded me of the duality of life. As much as I enjoyed all of the sweetness it brought, I also was reminded of the sadness of not having our daughter with us.
“a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,”1
As we welcome summer next week, I hope you will find a way to soak up the sweetness of it and not let it pass you by, despite what hard things you are also carrying. Stay tuned for more on this topic next week.
As a reminder reader, in case you need to hear this today, you are so very loved and cherished. There is absolutely nothing you could ever do that will separate you from God’s love. Nothing.
As always, thanks for reading! I’m grateful for you and for those who are commenting and sharing my posts!
1. Dwell Practically; How a hermit crab inspired me to get serious about how I dwell in the Lord and his word
And how the same hermit crab inspired me to write a fable: The Hermit Crab and the Crow.
Dwell, Practically
A hermit without a shell “Mommy, why is he out of his shell? Should we find him a new shell? Has he outgrown his old one? What’s wrong with him? Is he dying?” So many questions in one breath.Bec…
2. Summer’s almost here: chime in on the best version of “Summertime (and the living is easy)”
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy, fish are jumpin’, and the cotton is high…”
When I was a little girl, my grandmother always sang this song to me. When I became a mom, I would sing it while rocking my babies to sleep. It will always hold a special place in my heart. When I hear it, I reach for a hairbrush or the closest make-shift mic and belt it out for whoever will listen, Ella-style.
On our drive home from the Outer Banks this week, we had a little family vote – which version was everyone’s favorite. We listened to six different versions, listed below. It was pretty neat that everyone chose a different version.
Summertime is an aria composed by George Gerswhin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based. It is among the top 25 most covered songs (Yesterday, by The Beatles, is number one).
Here are six versions, with a few of my notes, including our favorites. Have a listen and see which is your favorite version. Drop me a comment to let me know!
Abbie Mitchell – the original opera singer from the 1935 opera, Porgy and Bess; I had never heard this operatic version before our research
Sam Cooke - hauntingly lovely with the cadence of the woman vocalizing in the background (Luke’s favorite)
Janis Joplin – sultry and electrified; the internet claims this to be the most popular version (Andrew’s, my youngest, favorite)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – (the version I always choose to sing) my clear favorite; jazzy, slow, and two of my favorite voices in music (if my daughter were here, she would choose this one, also. Ella & Louis are her favorite artists)
Billy Stewart – Summer anthem material, sure to get your foot tapping to the beat, and probably your head, no, your whole body moving (my husband’s favorite)
Sonny & Cher – has that 70’s cool kind of vibe, makes me want to tap a tambourine on my side as I sing along
3. Trauma & the Midlife Crisis; a poem
I needed a repository for my poetry so I added a new section entitled ‘Poems by KBP’ to the top navigation bar of my Substack page. I’m still figuring out how I will use it or how you, the reader, might be able to opt in or opt out; hang with me, please. At this point, I’d like to add several that I’ve already written so I don’t want each of them to be published. In the meantime, here is the latest:
4. Quotes from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
It had been a while so I decided to reread this book while at the beach this week. It’s a quick read, and I recently referenced it in my podcast conversation about creativity recovery so I felt it was time for a refresh, to see what jumps out this time around.
Mr. Pressfield believes Resistance is the enemy for creatives feeling blocked and he offers practical advice on overcoming it. My recent reference to it was that I do not believe that while we are living in trauma or trauma recovery, resistance is the enemy. I believe resistance is an invitation to lean in to the Lord and get curious about what God may be wanting us to do, or not do, with our creativity. To everything there is a season…
On that note, here are a few quotes that I recently pulled out, in case you haven’t read the book, or in case they might speak to where you are right now:
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
“Rule of Thumb: the more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”
“Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice is possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.”
and lastly,
“Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.
Do it or don’t do it.
It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”
5. Vintage photos of New Yorkers beating the summer’s heat
I love black and white vintage candid photos and while searching for a particular photo (the "‘swimmobile’ below), I went down a major rabbit trail searching for more like it and became completely fascinated…I couldn’t stop searching. If you like photos like this, do yourself a favor and type ‘vintage photos of New Yorkers beating the summer’s heat’ into your search engine and take a look around.
Read more about the history of NYC bathhouses and pools, including the above pictured “swimmobile”, here.
Here is an interesting article, and more photos, from the New York Times about the role fire hyrants have played in NYC summers.
Question for Reflection or Journal Prompt:
If you could assign a few words for each season, encompassing what those seasons mean to you, what would they be?
Quotable:
“One day, you will learn to give and receive love like an open window and it will feel like summer every day. One day, everything will make sense.” – Sierra DeMulde
Another song to enjoy for Summer: Beethoven – Romance No. 2 in F major
“Warmth practically radiates out of this Romantic violin work – sublime, and yet somewhat sad in its innocence and sweetness, as we remember that Beethoven composed the piece while coming to terms with the tragedy of his deafness, probably for the first time.” states Maddy Shaw Roberts in her wonderful article, ‘15 glorious pieces of classical music for summertime’ on classicfm.com, and I completely agree!
Ecclesiastes 3:4