Musings of a Whimsical Realist

As far back as I can remember, I have loved the beautiful and despised the ugly.  The truly ugly, not the “beautiful in the eyes of the beholder” type of stuff, but the bottom-of-the-barrel grotesque.  However, this post is not about the ugly.  It’s about the beautiful! A clear night sky: Crushed velvet that the stars twinkle from like so many diamonds in a jeweler’s display.  The fiery dance of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, a blazing tumult over the sleeping town.  A cloth draped over a dome, with pin pricks illuminated by the glory beyond. North Coast Redwoods: The soft sound of moss and damp earth underfoot.  Light filtering through a thousand green branches, bathing everything emerald.  The scent of a millennium years of death and rebirth, one never present without the other. Waterfalls: The continuous cascade of silver pouring over the wet-blackened rocks.  Ferns clinging bravely between the stones.  The foaming torrents into a calm, cool pool beneath. I love them!  I love stars and re

This month, a trend went through Facebook like a wave.  I must admit to extreme relief that it wasn't a posting competition arguing for Team Edward or Team Jacob (newsflash, you can declare either team, but it doesn't change the end of the story).  Indeed, the postings were of a much more introspective nature.  Once a day, every day, from November 1st through Thanksgiving, many of my Facebook friends shared something for which they are thankful. "Thankfulness" is defined as "warm friendly feelings of gratitude."  [You may soon realize that I LOVE dictionary definitions.  It's a hazard of majoring in English.]  As a mom of three little ones, I spend a good portion of my day teaching them to be thankful.  "Firstborn" is learning about the warm, friendly part of being thankful -- which means that the words and the tone of voice must match.  "Girl-Twin" and "Boy-Twin" (21 months) are still learning the habit of saying (or usua

For some time now, I have thought that I should start a blog.  Why?  Firstly, so I can stop driving my friends crazy with super-long Facebook status updates.  I mean, really, who wants to read two paragraphs in a status?  Secondly, because I love to write -- it is how my heart communicates best.  And thirdly, because I really shouldn't let all of this wisdom go unshared! [wink, wink]  As soon as I decided that it was time to start my blog, the name just came to me.  BLAM!  Like a lightning strike.  Musings of a Whimsical Realist.  Musings seemed obvious enough: "A discourse intended to express its author's reflections or to guide others in contemplation" (Merriam-Webster).  But the real fun lies in the last two words.  A Whimsical Realist.  Whimsy is defined as " the quality or state of being whimsical or fanciful" whereas Realism is defined as " concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary."  A contradiction in term