Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen Things I’d Do If I Knew I Couldn’t Fail (in no particular order)

1. Submit a manuscript for publication
2. Participate in a Poetry Slam
3. Create educational environments to empower kids and inspire them to explore whatever interests them (for however long it does) … allowing & encouraging them to follow their dreams and desires rather than “contain themselves”
4. Become a “motivational speaker” and/or storyteller in the oral tradition
5. Fix my leaky faucets myself
6. End world hunger
7. Rid the world of violence, war, aggression & hostility
8. Learn to draw and/or paint to illustrate my writing colorfully
9. Teach Molly & Ms. Kitty to be friends
10. Calm myself and overcome self-doubt
11. Clear clutter from my home and distractions from my mind … learning to focus on one thing at a time and make decisions easily
12. Set up a foundation, a scholarship, and/or create a legacy for the future
13. Learn to speak and understand other languages.

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Reminder: You've got 2 more days to figure out the Christmas Carol Quiz answers and email them to me. Did you notice the "snowy" effects in the award Mary created that's now displayed in the sidebar here? As previously announced: Peajay, Joy, John and Carrie were the first 4 Bloggers to get all 10 correct and have the Small Reflections Christmas Carol Quiz Award to post on their Blogs.

Who's going to be next?

Holidailies -- Introduction (just a little late)

Whilst perusing the "virtual world" this morning, I came perchance upon a site with THIS:

I thought to myself ... do I need some time off from Blogging for other things?

It's true December is a busier than normal month ... with holiday parties ... shopping ... gift wrapping ... Christmas cards (Ohmygosh - Reminder to self: I need to get crackin' on making those!) ... decorating ... baking ... (you get the idea), but I'm on a roll with NaBloPoMo and don't want to lose momentum. Participating in the 30 posts in 30 days activity led me to meet even more interesting folk and brought visitors to both my Blogs. Even now, I'm following up on those "leads" and may eventually find it overwhelming to keep up, but so far ... so good.

Fortunately, I discovered these as well:
You'll notice
I have added one
here at Small Reflections
and the other
at Sacred Ruminations
because

I've decided to

continue posting daily on both Blogs.

As some of you know, I began Blogging here on October 22nd of this year and at Sacred Ruminations on October 23rd. My "story" is in my Sidebar ... and additional info in my Profile ... so I won't repeat myself here. I will add that I wish I'd listened to friends and family sooner. They knew what I didn't ... that this is my element! It helps that I'm "happily retired" and have more time than most to "play" in this "virtual" universe. Often, I feel as if I've died and gone to heaven.

I've wandered through the "Blogosphere" visiting other Bloggers, reading & leaving comments, looking to see what's possible, returned to experiment and teach myself what I need to know to be creative here. I've posted something just about every day on each site, and had fun doing so ... figuring things out as I go. I appreciate those of you who have followed me back (who knew that would happen?) and left comments in return. Knowing there's an "audience" out there keeps me honest :)

So ... it's a good thing I continued to post daily because I'm not behind ... yet. Hopefully I won't let myself fall behind. I fully intend to meet the goal of 31 posts in 31 days from December 1st through January 1st! In addition, I plan to venture out and read what other Hollidailies bloggers are writing. I've added links in the Sidebar of both sites to relevant pages so that any of you who wish to enjoy these posts can do so with ease.

Now ... for my regular public service announcements :)
--If you need a laugh this evening, check out the video clip at Karyn's blog. (You know how important laughter is to me).
--Reminder: You've got 11 more days to figure out the Christmas Carol Quiz answers and email them to me. Peajay is the first to get all 10 correct and has the Small Reflections Christmas Carol Quiz Award posted on her Blog. Who's going to be next?

Happy 1st night of Hannukah
to all those who celebrate
this holiday.

Reclaiming My Front Yard (Part One) or The Way Things Were Before I Started

As per Karen's suggestion in a recent comment,
I've decided to share the following saga in three parts.

In April of 2006, my front yard looked like this ... overgrown and crowded ... with plants and trees as out of control as the Korean grass that had crept over the concrete footers, infiltrated the rocks of the stream-bed drainage area and sneaked under the Tam Junipers on the parkway in an unsightly manner.

Navigating the walkway toward the house, avoiding the overhanging bushes and the fruit-laden branches of the Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree, required special skill for the Postman and other visitors. Ms. Kitty enjoyed the jungle-like growth because it offered many hiding places, but to me ... it had become an embarrassing eyesore.

Returning from a Caribbean Cruise, I struggled to drag my suitcase up the sidewalk and into the house muttering under my breath. The next day on a whim, I purchased several pairs of gloves and a hand-held electric clipper at Osh and got started doing what I could to take charge of the mess and reclaim the yard.

This was no small task and took the better part of 6 months to accomplish, but little by little I succeeded in pruning, weeding, ripping out, and reclaiming the space. This is Part 1.

Part 2 (the gradual process of reclamation) and Part 3 (new plants and regrowth over time) will follow in separate installments.

If I'd only known then ...

I've spent many hours (over the past couple of days) trying to clean up and reorganize my Mozilla Bookmarks into a useful format ... a task that might not have been necessary if I'd understood how they work in the first place. Sigh! Such is the story of my life. I jump into new experiences whole-heartedly with a little bit of knowledge and a lot of enthusiasm coupled with self-confidence to figure things out ... often creating messes to be cleaned up later.

I'm trying to become more mindful ... to simplify my life & let go of stuph ... but here I am accumulating Virtual Connections in my usual disorganized way ... then figuring out how to make sense of it all ... after the fact.

About two weeks ago when Kara encouraged me to explore the Blogosphere (with the intention of beginning a Blog of my own & let myself be known ... finally), I started with links (she emailed me) to sites she liked. When I discovered Blogs I wanted to revisit, I clicked Bookmark this Page. I explored links on those sites ... creating more Bookmarks along the way with the intention of revisiting them at my leisure.

In no time at all, the list grew to an unmanageable size ... and I could find nothing. So, when I created Small Reflections, I started a Link List of my own in the right column ... sorted alphabetically. Soon that grew to an unmanageable number so I separated them into categories ... and that helped initially, but I realized I was in trouble and needed to figure out how to manage my Bookmarks some other way when that list grew to a ridiculous size.

I culled the Link Lists at Small Reflections to a few I check regularly and kept the links to my Writers Retreat friends in a separate box, but didn't choose to lose track of other sites I'd found interesting ... so my Bookmarked list remained a chaotic mess (much like my desk often is for I'm an "out of sight, out of mind person" ... when something gets filed, it's forgotten entirely). Eventually I noticed Bookmarks could be Organized in a separate window ...(Duh!)... by creating categories in folders that could be alphabetically arranged. How could I have missed this?

So ... that's what I set out to do several days ago. I created a folder called Blogs to Check Out and another called Favorites. Later I added folders to sort more specifially (Journals, Spiritual Sites, Blogging Resources, Interesting Visuals, etc.) and began to "sort" by category. I made significant progress, but what I didn't realize until this morning is that I can create a new folder at the same time I Bookmark a site rather than after the fact by Organizing them later.

Again ... it's hard to fathom how I missed this feature on Mozilla ... but I did. Perhaps in my eager explorations, my focus landed on content rather than organization. Maybe I needed to create a mess and clean it up? It's possible, in my rush to make up for lost time, I just didn't stop to think at all? And, of course, I've been sick the past few days and my mind doesn't work right when my health is less than good. Enough excuses!

Whatever the cause ... I'm relieved to have figured out how things work ... finally. Now when I find a new site of interest, I know enough to file it where I can find it again easily ... creating new folders as needed on the spot. I'm still cleaning up the mess I made initially in Mozilla, but there's an end in sight and I've learned a valuable lesson ... again!

I'm slowing down ... mindfully attending to each moment ... trusting the process.

Visual Scribblings

Here is an example of the kind of writing I've done for years. This brief, simple piece is something I created experimentally using a gift from M. It was a device that linked electronically to my now defunct Palm V ... allowing me to write with my hand yet transfer the results to my computer. I don't recall what it says and don't know if it will be readable once I publish this post, but I offer it here today simply as a reminder to myself and sample of what's to come.

Once I learn how to scan what M refers to as my "graphic poetry" and save it in a readable format, I intend to post some of them here. In Taos, both Suzanne & Jen encouraged me to do so. This is a first step.

Reconnections

One week after launching this Blog and a day after taking the plunge of telling my Taos Retreat Friends what I'm doing by "announcing" my debut online through our Writers Spa 2007 email link this weekend, congratulations bombarded my computer. I'm humbled and heartened by this wonderful feedback & encouragement. Thank you all! Even more exciting has been learning what others have been up to lately. That week in Taos ignited sparks in many of us. I wish you the best!
These photos capture my first experiences of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House & Retreat Center. The signs posted offered both a welcome and warning. Climbing the stairs and crossing the wooden bridge led me to an expanse of cobblestones leading to a gorgeous adobe structure surrounded by greenery and huge white clouds drifting across the deep blue skies ... taking my breath away.

The week brought many surprises, but my enduring memories are of the twenty-nine courageous women writers who showed up ... explored the inner & outer territory ... and carried their imagination, energy, and writing into the world. We're each sharing pieces of ourselves with others ... in uniquely individual ways.

Blessed Be ... and so it is.
Thank you all.

Beginnings

With encouragement and support from friends, I'm venturing out into this public space for the first time after making a promise to my Taos Writers Retreat "Buddy" yesterday that I'd post something before our next weekly call. I've been a "closet writer" for decades, only occasionally sharing anything with a few trusted friends so this is a BIG STEP.

"Today I choose to embrace changes. I open my heart to its hidden but abundant blessings."
(from Transitions) by Julia Cameron

I'm a "newbie" to Blogs ... jumping in with both hands and all my fingers to see what happens this morning. Because I usually journal with my favorite mechanical pencil in hand ... darkening the page with whatever crosses my mind as honestly and fluidly as I'm able, composing at the keyboard is a new experience for me. I've long created some unusual "visual" pieces that I've framed and given to friends as gifts. I'm hoping I'll figure out how to upload a few here eventually, but for now ... just posting something will have to be good enough because I've procrastinated far too long already.

"Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two." Octavio Paz

With gusty winds blowing and devastating fires burning all over Southern California, I'm grateful to live where I do in a relatively "safe" flat area of the southland near the ocean ... though the closest fire is less than 20 miles away burning out of control. Smoke and particulates fill the air making breathing difficult, but the only actual challenges I'm facing today are the huge palm fronds littering my yard, my front patio furniture blowing into the neighbor's yard, the awning on my 2nd story patio deck flapping precariously as it threatens to self-destruct and fly away, my feral cat hiding out, my Labrador Retriever pup driving me crazy indoors because walking is not an option at the moment, and my lovely garden being sucked dry.

I'm praying for all those affected by these fires and am hoping that the weather will calm down enough to get these infernos under control quickly with minimal destruction. May we each go about our day gently and compassionately, gratefully counting our blessings and generously giving of ourselves as we're able.