10/8/11 - A Bradley Classic

I love to watch the drum break! So intent! Bailey was practicing his piece in the band room when the Dallas Brass came and the manager stepped into the room to listen to him and said..."Seriously?" Evidently amazed that they were teaching such difficult music to high schoolers. Thanks Band Directors for challenging our kids!

10/8/11 - A Bradley Classic

This is my crazy percussionist! Memories!

Happy Birthday to me and various other friends!

I am fortunate to share my birthday with several people in my home church.  We are the 10-22 Gang.  There are about 5 or 6 of us.  I don't think I have ever shared my birthday with so many friends in my life.  So I just want to say to the 10-22 Gang, "Happy Birthday! I hope your day is filled with hugs, kisses, cake, funny dancing, silly jokes, laughter and dear friends." 

The agenda for my day:
          8:30 Sweet whispers and pillow talk with my Love, JC.
          9:30 Breakfast in bed, made by my wonderful daughter and carried in by my darling son.
        10:00 Blog, Facebook time, writing,
        11:30 Play the Piano, Guitar, Flute, bongos.
        12:30 Just Dance
          1:30 Shower, nap, write some more, anything I want to do...hammock time...read...whatever hits me.
          4:30 Dinner with friends and family.  It's Gumbo night! YAY!
          7:00 Concert, Dallas Brass and the best of the Walker Valley Band (Bailey is playing....oh yeah,
                  proud mommy!)
          9:30 Fire pit and cake.
          12:00 Writing until I fall asleep.

An absolutely PERFECT DAY!
Hope all your days are as sweet!
        

Dream Tree

Last night I dreamed of a tree.  Not just any tree mind you, this was an epic tree.  It was in Ampeliagia on an atoll in the middle of the Cedo River.  It was on an island that is suspended at the intersection of three Rivers.  On this tiny island sits an enormous tree.  (Tsian the Wise will go there to search the Chalice of Light in Book Four of the Saga of the Sisterhood, Refrain, Bard of Ampeliagia.)

The tree in my dream was monstrous.  The root system alone was a gnarled mass of mountainous black roots.  The Questers had to climb over and under the massive root system to get to the enormous tree.  The roots arched high over their heads in places and posed huge obstacles for them to climb and repel.  That was already in the book.

What I didn't know, until my dream informed me last night, was that the top of the tree was home to many indigents of the Darchewud Forest, people who had built a city in the top of this enormous tree. They had woven branches together to form buildings and homes, archways and bridges.  They had suspended star stones in the branches to light the tree city during the night.

Also new information to me was that the rivers had dug a canyon and the tree branches were woven together to reach over and make causeways spanning the tops of the cliffs, so that you could walk from one cliff to the next through the branch bridges. 

It was a beautiful visit to the home of the Darchori Tree Dwellers.  They live in peace with nature and are artisans by their very existence and harmony with the trees.  I can't wait to spend more time with these beautiful people and their glorious tree city.

Freaky Friday

I have a great Freaky Friday story to tell you about money falling out of the sky...but I need to get permission first, so I will leave you with this quote from one of my Blue Monkey Friends.

"Somewhere in each book is its writer's soul. Sometimes it's in the words, and sometimes it's between the lines."  Saviin Cyare

Monster in the Deep by LaDonna Cole

A writer friend of mine posted a contest on her facebook page with a picture.  I wanted to share my entry with my friends.  Enjoy!



The Monster in the Deep
By LaDonna Cole

Lacy stood, staring into the vanity mirror, lipstick suspended between her chin and her mouth. Staring deeply into the reflection, she felt at odds with the familiar stranger. She hated her for what she was inside, dark, monstrous, deceitful. She loved her because she must, right?

As though she were trapped in a Celtic maze, set apart from time and space, Lacy bored into the soul of the reflection. She avoided mirrors usually, because they always accused her with those haunting eyes, deep sadness pooled there.  A black lake filled with poisonous eels, ravenous sharks, and tentacles of torturous thought spilled out to suck her into the doom infested waters.

She was snared in them now. Icy shards of conversation memories stabbed into her heart.  Words that were spoken into her without malice, but gouging chunks out of her soul, the sharps stones ricocheted around in her endlessly-- creating, reshaping who she was and who she would ever become.  Those thoughts weren’t even the monsters, as frightening and cutting as they were.

The monster was Lacy.

She knew it deep inside where tentacles stroked her thoughts and fangs bared her soul.  She was a hateful being, there was no redeeming quality in her.  When people lightly threw around the phrase, “be yourself”, she withdrew into a darker place.  She knew she could never do that.  If people only knew the blighted soul that lived inside her frail frame and smiling face, they would run away screaming.

The red of the lipstick reminded her of the violent hatred that was submerged beneath the glassy surface.  She drew a shuddering breath and blinked, breaking the hold of the mirror. She glanced down at the light green tube in front of her and carefully raised it to her lips without making eye contact with the beast. Smoothing the blood red balm across her lips, she stared at the puckered pout, then rubbed them together and smacked, resisting the tide pull above them.

Her day called to her.  “Come and play, Lacy.”  She snapped off the light switch and walked away from the reflecting pool.  She was done with her deep sea diving for the day.  The introspective entanglement would wait until tomorrow.  Today, she had other mud puddles to wade through, puddles that were shallow and less menacing. 

Magical Moments on Mundane Monday

There were so many mundane moments today, that I have had a difficult time of finding any magic. Had a near miss this morning at the breakfast table with my son. It was wonderful to be able to sit with him for all of two minutes and crunch on our breakfast together. Then I had another near miss when my dog came to the patio door and wagged her tail like I was a sight for sore eyes. When my daughter came to visit me at her lunch break was very nearly a magical moment for me.
Monday's have become one of my favorite days since I started this column because I am looking for magical moments to write about. All of the everyday ho-hum suddenly has become glitter covered with potential, figuratively bedazzled. (Click...ooohh ahhh!)

My magical whimsy button was finally tickled when a friend posted this on a shared site and the sounds took my imagination to fantastic places.

Enjoy Gungor-Wake Up Sleeper.