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 |  Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c   |
At my last drawing class I did something new, scratchboard. First I took a piece of Bristol board, which is just a special piece of white cardboard, and covered it with crayon. I just mixed up the colors and applied them heavily. Then a topcoat of black tempera (poster paint) mixed with a drop of two of dishwashing liquid and some water to thin it down. I applied four coats letting it dry in between to completely cover up the crayon. After it is completely dry, the fun begins. Yep, choose a subject and scratch it out. I did a dragonfly. Oh, what fun! It's magic! I am going to miss that class. Thursday was critique pod morning which went very well. There are three of us and we are jelling...is that a word? Anyway, we are getting along very well, really helping each other with our writing. We all have each other's best writing as a top priority and with that knowledge, suggestions are easily given and accepted, just the way it has to be to move forward. It's exciting. Life History Group Meeting was Thursday afternoon, and we had a little holiday party with eggnog and goodies. One of our older members lost her husband month before last and was welcomed back to our group with many big hugs. She is one of several in the group who has already completed one memoir and published. I borrowed it to read...it's titled When Sex Was Safe and Diving Was Dangerous. I'll report on that later  .On Friday night I went to a silent auction with a girlfriend (local art) which was another first and very interesting. Afterwards we went to this amazing pizza place named Satchell's. It's very hard to describe. The only thing I will say is that one of the eating areas is inside an old yellow VW van, um huh. We had our delicious pizza in a regular booth, and oh yeah, the dessert menu is on a viewmaster. For those who do not know what that is, you'll just have to google it  .Saturday I rested up...phew...and today was church day, morning and evening, since I was counted on for a ride. I love church at Christmas time with all the "pomp and circumstance". In the Nazarene Church, it is a very serious business with the Advent season leading up to the birth of Jesus and also reminding us of the second coming. On the evening of December 22nd, everyone who can is to wear old timey long dresses (just the ladies) and bibbed overalls (for the men). We'll all sing Christmas carols in the light of candles and oil lamps. I'll try to have a story about that later, too. Well, it is past my bedtime. I am looking forward to a quiet week with time to do a couple of submissions and some serious yard work. Take time to enjoy the holidays and.... until next time...c |
| The WAG Party (Writers' Alliance of Gainesville) Sunday night was fun. I almost did not go. I am sure you have heard those little voices in your head..."you won't be dressed right, you don't fit in, just skip it and stay home". I went anyway and had another new experience. It was helpful that it was held in the Senior Rec Center where I often go for zumba gold so I was familiar with the territory. It's a fairly huge room. Several round tables with nice white cloths were set up in one half leaving the rest for dancing. The dinner was catered by a local restaurant so the buffet line of tables were near one wall. The food was good, even one vegetarian entree and there was plenty of wine and tea, missing water. Near the adjacent wall, authors in the group had tables with their books displayed. Of course I bought one, Wrestling God by Art Crummer, our prez. He wrote a very nice inscription and I am close to half-way through. The band was called Bella Luna, swing music, and they played on the raised platform normally reserved for our zumba leader. I enjoyed the meal with two of my critique podmates and some other friends, listened to some funny stories, and was glad I decided to go. Yesterday was book club day. We had a poor turnout, maybe due to the holidays. It was a shame because our book was by a local author and he made a very interesting indepth presentation about how he got the idea, how his writing progressed, and how he did his research, actually traveling to England (it's called Lancelot's Grail), visiting the site of Camelot and Arthur's birthplace and burial plot. It was another interesting meeting. I'm not sure I can continue to go to Juanita's for Thanksgiving. I know she means well and I really appreciate it, but it brings back such memories and leaves me down in the dumps, missing Jim. How to quit feeling so sad about certain things....maybe time. Anyway...Christmas draws ever near and helps me keep busy. I have my last drawing class today  and a critique pod meeting Thursday. Life is interesting....until next time...c |
| Good Morning. Happy Thanksgiving! We have a frost this morning here in Gainesville, Florida...brrrrrr. Mopsy, my kitty, is looking for a sunny spot which means the south-facing windows. The only problem is that the marble sills are freezing! When we live in Florida so long we tend to forget the differences in construction between here and the Delmarva Peninsula where I was born and grew up. Here, we have no basements. Our wooden homes are raised on concrete slabs which leads to cold, cold floors in cold weather (guess I have cold on the brain this morning). And then, there are the heat registers...they are in the ceiling. All the ductwork runs through the attic...no basement for it. So you in the north have nice warm floors and we in the south have nice warm ceilings...hmmmm. I guess I'm not liking the south too much this morning . I think that always happens during our first cold snap  .I will be going out in the country to my sister-in-law's for dinner later today. She invited me last year, too, very kind since it was my first year without Jim. I guess we are making a new tradition. She will have a huge crowd since she has lots of grandchildren and great grandchildren. All the children bring a "dish" so there will be all kinds of food. I'm taking something called "pumpkin butter cake bars", which tastes like pumpkin pie on cake. Oh, my.... And I whipped up (literally) some cranberry-honey butter, delish on hot rolls. I talked to my son in North Dakota last night. He was bundled up next to a wood-burning stove. The word "cold" in North Dakota has an altogether different meaning than anywhere else...makes me very happy I am in Florida. He moves oil rigs and had just gotten back home from a two-week trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming...and that makes me glad that I can stay put in one place. I am so thankful for my health, my home, my children, grandchildren, and friends this 2013 Thanksgiving Day. And to still have my "wits" about me. Wishing you all the very best! until next time....c |
| As if I needed to, I've found another reason I miss my Jim. I miss having someone I am comfortable being quiet around. Have you noticed? When you are with people, they think they have to be talking...all the time. God forbid there is any silence in the conversation. Did I say conversation? Sometimes it seems like a one-sided monologue. It's a new use of quantity over quality. Many times I would just sit with Jim to be quiet. We enjoyed the quiet together. I miss that quiet. until next time...c |
Yesterday was the opening of our art show (Terri's students) and even though it rained all day, we had a good turnout. Of course, there was lots of food and that is always an enticement . The best part was getting to meet other artists and finding out for the most part they are just like me, struggling.I think that must be one thing all humanity has in common, we are all struggling with something, sometimes lots of things. The thing that really surprised me was that almost all of us seem to be very unsure of our talent. And when I look at all the beautiful art hanging on those white walls, I am amazed that they cannot know how good they are  .It has finally warmed up some this morning and the sun is attempting to make an appearance. As I type, two cardinals are watching me through the window from the porch railing (the one I need to paint). I think they are telling me their birdseed is getting low in the feeder . Or maybe they are just glad it is not raining. I know I am. The wind has been brutal this week making it feel so much colder than it actually was. I have a few small pine limbs down in the back yard and about a million more pine cones to pick up for the trash man on Tuesday. The squirrels hate me.I read some interesting stuff earlier this week on writing a memoir (which I am trying to do, life history, actually). I have been looking at my "project" as a collection of short stories but the author I was reading seems to think a memoir should be like any other story with a beginning, a middle , and an ending. He suggested dividing the memoir into three acts with act one being an introduction. Here we should set up the story, remember who the main character is (uh huh), and define the story in terms of a conflict to be resolved. Otherwise, readers will not turn the page. There has to be something the author wants but does not have and in the first act, tell what stands in the way. Obstacles are overcome in act two and by the end of this act, we should be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The author faces problems, solves them. then the big one (problem, that is) comes along. This is the climax. In act three, the conflict is resolved, the author finds what he is searching for and is somehow changed along the way. This change entails a desire and a need with the desire being the external conflict (or want) and the need being deeper inside and not realized until the end equaling a good, page-turning book. Okay...now to get going. The biggest problem I see is the ending...but maybe it will come to me .until next time...c |
| I decided to hang Mr. Poe in my instructor's student art show and even helped her hang the others, 49 pieces in all. It looks so beautiful, the emerging talent all around us is unbelievable. I am helping with the artists' reception, too, which is this coming Friday. While we were in the process of hanging, someone wandered in and actually remarked on my portrait. My heart was beating like a hummingbird . And even more good news...I read my Aunt Fanny story at my life history meeting on Thursday since I hadn't had time to write anything new. One of the members is the editor of a small town newspaper and asked if she could print my story in the next issue. Whoa! Who knew last year all these wonderful things would be happening to me. I am so grateful for new and old friends! It is a little chilly here this morning, perfect fall weather, warming up to 79 by noon the weatherman says. The pine needles and cones are dropping and I raked all Saturday afternoon. The faint scent of wood smoke and the smell of pine rosin kept me going but I noticed this morning that the back yard is almost covered again. That's okay...I'm ready . November is my favorite month now!until next time...c |
| I continue to help "Aunt Fanny's" daughter with her move to Georgia. Last week I packed up all her fragile china and glassware to be gifted to her son and his wife, and today and tomorrow I will be helping to sort out personal things she wants to take with her. She is so fragile herself...I have to keep my mind on what I am doing and not think about how it is affecting her. One of my granddaughters had her twenty-sixth birthday yesterday. We celebrated together with dinner at Olive Garden last night, and I got caught up on all that has been happening in her life. She is completing her Master's Degree while continuing to work full time and take care of a home and husband...an amazing young lady. I am so proud of her. My new drawing class I signed up for held a surprise last week. Terri, the instructor, is having a show of her students' artwork, and she invited me to hang my portrait of EAP. I have to make up my mind by the 7th...still debating with that inner voice. The work of some of her students is awesome. I will need to tell her something Wednesday at my next class. Sometimes Mr. Poe looks good...and sometimes he doesn't  . It is very chilly here this morning. After a few nights in the fifties, the house seems to completely cool off and take on that wintery feeling. It's the time when extra layers are necessary but stifling furnace heat remains out of the question. I have seen no birdies this morning but know they are hunkered down somewhere warm. Only a few black crows are braving the breeze in the front yard. until next time...c |
| We are having perfect fall weather, and it makes me energetic . How come when the grass grows like crazy, it is miserably hot to work in the yard . A lady at church, who is up there in her eighties, has decided to move to Georgia, closer to her son, so this afternoon I am helping her get ready for an estate sale. She has already sold her house and closes in a couple of weeks. She is the daughter of "Aunt Fanny (revised)"  . I am trying to decide whether to share my little story about her mom with her. Maybe I will give her a copy after we are all finished.Last Saturday I went with Terri, my artsy friend, to the fall Friends of the Library book sale, and bought a few more books which I shouldn't have. I cannot resist. After, we went out for pizza, and I even had a beer...woohoo. Then, Sunday afternoon, she invited me to a little get-together belated birthday celebration with two of her neighbors who are 91 (both of them). Well, I am very encouraged. They get around as well as I do, still driving and living on their own. I wanted to know their secret, but they said they had none. However, in the course of time I realized they are interested in many things and both are chatterboxes. It felt like they may be conversation-deprived, non-stop talking almost. They are very interested in the goings-on of their neighbors, our government, and the world in general...what a joy they were to listen to. We enjoyed a wine tasting (compliments of Terri) and a cheese, cracker, and fruit smorgasbord, compliments of the birthday girls. Well, I have a cake to bake for the fall festival at church (tomorrow) and, at 1, I have to be at Carolyn's so I must get hopping.... until next time...c |
| The arctic blast is rolling in and we have been down to the 40's F at night, very chilly in the mornings. I warm my cold, stiff fingers around my hot coffee mug . Birdies at my feeders now are cedar waxwings, black-capped chickadees, and cardinals with the cedar waxwings being the most vocal. Crows and squirrels are scavenging for whatever is handy, and the squirrels run haphazardly across the street out front without regard to cars. Mopsy huddles on the bed until the sun warms the back porch. Then she settles on the warmest chair cushion with front paws tucked underneath instead of stretched out as is usual during the summer months. We all must adapt. I signed up for a drawing class which starts next Wednesday, two hours in the afternoon and taught by my critique pod friend. I am working on a portrait of EAP that I found online, downloaded and enlarged, appropriate for Halloween I thought . And he has so much character in that face! I have been working on the eyes for a few days now and they still seem to be off just a little. I'm hoping Terri can give me a new perspective on my methods and help me to improve.Of course I am still missing Jim. Sometimes it seems like I am living two lives, the one when I am out and about around people and the other when I am home alone with only my thoughts. I wonder if things will ever be normal for me again. It has been a little over fifteen months and it still feels like yesterday. until next time...c |
| I mentioned a while back that I had heard from an old schoolmate, one I have not seen or heard from since 1962, a long time ago. We exchanged a couple of long emails, just getting up-to-date on our lives since reading, writing, and arithmetic (is that even a word anymore?). Since then, weekly, she sends me these mass-mailing emails with the topics of religion or politics, yeah, one of those. Well, this morning, I think I flipped out. The email blamed the Democrats for everything bad that has happened since Columbus landed. I do not vote for a Party, I vote for a person. I know that sounds trite, but that is how it is. And I got sick and tired of all the emails she has been sending me without regard to my feelings. I guess that is the crux of the matter. So...I replied and asked her to please, not send me anymore of that crap! Hopefully, I will not be hearing anymore !And...if there are any of you reading this who do the same thing, please think a little about the feelings of the people you are emailing this stuff. Friends do not have to think like you do. And yes, you can still be friends, I think. There is plenty of blame in the government to go around, but it really does take two to tango! until next time...c |
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