Serenity… refocus – seek joy – thrive

I start each week of the Five by Friday series by visiting a blog I already read and just randomly clicking an unfamiliar link on their blogroll. Unfamiliar because the point of this exercise, for me, is to move out and beyond routine and see a little of what else is out there. Then, I click a link on their blogroll, and then the next, so that by Friday there is a sort of six degrees thing going on from the starting blog/site.

So, this week I’m starting at theriomorph’s. She’s a teacher, published writer, playwright, poet, fierce advocate for the underservered, familiar to Gilly the dog and a good friend. I visit her site all the time but still approached her blogroll with a hint of trepidation. It appeared to be filled with links to classical texts and literary journals and such – and while I do like to putter through those from time to time, it’s not what I wanted for this series. Ah, but then I discovered the real blogroll – now that was more like it.

It’s a long one and I could have probably spent the day clicking through and discovering new places, but I had to choose just one – and I have to with whichever one I click through to. I loved the name “Breakfast with Pandora” – so that’s who I went with. What else was there to go on, after all?

I lucked out. Here is how the writer, whose name I have not yet found, describes his site:

Breakfast with Pandora caters to everyone interested in ancient Greek and comparative mythology, good stories, the craft of writing, food, theology, education, and other humane things.

Now, I happen to really like mythology. I used to read it all the time, when I was much younger (pre-teen on up) – mostly from Bullfinch’s Mythology, which was all the rage back then. I should probably dip into studying it again – I can imagine the wealth of nuances I would pick up reading various mythologies at 50 that would never even have occurred to me at 11 or 12.

Anyway, back to Breakfast with Pandora -

Coincidentally, the author (who I will just call BWP until I find a name, if there is one) also seems to be attempting to branch out and see what else is out there worth reading in the webisphere. I’ll let you read about that there and what he’s found (hint: he’s joined Open Salon).

On his own site, not only does BWP have breakfast with Pandora, but other meals and snacks – for instance: (these lead to category pages)

Biscuits with Pandora: Notes on Language and Linguistics

and -

Dim Sum with Pandora: Chinese and Greek Mythology

One of my favorite sections (shows you how much of a scholar I am is Etwart, the search for his roots. Etwart, you understand, is described as “the only pygmy Cypriot hippopotamus in the world-famous San Diego Zoo”, but his earthly (or, at least, BWP form) appears to be that of a stuffed animal. A really cute one, but still…

But every day he wakes up with a hole in his heart.  He wants to know the story of his family and the deeds of his forehippos– maybe even find some of his relatives. So with his friend junior zookeeper Katterly Meadows he sets out on a journey of discovery.

And so BWP tells the story of Etwart’s search for his roots. Really fun and interesting.

So, well worth the read, this Breakfast with Pandora – glad I found it. The talk about mythology is in very accessible and friendly language, not too involved. In fact, I found myself wishing for more detail, but that’s a good thing, I think. Whet the appetite and then, for those who want to pursue things further, there’s a wide world of information out there, just waiting.

I have already clicked the link, at BWP, for tomorrow’s blog. It’s something completely different. Will see you then.

Five by Friday – week 1 theriomorph —> Breakfast with Pandora —>

[note: This is also an open thread and a place to drop links to your own blogs or writings, or to other interesting places you visit. Also posted at Stalking Sunlight]

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 9:01 am and is filed under Five by Friday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.