Splash of Color

         

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.
                                                                                                   ~ Emily Dickinson


                                                                                                                         © Tracy Abell 2011

It’s a gray day but these male House Finches are ablaze in their wooing finery.
Maybe I’ll go put on something bright and chase those clouds away . . .

                   

Seeing Is Believing

            

I’m a woman of routines.

Every morning while in Hawaii, I got up and did yoga while the sun rose over the water just outside the window.
Then I’d take my coffee out onto the beach where I’d watch the crabs do their work.


                                                                                                                         © Tracy Abell 2011 

 
 
The crabs would sneak out of their holes with an armful of sand and scuttle away to toss it.
And then back down into the hole for more sand.
 
Some were a couple feet away but others were just inches from my feet, 
and I delighted in their sci-fi features.
 
At one point I spotted some crabs farther off on the beach 
and began watching them through my powerful birding binoculars.
Whoa!
These crabs were huge!
Could they be the crabs creating the large holes and the big piles of sand?
The crabs I’d never seen?
 
As I watched, one ginormous crab stopped next to a massive stick 
and I lowered the binoculars to locate that stick on the beach so I could
witness the huge crab with my bare eyes.
 
Oops.
It was not a massive stick but a small twig.
And it wasn’t a gigantic crab; it was one just like the others moving around next to my toes.
 
The binoculars tricked me.
 
I laughed at myself and then watched through the binoculars some more
while The Crab That Ate Honolulu stomped around the beach.
 
You should’ve been there.
 
           

Epiphany!

                 

While on the plane flying to Hawaii, I jotted notes for a new project as I reread highlighted bits from
EMOTIONAL STRUCTURE: CREATING THE STORY BENEATH THE PLOT by Peter Dunne.

And I finally, finally understood what writers mean when they say they have to know the ending
before they can write the story.
I always thought knowing the ending meant I had to know the "plot" ending, the action ending,
and I never understood how writers already knew whether their books would end with a car chase or picnic in the park.

 
But what knowing the ending really means is to know the "story" ending, the book’s emotional ending.
 
As Peter Dunne says:  
The whole idea of beginning at the end is to create a target at which you aim all your action and emotion."
 
I get it now!
 
If I map out the emotional terrain ahead of time, I’ve mapped out the heart of my story,
and the action is just there to support those emotions, whether it’s a chase scene or picnic.
 
Emotions rule!
 
                

Then and Now

                      

A couple weeks ago I was hiking in a tropical forest, scanning the ocean bay with my binoculars:


                                                                                                                          © Zippy 2011

Today I’m at the kitchen window, photographing a Mourning Dove hunkered down in the snow:


                                                                                                                           © Tracy Abell 2011
 

What a wonderfully diverse home we have on this big, blue spinning ball.

 
         

Wildebeest Does Hawaii

                           

Oh no!
A Wildebeest washed up on the beach!
Is he okay?

Whew.
Crisis averted.

(Next time I want him to smile, I’ll have to try a splash of cold, salt water in the face.)
                
                 

Finding your audience

       


PEARLS BEFORE SWINE by Stephan Pastis

Maybe we should forget Facebook and Twitter, and drive traffic to our blogs via public restrooms!
(There once was a Tracyworld from Nantucket . . .)
                         

Fort Wildebeest

Yesterday morning Zippy went to the basement to feed Lebowski the cat, and found this:


© Zippy 2011

Wildebeest and friends (all 17 years-old) came home on Friday night and built a fort to sleep in.
It all began with one sheet and a piece of yarn.

This makes me smile.

Here in body, not-so-much in spirit . . .

               

This is where I spent a week clearing my head:

                                                                                                                                                         © Tracy Abell 2011

 
I’m having a hard time adjusting to reality so am easing back into life.
I will blog with more details soon but wanted to pop in and shout HELLO! to my friends here.
I hope you’re all doing well and have only the desired amount of sand in your swimsuits. 

         

Mahalo

             

Tomorrow morning (Saturday), Zippy, Wildebeest, Zebu, and I
are flying to Oahu for spring break.

We haven’t had a family vacation in about three years
because the last one we took (car trip) was a nightmare.
Arguing.
Sullenness.
More arguing.
Refusal to participate.
Bad attitudes and all-around-unpleasantness.

Zippy and I swore we’d never vacation with them again.

Well, we’ve reached a new place (as a family) and now get along much better.

All of us.
So I suggested we try one more family vacation, this time to the destination of the kids’ choice.
They wanted Australia or London (which we couldn’t afford) and then agreed on Hawaii.
 
We’re renting an out-of-the-way place on the beach and bringing lots of sun block.
 
I’ve got high hopes for our time together, and believe we’ll create lots of good memories.
In the meanwhile, I wish everyone a splendid week filled with all-around pleasantness.
 

                                                                                            image from morguefile.com

ALOHA!

Can’t You Smell That Smell?

     

Somewhere in my vast collection of old photographs,

there’s a picture of my brother and his high school girl friend
sitting in crimson high-backed upholstered chairs.
On our lawn.
 
My mother had put a chicken in a pot of water and left it on the stove.
All night.
 
Our house reeked.
So badly that I missed two or three days of school in order to clean.
Furniture on the lawn to air out.
Cupboards emptied and scrubbed down.
Dishes washed because when the stench is bad enough, dishes can absorb it.
I couldn’t stand high school so was happy to be home.
It was springtime in Wisconsin and a friend skipped school one day to help me out,
and I still remember our lunchtime break and how we laughed as the warm sunshine washed over us.
"Give me rays! Give me rays!"
 
Cut to last night.
Zippy, Wildebeest, and Zebu went out for dinner but I chose to stay home.
I emptied a bag of frozen broccoli into the steamer
and left the room to check something on the computer.
 
Oops.
 
                                                                                                        © Tracy Abell 2011
 

This is the pot after it soaked outside all night.

 
The house doesn’t smell all that bad right now and we didn’t have to move furniture.
I did, however, spend a lot of time walking through the house, spritzing the air with vinegar and water. 
 
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of this episode is why I felt compelled to eat the broccoli.
Penance?
Stoicism?
Idiocy?
 
Next time (and I’m sure there will be a next time), I’m tossing the broccoli.
Maybe I’ll just open all the windows and go out for ice cream.
                     

Sound Effects

             

Have you ever felt insecure about the way you depict a sound in your writing?

The other day I struggled to come up with onomatopoeic words for an action in my story,
and ended up using "plonk" and "kerplonk."
Not genius, by any means, but usable words.

Except now I’m questioning how I hear things.

I’ve always used "creaky" to describe the sound of a Mourning Dove taking flight,
but just did research that indicates most, if not all, people would describe that sound
as "whistling."

Say what?!

                                                                                                                       © Tracy Abell 2011
       

Deep Thoughts

               

 
                                                                                               © Tracy Abell 2011

                  Marriage should be a duet – when one sings, the other claps.
                                                                                                           ~ Joe Murray

                  

Speaking Out

                  

For the past months we’re been treated to non-stop messaging on how the middle-class 

must "make sacrifices" (which translates to massive cuts in services with threats to Medicare
and Social Security while the wealthy get tax breaks), because deficit spending is out of control,

and now our president, without any discussion with We-the-People or members of Congress,
is spending millions of dollars to bomb Libyan people who have the grave misfortune of 
living above a huge amount of oil the greedy plutocracy wants.
 
Just in case you’re angered / baffled / incensed by this turn of events,
 
And just in case, like me, you’re at wit’s end with the non-stop horrible news,
here is a laugh from our good friend and philosopher, Agnes:
 
AGNES by Tony Cochran
              
            

Friday Five: The March Madness Edition

      

1) Yesterday Zippy, Wildebeest, Zebu, and I watched four men’s college basketball games
from our seats in the rafters and

 
2) had great fun
 
3) despite the sound of our brackets exploding with upsets (we’re looking at you, Louisville!),
 
4) and are now looking forward to Gonzaga beating BYU on Saturday 
 
5) because in our collective opinion, BYU’s only redeeming quality is having female cheerleaders 
who sometimes do back-flips when a player makes a free-throw.

   

                                                    image from morguefile.com


Keep your eyes on those dreams and have a grand weekend!  

               

                  

Nature Nurtures

         

When I start to panic and worry, I look to Nature for my calm.
Saturday I ran on the trails with Zippy while a Red-tailed Hawk soared above.

Today, I return to last week’s Starling visit for solace.
As long as there are birds in my life, I can find the courage to carry on.

                                                                                                                               © Tracy Abell 2011

And because I’ve been reading THE ANNOTATED CHARLOTTE’S WEB:

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.

                                                                                     ~ E. B. White
                     

Signs of Procrastination

           


                                                                                                      © Tracy Abell 2011

“Artists can color the sky red because they know it’s blue.
Those of us who aren’t artists must color things
the way they really are or people might think we’re stupid.”
                                                                      
                                              ~ Jules Feiffer
             
Oops.

         

Signs of Spring

              

Yesterday was cold with a dusting of snow,
and this American Robin had to puff out its feathers to stay warm.

                                                                                                                                                        © Tracy Abell 2011

Today is sunny and the temperature will be in the high 50s.
Such are the joys of Colorado.

Sending  and other cold-weather friends
a blast of warm air and sunshiny thoughts . . .

                   

Obama = Bush

         

I really and truly wonder who Obama thinks will be out knocking on doors and making phone calls for him in 2012.
Read the following, and weep:

Obama Stops Pretending by Craig Murray
Any last pretence that Obama is substantively different from Bush was abandoned yesterday when Obama signed an executive order providing for indefinite detention without trial at Guantanamo, which will not close. He has also abandoned the idea of giving detainees a reasonable process in civilian courts, and instead is resuming the kangaroo “Military tribunals”. About the only improvement on Bush is that any detainees who happen to be multi-millionaires can have their own civilian counsel before these kangaroo courts, if they pay for it themselves.
Washington Post here

**********

Here’s Digby from Hullabaloo with quotes from Obama-the-candidate on Guantanamo (scroll down).

**********

Here’s Glenn Greenwald on Guantanamo and habeas corpus including this vital point:
As always, the most harmful aspect of the Obama legacy is that he has converted what were once controversial right-wing Bush policies into unchallenged bipartisan consensus, to endure indefinitely and without any opposition from either party.
**********

And just in case you’ve missed the whole Bradley Manning / Wikileaks issue,
read about Bradley Manning’s mental deterioration due to solitary confinement and being stripped naked.

The Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund has been established to help.
100% of contributions to this fund will be used to pay expenses related to the advocacy and support of Bradley Manning. And thanks to the non-profit group Institute for Media Analysis hosting the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund, your donation is tax-deductible.

**********

If one more person defends Obama by saying "he inherited a mess," 
my head’s gonna pop off.
Yeah, the man inherited one helluva mess.
But now he owns it.
               

Coco’s Nightmare

              

Coco: Last night Zippy had a dream Tracy let a bunch of otters into the house.
Apparently, I didn’t much like them.

                                                                                                                                                    © Wildebeest 2011

Can you blame me?


                                                     image from morguefile.com                                                                                                               
                       

America is NOT Broke by Michael Moore

 
                

Micheal Moore went to Madison, Wisconsin, to speak to the courageous
people who refuse to budge in the face of greed and lies.

Here is the transcript. If you read nothing else today, please read this.

Here’s an excerpt:
"Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true."
The powers-that-be pit us against each other, relying on cultural and social issues (gays, guns, and god)
to fracture what should be a united front against the nauseating greed of the upper class.

So, while moneyed people around the country bemoan the "greed" of public employees
fighting for their right to collective bargaining, these courageous people in Wisconsin stand strong.
We ALL owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.

As Michael Moore says:
"Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it’s one person, one vote, and it’s the thing the rich hate most about America — because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakeable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!"

Here’s a YouTube video of him in Wisconsin on March 5.
The opening is especially inspiring because of the emotions expressed by Moore and the protesters,
but also because he reveals this powerful, spot-on piece was written in a couple hours at the end of a very long day:

 
We need heroes now more than ever, and I salute Wisconsin workers for drawing the line in the sand!
           

Mystery Solved

                


One morning in late January,
we woke to this:


                                                                                                                             © Zippy 2011

I couldn’t believe none of us heard this going on right outside our windows.
Not me.
Not Zippy.
Not the two dogs.

And now Wildebeest informs me this was the work of the entire girls basketball team
(one of the girls "confessed" during track practice).

Who knew teen girls could be so stealthy?