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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   |
| It's time to do Book Club Minutes today, usually takes around four hours. I always email them out on the Friday after. We had a whopping 35 members show up last Tuesday and what a discussion that was. Our book for March is Girl Waiting With Gun by Amy Stewart. It takes place in Paterson NJ in 1914 and is based on a true story (historical fiction)...very good, I'm 2/3 through. As I age, I know more people who are dying which is some sort of preparation for the act . It puts it upfront and center stage so to speak. Even on FB it glares at me so it is becoming "the normal". Maybe this is a good thing since it is inevitable. It helps to make each day more precious but I continue to lack incentive to do things. Excuse me for rambling. Our temps did drop overnight after the rain stopped, 38 this morning. Mopsy gets shocked every time I open the porch door for her. She tiptoes out and runs back in, eats breakfast and goes back to bed. Cats know what's what. until next time...c |
| It's raining cats and dogs and frogs and toads this morning. And the temp will be dropping a lot tonight. Changes in our temps are almost always preceded by rain. I don't mean to dwell of the droopies but I continue to grieve for Jim. It will be 4 years this July 19th. Yes, the pain has eased some but the missing continues in so many ways. I read and read about how others cope with loss of a spouse, how it's supposed to be comforting to know you are not alone, but it's not...much. Reading about it and trying to rise up out of this hole just keeps me remembering. And writing about it does the same thing. Maybe I'm just on the wrong track for me. until next time...c |
| Book club yesterday with a whopping 35 of us in attendance. Some might think this is too many but the more people the more opinions the better the discussion. Yes. Our book was The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier, a thumbs up for me. It's about a young English Quaker girl who comes to the U.S. with her sister (1850), who is to be married in a littler town near Oberlin, Ohio. The sister dies of yellow fever before she gets there and the problems begin. I recommend it. And Tracy Chevalier has a great author page. until next time...c |
| Word from Gobbler's Knob is that Phil did not see his shadow this morning meaning that we will have an early spring this year. I believe it. Our forecast for today is 83 degrees. Yay, Phil! I've never seen a groundhog (not knowingly anyway) but I did used to repeat that old woodchuck (another word for groundhog) poem when I was little...remember? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could chuck wood? As much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, If a woodchuck could chuck wood. Apparently a lot since they hibernate during the winter, testing the waters in February. Hope you are right, Phil. I'm ready to turn off the heat. until next time...c |
| No sign of the hawk today but the birds are back in droves. I guess a temp of 38 is the reason.I saw on the weather that Delaware had a very slight snowfall on Sunday which quickly turned to slush. Even at 38 I am so glad to live in north central Florida because I can see some 70s in the forecast this week. I could never move back to Delaware because I couldn't stand the length of the cold weather. I had my truck's oil and filter changed today, tires rotated, and thankfully everything else checked out okay. Then to the grocery story and stopped to fill up with gas on the way home. I had a book in at the library which I'd put on hold and actually went there to pick it up knowing full well the library was closed today for the holiday. Oh, well. So...no new book to read, but I did download an mp3 copy to my Kindle (from the library) of The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud. I don't usually listen to books but it is easier to get audibles right away. I like it although the customer reviews are not great. I have a meeting to go to tonight about our Writers Alliance website which we are having lots of trouble with, a combination of Wordpress and Hostmoster woes and maybe asking more from the site than we should be expecting. Hopefully, some answers will come from putting six heads together. A friend is picking me up so I don't have to drive after dark, something I hate doing. And I've had a sort of sick headache all day. until next time...c |
| Wow, I'm just sitting here at the computer when bang, this huge bird, a hawk I think, crashed into the window. Even though I reacted quickly all I could see was a wing span and small birds flying everywhere. Apparently, according to information I looked up on the web, hawks, especially Cooper Hawks are attracted to bird feeders...for the birds, not the seeds. My feeder has been hanging in the same spot for many many years and I've never seen that before. I dashed outside right away but it was eerily quiet. No birds, no hawk, nothing. The web info says I may have to take down the feeder for awhile until the hawk quits stalking it, a week probably. I do have shrubs (within 2 feet) of the feeder for protection. It was almost dark and I guess feeding time for everyone. I'll see what happens in the morning. until next time...c |
| I didn't make it to Kanapaha yesterday but the tree and all other Christmas decorations are down and put away. Oops I just remembered the wreath on the front door... Now it is too cold to go, in the 40s this morning with a high in the 50s. I'll have to wait until it warms up a little. Monday the senior rec center is having a New Year's get together. Tuesday is Book Club Day and Thursday is my Writing Your Life History Group. Hope the temp improves just a little. I had to go grocery shopping today, wore my coat and gloves and was still cold...brrr. It's the breezy rain that makes it so bone-chilling. I am reading a book, I should say re-reading a book that I read in high school probably 1960 or 1961, The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe. At the time it contained information that was all news to me as an only child with a not very communicative mother in the ways of the birds and the bees. I just started reading it this afternoon and it puts me right back there in my teens. It says it was made into a movie but no way it could have been as good as the book. Aren't books wonderful? until next time...c |
| Today is "take the tree down day", sort of a tradition on the day after New Year's. It's turned a bit cooler, 60 instead of 70 this morning so that should make the job more pleasant. Isn't it always so much more fun to put the tree up than take it down? My tree is a fake one but pretty, I think. This year I'm going to cover it naked with plastic tree bags instead of "closing it up" and stuffing it into its box. Anything to make life a little easier as age creeps on. I have lots of old old balls on it with memories for most so taking it down is a trek through time just like putting it up. Most of them go into their original boxes dating all the way back to the 1960s. Some are a little tattered but then aren't we all? I even have memories of shopping for many of them with Jim. I have a huge azalea bush in full bloom. Our holiday weather has been so warm, the grass is green and could use a mowing, but tonight the low is supposed to be 41, not sure how that will affect the confusion. I purchased an annual membership (my Christmas present to myself) to our local botanical garden, Kanapaha  , and may go there today if the tree doesn't wear me out. Not sure what will be blooming but it's always beautiful and the walking will be good for me. I've been a couple times before but it is huge and needs many visits to see everything. This time I definitely want to see the herb garden and the lake nearby.Well, my tree is calling and twinkling its last twinkle until next year so... until next time...c |
| Mopsy and I listened to the local fireworks into 2016. I listened with one ear as I watched a new episode of Foyle's War on Netflix, sipped green tea and nibbled on craisins. The booms lasted till almost 1 a.m. when we both fell asleep. This morning when I opened my Writers Write email, I realized this is a leap year, we have an extra day, 366 days to write. It's very quiet here today, everyone is sleeping off last night. Only the birds and squirrels (and me and Mopsy) are awake. A few owls and hawks are screeching, searching for breakfast. until next time...c |
| My Pop-pop died on December 5th, 1960, but for a long time, I'm not sure why, I thought he died on December 7th. So when Pearl Harbor Day Anniversary comes up, I always associate it with Pop-pop's death. I still do. It's hard to change old habits and I have some very wonderful memories of Pop-pop so I will continue to think of him on December 7th, I'm sure. Since all my older relatives have died, a few years ago I decided to make a sort of memory book for them. I bought one of the small photo albums at Dollar Tree and got together the best photos I could find plus their obituaries which had all their relevant information. I arranged it oldest to youngest, beginning with Pop-pop and Grandmom. This little album has come in handy for writing stories, for looking up things on the census, and lots of other things, not to mention the memories it invokes everytime I pick it up. until next time...c |
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