The Rule of 5

I don’t like rules

they don’t like me

they do have their place

in the world of my home

for the stack of papers

that need filed and fixed

the ironing waits

‘til I need clean clothes

so five at a time

each stack gets done

I don’t always play by 

the rules that I’ve made

but once started, momentum

takes care of the rest.

“Any fool can make a rule

And any fool will mind it.”

~ Henry David Thoreau, Journal #1

From the Same Root ~ 2

 

Passionate about puttering?

A bit over the top….

but a great way to drift……

Hostile about housework?

Not necessarily an exaggeration.

Just drains my energy.

A secret ~ don’t tell!

The results can be absolutely the same,

but much calmer with the passionate part.

“The imagination needs moodling,- - long, 

inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”

~ Brenda Ueland

Illumination ~ 2

Settling into anger deep,

the edges of my soul charred ~

energy burned 

     through my body

          lit my mind 

illuminating 

     reality 

          purpose

the charred edges of my soul, healed

the anger that gripped me, released.

“Madness, and then illumination.”

~ Orson Scott Card

At the Bus Stop

 

Heat

bounced off plexiglass shelter

softened old gum on the sidewalk 

Heat

hot breezes swirled gutter dust

metallic blue sky domed the city

Heat 

pushed sundresses and t-shirts into 

air-conditioned stores and restaurants

Heat

seductively wrapped around me,

draining me of energy as I waited.

“It was like riding into the blast of a hair-dryer set on hot.”

~ Colin Cotterill, Thirty-Three Teeth

Air Flow

Glad handing and high fives 

never touching skin to skin 

pass the energy of welcome and yay! 

through the air dodging 

hovering viral party crashers.

“I must choose between despair and Energy - I choose the latter.”

~ John Keats, Letters of John Keats

Rhythm and Blues ~ 2

Bob Marley

 

B.B. King

 

They decorated my Sunday morning

with energy and joy in music

switching on the snap of my fingers,

and a funny shuffling dance in slippered feet.

(insert: confused feline stare:

“she’s gone loopy!”) 

With their music in my head

over snow and ice I went 

with energy and joy in life ~

my Sunday afternoon was full.

“I could see the blues was about survival.’

~ B.B.King, Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B.King

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain,”

~ Bob Marley

A Trying Philosophy

 

Extending energies past abilities

plows new ground

for planting and harvesting

learning new lessons

growing into new abilities ~

with many a pulled muscle 

along the way.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high.

Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”

~ Dr. Seuss

Detours ~ RESILIENCE ~ Theme for November 2020

“Really? You want me to …….

 Elastic bands, if stretched too far, will……

Snapping up every opportunity…….

Intuition in a tense situation……..

Limbering up creative muscles…

Instinct, like intuition, will bring……….

Extending energies past…….

Nerves of steel that vibrate like……

Considering the pros and cons……

Endurance is key to……..

“She had fouled off of the curves that life had thrown at her.”

~ W.P. Kinsella, The Thrill of The Grass

Theory of Energetics

Energy is not always available

vanishing secretly 

when running in the wind

             

Energy is not always available

still sleeping

when morning light opens my eyes

Energy is not always available

drained away

after a good day’s work is done

Energy is always available 

for a thought

for an idea

for a smile

“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”

~ Aristotle, The Philosophy of Aristotle

For Everyone - COURAGE - Theme for October, 2020

 

Although I’ve continued to set a theme to follow for each month, my charming group on the Beaufort Estate in the story, Situationally Theirs, has prevented me from introducing each theme. Because I’ve changed my format for about five months, I’ve missed the challenges that I set myself at the beginning of each month. This month’s theme: COURAGE. 

               For Everyone

Communication or gossip, which should it be?

Outside information, always welcome,…

Understanding the other guy’s position…….

Rarely, if ever, do we take into consideration……..

Audacity is sometimes mistaken for…….

Gathering his wits about him……

Energy is not always available…….

“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, 

but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”

~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapter One, Episode 165 - Out on a Limb - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

There were few edits required for this episode - minor wording changes, removal of an unnecessary space, and the addition of a missing quotation mark. 

Voice and Tone are the next writing issues any writer must deal with. Quoting again from The Art and Craft of Storytelling is Voice: “the quality of the narration, regardless of whether it's told in first or third person.” A further quotation about voice, which I find amusing but very valid, is: “...shed your old one. The school voice. The please-the-teacher voice. And - horrors - the college-term-paper voice.”

Regarding Tone, it is “the atmosphere of the book”  as well as the rhythm or varying moods of any written work - in this case the serial like story Situationally Theirs.  My questions to myself today are - could this scenario be an ending of sorts? It is certainly a possibility. Did I get an authentic voice in this and other episodes? Was the tone in each episode consistent with the characters or the scene? 

Out on a Limb

There are times when a burst of energy and confidence can be exactly what is needed. However, bursts don’t last long. Momentum keeps someone moving forward. After Emelina had made her pronouncement that ‘things will be different around here’, she had just enough momentum to reassure Martha, her sister Dez and Cook that she was better. No more staying in bed. After the energetic whirlwind of cleaning and dressing to the nines, she had gone to the kitchen and sat down. The energy she had felt coursing through her, slowly dissipated. Cook went back to her food preparation area and Martha to her office. Emmie leaned towards Dez and in a forced whisper, she hissed “Dez. You’ve got to help me. I don’t know what I meant when I said ‘things will be different around here’.” Forcing herself to sit ramrod straight, she finished her coffee and calmly said “Dez, can we talk upstairs. I want to ask your opinion about my bedroom.” Dez could barely contain herself. Watching her sister slowly deflate as the four women sat and talked was almost amusing. She was overly polite, sat just a little too calmly except for the way she kept moving her coffee mug around. She only did that when she was nervous or anxious about something. 

Dez took her mug to the sink, picked up her backpack and headed to the stairs. “Let’s go, Em. I’ve brought some overnight things I want to put away. Martha thought I should come ready to stay at least one night. Looks like you’re doing much better, but I’ll stay one night anyway.” Her sister was already half way up to the second floor. When Dez reached the second floor, her sister was standing at the living room window. Musing aloud, she said “The yard looks beautiful. I don’t know how Samuel does it. I suppose he has his own system so he keeps on top of everything..... Oh, Dez, there you are. I’m so tired now. I may just go back to bed.” 

Red flags flying, Dez dropped her overnight bag on the floor. “Oh no you don’t Emmie. You're coming with me and we’re going outside.” She was scrabbling around for something to keep her sister from retreating again. “Where’s your purse?” Distracted, her sister waved her hand towards her room. “It’s in there. I’ll get it.” Dez blocked her way and said. “Never mind your purse, I’ve got mine. Come on with me.” As obedient as a child, her sister allowed herself to be led outside. Dez saw her wipe a tear away from her eye. 

~~~~~

Afternoon stretched into evening. Dez listened as her sister talked about her devastation when Carrie was gone, with no real resolution to their mutual past. “I got caught up in it Dez. I wanted so much to learn what had happened to my baby. I was so, incredibly angry at Jeremy for thinking I could make a difference in Carrie’s life. And now here I am, alone again with that past hanging over me. Feeling sorry for myself. What do I do, Dez?”

Dez sighed. She had watched Emmie since they were tiny. Always the centre of attention without even trying. And now she wants me to tell her what she should do. She has more money than I’ll ever have, she has everything she wants and needs right here. But she’s still lost. Dez thought all these things while she looked at her big sister. “Emmie, you already know what you want to do. I heard you say so when you were tearing the place apart cleaning every bit of dust in the place. You want your old bedroom back - that makes perfect sense. You want a new bed. You don’t want to jump and run when anyone calls. But let’s start with the bedroom - that’s what you can do today. I’ll help you - you're not alone.” Now Dez watched all the built up tension drain away from her sister, her shoulders sagging, the stiff smile gone. No wonder she’s tired. “But not here, Em. We’re going for a drive into town. First we’ll stop at the park and get some ice cream and then I want you to tell me whether you want your walls painted or wall papered.” Emmie perked up at the mention of redecorating. “Dez, if I’m going redecorate the bedroom then the ensuite bathroom needs freshening up too.”

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

Warmer Days

Renewal and rest, when weather drips moisture from the skies, wrapped in warm coziness much needed at this time of year when cheer has paled from ‘Cheers!’and daily life hints at far off busy-ness.

Renewal and rest 

energizes plans and goals for this new year ~ hazy thoughts of warmer days only dreamt about when nestled in the comforting glow 

of a shelter warm and safe.

“Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.”

~ Paul Theroux, travel writer and novelist

Seeding?

Seeding?

“Energy that hasn’t existed before?”

Uncle Thomas seemed confused and he didn’t even have white hair yet. My parents named me after him but everyone called me Tommy. When I grew up, I wanted to be called Thomas. I thought I was pretty grown up already because I would be seven years old on my birthday this month. But people keep asking me what I want to be ‘when I grew up?’ Don’t they know I want to be a farmer like Uncle Thomas, and I kind of am already. I guess I got pretty confused too about the energy thing so when I asked Uncle Thomas, the best farmer in the world, and he just asked me back I was worried. See, I was going to plant beans in the spring when it was time. The ones that climb on bean poles - I guess that’s why they call the poles ‘bean poles’ - and they have red flowers. But the beans I had for seeds looked dead. Like there was no growing kind of energy in them at all. I didn’t want to plant a bunch of dead seeds and be the worst farmer in the world when I was just starting out. Uncle Thomas gave me the bean seeds and a little patch of his garden for my farm! Well, I guess it’s not really a farm yet, but you have to start somewhere, you know. Uncle Thomas isn’t mean. So I decided to ask him the energy question that made his forehead wrinkle up. 

“Tommy, do you remember where those beans came from? Remember we talked about it last fall harvest. We talked about all kinds of seeds. Wheat, oats and beans and peas and all the things your aunt and I plant in our garden and in the fields.”

“Now, I remember! The plants get energy from the sun and the rain. Nitrogen and oxygen from the rain. And the sun……is the word photo….something?”

“You’ve got a pretty good memory, Tommy. The word you want is photosynthesis. All that energy goes into growing the plants and making the seeds so a new plant can grow in the next year.”

“But why do the seeds all look like they’re dead?”

“Well, they look dead but they are dormant. Being dormant is rather like keeping a secret or maybe sleeping. Their secret is that they are alive. When you’re sound asleep, you are still breathing and your heart is still beating. Sleep lets your energy build up at the end of a day. When seeds are dormant they are doing the same thing, except they can stay asleep for a long time. It’s up to us farmers to wake them up. With beans, we wake them up gently by soaking them in the house before putting them in the ground. But why all the questions about planting? Spring is too far off to get your garden growing.”

“I think every farmer should know this stuff and I didn’t want to wait until spring to ask. What if I forgot my question or you were already in the field and I couldn’t ask you? So I’m glad we had this talk now.”

“So am I. Let’s go out to the kitchen and work on my new jigsaw puzzle. Aunt Marg has some hot cocoa and cookies for us. When it’s not planting time but feels like it should be, it’s almost a sad thing. I think we could use just a little cheering up - don’t you?”

“Kids don’t remember what you teach them. They remember what you are.”

~ Jim Henson