Electric Ladyland

When life is as it should be

Good morning. 

It's a lovely, quiet Saturday and I just put Hobex's Payback EP on the stereo.  It's my official lazy getting-up-slowly weekend music.  That dates from the JET Program, when I'd go crash with friends for the weekend in some other nearby city or town in Japan.  We'd party and be silly all night and then slowly resurrect ourselves into something barely presentable but somewhat conversational the next morning.  All with the help of good music and a good breakfast. 

Here's to serenity.  Lately I've been blessed with a lot of it.  These past few weekends have been the very picture of homestyle bliss here at my apartment as I've been thoroughly switching off from the work world and reveling in my own time, the time that belongs solely to me.

It's good.  I've been reading a lot more books lately (Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, The Lost Constitution, The Lake and A Public Betrayed), which is always a sign that things are going well in my world. 

Been doing more writing too, both in my journal, where I've been recording my dreams, and in a separate notebook I've been keeping for the lists in my life.  Lists involving of course the mundane daily tasks but also enumerating all my achievements since coming home to the States seven years ago, all that I've accomplished in my job and why I love it, all that I desire to experience in the years to come, and more.  These running lists trap fleeting thoughts and emotions and organize them on paper, making it easier to understand at a glance what I can celebrate and what it is I yearn most to do with my time and talents.  It's been a revelation to see that take shape and it's taught me a lot. 

I also spent a full day tackling my list of fears and answering each one for myself on paper - a sort of FAQ - to give them some consideration and explore how well founded or deeply rooted they might be.  Was pleasantly surprised to find them easy to engage and understand.  Now I feel few limits on my freedom and I've recovered those essential feelings of joy and boundless desire for exploration that used to be hallmarks of my attitude toward the world and my place in it.  My steps are a little lighter and I laugh more easily.

Home is comforting.  I've been spending some wonderful days here lately.  I've always loved my apartment but for some time I was hung up on the idea that I couldn't seem to recover the sense of peace I had growing up at my dad's house in Massachusetts.  There is a kind of silence there that resembles sound in its fullness.  You won't find that in New York City.  I have a memory of often curling up in a recliner with a good book at the end of day knowing that there was nothing else competing for my attention.  All that was before me was that delicious moment of tranquility.  Well, without even trying to recreate that I've managed to bring that back into my life and it is such a joy.

I've been doing more cooking too.  Funny that I could've stayed away from it for so long given how much I love to stir up trouble in the kitchen but looking back over the state of my affairs for the year to date it's not much of a surprise.  I was trapped in a vise where on one side there was Mom's heartbreaking loss of eyesight and on the other the relentless pressures of my job.  No room for error and precious little room for my feelings or what I needed.  I made it through but not without frustration and exhaustion.  I spent the entire month of August just coming down from that.  But here I am having settled back into the full space of my normal life again.  I was on a cold noodle kick (specifically hiyashi-chuuka, zaru-soba and somen) for a few weeks.  I also started trying out different kinds of sake at home thanks to Landmark Wine and Sake (I like Ichi no Kura quite a bit).  Now that the season's changing I'm looking towards recipes for butternut and acorn squash as well as the roast chicken I love to make every fall and winter. 

So two things that make me very, very happy are back as regular features of my daily life:  peaceful time at home and the frequent exploration of new things.  Nothing makes me happier than learning more about the world.

Except maybe getting a new couch in time for the postseason!  I forgot to mention I've been watching a ton of baseball -- fairly typical for this time of year -- and this Thursday is Couch Day, when I will finally get my brand shiny new couch delivered from Crate & Barrel.  I've been living in this apartment for six years and stymied by its awkward, narrow living room for about as long.  Finally took the plunge and bought a couch that should solve the confusion and make it an inviting space in which to lounge around.  Also due for arrival are a media center (for the flat panel TV and its accoutrements) and a storage ottoman with a reversible lid that doubles as a serving tray.  Two soft floor lamps are already in place providing ambient light to the room.  Bit by bit it's coming together and not a moment too soon because I've got a lot of baseball to watch in the next month and a half.

In order to prep for that I've been doing a lot of housecleaning.  More's on tap for today.  There are about five big garbage bags full of clothes, bedding and other household items waiting to be donated and that's just the first round.  I plan to keep going after that since that process has made my apartment so much more functional than it was.  A lot of this stuff has just been taking up space for years with no good reason.  Time for a fresh start.

And so that's the story.  Back to the mellow music and coffee before resuming the work and play that's been making my days more fun!

Sancerre and the Huguenots

My father and I have been big fans of Sancerre ever since discovering it several years back at the Brick Cafe here in Astoria.  I just discovered that it has a Huguenot connection as well.  The town of Sancerre figures prominently in the Wars of Religion according to this article on the Siege of Sancerre.

Gives a Huguenot like myself much to be proud of except for, of course, the accounts of the devastation people endured during the time the town was under siege by Catholic forces.  I do find it interesting that the article references Henri IV at the end as well.  He was one of France's best-loved kings and a Huguenot.  He remained Protestant for much of his life until converting to Catholicism after taking the throne.

By chance I ended up learning much about him and the Huguenot cause during the summer I spent studying French in Pau, the city of his birth.  I was the only French-American kid among all students in the program and, on top of that, a Protestant as well.  Had no idea that my interest in learning the language of my heritage would connect me with much more than syntax, pronunciation and grammar but also a sense of the times that had led to my own family's decision to flee the country. 

Like many Huguenot refugees we settled in the Netherlands during the 16th century.  From there a pair of brothers came to the United States during the Gold Rush and began the American branch of our family.  Still Protestant to this day.  I wonder who it was who made the initial choice to leave the Catholic Church.  Was it a conversion of faith or of political opportunity?  What was the motivation?  I still wonder that today because although I may not practice much I find it fascinating that one person's decision more than 500 years ago set in course a series of migrations that led to my being born an American.  Had that not happened the family likely would have remained French.

This subject doesn't come up much when I talk with other people but it did a week ago when I got chatted up by a waiter at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan.  His name was Marcel and I noticed that it was French.  He then specified that he was a Huguenot and that spurred a discussion about the heritage we shared.  A rare conversation for me to have these days.  I was used to being around plenty of other French-American kids growing up in Western Massachusetts but being as they were all French-Canadian, they attended Mass while I had to go to Sunday School.  No one ever explained the reason for that to me until years later. 

Now things Huguenot don't figure centrally in my life but I have to smile when I happen to learn that a wine I love has a Huguenot link.  Who knew?