Catherine Eaton

@sparrowpost

Writer, naturalist, myth and oak lover, museum and play goer. Pursuer of whimsy. she/her. sparrowpost.com

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Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 8d

Eek

Cover of Hélène Bessette's Twenty Minutes of Silence

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 9d

Barthes sometimes hits on thoughts I have often puzzled over myself and then crafts a sort of path for them. "No progress in pleasures, nothing but mutations."

La baladeuse ~ The caboose
There used to be a white streetcar that ran between Bayonne and Biarritz; in the summer, an open car was attached to it: the caboose.
Everyone wanted to ride in that car: through a rather empty countryside, one enjoyed the view, the movement, the fresh air, all at the same time. Today neither the streetcar nor the caboose exists, and the trip from Biarritz is anything but a pleasure. This is not to apply a mythic embellishment to the past, or to express regrets for a lost youth by pretending to regret a streetcar. This is to say that the art of living has no history: it does not evolve: the pleasure which vanishes vanishes for good, there is no substitute for it. Other pleasures come, which replace nothing. No progress in pleasures, nothing but mutations.
Roland Barthes on Roland Barthes

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 10d

It's one of those melancholy-weather days. summer just a little bit past its zenith.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 12d

The Sweet Dove Died has turned out to be one of my favorite reads of this year. This was unexpected as I haven’t enjoyed Pym’s other work. I loved the caustic writing, the icy heart at the center, the moments of ‘longing and loathing’ being so intertwined. Both brutal and human. #NYRBWomen25

cover of The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 12d

You never know what you're going to find outside the library. Gone now but not forgotten.

Forgotten notebook made of green and orange construction paper with a pair of googly eyes. Left on a bench by the library entrance.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 17d

Leonora Carrington in her Greenwich Village apartment, New York.

Tall dark-haired woman standing against a threshold, wearing a dark blouse and long striped skirt. Next to her is a dark table and chair full of clutter from a meal.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 18d

I wasn't expecting it but Spark's The Girls of Slender Means is sprinkled with poetry quotes. She's got me pulling out my old Norton Anthology of British Literature and revisiting old favorites.

Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 21d

An unexpected reveal in this recent edition of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles—an original and unpublished ending:

ending at Chapter 11: The story continues in chapter 12. To read Agatha Christie's original unpublished ending to the book instead, turn now to
page 233.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 21d

Summertime joy

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 22d

Persephone just came out with an edition with a truly great cover.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 25d

This morning of clean, humid air brings with it a peculiar summer pleasure: slowly melting in the July heat with a cold drink while reading Muriel Spark's The Girls of Slender Means. Only Spark would come up with the line as "a cat loves birds" and compare it with the joy of reciting poetry.

Joanna Childe was a daughter of a country rector.
She had a good intelligence and strong obscure emotions. She was training to be a teacher of elocution and, while attending a school of drama, already had pupils of her own. Joanna Childe had been drawn to this profession by her good voice and love of poetry which she loved rather as it might be assumed a cat loves birds; poetry, especially the declamatory sort, excited and possessed her; she would pounce on the stuff, play with it quivering in her mind, and when she had got it by heart, she spoke it forth with devouring relish.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· 29d

The sky mixing its colours before the heat settles in for the day

Swirling impressionist clouds in a sky of blue above a field of Queen Anne's Lace

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jul 10

For Proust'a birthday: some pictures by Eugène Atget from 1898-1910 in Paris' 8th arrondissement where Proust lived while writing In Search of Lost Time. #AContinuation

A quiet corner of a sitting room with a sofa tucked into an alcove with a mirror above it

Wide boulevard with horses and carriages leading back to the Champs-Élysées

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jul 5

A sudden, startling footnote in Act 3 of As You Like It. There's a lot to unpack here.

3.2.159 berhymed...rat
This alludes to Pythagoras's doctrine of the transmigration of souls and the popular lore that Irish bards killed rats with rhyming incantations.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jul 1

Drifting

River reflects a blue sky and white clouds. Green vegetation and trees line the riverbanks.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 26

The perfume from the milkweed was so heavy and intoxicating: I had to dodge a few drunken bumblebees while photographing the flowers.

Mauve flower heads of milkweed with tiny light yellow flowers dangling at the ends. Blue sky and clouds overhead

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 25

This as big as they get before toppling over from their own weight (as seen from the one in the back). Child-sized is most definitely out. Anyone know which kind these are?

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 23

Mirror reflects the sky

Expanse of the river like a mirror reflecting summer blue skies with clouds above

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 21

@yvonnezlam.bsky.social @valarie.bsky.social It was Untitled Vampire Play at Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. It was entertaining and had a great pace but perhaps could have been workshopped a little more.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 21

Not the usual pre-performance warning for a play

Please note: The first 2 rows in the corner of the theatre may experience small amounts of stage blood splatter. This blood is food grade, washable, show blood and our Audience Services Associates will have plastic ponchos if you would like to use them. We will also have cleaning instructions should you experience any splatter.
For more information, please contact the Box Office

For Untitled Vamprie Play at Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 20

How to talk about this novel? Cagnati is one of those rare and fiercely brave authors. She dives deep into the pain and loss of women discarded and used over and over after being labeled ‘crazy’ by society. A difficult read but well worth it. #NYRBWomen26

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 15

And some days, the sky.

Incredibly blue summer sky with shining white clouds over the river

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 14

It is well with Chumbles.

British shorthair resting on the back of sofa, eyes squeezed shut, one arm and paw extended.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 13

Utterly delighted by this unexpected poem this morning. Sandra Cisneros, How to Grow Old

Don't fret about
the champagne-glass neck.
Drink champagne.
Inner-arm flesh, crepe bat wings.
Train for night flights.
Expect body hair to thin, disappear, Alpinize.
Trash tweezers, shavers.
In the bath, discover a warm atoll of flesh on the belly.
Cup gently in your hands like raw tortilla dough.
Admire its satin finish.
Give thanks.

One day you will wake astonished as Gregor Samsa and find you have transmogrified into a volcano.
Think Parícutin, Popo, Ixta, Orizaba.
Give yourself a cool new name, preferably with an "x" or "z" or "l":
Xandra Xiznerox
Zandra Zixneroz
XXandra ZZizneroz
Xztl Zxtl.
Spew smoke. Spew cinder. On occasion, totally appropriate to toss rocks. Pumice is popular.
Work on looking like Coatlicue.
Practice divining with an obsidian mirror.
Peer with sincerity daily.
It will tell you what you dread to hear.
Get used to it.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 13

RIP David Hockney. You taught me that eternity is the present moment which is now.

Mount Fuji and Flowers

Cool blue hues of a mountain and possible lake with a boat in the background. In the foreground, a simple vase with two white flowers on a mauve ledge

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 9

I went to turn off a lamp and just happened to look to the right. My guest, Chumbles, looked right back at me. Not what I was expecting! He neither.

A British shorthair looking down from the top of a desk

A British shorthair looking a little discombobulated at my surprise that he is there.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 6

I'd love to come see this. The haunting aspect reminds me very much of a Remedios Varo exhibit I saw a few years ago. The two became close friends when living in Mexico.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 5

The roses are blooming and the bees are busy.

little magenta roses in full bloom with a bumblebee buried in one blossom

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 4

My friend's cat will be staying with me again so I will soon be living with this cartoon character once more.

A grey British shorthair stretched out on the kitchen table in morning greeting.

Catherine Eaton@sparrowpost· Jun 2

Being outside can be such a relief.