Hidden Beauty of the Commonplace

Hidden Beauty of the Commonplace
Author: Philip Pegler
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2013-03-27
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1780993382

At a time of austerity and profound concern for human rights, here is a thoughtful book honouring the quiet radiance of love, sanctity of existence and silent background of being. Abiding peace awaits discovery in the midst of our difficulties; it is this simple but potent realisation that entirely changes our world-view and offers genuine hope for the future of humanity. This work is based upon the life of Clare Cameron, a gifted English mystic and nature poet at the peak of her creative powers during the exuberant decade of the 1960s. Displaying wisdom and compassion, Clare continually challenged her readers with a fundamental question that is as vital and relevant now as it was in her own day - 'What is the true meaning of freedom?' ,

A Commonplace Book of Pie

A Commonplace Book of Pie
Author: Kate Lebo
Publisher: Chin Music Press Inc.
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2013-10-07
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0985041684

In this debut collection, award-winning poet and baker Kate Lebo redefines everything we thought we knew about pie. An eclectic mix of prose poems, fantasy zodiac, and humor, A Commonplace Book of Pie explores the tension between the container and the contained while considering the real and imagined relationships between pie and those who love it. Expanding on Lebo's successful chapbook of the same name, this volume includes new poems as well as more than two dozen Americana-themed illustrations by artist Jessica Lynn Bonin. Bonin's art adds a sense of nostalgia alongside Lebo's modern style, and together with the text, puts pie and the art of baking in a fresh, contemporary context. Kate Lebo makes poems and pies in Seattle. Her writing has appeared in Best New Poets, Gastronomica, and Poetry Northwest. When Kate is not creating poems, she is hosting her semi-secret pie social, Pie Stand, around the US, teaching creative writing at the University of Washington and Richard Hugo House, and pie-making at Pie School, her cliche-busting pastry academy. Jessica Lynn Bonin is an illustrator and mixed-media artist whose work adds a modern twist to familiar images of American culture. Bonin's murals are displayed in New York,Oregon and Washington state. She lives and works in a former hardware store and lumberyard in Edison, Washington.

The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover

The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover
Author: Kevin Joel Berland
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2012-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807839116

William Byrd II (1674-1744) was an important figure in the history of colonial Virginia: a founder of Richmond, an active participant in Virginia politics, and the proprietor of one of the colony's greatest plantations. But Byrd is best known today for his diaries. Considered essential documents of private life in colonial America, they offer readers an unparalleled glimpse into the world of a Virginia gentleman. This book joins Byrd's Diary, Secret Diary, and other writings in securing his reputation as one of the most interesting men in colonial America. Edited and presented here for the first time, Byrd's commonplace book is a collection of moral wit and wisdom gleaned from reading and conversation. The nearly six hundred entries range in tone from hope to despair, trust to dissimulation, and reflect on issues as varied as science, religion, women, Alexander the Great, and the perils of love. A ten-part introduction presents an overview of Byrd's life and addresses such topics as his education and habits of reading and his endeavors to understand himself sexually, temperamentally, and religiously, as well as the history and cultural function of commonplacing. Extensive annotations discuss the sources, background, and significance of the entries.

The Art of the Commonplace

The Art of the Commonplace
Author: Wendell Berry
Publisher: Catapult
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2018-06-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1582439249

"Here is a human being speaking with calm and sanity out of the wilderness. We would do well to hear him." —The Washington Post Book World The Art of the Commonplace gathers twenty essays by Wendell Berry that offer an agrarian alternative to our dominant urban culture. Grouped around five themes—an agrarian critique of culture, agrarian fundamentals, agrarian economics, agrarian religion, and geobiography—these essays promote a clearly defined and compelling vision important to all people dissatisfied with the stress, anxiety, disease, and destructiveness of contemporary American culture. Why is agriculture becoming culturally irrelevant, and at what cost? What are the forces of social disintegration and how might they be reversed? How might men and women live together in ways that benefit both? And, how does the corporate takeover of social institutions and economic practices contribute to the destruction of human and natural environments? Through his staunch support of local economies, his defense of farming communities, and his call for family integrity, Berry emerges as the champion of responsibilities and priorities that serve the health, vitality and happiness of the whole community of creation.

The Beauty of Everyday Things

The Beauty of Everyday Things
Author: Soetsu Yanagi
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2019-01-31
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0241366364

The daily lives of ordinary people are replete with objects, common things used in commonplace settings. These objects are our constant companions in life. As such, writes Soetsu Yanagi, they should be made with care and built to last, treated with respect and even affection. They should be natural and simple, sturdy and safe - the aesthetic result of wholeheartedly fulfilling utilitarian needs. They should, in short, be things of beauty. In an age of feeble and ugly machine-made things, these essays call for us to deepen and transform our relationship with the objects that surround us. Inspired by the work of the simple, humble craftsmen Yanagi encountered during his lifelong travels through Japan and Korea, they are an earnest defence of modest, honest, handcrafted things - from traditional teacups to jars to cloth and paper. Objects like these exemplify the enduring appeal of simplicity and function: the beauty of everyday things.