romantic notions

We're coming up to Valentine's Day pretty soon here. Candy. Roses. Cards. All the same old stuff--dinners, hotels, dances. I want something different.

I want my Valentine's weekend to run like Moonstruck (only without Johnny Cammareri). A trip to the opera or theatre, great food and wine, and someone to sweep me off my feet.

A bit over the top, I grant you. But, hey, love is so much more fun with passion and creativity and over-the-top actions rather than rote.

Ok...that was my two cents.

feeling a bit nostalgic

I've run across a few written pieces of late that have made me yearn for that time when life was so much simpler: childhood. No bills. No meetings. No responsibilites.

I ran across this mental_floss blog homage about Mr. Rogers by Mangesh. I loved growing up with Mr. Rogers and travelling on the trolley to the Land of Make Believe. I adored the Platypus family, Lady Elaine, and the Owl. How could you hate someone who taught you fun things and actually educated you without acting like a "teacher"? Anyway, the blog post is sweet and endearing.

I also ran across a blog which turned me over to this multi-part article from the UK paper, The Telegraph, "100 Books Every Child Should Read." Although I have read many on the list, I can't agree that they are definitive--no list ever is. However, it is a place to start for families who just don't read that much.

I read all the time growing up--and I've got all the books to prove it. I have books in my bed, stacked on the night stands, books in the kitchen island, downstairs, upstairs, in the garage and in the attic. I don't think I could live without them--in practice, that may not be true, but it feels true. I remember reading a small piece in Poets & Writers magazine a while back about a writer who evacuated New Orleans before Katrina hit. And when she went back, all her books were destroyed--quite a few of which had been signed by authors. It made my heart ache.

full moons bring the unexpected

Today has been an odd duck kind of day. The moon was full at roughly 8:30am. [I use "today" loosely as I have not been to bed yet and it is now Wednesday in the wee earlies.] Sometimes full moons bring out good things. Sometimes full moons bring craziness. This last one was the latter.

1) Linus and the Change of Routine
Usually the TV gets left on all night in the living room--the sound is low so it doesn't disturb anyone's sleep. Linus gets the ambient light from the tv reflected on the wall by his cage--an effective nightlight. However, last night I woke up and turned it off. Twenty minutes after I went back to sleep, I heard the most horrid scream and heard Linus jump to the bottom of his cage. I ran out and turned on the lights. There was no blood, no injuries, no anything. I picked him up and played on the computer and he fell back asleep on my shoulder in the light of the monitor. The only thing I think is that he woke up in the pitch dark and freaked out because there was no tv light to show him his surroundings. It definitely was NOT a good start to the day.

2) Mailbox Mayhem
I was working from home this afternoon and outside there was a terrible bang. I look out to see a Brown Oldsmobile in my yard about ten feet from a very large maple. There was less than an inch of snow on the ground, but the tracks come straight out of the street and ran across our yard after taking out the mailbox. By the time I registered what happened and threw a coat on, the car was gone and our mailbox was smashed flat and the whole stand was in pieces. I guess I'm happy they didn't kill themselves on the tree. And we needed a new mailbox anyway. But shouldn't you stop and put a note out to say "OOPS, sorry. Let me get you a new box" ?

3) Passings
I always make a note in my journals for those who have passed. Sometimes they are expected and sometimes not, but they are always sad.

May your families and friends find peace.

i want a sven

I want a big Scandinavian guy to manage my life and give me sweaters...

Although this is the whole commercial, I only enjoy the first 20 seconds. I couldn't care less about the AT&T phone and wireless info.

the dog did it

I guess my poise and/or equilibrium have little to do with my situation: I have a black eye. Not a mild girly scratch that can be hidden by makeup, but a real shiner. And it hurt like the devil.

What contributed to this blackpurple mess?

1) I have two Great Danes.
2) One has decided to ignore all his obedience training and pretend he is the boss of the house.
3) I wear glasses.

Can we see the problem developing? Needless to say my face was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My sister says I look like Petey from The Little Rascals. I can't fault her for the comparison. This black loop is terrible and I can't hide it--maybe if I could find some pancake makeup for the stage?

I had to run to the store today--and other women looked at me in horror. It makes me want to wear a sign that says "The dog did it."

art journals

I found SuziBluTube because someone on the boards at WetCanvas recommended her.

She is funny and has great ideas for art journals! Really, I never knew that art journals could be so cool looking. I always thought of them for plain jane sketches and making a color chart of all my colored pencils and testing mixed paint colors. But Suzi's journals feel alive and more like a JOURNAL than just a journal.

Here's her first How to Make An Art Journal post

They are highly entertaining and just good fun. Enjoy.

learning crochet

I'm learning to crochet things a bit more complex than single and double stitch scarves. Unsuccessfully I might add.

My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was about nine or ten, but I just recently "rediscovered" it. It wasn't so much a rediscovery as an alternative to my terrible hand-eye coordination with knitting. [Some people are ambidextrous enough to knit, but I am NOT one of them.] So I returned to a stitching method for which I had an ability.

Here are a couple of interesting places to visit: Crochet Pattern Central and GrannyAlong Blog.

Granny squares should not be rocket science. They are supposed to be one of the easiest squares to do. I can't get mine to look right to save my life--it all goes down hill after the foundation chain. My first layer no longer looks as if it has been chewed by weasels, but the whole square is less than elegant.

But I'm going to keep working at it so I can attempt the Babette Afghan. I swear one day I will get it accomplished! The Purl Bee also has a flickr account where you can see the different interpretations for the blanket and all the wild colors people have used. They are fun and beautiful.

I love blankets. I'd like to have my cedar closet full of warm quilts and afghans that have been made with love by someone that wasn't a factory. The handmade kind are always better.

new journal

Ok...I know I'm a bit late on the new year hoohah...

I collect writing journals. If I see one I think is beautiful, I pick it up. That said, I'm covered for maybe the next twenty years.

I haven't kept one in a while, so I felt that it might be time to renew my journaling habit. Usually I have several going at once: 1) regular journal; 2) dream journal; 3) creative and interesting snippet journal; etc. But my goal is to keep ONE intact journal this year.

This is my journal. Isn't it lovely? You can find your own at Barnes and Noble. This is called a Scrittura Italian Printed Leather Journal with Tie. The lined paper is of a cream color and has a fleur de lis at the bottom of each page. I don't know how many pages it contains, but it is very thick for a journal--and smells (obviously) of leather.

There are also similar journals without ties: see this link, and here.

But, everyone must find the journal that speaks to them. It doesn't even have to be fancy. It could be just a cheap spiral notebook. I always think that a journal should be what makes you comfortable and safe. After all, aren't you going to be the best of friends?

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Right now I am listening to a free downloaded story called "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman. I think it should be an interesting story and I will have to listen to it again. There is something about a clear voice reading out loud. A soothing lull creeps over everything and everyone. I like the expectation and anticipation that comes with listening.

I have just discovered that, unlike the Harry Potter novels which I have read, audio stories that I have no familiarity with cannot be listened to while doing other things. I cannot surf the web. I cannot write. I cannot do things which require half an iota of brainpower. So, I will have to sit in the quiet and possibly crochet a scarf while listening intently to this new story.

a slight snert

Ok. I get the writer's strike. No problem.

But why on earth did the bigwigs think they could put on the Golden Globes as a "newscast"? I watched all of five minutes in stunned disbelief. I'd rather watch reruns. Hell, I'd rather clean the bathroom with a toothbrush--yes, that boring.

And I've seen reports on "damage to the local economy" and how party planners and designers have worked for a year only to be shut out. Terrible. Terrible. Holy crap--there are much worse things in the world than some designer not being able to dress a starlet.

Yes, I'm snerty.

[I made this word up. Actually, just partially made it up. There is an episode of M*A*S*H where Frank Burns says something like "Nerts to you." But the word "nerts" in practice comes off a bit stiff. So I just inverted it a bit and came up with snert. It works much better. Feel free to use it as a verb, noun, adverb--whatever part of speech fits the situation best.]

So if the strike is going to continue through the Hollywood awards season, I hope that all the networks get wise to the "newscast" not being a good idea.

odd patches of weather

Now, living in the shadow of the Great Lakes, I have much respect for the weather they can generate on the eastern shores as winds sweep out of Canada or the western plains. I'm in one of those lucky places that sees great amounts of lake-effect snow and such. But this season has been crazy!

We have had several late fall tornadoes--and now we can add a January tornado to the list. But this sudden temperature spike has made a mess of things. Temperatures should NOT go from single digits to almost 70 when there is two and half feet of standing snow--on top of which comes three inches of rain over two days. Frozen ground does not absorb water.

So now there is flooding everywhere. My county was under some sort of "level 2 emergency"--I've never seen this designation before (is it a new Homeland Security thing?). All I know is that the southern and western portions of my county were swamped (literally) and people were urged to not drive. Pictures from the area have been all over the Weather Channel.

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I don't know much about global warming. However, I am very certain that seasons now are NOT the same as when I was growing up. We always had snow for Christmas when I was young--the first Christmas without snow I remember was when I was about 16. And since then, snow for Christmas has been spotty. Now I feel like seasons are shifting and leaving winter barely January and February to freeze the bad bugs down to managable levels.

Now, if we have a February tornado, I'm gonna be irked that we've come to the point where Tornado Season lasts year round.

However, what I'd like to see happen in my state: windpower. Enough wind comes off the Great Lakes to power quite a few homes year round. And maybe there would be enough wind power to get us all off of the uber-expensive natural gas heat.

nine years

I have a theory that my life transitions into different phases roughly every nine years. However, this only holds up if I was born in year 2 of cycle 1. So, the universe is either bad at math, fetus time counts, or my theory isn't so true. However, since we are operating on my hypothesis that my life happens in nine-year chunks and this is MY blog, it is true.

Cycle Occurances

Year 1: About six months or so before the new cycle begins, "signs" of what is to come in the next nine years begin to appear. Possible important event.*

Year 4/5: Major life event

Year 8: Cycle feels like it is dragging and I feel a bit antsy in my skin.

Year 9: Things wind down and closure begins. Start planning for new cycle. Possible important event.*
___________
*There is usually an important event that occurs either in year 1 or year 9 to begin/conclude a cycle.
___________

Now, these cycles can be about anything and everything--the disruptions don't have to be major. Some could experience a cycle about love or education or moderation or philanthropy or whatever... But I find that the majority of the lessons I learn in these periods tend to be about the overarching theme.

Currently I am ending a cycle of death and loss. These last nine years have been NOT fun. I learned a lot about grief and the consequences of denial and supression of emotions. Needless to say, I am much more understanding now of people who have little in the way of possessions or family.

Thankfully this dreadful cycle is ending. I already have seen hints of what is to come: creativity and regeneration. That I am very thankful for. It means that this next cycle will be filled with fun and laughter and happinesses of every kind. My best friend just had a baby, I wrote a draft of a novel, and outside (in January on the Great Lakes) it is 65 degrees--could it get better? Of course!

I fully expect to have a wondrous 2008.

I will stop living with the dead. It's time to open my life up and begin to be a member of the living again. I really can do that.

Maybe I'll start by throwing a dinner party?

Quest for Character Lists

I am very interested in how novelists introduce and maintain characters within a large body of work. I say large body of work referring to multiple novels in which the characters appear multiple times. Well known examples: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, J. R. R. Tolkien's body of work.

A cursory scan of Rowling's books reveal at least 700 characters who are referred to in some fashion over 7 novels and two "reference" books. There's a Wikipedia Tolkien list for Middle Earth characters which says it is an incomplete list--but it lists around 560.

My next goal is to go through Jasper Fforde's novels--both the Thursday Next series and the Nursery Crimes series. Those are fun novels--with lots of familiar fictional characters from the literary cannon. There's got to be quite a large list there...

What drives the need for such a large cast? Why mention characters just one time or obliquely refer to them?

As a reader, I enjoy the breadth it gives a novel. There are threads that can be hinted at in one place and picked up at a later part of the book or even in a different book. As a writer, I would imagine it gives wiggle room and provides alternate possibilities when something isn't "working" with a first idea.

Yes, this is a curious way to approach literary study. It is also most likely NOT the way to approach novel writing. But I've never been a "paint by numbers" kind of girl--I will do it my way. If my way doesn't work, at least I've learned one way to not accomplish the goal.

Anyway, back to my quest...

Writer's Strike

This strike has been going since November. And while I may be annoyed that I have no new shows to keep me interested, I have to support the reason behind the strike.

They were short changed by the industry when the home video revolution occurred. So, this sets them up to get screwed by "new media" availability for programs: Internet, iPod, cell phones, etc. Now, the big companies don't want to loosen the purse strings and share the wealth.

I say fork that little extra over and get everyone back to work, Giant Entertainment Companies! It isn't like you are in Detroit and negotiating for skyrocketing health care and better working conditions. You're in L.A. for Christ's sake--sun and fun. And you are an EXPENDABLE industry--no one will die without you. I suggest you pull your fat asses to the table and open the damn wallet if you want to keep floating along.

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Since I've given up on American TV, I've been able to watch some good movies I haven't seen in ages like Bringing Up Baby and The Hound of the Baskervilles. I've watched some UK TV (see previous post). I've re-learned crochet and can keep my stitches fairly even--and I learned some cool patterns, too. Audio books are my friend. Now, it is possible that I could be bored enough one evening to learn how to cook a turkey.

TV More Interesting

We've hit the bottom of the television barrel. Not only are shows crippled by the writer's strike, but we are in full political "me-me-me" over-coverage and overanalysis. So we are left with Bowl games, annoying reruns that sucked the first time around, and some half-assed crap like "Best Beer Commercials of the World Played by Unknown Actors with Famous Actor Voice Overs." Frankly, I'd rather chew tin foil and lick batteries.

I have a solution: my secret love of UK tv. Ok, so it really is not a secret--I own some of the DVDs. There's just something to be said about a different perspective. Way too many American shows are clones and attempted imitations--it's terrible. The major networks are terrified of anything that breaks boundaries or makes people think. If you get one good show in a season, consider yourself blessed. Would M*A*S*H even make it on the air now?

Some of the following shows I picked up from the BBC feed on my local PBS station on Saturday evenings. Some I stumbled across on my own. I hope you enjoy the small clips.

Keeping Up Appearances

Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift

Midsomer Murders

John Nettles, Daniel Casey

As Time Goes By

Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer

This is a blooper reel. I couldn't find one with an embeddable video. After the video are links to an un-embeddable YouTube video.

See a YouTube clip from the show.

Father Ted

Dermot Morgan, Ardal O'Hanlon, Frank Kelly, and Pauline McLynn

Creative Commercials

I'm not a big fan of commercials, but occasionally one comes along that makes me appreciate the value of imagination. Here is one example:





The Ad Council and the Library of Congress have also teamed up to create a beautiful series of PSAs promoting lifelong literacy. As I haven't figured out how to embed these yet, here is the site where they can be found. They are called "Oz", "Narnia", and "Camelot".