My aim today was to capture whatever and wherever I was around/at 2:26 pm on Z- day, as I’ve dubbed the 26th day of the month. This month, February, I am at home.
About 12:45 pm: I was at an artist’s art/craft supply store, looking at the selection of journals for my Zibaldone. It isn’t that I can’t shop my stash – which is a common reminder to/for scrapbookers, memory keepers, designed to keep us mindful of our ever present/growing collection of whatever the “must have” item is and to pause, take stock and inquire: Do I really NEED this? 10 of 9 times the answer is a RESOUNDING: NO! Rather, the motivation is want – surely the perfect journal is out there waiting for me to find it… and perhaps you wonder, just what does or will make this elusive, to be discovered book , so perfect? Well, I’m not sure I can answer that question and I may not know til I find it…but rest assured, when I do, you’ll be the first to know!
No luck in finding a new journal – I’ll use what I have- but I did find some fun stickers and managed to spend $25, give or take a penny…
About 1:50 pm: Before heading home, I decided to go in search of a latte… remembered – a coffee shop several blocks away from the Arts & Crafts store, actually near the building where I first worked for the library system, 1974… a long time ago. Originally, the building was a firehouse, then it was turned into a library branch that also housed my office and now, it houses loft apartments.
I found a metered parking lot – 50 cents an hour, all automated. Punch in your license plate number, insert a credit card and presto, you’ve paid for at least one hour. Your receipt is texted, if you wish. The coffee shop – super busy. Coffee is served in cups that are 100% biodegradable * compost-able… Beans are roasted on site and the coffee was good tho’ expensive. C’est la vie…
2:35 PM… Just arrived home
2:56 PM … My coffee is all gone. I’m debating about taking a walk – it’s sunny tho’ a tad chilly. Well, I just checked my daily Health activity stats and I’m a tad beyond the 50% mark from closing all 3 rings – so, that decision is made! Out and Off I go! To be continued…
Just as I stepped out the door, my sister called…so, she joined me on my walk …. I was delighted by signs of Spring: crocus; a flowering tree; warmer temps… My outing and walk were envigorating ( I had to make a quick trip around a couple blocks in order to close the Exercise ring!) but I’m not ready to abandon my mask, just yet…
I think the biggest lesson/connection to Zibaldone this first time out is the role contemporary technology has played in my life on this day, even tho’ I was on a quest to find a paper journal…and that I can/do comfortably transition between analog and digital platforms. To be continued …
Earlier this month, I shared my word Zibaldone, 14th Century Italian for “commonplace book,” a journal or diary, etc, about “a heap of things.” This definition brings to mind today’s tools and resources : diaries, journals, sketch books, random note catchers -think sticky notes or any available piece of paper < my bad habit – waiting to be scribbled on or quick digital notes made on one’s smart phone via both text and voice. If you’re like me, you have a bright idea or vague memory of something seen, heard – bits and pieces of your daily life that have made their way into your brain, that vast storage tool – and if you’re also like me, you also can’t remember where you placed your pen that you just had in your hand a minute ago or your keys (hopefully not in the refrigerator <remember that commercial of the lady who absent-mindedly did so?). In many ways, the Internet, is a humongus Zibaldone. On a more conservative level, think diary; your planner; doodle pad; drawings; scrapbook; photos on your smart phone tagged place/time/date and subject; sketches …
My goal/plan this year, 2022, using the tools mentioned in the preceding paragraph, is to document and create my own Zibaldone: an artistic record of each 24 hours, each week, month, quarter, season. Some may call the resource I create a scrapbook; planner; diary; journal; word, photo collage, and they are all correct descriptors.
In my 2022 Zibaldone, I will combine: words, pictures, art explorations; connections with friends and family; desires; wishes, grace notes, thoughts, inspirations, experiences, learnings, “22 in 22 lists,” books read, to be read or not; STORY- about me, family, friends, things, places, pictures, artistic and creative expressions, feelings, practices, wins, etc…and tools I use at the beginning, during and end of my days; memory keeping; collage and my own art play expressions.
I don’t have a vision of a final product other than it will be a Zibaldone of 2022 as lived, learned, experienced. Stay tuned. To be continued…
Snow: Today we have S-N-O-W! Easily 5 inches, maybe more.The snow has now stopped; the sun shines; the sky is blue and it’s a tad cold : 28 degrees. All lovely – a welcome surprise on this 3rd day of the new year! Perhaps this is Mother Nature’s way to curtail the spread of Omicron, at least for a bit here on the east coast. T’is a nice thought…
Words: My one little word for 2022 is Zibaldone, Italian for occasional thoughts, notes, quotations, lists, etc ~ all the things we manage to capture in notebooks, journals, on index cards, bits and pieces of whatever piece of paper might be in an arm’s reach or a note, jotted on our smart phones, via type or verbally or photo. All designed to capture a moment, a fleeting thought, idea, quote, task, memory, weather event such as S-N-O-W…
Zibaldone:Why? I like the word – it has often intrigued me and has been on my bucket list to explore since 2018. The choice came to me out of the blue, about December 15, 2021. I’d recently ordered and received the book – a mean 2502 pages of tissue thin paper. As I picked up the book and examined some of those 2502 pages, the thought went off like fireworks: “This is it! My word for 2022!”
I have absolutely no idea, preconceived thoughts or expectations as to how the word will show up, shout out, over these next 362 days of 2022… based on my experiences with previous words, there will be all sorts of surprises. Just as today’s snow!
In a way, and this may be a stretch, I see Zibaldone as a quilt patchwork, made of bits and pieces of fabrics that hold all sorts of experiences, meaning and herstory .
I look forward to experiencing and sharing my Zibaldone adventures in 2022. Hopefully most will be as surprising as today’s snow.
Cheers~
Morning Glory Studio 