Dante's Wardrobe: Recharging via Categories

Like any creative person, my inspiration runs into walls on occasion, or just gets weary. That thing called Life intervenes: deadlines, familial obligations, hot weather with ridiculously high humidity, insomnia, laundry that needs doing, etc. And sometimes the creative ideas themselves interfere with one another. I need to sew some work clothes but there sitting right next to that lovely black-brown gabardine are the file folders of my little group of pen friends. I am behind in sewing and behind in my letter writing. Both are hugely fun. Which gets top priority? Especially when my sketchbook and the graphic novel notes are sitting right next to both?

There is this sudden rush to MAKE SOMETHING NOW. But what? When? And if I choose A when can I do B? Creative indecision is a weird beastie. It feels like one is firing on all cylinders simultaneously and like one is frying the synapses of the imagination to boot. It paralyzes at the same time it jolts the spirit.

So when it's practical - cuz even creativity needs its pragmatic moments - I spend a few hours cruising through all the links I've bookmarked over the years. Some of the sites I don't even recognize, so the visit is like seeing a new-old friend. Some sites seem strange and no longer interesting - which leads me to think about what it was that caught my eye way back when - which can lead to some constructive reflection on who I was then and who I am now.

I took some time over the end-of-year break to see where I went once. Just for fun, I am posting a handful of those links here for your interest.

From my "Foods" category:

Winter Chowder Recipe from The Practical Herbalist

How to Hard-Boil an Egg (works perfectly every time!)

Multi Blend Wheat- and Gluten-Free Flour

From my "Fun Stuff" category:

Comhaltas

- need to find a Celtic session group? Or a class? [from their site] is the largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music. We’re a non-profit cultural movement with hundreds of local branches around the world, and as you can read in our history we’ve been working for the cause of Irish music since the middle of the last century (1951 to be precise). Our efforts continue with increasing zeal as the movement launches itself into the 21st century.

Bing Crosby singing Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra from the movie Going My Way.

The Complete Shakespeare Reader 1.0 The Bard for Free!

[from the download site] "The Free Electronic Shakespeare Reader is a downloadable piece of software that you can install on any Windows computer, and instantly have all of Shakespeare's 38 plays at your fingertips. No internet connection required; read plays at your leisure on any computer. An excellent study resource for any English Literature student. Provides in-depth full-text searching to all of Shakespeare's plays."

How to Make a Hula Hoop (adult version - weighted for dance hooping)

Strange Games site (includes stuff like the 2010 Rock Paper Scissors tournament, lawn mower tossing, and similarly goofy activities; please note: not always for kids).

From my "Creatives" category:

Green Thoughts Asleep and the Fury of Dreams: Native Shading in the Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin (well-written piece on this deeply thoughtful and creative author and wordsmith)