Month: December 2015

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 23 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

I am glad I am still here and still posting. I hope to improve over the next year. Looking forward to meeting more people and reading new ideas and new stories. And sharing them as well. Happy New Year-2016.

Sweet Honey In The Rock

I love Meredith’s choice of music to share. I have never heard of these ladies, but I am going to definitely be looking for more of their music.

Meredith's Reveries

Sweet Honey in the Rock  “is a performance ensemble rooted in African American history and culture. The ensemble educates, entertains and empowers its audience and community through the dynamic vehicles of a cappella singing and American Sign Language interpretation for the Deaf and hearing impaired. Sweet Honey’s audience and community comes from diverse backgrounds and cultures throughout the United States and around the world, and includes people of all ages, economic/education/social backgrounds, political persuasions, religious affiliations, sexual preferences and differing abilities.”

These five ladies perform with intense feelings. I like to watch their faces  as they perform. In December 18, 2014 they recorded their first Christmas album.

2015 was the group celebrated forty years if singing together.

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Daily Prompt: Because the Night

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Are you a night owl or are you the early bird? What’s your most productive time of day? When do you do your best work?

As you can tell from the picture. I am definitely a night owl. I seemed to do my best writing and work at night. Which is literally annoying my husband to no end as he likes to snuggle at night and I am up typing away at the keyboard. I love owls as well. I think they are the most beautiful, interesting creatures of the winged variety. Next to hummingbirds that is. And the mystery and mythology surrounding them is something I can read about all the time.

I think one of the reasons I stopped blogging as much is I tried to keep to regular daytime hours to do my blogging and it just has not worked for me. So, I am going to try and blog at night after hubby has gone to sleep. Hah…but now I have to get used to being up late again.

Daily Prompt: The Artist’s Eye

Is there a painting or sculpture you’re drawn to? What does it say to you? Describe the experience. (Or, if art doesn’t speak to you, tell us why.)

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Immediately I thought of Monet’s paintings. Especially the ones of the gardens and the water lilies. I have always loved the colors and temperament imbued within the painting. Calm, restful, insightful. I could imagine myself sitting by this pond and loving every minute of the quiet outdoors. The reflections in the water. The colors of the lily. Pink, white, purple. One of my favorite things to do as a child when we would go to the lake was go to one area where the water was still and shallow and the water lilies would bloom. I only picked one once and decided not to do it again as it never was as beautiful as when it was sitting on top of the water surrounded by other Lilies and the small frogs that would swim around them and sit on their broad leaves. It’s flower reflected on the surface. When I look at the painting above it brings me back to that time and it brings happy feelings and memories. His work has always resonated with me that way.

Once I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is an experience I will never forget and I have always wished to go back. The works of art were amazing and the impression they made have never left me. There was one work of art that was so huge, especially to a young child of 8. I wondered how the artist could have painted it in his life time. But, the best paintings were the ones by Monet. I could have sat on the bench and stared at them all day. That such works of art exist and the ability of people to create such beautiful things has always been a redeeming factor for the human race in my eyes. For as long as humans can create such beauty on canvas or in stone, clay or brick walls there is hope for us.

NaNoWriMo and what I learned

I may not have written all 50,000 words and that is okay. You know why? Because I tried. I actually have written almost 20,000 words. 20,000 more than before NaNoWriMo. I also learned how hard it is to stay on track. Family life and issues constantly interfered and my own self doubts did me no favors, but I kept trying. And that is what matters more. Succeeding is the ultimate, but trying when you have all but given up on something is just as good. Trying is under rated. There are so many people who don’t even try because they know they won’t be able to get all the words done. But, what they don’t understand it is in the first steps, the first words they left on paper and didn’t delete that lead to the first paragraph and then the first complete page.

What I learned is that I can do it. There will be a day and time when I can get myself going and keep going. I am determined to do so. I will not give up on that part of my dream. To finish these three books I have dreamed about for years. Literally years. So afraid to write down what I see in my mind because I am afraid I will never get the words right to describe it. And the fear that no one will want to read it. The lectures and videos I watched during NaNoWriMo were inspiring and really helped me in working beyond my own fears. It was good to hear other accomplished authors say they worked through the same things I am working through. You know it in your head, but it is always different to actually see and hear someone say this. It seems to make it real. I am a visual and auditory learner to I guess that is why the videos do more to inspire me then just reading. And I also learned from others that it is an important part of writing to want others to like what you write, but it is also just as important, if not more so, to write for yourself. To get your thoughts and dreams out on that paper and leave them there. My delete button was calling to me on more than one occasion. But, I didn’t do it. Only to correct grammar or punctuation, I am kind of anal about that, but overall left everything intact.

I am going to continue with my writing and hopefully get a few pages out for people to read and see what they think. Once I get my courage up. There are so many fabulous authors and poets that I have met on Word Press and I know I will meet many more, at least I hope so. Thank you for sharing your creative thoughts, ideas and talents. May the new year bring more and more success to all of you. Love and Peace.

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