Tag: metaphysical

Tiny Tuesday!

I believe all writers are listeners and watchers from an early age. What we listen to and watch possibly shapes the kind of fiction we will write. I thought about elaborating on this, but my words began to sound almost judgmental. I don’t want them to be. I think any artist’s path has its own reason that isn’t mine to judge.

In my work in progress, I have two listeners and two watchers. I didn’t intend for it to be that way, it happened organically. I try to step aside and let them travel their own paths, too. This is one of the surprises and satisfactions of rewriting a thirty-year-old manuscript. I have learned, and that’s better for them.

Relax

From The Relax Deck, I pulled the “Freeing Time” card:

Many of us live as slaves to time: rushing off to work, then hurrying home again, with precious little free time to do anything else. We should remember, though, that seconds, minutes, and hours are illusory, for the clock is a human invention. On weekends and during time away from work, take off your watch and do things as and when you wish. This will allow your body to re-establish its natural rhythm and make you feel more relaxed.

Can’t help it that this makes me laugh. Replace “take off your watch” with “put down your phone.” Then someone remind me: What are weekends?

The point is good, nonetheless.

Tiny Tuesday!


I was attracted to this stone at Body Mind and Soul. I picked it up and saw the label “healerite.” New to me, but all good. I like healer stones and crystals.

Later, when I researched it, I found that the stone is a lime green serpentine used for regeneration, luck, and healing. It’s supposed to help with emotional stress.

Needed it!

I highly recommend that you follow your instinct when picking up or buying gems, stones, and crystals. Get the names if you can, or search online sites for photos that will help you identify them. Even if you know the name, follow up with a little research and contemplate the stone’s purpose in your life.

Don’t forget to clear and clean your stones and crystals! There is ample information online to do that, too. (And Body Mind and Soul will give them a quick clearing as you purchase them if you want them to. LOVE that store so much.)

Scrying

There are days when I swear that “scrying” is in my job description.

Speaking of crystal balls, this tiny crystal is on one of my charm bracelets. I think it was a gift from Tom’s parents many years ago when I wanted some crystal charms. They always find unique gifts that I never know exist. Many larger versions of this hang in windows around Houndstooth Hall to send rainbows inside from the sun.

Edgy

I can’t stand the edgy feeling the bookcases in the living room are causing me another day. It’s time to arrange the books properly. Top two shelves on the left: complete.

Otherwise, the great fiction alphabetization has begun.

…a few hours later, ETA: BOOM! Done.


Gay and Lesbian, Rock and Roll, Mystery, Science Fiction, Religion, Philosophy, Politics, Metaphysical and Healing. Order has returned to my Universe.

…and the next day I realized I must have been listening to too much hippie music, because my Mystery shelves were not organized AT ALL. FIXED NOW.


Funny that mysteries use only one bookcase plus a tiny bit on the top shelf of the next bookcase. It’s because I have dozens, especially in series, on my Nook as ebooks instead of owning hard copies. Plus all my Stephanie Plum mysteries are in the library and not in the living room. They now take up more than a shelf by themselves.

Day Off

Though it may sound like a lie, I basically haven’t had a day off from my job since 2014. Even on the vacations I’ve taken, my computer is with me. I already work from home, so it doesn’t matter where home is. Have Internet, can work–seven days a week. Recently we hired another person to work with me in records, so there are three of us now. It’s a huge help in taking pressure off of me, and in time, I know I’ll have real days off. For now, we call Wednesdays and Thursdays my days off (even though Thursdays I’m up before dawn getting ready to shoot photos at our transports–but that’s the volunteer part of my work, so I still count it as a day off). ANYWAY, I usually end up working at least part of those days, so what I have right now are blocks of hours off on more days of the week, and that helps!

As a result, I’m beginning to see progress in my to-do list for getting our home back in order. There is light at the end of the tunnel with the recovery, and it’s possible by the end of October, that will be complete, my office and craft room will be fully functional, and life will have some normalcy again. I’m not sure what normalcy is, honestly. But I know that one of the reasons my energy remains depleted, despite the fact that my workload is slowly being divided among three of us, that my home is slowly emerging, and that I fiercely protect my right to sleep undisturbed, is that I have so little creative time. My brain is always teeming with ideas, and I just need periods of uninterrupted time when I’m not exhausted to make those ideas reality.

Last night Tim sent me a link to an old interview with Aerosmith’s guitarist Joe Perry, which I watched first thing this morning, and something he said in that interview was like a sign that I’m on the right track with one of the projects in my brain. The nice thing about this point in my life as a writer is that I genuinely want to write only for my own pleasure. I’ve taken away the pressure of “would this sell,” “would people read this,” “would my editor want this,” and what I want to work on is only for my own satisfaction. So before I fall asleep at night, I give myself time to think of the novel I want to write, working out scenes and exploring my characters’ psyches. Over the past few months, I’ve struggled with how to make one of my weaker characters one who I’m better satisfied with, and an idea has played at the edges of my brain, and the Joe Perry interview gave me a “yes, you are on the right track” moment. Affirmation can come from anywhere, but it’s not surprising that Tim was its catalyst, because even when he doesn’t realize it, he’s always a source of inspiration.

I left the house this morning with a list of errands, one of those being to buy Joe Perry’s memoir, which is a few years old. I was lucky enough to find it, along with Keith Richards’s, which my brother recommended that I read when it came out ten years ago, and now finally I will. Along with those, I bought some art supplies and other things I needed to take care of a couple of dear friends’ birthdays. So though I ended up spending the rest of my “day off” working, I’m set up for more creative activities here at home during my Becky time.

A Toxic Twin, a Glimmer Twin, more books to indulge my crystal love, canvases, sketch books–It’s all good!

One week later…

It’s been a week since my birthday, but I thought I’d post a few happy photos so I can remember it.

First off, I received an email from Charles The Boss that Monday morning telling me I needed to come to a mandatory meeting at the clinic. I was all, No! On my birthday? But the topic was one of my ongoing concerns so I dragged myself there. Charles’s door was closed, and he wasn’t back from an off-site meeting yet, so Morgan, our Rescue Team Lead, said we could start the meeting in his office without him. I AM SO CLUELESS.

There was no meeting. It was a set-up from the foster, rescue, and medical teams who were at work that day and even some people who came in on their days off with cake and birthday love for me. I WORK WITH THE BEST PEOPLE. But as I later told Charles, now I know that he and everyone else WILL LIE TO ME.

I forgot to take a photo of the cake before we all fell on it like starving lunatics, but it was SO GOOD.

Also a few little goodies from people who know me too well.

That night, Tom and I met Debby, Tim, Lynne, Rhonda, and Lindsey out for (at least in my case) a steak dinner at one of my favorite casual restaurants. After dinner, we split a couple of pieces of decadent chocolate cake (I was good and only took a small bite of my second cake of the day!), while I opened a few of my presents.

This is a super cool organizer Lindsey’s been giving her friends who like to color. It’s for those times you want to take your coloring book and colors out with you, but you don’t want to be burdened with your 5,023 pencils, pens, and markers (wait, maybe that’s just the number in my collection?). The ones in here now mysteriously showed up with my coloring supplies long after the flood, and I think they may have been some Lynne purged when she was moving. She’s very sneaky. (And no, Lynne, I have NOT put that one particular set of pencils back in that coloring book set in an OCD frenzy–unless it was Debby who forbade me to do that, but I think it was you).

Those cards for coloring came in a letter I received from Marika some time back. I LOVE MARIKA’S snail mail. Her letters are like getting creative little gifts full of thoughts and humor, tales of Mighty Monte and adventures in writing and St. Pete, and reminders of inside jokes that leave me cackling. They never make it home from the post office unread. As soon as I get to my car, I have to open and devour them.

Speaking of Lynne being sneaky, these dachshund sheets she gave me are a cool addition to Houndstooth Hall.

Unfortunately, they came with a price tucked among the folds.

Yep, the coasters are home. FORTUNATELY, Timothy cancelled them out with these he picked up while on a trip to Maine.


Thank you, Tim, and you’re welcome, world, for your daily cow.

This was one of the things I had wanted, and a little bird told Lynne, who delivered it.

Yes, we all know I’ve never been a big fan of Bush, but I admire his second act. He has devoted himself to learning a new creative passion and to honoring people whose Commander in Chief he was. I think often of those who serve. People who thrive on creating discord on the Internet love to “speak” for our service members and how they feel about the White House. But searching photos will show you many, many occasions under all administrations of our leaders surrounded by smiling members of the military. I can’t envision a world without the Internet anymore, but I can sure envision an Internet without comments.

On the matter of former presidents, one of my favorite things during Obama’s eight years in office was the Flickr White House account that featured Pete Souza’s photos. Thanks to Lindsey and Rhonda, I now have this book that I failed to get before it sold out before Christmas. So grateful for its success and its second printing, and for the trusting relationship between a president and his official photographer that provided unprecedented access to the executive branch and families.

Related to the executive branch families, I’m delighted to add these to my collection. I always follow the children of presidents with interest and hope they find fulfilling lives beyond the White House years. So many parents and teachers are using these books to encourage the aspirations of young girls.

In the Department of Shiny, here’s a brooch from Lynne.

And what do you see in my new crystal ball from Debby?

I’m hoping it’s more good things for all of you reading.

Thanks to all for many fantastic birthday wishes!

Button Sunday

I don’t know why this button makes me laugh so hard, but so be it.

Early afternoon one day, Jim and I were sitting in the office drinking coffee and talking when I spotted a female cardinal under one of our trees. Jim turned around to watch for her and was rewarded by the sight of her mate in his gorgeous redness. He’d never seen a cardinal “in person,” so hey, Houndstooth Hall is like a nature preserve. (We won’t talk about the sighting of the palmetto bug about the size of the cardinal…)

The day we went to Body Mind & Soul, I was studying the shelves of Tarot and other cards to see if anything caught my eye–and the animal spirit guide deck did. There was an open box for interested shoppers, and when I turned the deck over, the card on top was the Cardinal. Jim and I locked surprised eyes; Debby spotted an unopened deck; and Jim made a gift of it to me. Now I need to learn how to read and lay out this deck in my leisure time. (ha ha, leisure time, so funny)

Welcome to the new age

One of the days that Jim was here, he, Debby, and I went out to lunch at another new-to-me place, House of Fries, who makes up in burger tastiness what it lacks in ambiance, proving once again that my parents were right when they stopped at unprepossessing eateries on trips because “that’s where the best food is.” While we were there, Debby said it sounded like the restaurant had hacked into my phone’s playlist, which currently leans heavily toward One Republic and Imagine Dragons (from whom I borrowed the title of this post). I told them that while Tom and I were on our trip, I realized that something I’d done to the phone had muted the sound on the car stereo, and Tom said, “It’s okay. We just missed a lot of Coldplay.” Shortly after that story, the restaurant played “Viva la Vida,” so maybe Debby was right. Thieves!

Among other things we did that afternoon was visit our favorite Body Mind & Soul. It’s a seductive store for me because of its serene atmosphere and the beauty of everything there and how invitingly it’s displayed. I want to BUY BUY BUY. As long as I can find one item that entices me and focus on it, I’m usually safe. This time it was a lovely selenite wand in a pencil shape. First, I love pencils, and second, I love the look and feel of this delicate form of gypsum. And I love that when I bought it, the woman checking me out took out her chime (a somewhat larger version of my own) and cleared the crystal. No merchant has ever done that for me before. Nice touch, BM&S!

There are lots of places to read more about the metaphysical properties of selenite on the Internet–GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND. For me, it’s already started being a self-soothing tool for excessive tension in my neck and shoulders and a thankfully brief headache.

I guess this post is sort of a thank you note to Selene, Greek goddess of the full moon, for lending her name and energy to selenite. I do love the moon. And I love the memory of shopping with Debby and Jim.