The other day I was looking through someone else's photo album. It made me recall that I did a few things when I was a youngster and I thought I'd see if I could remember 13 things about K-12. Here goes!
1. I was a classroom spelling bee champion in the 6th grade. When it came time to be the school champion, I missed the word "haunted." You can bet I have never misspelled that word again.
2. The library and I were fast friends, and in elementary school, I brought home certificates every year for being a good library helper.
3. I played flute in band beginning in the 6th grade. One time the music teacher asked me to accompany her to Eagle Rock Elementary School, where we put on a performance together for the lower grades.
4. I sang in the school chorus in middle school (at that time middle school was 7th & 8th grade). The songs I remember singing are Black and White, by Three Dog Night, and Morning Has Broken, by Cat Stevens.
5. I battled for first chair in flute every year. The contest was always between me and Angie, and it seemed we'd alternate semesters as to who was the best. It was quite an honor to be named first chair flute, as that meant you were the best of the flute players. It also meant you were the one who played the piccolo sometimes. Everyone wanted to play the piccolo because it was cute.
6. I was an A student but always received a B in gym. If I hadn't had gym, I'd have been a straight A student every year. However, I was sickly and I missed 30-40 days of school annually. Apparently participation counted the most in gym class. I could make up other homework but I couldn't make up for missing out on climbing the rope.
7. I played guitar in a Top 40 band. We started the band when I was a sophomore in high school and stuck together until I was a senior. The band was called Almost Famous. We played cover songs, mostly. We earned some spending money doing this, if nothing else.
8. When I was in the 7th grade, the bus driver went off and left my brother stranded at the elementary school. I cried all the way home, and when we arrived at my stop, I laid into the driver and told her what I thought of her. The next morning I marched myself down to the principal's office to turn in the bus driver (who had, in the meantime, turned me in for telling her off). The principal did not punish me, but did suggest I not do that again.
9. When I was in the second grade, the teacher would sometimes leave early. When she did, she left me in charge of the entire class. I had to read a book about dinosaurs to everyone. Of course the teacher next door had her door open and was looking in on us, but I felt very special to have been chosen. It meant, of course, I was the teacher's pet and the other kids hated me but at the time I didn't realize that. Ignorance can indeed be bliss.
10. I was an honor student in high school. Mostly, that meant I had a gold tassel at graduation.
11. I was on the debate team for a year. I was not very good at it.
12. My Spanish teacher took several us to Madrid, Spain, and Paris, France, in 1980. It is the only time I've been overseas. It was a fantastic life lesson.
13. I had string puppets from Mexico and wrote a play for them in Spanish. My Spanish class put on the play and somehow we ended up on TV. We put the play on twice, once in Spanish and once in English, and it ran on a local show.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 179th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Do It In Style
I am always very honored when people think enough of my blog to link to it or mention it on their own blogs in some fashion or another. It is the highest compliment.
Apparently I am to list seven things that contribute to my personal style. So here we go.
1. I'm eclectic reader and if it's written down, I likely will look at.
2. I've been up in a hot air balloon and buzzed Botetourt from a small airplane. I will sometimes try something even if it scares the beejesus out of me.
3. When I was about 10 years old, I looked up from the local newspaper I was reading and informed my mother that one day I would write for said newspaper. And do it better. And I did.
4. Jack of all trades, master of none. That seems to be my lifestyle. I know a lot about a great many things, and have done a good deal, but, aside from writing, I've mastered very little.
5. When I was in elementary school, I thought I'd go for my Ph.D. I'm still working on that. Even when I am not back at college, I am a student of learning.
6. Blue jeans with a t-shirt has always been my favorite outfit. It still is.
7. Sometimes I still bite my fingernails. I will go for months and not touch them, and then wham, there they are. Back in my mouth.
****************************************************************************************
If you would like this award, please feel free to take it. If you're reading my blog, obviously you're stylish, too!
In the meantime, I will pass this along to a few of my favorites. Colleen's blog would be on this list if she hadn't sent me the award!
The Blue Ridge Gal is another local blogger whose work I enjoy. I don't think she accepts awards, but go check her out if you haven't. She puts up photos and video and changes her blog look about as often I change my clothes!
Lenora over at Journal of Days offers up a unique way to look at your world: a daily diary in three sentences. I love it!
Writers might want to check out Peevish Pen; Becky takes on writing spammers and reminds us of the simpler life on the farm.
If you haven't seen Shenandoah Gateway Farm, check it out for an interesting look at farming and working in a library.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Another Eye Exam
I can hardly see to write this, what with my eyes dilated and all.
This was my fourth eye exam in a year, though only the second one that included a full comprehensive examination.
Yet another new prescription for eye glass lenses. This will be the fifth one since January 2010. I can only pray that this time I will be able to see.
And all of this because my eye doctor retired! Didn't he know he was supposed to keep working?
It's tough being half blind, I tell you. Expensive too. The cost of these lenses runs in the hundreds.
It'll be worth it if I can only see well again.
Not seeing well has affected me in many ways. Have you noticed I haven't been posting as many pictures? This is why. I can't see well enough to use the camera.
I'm not reading as much because my eyes tire easily. I had wanted to return to creating counted cross stitch pieces but found I simply can't see well enough to do it (this is with my glasses on). I can't thread the needle.
Hopefully this new doctor and new lenses prescription will do the trick.
This was my fourth eye exam in a year, though only the second one that included a full comprehensive examination.
Yet another new prescription for eye glass lenses. This will be the fifth one since January 2010. I can only pray that this time I will be able to see.
And all of this because my eye doctor retired! Didn't he know he was supposed to keep working?
It's tough being half blind, I tell you. Expensive too. The cost of these lenses runs in the hundreds.
It'll be worth it if I can only see well again.
Not seeing well has affected me in many ways. Have you noticed I haven't been posting as many pictures? This is why. I can't see well enough to use the camera.
I'm not reading as much because my eyes tire easily. I had wanted to return to creating counted cross stitch pieces but found I simply can't see well enough to do it (this is with my glasses on). I can't thread the needle.
Hopefully this new doctor and new lenses prescription will do the trick.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Books: Brava, Valentine
Brava, Valentine
By Adriana Trigiani
Copyright 2010
Audiobook read by Cassandra Campbell
11.5 hours unabridged
I've read (or listened to) almost every one of Trigiani's books, and she has it figured out. This is an author who can produce and put it out without losing her integrity in the process.
I fell in love with her Big Stone Gap books a very long time ago, and her books about Valentine Roncalli are just as good.
Val is a cobbler who must take over the family custom shoe-making business after her grandmother marries and retires. She is also in love with Jean Luca, the son of the Italian leather tanner her grandmother recently married.
While on the face of it on might dismiss this as a romance, this is a book with integrity. It explores family relationships, race relations, business, and life in general. This is a book about character, not a stereotype racing around the world for love and sex.
The author brings the world of New York to life, something a poor little hick like myself really appreciates. I haven't been to New York in 30 years. Additionally, I enjoyed learning about other cultures - particularly the Italian ones that seem foreign to this Appalachian Irish girl.
Strong writing and good characters. What more could one ask for in a book?
By Adriana Trigiani
Copyright 2010
Audiobook read by Cassandra Campbell
11.5 hours unabridged
I've read (or listened to) almost every one of Trigiani's books, and she has it figured out. This is an author who can produce and put it out without losing her integrity in the process.
I fell in love with her Big Stone Gap books a very long time ago, and her books about Valentine Roncalli are just as good.
Val is a cobbler who must take over the family custom shoe-making business after her grandmother marries and retires. She is also in love with Jean Luca, the son of the Italian leather tanner her grandmother recently married.
While on the face of it on might dismiss this as a romance, this is a book with integrity. It explores family relationships, race relations, business, and life in general. This is a book about character, not a stereotype racing around the world for love and sex.
The author brings the world of New York to life, something a poor little hick like myself really appreciates. I haven't been to New York in 30 years. Additionally, I enjoyed learning about other cultures - particularly the Italian ones that seem foreign to this Appalachian Irish girl.
Strong writing and good characters. What more could one ask for in a book?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday Thirteen
Today, a completely random Thursday Thirteen.
1. Adjectives and adverbs are considered "bad" in the realms of good writing, but I rather like them (and am more partial to adjectives). Of course, saying "She raced to the phone" reads better but sometimes people really do just "go quickly." And colors are important.
2. For anyone who might not remember, an adjective modifies a noun; an adverb modifies a verb. In this sentence, "The clouds moved slowly across the pale, blue sky," slowly is an adverb, pale and blue are adjectives. English 101. Actually, I don't use a lot of either modifier in my writing, but when I do, they're there for a reason.
3. Harriet Martineau, born in 1802, is considered the mother of sociology. She was also a feminist and radical thinker for the times. Though she was from England, she studied American society and wrote a text called Society in America. According to my textbook, "she believes that Americans will eventually renounce their consuming pursuit of wealth and that equalization of property will occur. But she insists it will not happen by revolution: it will happen, rather, "[w]hen the people become tired of their universal servitude to worldly anxiety, -when they have fully meditated and discussed the fact" that this pursuit of wealth is a source of pain rather than joy." I wonder if 150 years is too long to give her for her prophesy to come true? Because it obviously hasn't. We're consumed by our fetish for the dollar.
4. Often I see things online and wish to comment, but I don't, even if I might be able to comment anonymously. I know that what I might say will bring down lots of comments from snarling, vindictive "Christians" or righteous others who would just as soon eat me for breakfast and leave me prostrate on the floor or huddled in a quivering lump, so I simply keep my mouth shut. I find these to be very scary times, and people who do not acknowledge that the atmosphere is cruel and evil are simply not paying attention, or are part of that misogynistic segment and not its victims.
5. I like chocolate. Is there a diet that allows chocolate? Because that is the one I need.
6. Warm weather in February is like a gift of chocolate covered cherries. I've spied my first robin, always a sure sign of spring, and daffodils are rising from the ground to reach for the sky. Surely the forsythia will soon bloom and the grass will turn green, and all will be fair and frolicking.
7. I bought a primrose at the grocery store yesterday. It was marked down to next to nothing, but it was green and had dirt around it and so I brought it home and stored it in the garage. I have no idea what I will do with it, but for a while, anyway, I will consider it a good $1 spent.
8. Going back to college has been an eye-opening experience. For one thing, I can't focus like I used to and am not retaining what I read as well as I once did. For another, I find I am old when compared to these young women who are in class with me. They are just babies with no idea of how the world really works, and how mean and vicious it can be. These girls, of course, think they are old and mature and know everything. I used to be like that, once. Now I know better.
9. Yesterday I discovered I am missed in the nearby town where I once prowled the streets searching stories and news. I stopped into an office yesterday and was greeted cheerily and with fondness. It was nice, if a bit sad. Will I ever stop missing my work as a newspaper reporter?
10. My husband's hands are calloused and ingrained with permanent stains from dirt and grease. He has a working man's hands. His small finger is as long as my middle finger; one of his hands can hold both of mine. His touch is gentle when he is with me, though he could crush me in an instant.
11. I don't care what the glittery and rich idiots are doing, but the media must think it important that I know that Lindsy Lohan is not appearing on David Letterman and Paris Hilton turns 30 today and received a $375,000 car from her boyfriend. These people do not matter, except for use as symbols of much that is wrong with this country. So I point to them here and say, "See? These people are shallow and self-centered. They are wealthy but they are miserable. Do you not understand that money does not buy happiness, that as a country we are going backwards? Do we really want to be breeding this kind of thing?" Read #3.
12. The economy is supposedly improving but I haven't seen it yet. Our area was slow to be hit with the recession, so perhaps we'll be slow to come out of it. Some times I wonder if we should come out of it, though, especially since things remain unregulated. If the economy improves now, it'll just happen again in a few years until someone in charge finally realizes that deregulation is the problem, not the solution. Might as well get used to being poor; unless you're charmed and privileged (and apparently most people believe that they are even if they aren't), that's your permanent status.
13. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up and I am firmly middle-aged. I bet I still won't know when I'm 90, if I live that long. Maybe I need to meditate on it. How about you? Do you know what you want out of life?
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 178th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Burning, Already Burning
I grabbed the phone, recognizing my brother's cell number as I picked up.'
"What's up, bro?"
"Look out the window toward my house and tell me if you see any smoke!" My brother's voice crackled with anxiety.
"Oh no. Yes I do. What's on fire?"
Turns out one of my brother's neighbors had a brush fire on his place. A brush fire on a dry day with a high wind advisory is never good news.
As my brother sped home from his Roanoke office, I watched from my window as the smoke plume grew larger. I found the Botetourt dispatch on the Internet and listened as volunteer firefighters responded to the blaze.
"10-4, it's jumped the road down here."
"We need the tanker from Station 4."
I own property over there, too, and called the people I rent to in order to be sure they were aware of the fire and were safe.
That fire is out now, thank goodness, but another burns in nearby Craig County. Over 200 acres are burning there; the smoke rises high above the mountains.
We're about 5 inches short on rain this year . . . are we headed toward another year of drought? Let's all be careful when we're playing with fire, shall we?
Here's a story about the fire near my brother's place from The Botetourt View.
"What's up, bro?"
"Look out the window toward my house and tell me if you see any smoke!" My brother's voice crackled with anxiety.
"Oh no. Yes I do. What's on fire?"
Turns out one of my brother's neighbors had a brush fire on his place. A brush fire on a dry day with a high wind advisory is never good news.
As my brother sped home from his Roanoke office, I watched from my window as the smoke plume grew larger. I found the Botetourt dispatch on the Internet and listened as volunteer firefighters responded to the blaze.
"10-4, it's jumped the road down here."
"We need the tanker from Station 4."
I own property over there, too, and called the people I rent to in order to be sure they were aware of the fire and were safe.
That fire is out now, thank goodness, but another burns in nearby Craig County. Over 200 acres are burning there; the smoke rises high above the mountains.
We're about 5 inches short on rain this year . . . are we headed toward another year of drought? Let's all be careful when we're playing with fire, shall we?
Here's a story about the fire near my brother's place from The Botetourt View.
Monday, February 14, 2011
I Heart My Readers
Dear Gentle Reader,
Whoever you are, you are dear to my heart. I see you there on my statistics page and it is nice to know that I'm not writing in a vacuum.
So Happy Valentine's Day to you, sweet reader. Thank you for taking your precious time to look at my work, to read my thoughts, and to visit for a moment. I am humbled and most grateful.
If you are a regular reader and you have a blog and you're not on my list of blogs and would like to be, do leave your URL. Eventually I'll add you to the list (but be patient with me as my college courses are taking up my time).
Go eat a piece of chocolate, kind reader. You deserve it!
Thanks again,
Anita aka CountryDew
Whoever you are, you are dear to my heart. I see you there on my statistics page and it is nice to know that I'm not writing in a vacuum.
So Happy Valentine's Day to you, sweet reader. Thank you for taking your precious time to look at my work, to read my thoughts, and to visit for a moment. I am humbled and most grateful.
If you are a regular reader and you have a blog and you're not on my list of blogs and would like to be, do leave your URL. Eventually I'll add you to the list (but be patient with me as my college courses are taking up my time).
Go eat a piece of chocolate, kind reader. You deserve it!
Thanks again,
Anita aka CountryDew
Sunday, February 13, 2011
I'm Not Carrie Bradshaw
Recently I have been watching reruns of Sex and the City on E! because I missed the show when it originally appeared. I had never seen an episode when I caught the first movie on HBO one evening. I greatly enjoyed that (though the second one deserved the thumbs down it received) and after the viewing I was sorry I had missed the series.
Carrie Bradshaw, as most of you know, is a freelance writer who pens a sex column. Apparently she is paid well for this, well enough that said column is all the work she does.
In an episode last night, she discovered that she had a total of $1,600 to her name and needed to step up her freelance efforts (apparently the column did not pay all that well after all). At the end of the show, she said Vogue had agreed to pay her $4.50 a word.
I've never made $4.50 a word at anything I've ever published. The best I've ever done is $1.00 a word. Locally the going rate is about $0.05 cents a word. Yes, that's right. A nickel. A nickel a word. A few places may pay double that but they are few and far between and hard-sought as well. Those gigs are hard to come by.
At $4.50 a word, Carrie Bradshaw is making $4,500 for 1,000 words. That's just a few paragraphs longer than the average op-ed column in The Roanoke Times, which, I assure you, pays nothing close to that.
One thousand words is about four double-spaced 8 1/2 x 11 pages in MS Word.
With 1,000 words, you can describe almost anything. In four pages you can bring a character to life. You can write a really long blog entry. You can talk about politics, religion, your mother, and your dog, or all of them at one time (wouldn't that be an interesting read?).
And you can get paid $4,500 for those words, if you are good, lucky, connected, and Carrie Bradshaw.
Which I am not.
Lately I have been mulling over how to become a more prolific freelance writer. I don't write about sex so I am not going there. I write about more mundane things - history, local government, features on the lady dentist or the female airplane pilot or some such. I don't live in New York where things are happening, so I have no idea about best restaurants. Food is out as I am a mashed potato and baked chicken kind of girl who doesn't even know what creme brulee is, much less how to write about it.
I also am not a fan of writing about health, though I think that's a hot topic to pursue if you like it. However, writing about it makes me nervous as I am afraid I will write something like, "experts advise taking Vitamin D-3 every day now because as a society we receive too little sun," and someone will read that and swallow too much D-3 and then sue me for it. People do that, you know. Also, when I have written about health in the past I have found doctors to be real assholes when it comes to interviews or offering up information. Maybe I should have interviewed proctologists.
This little blog entry should come to a point here, wrap itself up neatly, and refer back to the first paragraph, maybe. However, it's a musing, it's 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and I'm still wiping sleep from my eyes even though I've been up for two hours because that's what farm wives do. They rise and shine, though I don't shine all that much at the crack of dawn. It's more like I glimmer. Or maybe go off and on like a broken switch.
Anyway, to make a long piece even longer, I have practically stopped freelancing and am focusing on school. My masters level courses are a lot of work, rather like tearing apart a water pump and trying to put it back together when you don't know how. It takes a lot of grease.
I still miss writing for the local newspaper - so much that it's like a little mini heart attack sometimes when I stop and think about it - but that's getting easier. However, I had to stop writing for newspapers completely to ease the pain.
To become Carrie Bradshaw, I need to do a lot of things (besides lose weight and about 20 years). Mostly, I need to come up with ideas and send out query letters to magazine editors, if that is the way I want to go. And this I do not do. And do you know why, dear reader?
Because I'm terrified they'll say no. And I'm terrified they'll say yes and I won't be able to produce. So isn't it better then, to do nothing at all, says the little timid mouse as it hunkers down in its little house?
So to become Carrie Bradshaw I must overcome this fear, even though I am highly published, with my byline under several thousand articles (really!) and move on, yes?
Maybe.
Carrie Bradshaw, as most of you know, is a freelance writer who pens a sex column. Apparently she is paid well for this, well enough that said column is all the work she does.
In an episode last night, she discovered that she had a total of $1,600 to her name and needed to step up her freelance efforts (apparently the column did not pay all that well after all). At the end of the show, she said Vogue had agreed to pay her $4.50 a word.
I've never made $4.50 a word at anything I've ever published. The best I've ever done is $1.00 a word. Locally the going rate is about $0.05 cents a word. Yes, that's right. A nickel. A nickel a word. A few places may pay double that but they are few and far between and hard-sought as well. Those gigs are hard to come by.
At $4.50 a word, Carrie Bradshaw is making $4,500 for 1,000 words. That's just a few paragraphs longer than the average op-ed column in The Roanoke Times, which, I assure you, pays nothing close to that.
One thousand words is about four double-spaced 8 1/2 x 11 pages in MS Word.
With 1,000 words, you can describe almost anything. In four pages you can bring a character to life. You can write a really long blog entry. You can talk about politics, religion, your mother, and your dog, or all of them at one time (wouldn't that be an interesting read?).
And you can get paid $4,500 for those words, if you are good, lucky, connected, and Carrie Bradshaw.
Which I am not.
Lately I have been mulling over how to become a more prolific freelance writer. I don't write about sex so I am not going there. I write about more mundane things - history, local government, features on the lady dentist or the female airplane pilot or some such. I don't live in New York where things are happening, so I have no idea about best restaurants. Food is out as I am a mashed potato and baked chicken kind of girl who doesn't even know what creme brulee is, much less how to write about it.
I also am not a fan of writing about health, though I think that's a hot topic to pursue if you like it. However, writing about it makes me nervous as I am afraid I will write something like, "experts advise taking Vitamin D-3 every day now because as a society we receive too little sun," and someone will read that and swallow too much D-3 and then sue me for it. People do that, you know. Also, when I have written about health in the past I have found doctors to be real assholes when it comes to interviews or offering up information. Maybe I should have interviewed proctologists.
This little blog entry should come to a point here, wrap itself up neatly, and refer back to the first paragraph, maybe. However, it's a musing, it's 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and I'm still wiping sleep from my eyes even though I've been up for two hours because that's what farm wives do. They rise and shine, though I don't shine all that much at the crack of dawn. It's more like I glimmer. Or maybe go off and on like a broken switch.
Anyway, to make a long piece even longer, I have practically stopped freelancing and am focusing on school. My masters level courses are a lot of work, rather like tearing apart a water pump and trying to put it back together when you don't know how. It takes a lot of grease.
I still miss writing for the local newspaper - so much that it's like a little mini heart attack sometimes when I stop and think about it - but that's getting easier. However, I had to stop writing for newspapers completely to ease the pain.
To become Carrie Bradshaw, I need to do a lot of things (besides lose weight and about 20 years). Mostly, I need to come up with ideas and send out query letters to magazine editors, if that is the way I want to go. And this I do not do. And do you know why, dear reader?
Because I'm terrified they'll say no. And I'm terrified they'll say yes and I won't be able to produce. So isn't it better then, to do nothing at all, says the little timid mouse as it hunkers down in its little house?
So to become Carrie Bradshaw I must overcome this fear, even though I am highly published, with my byline under several thousand articles (really!) and move on, yes?
Maybe.
Friday, February 11, 2011
I'm Not Like You - or Am I?
Earlier in the week, my husband and I attended a lecture by Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, at Hollins University. (He also runs a news site called The Daily Yonder, about rural living.)
While much of the information wasn't new, a few things surprised me. For one, the author pointed out a significant drop in higher education in this country and changes in where those folks live. Thirty years ago, people with higher education degrees were spread all over the country. Now, people with higher education degrees are congregating in areas, sorting themselves into neighborhoods and communities of folks who are "like minded." There are also fewer of them.
Meanwhile, folks who have particular religious or other types of lifestyles (the example he used was those who use lawn fertilizer and those who do not) have done the same, sorting themselves into areas where everyone else is most like them.
I kept comparing my own locality, which has changed dramatically over the last 30 years, to the nationwide information as it was being presented. My community is now a place I hardly recognize. Oh, it's still rural, and I have lot of friends here and people and places I love, but there is also a different brand of people, folks who don't care about many of the same things I do. History is a good example. I have a seven-generation connection to the area; my family's blood and sweat has watered the land. But many folks don't have that connection and look at me oddly when I try to explain it, and don't understand why a building shouldn't be torn down.
So anyway, according to the author, people are moving themselves into little groups not according to race so much (though of course that still goes on) but by lifestyle. The author showed pictures of different neighborhoods and how right away you could tell what sort of people lived there.
Some neighborhoods sport flags and well-trimmed lawns, while other neighborhoods had book stores and yard art. People, maybe subconsciously, move into neighborhoods that fit their lifestyle. In turn, it's created a schism; no one tries to understand the other side.
Additionally, the author claimed that more than half the population believes their opinions and thoughts are the correct ones and that there is no need to listen to anyone else. I find that rather scary, because I know for sure I don't know everything. And then again, most of these same folks want someone just like them to run the country. Not me. I want someone who's a heck of lot smarter than I am up there making the calls.
There is so much information out there now with the 24/7 TV and Internet, that people just tune it all out and only listen to what they're comfortable with, excluding everything else. So new ideas and thoughts on subjects never reach their ears. This adds to the schism.
The author, unfortunately, had no solution to the problem and doesn't see one until there is some exterior crisis that forces people to pull together. If 9/11 didn't do it - and it didn't - I am not sure what it will take.
I wonder how we might end the radical, loud, brutal meanness that permeates a lot of life these days. I used to think everyone wanted to be kind, gentle, and nice, but I have decided that this is not the case: many people like being angry, they enjoy being mean, and they want to be vicious. I find that sad.
Apparently the last time the US was this divided, with neighbors so estranged from one another, was before the Civil War.
Are we headed toward a Civil War? If so, how may we avert this? Any ideas? Or are we too far gone?
Articles about this book may be found at the following links if you want to read more:
Are Evangelicals Too Republican?
Here's an Audacious Idea: Let's Reason Together
Communities of Exclusion: The Costs and Benefits of Diversity
While much of the information wasn't new, a few things surprised me. For one, the author pointed out a significant drop in higher education in this country and changes in where those folks live. Thirty years ago, people with higher education degrees were spread all over the country. Now, people with higher education degrees are congregating in areas, sorting themselves into neighborhoods and communities of folks who are "like minded." There are also fewer of them.
Meanwhile, folks who have particular religious or other types of lifestyles (the example he used was those who use lawn fertilizer and those who do not) have done the same, sorting themselves into areas where everyone else is most like them.
I kept comparing my own locality, which has changed dramatically over the last 30 years, to the nationwide information as it was being presented. My community is now a place I hardly recognize. Oh, it's still rural, and I have lot of friends here and people and places I love, but there is also a different brand of people, folks who don't care about many of the same things I do. History is a good example. I have a seven-generation connection to the area; my family's blood and sweat has watered the land. But many folks don't have that connection and look at me oddly when I try to explain it, and don't understand why a building shouldn't be torn down.
So anyway, according to the author, people are moving themselves into little groups not according to race so much (though of course that still goes on) but by lifestyle. The author showed pictures of different neighborhoods and how right away you could tell what sort of people lived there.
Some neighborhoods sport flags and well-trimmed lawns, while other neighborhoods had book stores and yard art. People, maybe subconsciously, move into neighborhoods that fit their lifestyle. In turn, it's created a schism; no one tries to understand the other side.
Additionally, the author claimed that more than half the population believes their opinions and thoughts are the correct ones and that there is no need to listen to anyone else. I find that rather scary, because I know for sure I don't know everything. And then again, most of these same folks want someone just like them to run the country. Not me. I want someone who's a heck of lot smarter than I am up there making the calls.
There is so much information out there now with the 24/7 TV and Internet, that people just tune it all out and only listen to what they're comfortable with, excluding everything else. So new ideas and thoughts on subjects never reach their ears. This adds to the schism.
The author, unfortunately, had no solution to the problem and doesn't see one until there is some exterior crisis that forces people to pull together. If 9/11 didn't do it - and it didn't - I am not sure what it will take.
I wonder how we might end the radical, loud, brutal meanness that permeates a lot of life these days. I used to think everyone wanted to be kind, gentle, and nice, but I have decided that this is not the case: many people like being angry, they enjoy being mean, and they want to be vicious. I find that sad.
Apparently the last time the US was this divided, with neighbors so estranged from one another, was before the Civil War.
Are we headed toward a Civil War? If so, how may we avert this? Any ideas? Or are we too far gone?
Articles about this book may be found at the following links if you want to read more:
Are Evangelicals Too Republican?
Here's an Audacious Idea: Let's Reason Together
Communities of Exclusion: The Costs and Benefits of Diversity
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Valentine's Thursday Thirteen
Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I thought it appropriate to offer up 13 wonderful things about my husband. He is wonderful man and I am very lucky to have him. We will be celebrating 28 years of marriage this year. I can still remember our first Valentine's together. I had mono and it was his first day on the job with the fire department. Even though I told him to stay away because I didn't want to give him what I had, he came over and brought me a bouquet of artificial flowers (because I have allergies). As he came to the front door, flowers in hand, the whistle in Fincastle, which called volunteer firemen to emergencies, sounded loud and strong (you could hear it from my parents' house if you were outside on a clear day). He thrust the flowers at me, gave me a kiss, and went off to fight the fire.
He came back a little later.
This is what he looked like when he was a toddler!
This is what he looks like in his dress blues as a Battalion Chief with the city Fire Department.
And here are 13 great things about him (though there are many, many more).
1. He is a kind man. My husband can be very tender and loving, a rare quality in this day age when meanness seems to be rampant.
2. He is a hard worker. He gets up at 5 a.m. and leaves the house by 6:30 a.m. almost every morning. He then either goes to the fire department to work or he works on the farm or he goes out to do work with the backhoe.
3. It doesn't matter what I do so long as I am happy doing it. He doesn't try to micromanage my life.
4. He loves his family and is very considerate of his mother, sister, nephews, aunts, cousins, etc.
5. Accompanying me to lectures, poetry readings, or other cultural events is not something he minds doing. All I have to do is ask.
6. He doesn't snore (too much). He sleeps better than anyone I know, actually. I wish I slept like that.
7. He is fanatical about keeping the car clean.
8. He cheers me on when I am working on projects.
9. Sometimes he will put a load of clothes in the washing machine. Every now and then he volunteers to fix dinner (particularly if I'm sick).
10. Mowing the lawn and keeping the exterior of the home looking good is important to him, and he does a fine job of it.
11. He never forgets a birthday, anniversary, or other holiday.
12. He loves living on the farm and being a farmer. He is happiest when he is working with the cows, cutting hay, or down at the barn.
13. He loves me and only me. And I love him and only him. It's a mutual exchange.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 177th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
He came back a little later.
This is what he looked like when he was a toddler!
This is what he looks like in his dress blues as a Battalion Chief with the city Fire Department.
And here are 13 great things about him (though there are many, many more).
1. He is a kind man. My husband can be very tender and loving, a rare quality in this day age when meanness seems to be rampant.
2. He is a hard worker. He gets up at 5 a.m. and leaves the house by 6:30 a.m. almost every morning. He then either goes to the fire department to work or he works on the farm or he goes out to do work with the backhoe.
3. It doesn't matter what I do so long as I am happy doing it. He doesn't try to micromanage my life.
4. He loves his family and is very considerate of his mother, sister, nephews, aunts, cousins, etc.
5. Accompanying me to lectures, poetry readings, or other cultural events is not something he minds doing. All I have to do is ask.
6. He doesn't snore (too much). He sleeps better than anyone I know, actually. I wish I slept like that.
7. He is fanatical about keeping the car clean.
8. He cheers me on when I am working on projects.
9. Sometimes he will put a load of clothes in the washing machine. Every now and then he volunteers to fix dinner (particularly if I'm sick).
10. Mowing the lawn and keeping the exterior of the home looking good is important to him, and he does a fine job of it.
11. He never forgets a birthday, anniversary, or other holiday.
12. He loves living on the farm and being a farmer. He is happiest when he is working with the cows, cutting hay, or down at the barn.
13. He loves me and only me. And I love him and only him. It's a mutual exchange.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 177th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Fire on the Mountain
Yesterday we ventured to Roanoke to run errands. As we drove into Daleville, which is some 12 miles from where I live, I pointed toward a plume of smoke and noted that something was burning back toward the house. As we drew closer, we saw that Caldwell Mountain was on fire.
As I noted yesterday, we're in a mild drought, so this fire is not surprising. It is a little early in the season for such fires, though, particularly with snow still in the hollows.
Around 7:20 a.m. I walked outside in my robe to see if the fire still burns. Across the way the rising sun created a rose-tinted reflection on the windows of the old Sprinkle house, making it look like it was afire itself. I started three deer browsing in the small patch of woods in the backyard, and they trotted off with an air of disgust at having their breakfast interrupted by this interloper in blue. They did not move quickly enough to indicate they were scared of me and so I was sure they simply wanted a little distance between us. I hadn't had a shower yet, so who could blame them?
More deer grazed off in the distance in the field beside the house. Yesterday we saw lots of does; nine of them lay in the field in front of the house, simply resting there. They stayed for a long time. I thought about shooting video of them but figured if I went outside I would rouse them and so I just let it be.
Either the fire is out or it has moved down the mountain where I cannot see it because of the tree line. The news reports from last night indicated two acres had burned and the forest service was having trouble reaching the blaze. But perhaps overnight they were able to put out the flames.
Mountain fires fascinate and horrify me. They are scary because they are uncontrolled, and they leave behind a blackened, charred mess. However, fire also brings about life, for Mother Nature quickly steps in and returns things to green. Sometimes this brings in different wildlife and changes in habitat. So fire is an agent of change.
Change is not bad, but it not something many folks easily accept (myself included). Change can be fascinating and horrifying, too. Sometimes, like fire, it is all-consuming, taking everything in its path. Other times it is like the aftermath, looking like a moonscape, foreign and cold. And other times, change is welcoming and creative, offering new growth and bounty.
Burn, baby, burn.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
The Unmelting Snow
This patch of snow has been on the ground since it snowed December 17.
The old folks say this snow is "laying around waiting on some more." I don't know about that but it is in no hurry to leave.
It is a chunk of ice now, of course, not snow, what with melting and refreezing. The patch gets a little late evening sun but apparently not enough to make it disappear. It does grow a bit smaller with time.
When the hollows keep snow in them, something's up with the weather, that's for sure.
However, I am thinking spring is not far off. The world looks just a little less dreary out my window, even though I see nothing growing or blooming. Still, there's a thin tinge of green, nearly invisible, that makes the grass and trees more vibrant.
I looked closely at a few trees and could see the life in them. There's something there, waiting, and it will soon come forth in great abundance.
Even if we are in a little drought.
One thing about living on a farm - the change in the seasons has a real meaning other than a change in wardrobe. I see it all the time in the way the fields grow and change, the difference in the horizons as the trees leaf out, the way the cows move about, and how the deer roam. There are also many changes in my husband's routine as he goes from having to feed the cows a role of hay to allowing them roam to graze on the emerald grass. And then he has to cut the hay to prepare for the upcoming winter. It's nonstop.
Soon, I will plant our small garden, filling it with tomato plants, beans, and kale. It's a small plot and while sometimes I stuff it so full one cannot walk among the rows, this year, thanks to my school schedule and the tennis elbow issue, I am thinking it will not offer up a great bounty simply because I won't plant as much.
But I am anxious to get out and plant seed. Sounds like it is time for another experiment with seedlings. I've tried this several times and always fail but perhaps this will be the year I succeed.
I should not wish my life away, but I really am ready for Spring.
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Thursday Thirteen
I am a person who tends to see the negative more so than the positive sometimes, so I thought I might take one of my Thursday Thirteens each month and recount the good things that happened in the previous month. So here are the 13 good things from January!
1. I registered for two classes at Hollins University and will work this year to complete my master of arts in liberal studies degree! Classes begin this week and I am very happy to be going back to school.
2. I did not have mono even though I had all the symptoms. The sore throat finally went away this past weekend, and my energy level seems to be slowly returning. This is very good news because I'd been ill since Christmas.
3. My husband is doing very well with his job as battalion chief for the city fire department. He has been in this position for a year and has settled in nicely. I am very proud of him.
4. I walked on the treadmill 16 out of 31 days in January (I keep an exercise and blood pressure log at my doctor's request). My goal was to walk at least every other day and I succeeded at this statistically. When I add in the fact that I was ill, I am pleased with this.
5. I finished watching every episode in Season 2 of Star Trek: Voyager.
6. I have read (or listened to) these books: 1) Still Procrastinating, the No-Regrets Guide to Getting Things Done, by Joseph Ferrari 2) Mosaic (Star Trek: Voyager) (audio), by Jeri Taylor 3) True Blue, by David Baldacci (audio), 4) Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier, and 5) The Good Daughter, by Jasmin Darznik.
7. I did a little writing for one of my Internet clients!
8. My brother called me a few times during the month to check on me while I wasn't feeling well. I appreciated this because he is busy running a company and has a wife, two kids, two puppies, and bunch of chickens and peacocks to keep up with.
9. I had a massage early in January and felt a lot better for it.
10. I went to lunch or breakfast with a friend three times during the month (two different friends). Friends are good.
11. The results from my mammogram (also taken in January) came back negative. No problems detected. Every woman should have a mammogram (at whatever time frame they now recommend; I know they keep changing that.). It's an important part of taking care of yourself.
12. My book club read The Blueberry Years, by Jim Minick (which I read in September so didn't count in my January reading), and the club held a phone conference with the author. I had written a review of his book that was published in The Roanoke Times and I was happy to be able to tell the author I was there and hear him praise me for praising him. Plus our book club meetings are always lots of fun. What a great group of women.
13. Three citizen input meetings held this month by the county in preparation for its upcoming fiscal year budget (two of which I attended) were my idea. A year ago I asked the Board of Supervisors to make changes in their process so that the citizenry might be more aware of potential changes (particularly cuts to services) before the changes were done deals. The supervisors agreed that the process was flawed and as a result implemented changes. See, a single voice can make a difference!
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 176th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
1. I registered for two classes at Hollins University and will work this year to complete my master of arts in liberal studies degree! Classes begin this week and I am very happy to be going back to school.
2. I did not have mono even though I had all the symptoms. The sore throat finally went away this past weekend, and my energy level seems to be slowly returning. This is very good news because I'd been ill since Christmas.
3. My husband is doing very well with his job as battalion chief for the city fire department. He has been in this position for a year and has settled in nicely. I am very proud of him.
4. I walked on the treadmill 16 out of 31 days in January (I keep an exercise and blood pressure log at my doctor's request). My goal was to walk at least every other day and I succeeded at this statistically. When I add in the fact that I was ill, I am pleased with this.
5. I finished watching every episode in Season 2 of Star Trek: Voyager.
6. I have read (or listened to) these books: 1) Still Procrastinating, the No-Regrets Guide to Getting Things Done, by Joseph Ferrari 2) Mosaic (Star Trek: Voyager) (audio), by Jeri Taylor 3) True Blue, by David Baldacci (audio), 4) Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier, and 5) The Good Daughter, by Jasmin Darznik.
7. I did a little writing for one of my Internet clients!
8. My brother called me a few times during the month to check on me while I wasn't feeling well. I appreciated this because he is busy running a company and has a wife, two kids, two puppies, and bunch of chickens and peacocks to keep up with.
9. I had a massage early in January and felt a lot better for it.
10. I went to lunch or breakfast with a friend three times during the month (two different friends). Friends are good.
11. The results from my mammogram (also taken in January) came back negative. No problems detected. Every woman should have a mammogram (at whatever time frame they now recommend; I know they keep changing that.). It's an important part of taking care of yourself.
12. My book club read The Blueberry Years, by Jim Minick (which I read in September so didn't count in my January reading), and the club held a phone conference with the author. I had written a review of his book that was published in The Roanoke Times and I was happy to be able to tell the author I was there and hear him praise me for praising him. Plus our book club meetings are always lots of fun. What a great group of women.
13. Three citizen input meetings held this month by the county in preparation for its upcoming fiscal year budget (two of which I attended) were my idea. A year ago I asked the Board of Supervisors to make changes in their process so that the citizenry might be more aware of potential changes (particularly cuts to services) before the changes were done deals. The supervisors agreed that the process was flawed and as a result implemented changes. See, a single voice can make a difference!
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 176th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Books: True Blue
True Blue
By David Baldacci
Audiobook - Abridged
Copyright 2010
Read by Ron McLarty
Approximately 8 hours
I was a long time warming to Baldacci, mostly because I don't read many cops, robbers, terrorist/CIA books. I finally picked up The Christmas Train simply because Baldacci is a Virginia author, and I enjoyed it. So I moved on to books featuring former Secret Service characters Michelle Maxwell and Sean King.
True Blue brings us Beth Perry, chief of the Washington, DC police department, and her sister, Mason "Mace" Perry. Mace was a police officer but she was framed for something and ended up a felon in prison. The story opens with her release. She then manages to involve herself in an ongoing crime investigation in hopes of clearing her name and earning her way back onto the police force.
I love reading about women who are strong and able to take care of themselves. Mason and Beth fit this bill but truly some of the story line was so unbelievable that it made it difficult to continue with the book. In the first place, would the police chief have allowed her felon sister near a crime scene? I think not. Would the chief forensic officer let a felon have a file of information on the case? I think not. Would a gangster called Psycho who ruled the area agree to let Mace and her boyfriend go because of a basketball game? Would a professional Russian killer/spy on assignment for the CIA (?!?) agree to a game of knives before she skewers her victim? You get the idea.
Additionally, this book had a number of loose ends. Since I was listening to an abridgement I can't be sure that wasn't the reason, but in looking at the reviews I see others complaining of the same issue so I suspect it was the story line.
Baldacci is a good writer and I hope that this is an aberration. If there are other books planned with these characters, perhaps next time the plot will be a little less unbelievable.
This is not a bad book, but I think the author can do better.
By David Baldacci
Audiobook - Abridged
Copyright 2010
Read by Ron McLarty
Approximately 8 hours
I was a long time warming to Baldacci, mostly because I don't read many cops, robbers, terrorist/CIA books. I finally picked up The Christmas Train simply because Baldacci is a Virginia author, and I enjoyed it. So I moved on to books featuring former Secret Service characters Michelle Maxwell and Sean King.
True Blue brings us Beth Perry, chief of the Washington, DC police department, and her sister, Mason "Mace" Perry. Mace was a police officer but she was framed for something and ended up a felon in prison. The story opens with her release. She then manages to involve herself in an ongoing crime investigation in hopes of clearing her name and earning her way back onto the police force.
I love reading about women who are strong and able to take care of themselves. Mason and Beth fit this bill but truly some of the story line was so unbelievable that it made it difficult to continue with the book. In the first place, would the police chief have allowed her felon sister near a crime scene? I think not. Would the chief forensic officer let a felon have a file of information on the case? I think not. Would a gangster called Psycho who ruled the area agree to let Mace and her boyfriend go because of a basketball game? Would a professional Russian killer/spy on assignment for the CIA (?!?) agree to a game of knives before she skewers her victim? You get the idea.
Additionally, this book had a number of loose ends. Since I was listening to an abridgement I can't be sure that wasn't the reason, but in looking at the reviews I see others complaining of the same issue so I suspect it was the story line.
Baldacci is a good writer and I hope that this is an aberration. If there are other books planned with these characters, perhaps next time the plot will be a little less unbelievable.
This is not a bad book, but I think the author can do better.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday Thirteen #175
Last night I spoke aloud during a dream. "I can't break the spell! I don't know the words!" I cried. My body was paralyzed and it took my husband a while to break through my dream state and wake me to the point where I was no longer shouting and back in control of my thoughts. The dream left me tired and shaken.
Power words. In business, they're buzzwords like profit. In religion, they're words like Jesus, Amen, and om. They're magic words like abracadabra and hocus pocus. They're names, like Tawanda in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. Some words make you feel good, some make you feel bad. Words that call you names would be example of power words with negative impact.
Power words are used everywhere. You see them in advertising, in politics, and in daily life. Often we don't know we're using a power word but some people (those folks who excel at the Dale Carnegie way of life) use them exclusively and excessively, sometimes to good effect.
It's not quite 7 a.m. as I write this, still half awake from a fitful night, but I want to list 13 words that mean something to me. I think everyone's list would be different and to be sure I am struggling with this. But let's see what I can come up with. These are in no particular order, except the first one.
1. Love. What a great word. To be loved is to be cherished, honored, and needed. It's opposite is like being condemned. Many people do not use this word enough. I wish we would all make a point of saying it to someone every day. It would change the world.
2. Safe. Next to being loved, feeling safe is very important to me. Without safety I am not free to move about, to explore, to create, to be. This is a basic need, and something we should all strive for. When one no longer feels safe in life, then something must change.
3. Encourage. I encourage you to ... can anyone be more helpful and more empowering, than to offer encouragement? To assure you that they have faith in you, believe in you, and know you can move forward?
4. My name. Hearing my name is powerful. Do you know that if you refuse to use someone's name, or call them something other than what they wish, you are attempting to control or disenfranchise or diminish that person? I learned this from my mother, who once asked me if a particular person knew her name. "He never calls me anything," she said, frustrated by what she perceived as a lack of acknowledgement.
5. Friend. My friends mean so much to me; if you're in my circle, you are someone I cherish. To be called a friend is a high honor. I strive to be a good friend.
6. Health. To have good health is to be blessed. To be free of pain, to enjoy movement, to have rosy cheeks and a hearty laugh. What an image this word brings!
7. Creative. To create is to be godlike. To paint, to write, to carve - whatever you do to give a new vision to something is to bring forth a greatness from inside yourself that cannot be staved off. The urge to create is strong and glorious and something to be nurtured.
8. Faith. To have faith is to have a deep-seated inner knowledge, unshakable and abiding. You can have faith as in religious faith, and you can have faith in yourself, in other people, in the ability of a tree to grow toward heaven. I have faith in you is another way to tell someone how much you believe in their abilities.
9. Dream. To dream is to envision, to see beyond, to look into the future. I dream of a better tomorrow where we're all kind to one another.
10. Freedom. This word has great power over the American people, and I am not immune to its power. To have freedom of speech, freedom of worship, all of which really means the freedom to be me, is to have the ability to dream unencumbered. We are all weighed down by many responsibilities and thoughts which hinder our freedom in one way or another. To be truly free in the spirit and soul is a great ideal.
11. Justice. This is, unfortunately, a concept that has lost favor in the last 30 years, for we now seemingly seek vengeance instead of justice. To be just is to be fair, to be impartial, to be unbiased. Those who are just are honorable, principled, moral, and upright. What would the world be like, I wonder, if we all sought justice?
12. Write. How could this not be in my list, this thing that I do and love to do and live to do and could not be without? To be able to write is to be creative, to express, to endure. The things we write last long after the thought or the verbal expression. To write is to add to our existence, to procreate, to bring forth. It is to breath without lungs, to see without eyes, to hear without ears. The ability to write and to communicate is one of the greatest gifts.
13. Magic. To experience something as magical is to see the wonder in it. It is be enchanted by the things going on around you. Snow on Christmas is magic; a summer flower is magic, a deer in the field is a magical moment. To be magical is to be extraordinary. I wish all of us could experience a little magic in our days.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 175th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Power words. In business, they're buzzwords like profit. In religion, they're words like Jesus, Amen, and om. They're magic words like abracadabra and hocus pocus. They're names, like Tawanda in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. Some words make you feel good, some make you feel bad. Words that call you names would be example of power words with negative impact.
Power words are used everywhere. You see them in advertising, in politics, and in daily life. Often we don't know we're using a power word but some people (those folks who excel at the Dale Carnegie way of life) use them exclusively and excessively, sometimes to good effect.
It's not quite 7 a.m. as I write this, still half awake from a fitful night, but I want to list 13 words that mean something to me. I think everyone's list would be different and to be sure I am struggling with this. But let's see what I can come up with. These are in no particular order, except the first one.
1. Love. What a great word. To be loved is to be cherished, honored, and needed. It's opposite is like being condemned. Many people do not use this word enough. I wish we would all make a point of saying it to someone every day. It would change the world.
2. Safe. Next to being loved, feeling safe is very important to me. Without safety I am not free to move about, to explore, to create, to be. This is a basic need, and something we should all strive for. When one no longer feels safe in life, then something must change.
3. Encourage. I encourage you to ... can anyone be more helpful and more empowering, than to offer encouragement? To assure you that they have faith in you, believe in you, and know you can move forward?
4. My name. Hearing my name is powerful. Do you know that if you refuse to use someone's name, or call them something other than what they wish, you are attempting to control or disenfranchise or diminish that person? I learned this from my mother, who once asked me if a particular person knew her name. "He never calls me anything," she said, frustrated by what she perceived as a lack of acknowledgement.
5. Friend. My friends mean so much to me; if you're in my circle, you are someone I cherish. To be called a friend is a high honor. I strive to be a good friend.
6. Health. To have good health is to be blessed. To be free of pain, to enjoy movement, to have rosy cheeks and a hearty laugh. What an image this word brings!
7. Creative. To create is to be godlike. To paint, to write, to carve - whatever you do to give a new vision to something is to bring forth a greatness from inside yourself that cannot be staved off. The urge to create is strong and glorious and something to be nurtured.
8. Faith. To have faith is to have a deep-seated inner knowledge, unshakable and abiding. You can have faith as in religious faith, and you can have faith in yourself, in other people, in the ability of a tree to grow toward heaven. I have faith in you is another way to tell someone how much you believe in their abilities.
9. Dream. To dream is to envision, to see beyond, to look into the future. I dream of a better tomorrow where we're all kind to one another.
10. Freedom. This word has great power over the American people, and I am not immune to its power. To have freedom of speech, freedom of worship, all of which really means the freedom to be me, is to have the ability to dream unencumbered. We are all weighed down by many responsibilities and thoughts which hinder our freedom in one way or another. To be truly free in the spirit and soul is a great ideal.
11. Justice. This is, unfortunately, a concept that has lost favor in the last 30 years, for we now seemingly seek vengeance instead of justice. To be just is to be fair, to be impartial, to be unbiased. Those who are just are honorable, principled, moral, and upright. What would the world be like, I wonder, if we all sought justice?
12. Write. How could this not be in my list, this thing that I do and love to do and live to do and could not be without? To be able to write is to be creative, to express, to endure. The things we write last long after the thought or the verbal expression. To write is to add to our existence, to procreate, to bring forth. It is to breath without lungs, to see without eyes, to hear without ears. The ability to write and to communicate is one of the greatest gifts.
13. Magic. To experience something as magical is to see the wonder in it. It is be enchanted by the things going on around you. Snow on Christmas is magic; a summer flower is magic, a deer in the field is a magical moment. To be magical is to be extraordinary. I wish all of us could experience a little magic in our days.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 175th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Evil Toy Soldier
This image is on a large shopping bag that currently sits in my garage. I see it every time I pull the car in (and will until I figure out what to do with the bag's contents).
I think this fellow looks really mad. In the headlights he looks like he is going to come out of that bag and get me.
Just sayin'.
Anyway, this image makes me wonder about the power of objects and images. For example, in Lord of the Rings, there is one ring to rule them all - the ring is a powerful object.
Swords and wands are generally very phallic male symbols.
The pentagram is a powerful symbol, as is the cross and a crown of thorns.
When I was small, I saw images in everything. Clouds, tree branches, designs in the carpet or tile - anything I could find a picture in, I did. Some of these images stuck with me literally for years.
For example, when I rode the bus to school, there was a dinosaur down one of the back roads who greeted me every day for years. It was really a pile of brush with a large log in it. And then one Autumn I returned to school and the brush pile - and my dinosaur - was gone.
My grandmother's bathroom linoleum was made of speckles, but I could see a knight and a castle in it. I visited them every time I sat down to pee.
The monkey face on three-pronged electric outlets always disturbed me, so when we built our house I asked that they be placed upside down so I wouldn't see the eyes and nose.
I have found images in curtains and in bedspreads. I have rid myself of things in which I find images that seem somehow ominous or scary.
Which means that soon that evil toy soldier will be finding his way to the landfill, once I can figure out what to do with that ol' wedding dress that is stowed in that bag.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Ode to a Sore Throat
The painful swallowing I can hardly bear
along with the throbbing in my ear.
That scratchy feeling, so unkind
The beating drums within my mind.
A rundown ache down in my chest
and a burning feeling inside my breast.
Pressure builds behind the eyes
which water much, like little cries.
O sweet physician, can't you cure
how much more must I endure?
***
I have had a sore throat now almost constantly since Christmas. I went to the doctor prior to New Year's and received an antibiotic. A few days after finishing the antibiotic, the sore throat returned (this is a sore throat complete with blisters; it's like swallowing a cactus constantly). I phoned the doctor and received a different antibiotic prescription. The sore throat cleared up and I finished the antibiotic about a week ago, and on Saturday the blisters and sore throat returned.
The doctor saw me again yesterday and I asked for a strep test, which was negative. She suggested I might have mono! So she took blood to test for that and I am waiting on the results. I guess they'll look for other things, too, if that is negative.
I must say, looking at the list of symptoms, mono does seem a likely candidate. But I suppose it could be any other virus, too.
I did not know you could have mono more than once. I had it when I was 19 and was very sick with it for nearly a month. Of course, this sore throat has been going on for about a month now so maybe whatever this is is nearing the end of its course.
Additionally, I have wondered if this is some weird allergic reaction, because I have many allergies. I don't have a lot of food allergies, though I do have some. In thinking back, I believe if it is an allergy, it might be shrimp, because I had shrimp Christmas Day and woke the next morning with a bad sore throat, and I had sweet and sour shrimp right before I woke up with the second round of sore throat, and again this Friday night and woke Saturday with a sore throat. However, I don't know how you check that other than by staying away from shrimp for a while and then eating them to see if you get a sore throat.
A shrimp allergy would be new to me, and I don't know if that would translate into a new allergy to shellfish or all fish or what. Which would be terrible because I really like fish.
However, I don't have hives or anything like that, just this sore throat, so I am not at all sure this is an allergy. Guess I'll let the doctor sort it out.
along with the throbbing in my ear.
That scratchy feeling, so unkind
The beating drums within my mind.
A rundown ache down in my chest
and a burning feeling inside my breast.
Pressure builds behind the eyes
which water much, like little cries.
O sweet physician, can't you cure
how much more must I endure?
***
I have had a sore throat now almost constantly since Christmas. I went to the doctor prior to New Year's and received an antibiotic. A few days after finishing the antibiotic, the sore throat returned (this is a sore throat complete with blisters; it's like swallowing a cactus constantly). I phoned the doctor and received a different antibiotic prescription. The sore throat cleared up and I finished the antibiotic about a week ago, and on Saturday the blisters and sore throat returned.
The doctor saw me again yesterday and I asked for a strep test, which was negative. She suggested I might have mono! So she took blood to test for that and I am waiting on the results. I guess they'll look for other things, too, if that is negative.
I must say, looking at the list of symptoms, mono does seem a likely candidate. But I suppose it could be any other virus, too.
I did not know you could have mono more than once. I had it when I was 19 and was very sick with it for nearly a month. Of course, this sore throat has been going on for about a month now so maybe whatever this is is nearing the end of its course.
Additionally, I have wondered if this is some weird allergic reaction, because I have many allergies. I don't have a lot of food allergies, though I do have some. In thinking back, I believe if it is an allergy, it might be shrimp, because I had shrimp Christmas Day and woke the next morning with a bad sore throat, and I had sweet and sour shrimp right before I woke up with the second round of sore throat, and again this Friday night and woke Saturday with a sore throat. However, I don't know how you check that other than by staying away from shrimp for a while and then eating them to see if you get a sore throat.
A shrimp allergy would be new to me, and I don't know if that would translate into a new allergy to shellfish or all fish or what. Which would be terrible because I really like fish.
However, I don't have hives or anything like that, just this sore throat, so I am not at all sure this is an allergy. Guess I'll let the doctor sort it out.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Books: Heart's Blood
Heart's Blood
By Juliet Marillier
Copyright 2009
400 pages
Marillier is one of my favorite authors when I want to escape and relax with a good, solid read, and Heart's Blood did not disappoint. This was a little heavier on the romance than her Sevenwaters series but I was okay with that.
Caitrin is an adult-aged runaway whose ill fortunes have left her penniless and trying to get away from the man who would beat her. She ends up at Whistling Tor, a remote place filled with ghosts and secrets.
The crumbling fortress belongs to Anluan, a chieftain who is not well-liked by those he rules. His family, they say, is cursed, and his woods are guarded by an unseen force.
But Caitrin has been trained as a scribe and Anluan hires her to help with his family's historic journals, transcribing them from Latin. She quickly learns that all is not as it seems at Whispering Tor and things that go bump in the night, while scary, sometimes have explanation, even if a mystical one.
Sorcery and the black arts hold the entire land in thrall. It is a calculated evil, and a chilling one.
As expected, Caitrin and the chieftain take a fancy toward one another, but can they tame the ghosts of Whispering Tor long enough to see if love will grow?
One of the things I like about Marillier is that she takes familiar legends and turns them into something more. This book is a take on the beauty and the beast legend, for sure, and probably others that I may not be familiar with. I greatly enjoyed reading this and recommend this author to fans of fantasy or Gothic romances.
By Juliet Marillier
Copyright 2009
400 pages
Marillier is one of my favorite authors when I want to escape and relax with a good, solid read, and Heart's Blood did not disappoint. This was a little heavier on the romance than her Sevenwaters series but I was okay with that.
Caitrin is an adult-aged runaway whose ill fortunes have left her penniless and trying to get away from the man who would beat her. She ends up at Whistling Tor, a remote place filled with ghosts and secrets.
The crumbling fortress belongs to Anluan, a chieftain who is not well-liked by those he rules. His family, they say, is cursed, and his woods are guarded by an unseen force.
But Caitrin has been trained as a scribe and Anluan hires her to help with his family's historic journals, transcribing them from Latin. She quickly learns that all is not as it seems at Whispering Tor and things that go bump in the night, while scary, sometimes have explanation, even if a mystical one.
Sorcery and the black arts hold the entire land in thrall. It is a calculated evil, and a chilling one.
As expected, Caitrin and the chieftain take a fancy toward one another, but can they tame the ghosts of Whispering Tor long enough to see if love will grow?
One of the things I like about Marillier is that she takes familiar legends and turns them into something more. This book is a take on the beauty and the beast legend, for sure, and probably others that I may not be familiar with. I greatly enjoyed reading this and recommend this author to fans of fantasy or Gothic romances.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Aunt Jenny Goes to Heaven
I am sad to let you know that my husband's aunt, whom we called Aunt Jenny, passed away Saturday just after midnight. She fought a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 78 years old.
I cannot speak for my husband, but I know he has fond memories of his aunt, who lived on the family farm just as he did. She raised her three sons there and they played together. The family spent Christmases together at his grandparents' home, also on the farm, and I know he will feel her loss keenly in coming days.
Aunt Jenny was one of the first to welcome me to the family some 28 years ago, telling me in her gravely voice that she was glad to see her nephew marrying me. We had actually known one another for many years, Aunt Jenny and I, for she was a substitute teacher when I was in elementary school. I remember her from the second grade, so I have known Aunt Jenny for 40 years. Her middle son and I went through school together, so I have known him just as long. I now call him cousin.
I often thought Aunt Jenny reminded me of Bea Arthur, particularly in voice but also in looks and body type. Aunt Jenny was tall and willowy, a striking figure and somewhat daunting as a teacher at the lectern. She doted on her three sons and on her husband. I know she spent much time caring for older folks in the family, ranging from cousins to her mother. In particular she took care of Aunt Lenna for many years.
She inherited her mother's ability to arrange flowers and create art but she did not pursue it as her mother did. But in her home I spied creative flower arrangements and other spots of beauty that indicated to me that she had this wonderful creative bent that she used sparingly but well.
Others who knew her better would have many other wonderful things to say about her, I am sure. Her children and grandchildren will miss her very much.
Aunt Jenny was always nice to me, and in a world where niceties are at a premium, I will always remember this about her.
I know she is at peace and her pain is gone. God bless you, Aunt Jenny, and I thank you for your kindnesses to me over the years.
I cannot speak for my husband, but I know he has fond memories of his aunt, who lived on the family farm just as he did. She raised her three sons there and they played together. The family spent Christmases together at his grandparents' home, also on the farm, and I know he will feel her loss keenly in coming days.
Aunt Jenny was one of the first to welcome me to the family some 28 years ago, telling me in her gravely voice that she was glad to see her nephew marrying me. We had actually known one another for many years, Aunt Jenny and I, for she was a substitute teacher when I was in elementary school. I remember her from the second grade, so I have known Aunt Jenny for 40 years. Her middle son and I went through school together, so I have known him just as long. I now call him cousin.
I often thought Aunt Jenny reminded me of Bea Arthur, particularly in voice but also in looks and body type. Aunt Jenny was tall and willowy, a striking figure and somewhat daunting as a teacher at the lectern. She doted on her three sons and on her husband. I know she spent much time caring for older folks in the family, ranging from cousins to her mother. In particular she took care of Aunt Lenna for many years.
She inherited her mother's ability to arrange flowers and create art but she did not pursue it as her mother did. But in her home I spied creative flower arrangements and other spots of beauty that indicated to me that she had this wonderful creative bent that she used sparingly but well.
Others who knew her better would have many other wonderful things to say about her, I am sure. Her children and grandchildren will miss her very much.
Aunt Jenny was always nice to me, and in a world where niceties are at a premium, I will always remember this about her.
I know she is at peace and her pain is gone. God bless you, Aunt Jenny, and I thank you for your kindnesses to me over the years.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday Thirteen
Today I offer up a list of 13 things you should do if you are an adult.
1. Make a will. Even if you have just a little estate, a will is an absolute necessity in order to bring peace and closure to your loved ones as well as to ensure that things go as you would like. I know no one wants to think about dying, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and be a grown up. Remember, if you have no will, your estate is ruled by the laws of your state. You might not like them.
2. Appoint guardians. If you have children, I cannot imagine not doing this. If you are killed in a car wreck today, who will look after your kids? Again, the state prevails if you do not have things already in writing.
3. Take care of your health. No one else is going to do it, and you have other people depending on you. The least you can do is visit a doctor every now and then. Take up yoga, learn to relax, reduce stress, take a Geritol, eat your vegetables. Don't drink too much, stop smoking, put down the root beer and ditch the bag of chocolate candy. Whew. Being an adult is tough.
4. Register to vote. And then vote. Yeah, I know it's all smoke and mirrors and democracy is a joke now that people think capitalism and democracy are the same thing (they're not), but vote any way. Who knows, maybe one day we will sneak someone in with some common sense.
5. Establish a relationship with a banker. Most people need to borrow money at one time or another. Unfortunately, who you know plays a big role in most things in life and this is one where it matters, too. So get to know the loan officer. Go in and ask a few questions, of nothing else. Be nice.
6. Obtain a lawyer. Ideally, you will never need one to bail you out of jail but there are other things (like making that will) that require a little bit of expertise. During uncertain times, it helps to have this one already figured out. What lawyer would you use if you were in an accident? If you don't know, think about it. The guy who is advertising on TV might not be your best choice.
7. Establish a home. I hope everyone eventually owns their own home, though I must say that renting and having someone else take care of things has its upside. However you decide to keep a roof over your head, make it yours and embrace it as a place of possibilities.
8. Find your passion. This one can be a tough thing for many people to do - we're so busy struggling to pay the bills, who has time to figure out what her passion might be? But I submit to you that having something to look forward to beside the drudgery of everyday life is an important part of being human, not just being grown up.
9. Learn to manage money. This is harder than it ought to be, but in this day and age of credit and plastic, it's very easy to overspend. Keep track of where your dollars go and you may be surprised how much you spend on lattes or cigarettes or clothes or books or whatever you like to purchase. For example, I tend to blow around $500 a year on books. Good? Bad? I don't know, but at least I know that's where I spent it.
10. Learn to have fun. Yes, have fun! Enjoy your life. Be spontaneous. It's not all about paying the bills and wiping noses and ironing. Go see a movie, for heaven's sake.
11. Find your god. Spirituality is both over rated and under rated, but finding your own personal spiritual core and belief system is definitely worth taking the time to do. Examine the values you were brought up with and accept or reject them as you will. Take a look at different religions and see if something fits better. You may go right back to the doctrine you were raised in and that's fine, but embrace it thoughtfully and with contemplation.
12. Remove the bad things. This is also a very difficult project to undertake because it requires a lot of inner prodding. But if something or someone in your life isn't working for you, and has absolutely no redeemable features, then you must figure that out and then toss them. Maybe you have a good friend who is a real downer. You must still get something from that relationship, and maybe that good thing is enough to keep the person around. But do take the time to examine it and figure out what is worthwhile. Maybe your job is the pits. Can you do something else?
13. Embrace the good things. This is also hard, because the bad things sometimes can be overwhelming. But good things are there all the time - you are able to read this. You are up and awake and not in a coma. Sometimes you have to be grateful for the mundane in order to appreciate your existence, but do give it a try. Grace is wonderful and we all have it in our life, even if we forget to look for it. So be grateful. At least you don't need that will just yet.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 174th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
1. Make a will. Even if you have just a little estate, a will is an absolute necessity in order to bring peace and closure to your loved ones as well as to ensure that things go as you would like. I know no one wants to think about dying, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and be a grown up. Remember, if you have no will, your estate is ruled by the laws of your state. You might not like them.
2. Appoint guardians. If you have children, I cannot imagine not doing this. If you are killed in a car wreck today, who will look after your kids? Again, the state prevails if you do not have things already in writing.
3. Take care of your health. No one else is going to do it, and you have other people depending on you. The least you can do is visit a doctor every now and then. Take up yoga, learn to relax, reduce stress, take a Geritol, eat your vegetables. Don't drink too much, stop smoking, put down the root beer and ditch the bag of chocolate candy. Whew. Being an adult is tough.
4. Register to vote. And then vote. Yeah, I know it's all smoke and mirrors and democracy is a joke now that people think capitalism and democracy are the same thing (they're not), but vote any way. Who knows, maybe one day we will sneak someone in with some common sense.
5. Establish a relationship with a banker. Most people need to borrow money at one time or another. Unfortunately, who you know plays a big role in most things in life and this is one where it matters, too. So get to know the loan officer. Go in and ask a few questions, of nothing else. Be nice.
6. Obtain a lawyer. Ideally, you will never need one to bail you out of jail but there are other things (like making that will) that require a little bit of expertise. During uncertain times, it helps to have this one already figured out. What lawyer would you use if you were in an accident? If you don't know, think about it. The guy who is advertising on TV might not be your best choice.
7. Establish a home. I hope everyone eventually owns their own home, though I must say that renting and having someone else take care of things has its upside. However you decide to keep a roof over your head, make it yours and embrace it as a place of possibilities.
8. Find your passion. This one can be a tough thing for many people to do - we're so busy struggling to pay the bills, who has time to figure out what her passion might be? But I submit to you that having something to look forward to beside the drudgery of everyday life is an important part of being human, not just being grown up.
9. Learn to manage money. This is harder than it ought to be, but in this day and age of credit and plastic, it's very easy to overspend. Keep track of where your dollars go and you may be surprised how much you spend on lattes or cigarettes or clothes or books or whatever you like to purchase. For example, I tend to blow around $500 a year on books. Good? Bad? I don't know, but at least I know that's where I spent it.
10. Learn to have fun. Yes, have fun! Enjoy your life. Be spontaneous. It's not all about paying the bills and wiping noses and ironing. Go see a movie, for heaven's sake.
11. Find your god. Spirituality is both over rated and under rated, but finding your own personal spiritual core and belief system is definitely worth taking the time to do. Examine the values you were brought up with and accept or reject them as you will. Take a look at different religions and see if something fits better. You may go right back to the doctrine you were raised in and that's fine, but embrace it thoughtfully and with contemplation.
12. Remove the bad things. This is also a very difficult project to undertake because it requires a lot of inner prodding. But if something or someone in your life isn't working for you, and has absolutely no redeemable features, then you must figure that out and then toss them. Maybe you have a good friend who is a real downer. You must still get something from that relationship, and maybe that good thing is enough to keep the person around. But do take the time to examine it and figure out what is worthwhile. Maybe your job is the pits. Can you do something else?
13. Embrace the good things. This is also hard, because the bad things sometimes can be overwhelming. But good things are there all the time - you are able to read this. You are up and awake and not in a coma. Sometimes you have to be grateful for the mundane in order to appreciate your existence, but do give it a try. Grace is wonderful and we all have it in our life, even if we forget to look for it. So be grateful. At least you don't need that will just yet.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 174th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
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