Leisure The Basis of Culture

March 6, 2015

...hat holds the world together: vas die Welt Im innersten zusammenhält only for a moment perhaps, and the lightning vision of his intuition has to be recaptured and rediscovered in hard work. Fr. Mark Kowalewski, who tipped me off to Pieper’s book, describes this state of leisure as “profoundly counter-cultural.” And yet I hear Gmail calling me. Time to update my Facebook profile and get out some tweets. How do you deal with life’s distractions? How...

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New Slow City

Mrs. Homegrown

September 28, 2015

Nature Awareness, Reviews

...ven in the heart of the world’s “fastest” city. It’s a beautifully written book, and covers more ground than the previous sentence even begins to suggest. Read it. Bill is in the middle of a book tour right now, so I wanted to put up his schedule so you can catch him if he comes to your town. He’s an engaging speaker, so do get out and see him if you can. See his events page for details on each event. Wednesday, Sept 30 – SAN FRANCISCO Friday, Oct...

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How to be a Tudor by Ruth Goodman

Mrs. Homegrown

August 30, 2016

Domesticus

13 Comments

...some craft: blacksmith, brewer, rope maker, dyer, tanner, painter, tailor, bookbinder. And heck, every good housewife had to know how to do a whole lot of stuff, from sewing to cheese making to brewing, and was a master of those crafts as a matter of course. How wonderful it would be to walk those streets and watch it all going on! For those of us who like to engage in this kind of wishful thinking, Goodman’s book is a close second to a long visit...

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Tiny House Dweller as Contemporary Hermit in the Garden

Mr. Homegrown

November 4, 2016

Thoughtstylings

1 Comment

...ther and went so far as to pay people to act as hermits. Gordon Campbell’s book The Hermit in the Garden From Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome contains the following story, At one great house in England the accounts disclose a half-yearly payment £300 to a hermit, who had, for this commensurate salary, to remain bearded and in a state of picturesque dirtiness for six months in the year in an artificial cave at a suitable distance from the house–j...

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News From Nowhere

Mr. Homegrown

May 25, 2018

Thoughtstylings

9 Comments

...e.” Speaking of beauty, my dear neighbors, you should definitely read this book in the facsimile edition that reproduces Morris’ impossibly beautiful printing. Reading it this way has the hopeful quality of holding an object from the future Morris imagines. Morris’ exquisite typography physically locates the reader in the place of the time traveling narrator. That said, if you don’t feel like springing for the book, you can read a copy online. And...

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