Everyone From My Childhood is Dying

As I sat here this evening wondering what I would write about, the news of Glenn Frey's passing just hit the media feeds and again my gut is hit deep remembering a youth set to the background of Hotel California.

My first long, deep slow kiss came in the back of  red pick-up truck driving round Stone Mountain listening to the title song, "Hotel California." After my worst break-up I listened to "Wasted Time" until I broke the 8-track tape. And who couldn't love "Heartache Tonight"?

Once upon a time on vacation in Arizona, we drove to Winslow, Arizona just to stand on the corner. It was amazing.

This week we've seen legends fall. First was David Bowie. I still remember where I was the first time I heard "Major Tom". I think I was maybe eleven years old, and a friend borrowed the .45 from her older brother. We listened to that records over and over and over again, until her mother made us turn it off and go outside. From that moment on, I was a fan.

When he was the Goblin King in "Legends", it was the perfect role from a man who reinvented himself from decade to decade. He was truly a gentleman and a scholar, an icon and actor, a Renaissance Man in a different era. His kind won't be seen again in a long while.

Then we lost Alan Rickman. From the first moment he hit the screen in "Die Hard" he commanded the stage. Who could forget his Sheriff of Nottingham? "I'm going to cut your heart out with a spoon?" "With a spoon?"  "So it'll hurt more!"  Priceless. But he will forever in our hearts be the face of Serverus Snape, talking to Dumbledore.

"After all this time?"
"Always."

That my friends, is a love that will last an eternity.

So farewell gentlemen, until we meet again on the far shores. The world is a little dimmer with your passing, and the memories of my youth slowly become part of a shared past only friends can appreciate. Soon their bones will be dust, but the legacies they have left in music and video will live long past this age, the artists of the Baby Boomer generation. Oh, how we will miss them.

"J' is for Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is the act or placement of two things (usually abstract concepts) near each other.  Here are a few of my favorite. This is no particular order, just as they appeared in my directory.

This one reminds me of my kitchen at this point in time. I've been working on overdrive so no one has been to the grocery store. Also, when I am stressed I eat strange combinations of food, like peanut butter, jelly, and bologna.  Yeah, I know.

Having worked on high school and college news papers, I am acutely aware of the multitude of decisions which accompany page layouts, but this one takes the cake.

This is my favorite. The simplicity of the yin and yang represented in coffee and milk. Basic. Crisp. Elegant. Coffee.

What are your favorite juxtapositions? Anyone use them in their writing? In what capacity?

Tune in next for the Magical Letter 'K'

'E' is for Escher

I love the drawings of M.C. Escher. As a small child, my parents had a coffee table book with about two dozen of his words and I could spend hours looking at them, tracing all the possibilities with my finger. For those not familiar with his work, Escher is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.

In plain English, his works appear to have no beginning or ending. Here are a few of my favorites:

This is his "Stair" composition. Dizzying, isn't it.  And another, this time one of his tessellations, "Pegasus":

One last optical illusion for your day:

Refreshed and renewed don't forget to tune in tomorrow for 'F' is for Football!

If Patience is a Virtue, Then I Have None!

I have come to the conclusion that I HATE TO WAIT!!!

First, I am waiting to be published. That one single process alone would be enough to test the patience of a saint. Nothing I can think of compares to the long term agony of waiting to hear from a publisher whether they think you are good enough to take a chance upon. Granted, they get more requests in a day than I get spam emails, but still...

I spend half my day at my regular job waiting for the mail to come. Just to see if any of the many people who owe me money have sent any. I get tired of tell my creditors, "not today maybe tomorrow." I just want to be caught up again with all our bills. I want to be able to set some money aside to grow old on.

Right now, I am waiting on a customer to return a credit card authorization form. I sent it more than an hour ago. How long can it take to write down a few numbers and fax it back? Now I am going to be stuck in traffic on the way home, still have to drive to the barn (20 additional minutes in another direction) and I had told my daughter we might go out to the tack store in Roswell. CRAP!

That is the part of being a mom I have a hard time with. When I get home, all I really want to do is take a nap! Not drive all over creation running kids here and there. True, my son takes a good deal of this burden by picking up his sister when I ask, but right now his car is broken and I don't have the money or time to fix it.

Have you ever heard the expression, "Just when I got it all together..."? That's how I feel right now. Money is tight, my kids are demanding, my business is having a hard time, the economy stinks, my son needs a job, my daughter is whiny and everything seems like I need to tie a knot in my rope and hang on.

That's when I need to submerge myself the most in my writing. When everything seems to be falling apart, the stories flow. Is there a corollary between suffering and the creative process? Of course there is. Look at Van Gogh. Look at Michelangelo. When an artist is suffering in their own private morass is when the greatest creations are made. Look at the Sistine Chapel. Look at "Starry Night".

Into every one's life suffering comes. How you deal with it is what makes the difference. I need to turn my problems over to my Higher Power, the Living God. Only He will bring peace to my soul. He gave me a talent and I thank Him everyday for my blessings. Now, I need to learn to praise Him for the suffering.