Cowlicks or Whorls

I have, according to me, never had great hair. I’ve had nice, shiny, fine hair. But my hair is really, really straight with a bit of a flip to the left if I let my hair grow long. With a multitude of cowlicks on the back of my head. An online definition of cowlick is so accurate: “A lock of hair that grows in a direction different from the rest and that resists being combed flat”.  Or any other direction for that matter. In my case, it is not one lock of hair but many locks of hair. 

The beginning of the use of the term ‘cowlick’, apparently dates from the late sixteenth century by Richard Haydocke in his translation of Lomazzo: ‘the lockes or plaine feakes of haire called cow-lickes are made turning upwards’. Lomazzo was a 16^th century Italian artist and art historian. Why he was writing about cow-licks has stretched this researcher’s reach. Could Lomazzo, who started writing late in his artistic career, be possibly describing how to paint a cowlick? And who was Richard Haydocke? Professor Wikipedia had no answer for me.

P.S. ‘a leake is a dangling lock of hair. In my case it looks more like many “sticking up in all directions” locks of hair. Fortunately, Robin, my hair stylist at Arq Hair Salon on Douglas St., works them beautifully. That lasts only until I style my own hair. Cow-licks, in hair styling circles, are called whorls. Jeff, please correct me if I’m wrong. Jeff is my son and at WarBoy Hair Salon in Vancouver. Whorl is a much more civilized term, giving this hairy misadventure a bit of redemption. 

But where does that term ‘cowlick’ come from? The pasture, where a momma cow is grooming and cleaning her calf?  Does give my cowlicks a maternal value. On the other hand, whorls make my head spin.

“I think the most important thing a woman can have - 

next to talent, of course, - is her hairdresser.”

~ Joan Crawford

http://jeffward.ca//   

WarBoy Studio
20 East Cordova, 
Vancouver.  Ph: (778) 989-0190

http://www.arqsalon.com  (Two Locations)
Arq Hair Salon - Downtown
1317 Douglas Street, 
Victoria Ph: (250) 361-4664

Arq Westshore - 
115-829 Goldstream Ave, 
Langford Ph: (250) 391-1600

Belief is Like That

Looking backwards through time, searching for the beginning of my belief, I found a tiny nugget buried in the chaos of adult ‘growing up’ years, nursing school years and raising children.

Stumbling about while clutching this fragment of my belief, like a child holding a bright balloon, adding tiny pieces one at a time over many years 'til it has slowly, gradually taken shape.

And yet it is still only a beginning with many pieces still to be found, much wordcrafting to be done ~ Belief is like that…..patient.

“Belief builds from scratch. Doesn’t 

have to relax, it doesn’t need space.”

~ Gavin DeGraw

A Big Dream

A Big Dream

Bicycles are so big and beautiful and cool.
Ernie was only six years old and he really, really wanted a bicycle like his big brother.
Gifts were a good idea if he told his mom first.
If he caught her in a good mood, and he was really good, and maybe said he’d take out the trash every day for sixteen weeks without being told…...
Nodding to himself, he put his hands in his pockets like his dad did when he was thinking.
Never even doubting that his mom would say no, he strolled quietly and as much like a businessman as his dad into the kitchen where his mom was busy cooking supper.
In case, she said no, Ernie decided that he wouldn’t cry, or even get mad, he would just take a deep breath and ask if he could set the table.
Needing to really get a bicycle was probably the very most important thing in his life now that he would soon be turning seven.
‘Good boy, you came in at just the right time to tell me what you want for your birthday.’
Smiling a big grin, Ernie blurted out his plan that he would take the trash out for sixteen weeks if he could just have a bicycle please, please please!

The end of this story:  Did Ernie get the bicycle?  What colour was it? Hmmmm……..

“Where there is possibility there is also hope.”

~ Gareth P. Jones,  No True Echo

Continuum

At the beginning of any continuum there is a word ~ 

boredom begins it's own 

continuum floating 

in the mist marking time 

'til creativity begins a dance 

along a time line to curiousity 

and exploration 'til 

boredom loops around again
closing the circle for rest and calm.

“Patience is the ability to enjoy the calm of boredom.”

~ Jakub Boźydar Wiśniewski, 

The Pith of Life: Aphorisms In Honor of Liberty

Beginnings

Beginnings never end
Merely coil out
Hand over hand
Moment to moment
Lessons that add depth and colour
Whether formal or informal
New chapters they say
In the middle of 

The story
The journey
The passage of time
We are each our own book
Each page is ours to write
Quietly in measured steps or
Energetically in leaps and bounds or
Somewhere inbetween until
We feel each moment complete and full
Passing the legacy of our life 
Gracefully or
With great angst
As we begin our own ancestry.

“I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, 

as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many 

beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)”

~ Louisa May Alcott,  Little Women

Another Rainbow

Arching high over dark corners
Of clouded Texas skies
The red, red land and open air
Too dry for too long
Thunderheads that have promised rain
For so long
Finally opened their flood gates
Drenching and cooling
Misting softly
What has been so hard
So dry
So unforgiving
The sun
Steady and sure 
Rising and falling
Bravely glowing through gauzy mists
Painting clouds and sky with gold
To describe an arch
A beautiful many coloured arch
Of legend and leprechauns
The magic of reality seldom seen…

“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.”

~ Frank Lane

Written Sept 9, 1997 in Lubbock, Texas
Photo from a friend’s front yard.