Postcard from Instant Gratification

Dear Reader,

It's been one week and one completed septic system & drain field since I last confessed.  I been caring for my friend's chickens while she was away.  Each day, 2-3 eggs.  Magic.

But now it's time to confess, my mind is blank and I worry if I have any confessions to share?  I must.

To the Confessional---

I confess this morning I checked CNN to see if the stock market had continued to decline and I saw this "Worst Days of the Obama Presidency" and realized again why I dislike cable news-- they have short attention spans.  Wasn't he just a hero for for the Osama bin Laden kill?  Whatever is in front of our face is our anxiety.  Weren't we freaking out from the nuclear plant Fukishima?  What happened to that problem?

This is my cranky self saying we there is always something to fear, something to throw in our faces and saying, "The world is coming to an end" and "The country is in a recession" only to be followed by an ad from Sprint telling me I can make 3D movies on my phone.

Is it just me or is there a total disconnect from what the cable news is telling is and what corporate America is selling us?  I swear, if the news is as bad as they say, I don't think I should be making 3D movies, but maybe buying canned food instead.

~

I confess my favorite canned food when camping is chili.  But with cheese & sour cream.

~

I confess I want to read this book:  Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle's Sweaters to Maine's Microbrews  - My friend recently read it and said it was hilarious.  I know she said in one of the books, "camping" and having "gifted children" were mentioned.  I would bet that loving Trader Joe's is mentioned (or should be) as well.

~

I confess I'd be terribly upset if they ever discontinue Trader Joe's honey-sesame almonds.  These have become my favorite daily snack.

My other favorite Trader Joe's foods are:  wasbai peas, lacey cookies, lemon cookies, yellow curry sauce, and mango chutney.  These are the strange staples in my home.

~

I confess I'm not currently thinking about breakfast after that last confession.  Time to break open a box of Total cereal...

Amen.

Postcard from a Non-Summer Writer

Buddy Holly on a morning walk while camping...

Good Monday Morning, Friends.  How are you today?

I'm good, but in a odd spot.  I feel I haven't felt I have had anything blogworthy to say recently.  

Summer does that to me.  I'm easily distracted by blue sky and find myself feeling like less of a writer.  In June, I start to write less, July, I live as if I've never held a pencil in my life.  I long to be outside and hope for sunny skies.

But then as August returns and (if you love summer cover your eyes here), I can feel fall in the air and I love that.  I love seeing the blackberries ripen, feel the evenings get a little cooler.  I start to find my writerly self again.  I sweep the sand out of the house and watch the autumn sedum redden.  

By the time September comes around, I'm ready to toss my flip-flops into the shoe box and pull out my cozy boots and sweaters.

I know a lot of people who teach, write during the summer.  But I am the classic student who disappears in her work from September through May.  And I'm okay with that.  In fact, I like having a time where I focus on everything but writing.

This strange not-writing-in-the-summer used to freak me out a bit.  I'd worry that by the time September arrived, I wouldn't be able to write again. I might have forgotten how.  Now I realize we all need time to fill up and that we are always writers, even when we are collecting experiences and living life.

So I'm reading. I've returned to Terrance Hayes Lighthead and will be reviewing Dean Young's Fall Higher for Copper Canyon Press (which I'm loving!)  And just letting the world happen without my to-do list in hand.  Okay, that was kind of a fib because I have a short to-do list on my desk...

But in the Northwest, we don't get a lot of sun (even in the summer!) so we must honor the glowing orb by sitting under it and doing nothing.  It's a truth here.  We'll be locked in our homes soon enough due to rain.  And that's okay, it's one of the reasons there are so many writers here.

By the way, make sure to take one more look at that handsome golden retriever in the photo.  He'll be six this October and well, I think he's fantastic.

Happy August!

Postcard from a Rough Patch