5 Things Making Me Happy
I love color, and each year, I can’t wait to see what Pantone will select as its Color of the Year. For 2023, it’s “Viva Magenta.” I wouldn’t describe this red-family color as “magenta,” but of course color names are very tricky (I write about this problem in my unpublished play-hooky book “My Color Pilgrimage”). After I saw the announcement and the color, I took a screenshot of Pantone 18-1750 and went to look for this color during my daily visit to the Met. I love going on a color search; it’s one of my favorite how-to-look-more-closely games. Turns out Viva Magenta is fairly hard to find, though I found a few close matches.
For many people, the state of my sofa would not make them happy. But as an “under-buyer” and a “finisher,” it gave me a real feeling of satisfaction to see something so used up, then it gave me a boost to know that I was finally getting it fixed.
I was charmed, and also puzzled, by this collection of Victorian Christmas cards. Sure, Victorians had a different relationship with the holiday of Christmas than we do today—but still, I couldn’t imagine the logic of some of these images. What’s the connection between the egg classroom and Christmas?
Because of my interest in the five senses, a thoughtful listener sent me this short, thought-provoking article by musician Brian Eno. As someone who has special love for the sense of smell, I was fascinated by his argument and observations.
For me, outer order contributes to inner calm, and I find clutter-clearing very energizing—I even find stories of other people’s encounters with clutter to be energizing. I got a big jolt of satisfaction from reading this article about how reviewing the contents of a cupboard in London’s Natural History Museum turned up a fossil that significantly changes the understanding of lizard evolution. You never know what you’ll find when you clear out a cupboard!
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