Silent Sunday

More Halloween decorated houses in my neighborhood!

Happy Halloween!

All Hallows

All Hallows
  
Even now this landscape is assembling.
The hills darken. The oxen
Sleep in their blue yoke,
The fields having been
Picked clean, the sheaves
Bound evenly and piled at the roadside
Among cinquefoil, as the toothed moon rises:

This is the barrenness
Of harvest or pestilence
And the wife leaning out the window
With her hand extended, as in payment,
And the seeds
Distinct, gold, calling
Come here
Come here, little one

And the soul creeps out of the tree.

Louise Gluck

Another Library

I'm making slow progress on my library list. I did go to a new one the other day - the Del Paso Heights branch. I have 11 more to go still. It's a small branch so it was easy to look through all the books. I ended up with a couple of mysteries, a book of poems and a decorative beading book. The beading book has instructions for making beaded lampshades. I think they look really neat and I'd love to make one. I'm afraid that my cats would be very fond of it though!

The first picture is, obviously, the library. The second is just leaves on the ground in the parking lot. I love all the leaves on the ground. I have a bowl of them in my kitchen that I've picked up when I walk and I also have a few on my desk at work.

Bead Journal Project

Registration for the 4th Bead Journal Project will begin on November 8th! The Bead Journal Project is a year long project where participants create a monthly journal page using a whichever techniques they chose so long as beading is included. This is the second year I've been involved and I love it. I am admittedly somewhat behind this year . . . that's ok though! It isn't about how fast you do your projects or keeping up with someone else or comparing your work to other beaders. It's about personal growth through what you are creating, sometimes about working out problems by dumping out a bunch of beads and starting to put them on fabric, sometimes about just plain fun.

I have a separate blog where my daughter and I post pictures of our work. It's called One More Stitch if you're interested. The title actually came from a t-shirt I saw for sale about cross-stitching. A woman is stitching in her pajama's and saying "just one more stitch." Our blog was originally started to post stitching stuff but now both of us are mainly beading. Anyway. . . back to the bjp!

I found the BJP in the first year it started through my wanderings around the Internet. I visited different blogs admiring the work beaders were doing and kept thinking it looked like fun. Prior to that the only beading I'd ever done was small Mill Hill ornament kits. I've been doing embroidery, quilting and sewing for as long as I can remember but never beading. Anyway, I sent an email to Robin Atkins, who is the originator of the project, and asked about joining. She explained that they'd probably be doing it a second year and I could sign-up to join then. I am not a joiner nor am I a person who writes emails to total strangers. But I was so fascinated by this idea that my desire to participate overcame my initial shyness. There's something about working with beads that I find soothing and creative. And fun! During the first year (second of the project but my first year) my daughter was admiring all the beading and decided to join this year. It's been a lot of fun seeing her projects and comparing ideas.

You don't have to have any experience or particular skills. It's pretty easy (at my age with a good lamp and magnifying glasses) to put a bead on a needle. And don't feel you have to be "creative." I didn't think I was creative enough to come up with anything original but I have and I've learned a lot in the process. If you have even the slightest interest, just a small thought that maybe it'd be fun, then JOIN!

Below is one of my projects from the first year I participated. I was doing a piece each month based on a poem. This one wasn't exactly a poem - it's from The Cat Who Walked By Himself by Rudyard Kipling:

He will kill mice, and he will be kind to babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.

How about a poem?

You Might Consider

how my long life of losing men
could create a new international sport.

Men lost in the desert, men missing
in action from doorways and all-night diners;

men making the most of fire
escapes, service stairs, the emergency aisle

of airplanes like United. Men
para-sailing after spaceship encounters.

I am accomplished in the world
of the see-you-later wave

as his pick-up truck disappears
traveling to the next espresso stand.

Something in the curve of my collar,
the blue of my blouse sets them running.

They know they are in the hands of a master.
But when the coffee’s on, the pumpernickel

toasted just right, I have to let them know;
I’m actually ready for them to go.

by Susan Rich

October 25, 1934

Today is my Dad's birthday. As you can probably figure from the post title, he's 76 years old. This is one of my favorite pictures, I was 1-1/2  and he was 24. There are many people I like, many I admire and would like to emulate, a few I trust and a few I respect. The people that fall into all those categories can be counted on one hand and my father would be the first one.

He's a person who does and says what he believes to be right and it makes no difference if you're a stranger, friend, boss or relative. He doesn't tailor his words to what he believes you want to hear. For better or worse, not a trait I inherited from him!

He's also incredibly intelligent. I know a lot of people probably think their father is a genius, but I'm not alone in thinking mine is. When he was in the army they gave intelligence tests and he scored higher than anyone else ever had. I found this quote once and saved it because it reminded me of him: He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities. ~Robertson Davies

He does, without obvious effort, what most of us can't even imagine. He was a computer analyst before he retired. I don't remember his exact title but he wrote programs and fixed them. He worked for IBM when they first developed the SAGE computer, a gigantic thing that was less efficient than an iphone is now probably! He literally has forgotten more than most people know about computers.

Aside from being intellectually amazing, I think he's an incredibly tough person. I don't mean in a tough-guy manner (although he grew up in Oakland & he and his brothers were probably the 1940's gang to avoid). He survived raising four children, the death of a grandchild, the death of his wife of 43 years, the death of a partner of 10 years and all the stuff that goes with just living. Yet he's still hanging in there and still going out and dealing with life. I think that's pretty amazing.

He isn't perfect and I guarantee you it isn't easy being his daughter sometimes. Logical and rational are probably in the top two words you'd use to describe him. I don't know that they are even in the top 100 for me! But I'm proud to be his daughter and I hope there are a lot more birthdays left! The song below always makes me cry. My life has indeed been "a poor attempt to imitate the man."  I haven't come close but I think it's an effort worth continuing.

Silent Sunday

This is what it looks like outside today. I love it!

I feel like a mouse

A mouse being watched by a hungry, extremely annoyed cat! Pippin got me up to feed him and I went back to bed after that hoping for a little more sleep. Turns out he decided the packet I gave him isn't one he likes today (although it was fine yesterday). He jumped up on the bookcase and meowed, very loudly, and just sat and glared at me. Having an annoyed cat looking down at you without blinking can be a little unnerving! I got up.

Camellia

My camellia is blooming! It didn't bloom last year and this year it had a lot of buds but they were taking so long to open I was getting worried. About a week ago they started opening up and look at it now! Camellias are one of my favorite flowers. There are a lot in my neighborhood so I get to look at them when I walk also!

It's been a year

Did anybody else watch Lost in Space when they were young? Remember the robot who'd wave his arms and say warning? He's waving his arms for this post - it's kind of a self-pity post but maybe after I write it I'll feel a little better. . . .

Today is my moving to Sacramento anniversary. I want a party and balloons and hearts and good food and champagne. Instead I ate a candy bar I didn't want and I'm sitting here kind of feeling sorry for myself. I haven't been posting much lately I know. The last couple of weeks have been hard for me. I moved here for a lot of reasons one being that I wanted to get away from a relationship and "start a new life." Maybe my expectations were too high. I don't know. It just feels like I haven't accomplished anything I wanted in the last year. And, witness my post of October 14th, I don't feel like I've done very well on starting over.

It isn't like I haven't tried either. I really have. I've done a lot of hard things, quite a few stupid things and maybe one or two smart ones. But I'm still not where I want to be and I don't feel like I'm any closer than I was a year ago.

I did one of those stress scale things where you rate the stress in your life over the past year - I scored 409. No wonder I'm upset and don't feel well. I actually think I missed a couple of things too. Ok, I don't know where this post is going. I guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I wanted to be somewhere else today - emotionally, mentally, socially, physically, I don't know - whatever other ways there are. I guess it's just a process and takes time. Right now it feels pretty hard.

However, in an attempt to end on a positive note, here's a clip from one of my favorite movies! Although, upon reflection, perhaps I should have gone with Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. . .

Silent Sunday

I just remembered that I hadn't posted a picture today! I took this a few minutes ago from my patio. It's overcast and a little drizzly today - it's a lovely day!

Musical Thursday - guess Monday sounds better!

Thoughts for today

I found these on a blog awhile ago and thought they were funny. I can't remember where I saw them but the person was just quoting stuff they found in wandering the internet so I guess it's ok to pass them on unattributed!

• The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

• If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

• War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

• Some people are like Slinkies ... not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.

• I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted pay checks.

• I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

• The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

• Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.

• When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

• Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

• To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Musical Monday

This is music from one of my favorite Remington Steele episodes, Steele Knuckles & Glass Jaws. It's good to listen to if you want to feel energized!

Silent Sunday

Looks like Halloween!

Some pictures from my walk this morning. A lot of houses have Halloween decorations up!

A few pictures

I'm kind of lazy and in a hurry this morning so here's a few pictures with short explanations!

I took a walk at lunchtime yesterday and met this cat around the corner from work. I think we're friends.

A few months ago I took a picture of a leaf print on the sidewalk but it was a shadowed picture. I think this is the same print. Anyway I really like it!

I want one of these!

This is a tree I saw on my way to work yesterday. I thought it looked pretty. Standing underneath it the leaves look kind of lacy but it's harder to see in the picture.

Alley looking down toward where I work.

A leaf I found while I was walking. I just thought it was pretty.

Musical Monday

Silent Sunday

Banned Books Quiz

Banned Books Week is September 25 - October 2. I've been tweeting information about it and am finally getting around to doing a blog post. Instead of giving you information about banned books that you can easily find online, I decided to give you a quiz instead. All the quotes are from a book that was banned at one time. How many can you identify? If you click on the quote you'll find out if you're right!

1. Good heavens, woman! This is a war, not a garden party!
2. He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survive.
3. It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.
4. I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.
5. How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other.
6. I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
7. Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak, Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break. 
8. Adventures do occur, but not punctually.
9. No, Meg. Don't hope it was a dream. ... don't have to understand things for them to be. 
10. In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.

A Poem for Friday

It's October already! I thought I'd start the month with a poem by one of my favorite poets, Louise Gluck.

Odysseus’ Decision

The great man turns his back on the island.
Now he will not die in paradise
nor hear again
the lutes of paradise among the olive trees,
by the clear pools under the cypresses. Time

begins now, in which he hears again
that pulse which is the narrative
sea, at dawn when its pull is strongest.
What has brought us here
will lead us away; our ship
sways in the tinted harbor water.

Now the spell is ended.
Give him back his life,
sea that can only move forward.

Louise Gluck