Tag: metaphysical

Randomness

Some random things to show I don’t live completely in the past.

Writers.

Recently, Tim and I attended Michael Thomas Ford’s signing at Murder By The Book. MTF looks very solemn in this photo, as he was listening to a question from a reader. But there were a lot of laughs at the event, because he’s a funny man. He was there to promote the third in his Jane series: Jane Bites Back, Jane Goes Batty, and Jane Vows Vengeance.

Current-day Jane Austen as a vampire whose nemesis is the undead Charlotte Brontë; who finds love and unusual potential mother-in-law conflict in upstate New York; and who can talk to three-legged chihuahuas and ghosts: What’s not to love?

Aesthetics.
Coke introduced the white polar bear can to raise awareness of the threat to the polar bear and its habitat due to climate change. In partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, Coke committed three million dollars to the campaign. Consumers reacted poorly to the Coke can, either because of their devotion to the color red or because they confused the white can with Diet Coke’s silver can. Coke stopped production of the white polar bear can and now shows the bears on the traditional red can. I’ll bite my tongue on all the things I could say about this–except to note that I loved the white can.

Art.

We had an honest to goodness Craft Night last week! Lindsey and I both painted. I’d vowed that when Project Runway All Stars ends, I’d return to working on the Bottle Caps and Friends series.
I hope to hang it somewhere this year.

Adorability.
Last October, I spied this tiny Starbucks cup at Target and shot it (left). As adorable as I found the shot-glass sized cup, there was no point in sharing the photo because of the lack of scale. Then on a recent drive-through, I was given a little sample of Starbucks cherry pie in one of the shot-glass cups. Notice how the logo has changed in the interim, with the Starbucks name vanishing to leave only the mermaid.

Family. Our nephew Aaron is visiting for a few days. On Monday, he, Tim, and I went to Houston Camera Co/op so Tim could look at external flashes; Aaron could look at potential new cameras (he’s going Canon, because that’s what he’s learning on, and Canons still make me drool, even though I’m a Nikon owner); and I could learn what to do about the smudge that I keep having to photoshop out of all my pictures. The REALLY helpful gentleman (pictured with Aaron, beyond Tim in this photo) who assisted me has SOLVED MY PROBLEM by showing me how to get to the innards of my camera (if ONLY I’d read the manual–bad tech writer!) and delicately clean away the smudge. This will save me a lot of time with my photos, so I’m quite happy.

Home. I saw a photo online of a grouping of globes displayed in a home. I liked it, but I have only one globe. I moved it from my office to my living room and added some of my crystal balls, my Manhattan snow globe, Tom’s childhood marbles, and other globe-shaped items next to it. There are twinkly lights there, too, so the crystals glisten at night.

Friends. In addition to being my nephew Josh’s birthday, March 12 is my late friend Tim R’s birthday. We dropped by the cemetery to leave wind chimes on his crape myrtle. I wonder if they’ll still be there the next time I visit? I say that not because people steal things, the way they stole from my parents’ gravesite. The other things left over the years are all still there. I just don’t know if it’s too big to be allowed to hang from the tree. We’ll see!

Legacy Writing 365:36


I rarely get out to see my friend Princess Patti in Small Paradise, but I think of her darn near all the time. When my skeptical self met her many years ago (during the time this photo was taken), she taught me how to open my mind to new possibilities. Through her, I learned what people were talking about when they spoke of “new age” and “metaphysics.” I stopped dismissing out of hand things that had not been or could not be proven and accepted that not knowing the reason or science of things doesn’t mean there is no science or reason; we’ve barely begun to comprehend all there is to know and explore. Every day, I try to find something to be inquisitive or excited about in a way I’ve seen Pat be so often. She inspires me.

Like hearts, minds should stay open. I resist dogma. Once you begin making the rules, you lose the magic. When you begin building the walls, you’re erecting more than one kind of barrier. I’m not a joiner; groups generally repel rather than attract me; and I don’t always play well with others.

If there’s no “I’ in “team,” why am I there?

(Cue Timmy saying, “You’re such an Aries.”)

I was talking recently about a piece of watermelon tourmaline I acquired at a gem and mineral show I went to with Pat several years ago. It’s one of my favorite crystals, and I brought it out earlier and cleaned it. I’ve photographed it here with two pieces of banded fluorite (and a baby aspirin to give you an idea of how small the three crystals are). Just sitting here with these tonight has made me happy. Stones and crystals have that effect on me–in that way, they are like Princess Patti.

Legacy Writing 365:34

What I’d like to show you from my first trip to New York City in February 1998 are all the fantastic photos I took of Tim and Timmy and James. The photos from that night eating pizza at Timmy’s and talking about a little project we’d just started that would become the novel It Had to Be You in 2001. Or that amazing night on top of the Empire State Building with Tim and Michael and the great shots I got of them.

But I can’t show you those because I lost the new Canon I’d bought in Manhattan in the back of a cab.

So what I have are photos of views in Central Park and Battery Park and looking out my hotel window shot with my older Canon AE-1 that I hadn’t taken out of my hotel room before my last day in Manhattan because I’d bought that smaller, easier-to-tuck-in-my-coat-pocket camera. Also too-easy-to-slip-OUT-of-my-coat-pocket camera.

Here’s one photo I took from my hotel room looking out at Madison Square Garden.

If I enlarge a detail of it, you can see how a little bit of back-home Texas was with me in New York.


Go Rockets! (I think the Knicks won that game, though.)

I also have plenty of memories. Like James walking my feet off. The Blue Dog Gallery which took us by surprise. Great restaurants. My first time to hail a cab by myself. My first solo subway ride. Seeing places I knew about from decades of TV and movies: Times Square, Union Square, Soho, Greenwich Village, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea. How friendly everyone was, which wasn’t what I’d been led to expect in New York. And how women on the housekeeping staff would linger in my room and talk to me because they were intrigued by items I had on my dresser (incense, crystals, rosebuds–my little “get centered” shrine).

Also, my watch died my first day in the city. I could have stepped inside one of many places and had the battery replaced. But Macy’s was just next door, and I grew up thinking of Macy’s and New York as a couple. So Timmy went shopping at Macy’s with me. The watch he picked out is still my main watch all these years later.

The crystal is kind of banged up and the battery’s dead. Should I just buy a new watch? 😉

Runway Monday Finale, Part 2 (PR 9:14)

Draw near, the Tenth Muse is arriving to introduce my final collection for Lifetime’s Project Runway ninth season finale.

She’s Summer, the Muse of Fashion, and she’s here to welcome us to the court of the Fairy Queen.

As the minutes tick toward dusk and the magic of the forest night, she sees the Three Pixies approaching.

A few minutes later, the Two Sprites hurry toward the gathering place.

They await the arrival of the queen of their fairy ring.

Once they’ve all assembled, they begin to reveal the shimmering dresses designed for each of them especially for this night. All dress fabric except Laura Lee’s Dupioni silk and Summer’s synthetic blend is printed metallic georgette silk. The capes are velour and crushed velvet. Enjoy this magical night of fashion with Fairy Queen Marcella and her royal court.

The Pixie Thomasina:

The Pixie Laura Lee:

The Pixie Noelle:

The Sprite Dallas:

The Sprite Cari:

The Muse Summer:

The Fairy Queen Marcella:

Romancing the Stone:

Dancing in the Trees:

My final collection is inspired by pixie dust, Halloween, and a belief that magic is wherever we look for it. Thanks for sharing this season of Runway Monday with me. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.

Fabric for Summer’s dress is a gift from Lynne. All shoes are Mattel. Cari’s and Dallas’s necklaces designed by me. Crystals in Cari’s necklace a gift from Kathy S. Marcella’s crown modified by me from a Mattel crown. Photos were shot at Houston’s Glenwood Cemetery, most of them at the grave of my friend Tim R, who was an early champion of my creative energy, relished listening to tales of witches and vampires on tape by candlelight in his wonderful cottage, and would be delighted at providing me a quiet place to have some fun with dolls and fashion.

Previously this season:
9:13 Finale, Part 1
9:12 The Final Challenge
9:11 This Is For the Birds
9:10 Sew 70s
9:9 Image Is Everything
9:8 What Women Want
9:7 Can’t We All Just Get Along?
9:6 The Art of the Matter
9:5 Off to the Track
9:4 All About Nina
9:3 Go Big Or Go Home
9:2 My Pet Project
9:1 Come As You Are

LJ Runway Monday: Larger Than Life (PR 8:2)

Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a look that defines the Marie Claire woman. The winning look would be featured on a billboard in Times Square.

Summer: To present Becks an additional challenge, we gave her some extra time but also told her she had to create looks for Heidi, Barbie, and me to wear this week.

Barbie: And we think the designs she created match our styles to perfection. Summer looks like the girl next door, I look chic, and Heidi looks like–

Heidi: [glare] –the sexy woman I am.

Barbie: Of course that’s what I was going to say.

Summer: For her model’s look this week, Becks chose fabrics of lace and sheer organza.

Barbie: And I chose the fabulous Dallas to be her model.

Heidi: Ready to see what she created?

Then click here, please.

Just a few more

Before all this stuff gets put away for another year:

We didn’t do a Star Trek garland this year, after all the drama Tom endured putting it up last year. Instead, we used the small tree for the Star Trek ships and character ornaments. I first called it the Geek Tree, but I finally settled on the Birthday Tree, since Tom’s a Christmas baby. I put his birthday presents and cards under it as they came in. Every time I plug in the light cord, most of the ornaments talk to me. I’m so tired of hearing Janeway, but I never get tired of the Borg and Spock.

Please click here for lots more photos behind the cut.

“The shopping was all for her.”

People sometimes do strange things when they grieve. The stories I could tell–but I won’t, because I save the really juicy stuff about my friends for novels.

I think I’ve said on here before that I began adding Barbies to my collection after my friend Steve R died in 1992. It made perfect sense–I even KNEW what I was doing and why I was doing it. When politics and faith and hate and love and injustice and death all collide, and you lose the last shred of your innocence, it’s not so crazy to start spending your money on something that harks back to a simpler, better, less complicated time–and Barbies were a perfect symbol of that for me. A few years and a few losses later, grief finally loosened its grip on me, and the Barbie-buying compulsion stopped just as suddenly as it began.

I’m grieving now, but I’m aware of other friends who are grieving (you know who you are; call me when you’re ready), including Lynne. Monday marked the second anniversary of her husband’s death, and I’ve always contended that seconds are harder than firsts. We mentally prepare ourselves for firsts. We know they’re coming long before they get here, and we’re probably still a little numb. By seconds, we’ve stopped constantly guarding ourselves against the shocks and jolts of memory–so when those anniversaries come, not only are our defenses down, but we’re back in full-on feeling mode. Hopefully, if we’ve allowed ourselves to grieve, and we’ve channeled some of our grief into positive outlets, thirds are not as sharply felt–that doesn’t mean the sense of loss isn’t still there, but it’s not as cruel to our emotional systems three years later. As the years go by, time softens our memories, taking the edge off the painful ones and shining more light on the happier ones. This is all part of healing.

Some people actually say grief is about a two- to four-week process. I think these people may be alien life forms, but that’s not the point of this discussion. I’m not big on judging how and for how long people grieve. We do what we need to do. In my own life, I’ve found that when I emerge from my first haze of stunned loss and start feeling things more intensely, I feel ALL things more intensely. If I’m prone to cry more, I’m also inclined to laugh more. The lines between mourning and celebrating become blurred. Fortunately, although my friends are as diverse a group as I can imagine, they all have one thing in common: a sense of humor. Laughter is one of the best healing forces of all.

After Lynne took me to Mark’s on Monday night (which seems backward, as most people would have treated her; just call us rogue mourners), when I said, “I need to go Barbie shopping,” I caught her raised eyebrow and added, “No, no. It’s not like before. I want them for a wedding photo shoot, and I’ve already got plans for all the other bride-and-groom dolls I’ve shot.” Then she said, “Well, at least you’ve already had your kitchen remodeled,” and we both started giggling. That was her big pricey project after Craig’s death–though I contend that putting money into updating a home is a more sensible reaction to loss than, for example, buying a 1970ish Datsun 240z. Not that I’m saying anyone did that.

Behind the cut you can see a bit of our Monday night in photos.

for foodies and architecture admirers and doll people

Photo Friday, No. 71

Current Photo Friday theme: Travel.

Today’s post is not so much about an interesting photo as about a significant change in the way I travel.


My traveling case of essential oils.

There was a time I wouldn’t have gone anywhere without this. When returning to Houston from San Diego in 2000, I barely had time to make my flight when I was stopped by a security attendant. She didn’t understand the contents of this case and kept opening the bottles and sniffing while I glared toward my watch. She finally said I couldn’t take them on board. I pointed out that I’d flown INTO San Diego with them. Furthermore, these tiny, very breakable bottles represent hundreds of dollars. I wouldn’t have checked them even if I hadn’t been running late, and I certainly couldn’t leave them behind.

I was attempting to explain aromatherapy to her when another guard came over and yelled, “Let her through! Those things STINK!” I laughed. Although they smell wonderful to me, it can be overwhelming to get a whiff of all of them together.

Post-September 11, I’m sure I couldn’t fly with the case, so I don’t even try. I just pack two or three bottles of blended essential oils into my checked bag and take a bottle of Bach’s Rescue Remedy on the plane to help with my fear of flying. If they ever take that from me, I’ll probably end up as an article on AOL’s home page with hundreds of rude comments being made about me by anonymous strangers.

I suppose that could sell a few books…