The Pillowbook of Sei Shonagon (Makura no Shoshi) is an enthralling collection of the observations of Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting at the court of Empress Teishi in Heian Japan. She kept it for about a decade (c. 990-1002), making lists, writing poetry, and recording her opinions on the people, behaviors, and politics she saw swirling around her.

I first read it at Occidental College and loved it, especially since so much of it seemed so contemporary. While some of the more stylized behaviors obviously were out of date, the motivations and the scheming are still with us.

Right now, there is a lot going on in my life: my mother has dieds, my husband is serving as a diplomat in northern Iraq, and we are facing a move back to DC from Amman, Jordan, where we have lived for the last four-and-a-half years. I've noticed some depression sneaking in and decided to start a project -- Jenn and Sei. I'm going to create my own pillow book, my own lists of observations and things. I want to document 50,000 things that I enjoy before 7 June 2010, the day before my son turns 9. And not naming stuff, but being very specific. I will also post some excerpts from The Pillow Book, because Shonagon was an amazing writer. With luck, this will keep me busy enough to thwart any negative attitudes!

Please check back periodically to see what's on the list and if you have any ideas, please send them my way! Thanks for reading.

Here goes:

1. The iridescence of the Blue Morpho butterfly, especially the Menelaus Blue Morpho. Its larvae eat one another, and adults feed on the juice of rotting fruit, but it is absolutely stunning.

2. The way that the hoopoe looks like it has polka dots on its feathers. While they were considered special and sacred in Ancient Egypt, they were considered thieves and bad omens in other parts of the world.

It just goes to show...