Tag: art

Absolutely perfect

Minna’s Next Move

I have an important chapter to focus on today. On instinct, I plucked these three CDs out of the binder. Two were burned for me by Marika many years ago when she found out I loved “Twin Peaks,” both the TV series and its music. They are joined by my official “Twin Peaks” soundtrack, with music by the late Angelo Badalamenti and lyrics by the brilliant David Lynch. The soundtrack has only three pieces with vocals by the late Julee Cruise; Marika tracked down thirteen more for her custom CD (I’ll provide the track list below).

It’s the best music I can listen to while writing today for several reasons, but one in particular. My Director is working on a film post-production, and he’d asked The Musician to compose a haunting score. There’s probably no music more haunting than these two CDs of “Twin Peaks” music, making them surreal and ideal.

Sometime during the pandemic or post-pandemic, Marika pitched me the idea of “Ghost Girl” music, and we often sent each other song titles that on the surface were light or pop songs, but if you turned the singer or the subject into Ghost Girl, they took on an entirely new mood and meaning. Wherever she travels among the stars of the Universe, I’m betting Marika still likes hearing some good Ghost Girl songs.

Julee Cruise “Twin Peaks” Music
1. Falling
2. The Nightingale
3. Floating
4. I Remember
5. Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart
6. Mysteries of Love
7. Into The Night
8. I Float Alone
9. The Swan
10. The World Spins
11. This Is Our Night
12. The Space For Love
13. Movin’ In On You
14. Friends For Life
15. Up In Flames
16. Kool Kat Walk

I don’t have a track list for Marika’s mix CD titled Julee Cruise/Big Band, and I don’t currently have the time it would take to figure out her lyrics so I could research and identify all the songs on this CD. The mood of her work is equally haunting to the “Twin Peaks” music. The CD shifts gears on the seventh song, but it still works with the overall mood of this section of my novel.

1. Needs research
2. Julee Cruise, “She Would Die For Love”
3. Julee Cruise, needs research
4. Julee Cruise, “Questions In A World of Blue Lyrics”
5. Julee Cruise, “The Voice of Love”
6. Julee Cruise, “Bei Mir Bistu Shein”
7. Frank Sinatra, “Witchcraft”
8. Frank Sinatra, “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning”
9. Needs research
10. Glen Miller, “String of Pearls”
11. Needs research
12. Needs research
13. Frank Sinatra, “Summer Wind”
14. Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra, “Somethin’ Stupid”
15. Frank Sinatra, “It Happened In Monterey”
16. Alison Moyet (I think), “That Ole Devil Called Love”
17. Needs research
18. repeat of Frank Sinatra, “Summer Wind” (guess Marika really liked this one)
19. “Here’s To The Losers,” this version is more mellow than Frank Sinatra’s, could be James Darren playing “Vic Fontaine” on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 06, Episode 26, ‘Tears of the Prophets,'” which would be a clever move on Marika’s part
20. “Danke Schoen,” by a female vocalist; Brenda Lee did a version, but this doesn’t sound like her
21. “Fever,” most likely Peggy Lee’s version, doesn’t sound like Patti Page, and I can’t find Julie London’s rendition

ETA: It turned out to be a much longer writing day than I expected, partially because I updated my concordance with all the new names and places that are part of Book 7 in progress. Always good to hear music from Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Chopin. These CDs probably should have been used for writing a different character, but it’s okay to mix things up a little.

Mood: Monday

Today’s art is the cover on a CD made for me in 2001.


Self Portrait
pen, ink, and glitter on paper, 2001
©Timothy J. Lambert, USA

Timothy was still living in NYC then, and he sent the CD in the spring/early summer of 2001, when he already had his Keith Haring Radiant Baby tattoo and before he moved to Houston in October. Below are the works he recorded, introducing me to songs he knew I’d love, or already loved, or just needed to know existed. =)

1. Wicked Little Town, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2. Here With Me, Dido
3. I’m Not In Love, Olive
4. Take Me Down, Boss Drum
5. Lover, Lover, Lover, Ian McCulloch
6. Within Your Reach, The Replacements
7. Born To Make You Happy, Britney Spears
8. Lady Bunny Speaks Out, Lady Bunny
9. America, Simon & Garfunkel
10. Jeannie’s Diner, Marilyn E. Whitelaw
11. Move On, Boss Drum
12. Special, Garbage
13. Nightingale, Sandra Bernhard
14. Sorcerer, Buckingham Nicks (1974)
15. Nomad (demo), Buckingham Nicks
16. Gold Dust Woman, Hole
17. Thank You, Dido
18. Origin of Love, Hedwig and the Angry Inch


In the late 1990s, Jim sent me a CD of songs he chose for me. It was in a jewel box, and I later made a cover for it with stickers when I put it in my CD case. His playlist was aimed at the California dreamin’ sensibilities and memories of adolescent/hippie Becky.

1. Wishin’ and Hopin’, Dusty Springfield
2. Age of Aquarius, The Fifth Dimension
3. Better Shop Around, Captain and Tennille’s version
4. I Think I Love You, The Partridge Family
5. Sharing the Night Together, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
6. Kodachrome, Paul Simon
7. California Girls, The Beach Boys
8. Your Mama Don’t Dance, Loggins and Messina
9. Little Willy, The Sweet
10. Mother and Child Reunion, Paul Simon
11. Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree, Tony Orlando and Dawn
12. Don’t Pull Your Love Out, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
13. Temptation Eyes, The Grass Roots
14. Only 16, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
15. Cecilia, Simon & Garfunkel
16. Say A Little Prayer, Aretha Franklin
17. Midnight Confessions, The Grass Roots
18. I Am a Rock, Simon & Garfunkel
19. Wendy, The Beach Boys
20. California Dreaming, The Mamas & The Papas

I miss MIX TAPES! Now everybody just tells you to go look at their Spotify playlists. Not the same at all.


These CDs were part of my most recent writing playlist. No way am I choosing a song from one of their mixes, making it seem like I slighted the other. Instead, here’s a song from Wham! that gave Timothy, Jim, Timmy, and me the title of our third novel. I miss my writing partners!


Timmy, Timothy, me, and Jim back in the early part of the century?

A bit of Thursday

The good stuff: Tom worked a half-day so that he and I could go into the old ‘hood to see our friend Larry and get haircuts. Spending time with Larry is always fun and full of conversations about a random range of topics. Somewhere in the middle of it, he dropped the information that his partner has for years been a collector of Barbies. I had no idea. It sounds like the collection is one I’d be likely to drool over, so I hope to see at least some of it one day and promise not to drool on anything.

Afterward, we picked up dinner-to-go from one of our favorite restaurants and were home in time to feed the very aggrieved dogs who were sure they’d been abandoned (as if Debby isn’t here for them when needed).

The eh stuff: Not a lot of writing got done, but while I thought about writing, I did some coloring. It’s unfinished, and at some point, I got very frustrated with the pens I was using and slapped on a bunch of star stickers to cover up some of the coloring that displeased me. I don’t like that either. I’ll take a couple of days away from that activity before I decide what to do to fix it.

In any case, even that ended the day on a much higher note than how I started it, dealing with the frustrations of canceling a website I’m tired of overpaying for and no longer using. Technology…. I understand exactly how this woman feels.


Photo © My Computer Works®

Mood: Monday

This painting is in the public domain.

The Primrose Girl
oil on canvas
William Ward Laing, English, ca 1873 to 1902

Today is National Primrose Day for the flower lovers among you.

I didn’t watch the Grammys last night, but congratulations to Miley Cyrus for her first Grammy wins, Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year, for her song “Flowers.” I read a brief history of the song at some point recently. It originally had a sad trajectory, then somewhere in the process she turned it into a song of empowerment after a broken relationship. That and being catchy definitely worked to the song’s advantage.


Fun photo thinking back to that day in October 2009 when my Miley Cyrus doll and I went shopping. Now I wish our nearby antique mall still existed. Debby and I loved browsing there. It was a great place to find unique gifts. Too late, I realize I could have had a lot of fun posing my dolls among the antiques and collectibles. Missed opportunities.

The way I’m structuring the seventh novel in the Neverending Saga is tricky, and I’m working it out as I go. Even if it has to change, I’m going to be thinking of “Flowers” when I get to the character who’s made some big changes in her life between the sixth book and this one. I want her to have that spirit.

ETA: Oh, for crap’s sake. Just read this reference on a post-Grammy sum-up of how well women fared in the awards last night: –From Eilish’s heart-stopping performance of “What Was I Made For?”—wearing cat’s-eye sunglasses and a 1960s sweater like Peggy Olson from “Mad Men”—

If only they’d done their homework, they’d have understood Billie Eilish’s outfit was a tribute to Barbie, the film, and the Barbie doll. The photo from the Grammys:


Photo by Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images

Eilish was wearing classic Barbie!

Poodle Parade Barbie, my 1995 reproduction of the 1965 original


Shared this version because the film version makes me cry, and I still haven’t seen the movie yet.

Run to you


The most recent play list: Diana Ross and the Supremes 2-CDs, Anthology. Not really sure why they were in the middle of the “T”s but they have now been relocated correctly in the CD binders. Also listened to the Trio CD from Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris.


Forthcoming: U2’s Achtung, Baby 1991, and Pop, 1997.
I didn’t lose any U2 albums in the flood. What I had was on cassettes long ago and long gone, including Rattle and Hum, which I’ll likely get again. I must have something in iTunes–Oh, yes! The one everyone with an iTunes account received free in September 2014 before it was released that October, Songs of Innocence. I remember the bitterness from people who aren’t U2 fans having it downloaded into their iTunes without their consent. I also have “Invisible,” the RED edition, in iTunes.

I have no beef with U2. Sometimes I agree with their messages; sometimes I don’t. Some of their music resonates with me, some doesn’t. I used a tear of their sheet music to get a lyric for a painting I did a couple of years ago. Afterward, I was thrilled to remember I have a brother-in-law who loves U2, so I offered, and he gave a home to, the painting. That made me really happy, because I love him and respect what U2 means to him.

I’m making great effort not to amplify what distresses me most in the world. I’m trying to make my little world, including Houndstooth Hall and its writing sanctuary, as well as this blog, places where I feel safe. I can’t always shut down my anxieties and distress over global events, politics, war, and hate. I can only try to manage them. I appreciate the people in my life who understand this isn’t a new struggle for me, but it has been exacerbated by several factors in recent years.

I saw this the other day and it resonated, too. Doing my best.

Below, one of my favorite U2 songs, is supposed to be about a guy who’s fallen in love and is a little overwhelmed by it. But it always makes me think of a message my mother once sent to me through Tom:
“Tell Becky to stop trying to save the world.”

Mood: Monday

There’s art. As an example, I previously posted a photo of Deedra Ludwig’s “Solace,” oil and mixed media on canvas, 2015.


Then there are coloring pages. While looking through this book, ponds were still on my mind. Started coloring just before bedtime one night to wind down. Resumed a day later when waiting for an appointment while also plotting and storybuilding in my head. Finally finished it today when I got home from a run of several errands.

Below is what I colored.

During writing time, these were on the playlist.


Switchfoot, The Best Yet; Taylor Swift, Fearless: Taylor’s Version, two disks; Red: Taylor’s Version; two disks.

I’d forgotten there’s a song on that Switchfoot CD that I gave to one of my Saga couples long ago. In fact, she even uses an image in it to describe her attraction to him. It so happens to be the male character I’m writing now, so the song was helpful for writing him (even though he hasn’t met her yet).

I’ll be getting more Taylor Swift music. I like listening to her. I understand why adolescent girls like her. I would have, too, when I was a ‘tween/teenager. I’m glad I had (deep breath!) Dusty Springfield, Lulu, the Supremes, Carole King, Gladys Knight, Carly Simon, Mama Cass, Aretha Franklin, Karen Carpenter, Cher, Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Janis Ian, Linda Ronstadt, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, and later, Rickie Lee Jones, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks. And Madonna, Annie Lennox, Bonnie Raitt, Whitney Houston, Sinéad O’Connor, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow.  Some of the women I’ve left out include country singers and girl groups that came before I was buying music or had control of the radio or stereo the way my parents and older siblings did. I loved plenty of them, too, and I never listened to anyone who said they weren’t as good as their “favorites” or that rock and roll or popular music was really the place of male artists.

ETA on 1/30/24: You know, it was just a matter of being in the “S” section when I got to my two Taylor Swift CDs. Timing. Thanks to my goal every week of getting a notification that says, “Your screen time was down __% last week for an average of __ hours, __ minutes a day,” I’ve eliminated seeing a lot of online hate and vitriol. No Fear Of Missing Out in that regard.

ETA on 1/31/24: Sorry for being vague, but I’m cackling at this and need to note it for myself: 150 seconds out of 9.5 hours. Or 150 seconds out of 34200 seconds. Math is fun.

Mood: Monday

Photo previously posted here was of the painting Rain in the City, by artist Katharina Valeeva, oil on carboard, 2020.

It’s a dreary day in Houston with chilly rain. It wasn’t raining yesterday when I was listening to these CDs while I researched a few things for the Neverending Saga, but I’d hoped to find a photo of one of my own paintings to accompany this music for Mood: Monday.


Cat Stevens, Greatest Hits; Sting, Brand New Day; Mercury Falling; Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984 – 1994

I’d used a lyric from Sting’s song “Fragile” on a 4×6 canvas sometime between 1997 and 2001. I don’t have a photo of it. I thought I knew who I gave it to, but apparently not, and no one else I’ve asked has it. I didn’t want it back–just hoped to get a photo of it. If my memory is accurate, the lines I used were “On and on the rain will fall/like tears from a star.” I have a vague memory of what the painting looked like, but maybe I dreamed the whole thing!

After all, who wouldn’t dream of Sting. =)