Since my skin has stopped liking the sun, I've had to find ways to either exercise indoors or stay on the shady side of the street. So, I decided to take my big long walk to our beach late yesterday afternoon, and I was rewarded with some beautiful sunset views. Opposite was a full moon. It was dark by the time I got home, but no worries. I know I'll venture out at that time of day again. I was also amazed at how many people were out watching the sunset from our walking strand and the Manhattan Beach pier. Besides I got to try out my new cell phone's camera. What do you think? … [Read more...]
Happy 75th birthday to my husband, Bob
February 4, 2012 By 1 Comment
Bob's high school days, mid 1950s Bob at Vigeland Park, Oslo, August 2011 So, why on Bob's 75th birthday, do I feel so old? Maybe it has to do with the library of memories from all the years we've been together that I carry around with me. The first thing that attracted me to Bob happened way back in 1963. I had just started working at TRW (precursor to Northrop Grumman) in a writing and editing group that helped engineers with their reports and proposals. One day I was sitting in my little half-walled cubby hole that didn't have any doors and heard someone speaking to the woman who sat in the cubby hole next to mine. I found the voice very distinctive and articulate. Plus, the man speaking never shut up why am I not surprised? I had never heard this voice before so I had to get up and go out into the common area and take a peek at who was speaking. That's how I got my first glimpse of a tall thin man with blond hair cut in a buzz and blue eyes pretty much hidden behind … [Read more...]
Writing resolutions check-in
February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Besides writing I do participate in other creative activities - like seeing a wonderful art exhibit at LACMA called In Wonderland. This painting is by Frieda Khalo. Time to revisit my 2012 writing resolutions (posted on January 1, 2012) and report how I've been doing. First for the things I've accomplished. I participated in the January River of Stones project, writing a small stone every day of the month. I finished reading Doreen Cox' Adventures in Mother Sitting and wrote and posted reviews for it. I overachieved in the review category, by finally writing and posting a review of Laura Mays Hoopes memoir Breaking the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes A DNA Scientist. And I'm happy to report that my novel writing has gone very well. I'm writing a bit more than the one thousand words a week that was my commitment. I'm also writing a poem a week and writing my regular posts for NaturallySavvy and PsychAlive One of my best accomplishments of the month was … [Read more...]
The last January 2012 small stones
January 31, 2012 By 2 Comments
January 22 Dark gray clouds cover the roaring waves. I wonder why the surfers aren't riding them instead of taking them them one by one lying down. January 23 Kristi's photo was posted on Putting a Face on Suicide today. She was just 19 when she took her life. I wish I could share her huge eyes, her smooth skin, her friendly closed-mouth smile with you. She was beauty. And even that couldn't save her from a drug addiction that sucked the life out of her. January 24 I met an old friend this morning and within five minutes of talking she was in tears. She told me about her mentally ill daughter in yet another healing institution. She's been in nine since she was thirteen; she is twenty now. I hope my writing will inspire my friend to take good care of herself. Her daughter will have to find her own way. January 25 I was so proud of myself last evening for being an advocate in getting a mentally ill young man some help. I was told at ten in the evening that he would be in … [Read more...]
Women Over 45 Speak
January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Marla Miller's website Women Over 45 Speak posted a three-minute video of me speaking about how I reinvented myself after the age of seventy. Please take a look. And if you're a woman over forty-five, go over to her website and make a video of yourself. The directions are right there on her site. … [Read more...]
Review of Adventures in Mother-Sitting by Doreen Cox
January 25, 2012 By 1 Comment
Adventures in Mother-Sitting by Doreen Cox is truly a love story. No, not a love story in the boy-girl romantic sense but a story about the love between a mother and a daughter. Author Doreen Cox shares her experience as a "care bear" during the last three years of her mother's life and how she learned to live with her mother's slow progression from a viable, interesting, lovable, and happy woman to a woman overcome by dementia unable to handle even her most basic bodily needs. And Ms. Cox doesn't shirk away from those details. She repeatedly quotes her mother's mantra: "You just do what you have to do." Ms. Cox starts out this story as her mother's daughter and friend and roommate. She gradually becomes her care bear and then her "mommy." Though her mother always could articulate a thank you and big toothless smile for everything Ms. Cox did for her, she became like a child thanking her mommy. Ms. Cox gave up her as a career group counselor at an alternative school for … [Read more...]
The Old Town Music Hall, El Segundo, CA
January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Our friends Lisa and David came over to our part of the city last Saturday night, but before they did, they did a little research about what we should do for our play-date. Well, I'm pleased to tell you that they found a venue I had kind of heard of, but never gave a second thought. That is so sad, because the Old Town Music Hall, home of the Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, in El Segundo, CA is a real gem. We thought we were only going to see the 1952 film, Singing in the Rain, but were we in for a surprise. Bill Field the theater owner strolled down the aisle in his wheel chair, transferred himself to the organ's seat, and played it for us for about an hour. His tunes demonstrated the capabilities of the organ's pipes and percussion instruments and accompanied our sing along and an old Monty Banks silent film. Here's what the music hall website has to say about this great old venue: Old Town Music Hall is a concept that started in 1958 by Bill Coffman and Bill Field … [Read more...]
More January small stones
January 21, 2012 By 1 Comment
January small stone month is almost over. I've managed to write one almost every day, only having to backtrack twice. Now I'm thinking of continuing the practice of paying attention and writing down what I pay attention to throughout the year. Here are the stones I've written since I last posted them on January 9. For more information about this practice visit Fiona Robyn's website Writing Our Way Home. January 10 My young friend sat at the dining room table and looked through the book of her baby pictures I had made for her. She smiled, she chuckled, she complimented the rad style she had even then. I've known this girl since she was 18 months old. She is now 18. January 11 I'm at Putting a Face on Suicide again today, still wondering what goes through such beautiful young minds that tells them to kill themselves. These people are 14, 16, 19, 22 years old and have so much to live for. We must find a way to save these precious ones who should be so full of life. January … [Read more...]
Revisiting the bucket list
January 18, 2012 By 7 Comments
When I first started this blog back in November 2007 its purpose was to write down a list of things to do and places to go before I die in homage to the movie The Bucket List. And even though this blog has become much more than that I post photos and poems here, I write about my writing life, I report on special happenings always in the back of my mind is the question: how am I doing in checking off the things on my list? So I went back to two of my earliest post and copied the lists below. And I've commented on each one so you and I will both know what I've accomplished. And then I've written down a few more things mainly about where in the world my husband and I want to travel before we're unable to travel anymore. That's the thing. I feel very strongly lately that my time is very finite, so I need to make every moment that I have left count. My Garden Buddha The List Climb down into the Grand Canyon not done yet, but still on the list. Go to the parts of the … [Read more...]
Shooting a video is hard work
January 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The producer and director I'm checking things off my list of to dos. One of the things that's been on that list for months has been to make a three-minute video to post on Marla Miller's Women Over 45: Speak website - another tool for marketing my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. And with the help of my son, Ben, and daughter in law, Marissa, we finally filmed it. They are the producer and director. I wrote the script some weeks ago and spent quite a bit of time tweaking and going over it. The morning of the shoot I read through my lines a few times while I was on the elliptical at the gym. I made a few changes when I got home, and after I showered and dressed and did my hair and makeup, I started going over it again. Ben and Marissa had suggested I break the piece up in parts and that was brilliant, because not being used to memorizing anything, I needed the breaks. Speaking for three minutes straight would have been daunting and probably boring. Filming the speech in several … [Read more...]
Putting a Face on Suicide – it never ends
January 11, 2012 By 2 Comments
I'm at Facebook's Putting a Face on Suicide page again today, still wondering what goes through such beautiful young minds that tells them to kill themselves. Some of these young folks are 14, 16, 19, 22 years old and had so much to live for. We must find a way to save our precious ones who look like they should be so full of life. And in the words of one of the people who came by the page: Cherish your loved ones, be kind to people, we will never know how long we have to enjoy someone. Paul was twenty-seven … [Read more...]
First small stones
January 9, 2012 By 2 Comments
I think my small stones this January are coming from all over the place - outside nature, outside events, inside my mind and thoughts, on my body. But I don't think it matters. Just so I pay attention for a bit of time and write down what I'm paying attention to. For example, I had to write today's stone about how I'm feeling because experiencing Denver's cold dry air for a couple of days played such havoc on my body. It is hard not to pay attention to it. Here are my January 2012 River of Stones musings so far. January 1 As the morning cold blows through my house like winter, my skin cannot bear my icy touch. January 2 The trees stand like shadows against the morning fog, their branches dripping down dew. January 2 Little Daniel was twelve when he took his life two years ago. I look at his face, all pure innocence, so young. His straight blond hair raggedly cut almost covers his eyes. Yet, there is a wiseness in him, in the way he looks so intent and focused. He makes … [Read more...]
Vine Leaves Literary Journal – inaugural issue out January 6
January 5, 2012 By 2 Comments
A new book of poetry will be born tomorrow. It's called Vine Leaves Literary Journal created by Jessica Bell and Dawn Ius. And I'm so excited to say that one of my poems is in this inaugural issue. I am thrilled to be among the wonderful poets with works chosen to appear in Issue #01, January 2012. According to the Vine Leaves website the mission of this journal is to provide a poetic form sorely missing from the world of literature. They creators say: "The world of literature nowadays is so diverse, open-minded and thriving in experimental works, that there doesn't seem to be any single form of written art missing from it ... you would think. But there is. The vignette. It's rare for a literary magazine to accept the "vignette" as a publishable piece of literature. Why? Because it is not a proper story. We beg to differ. So, what is a vignette? "Vignette" is a word that originally meant "something that may be written on a vine-leaf." It's a snapshot in words. … [Read more...]
My 2012 writing resolutions
January 2, 2012 By 2 Comments
It's time to get back to my writing life again. I know this list looks daunting but it's not much more than I've already been doing for the last six months or so. But I must say that writing this all down makes it seem more ambitious. Hopefully, this list will encourage my writing readers to join me. · Participate in the January River of Stones project notice something properly and write a small piece (stone) about it every day this month · Finish Doreen Cox' Adventures in Mother Sitting book and write a review · Read and comment on other writing blogs to get ready for a May blog tour promoting the release of the eBook and paperback editions of Leaving the Hall Light On · Write a thousand words a week on my novel · Write at least one poem a week use Robert E. Brewer's prompts at Poetry Asides as a jump start · Enter a poem into a contest or for publication at least once a month · Post a poem a week on my Facebook poetry group pages, Poetry Pact and Poets. … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday
December 31, 2011 By 4 Comments
This is the thirteenth year we are celebrating Paul's birthday without him. He would have been forty years old today. So as I've done in past years, I'm sharing some of my memories of him. It's amazing how clearly these things continue to stay in my mind and continue to beget even more memories of our boy, Paul. Happy Birthday, Paul, always with love. · I'll always remember he slept without closing his eyes all the way · I'll always remember he walked fast and way ahead of us · I'll always remember he had long, thick, black eyelashes surrounding clear-blue eyes · I'll always remember he played the piano, legs crossed at the knees, leaning way down over the keyboard · I'll always remember he liked to wear second-hand clothes and didn't mind if they were ripped · I'll always remember the way he stood at the pantry door munching almonds · I'll always remember he liked to climb trees, rocks, up the highest diving boards · I'll always remember he was meticulous … [Read more...]
The eve of New Year’s Eve
December 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I think this is a perfect day for looking back. Usually we go to an eve, eve party where we always share about our events of the year. Since it was cancelled this year, I'll share our major happenings of 2011 here. Major Happenings of 2011: 1. My husband, Bob, and I traveled to Amador County and Sutter Creek, CA with Manhattan Beach friends to taste some native zinfandel wines in January. On our first night there Bob fell and broke the three metatarsal bones in his right foot. Bob had foot surgery to repair and pin his broken bones together in February and had to be off his foot for eight weeks. He got around on a knee scooter (Rolleraid) or crutches. I was his driver. Bob on his knee scooter (Rolleraid) 2. On May 8 (Mother's Day) my memoir Leaving the Hall Light On was released by Lucky Press. My successful book launch reading and signing at our local independent bookstore, Pages, was held on May 12. A couple of weeks later we celebrated my birthday in Lake … [Read more...]
Paul and his brother, Ben
December 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
Although our boys were very different from one another Paul was a brainy musician and computer nerd and Ben is a brainy athlete and actor they always loved each other very much. They respected each other's differences and talents. I've gathered some photos of them together. How could I not celebrate the brothers during this month of celebrating Paul's life? A Poem That Wants To Be for Ben* They are always about Paul, my dead son the one who died of his own free will so many years ago. My hordes of poems go on like a mantra: his mania, depression, his delusions, escapades, his suicide. They never fail to mention his piercing blue eyes, the little half smile that never showed his teeth, the smoky smell and the way he slumped over the piano like the thinker as he played. Paul and his death have been my muse. Ben's living eyes brim over with love as he looks down and … [Read more...]
