One of the many things I am working on at the moment is preparing to teach a ukulele workshop in May. Happily, my friend Katy Rydell is going to be in town and will be assisting me. We played uke together when we both lived in L.A.
The sad news is that the ukulele I built in Hawaii was damaged in the move and will require some repair. Luckily the damage isn't too great, but the repair is going to be a little tricky.
WTH: Strange Musical Accompanist, posted February 1, 2009
Last night I spent some time playing my ukulele. I was trying out a new song when I became aware of another noise in the room. When I stopped the noise stopped, when I started it started up with me. The next time I stopped it continued on for a few notes. It was a cricket. My playing must have woken him up from a solid winter’s sleep.
He continued accompanying me for a while, until the song changed to another key. Something about the change must have signaled to him that I was not another cricket and he was silent for the rest of the night. I’m going to try it again tonight and see what happens.
(Note: He must have moved out in disappointment that I wasn't another cricket. I never heard from him again.)
Readin' 'n' Writin' with a little Cookin' and Travelin' thrown in.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Writin' - Guilt, and a Re-Blog from Austin: Notes on a Novel
As a writer I am wracked by guilt. I feel guilty if I am not working on one of my latest manuscripts. I feel guilty if I am working on one of my latest manuscripts and there are other things that need to be done: dishes, mending, taxes, knitting, practicing, did I tell you I got new snowshoes! cleaning, organizing, playing with the cats, exercising, finishing that necklace hanger, dating (or the lack thereof) and the ultimate distraction: need more coffee.
The problem is for me guilt is not a motivator. I think the root of the issue is that I have wide interests and love to work on a wide variety of things. Unfortunately that leads to taking a long time to finish a project. I do finish, eventually, but only after I have finished lots of other projects that have been hanging around for even longer.
Fortunately, although I still suffer from perpetual monkey brain, I discovered a book several years ago that greatly helped me in learning to better focus my energy. Strangely, I loan this book out frequently and ALWAYS get it back. Not because I follow up with the loanee, but because everyone I have ever loaned it too brings it back and says, "I really needed this book and decided to buy a copy for myself."
The book is The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine and yes, you will want it in hardcover. I first got this book from the library when I was preparing for a workshop on job hunting for a library conference. Librarians tend to be Renaissance Souls. After reading the first chapter I went and bought a copy of my own. (Interestingly, the library copy kept getting stolen and we had to buy several new ones.)
I have read so many books claiming to help those of us with diverse interest focus and organize our lives. Unfortunately they are usually written by linear thinkers that just don't get someone with a brain like mine.
Margaret Lobenstine thinks like I do, and provides beautiful and fluidly effective tools for focusing energy and actually completing tasks. She is one of those I can thank for helping me develop the skills to progress in my writing and other work.
Wow, who knew that my commentary on a past post would lead to the above. I just meant to follow up on the note below where I commented on guilt and writing.
Notes on a Novel: Take I (originally posted November 25, 2008)
I am living the life of two people, maybe more. Everywhere I go in Austin I am experiencing it as myself and as the characters I am writing about. It's a little distracting. The other night at my neighbors I left in the middle of a conversation and ran over to get my notebook because a friend had just delivered a line that would be perfect for a certain scene in the book.
Normally noisy, I now have to constantly listen to the way people talk. I watch the way they stand, what they wear, what they look like. I pay attention to the dates on certain buildings, visit guitar shops and draw up plans for imaginary stores and homes. Sometimes the lines blur. I'm surprised that I haven't walked into a wall or a signpost or something.
I ask strange questions and get a few even stranger answers. I also get asked questions myself, usually starting with the word "how." Such as, "How do you write a novel?" My cryptic answer, "Well, I walk around a lot." And the ever popular, "How do I get published?" This is usually asked by someone who has never actually written anything and has no intention of writing anything unless they are assured they will get published. I usually recommend a few books on writing and leave it at that.
I have taken up improv as a hobby just to turn off that part of my brain for at least a couple of hours a week.
Of course it's hard to complain when you have the ultimate excuse of "research" to go to clubs and jams and parades and so on. I'm wondering if I can write cover charges and bar tabs off as expenses.
And then there is the guilt. My brain chides me for any moment not spent writing, researching or at least thinking about what I am writing. I am always aware of my current page count and how much farther it is to my next goal (and how quickly I am running out of money). That guilt spills over into other things as I realize that my fingernails are getting long, a sure sign that I have not played the guitar in a while. Sheesh.
The problem is for me guilt is not a motivator. I think the root of the issue is that I have wide interests and love to work on a wide variety of things. Unfortunately that leads to taking a long time to finish a project. I do finish, eventually, but only after I have finished lots of other projects that have been hanging around for even longer.
Fortunately, although I still suffer from perpetual monkey brain, I discovered a book several years ago that greatly helped me in learning to better focus my energy. Strangely, I loan this book out frequently and ALWAYS get it back. Not because I follow up with the loanee, but because everyone I have ever loaned it too brings it back and says, "I really needed this book and decided to buy a copy for myself."
The book is The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine and yes, you will want it in hardcover. I first got this book from the library when I was preparing for a workshop on job hunting for a library conference. Librarians tend to be Renaissance Souls. After reading the first chapter I went and bought a copy of my own. (Interestingly, the library copy kept getting stolen and we had to buy several new ones.)
I have read so many books claiming to help those of us with diverse interest focus and organize our lives. Unfortunately they are usually written by linear thinkers that just don't get someone with a brain like mine.
Margaret Lobenstine thinks like I do, and provides beautiful and fluidly effective tools for focusing energy and actually completing tasks. She is one of those I can thank for helping me develop the skills to progress in my writing and other work.
Wow, who knew that my commentary on a past post would lead to the above. I just meant to follow up on the note below where I commented on guilt and writing.
Notes on a Novel: Take I (originally posted November 25, 2008)
I am living the life of two people, maybe more. Everywhere I go in Austin I am experiencing it as myself and as the characters I am writing about. It's a little distracting. The other night at my neighbors I left in the middle of a conversation and ran over to get my notebook because a friend had just delivered a line that would be perfect for a certain scene in the book.
Normally noisy, I now have to constantly listen to the way people talk. I watch the way they stand, what they wear, what they look like. I pay attention to the dates on certain buildings, visit guitar shops and draw up plans for imaginary stores and homes. Sometimes the lines blur. I'm surprised that I haven't walked into a wall or a signpost or something.
I ask strange questions and get a few even stranger answers. I also get asked questions myself, usually starting with the word "how." Such as, "How do you write a novel?" My cryptic answer, "Well, I walk around a lot." And the ever popular, "How do I get published?" This is usually asked by someone who has never actually written anything and has no intention of writing anything unless they are assured they will get published. I usually recommend a few books on writing and leave it at that.
I have taken up improv as a hobby just to turn off that part of my brain for at least a couple of hours a week.
Of course it's hard to complain when you have the ultimate excuse of "research" to go to clubs and jams and parades and so on. I'm wondering if I can write cover charges and bar tabs off as expenses.
And then there is the guilt. My brain chides me for any moment not spent writing, researching or at least thinking about what I am writing. I am always aware of my current page count and how much farther it is to my next goal (and how quickly I am running out of money). That guilt spills over into other things as I realize that my fingernails are getting long, a sure sign that I have not played the guitar in a while. Sheesh.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Re-Blog: Meditation, Pecans and Warm Evenings
I posted the following blog entry on Apr 16, 2010. Not that long ago, but I thought it would blend nicely with my previous post on meditation. See if you can guess where one of the Jack Kornfield CDs is currently living.
I have a heap of pecans in the kitchen. My aunt and I gathered them from the ground under her trees while laughing in the rain. I love pecans, and double-cuddly love them fresh from the tree.
The problem is shelling them.
Not that I mind it. I have practiced enough to be able to get them out fairly quickly and mostly whole, it's just that there is a stack of them.
I'm trying to get my sister to practice meditation. Part of what I love about meditation is how it helps me be fully present, not drifting about in non-existent and unlikely futures nor seething through distorted memories.
I'm also an advocate of moving meditation, not just yoga (Ashtanga is my favorite) and walking labyrinths and such, but the type of meditation that makes even washing dishes an experience as you feel the warmth of the water and smell the soap and watch the patterns in the suds.
Yesterday I shelled pecans for a while. The sharpness of the cracking shells, the color of the nuts and the gentle approach to shell destruction it takes to get them out whole--all of this provided one of these moments powerful enough to motivate me to write about it.
Last night was the first warm evening of the year. The chocolate shop nearby was packed and many people were out walking and restless. Even the dog was restless. I took her out late to cruise the neighborhood and give the cats a break. The teenagers on the street think the glowy collar I got her is cool, dude.
It should be warm tonight. And maybe I'll sit on the front porch looking out across the valley and shell pecans in the sunset.
I have a heap of pecans in the kitchen. My aunt and I gathered them from the ground under her trees while laughing in the rain. I love pecans, and double-cuddly love them fresh from the tree.
The problem is shelling them.
Not that I mind it. I have practiced enough to be able to get them out fairly quickly and mostly whole, it's just that there is a stack of them.
I'm trying to get my sister to practice meditation. Part of what I love about meditation is how it helps me be fully present, not drifting about in non-existent and unlikely futures nor seething through distorted memories.
I'm also an advocate of moving meditation, not just yoga (Ashtanga is my favorite) and walking labyrinths and such, but the type of meditation that makes even washing dishes an experience as you feel the warmth of the water and smell the soap and watch the patterns in the suds.
Yesterday I shelled pecans for a while. The sharpness of the cracking shells, the color of the nuts and the gentle approach to shell destruction it takes to get them out whole--all of this provided one of these moments powerful enough to motivate me to write about it.
Last night was the first warm evening of the year. The chocolate shop nearby was packed and many people were out walking and restless. Even the dog was restless. I took her out late to cruise the neighborhood and give the cats a break. The teenagers on the street think the glowy collar I got her is cool, dude.
It should be warm tonight. And maybe I'll sit on the front porch looking out across the valley and shell pecans in the sunset.
Writin' - Those books you lend out and never get back
Ever have a book you lend out, but never get back? So you buy another one and in a year or two encounter a friend that really, really needs that book. And in a weak moment, you forget the 0% return rate and loan it out again.
Well, I'm about to buy yet another copy of Jack Kornfield's Meditation for Beginners. I've owned copies of both the book and the CD and all have disappeared. I know where they are, but figure they're in use.
I just started facilitating a new writer's circle at work. One of the people attending is the teen-aged son of one of my co-workers. He has great ideas, but sometimes being a teen makes it hard to focus on each idea long enough to express it clearly in writing.
I was pondering the situation when I heard an interview on NPR about education. One of the statements the interviewee made was particularly insightful. To paraphrase: How can we expect a child to "settle down" or "focus" in the classroom if we don't teach them how?
Enter the perfect tool, Meditation for Beginners, but this time I didn't loan it out. I don't have a copy of my own. Instead my fellow writer's dad is finding him a copy.
And it reminded me I need to buy another copy for myself; not only do I need to read and listen to it again, someone else may need it soon.
P. S. I also like his book After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. I bought it after an intensive songwriting retreat. Believe me, it provided crucial help during re-entry into the regular world.
Well, I'm about to buy yet another copy of Jack Kornfield's Meditation for Beginners. I've owned copies of both the book and the CD and all have disappeared. I know where they are, but figure they're in use.
I just started facilitating a new writer's circle at work. One of the people attending is the teen-aged son of one of my co-workers. He has great ideas, but sometimes being a teen makes it hard to focus on each idea long enough to express it clearly in writing.
I was pondering the situation when I heard an interview on NPR about education. One of the statements the interviewee made was particularly insightful. To paraphrase: How can we expect a child to "settle down" or "focus" in the classroom if we don't teach them how?
Enter the perfect tool, Meditation for Beginners, but this time I didn't loan it out. I don't have a copy of my own. Instead my fellow writer's dad is finding him a copy.
And it reminded me I need to buy another copy for myself; not only do I need to read and listen to it again, someone else may need it soon.
P. S. I also like his book After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. I bought it after an intensive songwriting retreat. Believe me, it provided crucial help during re-entry into the regular world.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
A Warm Earth Cake for Imbolc
I just finished baking a Warm Earth Cake in celebration of Imbolc. Imbolc is a pagan holiday that marks the halfway point between the Winter Sostice and the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
My celebration is fairly simple: bake a Warm Earth Cake and light lots of candles.
So here's the Warm Earth Cake:
Yes, it looks like dirt, or in this case mud. The recipe comes from the marvelous book Witch in the Kitchen by Cait Johnson. I love the book and refer to it at least eight times a year. Her Wassail recipe is wonderful. So is the Savory Yuletide Pie, which I bake several times a year using whatever veggies are in season for the filling.
However I do make one major modification when I make my Warm Earth Cake: I drop chunks of chocolate hazelnut butter on the cake batter before I sprinkle on the crumb topping. The hazelnut butter melts and makes it go all gooey on top, hence the mud look.
Off to light the candles...
My celebration is fairly simple: bake a Warm Earth Cake and light lots of candles.
So here's the Warm Earth Cake:
Yes, it looks like dirt, or in this case mud. The recipe comes from the marvelous book Witch in the Kitchen by Cait Johnson. I love the book and refer to it at least eight times a year. Her Wassail recipe is wonderful. So is the Savory Yuletide Pie, which I bake several times a year using whatever veggies are in season for the filling.
However I do make one major modification when I make my Warm Earth Cake: I drop chunks of chocolate hazelnut butter on the cake batter before I sprinkle on the crumb topping. The hazelnut butter melts and makes it go all gooey on top, hence the mud look.
Off to light the candles...
The Chili Recipe
I'm moving my blog to this site and figured my much requested chili recipe would be appropriate for a first post. This is one of my default pot-luck dishes, and was well received by Tiffinie's teens (always a good sign). Also a huge thanks to Tiffinie Helmer for hosting the NaNo Party.
Slow Cookin' Chili
1) Dump into a slow cooker:
3) Serve with tortilla chips, chopped green onions, sour cream or shredded cheese.
Note: For the meat lovers: I usually make southwestern inspired meatballs, bake them in the oven and add them during the last hour of cooking. I'm still experimenting with the recipe. The most successful meatballs so far had a touch of sage and chunks of blue cheese.
Enjoy!
Another Note: As this is usually a good pot-luck dish, but a pain to transport, I happily purchased a much needed Cook' N Carry Crock-Pot. Also happily, it was a bright and shiny red. I only link to things if I actually use, and gleefully recommend the item.
Slow Cookin' Chili
1) Dump into a slow cooker:
- 4 (15 oz.) cans of beans, drained (I usually use 1 can black beans, 1 can pinto beans, 1 can great northern beans and 1 can kidney beans.)
- 2 (8 oz.) cans of tomato sauce
- 1 (4 oz.) can of chopped green chiles (Having once driven through Hatch, NM at the end of chile-roasting season, I am prejudiced towards chiles from that part of the world.)
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes (I prefer Muir Glen.)
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 medium green pepper, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 3 tablespoons chili powder (My favorite brand was Yahoo!, however I can't find it anywhere. I have been successfully using Dawson's Wild Spice Classic Red Wild Chili Mix as a substitute, even though it's not actually a chili powder.)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups water
3) Serve with tortilla chips, chopped green onions, sour cream or shredded cheese.
Note: For the meat lovers: I usually make southwestern inspired meatballs, bake them in the oven and add them during the last hour of cooking. I'm still experimenting with the recipe. The most successful meatballs so far had a touch of sage and chunks of blue cheese.
Enjoy!
Another Note: As this is usually a good pot-luck dish, but a pain to transport, I happily purchased a much needed Cook' N Carry Crock-Pot. Also happily, it was a bright and shiny red. I only link to things if I actually use, and gleefully recommend the item.
Photo: The Tears of Joy store on 6th Street in Austin, TX taken during SXSW '09
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