Tiny Tuesday!

Tim cracks me up. I was in a text exchange with him and Jim this morning, and I shared this.

And Tim quickly replied:

Then he amended that isn’t always true of K-POP bands, which reminded me that I have Mattel’s Jimin doll from the K-POP band BTS (standing for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan, which in English translates to “bullet-resistant boy scouts.”)

Jimin is another of the dolls that represents a character in the Neverending Saga. In 2021, Wardrobe was called in to redo his look to match his character.

The character is a private investigator.

Back to wardrobe! If the Jimin character gets a kilt, that’ll bring the number to seven, same as in BTS, and the shunned doll can rejoin his friends.

This is not faithful to canon, meaning Tim has inadvertently created the first fan fiction for the characters in the Neverending Saga. WITHOUT EVEN READING IT. It’s magic!

I should give props to the band in case you’ve never heard them.

Now I’ll keep thinking of this group of dolls as the Bangtan Scots, which kind of fits, though to my knowledge, only one of the characters is of Scottish descent.

Saturday vibe

Tom cleared the space where the Christmas tree will go and brought it in from the Lean To.

When I left to run an errand (also Christmas related–picked up the stationery and envelopes for the 2023 Christmas letter), he’d started putting on the lower branches. When I got back–voila!

He paused before stringing the lights to watch the Alabama-Georgia game, which I’ve been trying not to hear–except I have the score updating on my phone, and it looks like Alabama just gave Georgia their first loss in two years. That’s the extent of football chat here on An Aries (Who Knows Some Stuff). I’d pulled up my manuscript to work on while cooking dinner, but my mind is very much elsewhere, so instead I wrote a poem.


I used a prompt from my Write The Poem book, but only used one of the suggested words because I drew words from my WoodWords set (made by the same company who’s brought us Magnetic Poetry for all these years). I think I was true to the spirit of the prompt, however.


 

Here’s the poem.

Now hoping to work on the novel. I’ll add my writing music playlist later.

somewhere you’ll feel free


Such terrible news to get today, and I was fortunate to hear it from friends who knew you as I did, having also experienced your humor, your heart, your generosity. The last year and a half, including your eleven months under medical care, were brutal on you. Still, you looked forward to a better life in the aptly named “Fairhope” with the old friend who invited you to move there. You told me your mother said she might move there, too, then you wanted to travel to England and Germany with her and maybe take a Rhine River cruise together. To know that your mother died nine days before you makes me imagine just the two of you again, as it was for much of your life, facing a future together against all odds. I hope you’re both at peace.

I regret that I’ll never get to read that novel you’ve been writing. You had such a gift of voice, pacing, and making everything turn out okay for the women you wrote. You’d have given Summer a happy conclusion, just as you once did for Emily–and you hoped to write a second Emily book one day, too.

I will imagine a happier-forever-after for you, where you save a place on that boat on the Rhine for your forever dog Dash to sit between you and your mother, with Kissing Michael on your other side. You belong with your love on your arm.

Bon voyage, Marika.

all things must pass

George Harrison died on November 29, 2001. Today, I’ve chosen to listen to all of his songs from my CD version of his 1970 album All Things Must Pass. The three-disk album Riley gave me all those years ago when it was released was drowned in our Harvey flood; I replaced it quickly because not to have this collection from my “favorite” Beatle was unthinkable.

I got the 50th Anniversary vinyl when it was released in 2021, and I’ve never removed its shrink wrap. For some reason, I want it to remain intact. Maybe I’m sure that one day, a copy of the original will come back into my life. I don’t know. Whatever format it’s in, these remain some of the most meaningful, sometimes haunting, songs of my life.

I have the CD version of the 50th Anniversary recordings, too.

I miss George Harrison. I miss Riley.

Tiny Tuesday!

First up on the writing playlist. I’ve replaced two more drowned albums…


Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Hard Promises, 1981


Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Long After Dark, 1982

…with smaller (if not quite tiny) CDs.

Up next after those are the new offerings from…


John Mellencamp’s Orpheus Descending followed by Wolf Van Halen’s Mammoth II

I look forward to the inspiration. =)

Mood: Monday

Yesterday marked the last day of Game & Puzzle Week. One thing we haven’t done in quite a while is play cards on holidays. It’s hard to get everyone together with enough time to play, and there are other things that make it challenging. Plus we usually just enjoy talking and catching up, since health issues and concerns keep us apart a lot.


Apparently, even the world’s earliest civilizations created games to play. I found this public domain photo of a Pompeiian mural that shows “an innkeeper throwing two brawling backgammon competitors out of his establishment.”

Some things never change. As Lynne and I well know, backgammon can definitely be a mood! Happy birthday to you, Lynne, and may you make lots more game memories to laugh about.

Button Sunday

Before this Thanksgiving weekend is over, I wanted to send out a message to some of my friends and family who’re going through some stuff right now. Some are ill. Lonely. Struggling with family problems and career challenges. Some are grieving the loss of family members, friends, and cherished companion animals.

In the midst of feeling gratitude and thanks for so many things these past few days, you’re all in my thoughts, too, even those of you who are very quiet as you deal with your lives. I always think about you and send love, strength, support, and hope to you. Many of you have done that for me in the past, and I remember.

I’m thankful for all we’ve shared through the years.