Sensual, sensuous, pleasure

After two weeks of bone chilling temperatures, the day started great when I awoke about 2:00 a.m. and realized my sleep was distrubed not because I was cold and needed up pull up another quilt, but because I was too warm. I opened the window a crack and traded my warmest pajamas for cooler ones, then fell contentedly asleep. By 9:30 when I went out for coffee the breeze was almost wam, the sky perfect blue.

In the afternoon when I went to the Apple Store in Soho and had ten minutes extra, the sun was bright so I walked around a couple of blocks ... it felt like spring was near [this illusion always happens about now. It will turn raw once again soon.] Then after my hour of tutoring -- the new header look of this blog is the begining of what I'm learning -- over a few more weeks it will look much more interesting] -- it was still bright and warm so I wandered about, partly looking for a new fabric store and not finding it but finding many wonderful windows to look into. I had my camera but took no pictures, I was just enjoying the sensuality of semi-warmth after the biting cold.

Sensual pleasure which seem to me a little cerebral. The air was wonderful; I enjoyed it both because it felt so nice and because I knew it was a brief paue for pleasure. "Sensuous" seems less intellecutal and more personal, a bath, wonderful perfume, cheesecake, chocolate. When those words come up we can't help adding an x, and think also of "sexual" which can be both sensual and sensuous ... and simply splendid, of course. But for most of us sexual is less dependable than sensual and senusuous ... the latter we can enjoy alone, just poor the bath, light the candle, make some toast, sit in the sun.

On the subway ride home I began reading th newest Quilting Arts Magazine, the excellent lead article by the wonderfully named Lyric Kincaid who says: "We are aware of the feel of cloth from the time we are born and wrapped in our first blanket. It is our daily, intimate connection with fabric that allows textile art to evoke such an immediate response. As textile artists we work with a medium that has a powerful conection to the sense of touch. " Quite simply, we make art that is truly sensual and senuous and many of us do it almost intuitively because, indeed, we are sensual beings. We women, far more than most men, enjoy sensual pleasures without apology, often we feel and especially my generation has felt, it was our role to provide the sensual pleasure to others around us. We light the candles, bake the bread, wear perfume beautiful colored clothes; we buy soft sofas and make quilts for our beds. Sometimes we lose ourselves in busy-ness and forget to walk in the sun or really enjoy the cup of tea. Our skin is our largest sensory organ, even without sound or sight, sensual pleasure is ours for simply paying attention.