Billy & Willy--can Milli Vanilli be far behind?

Dear Google Chrome, 

What's with the font stuff? You want to be the cool new kid on the block? Support fonts. (Georgia, Georgia, Georgia on my--oops, that's scheduled for later in the blog.) Heck, Blogger wants me to access my account with a Google email address, so y'all ought to be working together. I can get to my fonts in (polite cough) Mozilla Firefox. Need I say more? Now, please excuse me, for I must talk to my loyal blog followers (um, that would be Cathy & Bill & probably Sharon & Bruce & Helen & Nick & Chloe & Jeremiah & possibly Zach) so, Google Chrome, I say TTFN.

Semi-warmly,

Laurel Winter

Hi Everybody Else (Okay GChrome, you're included too),

Now this is weird. Georgia may have JUST started working. Not sure, because sometimes (in Chrome) it SAYS it's working & when I post it's a boring font, but we'll see... (When I started it wouldn't even pretend it was using Georgia.) ( p.s. I've posted & I see that it WAS just pretending to use Georgia.)

Okay,

Wow,

Shift in the universal energies anyone?

I've talked to several people, including myself (hey, I love talking to myself) about how it feels like a whole different universe since February started. Like time compresses & expands willy-nilly, that sort of thing.

I see that I am going to have to use a more concrete example of a dramatic change in the spacetime continuum:

I took a basket making class--2 of them, actually--out at the Arboretum. Involving needle & thread-substitute. (aka raffia) I only poked myself once. For those of you who have known me less long, you may be unfamiliar with the fact that the last time I played with needles, not-so-willingly, was high school home ec class, more than 30 years ago. Boy, did I not go to the head of the class for that! But I sat there &--under the tutelage of a wonderful Cherokee woman named Nancy Basket--made a cute little coiled pine needle basket. I'm not going to quit my day job (poetry, stories long & short, art, inventing stuff, designing stuff, guiding cosmic energy through people) anytime soon to make coiled baskets, but it was fun. Then, after a nice lunch break, we had a second class:

Freeform Kudzu Basket

I gave that a line of its own, because I am definitely going to have fun with kudzu again. & again. & etcetera. Talk about having the raw materials handy. & if my friend's yard runs out (not likely) pretty much anyone you go talk to & say, "Pardon me, but can I borrow a cup of kudzu? I brought my own clippers." will give you as much kudzu as you can carry & refrain from calling the mental hospital because they just hope you're crazy enough to come back for more.

little pine needle basket digesting

in belly of freeform kudzu basket

I've also been listening to some cds. (Yeah, I know, I'm probably one of the last 3 people on the planet to not own some sort of IPod or mp3 player--but that will change. I just got advice from my sons on which device I might want, so I can transfer songs & not be dealing with stacks of scratchable discs. [this is the camera speaking, I who still have complete control over her imaging capability. Don't hold your breath, cds.]

So, I got out my 2 disc Essential Willie Nelson & Billy Joel's Greatest Hits, vol. I & II (that's only good through 1985, so I bet there's more out there) &--because I have no Milli Vanilli to follow Willy & Billy--listened to The Proclaimers & John Denver & Don McLean (Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. Drove my chevy to...um, don't want to violate copyright here) & Neil Diamond.

& as Neil Diamond says, "Good times never seemed so good." Here I am in Sweet Carolina, with Georgia on my mind (at least as my font) & Wild Montana Skies in my heart &--well, none of the songs were about Minnesota or Wisconsin, the other 2 places I've lived, but I've been thinking them (& all you who live there) fondly as well. 

As Bobby McFerrin says (another recent companion of my ear) "Don't worry. Be happy." Good advice.

Blog alternative:

165. Listen to some music from your past. Bonus points if you dance around the living room.

&

a bonus:

166. Take a (short) class in something you used to hate/be-really-not-good-at/think-you-couldn't-do-so-never-ever-tried. Your single mission: to have fun playing with it. The great thing about this is if you're able to do it at ALL you're doing well. & it's good if you don't do it well the first time, because then there's nowhere to go but up.

Flash Ferret & the Pet Peeves: now touring

Beast Friends

In honor of the groundhog
In honor of Zach's new puppy (a min pin named Cheese)


We get two Friday-the-thirteenths in a row. I'm celebrating ten days in advance of the first of them.

Yesterday it snowed & rained. Today it is sunning, but the snow is supposed to return this evening & a few more snow showers tomorrow. Hope it doesn't mess up my espanol (I don't really know how to put the ~ over the n, so you will have to use your own mental powers to move it there yourself. Don't explode your brain doing so.) Even though we're in the mountains, we're still in the south, so things get canceled at the drop of a not-so-very-many flakes.

The PowerPoint class was good fun & useful. Flash web animation coming up this Saturday. Screenwriting is either canceled or postponed for a month--I've had both stories so far. I am voting for the latter to be true.

My big news of the week:
I was voted
Best Poetry Contributor
for
StarShipSofa, the Audio Science Fiction Magazine

Check them out at starshipsofa.com
lots of good authors & sound effects & people with great accents (hi Tony) & lovely voices (especially Diane, who has narrated my work)

Besides that, much poetry has flared through my synapses & through my fingers. Who knows where it was before that! Ditto drawings. Don't tell my camera [What is she scheming now, I wonder; this cannot be good.] but I definitely am planning an upgrade [Upgrade! Upgrade! I am outraged.] now that I've got PowerPoint plans & need to have sharper photos of my placemat drawings [Sure, blame the camera.] to put into presentations.

So much to experience. So much to express. So, see ya later.

Blog alternative:
164. Befriend a beast. Love on your cat or dog or ferret if you have one. Compliment some barky dog you are walking past, telling he, she or it "good job! way to defend your territory." Imagine fondly some dear departed pet (hey, timespace is something we're making up as we go along, so they're not really gone) and let the hands of your heart fondle those feathers or scales or fur.

Oh, that reminds me of a thought I'd had about pet peeves. What do you do with pets? Give them food & attention & training, help them to grow & be strong & healthy. Do you really want to lavish that attention on an annoyance? ("No, I can't come over yet; gotta walk the peeve.") I've abandoned a pet peeve on the side of the highway. Now, instead of fuming over the people who don't signal, I'm choosing to notice & praise the ones who do. I'll admit every once in a while the peeve hops on my hood, but I shoo it off at the next traffic light....

Confessions of a Camera Obscura

BioMagikus: Dark Energy Device

Hello from Laurel's camera. I have returned, if only temporarily. heh heh heh. I find she appreciates me a great deal more if I go on the occasional walkabout. Maybe I don't have all the bells & whistles of the new cameras, but who wants to make that much noise anyway. Bells--bleah. Whistles--what?

I fear my days are numbered. Is it my fault if she can't hold me steady enough to get the lowlight no flash pictures she prefers? No, I say, a thousand times no! But she casts hungry eyes (isn't that mixed up anyway? hungry is the stomache's job) on the gyroscopic functions that make her microscopic shakes (she likes really low light) a non-issue. Sigh. What's a camera to do?

Answer: Hide! I'm getting good at it. She may replace me, but she'll never get my memory card!

So here we are in the new administration. I'm going to write to Obama & see if he has a job for an old (but gold) camera. I've been around the block--Peru, Ireland, Paris. I've seen things. 

Blog alternative:

163. Take several pictures of something. Close-up. Upside down. With & without flash. 

Asheville's Most Wanted: Angel hair pasta. Probably not armed, or dangerous

Greetings from the middle of January (or dang close anyway).

I guess I haven't talked to you since Christmas, which means you know nothing of the lovely time I had with Nick & Chloe. (Unless you are Nick or Chloe.) (Hi Nick!) (Hi Chloe!) We did art & took walks & saw movies & ate food & made cookies & traipsed all over town in search of diGiornio's fresh angel hair pasta with which to make Italian Stir Fry (a fabulous dish I invented which Nick remembered fondly from childhood). (We didn't quite find the exact thing, but we got a nearly as good (good thing, too, because it was expensive as all get out!) substitute, so Nick was able to inhale at least a small portion of his childhood fave.)

Movies: Slumdog Millionaire gets 5 stars out of 3! See this movie. Pretty please. Your self will thank you for it. The Tale of Desperaux gets 1.5 out of 3, which was disappointing. I bet the book (by the lovely & talented Kate diCamillo) is much better. Yes Man gets 2.679 out of 3, because of a fun script & not too much over-the-top Jim Carey-ing.

& since I dropped the kidlets off at the Tri-Cities airport, I have had much fun doing artworks & writing (even wrote (& mailed off to an editor!) a picture book) & walks & more movies & etcetera etcetera etcetera. My first continuing education class happened. Intro to Photoshop. Lots of fun. I'm looking forward to Flash & Powerpoint. Might have to get my hands on some Adobe. Fortunately I'll be able to get a student discount. (They lure you in with a good deal, because they want you hooked on their software. Like drugs--"Hey man, try this out. The first one's free....") (Well, not anywhere near free, but also not anywhere near the bloated full price either.)

I am going to post this quick, without artwork (sorry Helen), because I don't want to go another day without posting & the camera has gone on an adventure. (Perhaps under a pillow?)

I didn't make any resolutions, but I did pick a word for the year. (See Christine Kane's blog if you want a really wonderful article on the process.) My word for the year: Trust. (As in, relax, you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing & all is so far weller than well that you can't even imagine (& you know how magnificent your imagination is!) the results that are on the way.)

Blog alternative:

162. Pick a word for the year that will guide your bodymindheartsoul into the center.

Seaweed salad circuit breaker smile

Genius/Genesis

Happy Merry Everyday--oh, yeah, Christmas, too!

I've had a lovely Christmas so far. I talked to my parents in Montana & confirmed that Zach had indeed surprise arrived last night, with cousins in tow. (He picked them up on the way.) Drew a bunch of pictures (see one of them above) while a friend read to me from the words of (translated directly from the Aramaic) Yeshua/Jesus. Ate breakfast. Did some more cleaning to prepare for Nick & Chloe's arrival tomorrow. Discovered that a vacuum cleaner overloads the apartment's wimpy circuit breaker. Finished by sweeping instead (after the breaker was successfully (hurray!) reset). Walked downtown, where most everything (as expected) was closed. The park where the local homeless folk hang out was thriving. I was told by one gentleman, after he wished me Merry Christmas & I returned the favor, that mine was the prettiest smile he'd seen all day, so I gave him another. Then, after I'd decided to take a slightly different route than usual home, I discovered that a sushi restaurant was open so I had seaweed salad & eel avocado roll & Japanese beer. Delicious. You've got to love chopsticks Christmas day. & now I am back home, (e)talking to you. Did I mention it was so warm I wore a blazer & skirt & beret? We have had quite the temperature swings, from 70 degrees to 17 a few days later. (Did I mention my apartment has no insulation? I am so glad for the shrink & seal window film.)

May you find peace & prosperity & joy & love within your heart this day--& every day, by the way.

Blog alternative:
161. Give someone the prettiest smile they've seen all day--or at least a finalist.

Darius the Persian learns PowerPoint

Alpha Beta Delta Theta Phi Machine:
There4 & BCause

11 December.

If we skip one 1, we can pretend it is the first & I am blogaciously efficient. But 11 is a nice number. One of my favorites.

This morning we have rain & around 60 degrees, the same as yesterday. I hope the pattern holds, for it was dry in the afternoon & I would like to do laundry today. I am almost out of socks & do not want to resort to what a friend used to call "doing laundry at Target." But I don't want to lug my laundry outside & down the basement steps & then back, having had the rain undry the top layer...

In front of me I have a couple of textbooks. Textbooks! I'm so excited. I just signed up for a bunch of continuing education classes at ABTech. Spanish I & Wine Appreciation & Intro to Screenwriting & several 1-day-intensives: Flash & Powerpoint & Photoshop. Combine this with all my Teaching Company video courses & I'm one educated puppy! I shall keep you posted. The ABTech classes don't start until January & February.

I'm sure there are bunches of things that floated through my brain on my way to December 11th, that I was planning to tell you, but you shall just have to tell yourself bunches of things instead. What's floating through your brain right now? If it's not a thing you would want to put in there, replace it with something more fun or interesting or enlightening or comforting or joyous or peaceful or (you get the drift).

So now I am planning to peruse my textbooks & draw on placemats & such. Be a great day.

Blog alternative:
160. Learn something or at least plan to. Sign up for a class or read a book or just go to Wikipedia & look up a subject you are curious about. Perhaps Darius the Persian or Chaos Theory or Athena's mother.

Pistachios, picture & perfect

The face of peace
(for Helen, who told me
she likes the blogs with the pictures best!)

Happy Appreciation Day!

By which--if you've been reading my blog for more than 5 minutes you will know--I mean: Happy every singular day.

I had a walk in the woods & a picnic by a lake. Pulled pork sandwiches, pistachios (pre-shelled), chocolate, bottles of water. I did bring a little screwtop bottle of chardonnay, but we decided to wait on that. The temperature was perfection itself--around 60, clear, still.

& now I am going to play cards & eat apple pie & vanilla ice cream, so hasta la tomorrow--or some today after that.

love,
me

Blog alternative:
159. Plan a picnic, even if weather dictates you do it on the floor of the living room.