Learning to Write

Writing ~

Stringing words together 

from the pull of a theme or story gleaned from stray thoughts or deep commitment. 

Logical thought is useful 

for an outline, 

story paints the picture

but those stray thoughts

find where deep commitment lives.

“A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave.”

~ Oscar Wilde

One More Step

 Commitment to the next step, 

no matter the storm, 

simply a breath and a second.

“Don’t watch the clock; do 

what it does. Keep going.”

~ Sam Levenson

Distracting Puzzles ~DEDICATION ~ Theme for October 2023

Dedication to a project…..

Endeavouring to play….

Distractions come in…..

Interested in the pieces…..

Commitment to the……

Attention to the details……

Tantalizing word images……

Incandescent mirages……

Overwhelmed with…….

Naive about……..

“To those who, in spite of everything, still choose goodness.”

~ Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

The Oscars

Full of glitz, glamour, amazing 

(and some not so amazing) 

gowns and golden statues!

For the hard work of acting 

for the work of writers, special effects designers, film editors, sound engineers, costume designers, makeup and so very many more ~

The people who put all of the ideas together from beginning to end. 

Each job takes focus, inspiration, and commitment ~ so we can be entertained.

“Success is best when it’s shared.”

~ Howard Schultz

Life and Limb ~ HEAT ~ Theme for July 2021

Here we are…….

Every child…..

A moment in time……

Taking stock……

The Covid19 pandemic is winding down, but not gone. Parts of the world are still reeling. Here in Canada, it is heating up in more ways than one. The temperature is the least of our worries, even though it is a big worry. Fires are lighting up and destroying life and limb. But a deeply serious and long lasting heat is rising from the thousands of children lost to their homes and families. The residential school programs of colonization made a vain attempt to reprogram an entire race through their children, while destroying life and limb. An exercise in genocide. Great bravery and commitment of many individuals surviving this horrendous rending of a long established and beautiful culture has been patiently, steadily waking this country up. 

I am one of the privileged whites who did not understand the depth of this devastation. When I put myself in the shoes of the Indian parents, the shoes of even one Indian child, I edge closer to knowing. Not just understanding intellectually, but knowing that devastation in my heart.

“Once parents came to be viewed as the ‘enemy’, 

their criticisms, no matter how valid, could be discounted.”

~ The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 

Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 

Volume One: Summary: Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future

Empty Nest

 Photo taken June 7th, just 8 days ago.

Just a few egg shells and surrounded by green grass. No stray feathers. No evidence of what happened to the goose I had named Gertrude. She had been nesting between a sidewalk and parking lot with no shelter for well over the usual nesting time of 28 days. She had no obvious mate in sight, but she couldn’t have lasted that long without relief. My fear is that she did not survive. My hope is that our heat and rain storms did not melt or dampen her commitment. Did she manage to take one, or maybe more, goslings to safety? We'll never know.

“You always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear.”

~ Sammy Davis Jr.

Butch and Jacob

“Commitment is a bitch. Just when I think my life is on track, something annoying like a viral pandemic comes along. Now I’m just sitting here feeling sorry for myself.” Jacob stood up, stabbed the off button on his TV remote and walked over to the fridge. “And there’s nothing in here to eat either.” As soon as he started to his kitchen, Butch, his Akita/Husky cross, perked up his ears, a faint whine escaping. “There’s nothing in here for you either.” Jacob, a normally grumpy man, was particularly sour tonight. He had promised bis wife that he would follow all the health guidelines, eat properly and stay healthy. He didn’t often make such commitments, but she was still in hospital. “She’s getting better, Butch. She’ll be home soon and come out walking with us. Let’s you and I go now before it gets too dark.” Butch was up at the door before Jacob had even finished talking. All he needed to hear was ‘walking’. He really did miss the woman. Jacob called her Aggie. Jacob picked up his mask from the bin by the door. “I told her I’d wear this damn mask too.” He chuckled. Every time the two old boys went for their walks, when they stepped out the door, Butch stopped, turned to look back in the house. With a little whine he would look up at Jacob and tip his head over. “It’s alright Butch. I told Aggie we’d still take the same walks.” When Jacob started talking with Butch, especially about Aggie, any grumpy sourness vanished. The two old friends stepped off the porch and set off down the grassy path towards the sunset.

“Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability

 to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.”

 Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

**Author's note: I was unable to upload a photo tonight. After several tries, including shutting everything down, I decided to post 'picture-less'.

A Look Below

Qu'appelle Valley, 2012

Substitutions for last year’s resolutions can be two fold. One: renewing a resolution made the previous January with just a bit of tweaking to see if this new year could be better. More motivation, not as much work/life imbalance… or any reason I need to not continue forward. The second part of substitutions for last year’s resolutions are to play word games! Change resolution to commitment. That should work. Actually, I’ve tried both solutions and neither work very well. Work/life balance ~ now retirement/life balance ~ just keeps tipping over! As far as the word games, I get so caught up in the game, I forget why I started playing them!

New Year’s resolutions have never been my strong suit. Making them has been easy ~ more like a wish list without a plan. Following through on any resolutions is another story completely. In January, 2019, I learned about the concept of ‘going deeper not wider’ from Winnipeg writer David Cain. An interview with Mary Hynes on CBC radio and David's blog at https://www.raptitude.com, suggested a change in perspective for his readers. Using the theory ‘going deeper not wider’ I have found an anchor. I no longer make New Year’s resolutions (i.e. commitments) in a wish list kind of way. Instead, decisions from previous year’s commitments are reviewed. Do I still want to go forward with any one of them, do a bit of the infamous tweaking, or continue to move forward? I have learned to follow through on the projects I have chosen. Some of them have been completed ~ like painting my closet. Some are ongoing ~ like clearing the clutter of years of moving. The most important is writing. Not just this blog, but another project that I took on over a year ago. And then there was the issue of retirement. When I first learned of a Depth Year, retirement was close and really needed my attention. This was one of my early projects that threatened to overwhelm and derail me.

Retirement has suggested, at least to me, stopping. Stopping has seldom been an option, so I decided last year to look more deeply into what retirement means for me, my relationship to life and all it has to offer. There is still much to do, but with the concept of ‘deeper not wider’, that most unpleasant feeling of being overwhelmed was placed as an issue for review using this new perspective. As a result, I've been learning how to take tippy toes into this new life in small steps, cheering myself on and listening to the wisdom of friends and family.

“Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;

He who would search for pearls, must dive below.”

~ John Dryden, All for Love

Movie Review: Harriet directed by Kasi Lemmons

Many historical movies are dramatized so much that the true history of the main character becomes a very minor detail. I first heard of Harriet Tubman in relation to her role as a nurse in the U.S. Civil War. I also learned that Harriet Tubman, due to a head injury, possibly had epilepsy with visions and an occasional collapse. The movie Harriet depicts much greater depth to Harriet Tubman’s story. After some research this afternoon reading reviews and historical information I can tell you that the reviews are mixed and some of the story is not historically accurate. There are a couple of reasons for this that I could discern. The first is that Harriet (Cynthia Erivo) was, in fact, illiterate, with much information not written in her own hand. The second is that a life history, condensed into two hours on screen, has created a need to compress time. The two characters that were mainly composites of individuals from that time in history were Gideon Brodess (Joe Alwyn) and Marie Buchanan (Janelle Monaé). 

Despite any veering from historical accuracy, I enjoyed this movie. It was an accurate, if sometimes very brutal, depiction of a strong, courageous woman who became a staunch abolitionist before the Civil War, beginning with her own escape from her slave owners. Slave owners who should have freed her based on the legal wishes of their deceased father. This part is detailed at the beginning of the movie and signalled Minty’s (Araminta/Harriet) run to freedom. She left her husband, who was dubiously free in a hostile environment, afraid he would be re-enslaved if they were caught. I’m not sure many of us can imagine what a ‘run to freedom’ would entail, but some of the safe stops trailed by dogs and slave trackers, without out food or shelter made it very real. Harriet had to learn to hold her head high ‘look like she belonged', learn how to shoot, and learn how to dress. In short, learn how to protect herself in a very hostile world. She first fled to Philedelphia to the Abolitionist Society and later navigated the Underground Railroad and became a ‘conductor’ getting people to St. Catherines, Ont. After her first year of freedom, she returned to the plantation where her family was to bring her husband, John Tubman (Zachary Momoh) to freedom. Things did not go as planned. He had remarried thinking her drowned after she jumped off a bridge to avoid the slave trackers. Questioning her God, whom she had complete faith in, she was torn as to her next steps. Back in slave country, her husband lost to her, it was her brothers and three others that she led to safety in Philadelphia. In her long years as an abolitionist aka Moses, she led at least 70 slaves out of slavery. Her mission continued with the Union Army in many roles. Spy, nurse, and the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the Civil War. 750 slaves were freed in that action. She survived it all and died at age 91 in 1913.

Harriet Tubman’s life was full and extraordinary. To pack such a life into a limited two hours took, in my mind, great skill. I am torn to discount any fictions that were created if it furthered our awareness of Harriet Tubman’s story.

“Many of you don’t know slavery first-hand. But I remember. 

I’ve heard their groans, heard their tears.”

~ Harriet Tubman, Harriet - the movie

(speaking to the Abolitionist Society)

Directed by Kasi Lemmons 

Writing Credits: Gregory Allen Howard

                         Kasi Lemmons

Partial Cast

Cynthia Erivo - Harriet Tubman (Minty)

Zachary Momoh - John Tubman, Harriet’s husband

Michael Marunde - Edward Brodess

Jennifer Nettles - Eliza Brodess, plantation owner’s wife

Joe Alwyn - Gideon Brodess, plantation owner’s son

Clarke Peters - Ben Ross, Harriet’s father

Vanessa Bell Calloway - Rit Ross, Harriet’s mother

Leslie Odom Jr. - William Still

Janelle Monaé - Marie Buchanan

Vondie Curtis-Hall - Reverend Green, pastor on plantation

Henry Hunter Hall - Walter, slave tracker

Omar J. Dorsey - Bigger Long, slave tracker

Nature View

Victoria has a plethora of urban wildlife. I’ve often mentioned that I see deer, squirrels and raccoons in and around my patio. Yesterday morning, as I sat at my desk writing in my journal, I glanced up at my window. A slight movement had caught my eye. There, sitting as peaceful you please, was a fawn. I recalled the few details of deer behaviour that I knew. The doe hides her fawn in a sheltered place while she goes off to forage. This was the thought that went through my head, and it may in fact have been true. The fawn barely moved when I tapped on the window to get a better ‘nature view’ for my iPhone. After too many taps, the fawn, three to four months old got up stiffly, licked at a

spot on its side and moved away. The next I saw, the fawn was lying quietly in front of my patio, protected by the foliage there. Over an hour and a half I watched the fawn becoming concerned. I spoke with SPCA Wildlife, who told me that a doe would ‘hide’ her fawn for up to two hours. As I was on the phone, the fawn got up again and stiffly walked away. I’ve not seen it since. My hope was that any injury the fawn may have had was minor. The SPCA did assure me that deer heal incredibly quickly. Did the doe return? Questions that will never be answered, as I have not seen any deer since.

*******

Today at 05:45am - When I opened my curtains to my patio this morning, I thought to myself - ‘I hope my little fawn isn’t there.’ No sooner did I have that thought when I saw the fawn curled up between the two plants, looking perky and content. I quickly turned out my lights and got my camera.

06:15 - my movements must have suggested the fawn was not in the safest place. A wise move, as the yard care folks may be here today with their noisy machines.

If I see it again and it's condition is deteriorating there will be another call to SPCA Wildlife. The fawn does look like it's doing ok. 

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”

~ Aristotle

SPCA Wildlife ph. number - 1-855-622-7722

*wikihow.pet - information about age of fawns

 Author's note:  

Update one week later: did not see the fawn again so can only hope it survived it's possible injuries.

Midsummer City Stroll

Taking my time ~
shaded by beautiful old trees.
Midsummer blossoms in colours more
brilliant than soft spring pastels ~ vibrant sunny showoffs greet me with good cheer.

And so I stop ~

take a picture here or there and wonder what beauty is around the next corner

Will I miss my bus because I dawdle? 

Yes….. there it goes! A farther stroll in the warm summer air, the whoosh of traffic, hammers and drills of construction on streets and avenues ~

and yet flowers still blossom innocent of these noisy surroundings.

“But the beauty is in the walking -- 
we are betrayed by destinations.”

~ Gwyn Thomas

Celebrating Summer

A summer celebration and a summer festival. Two excellent events on yesterday's gorgeous Sunday afternoon. 

I found, by chance, The Victoria Flamenco Festival final day at Confederation Square. It had been running from July 25 to July 28. Even in a short half hour, I listened and enjoyed the superb music and flamenco dancing. 

Our Place Society celebrated ‘….50 years of helping those most often overlooked’ with music, drumming and dancing, bubbles and balloons. People of all ages attended and enjoyed visiting this community for Sunday's lovely summer afternoon.

“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”

~ Jonathan Grimwood, The Last Banquet

Movie Review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Photo taken through window in Downtown Victoria

Not an easy movie to write a short blog post on! My first impression was ‘this is boring’. My second impression was much different. While I definitely enjoy movies, even violent and sensational ones, I do not consider myself a movie buff. In discussion at coffee with friends after the movie, the extent of detail and texture in this movie was revealed over hot coffee in a local coffee shop. I hadn’t recognized the depth of this story, even though familiar with the history of the brutal Sharon Tate murders from the summer of 1969. Going into a movie with expectations because of a famous director or an impressive cast sets one up for missing out on such depth and the sardonic nature of Quentin Tarantino’s movies.

When my expectations were for gruesome, bloody and violent scenes Quentin Tarantino disappointed ~ for a while. This movie delved into the gun toting violent nature of at least one fictional TV western of 1969, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton. Not only was he a fading actor, this genre of movies was also fading into the sunset. His driver, handyman, and one time stuntman played by Brad Pitt, had become a close friend. At the same time, their relationship showed the absolute divide between the stars of Hollywood and the ordinary guys of the time. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was more of a trip down movie nostalgia lane into 1969 with tension building toward a twist at the end. However, the nostalgia created the texture and voice of this movie. The detail was evidenced by the fantastic car culture, lost hippies, the Spahn Movie Ranch where part of Charles Manson’s family lived, the ubiquitous smoking of cigarettes as well as scenes of movie making on dusty lots with trailers, costuming and sets built and moved. Al Pacino, as Marvin Schwarz, movie producer, brought the movies to the controversial Spaghetti westerns in Italy when he lured Rick Dalton out of the U.S. to Italy. Rick’s lack of faith in such movies crumbled when he feared for his own career. Sharon Tate, played by Margot Robbie, in a very star struck scene, went to one of her own movies starring Dean Martin and Nancy Kwan. In the dark of the movie house with her big eyes, she thrilled to the audience joy in her movie. Actual footage was shown, which was true throughout the movie, part of the historical essence of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There were other present day actors with brief, but significant, walk-on roles throughout this movie. I must admit my lack of familiarity with many of them. 

I have reconsidered my initial opinion that this movie was boring. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a movie to see again, so I can better appreciate the exquisite layers of this movie.

“I’m a historian in my own mind.”

~ Quentin Tarantino

Partial Cast of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino 

Leonardo DiCaprio - Rick Dalton, fading TV western star

Brad Pitt - Cliff Booth, stuntman for Rick Dalton

Margot Robbie - Sharon Tate

Emile Hirsch - Jay Sebring

Al Pacino - Marvin Shwarz, Spaghetti Western movie producer

Kurt Russell - Stunt manager

Damian Lewis - Steve McQueen

Timothy Olyphant - TV western actor

Mike Moh - Bruce Lee

Julia Butters - TV western actor, 8 year old child