Cards 'n Letters

Writing and the love of it overflows into areas other than books, essays and articles. For me, I wish I had ample time to write letters more often. A letter keeps me connected whether I’m writing it or receiving it.

I also like to write a note on a card sent and wonder why folks don’t do it more often. One doesn’t’ have to be a college grad, an excellent speller or have a neat penmanship. “Happy Birthday” “Merry Christmas” or just “Thinking of You” written by hand is much more personal than the same words pre-printed.

It’s a similar emotion when eating dinner at someone else’s house. They don’t cook like you do, or maybe it’s even Chinese take-out, but it tastes even more delicious anyway. Maybe it’s in the ‘being invited.’

The same feeling emerges when finding a card in my mailbox, even a post card tells me someone thought of me. How wonderful that is.

Last New Moon in 2008

The last new moon of the year appears on Saturday, 27th December. Use the day for making wishes, like using the wishbone from your holiday turkey. Jot down the date with your wishes listed underneath to keep track of the changes in your life along with the changes of the moon’s phases.

Your visions of wishes are the first steps in making your dreams come true. To make permanent changes in your life, write up a list of affirmations. Read them everyday and know they will come to be. As ye dream, so shall you be.

PS: Just be careful what you wish for.

Vaughn, North Carolina Post Office

I mailed out my last Christmas card for this year today in Vaughn. The tiny, old post office looks like something out of the Wild West with its creaky wood porch and floors. Three people would be a bit crowded if they were all inside at once. But I’ve never run into anyone else in there at the same time.

In spite of its age and size the Vaughn post office has been a welcome sight to me and I’m sure to others, too. Especially when the other post offices in the ten-mile range are all closed on a Saturday and I’m trying to take advantage of that extra travel day for my packages or mail.

Aside from the visual comfort I receive from going there, the attendant at the window is always most pleasant. This cordial interaction between customer and clerk makes me feel like I was born and raised here. Like being home. That's a good feeling, indeed.

Food Chain Rip-off

I happily went to the food store near the lake this morning to pick up a few things since I had to go for the Sunday paper anyway. I was anxious to use the $5 coupon sent to me by email from them. It also had a buy-one-get-one bottle of soda or a Bloody Mary mix with the same offer.

When I presented the coupon, the checker couldn’t find a code to scam, oops, I mean scan. They knew nothing about this coupon so they called the manager. She didn’t know about it either so she had to call someone for an explanation.

It came down to the soda and Bloody Mary mix were the $5 value, which it didn’t mention on the large $5 Off shouting out to me in balloons. I don't use either.

This is the same food chain that I stopped buying in, for about six months last year after they offered me a great Thanksgiving deal that was cancelled out in fine print so tiny that I couldn’t read it with a magnifying glass.

The telephone call to complain last year had no effect. They refused responsibility then and probably will again. But I’m calling anyway.

Letting Go

Whew! It’s done. I’ve been finished with my manuscript for over a month but kept re-writing, adding and deleting from it. I think part of this was to stave off the pain of letting it go. I feel like I’ve given my baby up to someone else to raise, like they did in England in the 1800s. The aristocracy gave the baby to another family to suckle and rear until four or so, then sent him off at seven or eight to go to school. Of course, some had tutors come in. I think they were the ones who really liked their kids.

In the 1900s the English custom changed a bit. These same aristocrats were very big on housing nannies to raise the kids then sent them to live at school at eight or nine, never to return, except summers and holidays, until 16 or 18 or so. This was mostly the boys but sometimes the girls, too. Frankly, I think they missed all the fun.

Anyway, it’s gone and I won’t breathe deeply again until I have the finished book, with its shiny, new cover in my hands. A new child is born, named Pieces of Me.

Writers' Group Forming

Writers need writers because writing is a solitary effort. We need contact with other writers to kick up ideas, to reveal a knot that’s been buried deep inside, to seek a fix for a writing problem and to encourage each other.

Writing from prompts nurtures our flowing words and sharpens our thoughts. It’s an exercise to keep our brain as slick as a banana peel on a hot pavement.

I’m forming a writing group beginning on Saturday 6thDec from 10 am till 12 noon in the community meeting room at the new library on Front Street in Warrenton. The plan is to meet once a month. There’s no cost. No experience is necessary, just come join us. Bring paper and pen. For further information email me at: asbice@aol.com with “writers group” in the subject line.

Oakley Hall Antiques in Warrenton NC

About ten days ago I went into Oakley Hall Antiques knowing they’re closing their shop on 3 January for approximately six months. They’ll be re-opening with an entirely new concept. I don’t know what the new concept is, but I know just about everything in their shop is reduced to embarrassing low prices.

I bought a Ruth Russell Williams painting, signed. I’ve long admired her work but never as much as when I saw it hanging on my wall. It just got under my skin so much that I went back today and bought a mate for it and an original by Ernie Fleming that I adore.

This time I looked at each and every painting in the shop including a trip upstairs to ponder over their antique etchings and silhouettes.

What a great time and place to buy a Christmas gift for yourself or someone who would love a special something to keep forever and maybe even increase in value as years pass.

Missing Someone During the Holidays

I receive a brief note via email from Kristy Robinette, a paranormal with a radio show who also publishes with Schiffer Publishing Co. In reading her words I found a message for those of you who had an empty chair at your Thanksgiving Dinner table and will notice it during the coming holidays too.

She reminds us that those who have crossed over show us signs, letting us know that they’re still in touch with us even though we can’t see them. We only have to look. Kristy said while she was shopping for a butter dish in a super large store, she encountered a sparrow-inside the store. The sparrow flew from the shelf up to her shoulder. (How many times has that happened to you?) No fear. Not just any bird. Kristy said, “Hi, Mom” with her eyes tearing up knowing what this sign was all about. The sparrow flew away gracefully.

Have you thought of someone from hearing a song or smelling a certain fragrance that’s unexplainable? The signs are all around. Look for them. If you want to receive email newsletters (brief ones) you can contact Kristy at: kristyrobinett@yahoo.com

Books, People

In reading Bob Kelly’s Newsletter tribute to his friend Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, I came across this quote. You're the same today as you'll be five years from now except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read. At first I thought he meant going from romance/adventure books to more scholarly books. And he does stress reading biographies and history for healthy growth of mind. Then I realized that wasn’t the intention. How many books do we re-read? Well, all of Jane Austen’s. But other than those only a handful, yet I have a thousand sitting on my bookshelves. Each one cherished but not re-read. As for the people, I’m certain that we meet the exact people we need to meet; some to stay in our lives forever and some in passing, but indelible. Some, like the books, are “re-read” over and over never leaving the shelf or the hugs exchanged.

"The quote was taken from the November 2008 issue of THE
KELLYGRAM, and is used with permission." http://www.wordcrafters.info/newsletters.html

The Witch's Grave by Phillip DePoy

I’ve just finished The Witch’s Grave by Phillip DePoy. I began backwards, finding the author and reading his third book first. After liking it so much, I found his first and second Fever Devilin books in the series.

A wise choice. I love a mystery and when there is a good personal story within the mystery, I love it even better. DePoy takes it even deeper, having suspense and mystery in the back story. Then he takes it even further than that. He’s poetic in his descriptions as i.e. voice like an iris petal. Can’t you just hear that soft, draping voice? He also writes of his friend Andrews sitting on a tree limb as: the branch complained but held. I’ve heard that sound growing up in the woods of my youth. But I never put a handle on it.

He also mentions Monet and Van Gogh in reference. I wonder if he paints? Write poetry?

Helloing a House

I’ve finished reading Devil’s Hearth, the first in a series of Phillip De Poy’s mysteries set in the Georgia Appalachians. He mentions their habit of helloing the house that probably isn’t used anymore. This was the custom of standing out in front of the house, or back, depending on where you arrive at the house and calling out the person’s name. Inside the house, the person would call back to come on in. Or not.

This is what we did when I was a kid. We always went to the back door of our friends’ houses and called their name. We never knocked on the door or rang a doorbell until we became teenagers too sophisticated for such ways. I never gave a thought to where the idea came from or why kids don’t do it today.

Apparently the custom goes back to the early Scottish Celtic time and possibly other cultures, too. I imagine it would’ve let the folks know it was a friendly caller not an invader.

Iron Jawed Angels

Last night I watched Iron Jawed Angels with Hilary Swank, Frances O’Connor, Angelica Huston, Julia Ormond and Patrick Dempsey. A great line-up of talent and a movie every student should be required to watch. The girls, so they know the battles fought for their right to vote and the boys, so they can see what damage ignorance and male ego can do.

But it’s so typical of American movies that a love interest must be inserted. I think Dempsey was tossed onto the scene because the producers don’t believe women will watch a movie without a hunk in it. I’m sure they’ll comment with the usual “the movie is for entertainment” to cover the fiction part of the story, including the music. Great music but so wrong for the period and so candying of such a serious subject.

It’s also amazing that Alice Paul lived to be 92. Maybe it’s because she didn’t marry. J

A Trillion Dollars

Yesterday in the News & Observer newspaper of North Carolina, there was an article on our country hitting a ONE TRILLION DOLLARS tab for the war in Iraq! What would you do with a trillion dollars? Can you even imagine that amount of money or anything? Why aren’t Americans outraged?

Rob Simpson hired some assistants and spent a year in research resulting in the slim book What We Could Have Done With the Money: 50 Ways to Spend the Trillion Dollars We’ve Spent on Iraq.

A few ideas from him: Pave the entire U.S. interstate highway system with 23.5 karat gold leaf; give every high school student in the U.S. a free college education; it could buy a Buick for every senior citizen still driving in the USA; it could double the 663,000 cops on the beat for 32 years; it could build 75 million solar-powered homes (eliminating the need for oil and war in Iraq.)

More? Check it out, google: What we could have done with the money.

All Souls' Day

All Souls Day

Today is the day (or Monday when November 2nd falls on a Sunday) to honor those that have lived before and do so no longer. Light your candle today even if you have on All Hallow’s Eve. Remember the dead. Talk about them to someone. As long as they are spoken of, they will remain alive, at least in the minds of those who knew and loved them.

It’s fallen out of fashion to visit gravesites. Body boxes returning from the Iraqi War are not allowed to be shown (in this country of freedom) on TV or newspapers. But cemeteries were once gathering places to have picnics and family get-togethers. They were landscaped with beautiful trees and bushes for all to enjoy. The cemetery was also an open space for the city person to visit for peace and serenity.

Now if you see someone at the cemetery, they’re probably genealogists seeking information for the family archives. It’s a great place for learning. Tombstones reveal facts and sometimes fancies about the dearly departed buried there. And about the person who paid to honor them.

Light a candle today. Honor someone in hope that someday you will be honored for the time and good you gave to the world.

Celtic Holiday Samhain Hallowe'en

Samhain (pronounced saun or sawin)

This old Celtic, Irish and Scottish holiday denotes the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the Celtic New Year. It also denotes the “dark half” of the year. Samhain was the principal holiday with great celebrations and great bonfires set at the hill of Tara, the home of the royal court in medieval Ireland. The bonfires signaled to others to ritually light their festival bonfires all across Ireland.

This celebration honored the harvest and the dead that populated the earth before us. Samhain is thought to hold the thinnest veil between the living and the dead, a night when the spirits may come to visit. Often a place is set at the table out of respect for our loved ones now deceased and our ancestors to come join us for this night. A candle is also lit to invite them into the household including pets that have gone from us.

The Goddess becomes the Crone (wise woman) on this day, still ruling over Samhain. Light a candle to honor her, your ancestors and yourself, too. Cut away the unwanted old (negatives) and begin with the new. It’s a joyous, promising event lasting three days starting at sundown the 31st of October.

The Annual Ghost Walk

Patti De Santis put together the Annual Ghost Walk for the Downtown Bordentown Association again this year. She did a fine job of gathering talented storytellers and planning the event. Over 300 people came to listen and learn about the ghosts, some dating back to the Civil War period, some as recent as last week.

It was fun, leading a group of thirty folks who came to hear the paranormal stories in town. The stories from my book, Haunted Bordentown (New Jersey) came alive at each of nine stops as a storyteller related what happened to them or to the residents living there.

I led the last group at 8 pm. I think this is the last frontier to be explored. We’ve gone to the moon. Now it’s time to understand about time and the afterlife and how it relates to us today.
It was fun, leading a group of thirty folks who came to hear the paranormal stories in town. The stories from my book, Haunted Bordentown (New Jersey) came alive at each of nine stops as a storyteller related what happened to them or to the residents living there.

I led the last group at 8 pm. Over 300 people came to listen and learn about the ghosts, some dating back to the Civil War period, some as recent as last week. I think this is the last frontier to be explored. We’ve gone to the moon. Now it’s time to understand about time and the afterlife and how it relates to us today.

Back from Jersey

Back from Jersey after five days of interviews hearing new stories of ghostly hauntings, a book-signing at the Old Bookshop of Bordentown, followed by guiding a group in the Annual Ghost Walk, dinner parties and lunches with the best of friends. Wonderful but exhausting.

On my last morning when I came downstairs my friend Patti and hostess had a roaring fire going and fresh coffee brewing. Wow! As we sat, coffee mugs in hand, chatting, snow became mixed in the rain. Old memories began dotting my thoughts.

That afternoon I drove north to Lambertville and the sister city across the Delaware River of New Hope, Pennsylvania to say “hello” to my ancient ancestors. I stayed in my car to keep dry of the rain turning-to-snow (loved it!) Cars driving from the north were covered in snow.

Thankfully this little window of October northern weather stopped, drying the roads for my drive home later that night. It’s good to be home.

Guest Jyoti Wind

Today's Blog is by IWWG writing friend Jyoti Wind. Enjoy.

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder

Can you stand shoulder to shoulder
with those whose voices are needed now.
Can you allow the words that whirl
around in your head to have a way out.

Can you open your mouth, pick up your pen,
screw up your courage and walk to the line
upon which rests no less than humanity’s survival.
Can you let your own voice be heard now.

Can you form the words so long held in,
in that place of despair or self-doubt,
and let your vocal chords and your pen fly
or your keys tap out the nature of your piece,

the very piece you hold in the place of now,
now at this time as we face an unknown future,
a time that holds grays and maybes and fear.
Can you lend us your thoughts and stand up.

Can you speak and write and tell us what thoughts
have been keeping you up all night
and reach into your dreams and scare you awake.
Can you let us know what’s next.

Can you stand shoulder to shoulder
with those whose voices are needed now.
Can you allow the words that whirl
around in your head to have a way out.

by Jyoti Wind

From Into the Heart of the Flower: Poetry, Prose and Meditations
Also from Jyoti Wind: By Grace’s Edge: Poetry, Prose and Prayers;
Dreaming It Was Real: A Childhood Memoir.
Edited by Jyoti Wind…A Week’s Worth of Women: Poetry, Prose and Memoir.
(Available after Nov.5th)
blog: www.writes-of-passage.blogspot.com

Right to Choose

A timely subject at the moment is our Right to Choose. It’s a Right that took me a long time to be comfortable with. An early major Right was the decision to leave my husband of 15 years who was detrimental to my health. Choosing the Right to live in a town with a school system beneficial to my kids followed.

I’m fully aware of the choosing I’ve done since those early days. Some choices have been hard to live with, learning later that what seemed like the right option at the time, wasn’t. This bruise on my heart comes from knowing that I’ve hurt someone from my Right to Choose.

Lately my choices aren’t so earth-shattering. i.e. which table to choose in a restaurant, which volunteer group to join, whether to go or stay. Choices have been small ones until this historic election facing us this year. I hope the one we choose is elected. I pray our Right to Choose results in a benefit to our country. A country that desperately needs the right choice now.

El Greco to Velazquez

Judy and I went to the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University last week to see the featured art during the reign of Phillip III in Spain. Most of the paintings are huge, many are life-size. A few, like the “Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma” by Peter Paul Rubens looked as fresh as if it were painted yesterday and still drying. Rubens was Flemish but painted the Duke while on a visit to Spain.

The Duke was an affluent collector of the locally created arts setting the pace for others to follow. Certainly the Duke’s choices led to the success of many talents and the further education of others during this Spanish painting of the Golden Age.

El Greco came to Spain from Greece (hence, the name El Greco) while Phillip II was in reign and settled in Toledo. Religious paintings aren’t my favorite but the talent and skill of these artists are awesome to see. They make it look as if it were easy to do. It isn’t.