Impressions of Life

I came out to the PAR TR for a weekend of fun, to shuck off a couple of difficult weeks and to just relax. What I’ve experienced turned out to be much more. In a world that grows more expansive each day via the Internet, people seem to be growing more isolated and lost feeling;…

11.3.14 Monday Music Mention – City ‘Am Fenster’ (At the window)

I’ve not done one of these in a long while.  During a mini-blog catch up session last night I came across this song on wederwill’s blog.  I had never heard of the band or the song.  But there is something gripping about it, haunting in its melody, musical composition and beat.  I thought I would…

The Third Garment – Scent

I don’t write often on the more feminine aspects of life that tend to lift and enrobe us in comfort and pleasure, like the tactile feel of certain fabrics,the weather; things combined with scent.  Scent is one of my all time favorite mood drivers. In this arena I am always torn between the natural and…

9.8.14 Monday Music Mention – Imogen Heap

I know, I missed last week.   Last Monday was a no-work day and almost a no-computer day too.  Hopefully y’all were off doing fun things like dancing, grilling, grabbing some end-of-summer fun. I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus due to stress, and hope to be back writing again soon.  In the meantime,…

“Dreams for Sale”

Ivory towers are difficult to maintain Too much melancholy seeps into the cracks Jostling the dust for position of primacy Longing for an out; escape is a feather duster ride She hovers among the secreted garden of words Slender stalks of them over here, ground-hugging clumps over there Flinging some violently against the canvas of…

Free Flow

It is no mystery to those close to me that this is a difficult time.  What follows is simply another free flow writing I did, similar to “Skin Tight” a few months ago. ****************************** It is trying to try, try and try again. It wearies and robs the soul of happiness that it is its…

8.18.14 Monday Music Mention – Idan Raichel Project

The Idan Raichel Project will probably be someone most of you’ve not heard of unless you’ve a penchant for Israeli music.  The project attempted to gather  the voices in Israel together in music – cross cultural and cross linguistic, it focuses on working together in a place where such an idea is often only a…

The Map Makers

Prose, poem or parable – your choice; but for your reading and thinking pleasure 🙂 The Map Makers (For K) She once met a mapmaker Ordered from the back of a matchbook She checked the mail impatiently for her buck-fifty worth When he arrived she was astonished As he told her it was all lies…

8.11.14 Monday Music Mention – Brian Crain

Happy Monday all!  I know everyone is rip roarin’ ready to return to well, whatever  it is that you do on Mondays 🙂 This week’s mention is another accomplished pianist, baseball player turned artist,  Brian Crain.  He is a majestic composer, and has produced several solo piano offerings and others including strings and piano duets…

8.4.14 Monday Music Mention

I. Can’t. Stop.  (smile)  This is one of my favorite weekly posts, sharing music that someone may not have stumbled upon yet. Music does so much for us: mentally and emotionally.  It is often the backdrop of many writers of all genres. Today I want to introduce you to one of the pianists that form…

Decisions, always decisions about writing

I’ve spent the last two days thinking over this experiment that I practiced in July, of posting almost every day.  I wanted to see if I could keep that pace, while working and trying to have a semblance of life with my family and friends as well.  I enjoyed it immensely, but I have found…

7.31.14 Thursday Tale Tellers Tattle – Newbie Rec’s

I read a lot of blogs each week.  Some weeks more than usual, other weeks far less.  I DO have to sleep sometime 🙂 I’ll drop by Community Pool on the weekends sometimes to catch newcomers and provide feedback. All of us write for a reason, but the reasons vary.  Pain and loss, self-discovery, because…

7.28.14 Monday Music Mention – Adam Hurst, cellist

It is difficult to pick a ‘favorite’ instrument for me, as I appreciate all of them.  Participating in the Symphonic band and the marching band when young and geeky (still geeky), I was able to hear them closely. But strings, in the hands of the right people, reach into my body and elicit something that…

7.27.14 Sunday Snippets

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~ Hans Christian Anderson Things on my writing mind… 1. Good gawd, could anyone come up with more things that women are ‘supposed’ to be? Badass. Baker. Power Executive. Mom. Construction supervisor. Submissive wife. Activist. Feminist. I get tired reading about…

7.21.14 Monday Music Mention – O-Shen

Everyone should start their Monday with a little Reggae mon 🙂  This week’s artist is a personal favorite of mine primarily because it is one of his songs that became my personal theme song a few years back.  I enjoy this genre very much, finding the music uplifting, catchy and very easily stuck in your…

Life Snapshot

Today is Shabbat.  A time free of work world constraints.  Time to absorb beauty, reflect beauty and warmth, radiate that back to others.  A time for thinking, for being. A time for giving thanks.  I smell like the woods, having finally finished my sun-steeping of a new body oil I created, scented with vetiver, peru…

7.17.14 Thursday Tale Tellers Tattle – K. A. Brace

I had not purchased a book of poetry in decades, until I stumbled across this writer here on WordPress. Poetry is a fickle companion, requiring time to pause, to let the words marinate, to speak the words out loud. It cannot be rushed.  Sometimes life is just too busy for that. KB’s book “To Travel…

Monday Music Mention – Blackmill

Today I thought I’d pull in one of my artist favorites that is quite a bit different from the ones I’ve introduced in the past. Music is truly a smorgasbord for me, and I find things to like  in almost every genre. This artist I listen to often when I’m doing things that require a…

Mid Week Musings – Reader Thank You

I normally don’t post on Wednesdays, because it’s the most hectic work day of my week. But in a conversation with another blogger, a thought hit me today about all of you, my readers. Many of you are new; in fact, more than half of you, within the last six weeks. You don’t really know…

Getting better acquainted with Berry, and an ode to solitude.

This week is the annual customer visit for one of my largest clients, so time will be sparse to write, as well as the solitude and quiet that I require to do so.  But discipline is required to form habits, so…go easy on my content this week 🙂   I first read Wendell Berry several…

A little (hah!) more macro work

While I have always enjoyed photography, what I am liking about macro work is what it reveals to me that I normally overlook, or am too far away to notice (or…rushing past!)  Lately, I am struck by the flowers within flowers 🙂 A few jewel tones for today.  Two different colors of bougainvillea, white bracts…

The similarities between people and flowers…and dancing!

Last weekend I had some macro photo fun, and then more playtime with the photo editing software afterwards during the week.  Flowers are so delightful to me, from the tiny blue flowers that appear in the weeds in the alleyway, to the velveteen simplicity of the magnolia, and everything in between.  This flower is a…

“The Nominees Are…” and other random flocculate

I have no idea where some words come from and enter my stream of consciousness, thereby leaping from cellular thought point into usage.  Actually, the word that came to mind as I was standing at the kitchen sink making a cuppa joe was ‘floccula’ – about which I mused if that would be flocculae (nope,…