“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” – William Morris When I grow up I’d like to be a polymath. I rediscovered this word at the William Morris Anarchy and Beauty exhibition because Morris, apparently, was one. Apparently he was also an “artist-craftsman, designer,…
The ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’ exhibition at the Royal Academy made me want to 1) become an architect and 2) express the ineffable. I have neither the time nor attention to detail required for the first, but I can give the second a shot. So there I was, at an interactive exhibition which encouraged visitors to respond…
‘His life was trees’ was one of our favourite bench inscriptions back in those park-roaming university days. How would we choose to be remembered, we wondered, if the totality of our lives had to be whittled down to a one-liner (which, depending on the park’s location, stood a high likelihood of being defaced anyway)? On…
A photo of light reflected in a river. Like stars on a dark night. Glimpses and fragments of wonder. Glimpses and fragments of wonder. This is the phrase that’s wandering round my mind this arvo. I’ve just binged on Brian Draper’s daily advent reflection emails which have been accumulating in my inbox. Better late…
A friend and I were recently debating my old church’s strap-line ‘Delighting in God and displaying his glory’. (I’m beginning to question whether or not churches really need/should have strap-lines, but that’s for another blog post). We wondered if words like ‘delighting’, and even ‘glory’, really resonate with people and mean something to them. Do…
For as long as I can remember, I always dreamed of having a magnolia tree in my garden. Of course, that dream naturally evaporated along with those other child assumptions of a house and garden and sedentary life in the UK. Nevertheless, magnolia trees have retained their je ne sais quoi and have been cheering…
Last weekend, I rooted around at the bottom of a cupboard and dug out my long-forgotten jewellery-making stuff. Time for the resurgence of a creative hobby methinks. This was largely inspired by a visit to the London Art Fair where a number of little galleries had gathered to promote their peops and sell their work.…
Yesterday I spent most of the beautiful sunny day hidden away inside SOAS’ library trying to pull together some thoughts about my first essay: ‘Does modernisation necessarily imply dependency?’ And I can tell you that it’s no small task moving, in just two months, from a place of knowing very little about development to trying…
My book recommendation of the week. I’ve just read, finished, and straightaway re-read if nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon McGregor which Jenny gave me because it reminded her of my blog. Fine praise indeed. It’s one of those books with a story that reels you in and drags you forward and makes you…
It’s a gorgeous day and I can’t think of anything I’d change. Everything feels perfectly aligned, like when you’re opening a combination lock, get the numbers right, and there’s that little click. I feel like I’m in that little click when nothing is out of sync and the way forward has opened up. I am…
emilyintheworld 