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 |  Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c   |
| While grocery shopping today, I was astonished at the number of other shoppers who smiled back when I purposely smiled at them. Like...everyone! And I'm afraid I looked a fright. It was March lion windy so my hair went in every direction possible. Maybe they were laughing? Nah. Have you every heard of artist trading cards? I hadn't until yesterday when I read the words in another blog on wdc so I looked it up. There's a whole other culture out there. It was initiated in 1997 (wow am I behind the times) by a Swiss artist named Vance Stirnemann and now it is all over the place with local and online trading sites. The only real rule is that they have to be 2-1/2" x 3-1/2". Check it out on this Strathmore  site. Sounds like a lot of fun, going to make some.until next time...c  |
| Yesterday, I received an email from someone that I'm not sure how I met or found, but I had added my email to her email list. To make a long story short, she asked if I would be interested in being "an early reader" for her newest unpublished book, a mystery. She offered to send a .doc, an electronic file to my Kindle, or a paperback copy. I thought about it and decided to comply, requesting the paperback copy. I do love mysteries. It turns out this is her second book of a series so I have put a library "hold" on number one. She is a local author, should be an interesting experience. I'll let you know how it turns out. until next time...c |
I was up early this morning, 6 A.M., thanks to Mopsy and it is very cold (36 degrees F.) again. I let Mopsy out on the porch but in two seconds she was back inside, hopping on the arm of the sofa under the lamp. Kitties are smart. When it was light enough, I saw frost on roofs across the street. This is sort of a shock after days in the 80s last week.  My favorite next door neighbors have listed their house and are looking for something bigger. I will be so sad to see them and their two little girls go. We've been neighbors for nine years so the people who buy will not have known Jim. It makes me sad. until next time...c |
| We discussed The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt at our most recent book club meeting. The first remark was the book was so heavy! Yes, 770 some pages, it would have been so much easier to read on my Kindle, but I didn't feel like buying it. I did like the book, as did thousands of others, and thoroughly enjoyed Tartt's prose. After the book discussion we got off on a tangent of the pros and cons of audio books. I've only listened to one audio book in my life and that was Racing in the Rain, and that time was because it was the only copy available. I find when I listen to a book, my mind begins to wander and I have a hard time concentrating. I've tried listening to several but have given up and gone to the text version after about twenty minutes in. At the meeting others said they can follow the characters better on audio because they hear how to pronounce the names correctly. I make up my own pronunciation and as long as I'm consistent, I have no problem, think Ove. until next time...c |
| Recently, a mockingbird has been visiting my birdbath outside my computer window so I tend to see him (or her) many times a day. She is beautiful and takes a drink as no other bird that I've seen. She stands on the side of the dish for awhile, looks around, then dips her head, gets a sip and raises up, leaning back with her beak pointing toward the sky. She does this several times at one sitting and then flutters off, leaving the birdbath swinging on its jute hanger. until next time...c |
| Yesterday, at my Life History Group Meeting, one of our members wrote about prejudice during her life, how things have changed and how they have not changed. We had 12 members present and I think some of them were uncomfortable. One member even spoke up after, saying she was raised in the south, had always been a southerner, and of course had different views on things. I talked with her when the meeting ended. She had complained of her knee giving out at inopportune times during our last meeting and I wondered it she was feeling any better (she's 83). But she wanted to know how I felt about the prejudice story. Actually she wanted to give me her views since I hardly got a word in. She told me about a Halloween when she was 6 or 7 and their maid (black) had helped her dress up as Aunt Jemima. She insisted the maid had as good a time as she did, laughing as she applied the blacking to her face and enjoying dressing her in Aunt Jemima clothing. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with it then and nothing wrong with it now. Tolerance is a big word. until next time...c |
| I was reading the Blogging Bliss newsletter, scrolling down, and noticed the first blog started out with Peeps for Champagne, and that reminded me...you know how that goes. My husband once had a job as a champagne taster. Yes, he did. It was an upscale restaurant in Dover, Delaware, called the Dinner Bell Inn on State Street. It may still be there, I'm not sure, this was back in the 1960s. He was an Airman third class and I'm sure you know how poor that is so he took many part time jobs to pick up extra money. When a table ordered champagne, his job was to pop the cork and taste a tiny little bit to make sure it was good, not flat, I don't know what else. And the funny thing was that he was almost a teetotaler, hardly liking any kind of alcoholic beverage. I think he worked there about two weeks. until next time...c |
| My friend had surgery a week ago today and remains in the hospital, hopefully to be released sometime this week. She remains in good spirits and says she will need no more treatments. It has been so cold here I have had to push myself to go to my normal outings. Book Club was on the 2nd and surprisingly over 20 of us showed up to discuss No One is Coming to Save Us, a book I very much liked. For February we are reading The Underground Railroad, which I have read before and enjoyed. Yesterday, Sunday, I went to my Writers Alliance of Gainesville meeting to hear a local CPA speak on taxes for writers, very interesting and informative...if you're actually making any money from writing. There's always hope, though. We had several new members pay dues and several old ones renew (I'm the treasurer, in my 4th and final year now). We usually have our board meeting before our regular meeting, but yesterday we decided to meet afterwards at a local fast food restaurant and it turned out to be a good decision (even though they didn't have coffee, can you imagine that?). We pushed tables together in one of the outer corners and had our own little realm with fast food for those who cared to indulge, not a whole lot of other customers on a Sunday evening. I ordered and received a new Kindle Fire last week and I'm having a hard time getting used to it. My old one did nothing but let me read books, no internet, no Alexa. I just need time I guess and must keep at it. I've promised my old one to a friend who has none. until next time...c |
| On the 20th I drove a good friend to get a colonoscopy and stayed with her so she would have a driver to take her home. I didn't realize but they asked me to be with her in recovery. She was fine after and in very good spirits...as you can imagine. But the doctor had bad news. She has a polyp that was too large to remove during the procedure so they only did a biopsy, and it turned out cancerous. He explained she would need surgery (a resection of her colon) and probably follow-up chemo and radiation. She took the news well, at least in my presence, better than I would have. She said there are colon problems all through her family but still.... Her first appointment with the surgeon is on January 3rd. It had been 3 years since her last colonoscopy. She's 66. All that put a damper on Christmas this year. My daughter and granddaughter came down from Jax for an early Christmas Day lunch and gift exchange but the tone was much muted from earlier years with my friend's news ever present. I was actually relieved when Christmas was over this year and took down my tree yesterday, a first since I always wait until New Year's Day for that event. Mopsy continues to be well which certainly cheers me some. Her belly fur is very slowly growing back and her "wrist" where the i.v. was now looks normal. She played havoc with the gifts under the tree, ripping off the bows and gift tags and sliding the boxes and bags around. I was happy to see her playing again. until next time...c |
| Today is my ninth anniversary on Writing.Com! I can't imagine not being here. It's my first click in the morning and my last click at night. I've met so many wonderful people, and sadly some are no longer with us. I've been part of many groups, had my own contest, and entered many others. Writing.Com is family, family I will never leave...until you know when. You all saved my sanity during my husband's illness and death and gave me a break from my heartbreak. May Writing.Com go on forever! until next time...c |
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