December 07, 2005
A pretty picture - Julia Child
In order to distract myself from living in a fascist dictatorship, I have been listening to "Appetite for Life", the biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch. Along with French recipes, or at least chat about French recipes, it's chock full of recipes for joyful living, benign childrearing, attuning and waitng for inspiration, developing discipline, staying embodied in full selfhood (even in the face of fame), mentoring, friendship, passion and fun.
Julia was universally loved -- the ultimate extrovert, always the center of a huge circle of friends and family, whom she nurtured well. Really, what ingredients go into forming such exhuberance, gusto, and generous good nature? I personally think it was her untrammeled childhood in Pasadena, under the trustful, benignly neglectful eye of a fun loving mother. She was also the oldest in her family and extremely tall, which must have enhanced her leadership potential as a child. She is described as the penultimate prankster and social organizer in every setting from elementary school to the OSS in China. There is much emphasis on Julia's lack of intellectual discipline until she met her husband, Paul, an artist, self educated scholar and foreign service officer, who is credited with helping her develop rigorous thinking.
This is a story of a woman fully connected to her spirit, though lacking somewhat in purpose and discipline until joining the OSS in WW II, who finds passion, guidance and containment in midlife, and goes on to accomplish much and influence many.
Photo note: A lovely picture for a lovely read. Doesn't this remind you of Seurat , or a least a corner of one of his painting?