On the 10th Tag of Christmas.....

This one is superb!  I love the bright colors and words.  Can't wait to try making it, but I am going to wait.  I'm dangling a the carrot of FINISHING MY GRADES... before I work on the tags.

If you want to know how to make this one, or any of the others, Tim Holtz has two days left.  Wow!  I have to get up at 5:15 a.m.  each morning (but not after Monday) and my first "check in" after showering, dressing, make-up, and ready, is to click on Tim's blog for the new tag.  I can truly say I've been surprised every day!  I'll miss the tags!

Yesterday we had a bit of a blizzard.  I was MORE THAN surprised that the administration of CSC didn't close the college.  I was, as usual, a weenie -- and Steve volunteered to drive, so I said HECK YES! to his valiant offer and we jingled and jangled all the way to school, and eventually back.  It was miserable weather.  Biting snow and wicked wind.  When we finally returned we were treated to a humdinger of a wind storm -- trees down, branches all over the lawn/snow, AND... a few sheets of vinyl siding zipped right off the house!  Steve was not happy -- he tends to always leap right out to the worst case scenario.  I'm sure he was envisioning a tornado taking the house to Oz, or mostly, a big ol' tree falling on the house or flying through the window and killing me, or Casou.  Really... that's how his mind works.   I think we are going to get him some meditation tapes.  Ya think?

Okay... ONE MORE DAY of school!!!  I love my classes (well, 2 out of 3) and will miss them.  But after a month off, we get to put on the show one more time!  Soooo.... cue the music, I've gotta run. Finals Monday and then.... I'm done!

Half Way to 12 Christmas Tags!

I admit that I'm hoarding these Tim Holtz 12 Tags (see below for website) and boxes of materials for the moment school is OUT and I can settle into my studio and CREATE!

I have so many ideas for jewelry, dragons, hearts and other pins; tote bags and purses; aprons; and hats. OY! I could hibernate in that room for the whole winter.

Once school is OUT and my grades are IN, I'll have vacation time until January 20th when the spring semester begins. At that time I'll be teaching two classes: Effective Speaking and Touchstones of Western Literature. I do so love a light spring semester. Speech is undoubtedly the most rewarding class I teach. The students arrive in trembling fear of public speaking and leave with a great deal of self-confidence! I love the process!!! And what can I say about Western Literature, except... that I really do need to find another approach. This whole read/quiz/write cycle is so boooorrrrrring. I'm thinking to shake it up a bit... but then... shaking the delivery would require me to spend some of my precious vacation time pouring over books and rethinking my syllabus. Hmmmm.... it's tempting. But so is the studio! And travel! And photography! And... I've been thinking about cooking lessons or French lessons or even piano lessons! AND... to top it all off... I've applied to be a guardian ad litem for the Vermont courts (but that won't be worked out until next year some time if all the gears mesh).

What I'm thinking is... the second half of life... if this is where I am... is propelling me to be embrace the different quadrants of life: being/doing/introvert/extrovert. Other pieces seem to fall in line -- from writing (which most definitely MUST be part of every equation in my life), to art, to politics, to first and foremost, my relationship with Steve. Here we are in the belly of nature (I'm still in awe of the four seasons, woodland creatures, and my garden) in Vermont. I am blessed with an abundance of inspiration. Muse? Muses!

Back to grading papers, dreaming not so much of sugar plums, but of Christmas Tags! Stay tuned!

Tim Holtz Starts 12 Tags of Christmas Today!!!!

If you are the least bit "crafty," you might want to check out the action on Tim's blog. Here is the first tag:

If you would like to learn the steps, here is his blog: TIM HOLTZ

As soon as I am free from the current madness that comes with the end of the semester, I fully intend to immerse myself in this year's tag festival! Can't wait.

'Til then, I'm humming along to the latest "Glee" album and working through the papers that became stacks when I got so sick. Thank goodness for hot tea, Casou, and Steve (who just cleaned the oven -- what a treasure!)

Thanksgiving and the Undefeated Spirit of Creativity

Just about every leaf has drifted down from the highest branches and floated to the lawn. We finally dumped the last of our hanging baskets. The garden has been put to bed for the winter. Our neighbors on both sides finished their Christmas decorating last week. Because the weather is beautiful and relatively warm, I understand their sense of urgency. Being able to put up the festive banners and wreaths and garlands without wearing five layers, a hat, a scarf, and ski gloves is a miracle. I think we will take advantage of this lull in the advance of arctic freeze to jump in with our holiday designs.

Creativity seems to be the one unstoppable devotion of the human heart. I say that because when all else fails, relying on creativity redeems any flagging spirit. Having "suffered" (and that is such a silly word to use -- no real suffering here) with a lingering cold that zapped all my energy for the last month, I am here to say that creativity saved me.

First of all, I've been participating in NaNoWriMo -- the whacky game of writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. For a short version of how this started -- two guys in a bar challenging themselves to finally "write the novel" they always said they would, and do it in One Month. Putting their money (well, no money is involved really) where their mouths whined. And the movement has spread from those two to thousands of people writing furiously for one month.

I've had various levels of success at this endeavor, but haven't ever finished a novel. November is not an easy month. In the past, Geoff and Carrie were coming for dinner and the end of the semester is less than 10 school days away. I'm usually more than unfocused on writing. But this year none of that seemed to matter. Geoff and Carrie visited back in October and I've tried (valiantly at times -- patting myself on the back -- ha ha) to keep up with my courses so that I'm not frantic at the end. This year, I swore that I would finish!

Ah... the best laid plans. The flu -- or was it just the Worst. Cold. Ever??? I missed two school days, which is a record for me. I usually show up even when I'm coughing like a vintage jalopy. I don't like reorganizing my syllabus. Ugh. And... to make matters worse.... it was during Hamlet. I love Hamlet. It could be such fun! Oh well.

Even with the flu, I continued to write. I kept pace with the prescribed number of daily words that would get me to my goal. That would be 1,667 per day. And I was chugging along. But then.... I had The Relapse. I began to fade. Still, the novel won't die. I dream about it, scribble notes on napkins, and think about those silly characters when I'm doing the dishes or driving to work or soaping up my armpits for a shave. Ha!

Creativity really does save the soul. My plan this year was a daily four-pronged attack: doing The Artist's Way Morning Pages, following my Weight Watchers Points, exercising, and writing my 1,667 words. I've succeeded in continuing the morning pages and I fluctuate with the number of words -- sometimes less, sometimes more. But I've flagged on the eating and exercising. Still, I haven't lost heart.

I'm chugging toward my goal and looking forward to even more venues of creativity. Starting with holiday decorating, continuing with holiday baking, holiday crafts, and even more writing. My studio whispers to me, "Come back! Come back!" And I know I'll have a month off to sew and create Christmas Tags and play with all my ideas, including More Writing.

For what am I thankful this Thanksgiving? For creativity. For writing every day. For creating a warm and welcoming home. For creating dreams and goals that open my soul to more and more possibilities. For creativity -- which is the life force that sustains me and renders me whole and fulfilled.

Apple Picking, Leaf Peeping, and Turkey Dinner

October blends natural textures, colors, tastes, and smells into a tapestry of sensory delight. This past week we've spent with our kids, Geoff and Carrie. Usually they visit for Thanksgiving, but we all know what a rat-race the whole travel-during-the-holidays can become, so they made a conscious effort to switch gears and come during my week off at Columbus Day (don't know why CSC offers a week off, but hurray). During the week we picked apples, plucked pumpkins, munched maple products, and walked the mountain golf course -- all in view of the glorious golden leaves in the Vermont fall foliage.

Carrie wanted Thanksgiving Dinner. So, before they arrived, I gathered all the ingredients. Surprisingly, turkey was not available in my usual market, but I found a nice 14 pounder at the "other" market in town. I roamed the aisles, scouting the rest of the traditional eats: stuffing and gravy makings, fresh cranberries, and pie basics. Armed with everything, we proceeded to start the fun visit.

The first day, we picked a bushel of apples. Believe me when I tell you that we'll be eating apples, drying apples, and pressure cooking applesauce until Christmas. Anyway... Carrie made a GREAT apple pie with the crumbly topping!! I think it was her first pie. Pictures below.

We psyched ourselves and laughed into calling our festivities "Thanksgiving" -- even to the point of making sure we ate on Thursday, treating the day exactly as we would if it was "the real" Thanksgiving. Lots of jokes about football and parades being cancelled due to the flu, and shoppers ready to invade the stores on Friday. Yeah, we were silly. But it sort of worked. We began to feel like it was Thanksgiving. Carrie even started to consider Christmas carols on her iPod. By Friday we were surprised, on a trip to Burlington, that more shoppers weren't in the stores, however, the restaurants were doing a brisk business. Nice to know somebody's recovering during this economical downturn, recession, whatever. Stimulus, ahoy!

Early this morning we drove to Dartmouth Hospital for our flu shots (a huge line where usually we had none). This was Carrie's first flu shot. We celebrated with hot soup after standing in the cold for that half hour. Brr... it was 30 degrees. Later we will drive to the Albany, NY airport, as Carrie and Geoff return to California. Boo hoo. We had such a marvelous time and we'll miss them with all our hearts. But we'll figure a way to see them soon.

Now I'm wondering what we'll do for the next Thanksgiving. You know... the one coming up in November.

Site seeing, apple picking, turkey and pie:

My youth slips away. I wonder if this is the feeling of every generation? Or is this welling of emotion purely the result of our connection via media? Did the revolutionary generation feel the rip of their hearts with the deaths of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams?

This summer has been devastating for life -- death seems to have taken quite the opposite of a holiday. More like working overtime. And that's not news; it's the way the cycle works. We're under a microscope. First we live the music and the movies and the art and the marches and the dream. Then we live the moments of our own lives. Celebrate. Endure. Breathe. Finally, we mourn, release, and are mourned.

[on edit: I haven't been able to get my head around losing Ted Kennedy. I don't consider him part of "pop" culture. I consider him an amazing, human, humane, compassionate, tireless worker on behalf of all Americans. His loss requires more than a few passing thought. I'm considering a vast array of emotions and reactions. In time, I'll spill here where nobody really pays much attention, thank goodness.]

Somewhere in the many moves and changes, I lost my guitar. But I never lost my inner folk singer -- I still have my Joan Baez Songbook.

Namaste, Mary Travers. Namaste.

Brainstorming. Ideas for a story pop into my head most often when I am not near paper, pen, voice recorder, or even another person. My best ideas zap into my head while I'm in the shower. I suppose right now I should be water-logged -- I seem to be stuck on the way to the middle of the book. What happens next? You don't know? Well, don't ask me either. Talk about the well going dry -- if I take any more showers to prime the mental pump, our well could protest. Here's where the metaphor reaches into reality and yanks the chain, huh?

Hasn't done any good at all. I'm stumped. For awhile wonderful moments were flowing from my fingers like hot fudge over coffee ice cream. And then -- SNAG! So what did I do? Begin to see all the problems that needed fixing. And that was a good thing -- I supported some earlier moments and worked on deeper characterization (and realize I have much more to do on that score). Still didn't help -- the battle cry is ... WHAT THE FRACK IS NEXT?

I'm about to discover. I've decided to soldier on. And I'll tell you why. Why? Because I have started a new writing forum. My former writing group disbanded. And after a week of feeling adrift, I sat down and googled "forum" set up/hosting. I found what appears to be a very simple and yet nice organized forum template and a decent host. At $5.95 per month, it certainly isn't going to break the bank.

I'd compare a writing group to Weight Watchers. Sure, you can do WW by yourself. The points are easy to figure and follow. No sweat, right? But it's a lot easier and more committed to enter into the contract with a group for support. Something about publically affirming that you are gong to do something -- that makes the endeavor real and sets in motion even the smallest connection of commitment. I need that push. I admit it. I need public witness to my work -- which will spur my work in the direction of finishing! I would love to finish Cheesy Christmas Story. Yes, indeed, I would.

So, without hopping in the shower tomorrow morning, I'm sitting down at my desk and writing a minimum of 5 pages. Yes. I will write and do a bit of editing and then... post on the new writing group forum. What I know for sure -- if I've made a blunder, my group with help me work out the kinks. Nice to have support that doesn't wait for the right moment or a weekly meeting or a chance encounter to kick into high gear.

New group's name: We Write Stuff.

Hang onto your hats! I think this group is going to make a mark on publishing! Or ... be sent to the showers...