This is the weekend I meet my 2 sisters in NC and we head to my Mom's small hometown to spread her ashes around her headstone. We are planting daffodils I have yet to dig out of my back yard. And I bought some Iris bulbs to plant. Guess we'll have to plant them close to her headstone so they don't get mowed over by the groundskeepers.
My older sister feels like this should just be us girls, since the memorial service brought friends and family together to remember her life. I'm of two minds. I feel that we should warn my Mom's closest friend in her hometown to let her know we are coming rather than just calling her out of the blue, so she can make plans. And two days notice is better than day of notice, right?
Anyway, my Mom missed 23 years of North Carolina springs while living in the Alaskan Bush. It's appropriate that we embrace spring for her this year.
Miss you Mom.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Friday, July 20, 2012
Travel delays
I swear when I booked my flight, I was supposed to leave Richmond at 11am. Maybe I'm going quietly mad, but I would've bet money on it. But my itinerary showed me leaving at 2:52 pm Wednesday.
So, I did call in a favor to get to the airport, but not from my BIL. Asked a friend who has Wednesday's off & she agreed to help me out. And she had enough time to get her hair cut on the way back from the city. ;)
I was early, which meant my flight was delayed. I had distractions, iPhone, books, including an Ethics book I need to read some out of to get CE's to renew my license in 2 states. And we boarded the plane 30 minutes after we were supposed to have taken off, then sat there for another 30-45 minutes while the pilots recalculated the flight plan & asked for more fuel to be loaded onto the plane -- so we wouldn't run out of gas and fall from the sky like a lead paperweight.
We arrived in Cleveland in time for me to receive 5 updates from the airlines telling me I would not be leaving at 5:42pm, but at 10pm. There were flight delays and cancelations all over the boards & disgruntled passengers 10-20 deep at the airline customer service counter the entire time I was at the Cleveland airport.
I ate expensive crap pub food, had another beer (before, I whiled away time in Richmond observing 4 new GI's revel in being off-base), and actually went on-board a mere three hours late. I napped, wrote in my journal & watched the complimentary direct TV for 2 shows. By the time we arrived at San Fancisco, I was over three hours late and I barely made the last BART train out of the airport.
I arrived at the stop where my Aunt picked my up after 1 am, got to her house after 1:30am and she kept trying to feed me as soon as I got into her house. You can take the girl out of the South, but can't take the South out of the girl.
My S.O. has bad restaurant luck. I have bad traveling luck. Give me flight delays over frozen entrees any day!
I leave my Aunt's house a bit later today to make my way to the hotel I'm sharing a suite with two other poets to keep expenses down. But first, I'm swimming in my Aunt's pool.
So, I did call in a favor to get to the airport, but not from my BIL. Asked a friend who has Wednesday's off & she agreed to help me out. And she had enough time to get her hair cut on the way back from the city. ;)
I was early, which meant my flight was delayed. I had distractions, iPhone, books, including an Ethics book I need to read some out of to get CE's to renew my license in 2 states. And we boarded the plane 30 minutes after we were supposed to have taken off, then sat there for another 30-45 minutes while the pilots recalculated the flight plan & asked for more fuel to be loaded onto the plane -- so we wouldn't run out of gas and fall from the sky like a lead paperweight.
We arrived in Cleveland in time for me to receive 5 updates from the airlines telling me I would not be leaving at 5:42pm, but at 10pm. There were flight delays and cancelations all over the boards & disgruntled passengers 10-20 deep at the airline customer service counter the entire time I was at the Cleveland airport.
I ate expensive crap pub food, had another beer (before, I whiled away time in Richmond observing 4 new GI's revel in being off-base), and actually went on-board a mere three hours late. I napped, wrote in my journal & watched the complimentary direct TV for 2 shows. By the time we arrived at San Fancisco, I was over three hours late and I barely made the last BART train out of the airport.
I arrived at the stop where my Aunt picked my up after 1 am, got to her house after 1:30am and she kept trying to feed me as soon as I got into her house. You can take the girl out of the South, but can't take the South out of the girl.
My S.O. has bad restaurant luck. I have bad traveling luck. Give me flight delays over frozen entrees any day!
I leave my Aunt's house a bit later today to make my way to the hotel I'm sharing a suite with two other poets to keep expenses down. But first, I'm swimming in my Aunt's pool.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Hmm, I seem to be neglecting myself
It's been a busy three or so weeks. Sorry for the silence on my end. I'm not sure why I keep ignoring my blog. It's not made itself into a bi-or tri-weekly habit yet, I guess.
And I've been juggling a lot of things, primarily traveling this last month: Balticon46 over Memorial Day weekend (more on that to come, I promise!). Then I drove to a karate/grappling seminar in my old dojo in Greensboro, NC (more on that, too!) with an extension to my Mom's house for a quick and dirty, but uneventful, girl's weekend with my sister's and my Mom (also a four day trip -- Thur through Sun). Then my older sister & B-I-L came up the next Thurs so we could go see the Hokusai print exhibit before it left the Sackler Gallery in D.C.. And this weekend, the S.O. and I are in Williamsburg at the annual Virginia Dental Meeting. Four weekends of travel, strange beds &/or guests (sorry Lisa & John, but y'all are strange :)
The Hokusai exhibit is almost indescribable. These are woodcut prints are from the1830s and are frelling beautiful. Especially the ones printed all in blue ink. If it comes to a gallery anywhere near your city, do not hesitate to go, & go more than once if you can. It's definitely worth the price of admission.
The Japanese Mezzotints exhibit is worth a peek, too, especially the lone copper plate showing the etching. It's warm copper tone blew the black and with print away, in my humble opinion. And my sister made sure I saw it. She knows what I tend to be drawn to, as she's seen enough of my photography and stolen, er, appropriated enough of her art/sculpture over the years. (I still want my turn with the Jhierry totems. Where the heck are they, BTW?)
More later, when I'm not getting ready for a dental CEU which prolly won't carry over to my massage therapy credits, not that I need anything but an ethics class to renew this year. August will surprise the heck out of me, so I'd better get to reading that ethics book I borrowed from Kristen.
And I've been juggling a lot of things, primarily traveling this last month: Balticon46 over Memorial Day weekend (more on that to come, I promise!). Then I drove to a karate/grappling seminar in my old dojo in Greensboro, NC (more on that, too!) with an extension to my Mom's house for a quick and dirty, but uneventful, girl's weekend with my sister's and my Mom (also a four day trip -- Thur through Sun). Then my older sister & B-I-L came up the next Thurs so we could go see the Hokusai print exhibit before it left the Sackler Gallery in D.C.. And this weekend, the S.O. and I are in Williamsburg at the annual Virginia Dental Meeting. Four weekends of travel, strange beds &/or guests (sorry Lisa & John, but y'all are strange :)
The Hokusai exhibit is almost indescribable. These are woodcut prints are from the1830s and are frelling beautiful. Especially the ones printed all in blue ink. If it comes to a gallery anywhere near your city, do not hesitate to go, & go more than once if you can. It's definitely worth the price of admission.
The Japanese Mezzotints exhibit is worth a peek, too, especially the lone copper plate showing the etching. It's warm copper tone blew the black and with print away, in my humble opinion. And my sister made sure I saw it. She knows what I tend to be drawn to, as she's seen enough of my photography and stolen, er, appropriated enough of her art/sculpture over the years. (I still want my turn with the Jhierry totems. Where the heck are they, BTW?)
More later, when I'm not getting ready for a dental CEU which prolly won't carry over to my massage therapy credits, not that I need anything but an ethics class to renew this year. August will surprise the heck out of me, so I'd better get to reading that ethics book I borrowed from Kristen.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
How much do you share as an author? How much should you share?
Personally, I mine my experiences for some of my poetry. I assume personnas for others. I steal subject matter from family, friends, from newspaper articles, NPR broadcasts like Fresh Air. You name it, I've probably appropriated it in some way, shape or form.
The problem is that can step on toes. I have people in my life who are uncomfortable, if not downright disapproving, of the subject matter of my poetry. Especially knowing I share them in venues such as the local open mic events in the various towns I have lived in, online with RLB's poetic asides blog or online journals & in print.
This is why I have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy about my writing. I'm not sure it's the healthiest way to deal with this dichotomy, but it's my way.
In May of 2011, I attended the Poetry Society of Virginia's Annual Poetry Festival. One of the events at the festival really spoke to and about this issue. Remica L. Bingham-Risher's The History of Us All: Peronally Politcal Poems forced us all to intertwine our personal narrative poem with a historical account/event. She and I bonded a bit over our propencity to write about personal and family events and throw them out to the world. Her family has started editing themselves around her for fear of ending up in a poem. At least, that's how she told it. Mine hasn't learned this yet.
One of my in-laws was very upset about the subject matter of the chapbook I wrote poems toward in November of 2010. A tragic event and its aftermath of a family we knew, plus other family events, commingled in my brain. I brooded over them for almost 10 years. Eventually, these poems started wanting out of my head. I couldn't not write them. These two events became a jumping off point into a chapbook about a quadriplegic girl dealing with the sudden changes in her life.
You can't play it safe when you feel like you have to write about something which won't leave you alone.
Does your writing get you in trouble with the people in your life?
Personally, I mine my experiences for some of my poetry. I assume personnas for others. I steal subject matter from family, friends, from newspaper articles, NPR broadcasts like Fresh Air. You name it, I've probably appropriated it in some way, shape or form.
The problem is that can step on toes. I have people in my life who are uncomfortable, if not downright disapproving, of the subject matter of my poetry. Especially knowing I share them in venues such as the local open mic events in the various towns I have lived in, online with RLB's poetic asides blog or online journals & in print.
This is why I have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy about my writing. I'm not sure it's the healthiest way to deal with this dichotomy, but it's my way.
In May of 2011, I attended the Poetry Society of Virginia's Annual Poetry Festival. One of the events at the festival really spoke to and about this issue. Remica L. Bingham-Risher's The History of Us All: Peronally Politcal Poems forced us all to intertwine our personal narrative poem with a historical account/event. She and I bonded a bit over our propencity to write about personal and family events and throw them out to the world. Her family has started editing themselves around her for fear of ending up in a poem. At least, that's how she told it. Mine hasn't learned this yet.
One of my in-laws was very upset about the subject matter of the chapbook I wrote poems toward in November of 2010. A tragic event and its aftermath of a family we knew, plus other family events, commingled in my brain. I brooded over them for almost 10 years. Eventually, these poems started wanting out of my head. I couldn't not write them. These two events became a jumping off point into a chapbook about a quadriplegic girl dealing with the sudden changes in her life.
You can't play it safe when you feel like you have to write about something which won't leave you alone.
Does your writing get you in trouble with the people in your life?
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