incubating

hellooooooooooo, writers, readers, bloggers & friends. i have missed writing and reading and blogging like crazy cakes, and i'm still here. this photo was the last one i took with the blog in mind. at easter...in april! thank you all for your messages and for not forgetting me :) here's an update, and also a response to a fun blogging tag game passed on to me by the chic and sassy new york nanny blogger Bess Weatherby. she doesn't know it, but she's just as cool as emma watson.

update first: turns out this egg is a fitting photo for a check-in blog post, because my life is all about waiting right now; it's an active waiting, a sitting-on-the-nest-growing-something-doing-all-the-right-things-toward-a-great-end-result kind of waiting. i did indeed pass my teaching certification test!!! it took six very long weeks to get the results, but not only did i pass the exam, i kinda kicked it's tiny test hiney. since then i've done a mini-student-teaching experience, attended classes two nights a week plus saturdays, done a slew of online work, "performance tasks," and reading. i've applied for about a hundred teaching jobs and gone on only one interview. so i'm still looking for a classroom of my own. still dreaming about what it will be like to live the dream of teaching. still waiting for that call. and, as a matter of fact, i'm still sending letters out - only they're not query letters, they are 'letters of interest.' turns out that the process of finding a teaching position feels very like trying to get a book published. right down to competing with hundreds (even thousands?) of really talented people. agonizing. wonderfully hope-filled one moment and despairing the next. practicing patience and seeking peace here. need to spend time writing again. 

as i mentioned before, bess kindly tagged me in a post with some questions. here are my answers:

What do you think of when you the hear the word tag?

summer nights. chirping crickets. red popsicles. limeade. off bugspray.


Do you think you're hot?

through this long texas summer i know i'm hot... er, that was what you meant, wasn't it??


Upload a picture or wallpaper that you're using at the moment.

see egg.


When was the last time you ate chicken?

last week - drumsticks! 


The song(s) you listened to recently.

Body & Soul by Susan Ashton - on the way to my job interview. It reminded me that I am so much more than acceptances or rejections by potential employers. 


What were you thinking as you were doing this?

How much i've missed blogging and writing and reading my favorite blogs.


Do you have nicknames? What are they?

My aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces - sometimes my brothers - call me Demi. My kids call me Mama (though my youngest has just begun, endearingly, to call me mommy for the first time). Friends often call me Dem. Kids at the school where I worked took to calling me Mrs. B - which I love because that's what my Grammie's students used to call her. And speaking of grandmothers, these are my favorite nicknames: Grammie called me Sweet Pea, and my Grandmommie (still with us at 90 years old!) calls me Doll. The sound of their voices blessing me with affection is like warm honey... I will carry those memories with me to the other side one day.


Tag 8 blogger friends...


1.  Jessica Lemmon
2.  Alison Treat
3.  Kat Magendie
4.  Hillary Raining
5.  Lena Roy
6.  Amanda Bindel
7.  Stacy Mayfield
8.  Nolan


Who's listed as No. 1?
Jessica Lemmon is one of the first bloggers I connected with online.  Her blog "Smile, Feel Good" lives up to its name so very well :)  And she can write love scenes.


Say something about No. 5
I learned about Lenda Roy from my dear friend Alison Treat.  What I know about Lena is that she is a fabulous published writer, a faithful blogger and that even though she is Madeleine L'Engle's granddaughter, she is (as I suspect was the case with her grandmother, too) a gracious and grounded soul.


How did you get to know No. 3?
Kat is another magnanimous blogger and talented published author. She is so committed to the concept of community among writers that she takes a blog walk many Sunday mornings, making a point to visit blogs she's never visited before.  She visited here and left a kind comment once and has come back again to share her writing.  She is also an editor for the Rose & Thorn journal - where I published my first short story early this year!


How about No. 4.
I met Hillary in Pennsylvania. She is one of the coolest, hippest people I know, not to mention the fact that she's a gorgeous young wife, mom, and Episcopal priest. Seriously. AND she's doing a super-ambitious thing this year - trying something new each and every day and then blogging about it.  Her blog, 365 Alive is fun to read and a true inspiration.


Leave a message for No. 6.
Amanda, see you on Sunday! Thank you for all you do for the children of St. Julian's and also for your bright smile :) 


Leave a lovey dovey message for No. 2.
Alison, you are one of my favorite people in the world. I will always remember and cherish the gift of our writing group and the nine years we spent building our friendships and nurturing each other as we shared our dreams, fears, and hopes about writing. I love you!!


Do No. 7 and No. 8 have any similarities?
They both have a wicked sense of humor :)


Tag to you, bloggy friends!!


see you all, sooner than later. promise. please write (by clicking comments below) and tell me what you're incubating right now? what are you working on, thinking about, wishing for? or just write me a story :)

delayed

hello to anyone who's still out there
i'm still right here... just busier than i've ever been
preparing for a teacher certification exam this weekend
taking classes, working, being mom
i miss writing with you all very much
hope to be back soon
until then, keep writing!!

cycle

welcome, readers & writers! thank you for your contributions and comments last week. it gives me comfort to traverse the rough terrain of this life together.

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this week's photo prompt bids welcome to spring. short story, poem or creative non-fiction ~ writers, come write with me... click on comments below to share. readers, your comments are also most welcome. here's my spin (ha!) on the photo:

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Peter pedaled patiently up and down the length of his street, from second avenue all the way to fifty-first, where Highway 33 made it impossible for him to cross. He made the loop a dozen times a day now, despite the fact that Evie worried about him. Oh, she clucked on about how his new recumbent bicycle was too low, how it was barely taller than their grandson's tricycle, how he was going to get rolled over one day by a harried mother in a minivan or a businessman on his blue-tooth, blazing off to a meeting. Peter just smiled and kissed her forehead and promised her again that he was watching, that he wasn't a toddler on the loose, but a bonafide grown-up.  Eighty years old now. His eyesight was great. His scar was healing.  He'd tossed that blasted heart pillow out with the trash last week. He was determined not to waste a moment of the time that his insurance company and his doctor's Harvard degree had bestowed upon him. Excercise. Rest. Low sodium diet. Hell, if he didn't have dentures now he'd even be up for flossing. Twice a day. That's how serious he was about this. 

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Evie didn't know it yet, but he had a mind to ride in the Senior Sprint at the end of the summer. Sixty miles. It would suck up a lot of time to get ready for a race like that. Time away from his wife. Time not spent with his grandkids. But, and he didn't know how to explain this to them without sounding like a simpering school girl, riding his bike made him feel like a boy again. With the wind in his ears anyway, his hearing loss didn't matter, didn't even exist. When he rode past honeysuckle trees and lilac bushes, when the wind blew his hair back off his forehead, when he pumped his legs hard and threw them back for a quick stop, he was ten again. At the beginning of the long, winding tunnel and not heading for that confounded light. On his bike the world was new and he had thousands of days left to enjoy it.  

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heartbreak

welcome, readers & writers.

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today my heart is heavy with the heartbreak of the planet... for our world neighbors in Japan, for the unrest across the middle east, for the struggles that folks in our own country are facing each day. so let's write about it ~ poems, stories or reflections of solidarity and hope. click on comments below to join me. also, in case you're thinking of making a donation for relief efforts in Japan but don't know where, here's a link to an organization we really trust: erd (Episcopal Relief & Development).

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the world has shifted on its axis, so they say

how can it not, under the monstrous burden of sorrow it bears?

the earth falters and buckles 

oceans of salty tears storm the shore, innocent and clumsy  

how can water bend steel? break life? 

search. mourn. remove rubble. be. die inside. rest. be again. emerge. try.

the only hope i see today is the mystery of heaven

an island of peace in a golden sea of forever

where they wait, in the know

where they wait with love

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frisson

welcome, readers & writers! 

my new posting schedule is simple:  mondays. do feel free to come back through the week and read what others have written, or to add another installment to your story, poem or creative non-fiction reflection on the photo :) over the summer i should be able to pick it up again, but for now i'm chained to my computer in other ways that don't involve creative writing - boo hoo!!! i am excited, however, about finally becoming an elementary school teacher hopefully sometime in the near future.

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i'm thrilled today to welcome a guest photographer and writer, Mr. Chuck Galle. Chuck, an actor and writer, has been a steady contributor to write away every day, and i'm glad to call him my writing friend. ahhh the wonder of the internet to be able to introduce friends across thousands of miles! Chuck has a book out, Stories I Never Told My Daughter which, at this very moment is winging its way from amazon to my house in Texas.  it's been in my shopping cart for a few months now, and i can't wait to read it, finally!! Click here to visit Chuck's blog & website. thank you, Chuck, for such a lovely and intriguing photo and for it's written companion. I'll be back later in the week to write about the photo myself - I'm already feeling inspired! see below for Chuck's spin on his photo:

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So, what else would you do with a camera in hand, waiting for someone, wandering around in the atrium of the Institute of Contemporary Art with its new Wall Of Mirrors just put up last week, and the only person there is also trying to find how to handle this eye feast with her camera? We acknowledged each other, then set about our unique visions. Since there were only we two we couldn't help trying to not be the follower of the other, nor impose some competitiveness in our quests, picking "the" right angle. And yet, we found ourselves trading off each other's ideas. There was no flirting, perhaps she was waiting for someone also, but our exercises kept generating a bit of frisson here, a bit there. And then my friend showed up. The other photographer and I had jostled ourselves into the positions where we were obviously going to catch each taking each, but we both saw the potential at the same time. Joanne stepped across the floor, and serendipitously a guy, who turned out to be who the other photographer was waiting for came around the corner from the entrance and we both caught each other; I caught her directly and, along with my friend and hers in the mirror and she caught all three of us in the mirror she was aimed it. Voila!

perseverant

readers & writers, hello again! having read lots of advice about blogging, i know i'm not supposed to apologize for not posting for so long... or to explain why i've been away.  but i'm going to anyway. i've missed several days because life has been overwhelmingly busy. but thankfully, it's all good stuff. i've started a new job, i'm back in school, and as always i've got the mama & wife thing going on. i also had the wonderful opportunity to fly to Pennsylvania for the wedding of two good friends. i'm back now... and will do my best to get back to blogging, back to the writing (and the writing friends) i've really been missing :)

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writers, join me in writing about this photo prompt?  share your story, poem or creative non-fiction response by clicking on comments below.  here's my spin on the photo: 

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Foundational.  When I look at these rocks that's a word that comes to mind. And solid, and weighty, and ancient. Patient, present, resolute. There's something about stones, like trees, that makes me think they are quietly breathing, bearing silent witness to the lives which bustle and swirl around them. They remind me of other foundational pieces of my life: the unconditional love of family, the affection of dear friends, of how the world keeps spinning and soaking in the warmth of the sun for us. I want to find that speckled rock again in the heat of the day and hold it in my hands, running my fingers over its pocked terrain and pressing it to my lips with a prayer of gratitude.       

shivered

readers & writers, welcome. hope your weekend brought you some time to rest and play. our weekend was pretty kind to us; in between study sessions (i'm back in school now) and loads of laundry (i'm back to work now, too!) we had some good fun.

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speaking of good fun... howsabout a writing exercise? take a look at my photo above and see what short story, poem or creative non-fiction response bubbles up in you...  then simply write it down and share it with us by clicking on comments below! i love to read your work. here's my spin on the photo:

"We want to eat on the patio," she said with a shiver. "Really?" I said. She stared me down. "Patio." Her boyfriend or husband or whatever shrugged, so I led them outside, grabbing a wet cloth from the bar on the way.  After wiping down the table and laying out their silverware and menus, I told them Cindy would be right out. They were still standing. He made an effort to pull out her chair for her, but she grabbed it and yanked it out of his hand. When she sat down, her chair was a couple of feet from the table. He hesitated a moment, then sat down at his place and thanked me. I walked away, shivering myself.  I heard her chair scrape forward a couple of inches at a time across the concrete. 

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"What's it gonna be?" she said, just as I reached the door. I paused.

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"Um, salsa or queso do you mean?" he asked. 

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"No," she said. "I mean her or me?" 

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I really, really wanted to stay and hear his answer. I was dying to. But there wasn't a way to do it without being super obvious. And anyway it was freezing out. So I opened the door and went back to my hostess stand, wondering what other adventures Valentine's Day might bring.

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