Tag: memories

WYR? No. 4


No. 888. Would you rather go back and get to do high school all over again or have all your debt paid off?

 


“GET TO” do high school all over again? I’ve heard there are people who think of high school as their glory days, but I not only don’t think of high school that way, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to return to their high school years. There are dear friends I knew in high school who are dead now, and I wish they were alive, healthy, happy, and only as far away as a phone number. I knew good people in both my high schools and had a lot of fun along with my teen angst, but NO. PLEASE, Magic Genii, if you must yield your power on my behalf, take my debt away. I’d rather live unencumbered by debt now than live in the past. I’m fine with my gray hair and wrinkles.

Sunday Sundries


If I read anything over the next week, I plan for it to be a reread of Mary O’Hara’s wonderful series. I first read a condensed version of My Friend Flicka as a kid, and my mother owned a copy of the third in the series, Green Grass of Wyoming. I think I was able to check out and read Thunderhead from the University of Alabama library when I was a student. I treasure this collection of library bound hard copies. If my memory is right, I had help getting them from my friend Steve V, who worked at a Houston independent bookstore (Detering Book Gallery) that helped customers find and acquire rare or long out-of-print books.

I’m putting the most recent musical homage photos from my Instagram feed behind the cut. There are some fun recollections, or if nothing else, the photos offer an interesting look at some of the T-shirts at Houndstooth Hall belonging to Tom, Timothy, and me. =)

Continue reading “Sunday Sundries”

Photo Friday, No. 929

Current Photo Friday theme: Market

Outdoor urban farmers’ market near St. Thomas University, taken September 2014. These markets are scattered throughout Houston as part of Plant It Forward (PIF). The organization empowers refugees to develop sustainable urban farming businesses that produce fresh, healthy food. PIF secures land, trains and mentors farmers, and facilitates sales to local markets. PIF farms are cultivated with sustainable practices that enrich the land and support the surrounding community.

Abyss


I didn’t date the poem below, so I don’t know when I wrote it. Can’t even be sure what prompted it (other than its suggestion in this book). It’s possible I’ve put it on this site before without using the right tag to find it again. If I don’t remember sharing it, I feel confident no one else will, either!

I was glancing through different places where I can find poems I’ve written, including the “Write The Poem” book, and I realized how often the below phrase, taken from a source on Instagram, is true of my poetry.

“They” say real people from our lives who we write into fiction don’t recognize themselves. I think that’s possibly even truer with poetry. As a form of self-expression, we can generalize in writing things we don’t want a specific person to hear. In my case, it’s usually to express my own pain without causing pain to someone else. Sometimes, however, my lyrics may be coming from one of my characters instead of myself. There are a lot of voices in my head. That can make it tricky for readers.

I’ve known other writers who use words as weapons, most often in essays, but sometimes in their fiction and poems (songs included). How we choose to express our honesty often reveals more about the writer/speaker than the “target.”

ETA: I just learned today is National Poetry Day. Timely.

Sunday Sundries

Inspired by another Word Search Puzzle, I pulled books from my shelves that feature some of my favorite cartoon characters. I think for most of the early part of my life, Peanuts would have been the cartoon or comic I knew best. Since I’ve featured Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and friends many times, many ways on this website, I don’t feel at all bad that I don’t have any Peanuts books. (I do have a set of cartoons I took out of one of my mother’s books from the 1960s, but I’m not sure where those are.) My Christmas ornaments, old refrigerator magnets, and many other random items feature Peanuts characters. Even the housewarming present our realtor gave us when we closed on Houndstooth Hall was…

As an older child, I read the comics in our Sunday newspapers: Dagwood and Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Family Circus, Prince Valiant, Mary Worth, Dennis the Menace, Pogo, Heathcliff, Garfield, Boondocks, For Better or Worse–the list could go on, because I read all of them in the paper, even the ones that weren’t funny or I didn’t really like/appreciate at that age. OH, and the Love Is couple!

When I became friends with Lynne at age twelve, I was introduced to comic books, because she had so many: Archie and the full Riverdale cast, Casper and Wendy, Little Lulu, Richie Rich, Pink Panther.


Later, these became some of my favorites, which is why I have books of several: Doonesbury, The Far Side, Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, and Foxtrot. Some of of these, and some from the categories listed earlier, I still read via my Instagram feed.

Below is the puzzle that started me on this topic, and from its list, I read these (not already mentioned): Cathy, Dilbert, Mutts, Hi and Lois, Marmaduke, and maybe a couple of others.

Do you still read or follow cartoons, comics, or the funny papers? Which are your favorites?