Anne Lamott
-
Confessions of a recovering perfectionist
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” ~Anne Lamott I ordered the garden plaque as soon as I saw it in a mail-order catalog. Crafted from terra cotta, it announces in bold letters: EMBRACE IMPERFECTION. Today the plaque hangs on a brick wall just outside my garden room window, where I can view its reassuring message every day. Come to think of it, I should have ordered duplicates to use as decorative reminders throughout the house. I’ve battled perfectionism most of my life. My finely honed nit-picking skills — inherited from my mother — serve me…
-
Funny Friday: Religious irony
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” ~Anne Lamott Photo by Cindy La Ferle
-
Hope, humor, and going a little nuts: Notes from my quarantine journal
Cindy La Ferle For social media sharing options and more content, please visit the home page and look for the beige box located below each post. “Hope is not about proving anything. It’s about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us.” ~Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on FaithJuly 10, 2020Every morning, I stumble out of bed, make the coffee. Wandering through the house and my garden at dawn, I look for an anchor of normalcy — or something positive to float me through another day of this infernal pandemic. I commune with the basil and parsley; I water the potted begonias…
-
Sheltering in place at my own private Walden
“I am stockpiling antibiotics for the apocalypse, even as I await the blossoming of paperwhites on the windowsill in the kitchen.” ~Anne Lamott, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope Sunday, March 29 An only child, I was always at ease in solitude. Growing up, I had a troop of playmates in my neighborhood, but sometimes I’d hide in my closet when they came looking for me. I read — a lot — and often preferred working on craft projects or playing alone with my menagerie of pets. As a preteen, I adopted “In My Room” (Brian Wilson/Gary Usher for The Beach Boys) as my personal anthem. Yet I’ll be the first to agree, right…
-
Funny Friday: The circus of life
“You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town” ~Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith Photo: Altered art circus book by Cindy La Ferle: “Damn Everything but the Circus”
