Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
Some random things that are purple:
A Christmas angel. A perfume bottle. An inner self manifestation bowl. An amethyst crystal point. Tiny medicine sachets with herbs and spices. And the 3000 Would You Rather Questions book, from which I chose…
No. 409. WYR take a photo with Santa or the Easter Bunny?
Santa!
Mother, Debby, and me with Santa in Salt Lake City, 1990.
Mindfulness means being present in the moment.
Stones/rocks and crystals are invariably part of any type of meditation, mindfulness, or centering I do. Those particular stones are citrine, clear quartz, amethyst, turquoise, carnelian, rose quartz, variscite, and black tourmaline.
I was flipping through one of my Word Search books yesterday and saw “List Of Rocks.”
These were not the rocks I expected to be looking for. =)
Paging through more of the book, I found another list that related to the coloring page I shared the other day, “Grandma’s Attic.” Tom’s father did say the page I colored reminded him of his mother/Tom’s grandma’s attic!
I’m keeping a running account of moments in this day. Will I post it? If you’re reading it, I guess I did. I think I got maybe six hours of sleep last night? I always look at the time stamps of the last things I did on my computer or phone to recall my “lights out” moment, though that doesn’t really indicate when I fell asleep.
Up well before six, dogs not having heeded the time change memo, I quietly doom-scrolled on my phone for a bit. The last things I saw last night were some of the thousands of messages from women all over the world expressing their love and solidarity for the women in the U.S. on this election day. Their words were profoundly moving. In my morning news feed, I read that all U.S states except Alaska and Kentucky are in drought–just as I heard the sound of thunder, promising more of the much-needed rain we’ve been getting over the past few days.
Among my early morning activities are the online games I play for later comparison to Tim and Jim’s game results. One that only I play (though sometimes Tom does) is Spelling Bee, and I got what I thought were two difficult-level pangrams. I told Tom maybe I should stop after my success and play no more games today. =) He was busy trying to put an “I Voted” sticker on the top of Jack’s head. I suspected that would prove less successful than my Spelling Bee results.
I was wrong. Tom posted this on his Instagram account.
I showered and washed my hair; have had the dogs outside a few times. For Tiny Tuesday, I’m wearing a few of my favorite necklaces: one with heart-shaped, good-energy stones; one with brass musical charms; one with amethyst and quartz crystal pendants; and a wave-and-whale-tail ceramic pendant.
I’ve eaten fairly nutritiously today and taken my meds on time. Blood pressure and blood glucose all good. Tom picked up protein-packed takeout on his way home from work. (I’ve read protein can help regulate stress responses.)
And I have written. And written. The imaginary world is stressful, too, with characters in conflict and many unknowns ahead, but I’m sure it’ll all turn out okay. I’d like to take that attitude into real life.
And now I wait, with everyone else. Hours? Days? Unless something extraordinary happens, and then I may add to this post.
I was putting something away in the living room display cabinets when this caught my attention. A small silver box, in the shape of a star, that’s badly in need of polish. (I will take care of this.)
I had a vague recollection of its contents, so I pulled it out, opened it, and first found this disk, about the size of a quarter.
Not sure where I got this, although my friend Sarena, whose business had “serenity” in its name, could have given it to me. Trying to help people find serenity was a big part of both our businesses in the 1990s, and remains so for her. (Not that I wouldn’t still like to give people serenity, but I no longer operate a business for that purpose.) On the back side, the disk says Peace Of Mind.
I’m also not sure where I got the star box (Lynne?), but it did contain what I thought it did: this necklace.
The pendant on the right, containing a quartz crystal with amethyst and small bands of smoky quartz, has a little compartment on the top (with a tiny amethyst set in its top) that opens. I may have bought this in Yellow Springs, Ohio, on a family visit. I remembered there was once a note in the compartment. It’s still there, and it reads: Forever in my heart…Steve and Jeff. Steve is the first friend I lost to AIDS, in 1992.
The pendant on the left, with a small stone of either smoky quartz or topaz, also once contained three green tourmaline sticks. The sticks symbolized, to me, Steve, Jeff (who I met through Steve), and me. I was at work one day in 1995, looked down at the necklace, and realized one tourmaline was missing. This was when Jeff, from whom I was estranged (his choice), was really ill, and I felt like the missing crystal was a harbinger of bad news. People at work searched, with me, offices, the atrium, and other rooms I’d been in, but the crystal was never found. Not too many days later, our mutual friend Tim R called to give me the sad news that Jeff was gone. Several years later, I went with my friends Amy and Richard to the house that had been Jeff’s, where I’d spent so many happy times, and buried the remaining two tourmalines, which had been cleared then programmed with love and good energy, in one of Jeff’s flowerbeds.
I no longer remember where I got the middle pendant: an amethyst, with a unakite disk above it that has a small garnet in the middle. I’m sure it had significance connected to these friends–Steve, Jeff, Tim R, and John–but some memories remain more vivid than others.
The love, however, endures.
A few of my little stone and crystal friends because the Internet is full of hearts right now.
Labradorite and rose quartz
A couple of river rocks
Healerite and goldstone
Black moonstone and amethyst
Amazonite and white banded carnelian
They remind me there are so many variations on love in the Neverending Saga. Love can be…complicated.
The perfect music for writing on an overcast, drizzly day when my characters are grappling with love and all it demands and provides is music by the great Texas blues guitarists, the Vaughan brothers. I’ll always miss Stevie Ray and wonder what music he’d have created if he hadn’t died too soon. The biography Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan, by Alan Paul and Andy Aledort, is a good account of him if you like biographies. Many years ago, I wrote a musician who turned his life around from a very dark place, and Stevie Ray Vaughan later proved to me that not only could it be done, he dedicated so much time to helping others who grappled with addictions.
Jimmie Vaughan, Strange Pleasure; The Vaughan Brothers, Family Style; Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Greatest Hits, The Sky Is Crying, and The Real Deal: Greatest Hits 2; various artists including Jimmie Vaughan, A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
ETA: Oops, missed one. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s In Step.
In the live version (below) of “Look At Little Sister,” watch for the smoothest guitar switch ever after a string breaks (around 2:40). I freely confess to having a moment like this in the Saga as tribute to Stevie Ray and the guitar techs who make live music fun for us all. I’m so glad Tom and I (with Lynne) got to see Stevie Ray in person after we moved to Texas.
Today is Old Rock Day, which as you can read at that link, isn’t about old rock stars (though I’m equally willing to celebrate those, too). It is, as they point out, “the day that geologists and amateur rock enthusiasts take it upon themselves to show their appreciation of all things fossilized and stony.”
Here are some stones, rocks, and crystals that stay close to me every day. The pendulum at the bottom is Smoky (once nicknamed “Stony” by Jim). Smoky helps me with all my smudging and space clearing work.
Above, on the right, is a beautiful incense burner Tim gave me at Christmas. Right now, I’m burning Nag Champa (the original), and he also gave me a variety of new-to-me scents to try. So far, they’re all wonderful.
Sometimes, I also like to use Heritage Store’s Aura Smudge™ spray. I think I haven’t been doing enough of these energy rituals. Though I don’t make resolutions every year, I do try to list things I hope to work on, and as I always say, to do better, be better.
Speaking of those other rock stars, though, so that I don’t neglect them: These are the CDs that played during my recent writing efforts and reflections. Even some Stones in the mix. =)
Zero Church by Suzzy and Maggie Roche, of the Roches, which consists of songs they created from prayers; 11:11, a collection of acoustic guitar duets by Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero; The Rolling Stones, Voodoo Lounge and Stripped, the latter including some of my favorite Rolling Stones recordings; and The Very Best of the Ronettes, full of great songs.
Living In the USA; Prisoner in Disguise; Feels Like Home; ‘Round Midnight; Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind; and Greatest Hits I and II, all from the incomparable Linda Ronstadt, who I first got to see live when I was in high school and my brother took me to a Neil Young concert in Birmingham. Linda opened for Neil. I saw her again in Tuscaloosa on one of her solo tours. It’s heartbreaking that her health issues have robbed her of her beautiful voice. I haven’t replaced all of her albums that I lost in the Harvey flood, though I started by buying a couple of these used, but they aren’t in pristine shape. Sooner or later, I’ll have all that music again. She is a MUST SING ALONG for me.
Gaze into my crystal ball. What do you see?
“Moo! Your daily cow, that’s what!”
Question 2386: Amethyst or aquamarine? (and why…)
Amethyst is a beautiful stone and a great one to use for its energy and attributes, but aquamarine is my birthstone, so what do you think?
These are different polished aquamarine stones, except I’d guess the class ring could be simulated/synthetic. I have raw aquamarine stones, too, so color variations don’t surprise me.
You don’t have to be a March baby to appreciate aquamarine. Here’s info from a quick Google search:
Last weekend, one of my industrious activities was altering the sleeves on a couple of shirts. In the process, I ran out of thread on a spool. It’s been YEARS since that happened. Those are my bifocals pictured with the sewing stuff. Since the surgery, they’ve actually been useful to me for the first time since I got that prescription…last July. Progress.
I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I tried to take a nap after meds and breakfast and eye drops and all the things. Nap wasn’t happening. So I kicked into gear and started doing things that I had no idea I intended to do.
First, I began to gather things for donation. These were my first items–some pristine stuffed animals, Houston Rockets souvenirs, lots and lots of throw pillows (none that were sewn for me, but including four I once sewed for myself), a couple of gently used quilted bedspreads and pillow shams, other bed linens, a beautiful shower curtain we haven’t used for years, some clothing, and all my old VHS tapes (if those Disney movies are worth something, then I hope someone with more energy than I have grabs them from one of the Goodwill stores and eBays the crap out of them). I’m sure there was more, because by the time I had it all gathered for Tom to load in the car after work, both dining tables were covered. The items have been donated!
We started a redo in the large guest bedroom (aka Lynne’s room), but it’ll be a few days before I can share photos because it’s a work in progress. Naturally, I failed to take before photos of anything, but I may have some old ones that’ll work.
I turned a brutal eye on the second guest room, or since 2020, the Writing Sanctuary (which at different times has been called the Butterfly Room, the Winnie the Pooh Room, and maybe the Quilt Room; I can’t keep up).
Here’s an example of how the bed can look in here when I’m full-on writing and otherwise multitasking. This is from mid-May.
That’s the collaged sketchbook I keep my completed coloring pages in, my wee CD player, the CD binder I’m STILL in (it’s like the freaking 1974 of CD binders), my day planner, Patti Smith’s book that I often use as a prompt when I’m writing in my day planner, the binder that I keep up with my bills in. So… that day, I was writing, listening to music, coloring, paying bills, and journaling. Behind it all, against the wall, is a little crate where I keep a bunch of the books I use for blogging ideas. Keep those books in the back of your mind while I move on.
I didn’t take a photo of the cabinet in here. The big box of CDs that won’t fit in binders was on it. A lot of medical stuff post-surgery. But other than all that extra stuff, the top part usually looked like this.
Some doll muses, a little bit of Dennis Wilson and Beach Boys stuff, Beatles-related stuff, and up top, a shadowbox with mementos of our late friend Steve and photos of him.
I was ready for some order and some change. Below, I’ll share a photo of the shadowbox (reminder: Winnie the Pooh and Piglet were our thing–on the top of the cabinet, not pictured here, there’s usually a stuffed version of both that Steve kept in the hospital with him, plus a Pooh bear Lynne made that I’d given to our late friend John). Those are now in a cabinet with the other stuffed animals because after I donated some, I had room for them. It’ll be better to keep them dust-free.
The shadowbox has been this way since… 1992? ’93? Shiny fabric lining the back was wrapped around the amethyst crystal hanging in there (upper right), a gift from Steve to me one Christmas, put together by one of his RNs, Billie, from a metaphysical shop she owned, and secured into a bag tied with gold cord that I don’t think is visible in this photo. It also contained a dried rose that’s hanging in here toward the middle. Next to the amethyst crystal is a quartz crystal that Steve kept around his neck most of the time. A tiny mirror has fallen behind the Pooh scene I cut out of a greeting card. I never asked, but maybe there was a time before I met him when he and his friends did bumps off that mirror. It was the ’70s, it was the ’80s, and everyone was young and beautiful and life was a party until AIDS crashed it.
So now you need to remember those writing prompt books and this shadow box, while I show you this.
A lovely little pillow I bought sometime in the ’90s, cross-stitched with a scene featuring Winnie, Tigger, and Piglet. After the turn of the century, a young dog with a penchant for destroying linens and other fabric items chewed up part of this pillow. Could have been Margot; could have been Guinness. I well remember their team and individual exploits. Anyway, it’s been on top of that cabinet, too, and today I took it apart.
It became part of the redone shadowbox. Still contains the shiny fabric against the back, the two crystals, the dried rose, and now you can see the mirror. I also put Steve’s Armchair Conductor baton in there. He used to listen to classical music on one of my little boomboxes I took him and direct an imaginary orchestra with that baton in the hospital. Steve was a graduate student in music, a band director, and a conductor.
Beneath that is a picture that was also on the top shelf with Langston Hughes’s “Poem”:
I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There’s nothing more to say
The poem ends,
Soft as it began–
I loved my friend.
Below that is a photo of Riley playing guitar. The poem was true of Steve in 1992. It became true of Riley in 2008.
So now there’s a corner, and on the other wall is the drawing I bought in 2010 from Gilbert Ruiz, a Houston artist, that makes me think of the novel I’ve yet to write about a ghost. The story contains elements of teenage Becky and includes characters inspired by My First Boyfriend and Riley, and borrows from a terrible thing that happened in our little Alabama town. That shadow box also contains strands of love beads from the ones Lynne and I strung all one summer.
Steve’s two 8×10 photos and a photo of Riley playing piano have joined the Family and Friends Gallery in the hall (of Houndstooth Hall).
I think you’re caught up to the redo of the little place where I had that mess of books. Now it’s just my various eReaders and the CD player I use for my playlist when I write. Tidier, right?
Those books moved to the top shelf that used to be all Steve stuff. They join some journals that had been on a tavern table in the dining room, my day planner, the Patti Smith book, my manifestation dude, sitting next to little herbal bags that were also from Steve and from Billie back in the day, and the “Sisters are forever” art given to me by Debby.
Next shelf down are more muses: Dennis Wilson, Beach Boys things, and four of my character dolls.
Bottom shelf are my Beatles things.
You have no idea what a mess those shelves were. Maybe now that my space feels so much clearer and uncluttered, my brain will follow suit and help me write again? When Lynne was here, she sat in this room as I read chapters aloud to her that she hadn’t previously read. She liked them. She said I NEED TO FINISH THE BOOK.
Current Photo Friday theme: Horse
Have you met my wee pal Virgil, a clever version of a Trojan horse?
Virgil only holds a couple of pale watermelon tourmaline crystal wands. So far, they haven’t brought down any empires. That you know of.