A diet of Music

I came across notes I had made about my music collection quite recently and one of the ideas I had come up with was a musical diet, which is detailed below.

Monday – Rock and Pop

The Beatles, the Doors, the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Kate Bush

Tuesday – Alternative

Enya, Portishead, Tori Amos, Bjork, Vashti Bunyan

Wednesday – Folk

Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Pentacle, The Wicker Man, Into the wild

Thursday-Electronic

Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygene, Equinox, Tubular Bells, OMD, ELO

Friday – Movie

Amelie, Chocolat, Road to Perdition, Gladiator, Blade Runner

Saturday-Classical

The Planet Suite, Carnival of the Animals, New World Symphony,

Pictures at an exhibition, The Four Seasons

Sunday – Jazz

Midnight, Experimental, Free-form, Improvised, Relaxing

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Humility

I started my virtue project in 2007. Since then I have created artwork, writing and crafts, all reflecting the qualities of the various virtues. Humility is sometimes described as the greatest virtue, from which all other virtues flow. Whether it is the greatest or not is debatable, but I still think it is highly important. I use purple to portray humility, as it is the contrary virtue to the vice of pride and pride is often illustrated with a purple peacock.

Celebrating Libraries and Buddhism

  

I had been planning my visit to the Buddhist exhibition in the British Library at St Pancras for several months.

   

I thought it would be a good way to celebrate, not only three decades of working in libraries, but also the last two years of practising mindfulness and other Buddhist psychological techniqes.

    

I was feeling a bit cold and tired on the day, it has been a particularly dreary February, but I think the experience and my time exploring libraries and Buddhism will be good to reflect on in the future.

        

Creative projects 2000 to 2020

 

Being creative has been important to me since I was little. Over the first twenty years of the 21^st Century my creative projects have been important to keep me going through difficult years; working, looking after my home and family, raising my daughter. Popular projects have been SubVerse, possibly my favourite, from the early noughties. It has also been good to keep my blog going from 2013 until 2023. Running my craft stall in the twenty-teens has been an interesting experience and playing classical piano pieces in public has been quite rewarding. More information about my creative projects over the years can be found on my blog at amilofinn.blogspot.co.uk .

 

Thirty years a librarian

To celebrate my thirty years as a librarian I have chosen thirty favourite books from five decades of reading.

1970s (childhood)

My two chosen books from the 1970s showcase my life long love affair with a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

1980s (education)

In the 1980s I studied English at O'level and A'level and acquired a degree in librarianship. My choice of books reflect what I was studying at the time; the Bronte sisters, George Orwell, The Great Gatsby and EM Forster.

1990s (work)

I did a lot of commuting when I started work and found that the tube was an ideal place to catch up with my reading. I enjoyed Dracula and Frankenstein, HG Wells and Stephen King, Gone with the wind and The mill on the floss.

2000s (relationships)

I was busy with my young family in the early noughties, I read and wrote more poetry. By the end of the decade I was back on novels again, I particularly enjoyed Chocolat, The other Boleyn girl and the Thirteenth tale by Dianne Setterfield.

2010s (escape)

My escape in the 2010s was more virtual than actual, books I escaped into include Never let me go, We need to talk about Kevin, The girl on the train and Room. I can imagine that the theme for the forthcoming 2020s will increasingly be 'Letting Go'.

An Anatomy of Love

'An Anatomy of Love' is my seven poem cycle of reflections on romantic relationships from waiting for something to begin through enjoyment and endurance and finally coming out on the other side. 'Anything but love' is a poem about distraction, about what you might concentrate on when trying to move on from a broken heart. It is more descriptive of my life since 2008.