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More inspirations

I’m starting with a thank-you to Mark, who after I posted about one of my birthday gifts wondered if the Barack Obama/Bruce Springsteen Renegade podcasts were still available. I checked, and they are. I intended to listen to only the first one before I began writing yesterday, but then I pulled out one of the coloring pages I’d been hoping to do so I could color while listening. Without even thinking about the Neverending Saga, I suddenly got clarity on the set of chapters I’m currently writing.

I ended up listening to the first three podcasts, and sometimes I couldn’t color because tears kept me from seeing the page. The things they talked about, their own stories beginning in their childhoods… The way they made me reflect on the beliefs and principles that underlie who I am as a human… The way my thoughts went to the things I hope to convey about artists as a writer… The fact that I’ve lost people from my life not because they died, but because I died to them by being honest… The knowledge that there are still people in my life who I know dismiss my beliefs or disagree with what I write, which means there will always be a barrier of silence between us on certain subjects, because I’m not ready to be dead to them, too, and that’s a strange path to navigate.

Anyway, I’d already decided on this coloring page a couple of weeks ago, and I knew when I got around to coloring it, I’d think about the Police song “Message In A Bottle” the entire time, since it’s always been a meaningful song to me. As I listened to the podcasts, I decided to add this lyric to the coloring page, collage style, because everything in the above paragraph made me consider how lonely it can be hoping someone will understand my voice and support my need to use it, and instead of telling me that I’m wrong, will at last least celebrate me for being who I am and be glad that I still want to use my voice and that I still think, or at least hope, there’s a reason to use it.

Only hope can keep me together
Love can mend your life
Or love can break your heart

Celebrate!


Today is officially National Unicorn Day, so I did a bit of coloring and took these Houndstooth Unicorns out to enjoy sun and pollen.

You don’t believe in UNICORNS? Huh.

It’s also ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response) Day. You and I will both need to Google ASMR, probably. You know what you don’t have to Google to understand? Unicorns.

It’s National Name Yourself Day, too. Perhaps you could name yourself Unicornia or something equally catchy.

It’s National Cherish An Antique Day. Did you know Unicorns have been part of literature since ANTIQUITY? As in ancient Greece? Unicorns sound pretty old and cherishable to me.

Finally, April 9 is National Winston Churchill Day. Pause. Have you ever MET Winston Churchill? Seen him in person? But you believe in him because of books and films and diaries and photos and paintings and… I think you get my drift.

Sit with your skepticism a while, then pop some uni-corn and watch this uni-corny video that debuted in 2005. I’ve been loving Charlie almost 17 freakin’ years!

Tiny Tuesday!


Shelves full of whimsical, clever robots turned my attention toward the booth of artist Shawn Corder’s Get Bent Metal Works. One like this caught my eye, but before I could get it, another person picked it up and bought it. There were a couple of similar ones in black, but I really wanted this color. Fortunately, when I asked the artist, he found another in one of his packed bins. The “radio” can connect to my phone’s bluetooth and play my car’s playlist.

I knew the robot would appeal to Tom. But the radio… Maybe if you read the below excerpt from the first novel in the Neverending Saga, you’ll understand. The son is four, and he doesn’t talk. Doctors can find nothing wrong with him, and a specialist says he’ll talk when he has something to say. His mother has noticed that when she sings to him before bedtime, he listens intently. She wonders if music may be a way to communicate with him.

It’s the early 1950s in New York.

[S]he tucked her pocketbook into her son’s stroller and headed to the nearest Woolworth. It was a crisp fall day, a happy one for him as he listened to the world around them. Inside the store, her radio of choice was an aqua-colored Westinghouse. As soon as they were home, she put him in his highchair with slices of apple and cheese while she unpacked the radio. She knew it was silly to feel so nervous, as if some revelation hung in the balance. But when the radio was plugged in and turned on, she slowly turned the dial until music filled the room.

He turned toward the radio, his eyes wide, and dropped his apple slice on the highchair tray. She was disappointed to hear only advertising jingles, first for Alka Seltzer then for bread. She wanted her son to hear real music. She twisted the dial, hoping to pick up a different station, and he said, “No!”

She forced herself not to react to his first deliberate act of communication and simply turned the dial to the next station. Maybe it was coincidence that the song playing was Eartha Kitt’s “C’est Si Bon,” but she agreed with the sentiment. It was so good. She might have to persuade his father that it was okay for a four-year-old to bark orders at his mother, however.

Button Sunday


April 3 is World Aquatic Animal Day, created in 2020 by Animal Law Clinic at the Lewis & Clark Law School (Portland, Oregon) who wanted to bring attention to the importance of aquatic animals to our lives and ecosystems. Aquatic animals are often at risk due to the interactions humans have directly with the animals, or indirectly through the corruption of their habitats.

Visit the Animal Law Clinic’s site to get more information and find ways to celebrate the million-plus species who live in our oceans, seas, rivers, and lakes. Taking care of aquatic animals and their environments is essential to the well-being of the planet’s other species, including humans.

Also, this is my new friend, Hatch. He’s named for a future character in a series yet to be written. Character Hatch is not at all sharklike, but I still think it’s a great name for this guy.

Come Saturday Morning

My title is a reference to an old Sandpipers song that was the theme for the 1969 film The Sterile Cuckoo, starring Liza Minnelli. I remember when it was overplayed on the radio, but I rarely hear it anymore.

Weekend Part 1:

I’d intended for Friday to be a low-key day. I took Debby to an appointment in the morning, where I read in the car while I waited. Then we picked up lunch and came home. I did some housework, napped, read some more, and chilled. I’d already decided to take the weekend off social media, ignore email, etc., and that’s why I’m now backdating several posts.

Things took an exasperating turn when I accidentally let a pot of potatoes and eggs burn–I was cooking them for expected guests to Saturday’s dinner that would include potato salad. I was furious with myself for the waste of food and time. I really can’t multitask when I’m cooking. I get too distracted…and that’s how I burn stuff. I threw out the mess, cleaned up the kitchen and eliminated the smell with Tom’s help, and boiled another large batch of potatoes and eggs. I was able to complete the potato salad and refrigerate it before I shut everything down for the night.

As I was getting ready for bed, I got a text from Tim letting me know news had just hit that Taylor Hawkins, age 50, drummer of the Foo Fighters from 1997 to present, had died. I’ll grab a bit of info from his Wikipedia page rather than try to sum up his career myself:

…he was [also] the touring drummer for Sass Jordan and for Alanis Morissette, as well as the drummer in the progressive experimental band Sylvia.

In 2004, Hawkins formed his own side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, in which he played drums and sang, releasing three studio albums between 2006 and 2019. He formed the supergroup NHC with Jane’s Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney in 2020, where he also took on lead vocal and drumming duties…The band’s sole album is due for release in 2022.

Alongside his work with Foo Fighters and fronting his own projects, Hawkins was an occasional studio session drummer, recording with Elton John, [Miley] Cyrus, [Glen] Campbell, Perry Farrell, Stevie Nicks, Coheed and Cambria, P!nk, Slash, Bob Mould, and Eric Avery, amongst others.

Hawkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as a member of Foo Fighters. He was voted “Best Rock Drummer” in 2005 by the British drumming magazine Rhythm. He died on March 25, 2022, in Bogotá, Colombia, after emergency services were called to his hotel room, where Hawkins had been suffering from chest pain.

This news gutted me–I have my own musical reasons for loving Taylor Hawkins, and he was known for being a genuinely good guy. He overcame a lot of the afflictions that beset artists in the music industry (early reports imply some of those might be the cause of death), and the joy that emanated from him in public and when he performed was a brilliant light.

At Christmas, one of my gifts from Timothy was this book:

I haven’t read it, because as I’ve said over the last couple of months, I was trying to finish other books, tackle my TBR pile, and by the end of this month, you’ll see that I devoted March to fiction only. Reading Grohl’s book, which I’ve been excited about, will be bittersweet and likely sad, because he and Hawkins were not just bandmates, they were best friends, brothers by choice, and soul mates.

This all put me in a subdued mood on Friday night. I finally checked social media to read reports about his death and to express my sadness on Instagram, where I follow and am followed by musicians and music fans, as his death is one that is getting a strong reaction from those groups.

Just before I turned in, Lynne and I exchanged a few texts, and I went to sleep determined that Saturday would be a better day.

Weekend Part 2:

Tom does several hours of volunteer work on Saturday mornings, so it was just the dogs and me when I woke up. I decided to begin my day by reading in bed for a while, which meant when I heard the doorbell, I had to make a quick stop to the bathroom before I could find out who was getting a delivery.

Turns out it was ME getting the delivery, but it wasn’t flowers or packages. It was Lynne with her little girl Minute arriving as a complete surprise! Since she hasn’t visited since May of last year due to other commitments as well as Covid surges and variants, this was a FANTASTIC beginning of the day. We got to spend five hours talking and catching up, and once Tom got home, sharing my first birthday cake of the day.


OMG, it was so good, and that groovy puzzle is also from her.

We’re planning more get-togethers in the near future. She took home the sketchbook she keeps here for her coloring pages, so she could fill it with all the pages she’s done while we’ve been separated during the pandemic. Also, Mark, she does intend to help me come up with some ideas to make our yard prettier. I got to see lots of photos of what she’s doing with her own yard, which is huge, varied, and already looking like spring.

After she left, Tom and I did a little more housekeeping to prepare for:

Weekend Part 3:

My birthday. I’m so grateful for receiving an abundance of messages, cards, texts, and gifts (many of which will show up in future posts). Getting to see friends ON my birthday for the first time since 2019 was amazing.


Debby baked me a chocolate cake, and that’s a giant cinnamon roll with a candle in it because The Brides wanted to also have a belated celebration of Tom’s birthday; that was his dessert from them. He grilled burgers, ‘dogs, and a couple of steaks Lindsey brought, and my contribution was UNBURNED potato salad.

Jack’s contribution was staying at Debby’s with Stewie so he couldn’t bug Tim, and the other dogs were happy to see Pepper and Tim’s pack after getting to visit with Minute earlier in the day. All of them are the reason, after all, we are called Houndstooth Hall.


Rhonda let me know this is the ONE day of the year I’m allowed to wear this baseball shirt in her presence. Later, I suggested if I wore it any other day, we could get a photo of her holding up a different finger.


Celebrating with Timothy, Lindsey, Rhonda, and that little camera-fiend Eva, who spent the entire party trying to make everyone see that she got a mani-pedi in honor of the day. Not pictured are Tom and Debby. I lamented that even with four photographers present, we hardly take pictures anymore.

Though the weekend got off to a somber start, it turned out to be a wonderful day to celebrate being born and still being on the planet. Thank you to everyone who made it special.

Come Saturday morning, I’m goin’ away with my friend
We’ll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day, just I and my friend
Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things and then we’ll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday’s gone

Songwriters: Dory Previn / Fred Karlin