It’s June 20, the release date of the movie Jaws in 1975. Since I’m homebound post-surgery, Tom has been doing the errand running, and last week he picked up this tiny tin of mints for me.
I was delighted! I’m not really a fan of horror films, even less so as I’ve aged, but I loved Jaws and it began my fascination with sharks (the movie regrettably did them a disservice). I also liked the Peter Benchley novel it was based on. I saw only the first sequel, and though it was silly, true confession, I watched it in the theater with altered perceptions, so I enjoyed it on that level.
Here’s the back of the tin. The tiny mints are cherry flavored (I laughed that they are Amity Island Sours), and they’re in the shape of shark teeth.
As for the tagline on the front, of course YouTube provides a clip.
One of my favorite accounts on Instagram is The Life of Sharks. Now and then, Christian Talbot and Sophie Hodge provide a cartoon with a good Jaws reference, and here’s one with backstory on Captain Quint, the shark hunter in the video.
On the horizon: Just one day shy of six years since I took this photo while we vacationed with family at the Gulf of Mexico. We got some weather thanks to Tropical Storm Cindy but had a great time despite that. I’ve visited the Gulf of Mexico from the Keys, the dividing line between the Atlantic and the Gulf, around the shorelines of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, all the way down to South Padre Island. Love the North Atlantic coast and every bit of the Pacific coast I’ve visited, but the Gulf of Mexico is wired into my personal history, hurricanes and floods included.
I asked my go-to source for marine vessels if he could make a guess what this boat is, and here’s what I got (thank you! and OMG, I’m always impressed by people’s knowledge): It’s likely that that tug actually functions here as a type of push boat. There’s some way it’s mated up to the barge it’s pushing, but it could disconnect once it gets the barge to its destination. It appears to be a work barge of some sort. Maybe it lays pipe, or builds/services some sort of facility. It has the slanted bow of a vessel designed to handle rough water, to a greater than usual extent. The tug has its full crew. The barge is probably lightly staffed until it gets to its work site, at which point a full corps of workers are transported to it. The reason the tug is pushing instead of pulling is that by being behind the barge it’s in its lee from rough seas. If towing, it could be at the “mercy” of the seas, which when towing isn’t necessarily a great place to be.
If you have an interest in boats and ships in the Gulf of Mexico, this is a site that tracks that area or, if you zoom out, the whole globe, to show locations of Containers, Tankers, FSO Tankers, Cargo, Car Carriers, Passenger, Military, Tug & Pilot, Fishing, Sailing Ships, Ferries, Autonomous, Submarines, Icebreakers, Tall Ships, and Super Yachts. Just in case you were hoping to run into a billionaire or a spouse in hiding somewhere on the high seas. (Does that make you wonder if at least one of those plot lines could be in the Neverending Saga?)
Back to the Gulf of Mexico, if I ranked my favorite songs by John Mellencamp, “Pink Houses” would definitely be in the Top Five. It also joins the canon of songs misused because people don’t listen to/think about the lyrics. I chose this particular live video because he’s using my favorite of his guitars, a Gibson Dove acoustic (with “Fuck Facism [sic]” scratched onto the body).
Well, there’s people and more people
What do they know, know, know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico
And there’s winners, and there’s losers
But they ain’t no big deal
Cause the simple man baby pays the thrills
The bills, the pills that kill
Caution: If you say, “Beam me up” enough, they just might.
What’s your alternate universe? Gaming? Advocating? Making art? Exercising? Listening to music? Protesting? Being part of the performing arts? Trying different masks to see which one gets the response you’re hoping for?
Here’s what I’ve been listening to during writing.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: “Damn The Torpedoes”; “Full Moon Fever”; “Wildflowers”; “Into The Great Wide Open”; “Echo”; “The Best of Everything” (2 disks); “Angel Dream”; “‘Wildflowers’ And All The Rest” (4 disks).
This one is in my last CD binder with collections that include soundtracks. I didn’t pull it out to play because it’s the same as “Angel Dream (Songs and Music from the Motion Picture She’s the One).”
I’m missing a couple taken by the Harvey flood on LP. They’ll find a way back eventually.
There’s a musician on Instagram who I first bonded with over a shared love of Tom Petty. He was embarking on his real-life love story about the same time I was writing the beginning of my musician’s love story in the Neverending Saga, so I feel great affection for his beautiful family as it grows.
And then she looks me in the eye and says
“We’re gonna last forever and ever”
And you know I can’t begin to doubt it
Man, I miss Tom Petty.
ETA: The day after I posted this, with the line above being the last thing I wrote, the below ad for a coffee cup showed up on my Instagram feed. My phone and my computer are constantly spying on each other via my social media and blog accounts. I already knew this, because any product I search on Google will show up in ads on Instagram. It’s a Big Brother World.
I woke up with the determination to finish the chapter I’m working on. It’s taking TOO long. I started with water and a brunch board so I could eat while I read what I have so far.
Cheese crisps, hummus, celery and carrot sticks, Genoa salami, and mild cheddar cheese. With water.
Little emblems nearby to inspire me. These would make sense if you could read the chapter.
A pause here to discuss music. I began this chapter last month, and the next artist was Stevie Nicks. Up front, let me say that I still enjoy Stevie Nicks’s music, but this became a bit of overkill.
Stevie Nicks: 3 CD “Enchanted” box set; “The Other Side of the Mirror”; “Street Angel”; “In Your Dreams”; “Trouble in Shangri La”; “Time Space: The Best of Stevie Nicks.” These don’t include the Stevie I have on vinyl.
I realized Stevie was actually dragging my keyboard around, so there were times I didn’t listen to music at all while I wrote in May. I finally completed the Stevie playlist with relief. I did light her candle with my day’s intentions so she’d still feel like a part of things. The Notorious RBG wasn’t judging me, so neither should you, when I moved on.
Nirvana: “Unplugged In New York”; One Republic, “Human”; Oasis: “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” I have so much One Republic I could have listened to if I’d wanted to blue tooth my iTunes, but it was bedtime, I was tired, and no, I didn’t finish the chapter.
But I made good progress, so that’s a win, and I didn’t even stop to color so I could plot, though I did have these recent acquisitions at the ready. Coloring will definitely happen on pages from these, because they show a number of style and fashion icons and brands, including MY FAVORITE BEATLE. My favorite Beatle is not my musician character’s favorite Beatle, but I understand why and am okay with that. HIS favorite Beatle’s Wings song is included in this chapter. It’s closer to the end than I am.
Note to Lynne: I watch this video with a huge lump in my throat so please remember and watch it when you’re reading the road chapters in Book 6 (so close to being finished!).
Since I’ve written most of the day, and I’m exhausted and I should be in bed, and I forgot to play music so I have nothing to show you that I’ve been listening to, here’s a random post about coloring.
I ordered a coloring page from an artist referred to me by a social media friend. The artist, who I knew only by her social media name “Duchess of Lore,” provided this Artist’s Statement back in March of 2022.
I am joining in on the #makersforukraine initiative. This piece features a Ukrainian woman wearing a vinok – a traditional Ukrainian flower wreath. These flower crowns are an important symbol of Ukrainian culture. I was inspired by the beautiful work of @third_roosters. The piece also features 2 common nightingales, which are the national animal of Ukraine.
Working on this piece has helped me channel my profound grief over the war in Ukraine into something tangible. As the granddaughter of Estonian refugees who fled Soviet terror during WW2, the horrors the Ukrainian people are facing now hit close to home. My heart breaks for everyone who never asked for this monstrous injustice, including the people of colour experiencing extra barriers in fleeing Ukraine and finding refuge due to racial injustice, as well the Russian citizens who do not want this war and face imprisonment if they protest – which many continue to do despite the consequences.
This piece is available in my Etsy shop as both a digital download and a physical print. You can also purchase a version with just the line work, so you can colour it in yourself. The link to my shop is in my bio.
All proceeds will be donated to The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal run by the Canada-Ukraine foundation @canadaukrainefoundation.
Only a couple of months after that, the artist had raised more than $1500 for the foundation from sales. I purchased a copy in the form of a coloring page in March of ’22. I didn’t start working on it until last month. I had to limit myself to short sessions because it’s very detailed, and I needed to be considerate of my eyes. I finished it today.
I absolutely stand with Ukraine.
I believe the artist is Elizabeth Lennox, and here is a copy of the original artwork as she created it.
Our washing machine became possessed last night just before we went to bed. It turned itself on. Then the control panel wouldn’t light up. Tom unplugged it with a prudent “I’ll think about it tomorrow” attitude (though he also did a little research online and hoped he knew the problem). So far, we haven’t washed a load, but he does seem to have found the magic process to exorcise the demon. Fingers crossed.
While he was away volunteering today, I continued the manic need to organize and purge stuff. The end result is a much better organized cabinet in the writing sanctuary; many things put away after MY having that “I’ll think about it tomorrow” attitude for a few months; and a lot more reorganizing and labeling in my corner of the office.
You’ll have to take my word for it that my desk drawers are cleared of unnecessary stuff, those shelves are arranged much better, and that little green caddy, still loaded with office supplies, lost a lot of useless things and what’s left is better organized.
My little “fun” table where I blend essential oils, do a lot of my intentions rituals and random other things, all while overlooked by Superman, Darth Vader, and Batman, not to mention two Yankees and Cubs baseball fans, is cleared of random stuff and ready for whatever’s next…clearing crystals, looking at oracle cards, or enjoying breathing/meditating time.
In that first photo, maybe you noticed Aerosmith’s Joe Perry watching you from the wall on the upper left. One of the things Tom has been doing is moving photos (so far more than 25,000) from older, still working computers (I have one more that requires a consultant before we’ll know if those photos can be recovered). Today, he focused on my old HP laptop. I’m not sure it’s been turned on since 2017, unless David used it when he visited. The wallpaper on it was a great shot from my former job. It’s a nice photo, but three years after being laid off, I’ve long-since moved on. Tom decided to be funny and create a new wallpaper from among the laptop’s photo files, which apparently included a scan of the Joe Perry photo (I mean, why WOULDN’T IT? It’s Joe Perry!).
This is what greeted me the next time I glanced at the laptop.
Probably Tom’s just glad when one of my musical crushes is still on the planet. (RIP DW, TP, EVH, SRV, JL, GH, DF, and TH).
This week, sadly, we lost another legend. Tina Turner overcame one challenge after another and never seemed to lose her zest for living, her hope and optimism, her strength, and a phenomenal magic unparalleled by any performer in my lifetime. The tributes being paid her by her peers and her fans from every spectrum show the kind of impact she had. She truly was simply the best.
Yesterday, Lindsey finished the Lean To (that’s my new name for the “shed,” aka “onsite storage” space). Below is supposed to be my next job, but I’m avoiding it.
Fifteen bins of Christmas decorations and ornaments that require reorganization and some purging. Tom and I made this a major effort a few years back, but these things have a tendency to increase, and some of them are not stored as efficiently as they could be. Also, there are some things of Mother’s I plan to send to some of her grandchildren. They should have a chance to decide whether there’s anything they want, and if not, they can donate it. My feelings won’t be hurt.
Instead of that, today, I worked on reorganizing the craft shelves in the office and getting them in order. There were things to purge from those, too, but mostly we have the room now to put some of that into the Lean To or on the Hall’s closet shelves. Plus everything is labeled now, so I can find what I’m looking for!
Top shelf is fabric for doll clothes. Beneath that, sketch books and coloring books! (And I just added four more. Ridiculous.) Next shelf has my cases of 45 records (undamaged by 2017 flood!) and the albums I either replaced or could save in 2017. Quite a far cry from the hundreds I once had. The shelf below that has to do with writing: the 1990s drafts of the books I’m working on now; the Moleskines that are filled with thoughts and souvenirs; and my Magnetic Poetry collection. The bottom shelf has a couple of bins of mementos (one says Lynne, because she’s the only one who might want any of that if I kick off), and that’s the Christmas box I keep inside the house all year, with all the info I need for Christmas cards, plus tape, pens, gift tags, etc. Things that I require before we start decorating at the holidays.
Those are coloring supplies, craft papers, and stamps and stencils on the top shelf, along with something I got I think my 2022 birthday, from Rhonda and Lindsey. I need to share it on here sometime. It’s very Zen. Yes, the inside of the door from the part of Mother’s china cabinet (we saved the hutch top) that was too damaged to keep post-flood remains on full display: her 1996 Clinton-Gore bumper sticker. Next shelf is all my sewing stuff. It had been here originally, then I used that shelf for albums, and I missed looking over and seeing my sewing machine. So much of that was organized for me after the Harvey flood by Lindsey that I barely had to do anything but add some labels. Next shelf down is all kinds of crafting supplies, newly labeled, which is so helpful for me. I also consolidated supplies from a bunch of little containers into that red, green, and blue “tackle box.” I once used that for painting supplies, and I’ll never forget seeing it float through the backyard during the flood. It got cleaned up and put in the Lean To, and this is the first time in almost six years I’m using it again. The green cubby on the bottom shelf has a lot of the stuff I used for collages (I’m about to be doing more of those) and the elephant print cubby has more fabrics. I finally purged the rest of the fabrics from the Lean To, and now everything for sewing is inside the office/craft room.
The last set of shelves has all kinds of paint supplies on the top shelf: paints, brushes, palettes of many varieties, canvases of several sizes, varnishes and finishes, and a bucket of bottle caps! Next shelf down is household files that I use all the time, and accessibility is so much easier than the file cabinets that were flooded and put on the curb. (We lost a lot of paperwork from the bottom drawers.) Next shelf down is Aunt Gwen’s sewing case, EMPTY containers should they be needed, a bag of the items I use for space clearing and energy work, and a box with stones, rocks, and pebbles I use as needed to replenish Aaron’s Garden or to put in the column candle holders in the writing sanctuary when the candles are gone and I put tea light candles in them. Bottom shelf is all empty containers, should any new supplies need them or to be used elsewhere, as needed, in the Hall.
That’s it!
When everything in the Lean To is back in place, I’ll share photos. Tom forbade photos before the work was done because it looked like a large and sloppy family of hoarding raccoons might be living there.
Tom took this week as a vacation, and yesterday and today, Lindsey has been here helping organize and purge all the things in what Tom calls “the shed” and I call “onsite storage,” because it sounds nicer than “shed.” It had a lot of stuff that belonged to the previous owner, and after eight years, that’s now been absorbed into our things or properly disposed of.
Onsite storage (it needs a new name; I’ll check out various British estates for one) also contains all our yard tools, lawnmower, and edger; grilling stuff; and any hardware or tools related to the million things a home or three seems to always need. But it also holds sentimentally precious things: mementos of my parents and of Tom and me, and the biggest space taker, our Christmas ornaments and decorations. By organizing and cleaning that room, we’re able to move a lot of things out of our inside closets and off our shelves. All the stuff inside stays organized, but if there’s room out there, and these aren’t things we often access, there’s no reason for them to take space for things we do keep at hand (books, sewing and craft supplies, DVDs and music, games and puzzles, and office supplies, for example).
When I was consolidating some of Tom’s mementos from three different boxes into a single bin, I spotted that brass seal and decided I wanted him to move to one of the curio cabinets. When Tom saw him on the table, he offered full disclosure: The seal was a gift from a woman he once dated when he was a cook at TGI Friday’s. She was a waitress. Honestly, this makes it even better as far as I’m concerned. I like that he held on to things from the years before he met me.
Lindsey’s job will be finished today, I think, but I’ll still have the Christmas stuff to cull, reorganize, and relabel. I’m sure I’ll be donating some of it. We’ve donated a lot of stuff already. Having found lots of little treasures through the years at thrift stores and antique stores, I know that damn near anything can find an appreciative buyer. It’s why eBay and Amazon sellers exist.
Tom took this week as a vacation, and yesterday and today, Lindsey has been here helping organize and purge all the things in what Tom calls “the shed” and I call “onsite storage,” because it sounds nicer than “shed.” It had a lot of stuff that belonged to the previous owner, and after eight years, that’s now been absorbed into our things or properly disposed of.