music or time machine?

Music is like having your own time machine.

Seriously, think about it.
Songs trigger memories from the past. Music and words we listened to have a tendencancy to mark every period of our life. I know certain lyrics are capable of shifting my mood. Many can make me laugh or cry. I've even experienced shoulder dancing...yes, while driving the car. Just let the right song come on the radio and it literally moves me till I'm singing my heart out, bouncing and dancing to the music with the speakers blasting. Who cares what the other drivers are thinking? Not me. Because for a few wonderful minutes I'm a teenager again, and they take nothing serious! Who-oo! Whether it's Tom Jones belting out ‘She’s a Lady’ or the Bee Gee's singing 'Staying Alive,' I crank it up and cruise!

Admit it, just the title conjures up the image of John Trovolta rocking in his white leisure suit, right?

No doubt about it, the music and lyrics often sends me tumbling backwards and feeling like a kid again. Back when I could do anything, be anything. Because I believed. I was invincible. That's powerful stuff.

But on the other end, what’s it like to know that your music has touched someone so deeply? That the thoughts and feelings poured into the words of a song has reached inside and connected with a total stranger. Writing of any kind is like griping your heart and wringing it out like a rag, squeezing out every emotion for the world to see.


Singer/songwriter Skip Ewing recently shared a video link in which he talked about the rush of performing live and looking out into an audience, listening to them singing the words to songs that he wrote. Like any arist, whether it's painting or what, he claims that you "reach the hearts of others by opening your own."

Listen to the interview here

So this afternoon I'll go about my ordinary chores with the radio on. And maybe take a trip on 'The last train to Clarksville' or listen to Billy Paul sing about what's going on with him and 'Mrs. Jones,' Who knows? I might even take a 'Magical Mystery Tour.' The possiblities are endless. And all because of songs. And the authors who wrote them.

Where does your favorite song take you?

A release date for Night Bird

I'm so excitied to announce the release date for my novella, Night Bird. Night Bird will be published by The Wild Rose Press and you'll be able to purchase it on their website www.TheWildRosePress.com. Also through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.


And check out the cover.

Release Date: 2012-05-02 (Please note that this means generally by noon on release day, not at midnight.)

What if you found love in the last moments of your life? Or is death just the beginning....

Blurb: Travis Howland washes up on the shores of Lost Isle and into the arms of an angel. Known as the Night Bird, Emma Samson dedicates her afterlife to a solitary existence on Lost Isle, easing the passage of the dying. When she finds Travis weak and desperate, she gives him the only gift she has—a few more days to settle his affairs before his death. Sorely lacking in faith, Travis lives life with no thought for the future. When his lovely rescuer claims he has died, he can't believe it. He must warn his father that their ship was plundered by a greedy business partner, but only a leap of faith can save him. Together, Emma and Travis use his last few hours to avenge the traitorous deeds that torment him, and along the way discover that love can be found in any stage of life…even after death.

I really like the cover and especially love the deep blue. And goes perfectly with my new name Teresa Blue. What do you think?

An old fashioned Christmas

I love Christmas and even though it's a hectic time, it's a wonderful time as well. An entire month filled with colored lights, cheerful music and wintry scenes that will take your breath away. Not to forget those warm holiday stories on television...channel, after channel, after channel. And so, dragging out the boxes of stuff stored in the basement, I can't help but find myself caught up in the season. And discover a perfect opportunity to reflect on memories of Christmases past.

A favorite of mine is the story of Rudolf. Written in 1939 by Robert L. May who worked in advertising at the time for Montgomery Ward. His creative story idea was about a shiny, red nosed reindeer that helps Santa deliver toys on Christmas Eve. Gene Autry immortalized Rudolf in a song in 1949 and then in 1964, the cheery little reindeer starred in his own television show! Of course we know the rest of the story ...
has gone down in his-tor-y.
An orignal copy of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is valued around eighteen hundred dollars!



And how about all those holiday tins filled with shortbread cookies? Mmm, that buttery tasting biscuit stacked in a tin and glistening with sugar. A container too pretty to throw away becomes a collectable. This tin was created in the 40's by Douglass Crockwell, an artist whose work rivaled the other well known artist of that time. This Tiny Tim tin (say that three times ) has quadrupled in value.

I always pair it up with THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP plate. This plate was produced by the Royal China Co. A popular pattern that resembled the wintery London scene when Bob Cratchit popped the 'blooming topper' with an icy snowball. (The top hat just happened to be sitting on Mr. Scrooge's head!

These lovely note cards I found at a treasure store in town. Called select-a-notes because of the small stickers designed to personalize the invitation to said event or luncheon. From the moment I saw them (I found an entire box) I loved them.




December is a busy month but when I get overwhelmed at all there is yet to do,
I crack a couple of chestnuts or maybe peel an orange. And reflect on the warm fuzzy memories of season's past...in this century and others.

Finally, let me share a very tasty and simple candy recipe for delicious, creamy caramels. I've made these four times already since Thanksgiving. They are wonderfully addictive and so easy to make!

CARAMELS

2 c brown sugar
1 c Karo syrup (light)
1 14oz can sweetened condensensed milk.
1 c butter
1/2 c chopped black walnuts (opt)


Butter dish or cookie sheet. In a med. saucepan add all ingredients and cook over moderate heat. Bring to a gentle rolling boil and begin timing. Boil for 12 minutes -set timer- stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add nuts if desired. Pour into prepared pan. Allow to cool at least several hours. Cut and wrap in wax paper. This candy keeps a very long time in a holiday tin. Enjoy!

National Novel Writing Month-- Nano

I’m preparing for my very first Nano writing experience and have been scribbling like crazy a rough outline for a book I'll try to complete in thirty days.
30 days?! Like, am I nuts? It generally takes me a good year to complete a first draft and another year to revise it. Whatever foolish notion makes me think I can come up with an entire novel in one month?
Well...I won't know until I try. And it’s supposed to be like unleashing your dog-- 'er, muse, (my dogs go nuts when I unleash them, running with wild abandon across the yard and into the woods) setting 'em free with no editing what so ever. No going back to re-write. This, I know, will absoultely drive me bonkers because I love to read what I've written. Really, and in case you haven't guessed, let me confess. I am my own favorite author. I can spend days, weeks...Months!! even reading and tweaking a string of dialogue or two, maybe sprinkle in just a tad more description to flavor the scene. No, on second thought, take that out because it slows down the pace. Twittle and change. It's what I love to do. See why I need Nano? I swear some folks really do benefit from a swift kick in the rear and I'm one of them. So, I'm planning to give the entire month of November my best efforts at completing 50 or 60,000 word novel titled, Road Trip.
It’ll be fun to see what sort of thing my creative muse comes up with when not forced into a certain plot. I've got a sketchy outline with Dottie and Earl Stone, two minor characters from my previous novel, Man of her Dreams. They were the parents in said story and have hit the highways and side ways for a little R & R. I'm anxious to discover what types of folks they'll meet along their way, traveling on the back of a vintage motorcycle. I hope the weather’s nice. Or wait…maybe a downpour would be more promising, with flickering bolts of lightning, could be raining buckets of icy water. Suppose the only shelter in sight is an abandoned mine shaft.
Oh, yeah. Definitely a possibility. Finally there’s more in November than turkey.
Good luck Nano’ers!

Farewell to All My Children

Things are changing so quickly that what's customary today will be outdated before tomorrow. I, for one, don't like change. Seriously. My furniture stays in the same place until Jim decides to move it. And although it has happened, I can only think of once or twice that I came home and nearly tripped over the sofa because it was shoved too close to the front door, while the recyliner was aimed front and center of the television.

And speaking of tv...the soap opera, All My Children, has gone off the air. It ended its run after 41 years. I grew up watching those characters, Tad and Dixe, Ruth and Joe...Erica and Jackson. I grew oldER watching them too. I enjoyed the drama played out every afternoon during my teen years and into my early married life. Only in Pine Valley could I find others whose problems were bigger than mine. At least it seemed that way. And I wasn't the only one to watch them, but lots of folks, for a time anyways, watched 'the stories'.

All good things come to an end. The network has replaced AMC with a food show called The Chew. I'm just curious that if no one is home during the day to watch the soaps, who's got time try all those recipes?

Before I leave, here's a song the 59th Street Bridge recorded called 'Feeling Groovy.' How does this tie into my soaps? LOL. Notice how I called them 'my soaps.' That's how personal they were to me. This song reminds me that everything will continue to change whether we like it or not. Remember the Chevy Van, peace signs and bell-bottoms? Yeah, me too. The only thing to do is enjoy the moment. Listen...'slow down, we're moving too fast. Gotta to make the morning last.'

I intend to.

Finding inspiration in ordinary places

I love to get up early while everyone's still asleep, slip downstairs and enjoy my first cup of coffee. The house is quiet and the silence allows my thoughts time to wake up and wonder what the day might bring, things that I need to do and in general, a few moments to pray the day is a good one.
Gazing out the window my thoughts follow and before long my sleeping muse is painting the landscape with poetry.

The wild flowers on the hillside became this:



Brown-eyed Susan, how she sways
To the soundless rhymn the breeze does play.
Rooted all day upon the hill
She dances around, never still.

Her sweet smelling nectar
Beckons thee,
Visit from the Honey Bee.

Who comes without a vial or glass
And steals the sweetness from the lass.



The colorful yellow flowers are forever etched in my thoughts and captured on paper.

And here's another one. Warning, I have many poems like these because nothing inspires me like nature and its unique beauty at every turn.

I saw a Sparrow hopping
Upon my window pane
And when he saw me watching
He flew away again.

I wonder if he knew
That I feel like him.
Standing on the outside
Always looking in.

***



Last one, promise.

Noodle

There once was a girl who loved Noodles.
She ate them alot, Oodles and oodles.
She ate them with butter, she ate them with cheese.
She ate then where ever, when ever she pleased.

All other food, either boiled or fried, Noodle refused,
Then she cried and she cried.

Father would plead and Mother would beg, but Noodle stood firmly
and shook her small head.

And so they gave into her childish wish
And served up another steaming hot dish.

Grandmother came to stay for awhile,
"I'm cooking now," she said with a smile.

With each dish she served came a story as well
And no more exciting than Grandma can tell.

She told about Gramps and his Army troop
With nothing to eat except for stone soup.

"He had to eat crow," Grandma was saying.
Noodle looked down where her chicken was laying.

When Grandma was finished, Noodle was too.
She wiped off her mouth and said she was through.
"Grandmother dear, you're the wisest and best.
Tomorrow at breakfast, please tell me the rest."

Mother and Father sat back with a smile
Thankful that Grandma could stay for awhile.


Given the chance, I could sit for hours beneath a shady tree or preferrably take a slow walk down our lovely country road, dragging along a stick and stir up all kinds of inspiration. So...what inspires you?

What does 'Going Green' really mean?

I love the concept of going green. Green can be anything that benefits our world. Finding ways to keep and use something long after most people would have tossed it out is a wonderful example of being green.

Look at this old enamal pot. Someone took the time to fix the hole worn in the bottom by repairing it with a metal washer and screw. I don't know if it leaks or not because I've never used it for cooking. I thought it'd be a perfect wastebasket in my country-style bathroom. Of course I keep a Sears and Roebuck catalogue in the magazine rack, too! : )

I'm happiest when uncovering something that has been in the lives of others before me. Once shiny and new, these tin pots probably held all kinds of soups and vegetables, long ears of corn or boiled water for the sink. An invaluable tool for the women who provided nourishment to working men and growing children many years before being retired to the flea market. The pot, not the women. : )