Poetic to the Point of Being Psychic?

I have a bit of an odd tale about one of Seamus (pronounced, Shame-us) Heaney's poems, which is the first poem in his book titled Human Chain. My friend in Ireland sent me this book as a gift in November of 2013 and it arrived on November 26th- within the same month that an Aunt of mine-my favorite Aunt, no less!- passed away and a little more than a year after my Mum's passing. 
On the 25th of November, just the day before, I had a weird experience. I had walked into my mother's room at the same time that I suddenly heard what sounded like a waterfall against one of her windows and immediately thought that I was hearing a sudden violent rainstorm but as I looked out the other window I could see that the late afternoon was still sunny and no rain had hit that window. It was dry and clear. 

The sound was deafening for only a moment- like that of wind and rain- and it continued but I suddenly felt the urge to go out and investigate. 
As I came out the side door to my house I saw leaves violently hitting the bricks against the house and then they suddenly quit. I looked around and there were no leaves any where else. I neared the window to get a closer look and found that one leaf had lodged itself into a space between two bricks. I couldn't reconcile the sound I heard with what I saw but I was left to think about this for only a day.
When the book arrived from my friend the next day and I saw that it was poetry I opened it immediately and read the first poem. The following is the poem, titled, 'Had I not been awake'.

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

A wind that rose and whirled until the roof

Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore

And got me up, the whole of me a-patter,

Alive and ticking like an electric fence:

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

It came and went so unexpectedly

And almost it seemed dangerously,

Returning like an animal to the house,

A courier blast that there and then

Lapsed ordinary. But not ever

After. And not now.

I've always told people that some of my poems are prophetic because my poems written as a teenager were actually outside my scope of experience, at times, and then I would experience what I'd written later. This episode with Seamus' poetry really grabbed my attention and I urge one and all to take a look at his poetry. He passed away in a Dublin hospital in August of that year himself at the age of 74 and is seriously missed as an international poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. Please give this man's poetry a look as we all need to listen to our prophets as much now as ever. 

Dihunamb,

The Castle Lady

 

Wild May !

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with weary feet,

Until it joins some larger way,

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

from Book One of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

     May has been so up and down, sideways and inside-out that I’m beginning to wonder how we arrived at the 31st this quick. Personally, my month has been wilder than a box full of hungry kittens ! On the tenth of May I was able to finally conduct an interment of my dear mother’s remains and the date seemed as good as any, specifically before or after Mother’s Day. I have been trying to get my life back in order since that day and have lost precious writing time which I’ll never be able to recoup. It has reminded me of the words of Bilbo Baggins which Frodo remembers before he starts his own adventures outside of The Shire, in the very beginning of the first book of Lord of the Rings (i.e. The Fellowship of the Ring):

     “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

     During this most reflective of passages something deeply profound is conveyed which has stuck with me and reminds one that you can make a difference in your life and the lives around you no matter where you end up or land. It is simply that, in life, ‘there is only one road; that it is like a great river: its springs are at every doorstep and every path is its tributary.’ That paraphrase being said- the following account of my life from May 10, 2018 to May 23, 2018 shall be submitted with the idea in mind that you’ll get a glimpse into a period of my life which is devoid of any writing only because I couldn’t get my hands on something with which to write or when I did there was something infinitely more pressing that I had to do.

     Even though I was to preside over this informal interment of my mother’s urn (into the plot she spent more than a year paying for in installments in the 1970s) I was, in the words of the family service rep, ‘fashionably late’ but everything had been set up already when I arrived (canopy, seating, ground opened, etc.) and ready to roll, so to speak. Since I was in possession of Mom’s urn and sealed box everyone that attended had to wait about ten minutes for me to surrender the box and later while Ms. Seaton and her aides were able to position the vaulted box over the area where it was to be lowered. I read a poem, which is an entry on this blog, as a Mother’s Day tribute. (See, To My Mother, May 13^th entry)

     I gave everyone who attended a chance to speak and it was quite uplifting, for the most part, to hear what family members had to say. The gathering was unbelievably small but I hadn’t invited many people. I decided on family primarily, from which only a few invitees attended. I did not want to turn it into something Mom would rather skip herself but we all seemed to agree on one premise. Mom had a way of making sure the people around her felt loved. It was her gift and her mission in life, I believe. She had the following phrase printed on the back of her business cards some years after she started her salon (eventually turning out to be her mission statement) because she backed it up with chats which always centered on her faith in Jesus Christ with each and every customer. The phrase is, “Introducing Jesus to you is the best way I know to say “thank you”. John 3:16”. In her day, it was well-received by almost everyone. Today I’m not sure how it would be perceived- given the times- but it garnered a clientele which encompassed most of the neighborhood and included men’s haircuts in the bargain. She wasn’t a barber so Mom styled and permed men’s hair at a time when it was fashionable.

     Before the lowering of the vault with my mother’s urn and box inside I was given three roses to put inside the vault and put them around the box. I thought Mom would like that- she loved roses and I still maintain her rosebushes in memory of her. No one stayed to see the grave being sodded over and even I stood well back. I felt good about knowing that she was loved enough by me to make sure that her wishes were honored. It was my attempt and intention to try to make our investments in each other equal. I hope I made her proud that day.

     Afterward, the drive home was in bumper-to-bumper traffic and the hottest May 10^th in Denver since who-knows-when, I’m sure. At some point when I was less than a mile away from home I decided to briefly stop in a parking lot to get my bearings, take a break for something to drink and get a few dollar store items. When I restarted the car it kept cranking but the engine wouldn’t turn over! That’s never happened with my car that I can recollect. I’ve owned this car for 27 years and have only had regular maintenance and replacement parts put on it. I was stunned and was without cell phone service- I could see the time but couldn’t make any calls. Several people, for the next four hours, allowed me to use their cell phones to call AAA to get roadside assistance. First, a diagnostician came and went over everything that was within AAA scope of services. He said he couldn’t find anything wrong- other than the fact that it wouldn’t start. His solution was to have the car towed. By this time two hours had flown by and I was now exhausted. It took three more phone calls to get the tow people out and they also did a diagnosis on it just in case it decided to just start, I suppose. It sounded the same. Cranking but not turning over. The driver thought perhaps it was a fuel pump failure.

     Once we finally got going it should’ve only taken them another ten to fifteen minutes to get me and the car to my house. When we were half a mile from my house a garbage truck driver managed to knock off the driver’s side mirror off the tow truck with the garbage truck side mirror and it was completely shattered. It looked deliberate but who knows? Maybe the garbage truck driver was having a bad day or something. Did they exchange info and go on? No. The driver of the tow truck got upset and insisted on getting the police out to check it out. I agreed with him that it looked deliberate but stayed neutral. I just wanted to go home at this point. The AAA people came to give him support while we were waiting for police. After more than an hour the police finally ambled by and shook their heads ‘no’ and left. By this time I was just as desperate to get home as any homeless person ever was and I wanted to find out who I could get to work on the car. I sure didn’t plan on spending my entire afternoon in a parking lot or a tow truck!

     Five hours after I initially found out that my car wouldn’t start I was delivered home (1:30- 6:30 !) with my car deposited on my driveway and no prospects for being able to get anything more done that day. I needed to take a shower, eat something before my stomach gave up the ghost and try to figure out what I was going to do. Not exactly a happy camper was I. No one pays nearly $2,000 to be as unhappy as I was at that moment but in the ensuing days it got a little better and then much worse.

     By Sunday the 13^th I managed to contact a nearby car rental place which I have used before. It was perhaps the nicest thing I’ve done for myself in awhile so I decided to have it for the weekend and get my car towed first thing on Monday to a tire service place that also works on cars in general. I hate being without a car to drive. I receive regular e-mails from this particular rental car business that offer weekend getaway deals so I felt confident that it would be a good idea. One objective to this is that I had planned on going back to the cemetery to make sure everything was as it should be.

     I received no calls from AAA on this dilemma. As a matter of fact I was stunned when I called them about trying to get more help on this issue to be told by a phone attendant that even though I’ve been a loyal member for 39 years it was only basic ($55 a year!) and they didn’t offer more than what I’d received. Further, I could only get roadside assistance 3 times on the same issue. (I had just paid my membership on March 31^st so that’s the thanks I received after all these years!) No one at AAA has ever talked to me like that before so I chalked it up to today’s rampant apathy. Not happily, though! Preferential treatment to customer loyalty is almost a joke any more. Century Link is a prime example.

     After I got the brush off from AAA, I spent the next three days, before renting the car, combing through the Yellow Pages and trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with my car which I tried to start several times while it sat in my driveway. On Sunday after I’d managed to get the rental car I got groceries initially because I also had happened to run out of almost everything by then. I took flowers from my own yard to my aunt Anne because I figured no one would visit her and I was right. I was the only person who showed up for Mother’s Day even though she’s not my parent. She has two grown, married children (with children) - my cousins- but she spent the day alone except for my visit.

     Once I finally found an auto repair that I thought would be able to handle the problem, I called AAA and set up my last free tow on Wednesday morning the 16^th, to have the car taken to Firestone and followed the tow truck in the rental all the way out there. All this time I had been looking through the internet at sites like RockAuto.com to find out what was available for parts on my 1990 car because its make and model were obsolete practically since the day that it showed up at the dealership where I bought it, (until 1997-unbeknownst to me!) Not for a minute did I think it was a simple matter of my battery being low because two people from AAA had supposedly done a thorough diagnosis on that issue back on the tenth.

     As soon as I got the car there they set up yet another diagnosis for the car even though I told them that AAA had already ran a battery of tests twice. Then I was told that they may not get to it that day. The next day at noon I received a call from a Firestone rep saying that the computer (?) needed to be replaced and that it happened to be the most expensive part on the car. Right at that moment something suddenly didn’t ‘smell’ right to me but since all the diagnosis on the car had come up with no clue as to the problem I had no real cause to doubt it at that point.

     Days went by and then a weekend while I went about the business of my life which is always filled with lots of physical work, necessary shopping I needed to accomplish and trying to get to my writing. I had wanted to get started ASAP on ordering a nice marker for Mom’s site and got a call from Kim at Fairmount on the 18^th- a Friday but I didn’t have any decisions made for her because I was trying to wrap my head around the delay to everything and what it could possibly cost me. If you’ll recall, I just got myself out of debt by the end of last year and managed to garner something to get my Mom in her plot. This was something I could not have foreseen and would not have even guessed at, leave alone planned. I had to put it off since I hadn’t been able to get in touch with my Dad since the day I’d seen him at the interment.

     A weekend went by and then I started to get concerned and started calling Firestone early Monday morning. I was put off ‘til Tuesday and decided that whether I had a car or not- the rental needed to go back to the rental place and I told them I was bringing the rental back on Tuesday. I had never planned to have it longer than the weekend so I knew it was going to get to vacation bill proportions. I had just got off the phone with the rental agency and now Firestone was telling me I could pick up the car immediately. I had to take the rental back after running the last errands I needed to for the day, have them drive me back home and take a bus out to the Firestone.

     When I went to take the bus to Firestone it had to start raining, of course, but I was prepared. I was shocked at what the final bill from Firestone was (hundreds!) and could only put it on a credit card. ARGH ! This put the total fiasco tally past $1,000. Hadn’t I just defeated something similar? So much for a marker on Mom’s grave. I suppose that’ll take another five years depending on how long it takes me to get out of debt again. Groan.

     The ensuing hours on the 22^nd were absolutely unbelievable! When I opened the car door to start it and go home I heard the weirdest noise I ever heard coming from the dash. I’d certainly never heard that before and when I turned the key to start the car it cranked for a long time before it finally started. The engine sounded the same as it did on the day of the 10^th on the ride home and showed no performance difference. The only difference was the noise that wouldn’t go away. When I got it home I turned off the ignition and the noise started again as soon as I opened the car door and took the key out of the ignition. I decided, on a hunch, to put the key in the ignition and close the door without trying to turn it on and the noise suddenly stopped. As soon as I took the key out of the ignition the noise started up. Two more tries with the door closed or opened revealed that the door had nothing to do with the sound.

     I was floored at this noisy new feature but had to go inside to get some pressing things done and went back out within fifteen minutes. The noise was still going and I tried to start the car. It was completely dead. I couldn’t even hear a click leave alone the ignition sound and every time I took the key out of the ignition the new noise started. To say the least, I was livid. The original problem was now even worse and I’d just paid a pile of money for a car I couldn’t start at all now! At that instant I knew that the computer had nothing to do with the car starting or not starting but was quite surprised that they hadn’t really fixed the problem at all.

      I went inside and called Firestone and told them what had happened including the noise. The phone attendant told me that they would send a tow truck in the morning, free of charge, to take it back to them and find out what the problem was which helped alleviate some of the aggravation but being as how I’d been without my car now for 12 days it was getting to be a bit much. When the tow truck driver called the next morning I told him what had happened the previous day and the past 2 week’s history. He called Firestone and then called here again and said that he would be towing it there and I was to talk to Murray when I got there. I let the tow truck driver hear the noise coming from my dash when he showed up and he didn’t seem at all surprised. I rode with the tow truck to Firestone and noticed before we pulled out of my driveway that he had put some device on my battery.

     When we got there I talked to Murray and then I believe he personally worked on my car. After only a short period of time he came into the waiting lobby of the store and said it was fine, no noise and it started immediately. He tore up the repair order and said he didn’t do anything. He brought me to my car and he said for me to start it myself. I opened the door and there was no more noise. When I finally got myself adjusted in my car correctly and turned the key it started right up like it always does. No extra, mysterious noise of any sort. He said he didn’t have to do anything except reconnect my battery cables and he just put them back on. (I would’ve never been able to start my car or gotten home with battery cables unconnected the previous evening!) I told him that the tow truck driver had hooked something up to the battery just before he towed my car and that was probably why the battery cables were disconnected.

     While I was driving home, I put two and two together and realized that the last tow truck driver was the person who solved the problem. My battery was most likely in need of attention and that was probably all that was wrong on the 10^th. Why that wasn’t detected by three diagnosticians is the real mystery. Meanwhile, I just spent $550 for a so-called computer I probably didn’t need to replace. I had asked Murray about why the attendant refused to let me take the parts taken off and he gave the same answer she did the previous night even though I was promised that I would be given back any parts taken off of my car. This was so it could be sent back to the factory they bought the new one from which they will rebuild (?) This is quite the deal for Firestone and a total and complete rip-off to the unsuspecting consumer. If that’s true why wouldn’t they offer a rebate to the car owner? Where’s my proof that they replaced anything or took anything off my car?

     Well, my car is starting like it always did but now I’m in debt when I shouldn’t be. Far be it for someone to admit they made a mistake and prevent the customer from paying dearly for it! What a contrast to the almost angelic people who let me use their cell phones to call for help! They didn’t have to help me but they did. It didn’t put a penny in their pockets to assure me and allow me to use their prized possessions. One grounds worker at the parking lot site even gave me a bottle of water because it was really hot that day. One of them assured me she would come back to see if AAA ever came! I’m so glad our paths intersected for even a few minutes or more. They helped keep me from having a day no one wants to endure after burying a loved one.

When you’re given a chance, lend a hand where you can !

The Castle Lady

What Kind of Person do You Think I Am ?

    

With all the work I have put into my blogs over the years it has become an assumption of mine that my readers have deduced my character, demeanor and lifestyle through my writing. Perhaps that’s a bit of an error on my part. Most of my writing only requires me to step aside and lay down facts. My own agenda, opinions and preferences are put aside in most instances or kept to myself. That works for me because I can concentrate on what is essential to my subject without adding my own colors unnecessarily. Additionally, non-fiction writing allows you to work incognito and I’ve taken that road more often than not but it isn’t absolutely necessary. In all honesty, I’m a modest person but not necessarily shy so it’s become a habit for me to keep myself out of it, if possible. However, I’m going to try to break out of that rut. This entry is an attempt to introduce you to the person you’ve been reading so you can get a clearer image and better idea of who I am as a person.

     The fact that I’ve been mostly reticent about myself was entirely unintentional. In trying to be as professional as I can I’ve deprived you of knowledge about my aspirations. However, I do want you to know where I’m coming from in terms of my personal and work background, where I have lived and traveled and what I want and expect to achieve with my work on castles. I’ve never really thought much about my station in life because my priority has always been following my interests, desires and needs. God has been gracious to me and helped me (along with my parents) in achieving my goals and aspirations. No one could ever rightfully accuse me of being high maintenance. Economical in every sense of the word is not only my highest priority on a day to day basis, it has practically become my motto. It’s all too obvious what my excesses are from my writing so this will not be news to you. My main overindulgence is education, knowledge and, above all, truth and honesty in dealings and communication.

    

Someone once left a comment on my WordPress castles blog which said simply, “What’s with all the castles?”  After I stopped laughing- actually, I just laughed again- I started to seriously ponder the question. It’s obviously a favorite subject of mine to put it mildly but beyond the apparent reasons why I started to write about castles I’m sure that the mysteriousness and appearance of these magnificent edifices is what started me on the journey of exploring and then writing about them. I pored over books on castles from the time I was a teen. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I would eventually visit these places. Supposing that I couldn’t possibly ever visit even one made them more attractive and important. When I finally went on my grand tour of castles back in 2001 it was a dream come true and has been my best and most exciting travel excursion in my life- thus far. I’m more in love with castles now than I ever have been! I’m not sure if I have answered the question above but it’s the best way of explaining why I have spent the past 19 years researching them online. I have a small library on the subject of castles alone. Well, it’s small if you think 100 books is a small collection. There are many more I’d love to own and hundreds more I’d at least like to read or read again!

     If someone asked me, “What’s with all the writing?” I’d probably only laugh again. I’ve been writing longer than my so-called obsession with castles and has become such a part of me that- to think of myself as something other than a writer- I’d probably just say I’m a poet. I started my writing career with poetry as a child. Further I’d say that I’m a poet first, even if the number of my poems pale in comparison to all my other writing. When did I start singing? My mother told me that I sang back to her from the crib! People used to stop my mother in church and remark that they’d never heard a baby sing before. Eventually, Mom took me to a professional vocal coach who wanted me to try for a scholarship to C.U. for operatic training. Somehow I couldn’t visualize myself in that scenario and there are times that I regret not taking that more seriously. I felt that my voice talent belonged in the church because it was God-given. I never had to struggle with my vocal talent and have always enjoyed singing. Playing the flute was practically the same thing. I only wanted to play for the Lord. I may need an attitude adjustment for that someday but for now I’m happy with singing occasionally here and there, mostly at church and definitely to the Glory of God.

    

I enjoy life as it is, also. From 1977 up to 2007 I kept busy making a living working as a nail tech. I’m still a working technician but I’m not anywhere near as busy as I was during those first 30 years! I have traveled to nail shows and seminars all over the U.S. (mostly on the West Coast) and even lived and worked in San Diego for three years. Mostly what I learned in San Diego was autonomy. I moved there when I turned 22 and did all the California things that a young woman can do when they are in such an environment. Sometimes I wonder if I would’ve had certain opportunities in my life if I had continued living there. Moving back to Denver after all that wasn’t easy. I just readjusted and went back to working as a nail tech but I also enrolled in college and started taking music classes and advanced flute performance training. I didn’t come away from there with a degree because I wasn’t seeking a degree. I didn’t feel that I needed one and when I decided that I’d gotten everything out of musical training that I wanted, turned my sights on nail salon ownership.

     Being a business owner is quite a high ride even as a small business! It is very demanding of time but there is no better confidence builder. If one does not become a millionaire at the end of it then there is the prestige of such experience which is not generally overlooked by potential employers. The responsibility is enormous and will take every bit of your energy. Your work ethic becomes top priority because you don’t make it unless you rise to the occasion. From 1990 to 1997 my salon survived two locations and a growing retail business and eventually tanning. The latter was not an asset but I learned something about the business that I didn’t know before I added it. I’m convinced that my expertise in nails (which I had already acquired before I started the salon) made all the difference in my success. Interestingly, when I decided to close my salon and move operations to my mother’s full service home salon, it wasn’t that difficult to give it up. I’d learned what I needed to learn from that period of my life and wanted to move on.

     After that, I knew that whatever I decided to do from here on should be a dream maker because I am convinced that if I apply all the things I’ve learned through the years- the work ethic, following desires, being confident, using energy well- the effort of all that will impart more success. To me, success isn’t just about making a million (or more) dollars, it’s about making dreams a reality. It isn’t a game, it’s real life and a real possibility. Success isn’t a competition, it’s arriving at the destination you wanted. It’s finding out that what you wanted is worth your time, toil and care. Success, for me, is an intrinsic value and an extrinsic one as well. Whoever said, “Nothing succeeds like success,” was not being facetious- he knew what he was talking about. I know what it is to be a success, the kind which is worth its name.

     Finally, in conclusion, my hope is that you understand me a little better and know that I’m as down-to-earth as anyone else. My castles are real, not in the air! I know what it is to turn around after a big monetary windfall and put 90% of it back in for the next project or keeping the business afloat. I’ve put in seventeen years of dedicated work for a dream, which as of today, has not yet made one dime for me. However, I believe in the worth of the work- it couldn’t remain a fantasy that long and survive in my world! I believe it was Flaubert who said, “I beg you to believe that if it didn’t amuse me to paint, I wouldn’t do it.” There’s the love part. It’s the true key to success.

Honestly,

The Castle Lady

The Writing Life

    

Not many people understand what the life of a writer entails. When we are earnestly in pursuit of our profession we spend more hours on our work and/or craft (and more diligently) than most people do at any other job you can name. I’ve lost count of the times people have asked me in person or over the phone, “What are you doing? Where have you been?” Average work days for most people are eight hours a day but for the past 17 years it has not been unusual for me to work at writing for more than 12 hours in a day and no less than 8. Ah! Those were the days! I can tell you that we are not only dedicated, in most instances, but if we could work longer days- if it was physically possible, most of us probably would and certainly not complain about it. Mainly, I am speaking for myself in this case but I’m sure that my fellow bombastic-but-ardent scribes most likely do the same or more. Some of us sleep.

     Once writing becomes a serious part of your life- for whatever reason you

are writing- words take on an importance in the way a surgeon’s tools become integral to his skill as a physician and healer. We scour dictionaries, pore over thesauruses and read obscure sources for the best word in order to give our ideas and theories impetus. We are not just pouring out words, we also devour them like hundreds of pieces of rice and corn at a meal. We must feed on words in order to create them. Our behavior is not unusual given our profession. Our words and ideas must have meat with fat on them! New words flash like neon signs in our minds for hours if they are powerful enough and our ideas are formed by how we feel about certain words. We are full of word prejudice; Arbiters of words, you could say.

     Writers are accused of being daydreamers in early childhood and even into adulthood. Having never experienced this type of criticism from anyone, I have come to understand that it’s quite common. The sentences we write take about 50 to 100 times more forethought per sentence. (You can give and take those numbers and still basically be right about the math. It’s an individual thing for each person.) We certainly come across to people as very quiet so we stare much more than we talk and you can be sure we’ve observed everything in our path, the room, the concert hall or the shopping mall. Observations come with the territory and believe it or not, it’s exhausting. Sometimes it can be tiresome to pay that much attention to certain mundane aspects of life. There are a percentage of us who believe that is what our job actually is- observation and then to paper. Journalists at heart- believe it!

   

  Personally, I was a poet first before I ever wrote anything else. My first book of poetry, Seasons of the Heart, is primarily a collection of my first poems up to the brink of adulthood- before I moved out and away from my parent’s house. Poets are very special writers and any writer will agree with me on that premise. They may expound much further than I because I am a poet and a writer. There are two workers inside of me needing to take that precious time. My poet is hungry these days and needs more sleep and sitting quietly observing everything. But the poet has learned how to swoop down like a heron on a surfacing fish in the water. When those poems come, everything stops and the poet writes and soars through those castles in the air. Castles? I’ll throw one in if I must but for now… 

   

    

The best gift a writer can be given is extra time. Mundane life activities such as housework, cooking meals, general self-care, driving anywhere, shopping and exercise take away time from what we’d rather be doing. We might be the worst workaholics in the world but I once read a quote from a famous feminist writer to this effect: “Writing is the one thing that, when I’m doing it, I don’t feel like I need to be doing something else.” That sentence sums up why we do it. Compulsion comes into play here but with the effect of positivism that other compulsions don’t normally convey. When we go for a walk it’s usually to clear our minds for another eight hours of solitary confinement with a P.C., typewriter or perhaps a notebook if we are having a restless day. 

 

     When you see a writer friend absorbed in internet research, a nose stuck in a book, pounding away on a keyboard or hiding in a corner with a pad and pen, don’t shake your head and stomp your feet. We’re being who we are. Yes, we really love you but we must write. Take us to lunch once in a while and don’t pay any attention when our eyes glaze over. We’re saner than you realize and we just need a little space for that idea fermenting in the brain. 

     In conclusion, here’s a piece of advice to all those who are sadly watching the writer quietly go about his/her work. If you buy them anything, as a gift perhaps, buy them some extra time. “How does someone buy time?” you ask. Of course, you can’t literally buy time but there are many things you can do for them which frees up said time. Be sensitive to what is unnecessarily taking up their precious hours to the point of distraction and there’s the answer. For me, personally, if I could afford a cook and maid I’d hire them now. I like having a decent-looking yard but wish I could just stay at my computer rather than mow or rake the lawn or any of the other numerous outside tasks which seem to be endless. If I had a handyman to fix the 100,000 things that need doing- bliss!

Enough said !

The Castle Lady

Keep Your Eyes on Summer

My title is not only the name of one of my most favorite Beach Boys songs but it’s very appropriate this summer. As a matter of fact, 2017 has seemed to be off schedule all year long! I can honestly say every month in Denver has been quite unusual in correspondence to its season and August has been no exception. Everyone’s talking like it’s autumn already and it’s not even close! The strong heat started right at the beginning of June for one, with no storms whatever. July was steadily hot and well above 90ْ, also, with few storms. August has been rainy at night and much cooler, overall, than June and July combined. That’s weird weather for August considering that it’s usually our hottest month.

    

Perhaps this total eclipse coming up has something to do with all of it. Denver is right in the path for an overhead viewing at 92% but I won’t be watching any of it. A partial total eclipse is a non-event in my estimation and its main claim to fame is that it will be really dark in the middle of the day for about an hour and a half. Yawn. Don’t be surprised if your dogs and cats decide to go to their backyard houses or favorite night time spot. They’re smarter than they seem. If by chance you insist on looking at what will be basically just darkness, be sure to take the ‘special glasses’ wearing to heart. Can’t get a hold of a pair? Then, please, at it don’t stare. (hee hee) Simple.

    

Remember when I vowed that I was not going to mow the lawn this year and that someone else was going to have to do it? Well, guess who got the so-called honors anyway? You guessed it. Who else but yours truly?  I’ve never felt so exhausted in my life! Avoiding the heat was impossible and you can’t mow at night. Let’s just say the latter isn’t a good idea. The other part of this is that it takes away from my writing time. Have you noticed West Somerset on my Word Press blog yet? Right. It isn’t there. It shouldn’t take me too much longer but it seems as if it’s taking me forever- face it! -but not because I haven’t put the effort in.

     As a matter of fact, I’ve written the thing nearly twice now. The first nearly completed final draft just suddenly disappeared from my computer without a trace in February after some extreme weirdness with my P.C. That is not the first time this has happened but I have vowed that it’s never going to happen again. What could be more frustrating than watching something that you’ve spent four months writing suddenly vanish? I honestly can’t think of anything worse right now and so I’m telling any type of malevolent miscreant or namby-pamby glitch that they better not touch this or something’s going to get hurt. Bad. When I show any signs of aggression in word, thought or deed you can be assured that you’ve pushed me over the edge of my good nature. You have been warned. 

     It may sound like summer has been a bummer but most of it has been much nicer than I expected. I’ve had a bit of a reprieve on extra duties around the house just simply because I’ve let some chores and extra work just go. You have to do that at times, you know. Most of my life I’ve been a live-for-the-moment type of person and this summer I let myself do just that. I’ve been catching up on the news and happenings and at my leisure rather than on the run. Here again, the heat may be partially responsible because when your body gets to a certain temperature you just have to sit down and do something that doesn’t involve movement of any kind. I’m getting good at it again. I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to stare off into space!

    

However, I would have you know that I’ve, in fact, been overflowing with ideas for writing projects for over a year and a half and getting overwhelmed with the amount of writing time I’ll have to do to get it all done. I thought my castles projects were overambitious! Whew! At one time my family thought I was going to become a hermit because I had a great place to hide and write all day. Those were the days! I need to get back to doing that and once I figure out how, I’m going to be unstoppable. Look out World!

    

At any rate, you can expect to see a fabulous version of West Somerset in the very near future. (Promise!) Along with all that you can expect to see quite a few sideline entries on all these ideas that have been fermenting, getting jotted down at odd moments and ultimately committed to a non-electronic apparatus which I’ll call the aide to my P.C. Hint: It’s called pen and paper! Yes, I still do that and this year it’s been done in the coolest place I can find- my basement! Bliss!

     Well, have a wonderful remainder of summer. It won’t be officially over until September 21^st- or thereabouts- and you may get to see a whole lot more of my writing on castles and much more for the remainder of this year than you’ve seen in quite some time. It’s proverbial. Life gets in the way of art but to be truthful there is just no comparison to the reflected life. Both are worth living but you have to learn to balance the two and take your bliss where you can get it.

The Castle Lady

In April...

     First, there were early daffodils which showed up the first day of April. Every day in this month has been a whirlwind of activity with personal appointments, outside work and housework with extra spring cleanings and decluttering the house from items to put up for an E-garage reality sale*. Then, later on, there was planning for Easter and the day itself. Earth Day was a day for doing outside work in earnest and I managed to find the greatest ground cover mulch with pine needle droppings from the tree I planted back in 1990 in the back ! Now I can defeat the weeds on a greater level, the mulch is naturally aromatic and I doubt that any weed is going to break through that stuff! Nothing under the tree did- that's for sure! (hee hee) Believe it or not, I've actually mowed both my front and back lawns already and we've practically had no real rain or snow through most of the winter. Go figure.

*(explained below !)

     E is also for me. Evelyn. Yeah me! I am one tired lady most of the time. Between kitchen, living room, laundry, salon, bathrooms, bedrooms (3 of 'em) duties plus office organization, studio straightening and cleaning and sorting through the garage, it's been decided that placing the mulch is the last bit of yard work I'm ever going to do. One has to draw the line somewhere and I feel I have finally met my match with it so someone else will have to take it on. Wish me luck in finding the right person for the job because if I find that one they will have a job for life!

   

     One way or another I always pull it out for baskets every morning. I've decided that while it may not be my raison d'etre, it is still a very important part of my day. I'll never give it up no matter what I am doing or where I happen to be. They do have basketball courts in England- I've seen them ! Eureka ! I've also decided to rejoin the human race in one thing. For years I've walked where I need to go most of the time and not just because my car is now 27 years old. I'm determined to keep gas guzzling to a minimum but sometimes you just have to take off and be somewhere else besides your home turf. Considering that I'm a travel writer, primarily, I'm going to travel more- one way or another. If I start there and gain some momentum I figure on accelerating that and go further and further afield. However, I'm not walking to England!

     E is also for Ella! Fitzgerald, that is...It's the 100th anniversary of her birthday and if you get a chance you should check out this link to see what I put up on my rock blog about her. It's not comprehensive but relevant to her current fame which has not waned. More musical artists, this year, are recreating her tunes than possibly any other jazz singer, ever, and considering that this is Jazz Appreciation Month it's very apropos and de rigueur that you visit her web site if you are even a little bit of a fan of jazz music. You'll be glad you checked it out. Here's mine: http://evelynsrockpages.blogspot.com  and Ella's official web site: www.ellafitzgerald.com  

     Of course, this is all after the fact with this being the end of April. I guess that Nat King Cole song is absolutely right...

            Lost April...where did you go ? Like winter snow

I saw you vanish

Lost April...so soft and warm, a memory not even time

can banish...

Here comes May,

 

        Check back often for a new widget to this blog which will be my E-garage and actual garage sale.

I'll be bringing my live sale to you with its own blog on which you can make bids with your (undisclosed) e-mail address.

Coming soon ! ! Details later...

          

April's Flowers, et al

     It is simply amazing how beautiful April has turned out to be this year! It's been at least a decade since I've seen Spring arrive so early. Denver, ordinarily, is either sparse, cold and overcast or, at best, blooming- albeit accompanied with torrential snowfall  or rain that threatens to destroy every blooming thing in sight ! (Pun intended.) It may be too early to tell but I think this is going to be an exceptional second season for Denver this year just like the old days. Ah! Even when I'm inside I can feel it. The air has literally changed to fresh and even if it is cool there's a sense of renewal and change all around me.

     As a result, I am enjoying this wonderful sudden transition- fully sprung- by taking clear advantage and finding excuses to be outdoors as much as possible. There were times in the past when I would read and write outdoors, especially in summer. It really will be like old times if our weather continues on this new trend and I'll be welcoming it with all the watering, walking, baskets and general outdoors activities I can think up to do. This has been an excellent time to restore my mother's old salon sign and it really looks beautiful. It appears to be a brand new sign but I'm going to add est. 1966 underneath it. Ordinarily, on summer's hottest days I avail myself of a shaded porch which is enclosed with flowering bushes and that is my place to hide out and read, write, keep up on collections, eat lunch and snacks or maybe daydream a bit. It has been two and a half years of mourning best put in the past. I know someone who would prefer I do just that and I'll be happy to oblige.

     My latest gross encounter of the household kind involved my refrigerator which I thought I couldn't budge. It's wide enough to be the equivalent of three tubas. Try to get your arms around that and pull back ! I had to get the help of my neighbor across the street and at first I thought he was going to have a tough time. We heard a crack and then he had it out of its tight corner. Come to find out it was literally stuck to the floor with dried soda (or something sticky- yuck!) and the whole area was in bad need of cleaning which I had to take another hour of time to take care of and get my newly released refrigerator back in place. Phew ! It's always something ~ ugh!

     I have found several similar messes like that ever since I took on the house and I've taken to holding my breath in areas where I've never ventured. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to find in any of them and definitely abhor nasty surprises. My constitution wasn't made to handle these types of vicissitudes. Hard work doesn't phase me but dealing with a mess or neglect that is totally unexpected drives me up a wall. If it happens to stink it's even worse. I never would've been able to change diapers so it's a good thing I never had kids! 

     Now, I have flowers to look forward to such as irises I planted three years ago. My lilac bushes really blossomed this year and I've taken to putting a bouquet of them in every room in the house. Lilacs are the best natural air freshener in world! The iris blades are coming out of the ground so it's a matter of time for them and my roses will be next which are a chore but a labor of love, nonetheless. My daffodils have come and are just now starting to wane. They don't last very long, unfortunately.

     Well, that's all I have to report for now. Earth Day has become a regular fete for me and I can't think of a better way to celebrate it than to just get outside and enjoy it. As a matter of fact it may be our duty as members of this planet. Tell your boss you're sick (of work) and go for it. Maybe he'll give you an Earth Day bonus and knock off early himself.

The Castle Lady     

Animal Olympics

      Since the first of this year I've been keeping an eye on and feeding my neighbors cats which are tiger and black tabbies, respectively. They are as typical as cats can be but upon finding some extraordinary abilities in both felines I started thinking about why we don't encourage professional sports for our pets. I know it sounds crazy but hear me out because I believe that we may need a fitness revolution for pets. It's true that cats usually are the least likely to need an exercise regimen but even they could benefit and maybe even lead the way for dogs, hamsters, snakes, mice and even birds given the right circumstances. 

    

Take Po'ele'ele for instance. Tabbies are generally known as almost a run-of-the-mill breed and yet I saw this elegant black cat leap off a table vertically at least five feet to tackle Laulau, the tiger cat, like they were playing football. It was an awesome sight. I checked both cats for injuries but apparently they were fine and I may have ruined a score or something. Po (for short) also likes to eat tremendous amounts of food but I'm certain it's to maintain that great physique. Believe me, I checked for fatness and Po is pretty fit for a cat who does not need a mouse for sustenance.

     

Laulau is just a little love mostly but she has made her physical feats as well. She can make jumping high look like a magic trick. She makes no hesitations and always lands in or on her favorite spots. She has an extraordinary ability to hit a ball strategically to land right in an appropriate spot. She'd make a great shortstop. They both try to play some very strange form of tackle basketball with a tennis ball. I'm sure I've spent more than an hour of time just watching them play this fantastic secret game which beats my snow basketball by a mile. I'm not sure what the move of hugging the ball while trying to scratch the heck out of it with their hind feet signifies but it may be some sort of a high five, look-at-me victory dance maneuver. Whatever it is I highly recommend buying your cat a tennis ball to play with because he/she could become a millionaire and lift us out of this slow economy.

     Po'ele'ele for president ! (ahem!) and Laulau as running mate !

Never stop meowing...er, that is- moving...

The Castle Lady