Over the years, artist-scientist Thomas Ashcraft has made artful iterations of a message that we’ve found deeply heartening. Especially so now, in this anxious time…
Read MoreHow Cures And Answers Arise (Thomas Ashcraft)
Whenever we hit a period of illness or depletion, we think of this artwork our friend Thomas Ashcraft made many years ago, with its powerfully healing reminder.
Read More‘the rules are meant to be broken’ + thomas ashcraft
K “Rules are there to be broken” is one of our favorite operating principles. We’ve learned a HUGE amount from seeing what would happen if we “broke the rules” and did things differently from the norm. It’s a practice: questioning the rules with a big “WHY?” and then, when we have an idea, asking “Why…
Read More2-second video from thomas ashcraft (look up!)
We love this teeny, potent 2-second video from our friend Thomas Ashcraft at Heliotown, an artist/radio astronomer/”electroreceptor” who spends his time monitoring the heavens for interesting activity, like this unbelievable ‘fireball‘, a deluxe shooting star. We see Tom’s videos as reminders of things that are going on all around us as we live our lives,…
Read Morethomas ashcraft: artist as electroreceptor
Could the planet finally be ready for Thomas Ashcraft? He’s been called an “artist-scientist-philosopher”, “inventively creative almost beyond belief”; a “scholar-mystic“; “a romantic visionary”; “inveterate experimenter, artist and extrapolator”; none of these words do him justice. I’ve known him for many years and followed his work closely, so I was happy to hear a profile…
Read MoreHow to Sing Your Ecstatic Song (Tom Ashcraft + Walt Whitman)
In this video, artist and radio astronomer, Tom Ashcraft echoes Walt Whitman in describing the awe and wonder to be found in the everyday
Read MoreTom Ashcraft: Make the Heart Light Up
(Video link here.) For years, Thomas Ashcraft has been documenting atmospheric phenomena —meteors, space dusts, the sun, fleeting emanations of cosmic light called sprites. Although he’s gained a lot of recognition for the remarkable sightings he’s recorded in his All Sky Observatory in New Mexico, this is the first video that explores the inside of Tom’s thinking and method, of…
Read MoreTom Ashcraft: Artist and Sprite Hunter
When we’re a little blue, or wondering where we’re heading, we find it helpful to look beyond our own small life and get a bigger picture. And the best way we know to do that is to look at either nature, or art, or both. The person we know that combines these two transformative forces…
Read More15 Seconds of Gorgeous from Tom Ashcraft
Tom Ashcraft “Artisan, Naturalist, Electroreceptor and Scientific Instrument Builder” is a man who completely defies categorization. He’s got all sorts of gear that constantly monitors and records wondrous things that are going on in the sky all around us. His lovely little film is like watching the night sky out in the country…
Read Morenew year’s eve: ashcraft’s shooting star + ‘winter’s tale’
(Video link at Heliotown) Two days before New Year’s, we came across this passage from Mark Halprin’s Winter’s Tale, describing the moment the old year turned into new: Then the hands of the clock started to race like the tortoise and the hare, and both reached midnight at the same time. The clock struck along with…
Read Moretom ashcraft’s sign: cures arise, remedies appear
For several years, this sign from Thomas Ashcraft‘s site Heliotown has been my browser’s home page. In all that time, I’ve never tired of it, nor become blind to it (though Tom has since made it invisible on his site, having moved on to other things). Every once in a while, a friend will be…
Read Moreashcraft’s music: d-i-y recordings of sun + planets
A good deal of our inspiration comes from seeing how other people improvise to get where they need to go, build what they need, figure out solutions. We also benefit mightily from things that remind us that there is a huge, endlessly creative universe out there, and that we are a part of it. Tom…
Read MoreWhen Normal Equals Perfect
Our readers know Sally has been occupied lately with the serious illness of a close friend – namely, myself. Now recuperating, we’ve realized something about perfection: it does not mean being super-human or doing everything exactly right. It simply means means being normal. This revelation was amplified by our friend Thomas Ashcraft, a remarkable artist/science.
Read More‘The Pandemic is a Portal’ Arundhati Roy
In this short, potent video, Arundhati Roy reads from her essay “The Pandemic is a Portal” It is at once a question to hold in mind, an invitation, and a call to arms.
Read MoreWhat a Noted Virologist Is Advising Family and Friends About Coronavirus
When a friend forwarded an email from a “noted virologist” with the Subject line, “What I am doing for the upcoming COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic”, we checked it out. Dr. Robb MD FACP did indeed write the excellent advice below. It’s well worth taking to heart.
Read MoreBig Picture Reminder from Heliotown
Our friend Thomas Ashcraft is an artist, naturalist, Electroreceptor, scientific instrument builder and radio astronomer who spends his time looking UP, recording the activity of meteors, fireballs, space dust and Transient Luminous Events — lovely and mysterious emanations of light — that have gained him some renown (bottom image) Here’s a wondrous accidental avian moment Tom’s…
Read MoreReminder: Most of the Stuff You Worry About…
…never happens. But as we’ve experienced lately, some difficult stuff DOES happen. We couldn’t have predicted it, or prevented it. It’s LIFE. The best we could do is remember that there are answers and solutions in every moment, there to find. We think of artist/scientist Thomas Ashcraft’s great sign:
Read Morename this nyc raptor: kestrel or hawk owl?
A couple of days ago I found a raptor perched on my terrace rail, right in the middle of Harlem in New York City. I took it to be an owl and posted it on ‘the improvised life’s Facebook page. Since then, a small controversy has been raging, as to whether it is a Hawk…
Read Moreimogen heap sings salt into cosmic design
(Video link here.) On the heels of Sally’s how-to-make-herb-salt-video on The Splendid Table this weekend, we thought this piece by British ‘ecclectic, eccentric and innovative musician’ Imogen Heap would make a nice combo-platter. Heap “sings” salt into a beautiful and very controlled, rather cosmic-looking pattern. Actually, singing might not be the right word – we actually…
Read Morewatch the transit of venus live!
Starting about 6 pm Eastern time, and lasting for about 6 1/2 hours, you can view a live webcast, above (link here) via NASA (refreshed every 30 minutes) of The Transit of Venus, a rare eclipse in which the planet Venus passes between Earth and the Sun. The next Transit won’t happen for another 100 years. You can…
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