Elizabeth Gilbert's Blog, page 101

January 16, 2014

HENRY WHITTAKER IS ALIVE AND STEALING… A few of you have sent me the link to…

HENRY WHITTAKER IS ALIVE AND STEALING…

A few of you have sent me the link to this story, about a rare waterlily being stolen from Kew Gardens just this week.

Amazing that some modern-day version of our fictitious Henry is still actively stealing plants from the botanical treasure house that is Kew.

This was a hanging crime back in the 18th century — and also a really common crime, given the enormous value of rare plants to hungry collectors and rival gardens during the golden age of botanical exploration.

I do hope authorities find the dear missing waterlily — and if they don't, I can only hope she is the hands (or the greenhouse) of someone who knows how to keep her alive.

http://nyti.ms/1kDORSf

Britain: Rare Waterlily Is Stolen
www.nytimes.com
A minuscule, nearly extinct waterlily has been stolen from London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, officials said Monday.

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Published on January 16, 2014 04:39

January 15, 2014

Last night on Jeopardy! Ok, I finally got a glimpse of the clue that was on…

Last night on Jeopardy!

Ok, I finally got a glimpse of the clue that was on Jeopardy last night, which you guys have been telling me about all day. And nobody on the show got it right….what does that mean for me and Alma?

In any case, we were honored just to be mentioned!

Let the games continue,
LG

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Published on January 15, 2014 16:38

Thought of the day: “MOST IN SHOW” I found this photo the other day at my mom…

Thought of the day: "MOST IN SHOW"

I found this photo the other day at my mom's house, and I burst out laughing.

This is me in 1980, ten years old, showing off everything I had made that year for our local 4-H fair. (That's an agricultural fair, for those of you who aren't so familiar with 4-H.)

I had a dream that year. I wanted to win BEST IN SHOW in the Home Goods department. I'd been coveting that giant purple ribbon for years, and wanted to make it mine.

My plan was to enter as many items as I could in every single category (cooking, canning, baking, gardening, sewing, industrial arts) in the hopes that at least one thing would be BEST.

I worked all summer at this. I drove my mother crazy. I cooked, I canned, I baked, I picked beans and beets and cucumbers, I made a teddy bear (!), I built a coat-hanger, I made a automobile first aid kit, I did needlepoint, I was out of control. (By the way — thanks, mom. Because of course I didn't really know how to do any of this, so she spent the summer helping me as I hijacked her kitchen, her sewing machine, her craft table, her garden…)

After all that, I didn't win BEST IN SHOW. Another kid did, for a desert that he had made. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm sure he was a very nice kid and the desert was probably fine — but seriously, it killed me. I was a sobbing mess.

But then some sympathetic judge must have put it together and noticed that — out of the 300 exhibitions in the Home Show that year — about 175 of them had been made by the same girl. Somebody must have been like, "Oh my god, that poor pathetic child." Because later in the day, I was given a special award — a giant ribbon upon which some kind soul had written: "MOST IN SHOW".

Which soothed my sad heart and made me very proud, though today in makes me laugh my ass off because: MOST IN SHOW? That it the best turn of phrase ever. "You, little girl, are not the best at any of this stuff…or even the second best…or the third best…but, by god, you are the MOST."

But you know what? I've always been MOST IN SHOW. I wasn't the best writing student in any class I ever took, but I was the MOST — I was the one who tried hardest. I think I finally got published because I was MOST IN SHOW — because I spent years writing and writing and writing and writing and sending out those stories to publishers and getting rejected and rejected and rejected, and sending out more and more and more stories until I finally wore them down and they published one at last.

I'm not the best at anything, you guys. Not the smartest, not the most talented, not the prettiest, not the strongest, not the best traveler, not the best journalist, not the best public speaker, not the best with foreign languages, not the best novelist, not the wisest, not the best meditator, not the best yogi, not the anything-est. But by god, I show up with a truckload of effort and participation and preparation, and I give to life the absolute MOST I've got. In every category I can.

The uniquely talented guy with the fancier dessert still usually wins the big prize, but you know what? I still wear them down (the great judges of life, that is) and they still have make up special ribbons for me all the time.

Because I just won't go away.

Persistence forever!

MOST LOVE,
LG

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Published on January 15, 2014 05:09

January 14, 2014

SOAT in Alberta, Canada…with moose. Of course. :)

SOAT in Alberta, Canada…with moose. Of course.

Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
I carried the e-book version of SOAT to Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. (No room in the suitcase for the hardcover because of winter boots.) So here are the lovely words of SOAT–with a moose of course!

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Published on January 14, 2014 17:39

SOAT in Goa, India…looks absolutely wonderful.

Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Relaxing in Goa India….

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Published on January 14, 2014 17:39

Take back some time, y’all…

Take back some time, y'all…

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Published on January 14, 2014 10:10

The book trailer for THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS… Dear Ones — It’s been a whi…

The book trailer for THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS…

Dear Ones —

It's been a while since I showed this video on Facebook, and since there are a lot of you who are new to this page, I thought you might like to see it:

http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/video/

And for those of you who have already read SOAT, I thought you might like to see the actual Philadelphia mansion upon which Alma's home of White Acre was based!

Happy watching/reading!

Video | Elizabeth Gilbert – The Official Website | ElizabethGilbert.com
www.elizabethgilbert.com
"The Signature of All Things" promo trailer Elizabeth talks about THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS Elizabeth Gilbert: A new way to think about creativity TEDTal