Words

I need to give
Words
I need to give them
To pour them
To slather them hereabouts
And into the mud
Coloring black and white
Granting vibrancy
Chipping the old black paint
For the blooms
Underneath

Souls glowing with a love fire
For brothers and sisters
Souls burning with desire
To overflow words
Bubble over
Wordstaining
I need to give
Words
Speak them
Write them
Shout them
Think them
Give and share
These leeching words

Spread the flowering weed
Root it deep
Into hearts
Into dust
Into cracks, concrete, shattered brick
Let urban overflow
With living words
Pushing up
Taking over the
Hurting, man made hopes
And dreams
Peeling layer and layer
Of cold hard
To touch wounded flesh
And ignite sparks
That crack-shatter concrete mindset
And light the bulbs of your eyes

So you can see the words
The growing, living, pulsing color words
That I gave

~~~~~

Close your eyes for a moment, and picture with me the world. Picture the typical urban scene; concrete sidewalks framing asphalt streets; metal, brick, hard, unforgiving buildings rising to blot out the sky. It is normal. Accepted.

But think about that. Really think about it. How much real air are you breathing? They say the trees recycle, giving us our breath. But how many trees can you see? Look at the seamless bonds between concrete, metal, brick. Inorganic materials. Fitted together like an unbreakable puzzle, a lid on this area of earth.

Does it make you feel claustrophobic?

It should.

Now picture with me, if you will, that same world. But the air quivers this time. You think you can hear faint chimes somewhere far off. The expectation in the earth wells up in you, and you’re torn between wondering if you should find somewhere to hide, or if you should skip work, take off your shoes, and stand in the middle of the street, waiting.

So you do neither.

But as you are hurrying on your way through your urban world, convinced that you are making a life, you begin to wonder where all the graffiti came from.

Usually they regulate things like that. Keep the walls clean. Keep the troubled youth busy scrubbing it all away.

But today there are words. They plaster every surface, leech from dark alleyways and spill down from rooftops. Does anyone notice? Mostly not. But they are there. Black words. Green words. Blue and red words. There are more the further you go.

The concrete is cracking. Everywhere you look, spidering cracks appear across the ground; words creep from every crevice, pour out color and life onto the bleak landscape. Green is appearing.

It sprouts from the ground, pushing the broken pieces of concrete and asphalt further away from each other. It grows across building fronts, spreading like ivy and clinging like roots to every surface. Grass obscures the sidewalks and roads, climbing vines and flowers creep up lightpoles, glass buildings, cover metal.

The hum of traffic life slows… quiets… stops. Warm silence begins to pour down the streets as the sunlight finally breaks through the cloud smog and targets the city earth, kissing the upturned faces of leaf and petal and green.

Everything green is pushing, reaching, longing for sun and air, holding their hearts up to the gold. And one by one the people too. They find themselves, standing on the new grass. Some remove their shoes, some just stand. But all, as one, as the flowering plants and green, lift their pale faces to the sun.

Reaching for the sun, holding their hearts up to the gold.

And the world is new.

Crafty Little Something-Or-Others I Made For Christmas

Okay, so I promised this post ages ago, and I really want to be blogging about other stuff in THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY, but I figured I might as well git’r'done.

So here are most of the crafty little things I made people for Christmas. A couple things are missing, because one is in Montana with my sister, and the other (a necklace for Mum made from an antique typewriter key- the “L” for Lee Anne) is mysteriously missing and we have yet to find it.

So here’s everything else.

Teddy Bear Hat for Chance…. I had knitted the hat several months prior to Christmas, and he kept mooning over it and asking if he could have it, so I made it disappear for a while and then turned it into a bear. A very crooked bear.

You can’t see very well from the picture… but these are a pair of patchwork wrist-warmers I made for Tamara. I used an old pair of plaid socks, and bits off an old sheet,  and then embellished with loverly buttons of all kinds. They are very cute, if I do say so myself… heh heh.

And this is probably my favorite… a Panda hat for David. I sewed the hat itself out of an old sweater, and then knitted the ear flaps and sewed the rest on. I love this thing.

Lastly, this is a little notebook that I made for Tam. I tea-stained every page by hand, embellished it with some (also tea-stained) lace, added an inspirational quote on the inside, and topped it off with her name on the front cover. Overall I’m quite pleased with this one… Following are some detail shots.

And… that’s all I’ve got for this one! Now I can move on to more current things… so maybe I will. Soon. Ish.

-A

Frambled Eggs & a Cuppa

This:

It is amazing. Granted, it may look a bit scary, but I promise you it’s not. Here’s the recipe:
(I made it myself. The recipe)

2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 an apple diced (Jonagold works best)
2 slices bacon
1/4 cup grated cheddar & mozzarella cheese -mixed
4 large eggs
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

In cast iron skillet, sautee apples, butter and cinnamon until apples are soft, and then remove from pan. Fry bacon, and cut into bits.

Meanwhile, crack eggs into large mug (or small bowl), and whisk briskly with fork. Add apples, bacon bits, and cheese, and mix in.

Pour entire contents into skillet (helps to leave a bit of the bacon grease in the pan), season to taste w/salt and pepper, and cook on low-med heat until eggs are done to your liking.

Yield: 2 medium servings.

Note: I suppose this could be made in something other than cast iron, but that is what works best. The only warning I would have is that cast iron gets VERY hot, and stays hot for a long time. Therefore, I would recommend lowering the burner heat a few minutes before putting the eggs in the pan, to ensure that you aren’t going to end up flash frying.

My sister swears by her daily cup of coffee, but I really think this is best with a good cuppa tea.

—

Now! Onto other things. Clearly, I tend to slack off on my posts from time to time, so I’m considering dedicating certain days of the week to certain types of posts…
I can in no way guarantee more than one post every week, but I’m thinking these day-dedicated posts would be more of a bi-monthly sort of thing.

Examples:

Things I love Thursday- in which I will borrow photos and maybe videos from the internet to give you a peek into the things that catch my interest.

What I Wore Wednesday- In which I could either show off pictures of my loverly day-to-day outfits, OR… and this might be better… examine some of my better costumes (like the ones in photoshoots).

Either way, I will be thinking about those (and I wouldn’t say no to some outside input…).

The following is a sneak-peek from a project I started on last week. I don’t know when it will be done, since I haven’t worked on it since then, but I do know that it will be a somewhat “slow-and-steady” sort of project.

And… that’s all you get to see!

NEXT POST: All the wondersome little presents I made by hand for Christmas! Must get pictures now…

‘Tis The Season…..

…. to keep your clothes on, please. Especially if they’re a nice flannel that belongs to your sister. Take a few pictures of yourself in the mirror. Laugh a lot.

Be happy with who you are, because whoever you are, whatever you’re doing (which probably isn’t much at a quarter after one in the morning) you are awesome!

It’s the holidays, guys, live up to it! This time only comes once every darn twelve months, so there’s nothing for it but to have fun.

Do lots of baking!

Or if you’re a man, make sure you keep up a good image of yourself. Take a nap or something. (I am in no way at all meaning to offend anyone out there. I promise.)

Or forget any decent sleep and get those creative juices flowing! I’ve heard about some campaign that dares you to not buy one single thing that says “made in China” on it, and I’m all for that! But hey, why not just take a step (or ten…) further and forgo buying anything that says “made in” at all! Here’s an epiphany for you… Make it yourself.

*gasp!*

Get out there and spray paint yourself some sexy Steampunk pants! Seriously! Do slightly crazy things. If you love something, don’t ever, ever, ever let someone else’s opinion stop you from doing it. Even if it’s buying elf ears off the internet and wearing them around the house. (Just try convincing people that you’re not a complete nerd that should belong in some sort of LARPing community…)

I can tell you from personal experience, that IT. IS. WORTH. IT.

Every bit of it.

I should probably clarify that I wasn’t talking about the elf ears when I said that inspirational bit there. I was just, you know, speaking in general.

Yeah…

But HEY! It’s Christmas! Probably the best time of the year! Not only is it a time of Festivus miracles, but it’s just that time of year that reminds us of that one story.

You know which one I’m talking about. You know, the one with all the angels singing? And the wee little baby born in the stable? What a great story. I mean really, that’s got to be one of the most inspirational, dramatic, beautiful stories ever written into the dust of this earth.

So let’s go celebrate this beautiful story by hanging strange little things from a dead tree propped up in our house.

That sounds negative, but it’s not. I’ve just always gotten a kick out of Christmas trees. But I love them. I promise.

But right now I have a warm, sleeping Terrence trying to lay on my typing hands, so I should probably go to sleep.

Plus I might shouldn’t be blogging at one thirty in the morning.

May blessings of all shapes, sizes, and weights fall upon your little heads in the swiftly ensuing season!

Love, A

Why I Hate Technology (Or, To Be More Specific, My Cellular Device)

Normally, I am somewhat a fan of technology. I like how texting means I don’t have to make an actual phone call. I like how the “like” button on Facebook means I don’t have to actually say anything about what I’m “liking”. I like how my Netbook works for fifteen hours even when it’s unplugged. I like how modern toilets mean that… well, let’s just say I like how convenient they make things.
Lately however, and several times before, this (see below) little guy has basically been the bane of my existence. Or, to avoid blatant exaggeration, the cause of soap in my eye. Literally.

In the past, my little cellular device here has sometimes decided to give me troubles, such as not receiving texts for example. Actually… that’s the only thing it’s done wrong, basically. (I need to work on not exaggerating) Anyways, it’s had spells where it worked perfectly fine, except for texts. People would text me (crazy, right??) and the text would just never show up! I might get it five hours later, or twenty-five hours later, I never knew.
But! It snapped out of that after a little while, and lately I haven’t had any trouble with it (except for when it’s fully charged, and dies after one little phone call).

Today, however, was a bit of an exception. Here’s what happened…

I was in the shower this morning (well, it probably wasn’t exactly morning if we’re going to be technical, but that doesn’t matter), because I needed a shower. My little phone was sitting on the towel shelf. I usually bring my phone with me so I can see how long I take in the shower. It was just sitting there quietly, and then a few minutes into my shower I heard it go off. It was on vibrate, but it’s vibrates really loudly (especially on wood) so I could hear it really well. I just figured, “oh, someone must have texted me. Probably Jamie or a cousin or something.”

So I went on washing my hair or whatever I was doing…

Couple minutes later, it went off again. And I thought to myself, “huh. Probably the same person. They must want me to answer or something.”

And then it went off a THIRD time. By now, I may or may not have been a little concerned. “Maybe it’s actually important? Or maybe it’s three different people… Or maybe it’s someone I haven’t talked to in like six months and they only have a few minutes to text and they really want me to answer them before they have to stop or before they get caught or something???”

So I decided to hurry. I had just finished washing my face with my goat’s milk soap (which is my least favorite part of showering, because I’m always afraid that I’ll get soap in my eyes -which I hate- or that when my eyes are closed while I’m rinsing the soap off my face that really scary clown from the end of this >>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucF0p3fN5DY<<< video will stick his face into the shower, scaring my crapless and possibly killing me [true story- don't mock me]), and as I went on to soaping up my arms and shoulders something horrible happened. I was looking down, watching what I was doing of course, and I accidentally threw a bunch of soap suds straight into my eyeball. With my own hand.

(That’s my soap, closest to the camera)

So then I had soap in my eye. My right eye. (which is my dominant one, by the way) And I was trying really hard not to cry because it hurt, but also trying really hard not to sort of scream with laughter because it was so funny even though it hurt, and I was trying to wash it out, and my eye was trying to stay shut even though it was burning and burning…

AND. During all of this, my phone vibrated twice more out on the shelf. TWICE.

So I pried my eye open, sort of rinsed the soap out, shaved my pits or whatever, and ended up cutting my shower short by about ten-fifteen minutes and not shaving my legs. (which really isn’t that big of a deal because no one’s going to be seeing them anyways)

So I got out of the shower and checked my phone.

And… lo and behold… it was DEAD.
I turned it back on, (it will live for just a few seconds more right after it dies) only to find out that there were no texts. Not a one.

And then I realized the awful truth. I had gotten soap in my eye, and not gotten to shave my legs, and cut ten blessed minutes off of my shower time, because my phone decided to vibrate five times (instead of the usual ONE) to tell me that the battery was low. And that it was dying.

I love my phone.

But actually what I REALLY love, is my soap.

(Yay for product placement!)

And I love having clean hair.

So the moral of the story, kids, is don’t rely on your cell phone! It will make you get soap in your eye, it will make you lose valuable shower time, it will DIE. Maybe someday it will be out of style. Clean hair, however, will never be out of style. So shower on, children, shower on.

Peace.

Al

P.S. Oh… And I guess I love this little thing…

I Eat Organic Peanut Butter

Just in case anyone wondered… I also love a lot of things.

Sometimes it astounds me the love I have for simple little things, or simple little people. (No, I didn’t have anyone in mind when I said that)

Another thing that astounds me is how often love and thanks are basically the same thing. When I list things I’m thankful for, it always strikes me that I might as well be listing things I love, because they’re one in the same, for the most part.

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1. Like cups of homemade hot chocolate in my Dr. Who sunflower mug when I’m home alone on a chilly November day.

2. Or the way I can use camera lens and shutter to make our (frankly quite homely) floor look not so bad, along with unfinished door area and walls that I painted.

3. Ginger cat in blue plush chair that really must go. (the chair, not the cat) Photogenic kitty is photogenic.

4. Parakeets… that we own for, I’m sorry, what reason? Oh that’s right, no reason. At least they’re cheerful about it. I can hear them now, chattering and picking on each other in the back room.

5. And of course… the wee little feathers that explode across the living room every time they have a little ruffle.

6. Patches of sunlight bursting through cloud cover to snuggle down in rarely clean corner.

7. Fat, happy kitties.
(Even though he’s really smiling through his teeth thinking “don’t you dare put me outside, you creep. I fight daily to get on this bed, and you ain’t makin me move.”)

8. Books in almost every room of the house.

9. Nibbley beaks of aforementioned birdtypes.

10. Photo-ops just sitting around the house, waiting for my creative eye to spot them.

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And last but not least, here’s yours truly. Feeling pretty good, and definitely ready for Christmas, if the t-shirt is any indication…

(Also needing new glasses.)

-Al

<3 <3

P.S. Here’s a bonus Moment with Terrence… Enjoy it while it lasts, he’s hardly ever like this.

-A

To All Those Little People Thrashing About In My Brain

She has always been proud of her multitasking. Her fingertips attack sticky typewriter keys, pounding out rhythm to rival that of dripping eaves.

Sky gently washes white framed window pane, hushing house noise and urging her; stay indoors. Feet cold in wool stockings curl and grip wooden chair rung, and pauses come; she cracks her cold stiff knuckles; One. Two. Three.

Cold cracked lips are touched by flash of warmth.

Coal grey yarn finds way into hands. Twisting and knotting; flawless harmony, growing under straight clacking needles.

Moss green eyes watch carefully, taking in not much, and flicking upwards, remembering characters spilling life onto typewriter paper.

People so real, springing forth from her overactive mind, laying out their life plans; clinging somewhat unwillingly. Knowing they want freedom; knowing she holds them in her loving, albeit cold, hands.

They find themselves mildly questioning; wondering if freedom would hold the answer. There might be something more out there, just waiting for them to meet it; hopes and heads high.

But perhaps it would be better to stay; tucked into security of creator’s sun gold, wheat field mind.

But what if she pushes them out? Forms life; world; love and hardship? Can they find peace in that? They wonder, lashes hovering over eye orb.

In time they may see the underlying plot, they muse. Knowing she knows all. She creates their darkest selves; their strongest fears and fiercest loves. She knows them.

And sometimes… just a little… they might see a touch of her in them. They might catch a glimpse of her face; the whole picture.

And it hits them like shattered glass. Piercing through even the toughest barkskin; she loves us. They fail. Fall. Give up. Give in. Cry. Break. Love. Feel. Fix. Heal. Help. Live.

They Live.

And they know that there is a complete picture, somewhere.

A picture that tells them; you are loved.

Every one of you; you are loved. Your tangled, self-cut hair; your nimble, sunbrown fingers; sense of style and pretense of dislike. The way you fling words; seemingly careless. Your desire to be loved; and vain attempts to hide it. She loves it all.

Even your dark minds. Self serving; never taught true value. She doesn’t blame you, you know. Your haughty casting about of yourself; choosing to be wrong. She knows what lies beneath all that. She knows the hurts you harbor in your aching, calloused soul; twisting and skewing your perception of otherwise beautiful.

Yet she loves you. Unconditionally, and forever. She loves you. For you are hers; birthed from a love of beauty and a creative spirit.

She loves you.

And if she had two hearts, they would both pump the same beat. They would push warm blood through her veins; and with every cycle they would push out love for you.

For you are hers, and she loves you.

Forever.

<3 <3