VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!

Okay, here we go!  Dare I say it?  HOPE!!!

I'm heading off to work, which will be interesting.  I wonder how this class will go?  It's Pilates this morning.  I wonder if I'll work my clients harder?  Or if we'll spend more time talking... 

What did I read in AW last night... something about risk, something about perfectionism, something about...

(TBC)

_______________________________________ 

Yahooooooo!!!!!!!!

This was sent by a dear woman who handles the prayers for our congregation:

"And please pray for protection, wisdom and blessings on President-elect Barack Obama and his family."

 

Blessings all, gratitude, and wonder at our strength and potential~

--TKC

Artist's Way Journal - Week Seven, Day One

Here it is, the eve of the election.  Will it be wonderfully historic?  I am hopeful.  DD is nervous.  I wonder if I'll sleep?  Will those who get out and vote stand firm with their true convictions, and not get cold feet in the voting booth? I am hopeful.  And the poets?  What are they doing?  They're writing, and speaking, as they've done for a long time.

One of my favorites:

I remember seeing him in Seattle a couple of years ago, and was wonderful to listen to.  One of the things I really like about him as that he'll read, and maybe stop halfway through and ask, "did you hear that?"  Or, at the end of a poem, "do you want to hear that again?" to which the audience always says 'yes.'  

May the power of poets such as Bly be in the air the rest of today, and all through tomorrow, until this whole election business ends.  Let them always speak.  Let me rediscover my own voice.  

--TKC

Artist's Way Journal - Week Six, Day Seven

I created a poem this morning--that was for yesterday, when I didn't write one.  My goal is 30 little poems this month.  I wonder how they'll all look when I'm done?

I didn't do so hot this week with Chapter Six.  At least, I don't think so.  I haven't cleaned out my closet yet, or pressed leaves between wax paper.  (Incidentally, is the correct term "Wax Paper" or "Waxed Paper?"  

Here we are:

Wax paper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

wax paper

Wax paper (also called waxed paper) is a kind of paper that is  made moisture proof through the application of wax.

The practice of oiling parchment or paper in order to make it semi-translucent or moisture-proof goes back at least to medieval times. Thomas Edison claimed to have invented wax paper in 1872^{[citation needed]} , but what he really invented was a cheap and efficient means to manufacture such paper.^[1]

Wax paper is commonly used in cooking, for its non-stick properties, and wrapping food for storage,  such as cookies, as it keeps water out or in. It is also used in arts and crafts.

*   *   *   *   *

So that answers my question.  I guess it can be either way, and that's the same brand I use (see picture).  

I also didn't collect 5 rocks.  I have many rocks I've collected over the years, as well as shells from the beach.  I have a small snail  shell obsession, and have one or two dishes for the tiny ones, and have a few window sills filled with the larger Moon Snail shells.  I'm very intrigued by those; they seem very female to me, like little perfect breasts.  Except that they all face the same direction.  Also from Wikipedia:

Naticidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Moon snail)

Naticidae
Naticarius hebraeus (Martyn, 1786)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Subclass: Orthogastropoda Superorder: Caenogastropoda Order: Sorbeoconcha Suborder: Hypsogastropoda Infraorder: Littorinimorpha Superfamily: Naticoidea Family: Naticidae Guilding, 1834
Genera
See text.

Naticidae, the moon snails or naticoids, is

 a family of small to medium and large-sized predatory sea snails,marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha.

It has been estimated that worldwide there are about 260–300 Recent species in this family, which is assumed to

 have originated in the late Triassic or in the early Jurassic. Members of the Naticidae can easily be

 recognized by their shell shape, distinctive markings and peculiar predatory behavior.

Distribution

Members of this family are found in all seas, from the intertidal zone to a considerable depth. The greatest species and

 generic diversity is found in tropical regions, but Naticidae are also abundant in

 moderately temperate as well as Arctic and Antarctic waters.

[edit]Habitat

Moon snails live on

 sandy substrates. They are often found ploughing along in the sand searching for prey.

[edit]Shell description

The shells of naticids

 are turbinate to globose, usually solid and smooth,

 the aperture without either siphonal canal or sinus, and the inner lip parietal callus is often reflected across the umbilicus, joining a spiral funicle from within. The operculum is tight fitting, either horny or calcareous depending on the genus.

[edit]Life habits

A moon snail on the prowl at night. Found on the North coast 

ofEast Timor

Naticids are very active carnivores.

 They feed largely upon bivalves, but will attack almost any shelled mollusk they encounter in the sand, such as scaphopods and gastropods, including other moonsnails. They envelop the prey and then bore a hole into the shell with the aid of their radula and

 an acid secretion, after which theproboscis is inserted through the round hole. The very neatly drilled round hole, which has a "countersunk" appearance with chamfered edges, is a characteristic diagnostic sign of moon snail predation.

In the breeding season, the female moonsnail constructs an interesting interrupted ring-shaped nidus of agglutinated sand grains, lining the inside with thousands of small

 eggs. These objects wash up fairly often, and are known by 

the common name "sand collars" because of their resemblance to an old-

fashioned removable shirt collar or false-collar.

[edit]Classification

Most authors suggested a distinct separation of the Naticidae into four subfamilies: Ampullospirinae, Naticinae, Polinicinaeand Sininae. This arrangement is mainly based on morphological 

data, such as the surface material (calcareous in the Naticinae, 

corneous in the Polinicinae and Sininae) and size of the operculum or the morphology of the shell.

The new taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) however

 only recognizes three subfamilies :

• Globisininae Powell, 1933
• Naticinae Guilding, 1834
• Sininae Woodring, 1928

The subfamily Polinicinae Gray, 1847 is an older synonym of Naticinae

To date, the naticid species are assigned into the following genera:

• Amauropsis Mörch, 1857
• Bulbus Brown, 1839
• Calinaticina J. Q. Burch and Campbell, 1963
• Cryptonatica Dall, 1892
• Eunaticina Fischer, 1885
• Euspira Agassiz in Sowerby, 1838
• Falsilunatia Powell, 1951
• Friginatica Hedley, 1916
• Globisinum Marwick, 1924
• Gyrodes Conrad, 1860
• Haliotinella Souverbie, 1875
• Lunatia Gray, 1847
• Natica Scopoli, 1777
• Naticarius Duméril, 1806
• Neverita Risso, 1826
• Polinices Montfort, 1810
• Proxiuber Powell, 1933
• Sigatica Meyer and Aldrich, 1886
• Sinum Röding, 1798
• Stigmaulax Mörch, 1852
• Tanea Marwick, 1931
• Tectonatica Sacco, 1890
• Uberella Finlay, 1928

More ways to get side-tracked.

  In other words, I have an

 abundance of shells and a

 desire to press a myriad of colorful leaves.  Maybe I'll lift that nice wooden press off the shelf above the closet in the bedroom and put it to use.

I did bake--today I made an apple pie for my mom and dad.  (Mom's birthday is today, and Dad's was the day after DS was diagnosed with diabetes.  I used the Liberty apples from our tree, and it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.  

I haven't sent out postcards, but I think it's not too late to do so.  Maybe I'll still send some tomorrow.

Do I feel more properous, more flowing in my life?  Not yet.  

__________________ 

Week Six Check in:

1. Morning Pages: This week I wrote maybe three or four days in my leather journal.  Not quite up to snuff.  I wrote here every day.  Thats feels good--to have kept some consistency is satisfying.  As far as creative luxury, I haven't explored that much.  I would dearly love to go on retreat again, though that might be a long time coming, seeing as our situation dictates I stay near until DS gets total control of his diabetes, which might take awhile.  But, I do realise I can do some things closer to home, and probably could (and should) do an over-nighter--maybe into Seattle.

2. Artist Date:  Hmm.  Not really, nothing that I'd planned ahead of time.  I should do two this week!  Ah--the question is, "would you allow yourself two?"  Yes, if I could get away with it.  = )

3. Synchronicity:  If I did, it wasn't enough for me to remember it.  I'll need to pay better attention this week.  

4. Other Significant Issues:  I did experience some anxiety and irritation this week, centered around money, partly, and also from serious lack of sleep/relaxation.  I dream of a massage, of some uninterrupted time to myself that doesn't have to go into the late hours.  

Not the best recap, but it'll have to do for now.  I can only hope that I will do better this coming week.  It's a good goal to shoot for.

--TKC

Artist's Way Journal - Week Six, Day Six

Just got a message from Robert Brewer of Poetic Asides/Writer's Digest    http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/ that today begins the PAD Chapbook Challenge.  Here is his post from today.  This was something I didn't think about, being so wrapped up in life's weirdness these days, not to mention trying to keep up with some semblance of regularity the Artist's Way program!  But, not having written a new poem in way too long, this sounds like something worthwhile to try...

November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 1
Posted by Robert

Good morning. Here we are. Another PAD challenge. Feels like it was just a few weeks ago we were doing one, but I guess it hasn't been since April. This time around I'm going to be throwing out a prompt (and my attempt at a poem) each day, but we're going to do it with a focus on having a chapbook's worth of poems at the end of the month.

So, with that said, I'm going to give a little more room than normal on following the prompts--and the prompts themselves may at times feel a little spacious. This is to give you the ability to write a collection of poems around a particular theme, which means, yes, I want you to give a little thought to the theme you'd like to explore through the month of November. For instance, your theme could be political poems, poems about motherhood, nature poems, food poems, animal poems, poems about your life, poems about a particular medical condition, poems about whatever, etc.

You probably don't want to make your theme too specific, but having some sort of focus will be helpful, I think. My theme will be to write poems having to do with monsters. I'm not sure if it will be just horror movie monsters or if I'll mix in real life monsters as well, but that's the theme I'm choosing for myself.

So before moving on, think a little about what theme you'd like to write about. You can include it with your poem today--or leave it a mystery for other writers to guess at. Totally your call. Here, I'll wait while you think of a theme.

*****

Okay, you've got your theme (even if that theme is just to write a bunch of disjointed poems). At the end of the month, I may be asking you to collect your poems together from this challenge and send me your chapbooks so that I can try to pick a Best Chapbook Award. If I do this, the winner probably won't be announced until Groundhog Day. But I'll give more information on this idea as the month unfolds.

Let's get into today's prompt. For today's prompt, I want you to look at your theme and write a "hook" poem. This is a poem intended to hook your reader on your theme. Think about the beginning of poems like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Howl." This poem gets right into the meat of your theme, and pulls the reader along. Think of a dramatic situation involving your theme and start there (in medias res). Totally.

Here's my attempt for the day:

"The Hook"

She screamed as she closed the door,
so that the annoyed boy could not ignore.

He walked over to her side of the car,
only to realize he'd tried going too far

earlier in their Lovers Lane evening spat
when she grew so anxious to leave that

she made him curse her under his breath--
now realizing how close he was to death.

 

Don't know yet what my theme will be.  I have plenty to draw from at this point.  Some Other Eden was my first chapbook, and that was centered around budding spirituality in some loose way.  Shedding Our Skins is very female in nature.  My third collection, which I won't name right now, is centered around the theme of water.