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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   |
| The topic of this week's short story newsletter is scene and how important it is to your story. That got me to thinking about how much I like to read a story that takes place in a setting I am familiar with. M D Abrams is an author who has used this to her advantage setting her mysteries in northern Florida. I stumbled across one of her books, Murder in Wakulla Springs, while browsing my local library shelves and ended up reading every book she has written. Then there is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I've read all of her books, too. A new author, Laura Lee Smith, wrote Heart of Palm, a book I fell in love with...and the list goes on and on. She has a new one coming out in December and I can't wait. The point is that readers are interested in the setting so it's something to seriously think about when you are writing. A book with a built-in audience is nothing to sneeze at. until next time...c |
| Irma is now a thing of the past, gone but not forgotten. The eye such as it was rumbled over Gainesville in the wee hours of Monday morning (9/11). Tonight on our local news I heard the highest winds recorded were 55 mph, tropical force. She blew herself out before she got here but, oh, the rain she brought made up for it. The entrance to my development was flooded, mailbox high. Thankfully, my house is on a rise, and my major damage cleared out the weak and dead wood from my pines. Yesterday was my first outing since last Thursday, a whole week! My power and internet were off less than 24 hours and other than the water out front, I fared very well. My neighbor dragged out the heavier fallen limbs and I picked up the small stuff, loading it in my wheelbarrow and hauling it out to the curb for the debris people when they get around to us. That could be up to a month if last year's storms are any indication, but you won't hear any complaints from me. I think the stress of waiting for it (Irma) was worse than the storm itself. My outing yesterday involved lab work, filling a prescription, and grocery shopping. Tomorrow I begin the long process of decreasing my Prednisone (it will be my third try), but I feel optimistic about this one because my sed rate was low so maybe my PMR symptoms will not return. Also, tomorrow I am being interviewed about my Chicken Soup story by a writer with Our Town Magazine. That should be interesting...I'll be on the other end of the pencil. And I was selected as one of the artists to participate in our local Harn Museum's Mini Art Sale. I can paint whatever I want on a 6 x 6 canvas supplied by the Museum, and from November 21st through December 14th the paintings of the 75 artists selected will hang in the Museum. On December 14th the paintings will be sold (first come first served) for $40 each as a fund raiser for the Harn. So many nice things happening, I'm one of those people waiting now for the hammer to fall. I hope not. until next time...c |
| I continue to wait for Irma, not much longer though as midnight to 8 a.m. should be the worst of it. I'm hoping it will be battered and bruised by the time it gets here. It's been so long since I've seen 70 degrees in the daytime, I was chilly. It's been raining and gusty all day but nothing scary yet. I want to write but my brain is obsessed with Irma...sorry this is so short. until next time...c |
| I am preparing for Hurricane Irma, making a list and checking it twice just like for Christmas. I'm in North Central Florida about equidistant from both coasts so I don't expect flooding but who knows, lots of wind and rain for sure and probably power outages. I have a Life History group tomorrow which so far is still meeting, and I have a doctor's appointment on Friday...just got a call confirming that, hopefully Irma will allow. Our Writer's Group meets on Sunday, but I expect that to be cancelled, but I'm all prepared just in case we have a miracle. The only positive side I can see to Irma is lower temperatures so although I may be without a/c, I probably won't need it anyway. Sunday and Monday should be the worst according to current predictions. The only thing I really worry about are those 13 pine trees in my back yard, not a pretty site when the wind is howling and they are swaying. I hope those little animals and birds appreciate my not getting them cut down. until next time...c |
| My critique group met yesterday and since we had a couple things to celebrate, we had dinner as a group afterwards at a local restaurant, very nice. One of our members had published her memoir, On the Road Again by Sue Coffman Dudley, and Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cat Really Did That? came out on August 8th with my story, The Cat That Wouldn't Hunt. Both books are available at Amazon and other places. We even had a champagne toast! Of course, I forgot to take pictures. I've been painting again, acrylics now instead of watercolor. I really like watercolor, but I never know what I'm going to end up with...it has a mind of its own. So I found this Youtube site that I can't say enough good things about, Ginger Cook Live on Youtube  . I haven't signed up yet for the lessons but I have followed a couple of the Youtube presentations, done the paintings, and was very happy with the way they turned out. I've never tried acrylics before, oils a long long time ago. Oils take way too long to dry for me so I lost interest and went to watercolor. I posted the first one I attempted on my offsite blog, Connieann's Corner . It's under the page "Sketches and More" if you have time to take a look.I bought a little student's starter acrylic set at Hobby Lobby for $12.95 and a 6" x 6" canvas for around $3 (it was on sale) and that's what I used to paint the sunflowers in a vase still life. I definitely had $16 worth of fun!!! Today was back to reality of mowing the grass. I am soooo looking forward to cooler weather. until next time...connie |
| I find adding to my blog is mainly a matter of getting started. I don't think a lot about it because thinking about something is not doing it....so.... Thursday my Life History Group met with eleven of us around the circle. We meet in our local library branch on the first Thursday of each month. The group resulted from individuals who took a "writing your life history" class which used to be free and held at the library also. But now it is taught at our community college for a fee. I took the free class back in the spring of 2014. Anyone from the class is urged to join the Life History Group and most do. We range in age from 40s to 80s and come from all walks of life and all places far and wide. That's why our stories are so interesting. At each meeting we are expected to have written a new story about anything we like and about five minutes long, orally. It's very rare someone will come without a story, but it does happen, and that's okay too. We're all friends and eager to make new ones. Even though we are a diverse group, we almost always can identify with each other's stories. For instance, this Thursday one told about being embarrassed by her teacher in second grade, another wrote about the terrors of mattress shopping, someone else related the good and bad of his first job, another wrote of their amazing hot air balloon ride (a one and only happening), and girl scout escapades, Christmas newsletters, a lady's voice going from alto to tenor in the choir, how to learn to swim, and caring for a mom were topics shared by others. So you can see how we all can identify with each other and somehow that deepens our humanity, a good thing, I think. until next time...c |
| I'm writing this as I sit and cool off from working on the yard, cutting, edging and trimming today. The temp is 88 but the feel like is 98 degrees F. We have had 2 showers already but hopefully no more today. At 73 I can only work about 20 minutes at a time, then I have to come in and rest which is boring and aggravating. So here I am tapping the keyboard with yada yada. I went to a Sunday program at the library yesterday, a refresher course for writers which was mostly punctuation and subject/verb tense agreement. We even had a test, 20 sentences, check all the correct ones. Correct ones were 0 which after getting to about the 12th one, I figured that out. The speakers name was Liz Coursen and she has around 12 books published on good writing. You can find her at ModernSpeaker.com if you're interested. Tomorrow at 1 my writing group meets. I received my 10 copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cat Really Did That? which has my little kitty story in it. I plan on giving 5 copies to my cohorts for listening to my million stories over the years. They deserve much more than that.Back to it.... until next time...c |
| I have had a very unusual fourth of July weekend, at least for me. My daughter's birthday was Saturday (the first) and hoping to avoid some traffic, I journeyed to Jacksonville on Sunday morning stopping at Publix first for flowers and a birthday card with other gifts tucked behind the backseat. Earlier Sunday morning and all Saturday evening I had to keep telling myself, "You can do this, you can do this" referring to driving in maniacal Jax traffic! I was just a little stressed out but maybe a good thing, keeping me alert and on my toes on my voyage into the unknown...always the description of Jax highways due to ever ongoing construction. I made it to Erica's with just a few surprises, rights not lefts and lefts not rights, and in a pretty chipper state of mind, proud of myself. After getting acquainted with her new apartment, petting Ollie (her kitty), opening presents, drinking some water and making a pit stop, we decided to go to...tada...Hamburger Mary's for the brunch show. For those who may not be acquainted with Mary's here is a link to "her" Facebook page, Mary's I have never laughed so much, my face hurt from smiling! Dumb us, we didn't know they worked for tips and only had a few ones with us. Next time we'll do better. Yes, I want to go back. I have led way too much of a sheltered life! I'm not sure if there are Mary's all over, there are 2 in Jax and plans for a 3rd. Until Sunday, the only person in drag I had ever seen was Milton Berle, remember Auntie Mildred on Lucy? Anyway, it was a birthday Erica and I will remember for a long long time. After that we did some shopping, way too hot for anything else. Steinmart's was icy cold and I bought several new tops. My local Steinmart closed a long time ago, not sure why, but I miss them. As It neared 6, my leaving time, my anxiety level started rising again but I had nothing to worry about. The construction actually worked in my favor, slowing traffic down to a moderate 60 mph. This was on I-95, definitely slow. After I got across the St. John's and headed west on I-10, I was fine and made it home in record time. Looking forward to my next new adventure... until next time...c |
| My writing group sponsored a local author reading last Saturday at a bar/restaurant/pool-playing place and it was a huge success, good music, good food and drink, and good poetry and stories. We only had ten readers (I was not one of them being nervous, anxious and introverted) but they were top notch plus the music was provided by those in our group who are song writers. A most enjoyable afternoon. Wish someone had videoed some of it. Other than that, my week has been filled with grass cutting (between the raindrops) and all the other normal things that life and living holler out for. Until next time...c |
| I made a friend in my writing group who has a horse, a palomino quarter horse who is 36 years old. She has had "Lil" (short for Diamond Lil) since she (Lil) was 6. A few days ago Penny asked if I would like to meet Lil and after hesitating just a teeny tiny bit, I said I would. So this morning was the day. Penny boards Lil just a few miles north of Gainesville and with the address in hand I left home around 9:30 in order to meet Penny around 10. She sees Lil twice a week to groom and ride and "pal around". Not realizing at first but as I got closer to my destination I found I was familiar with the area, having had a friend who lived nearby. A couple years back, Carolyn (the friend), lost her husband and decided to move near Atlanta to be close to her son and daughter-in-law. I had helped her with her packing but hadn't been up in that area for quite awhile. It is beautiful, rolling hills, lush grasses, and towering trees on a quiet country road. Lil's Place, since I don't know any other name to call it, was horse country, green pastures with black board fencing, a huge wrought iron entry gate (of which I had the code), and a narrow winding road back to the barn on the left, a sprawling two-story home on the right. Never having been up close and personal to a horse barn, it was a new experience for me. Penny was waiting outside, decked out in riding attire. She led me to the barn, a tall structure as you would expect, with 7 or 8 stalls and a couple tack and storage rooms. It was surprisingly cool with several box fans and it smelled pleasant, another surprise. Penny introduced me to all the boarders and I was even brave enough to rub a couple noses. All were well-behaved. She lifted the lid on a trunk next to Lil's stall and inside was everything imaginable to groom and take care of a horse. I watched as Penny fitted Lil's bridle (no bit) over her head. It even had her name on it across her nose. Lil was ready to go. Cream-colored with a tiny bit of gray in her coat and a platinum mane and tail, she stepped gingerly out into the center area of the barn. Penny turned her around, facing me, and snapped leads onto her bridle and onto hooks on each side of the area to keep her stationary for grooming, feet cleaning, brushing, mane and tail grooming and a particular once-over to insure no problems had cropped up since Penny's last visit. She is a good horse mommy. Treats were offered for good behavior and Lil accepted one from me without question. I think Penny said Lil was 16 1/2 hands (with a hand being 4 inches). Lil is lovely and so gentle. In comparison, 36 horse years is 90-some human years. Penny surmises that mild dressage keeps Lil young. I didn't want to interfere with their routine so I left just before eleven when Penny and Lil had their lesson. "Them time" has to be important to both, and I was happy and appreciative to be a small part of it on this 23rd day of July 2017. |
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