STANLEY TURNS SIX

Happy Birthday to the Best!
Sunbathing and working hard to inspire me with my upgraded blog.

CROSSROAD

Standing under the waxing Harvest Moon on Monument Mesa, Diana called to my soul.   Do you remember the year I was eclipsed?  The crossroads?  The infinite possibilities?  I smiled.


She reminded me of a leap, not of faith, but of knowing.  What holds you back now, says she?  


Sometimes change unravels your life's tapestry to create a crossroad to new potential outcomes.


Check back to see what blog this Harvest Moon conspired to create.

Change

        As a counselor, I am always helping others work through change.  As an author, I strive to make my characters change and have it be authentic.  For me, one would think that change would be easy.

       The reality is some days it is, some days not so much.  Moving from a green, temperate rain forest at sea level to the cold desert at 4600 feet, leaving work/community, and friends that feel like home to no work/school/children/teachers and being on unemployment, a completely new community and one local friend is like putting yourself and life into a blender and hitting frappe.  The word pulverized comes to mind.  Everything about my life has been remade into something that does not quite look or feel the same, with the exception of my incredible husband and dogs.

     The positive side of this temporary situation is that everything feels new and alive.  For example, I volunteered to be the first of my critique group to put out a new manuscript for our  group for fall.  I wrote  crickets' desert lullaby.   I am getting to know crickets and be lulled to sleep by them.   Today, we went to the Grand Mesa, a flat top mountain with 300 lakes.  We saw green trees and lakes that were not artificially created through irrigation.  When we stood on the top, instead of missing the green of Oregon, I could see different landscapes in every direction just begging to be explored.  This is truly a gift for an author/illustrator/photographer.

  

Good-Bye Oregon

     Happy summer vacation.  Stanley and I have packed up my studio and are in transition.  Please check back mid August for an update.

Not for the Faint Heart, Guidance Lessons

Cheyenne Proverb:  

                  Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins. 

      "What does this mean to you?" said the teacher.


       For a brief moment, silence spoke.  Whispers began in the back of the classroom and then came the giggles.
     
     "Gross, shoes stink!" exclaimed Jordan.


      "I tried mi tios zapatos and fell down the stairs." said Pedro.


      "I like my moms' pointy toe spikes.  They make me feel tall," said Kyllie.


       The kid who wears sneakers with no socks sunk low in his chair and pulled his feet back tucking them underneath his seat.  


     "Cool, let's switch shoes!" hollered Jon.


      In less than 2 seconds, the class was in chaos and the lesson was lost.  Foot odor wafted over the classroom filled with giggles and the word gross.

National Library Week 2010

     Do you have a library in your town?  What would life be like without your library?  During these difficult economic times, many libraries have become the hub of the community. Many are also facing funding cuts.  

     I have used my library on a regular basis for research for my manuscripts and illustrations, for books on CD for my commute, and to share my therapy dog, Stanley with the children of our town in a Read-Aloud to Dogs program.  What do you use your library for?  Visit your library often!

National Library Week

Grand Floral Parade is Ending Soon.

Spring just officially rolled into the Pacific Northwest. Winter weather has arrived; strong Pacific fronts, snow, rain, wind, and cool temperatures.  The mountain lakes and the reservoirs have been waiting with parched lips. The weather folk predict three feet of snow by Easter, and the farmers and the Doug fir jump, giving each other high fives, heart and thirsty-root felt celebration. 

             The cherry blossoms have dropped as new leaves drip in the rain and are whipped by wind, a rude awakening.  The limp faded daffodils are barely clinging to their life.  We are watching the last of our spring grand floral parade of tulips and iris while avoiding stepping in the puddles.

Wee Little People

…continued.

            I’ve been working on the mystery of the dolly sized dental product.  Remember, I found in my disheveled studio several weeks ago?  I set traps.  I stayed up late to see if I could detect any nighttime activity.  I placed Abby & Stanley on doggie guard duty while I was at school during the day.   Nothing that I could see happened.

I asked myself who would be using such a tiny tube of toothpaste?  I did some research in a most excellent book Finding Fairies, Secrets for Attracting Little People from Around the World by Marianne Monson-Burton & Michelle Roehm McCann, illustrated by David Hohn.  This book is amazingly packed with information like how to attract fairies on every continent!  What it did not say is that once you create a fairy character, you are forever risking placing yourself at the mercy of the “little people”.   

I figured  it out , my wee friend McCully, the young Irish fairy, a member of SSA. (Sock Stealers Anonymous)  I set a trap.  The next day, my trap was propped up with …….

to be continued….

Read Across America

This week students and teachers celebrated and honored Dr. Seuss in many different and wonderful ways.  Here is one of many activities that went beyond wearing hats and pajamas at school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D9jiEYxzs

What's your favorite Dr. Seuss book?  I absolutely love The Sneetches and of course Go, Dogs Go.

Serenity Now, Maybe Not

I went to my studio, a typical Friday.  I write. I illustrate.  I work on submitting my work.

Something was quite different today.  I looked around.  OMG   Where am I?  Who has been in here messing with my stuff?  I started to feel violated.  What reality am I in, a parallel universe?  There were things I did not recognize.  There were things out of place.  My 2009 goals that I searched for and never found were pinned on my bulletin board.  I was feeling a little dazed and confused as I documented my most recent rejections letters, two from the same editor regarding the same manuscript. 

As I straightened up my disheveled bookshelf, I found a clue, a tiny (1.5” long) tube of toothpaste, made in Japan!  It would maybe give you one brushing, 2 if you were very careful.  It was so cute!  Odd.  Tiny toothpaste on a bookshelf in a children’s book author/illustrators' studio is just bizarre.  How did it get here?  Who has been in my studio and left  me a dolly sized dental product, un –opened, safety sealed?

to be continued….

Sweet Abby

She is a reminder to me like the worn edge of a child’s blanket or stuffed animal that much time has passed.  Her senses are fading, bones stiff.  She hops sideways up the flight of stairs on two front legs.  Her back legs function as one. Hop. Hop. Hop.  A groan escapes her chest as she plops on the landing gazing down to the world below.  This is her watching place.  No surprises for an aging dog who likes to snooze her day away in peace.  I wonder if she dreams of all her times playing in Idaho snow or swimming or hiking in the backcountry.  Perhaps she is dreaming of her next life as a human.  

ICICLES

drip drop freeze

light, shimmers clear crisp

drip drop freeze, crack

Has Anybody Seen My Goals?

The simple word goal is the current buzzword with my writer and illustrator groups. Goals either are met or not. January 1^st, do you have a goal yet for 2010? How about 2 or 3? What about categories of goals?

Today, I decided to look at my 2009 goals. I know I met a few. If you have to look for your goals, what are you admitting to? I looked in my old emails, old computer files, and my filed items in my studio, and the never ending “to be” filed pile. No Luck.

One aspect of my buy-the–dog-kibble job is to teach kids how to set goals, work at them and meet them. I monitor kids goals every grading period. It seems so simple in the system, time orientated life during a school year. My supervisor would be laughing knowing I was blogging about loosing my goals.

What’s a creative soul to do? I could waste more time looking for my old goals, set new goals only to lost in the shuffle of life, or get busy and create. I choose create.