The Light Over Yonder

A light on the hill at night.

Every night I go out to feed my family’s rabbit and I look across to the south at where Adam’s trailer is.  Adam is a guy that is interested in me, though I have never truly been interested myself.  He’s a likeable guy, I suppose, and it is terribly flattering to have someone interested.  It is even tempting to be interested in a weird sort of way because Adam is into me.  Go figure, but the mind of a woman is strange at times.  Do not ask how we come to these conclusions.

Though I am not interested, there is a sense of security every time I see the small light from Adam’s trailer.  It is really dark towards his place.  Nothing out there.  (I live in the country, if anyone wonders)  So seeing that pale yellow square is kind of nice.  A comfy feeling.  It’s really odd when I analyze it.  I just like knowing someone is out there.

In the summer I hear the sounds of his generator; probably for air conditioning.  I always find it strange I don’t hear the generator in the winter.  How does he get his lights if there is no power? 

Right now because it is winter, I always see smoke rising from his stove. I did not know you could have a wood burning stove in a trailer, okay, it’s more like a fifth wheel, but that was a new one.  I find it relaxing to see the spiraling smoke from his chimney.

This Christmas, Adam had a Christmas lights tree outside that would rotate through colors.  It was fun to see that in the distance changing slowly. Sometimes with the snow falling it had an incredibly magical look to it.

Maybe it’s because I live in the country, but grew up in the city, but I like seeing lights out there.  Oh sure I like the darkness of the country.  Hardly any ambient light.  However, I find it a bit creepy as well when there are no lights.  When the power goes out for the whole valley (it’s small) I tend to freak just a little bit because I can’t see where anyone is.  We are talking nighttime, by the way.  It just is too quiet.  Too dark.  Too alone.

Sure, sometimes the darkness is a blessing. Like when I am stargazing and I kind of need no light.  Or when I get sick and tired of my neighbor’s sodium light never going off.  Then I want dark. Oh and when the storage units right across the street drive me batty because it is a bit too bright.  Those are the lights I wish I could kill.

But Adam’s light.  It’s nice.  Homey. Safe. 

Too bad I’m not interested in Adam. 

Signing off

~Kate

Short and Sweet

This is a very short post, just to keep up with the whole Post A Week thing.  I have had an extremely busy week and I just got back from the CA coast where I was visiting for a couple days.  I have tons of inpspiration to write down, and hopefully some of that I will be able to showcase here.

Signing off

~Kate

Crimson Red

Razor thread slicing

Acid drops of pain

Hanging

Like poisonous pearls

 

Quicksilver dagger

Plunging

Twisting

Stabbing

 

Agony of Crimson red

The thundering

Pounding pulse

Throbbing

 

Slashing frayed ribbons

Ribbons of frayed torment

Lashing a whip of steel knives

Cold iron burning away

 

Squeezing fist of torture

Gripping in burning talons

Slicing sinew

Raw and bleeding

 

Throb of every vein

Wave of agony

Tide rising

Sea of misery

 

Drift away

Float into nothingness

Lifted up to weightless

Relief

 

I’m sure to most, this sounds violent. In some ways it could be considered that, but it’s nothing more than a woman voicing a pain that happens frequently. I am aiming this at women and girls, for if you go through it, without explanation, you know what I am talking about.

This has been in my mind for a while now, one of my coping mechanisms when I feel like crap.  When the heating pad just won’t work, or when the fetal position is all I can stand to be in.  If it helps, then I’m glad. 

Any guys reading this…. You may want to move onto another post.

 

Signing off

~Kate

Out of Commission Writing

I’ve been out of commission for the past few days.  The notebooks have practically been ignored.  Journals left forgotten.  Not due to lack of diligence, but just feeling like death warmed over.  It’s not very conducive to writing.  Who knew.

During that time, I have pulled out a bit of creativity and am working on a poem, but it’s still in a bit of the unknown stage.  It’s something I’ve had in my mind for a while geared just at girls and women, but it’s still taking some time to work out. 

I’m not great with free form verse yet. It is still hard for me to find the break and pause.  I enjoy to write it and at times it flows through me. (not often enough) But for some reason, rhyming has always been something easier. Not that it is easy, but it just strikes me as ‘real’ poetry. Personal opinion.  And it’s not that I don’t like free verse, I just find the rhythm easier with rhyme.

However, this thing I’m working on is free form, and it’s almost done. I’m going to attempt to work on it some more in the next day or so and hopefully I’ll have something usable.

Signing off

~ Kate

Word Cache

Free your life with words…

I read a book called Poemcrazy by Susan G. Wooldridge, and one thing that struck me was Susan’s direction to collect words.  Her idea was to use them for poetry, but I’ve gone and added word collecting to my novel-writing.  I don’t keep any formal lists, though I really ought to.  I’ll run across a word I like, forget to write it down, and then it’s gone.

However, there are certain words that I have stuck in my head. Not sure how I will use them, but the lyrical poetry of just saying them is kind of magical.

• Plotting – yeah, still not sure why this word is cool, but I love it.
• Passion – you can never have too much of that
• Flirting – how the ‘fl’ rolls off your tongue, then the implication of the word
• Charming – I just like this word. Prince Charming, he’s charming, it was charming…. Yeah, I use it a lot.
• Smitten – not a word used much, but well, fun.
• Cheshire – a word I love for the Cheshire Cat, plus I have a friend who has a smile like that.
• Shimmering – brings a lot of thoughts to my mind.
• Magical – I seem to use this word a lot. Don’t ask me why.
• Pounding –  Pounding heart, pounding thunder, the drums pounded. A very forceful word that has a wealth of meaning.
• Thundering – Kind of like Pounding.
• Etherial – It just sounds light and airy.
• Twilight – not from the book, but I’ve always loved this word.
• Lingering – Lingering twilight, lingering look, a lingering kiss. Try and tell me that that word isn’t sensual.

And the reason for this post is because of an ABC Castle promo from this summer about Castle repeats.  You can see the vid here.  I highly recommend it because well, if you like Castle like me, then you will just enjoy this. But all the fun words is very inspiring.

So does anyone else collect words?  Do you find you hear a word and just have to steal it for yourself?  I do it. I also do it with names.

Signing off

~Kate

Lavender-Blue Twilight

It's twilight time.

‘She walked home in the lingering twilight.  A world of lavender-blue.  Houses, cheery with warm lit windows, brought a smile to her face.  Some houses had their blinds open, revealing the evening edition of news on televisions.  Some just showed warm lights. In one, she could see old Mrs. Towne reading her newspaper as she sat in her Queen Anne chair.

 

At the Grant’s, Todd and his son, Gregory, were tossing a football back and forth.  Trying to get in a few more spirals before the darkness set in.

A thin film of wood smoke floated down from chimneys and stovepipes, scenting the air with a spicy winter smell.  If she closed her eyes, she could step back  a few weeks to before Christmas.  The smells were what she thought were only right for holidays.  But it was now mid-January, so she felt it incongruent to the time.  The smoke scent was still pleasing though, and she sniffed appreciatively.

Her legs were cold.   The temperature dropped  faster and faster as the world turned darker.  At the little bridge she crossed before home, she saw the Canadian geese settled in on the bank.  There was a slight honking sound as her boots clomped over the wooden planks.’

 

I was walking home the other night, and this sort of just came to me.  I was reading in a book about Christmas recipes, how the world becomes lavender-blue this time of year when twilight sets in.  It sounded really magical and pretty.  And it really does have a lavender-blue look to everything.  So just enjoy my mind in a descriptive mood.

Signing off

~Kate

A New Year Redux

Okay, now that I’m sure I have your attention, and I’m sorry for the ploy, but it got you here right?  Hoping you would hear about a redone New Year?  Not so.  Sorry.  Okay, well I’m not that sorry.

Declutter your life

Everywhere you turn you see how to improve your life.  Maybe it’s a January thing.  I’m not sure, and I do not have the resources to research it, but really, everything is about improving on one’s self.  Clear the clutter, feng shui yourself, organize a kitchen, clean a kitchen, redo this room, that room, eat healthy.  January is this giant fixit month.

Are you Feng Shui-ed?

Maybe it is because of all those New Year’s resolutions half of us won’t get to(yeah, I’m still not doing my yoga yet) or this thing that we all think we need to improve ourselves.  But why this month? Why not, say, June?  June is a lovely month.  It’s warm, you want to be outside, you don’t mind cleaning, it’s a pretty nice month.

But January?

And I’m just as much to blame as anyone else.  I have this insane (okay it’s probably not insane) desire to clean up the clutter.  A valid improvement in my life as well, I do clutter easily. It’s just so easy to do!  Organize, sew, start a new hobby that I seriously do not have time for.

Every where you turn you see it. I was at the library and there, sitting in a prime spot was 1000 ways to Clean Up the Clutter, or something along those lines.  The volunteers had set it out specifically for the month of January. Things to fix up your life.  Along with exercise, diet, health…. bla bla bla.  And what did I do?  I checked out the clutter book.  Yep, I fell for their ploy.  They are good.  Along with that, I checked out a book on healthy living.  Funny thing is, I live a pretty healthy life.  My parents have an organic produce business, we do not use tons of household chemicals (though I do love Softscrub), we feed our animals naturally, we eat tons of vegetables, we get our sun, we drink water, we sleep healthy…. Why do I need to read a book on living healthy?  Who knows, but I checked it out anyways.

Today, going through the second-hand store in town, on a table were three books on feng shui-ing your life, furniture, etc.  I almost, almost picked one up just to see, but then decided I can  only handle so many improvements all at one time.

Then tonight, looking through an older Martha Stewart Living magazine, old as in a couple of years, January issue, the whole thing is pretty much dedicated to organizing your life.  How to keep your kitchen sparkling clean.  Yes, that is nice, don’t get me wrong, but don’t you want it sparkling clean in March?  August? Gasp, and December when you have holiday guests?

Because seriously, come March, our New Years resolutions have petered away and we have lost some of our motivation.  We need the reminders more than just in January.  Granted, I’ve seen how to’s all year long, but this strange obsession with the first of the year.  We should learn to pace ourselves because really, if we overdo improving all at once, we get burned out.

Oh wait, isn’t there a book for being burned out?  Kidding.  Just kidding.  Though hold on let me Google that…….  Okay, yep, there are books on that too.

Well, so here I am, improving myself as well in the new year.  Whether or not I succeed is another post at another time.  For now I shall settle with trying to get back to yoga a few times a week, writing here and at ‘Escaping the Inkwell’ once a week, or more over there, and trying to clean up the clutter.  For your information I think the yoga and writing are the easiest of the three. I’m a lost cause when it come to clutter.  And I don’t think a book is going to help me solve that.

Signing off

~Kate

(images from : http://jogjatec.com/2009/07/08/5-common-mistakes-with-the-feng-shui-of-your-bed/

http://www.divavillage.com/article.php?id=36732

A Post A Week?

There is a new challenge for bloggers out there on WordPress.   A post a day, or a post a week.  Me, being the very un-dilligent writer that I am, will attempt to write once a week.  It seems doable with that being only 52 posts a year, though since I have two blogs, that is 104 posts.  Still somewhat doable.

I have no idea how well I shall succeed, but I’m crossing my fingers that this will help me write more and get more ideas out there. Even for my own pleasure.  Because, hey, half the time I write for my own enjoyment and the heck with anyone else.

So onward in the new year of writing.  Maybe this will be resolution #1.  Or 2, or 3, as I have a couple other things that are important too.

Signing off

~Kate

Things I May Have Learned This Year

These may not make anyone laugh, but here are some things I’ve learned this year.

1. I can never have too much of Ashland, OR.  It is one of the best towns ever!
2. Bleaching your hair with hydrogen peroxide doesn’t always  work, and come Christmastime, yellow hair looks really crappy in the family photos.  Note to self, do not play hairdresser with medicine cabinet bottles.
3. Tea does not dye the hair back.
4. Query letters are a pain in the you- know- what.  And they take                                    F-O-R-E-V-E-R to write.
5. There are some pop songs I will NEVER get out of my head, even though they drive me nuts most the time. Case in point.  Lady Gaga: Bad Romance (ugh on so many levels).  Katy Perry: California Gurls and possibly a few others.
6. Always carry a notebook or paper to write on if you are a writer.  You never know when you will have an idea.  And do not lose those pieces, or you will go nuts for two weeks trying to find them!
7. Jane Austen totally rocks!
8. You can never have too many cups of tea  with friends.
9. It is really hard to get back in the groove of yoga, jump rope, etc. once you have gotten sick.
10.  Blogging on a regular basis is super hard to maintain!

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Signing off

~Kate

A Fresh New Year

As a new snow fell on the old year, it was like a sign of a fresh beginning.  A snow so pure and white.  A snow so perfect with every six-sided snowflake in perfect form.  The sky to the west became pinker as more and more snow fell, the silence breathtaking.

Then, as the old year ran out, and a new beginning started, the sky was lit up with glorious fireworks in honor and celebration of a man known to my small town.  A man who passed away on the 20th of December, the day we had a full eclipse on the winter solstice.  Well known by all who lived here, it was a sad day for many when Rusty passed  on.

But the sky was filled with shatteringly beautiful sparks of green and red, blue and gold, silver and yellow.  On and on they went, celebrating a life.  A life that was taken from this world all too soon.

I think that with the snow, and the celebration, this was a spectacular start to a new year.  I may not make much ado about the whole starting fresh, but what could be more obvious than such signs as was played out tonight in my little town in Northern California.  We are all starting fresh, and onward we go into a brand new year.  Full of hope and promises.  Wishes and dreams.

I wish every one the best of all to come.   Happy New Year!

Signing off

~Kate