Autumn

Autumn is finally here! Now if only it would actually start to cool down.

Inspiration

Last week, I started taking a creative writing course at a local college. This was open to the general public, so with the encouragement of my mom I registered for it. While the first session was more less introductory, I shared with my fellow budding authors some of my inspirations. I write both poetry and allegorical fiction--another term for fantasy. Most of my scenes or poems are inspired by music and art.

Some of the scenes in the current story I'm working on were inspired by music. There is a scene that was inspired by Loreena McKennitt's "The Mummer's Dance." I love the imagery in this song. Music also inspires my characters. The heroine in the story is very human, she has gained a ethereal presence. I had already written her to be like this before I had heard "Kindred Spirit" by Deuter. The song invokes images of the heavens and space in my mind with its enchanting, ethereal sound. It helped me to develop that aspect of her character. I could imagine that this would be what her theme music would sound like if the story was made into a movie.

My senior year of high school, I wrote a poem that was inspired by Claude Monet's Le Pont Japonais a Giverny. With the encouragement of my English Lit teacher, Mrs. Matthews, I submitted it to a poetry contest. That poem made the top 10 in the state amongst 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. It got published and I won a savings bond.

On Monet's Bridge

While I slept one night,
I dreamt in shades of blue and green.
Except for you and I in the midday light.
We whispered words we'll always mean.

Everyday we met together at this place
With kind words of love and enjoyment.
Greeting each other with a warm embrace.
Our laughter echoes with excitement.

On Monet's bridge began the love.
Our very first kiss the water reflected.
My heart beats like the wings of a dove.
It was nothing I ever expected.

Before graduating, I gave Mrs. Matthews the small print of that painting that I had. The very same one that inspired me. Mrs. Matthews--whether she knows it or not--had a big impact on me in the development of my passion for creative writing and English literature. The first book I can get published, I would like to dedicate it to her.



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Now playing: Within Temptation - Memories
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Signs of the Time

Here we are again. Summer is winding down. It has been relatively uneventful. We took no trips any were. Well, I did have a girl friend weekend Back in May. I got to see some of my old friends and made some new ones. We mostly played games, shopped, and got our nails done. My first pedicure! It was really fun. I can't wait for our next weekend. Still, the summer was uneventful none the less.

I know there's still a little over a month left until it is officially Autumn. I can't help it. I can already feel it in the air. I can see it in the trees. In fact, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the small maple in the front yard has already began to change. The art included in this entry is from that very tree. I had actually made this a year or two ago. The colors were good then. I'm hoping for good color this year as I won't be going the mountains this year. The weather has been hot with hardly any afternoon thunderstorms this summer. But I know when it's getting close to Fall. The rain chances start to pick up and it rains for hours. Where as with summer afternoon thunderstorms it doesn't usually last very long. You can just tell by the gloom it's the weather preparing the world for the seasonal change. It seems that every season as its own gloom as far as rain goes. Winter has a gray gloom. Spring, a clean and bright gloom. Summer has a dark and chaotic gloom. And Autumn has a dark and somber gloom. Another thing about the Autumnal rains, good movie watching weather(or book reading weather). Just this past Sunday, it rained all day and most of the evening. I watched BBC's 2006 production of Jane Eyre. It's about a four hour movie, perfect for rainy weather. Even the tones of Jane's life at Gateshead and Lowood school match the tone of the rainy weather. Perhaps even her life at Thornfield Hall has it's gloomy tones, but they are much brighter than the former.

The days are getting shorter. They actually start getting shorter at the summer equinox. I have been tracking it ever since I downloaded an app on my smartphone that tells me when dawn, sunrise, the solar noon, sunset, and dusk is. I can go forward and see the times. You can see that dawn and sunrise are getting later, almost minute by minute. Sunset and dusk are getting earlier just the same. I personally can't wait for it get closer to my time to get up. Even though I have thick curtains, I tell when it's morning due to the light that manages to come in and wake me up sometimes over an hour before I need to get up. Sometimes I just need that hour of sleep even if go to bed at my usual time. Speaking of which, I'm thinking that I'm going to head to bed here in a bit. It's actually about an hour early for me. So goodnight world.


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Now playing: Sarah McLachlan - U Want Me 2
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Recycling Fabric

This is my first project posted here.

Sometime last year, my mom found a post about a tea wallet. I like the idea, but finding a pattern to make one was hard to come by. However, I did find a tutorial. But being that I my sewing skills are pretty much limited to making pillows and pin cushions, and I knew I couldn't put this together by just a tutorial and not a pattern. So, I talked to one of my fellow MK beauty consultants who is good at sewing to take a look at the tutorial. She said she thought she could do it. I gave her the fabric, which I got way too much for what was required. I just wasn't sure how much I would need. When I got the tea wallet back, I got the extra fabric back as well. I thought I'll just make a throw pillow out of it. Well, my mom ended finding a foot stool. I can't remember if it was at a yard sale or at the Goodwill.I decided to overhaul it with the some of the fabric.














The stool doubles has storage. The cushion is the lid and opens up to let you put things in it.The before is below.



I at first I wanted to use the white fabric to add contrast to the wood that I would be spray painting black. But the black fabric had enough white to stand in as contrast. To line the underside of the lid, to hide the wood I used a decorative file that I found at Michael's. The after is below.

I still had some black fabric left. The white will be used on a bulletin board that I'm working on as well. My mom is the process of making a stencil out of the same file folder pattern so that I can have a pink design against the black of the wood. I will actually post about that when that is finished. If I have enough of the white left, I may used it and the black to make a pillow. I'm thinking about having the black on one side and the white on the other.







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Now playing: Delerium - Angelicus
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Winters Past, Springs Future

Long time no write....

Spring is in full swing. Pollen is in the air, all over the car and everything else. I'm feeling inspired to write, not only here on my blog, but also on a story I've been working on. I don't actually plan on publishing it. If I did, I would do it through Lulu.com where you can self publish for free. But I most likely won't. Something I've come to realize here lately is that my story writing is therapeutic. It helps me deal with everyday stress and it has helped me to get through some of my toughest times. I pretty much use my experiences and make my characters have those experiences in some sort of way. But anyway, this was not what I wanted to post about.

This winter has been an eventful one. We had a snow day in February. It was called "The Great Snow Fall of 2010." We had three inches of snow here. It still snowing about 5 o'clock Friday, February 12 and continued on until the early morning. Now, for a Northerner, snow is not a eventful, it's everyday winter life. So, humor this Southerner. We don't get snow like this on a regular bases. The last time I experienced a southern snow fall was when we live in Charleston, South Carolina in 1990. And yes, both times it did stick! This snow fall was my nephew's first real snow fall. He experienced a small amount of snow that didn't stick in North Georgia back in late 2008 early 2009. He didn't pay much attention to it at the time. But he was excited about it this time. The snow began to melt in the daylight and by the afternoon it was all gone. I was actually kind of depressed after it was gone. The world was back to normal. God gave a lot people a gift that day, and it may a lot people happy. Especially the children. It was such a nice treat.

Now spring has sprung. It seems as though there were somethings that bloomed over time, while there were other things that bloomed over night. It's like magic....no more like a miracle. A beautiful miracle. The grey of winter springs forth into vibrant life. Death loses its grip and life begins again. Which brings me to Easter.

My Easter was downplayed this year due to health problems. But the meaning didn't leave me. Despite Easter being originally a pagan celebration, I don't think that it's a coincidence that Easter--as we know it--is celebrated in the Spring when life is given back to the world. To me, the blooming of plants, flowers, and trees are a natural testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. Winter is cold, grey, unfeeling, and death like. Spring is life, beauty, color, and warmth. Death loses, life is given back to the body.

I saw the most beautiful, other worldly sunset late last month. There were deep purples, pinks, and blues set against thin clouds that seemed to stretch from one end of the horizon to the other end. I wish I had my camera at that moment. Just seeing the highway lights against that sky was so bizarre. There is so much beauty in God's creation.



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Now playing: Avril Lavigne - Alice
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Happy New Year!

Well, Another year as come and gone. It seems like we just rang in a new year and here comes a new one again. I have couple of resolutions: To get better organized at home. I have no problem being organized at work. In fact, I was voted most organized by my co-workers. Ha, if only they could see my mess at home. I also want to make a budget and stick with it so that I can move out. Check on the picture to see a better view.

Anyway, I'd like post some pictures I'd like to share. I've been meaning to post this before now. They are of my Autumnal and Christmas decor. In my Autumnal decor, I set up the table for my grandmother's and my birthday. I used a carriage lantern that I bought at Southern Living party. The candle that's in it is from Habersham Candle Company. Those are some of the best candles. You just about don't have to light them for the fragrance to be released and they release for a long time as well. The candle had what looks like jewels and glitter adhered to the wax. So going with that look. I bought glittery fall foliage swags and loose leaves. Once I was through with using it as a table centerpiece and moved it to the mantle. I was very pleased with turned out, because it was actually a challenge. But I was not nearly as pleased as I was with my Christmas mantle.















My colors are blue, silver, and white. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas or not, those are my colors. It's what I'm attracted to. I like to use stars and snowflakes. I always envision a snowy winters night where there's snow on the ground and a crystal like stars scattered about a velvety midnight blue sky. I'm not exactly how I got this vision, but I think it was from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charlie Brown is walking with his pathetic tree under a clear December night. The stars shone bright, heavenly, and holy. It is scenes like that, be it real or animated, that I feel small and insignificant. It makes me think of my current wallpaper on my desktop. It is a photo of the heavens with the verse "When I consider the heavens What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care from him?" Psalms 8. What more can I say. I love the night sky for other reasons. It's just the most beautiful, awe-inspiring piece of creation ever.

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Now playing: Sarah Brightman - Deliver Me
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So Many Things....

It's been too long. I had intended on posting a happy Autumn post back on the first day of Autumn. But I didn't get to. My laptop died last week after weeks of having it looked at. The special banner I had made in Photoshop was on it. It's not lost though. My brother was able to gleam my files from my hard drive and store them until I can get a new laptop. Which may not be until after Windows 7 becomes available. I liked the look and layout of Vista, but it was otherwise a pain. But anyway.....

















This past weekend I went up to Clayton, Georgia for the Anita Conley Area fall retreat for Mary Kay. You could see the hint of changing leaves in the trees. It was cloudy from Friday to Sunday morning. Which was not good weather for taking pictures of fall foliage. On the way home, we stopped by Tallulah Falls Gorge State Park, which isn't all that far from Clayton. The sun came out for some good picture taking. In between Clayton and Tallulah Falls in one of those "blink and you'll miss it" towns called Tiger. In this small town of Tiger is a roadside attraction called "Goats on the Roof." I couldn't resist stopping and taking a picture. And yes, there are real goats on the roof. There are little goat houses and with grass and a rooster on the roof. You can send goat feed in a tin can up a conveyor belt to feed the goats. It was the most hilarious sight to see.



















Back tracking a bit though. My mom and I stayed an extra night. And after an all day cloudy day Saturday, the day was closed out by a pink (how appropriate for a Mary Kay weekend!), gold, and purple sunset. The picture to the left is the view from our balcony. We weren't so lucky Friday night. It rained off and on that night. But in some ways I feel like that sunset was the best part of the trip. Out of the photographic opportunities, this was one that had to the most color. I tend to like rainy days, but I do like a splash brilliant--but not bright--color. I like my colors rich and deep. I found that in this Autumn sunset in the mountains of North Georgia.

In a later post, I will share a little bit more about Goats on the Roof and Tallulah Falls Gorge State Park with pictures. Meanwhile, I'll add one more picture. I can't resist it.

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Now playing: U2 - Magnificent
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Baking Day!

Happy Labor Day!

After coming home from working half a day today I did some baking. While it wasn't from scratch, it was still good. I had bought a cookie mix at Hobby Lobby over the weekend. The cookie mix was Pumpkin Spice Cookies. The mix came with cinnamon icing which tastes like a cinnamon roll. It's a really simple recipe, great for someone who doesn't have a whole lot of time for baking from scratch. All it requires is 5 tablespoons of room temperature butter or margarine and 2 tablespoons of water. I added a third tablespoon. It just seemed a little too dry without it.

The actual baking doesn't take long....but I guess cookies don't take long anyway. I'm more familiar with cake baking rather than cookie baking. These take 10-11 minutes according to package directions. After going the 11 minutes, I left them in for another 5 minutes. I wasn't pleased with the doneness at just the 11 minutes. But adding the extra minutes seemed perfect! Beware though, this particular mix doesn't make a whole. Especially if you're wanting to make big cookies. Normally, how I dip the dough on the sheet is with a ice cream scoop or a cookie dough scoop. You can make decently good circles instead of ragged irregular cookies by using a scoop. Particularly ones that have a scrapper in the scoop to help get the contents out on the cookie sheet. I have two different sizes, which the smallest one I could've used had I found it. I did find it only after I put the cookies in the oven. When I used the bigger scoop, it made only eight cookies. So ended up halving it, making 16 cookies. The package says 12-24 can be made. If you were needing to make a lot, get more than one mix package.

The icing is no effort icing. It comes already made. All you have to do is knead it in it's package before using it. The best way to ice the cookies is to use a small icing spatula(see the above picture). And of course with any cookie icing you need to let it harden before stacking on a plate. If know anything about icing, you know that to have smooth layer is to use warm water on your spatula. I forgot to do that on my cookies. I was just so eager to photograph my finished product. A you can probably tell in the photo to the left. My cookies never stood a chance. I took several to my brother and sister-in-law and nephew. The rest my mom, dad, grandmother, and myself ate after supper as a dessert. They are no more.

For an idea of how they tasted. The cookie was spicy like what's in the name. But it also had hint of honey, even though the ingredients didn't have that as one. The icing still tasted like a cinnamon roll. So, it was a delicious combination of tastes, if you can imagine it on your tongue.

Mix Info:
In the Mix Cookie Company Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix can be found at Brand Castle.

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Now playing: Loreena McKennitt - The Lady of Shalott
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These are a few of my favorite things

I was inspired by a fun meme on Facebook to post about my favorite things about Autumn. The meme was "Favorite Five Things about Autumn." Where to begin?

• Autumn leaves. I love the vibrant colors of gold, fire, and ember. Especially when the sun shines on those leaves. It makes them pop even more. At the same time, have you ever seen those same leaves against a dark Autumnal storm? Just as vibrant, I think.
  
• My birthday, of course! I was born two days before Halloween. And that's my grandmother's birthday as well. I was her birthday present, her first granddaughter.
  
• Pumpkin Pie. I've only recently become a fan of Pumpkin Pie. I tried it for the first time last year, either at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I am a bit picky about who makes it. Store bought is never as good as homemade. That is goal of mine this year, to make my own Pumpkin Pie for the first time.
• Hot Apple Cider. While I like the drink itself. It's one of my favorite scents of the season. Ah! I still of the melted fragrance tart in my simmer pot from last year. I've been tempted to light it. But I want to wait until the season actually begins.
• The weather. Autumnal weather is perfect! It's not to hot and not to cold. The warmth of the sun is pleasant enough to lull you to sleep. Add in a nice breeze and you've got perfect weather. I don't mind the rain, too. I don't mind it in any season of the year.
• Baking. There's something about Autumn that brings the baker out in people. It could be the scents it brings to the home: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, and all those warm spices. It really brings a warm, welcoming feel to you when enter into the house. I'm thinking about baking my Granny Smith Applesauce Cake soon.
• Apples. Autumn is the prominent season for apples. My favorite kind of apple is--can you guess? Granny Smiths. They are the best apples for baking. But that's not why I like them. To me, they are the sweetest of the apples and are even better with peanut butter.
  
• Warmth. Strange that a season that brings in the cold should be so warm. It's the colors, it's the scents and smells, and the coziness of curling up with a book and blanket on rainy day. All those conjure up warmth during the cooling of days.

I could go on if I could think all and every thing I like about Autumn, but I think shall leave it at that.


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Now playing: Loreena McKennitt - Marco Polo
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Winding down

I feel as though I'm coming to you at the end of the story. But of course, it's not the case. It seems as thought my beginnings start as the weather prepares the earth--at least north of the equator--for the cold seasons. Already, I can feel Autumn in the air. I seem to be in touch with the season early on. It is my favorite season. A lot things, both good and bad have started in these months. I was born in the middle of Autumn. It was unusually cold that year for this part of the south--I've been told. Anyway, this year as been an exception.....

Over a year ago, I took a photography class. I didn't think I had much of an eye for it, but come to find out I did. Ever since then, I've refined my eye and I've become a better photographer just by shear practice. This summer a lot of the objects I've wanted to photograph, I've done. But I've also gained some new desires. I'm interested in weather photography. I live in the wrong part of the country for it. I still have some old desires. I have vintage and antiqued items I'd like photograph. It drives me crazy! I lack the space to properly do it. But I guess I'll have to improvise. I've still to capture a lighthouse and an old oak tree within the realm of my aperture.

As the Autumn approaches, I am in the mood for fall-ish projects, scents, and sights. I live too far south for a whole of color. Hopefully, when I take a trip to North Georgia in early October for a Mary Kay retreat, I'll see and photograph those elusive colors. Oh, yes! Be looking for some Autumn inspired post in the future!



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Now playing: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Free Fallin'
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