Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Non-Writing Time, My Aunt, My Blogging Spot & My Mom

Here are today's blogs...

Blog City - Day 592

Prompt: What are some of the ways you make your non-writing time serve your writing?

I find I will often work out story issues when I go for long walks. I consider an issue I am ruminating over and while I walk I consider and 'story talk' my way into a possible solution. It also allows me to get up and move around.... because it is not good to sit for long periods of time.

I have been known to do this 'story talk' while I do anything mundane, like doing the dishes or having a shower or driving my car.

I also go nowhere without a notebook and pen. I will jot notes at the grocery store or at the bank... where ever I may have to wait.

I watch people. See how they behave and interact. Eavesdrop on conversations.

I have recently walked from where a character will be living to which school she will be working at to see how long the walk is and what she encounters along the way - shortcuts and sights. I need to do this again to gather information on how far it is to her place of work - at a bookshop in downtown Waterloo. This sets the real into my story and gives me a chance to exercise.

I listen to music that may possibly inspire a scene or a character.

I also go on, what Julia Cameron calls, Artist's Dates. These are jaunts out and about that are by yourself. You can do anything so long as you refill your creative well with inspiration... but you have to do the date by yourself. I have visited museums, gone to small towns to take in the atmosphere, explored a library or university campus.

Welcome To My Reality - October Prompts

27. Describe a family member and your relationship with them.

I have a lot of interesting family members... deciding who to write about created quite a quandry. I initially thought I would talk about my Gramzie, but I changed my mind... many times. I decided to write about my aunt - Kathleen, or Kay. She is my mother's youngest sister... she is younger than my mother by nine years.

When I was a baby she lived with us during her last year of high school. She was twenty when I was born. She had gone to Teacher's College in North Bay and then moved to Guelph to teach. A real trail blazer. In 1972, she married and in 1976 the two of them graduated from the University of Western Ontario. Both of them were the first person in their families to go on to University.

As a child she was the person I looked forward to seeing whenever she came to visit. She and Uncle John took me shopping and bought me a red pencil case; I was 7 and I still have it. They brought pizza to our house when I was five. I remember sitting around the coffee table eating this strange type of food... Uncle John is Italian and they wanted to share a bit of his favourites - New Liskeard style. I remember not liking it. (I love it now). Many happy memories surround my aunt. The only thing I did not like about her visits home was that she always managed to make Gramzie cry... she would complain about things and upset my Grandmother. She really should have been complaining to my Grandfather who was the source of the issues, but she never did.

When I would come and visit her in Guelph, I loved it. I got to visit her special education class. All the students were older than me, but they were a delight to be around. It was a memory that stayed with me... and some twenty years later we were working together in a special education class. Teaching with my aunt was a great experience... she is a wonderful mentor. She is retired now. She encouraged me to go back to school and get my teaching certificate and eventually I did. Her encouragement means a lot to me. We are similar in many ways and for that I am proud to be her niece.

28. Describe the scene as you blog - yourself and your surroundings, so that we can visualise it.

Today I am blogging at home. I sit on the leather couch with a blanket folded under my bottom to keep all the heat tucked in and close. My laptop warms my lap and keeps my hands warm as I type. I am dressed in fluffy socks of fuzzy purple, track pants, a t-shirt and my Mountain Warehouse hoodie. Because the furnace is not working today and there is a chill in the outside air, my hoodie is up and my zipper is pulled almost to fully closed. Across the room from me, pointed towards me, is a little space heater pumping out as much heat as it can generate. It is still only 18 degrees Celsius in here instead of the usual 22 degrees.

I have a coffee perked on the coffee table before me and I must remind myself to drink it before it gets cold... no doubt I will have to zap it in the microwave to reheat it as I have forgotten it for so long.

The coffee table also holds a stack of Coffee Table books.... that nobody ever looks at... except maybe my mother - in - law. I have two green placemats with pale pink flowers scattered over them and a stitched in heart in the center of each of them. At the end oppostite the books it another placemat of blue and white which holds five remotes, my ipod, my fitbit connector and 2 candles.

On a side table are the books I have recently finsihed reading and need to write up reviews for them before I can put them away.
The dining room table stands across from me. It is covered with boxes which contain bits and pieces of tools, as well as my own piles of paper I have yet to put away. On the floor before it are tools, some are in boxes, some are resting directly on towels put out to protect the floor. There are also planks of lamminate that may or may not be used. My husband has been putting in new flooring and he is still not yet done... when the bathroom is finished, he may put all this junk away. Until then, I must clean around the debris and make due.

At least my television is back on its stand in the corner and I am able to watch TV without having to get up and walk across the room. For the first six months of this renovation I had to get up with the clicker and walk over to the other side of the room to change the channel. Yes, I had to do that when I was a kid as well... but there were no clickers then... and also less channels. I lived in Northern Ontario - we had a choice of 5 stations... not today's unbelievable amounts.

32. Who do you admire?

I have many people I could choose but I think I will tell you about my mother. She did not have an easy beginning, having to grow up under the shadow of a father who was both emotionally and physically abusive. My mother fought back... and on at least one occasion stopped my Grandfather from becoming too physical with her - apparently they were fighting with pitch forks and she broke his pinkie finger.
In her marriage, she was not happy. My father was unfaithful. It was with a woman who was part of their circle of friends... a woman who took a sick sense of delight in breaking up other couples.

Mom moved out and found an apartment in town. It must have been difficult being separated in a small town in the early seventies... I was probably one of the only children who had separated parents in my class. She had to be around friends that knew both my parents. Luckily she did have a couple of girlfriends that were her friends - she is still friends with these ladies.

We eventually moved to Guelph to be closer to my aunt... my mother transferred. She worked for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and was able to transfer to the Guelph office which was on the University of Guelph grounds.

My father stayed in New Liskeard, but he was diagnosed with cancer not long afterward. My mother would go to see him at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. She had to deal with her sister - in - law's vileness.... she had made friends with the B**** that broke my parents up. She told my mother, "she was no longer part of the family" - she herself was only married into the family. My Dad's brother and my Grandma never once gave her that impression, but still that must have been so hurtful. Yet she still went every weekend to see my Dad until he died in February.