Fun stuff to do on the Internet, aka Procrastination activities

Writers.

Writers write.

But writers don’t always only write. Writers often procrastinate.

I wanted something different – but brief – for my NaBloPoMo post today, and in my search I found some things on the Net that would be great for those times of procrastinating. Call it character or theme research. 🙂 I will add them to my Writers’ Helps page later.

Check these out:

http://www.nasa.gov/ <—- This may be slow loading for you (it is photos)

http://www.howtofoldashirt.net/ <—- This is a great thing, but I have tried it and although it looks very simple I haven’t fully mastered it yet. I think my brain can’t or won’t think that way, but I will keep working on it. This set of instructions seems a little better than the one I was using.

http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/ <—- This one looks like great fun for when you are writing dialect for your characters, without going overboard with it, of course.

Today I was so tired, didn’t get any writing done on my NaNo novel. I did get one fun story idea drafted out for PiBoIdMo, though. That makes idea #18 for day 12.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Remembrance Day is tomorrow; updates for NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo

Today was a busy day for me. I had much to do at Dad’s before I came home for the week, but I also spent lots of time just with him. I didn’t get anything at all written on my NaNo novel, but I got a fun idea for PiBoIdMo before I was even fully awake this morning. That gives me idea #16 for Day 10.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day here in Canada, Veterans Day in the USA. Since Dad is a WWII veteran we will be attending the special service in the morning. It’s not foremost in Dad’s thinking this year, but we are seeing to it that he gets there since he would not like to miss it. Next year may be a totally different scenario. Following the service ten of our family will be going to the veterans’ dinner with Dad.

REMEMBER AND HONOUR OUR VETERANS ON NOVEMBER 11. THEIR SACRIFICE IS ONE WE CAN NEVER FULLY UNDERSTAND UNLESS WE’VE BEEN THERE. GET OUT TO A SERVICE AND REALLY OBSERVE AND LISTEN.

Have you ever talked with a veteran about the war, and their experiences they’re willing to discuss?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Passing on history (Singer Featherweight)

In October 2009 my dad gave me my mother’s old Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine, shown above. That meant a great deal to me. I remember this little machine from when I was a wee little girl and my mother was teaching me to sew on it, very carefully. Somehow it seemed larger then, and I think that I was trying to make clothes for my baby doll, but I don’t recall having much success at that young age. Mum sewed clothes for herself, my younger sister and me on that little Singer – dresses and skirts and blouses, mostly, and she did a fine job of it.

Since Mum saved everything, in its sturdy carrying case I found the machine’s original Singer Warranty dated “Sep 11 1957”, stating that the Machine style is 221-1-270 and the number is AG878454. Also of interest, the “conditional sales contract” for her purchase is there, $124.50 – and describes her installment payments. All her receipts are there, too, but there are only three because, true to form, Mum paid her debt early. There is a letter to thank her for her patronage and informing her that she was entitled to a refund which they were enclosing in a cheque. Doing a little research I learned this model is a collectible item of value, and that Mum’s little Featherweight is worth in the vicinity of $350 now.

I still haven’t used this machine (since many years ago) because it should be thoroughly cleaned first just to be on the safe side, but I tested it and it runs so quietly! In fact, it has a contented hum in comparison to my larger and heavier portable Kenmore which I bought for myself in 1976, and on which I made clothes for my daughters and myself.

Do you have anything you cherish that has been passed on to you?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

NaBloPoMo: leaves in transition

It has been a very busy day but I want to post something for NaBloPoMo before the day is over. I thought you may find the coloration of these maple leaves interesting.

We had a very windy Friday and Saturday, but mild with some rain. So many of our Autumn leaves have been beaten off the trees making a colourful carpet on the ground.

Fall is not my favourite season because of the cooler weather it brings in leading into Winter cold, but it is such a beautiful season. This year it seems to be an especially exquisite one here in Nova Scotia.

What is your favourite season and why?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

When Reality smacks you upside the head

Reality bites. hard. Ever notice?

Saturday was one of those reality check days.

Last week was full of beautiful weather days, so when it worked out for us to take a drive to visit someone we love we took that opportunity. It was time for us to visit. She has been failing quickly; each time they brought her to visit us this year there has been a marked difference. Now that she was recently moved into a nursing home (a very good one) it was our turn to go to her.

The three of us got off to a late morning start, directions in hand. By the time we arrived in the area, almost an hour later, we thought she would soon be having her lunch and we didn’t want to interrupt. It was about 11:40 so we found a little seafood restaurant and took our time there.

The instructions we had been given were easy to follow and it wasn’t long before we got pointed in the right direction again. Soon we found the creatively designed, tastefully decorated building – our destination – set back from the busyness of traffic and away from city life. Besides the alternating attractive colour scheme, we noticed high iron gates around well-kept garden sitting areas. It was immediately noticeable that no residents could wander off and get lost or harmed.

After we made our way through security – a must-have feature for this type of nursing home – we found our way to the second level and down winding halls with paintings on the walls and nautical-named units. Upon entering her section we were told she was in the dining area. That’s when reality met us head-on.

Up until that time we knew she had become frail, more and more confused and forgetful, and recently very restless which made it too difficult to keep her safe at home. (If you know much about Alzheimer’s disease then you understand what I’m saying. I’m leaving out a lot.) We were not prepared to see her being fed her lunch. We were not prepared to see this loved one, when taken back to her room where we waited to visit with her, seemingly hardly aware of our presence.

What we expected was to be able to converse with her on some level. We expected to have a conversation that would be disjointed, even nonsensical, perhaps, but at least some kind of communication once she sorted out – even temporarily – who we are. I was prepared for her to not remember me even though she has known me all my life; I could have handled that. That is not what we found. What we found was the cold hard reality of advancing Alzheimer’s. Our sweet, funny, fun-loving, precious loved one is getting away from us. Through the medication that helps to keep her calm and safely and respectably manageable she seems to be fighting to hold on to who she really is, but it is a battle no one yet has been able to win. That is the horror of it. That is reality. Cold. hard. reality.

It was emotional for the three of us. One of us visiting her that day is on the same path, although not as far along. We don’t know if it registered with him that what he witnessed – a journey taken by his father decades before, then his younger brother, and now his youngest sister – is also the strong possibility of where his journey will take him. We don’t know. We won’t ask.

Our drive home was more subdued, conversation minimal, each of us travelling with our own thoughts.

A few hours earlier I was noticing how lovely our Autumn colours are as the leaves are changing from their greens to reds, yellows, and orange hues. I was admiring and thankful for God’s handiwork in the beauty around us. On the drive back home I noticed everything in sharper little snapshots.

gorgeous displays of colourfully painted leaves, click!

the dull grey of dead tree limbs set against the blue sparkle of a pond, click!

streaks and layers of a rippled blanket of clouds laid across the sky in various shades of grey and white, click!

muddy tidal waters filling a river, click!

stands of tall dead grasses, click!

the small bright green car driving in an oncoming lane, click!

Each place I looked seemed to have its own glory, as if my mind was grasping everything in new awareness, capturing little moments of wonder after a time of sadness. Funny how the mind does that. It’s as if God was reminding me …

This is reality, too. Enjoy it.

Post Script: I learned while writing this post that she did have a memory of his being there to visit her, and that is good.

Comments? Anything to share?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

We all should have a day to play!

Hello everyone! I’ve missed you!

You may have noticed I have been absent from blogging – and almost everything else that is not daily routine. I expect you know what it’s like to simply need to pull back for awhile.

Before I go any further, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to the talented Sue Harrison for continuing her helpful posts here for writers. Writing The Third Dimension is excellent teaching, I’m sure you agree. So, again, thank you so much, Sue, for sharing your insights and knowledge with us.

Are any of you are finding what Sue is teaching to be of help to you in your writing? Are you applying any of her suggestions? I plan to when I get back into writing my novel, especially the editing and rewrites where I believe Sue’s teachings will make a huge difference.

Life certainly has its challenges, doesn’t it? One can become quite weary when caring for a stricken loved one even if not always being the one on site. The fact of living one’s life between two households, and trying to keep so many things straight and in order, becomes wearying and stressful – even on the good days. Stress levels go up and down, and – unfortunately for me – with that can come the depression. That has been – and continues to be – one of my underlying challenges to keep managed. Most people can’t tell but it’s always there. It is a sadness, a disappointment with the turns and twists in life, but I am now trying to access ways to relax and find balance for myself.

Our daughter who lives in Alberta came for a visit in August. She was home for ten days, planned so most of it covered a week I am home, which was wonderful. The last time she was here was for an uncle’s funeral in February 2012, so it was so good to get my arms around her again.

We picnicked, eight of us went whale watching – which was completely THRILLING!, and we had family dinners and a time at the cottage. She went fishing with her dad and she and I enjoyed a play day together.

We all should have a day to play! My daughter and I beachcombed on three different beaches, nearly getting stranded in one place which was quite funny although it could have been a real problem. The tides of the Atlantic here in Nova Scotia are the highest in the world – for more information on that refer to this post.

I had just explained to my daughter how it was when I was a kid and we would go to Mum’s relatives’ home for summer vacations. They lived very close to the bay, in fact, it was a short few minutes’ walk to the shore. (What a marvellous place for a child to spend a week or two of one’s summer!) My daughter parked the car, we walked up over a little bridge and onto a pebbly raised beach to start more beachcombing. After walking a few minutes I looked back and commented to my daughter, “Look how much the water has risen!” When she looked where I was indicating, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Look how high the water is! We have to move the car!” Laughing as we went, we hurried back and waded through water where it had been dry only minutes before. We warned other people there, but the tide was coming in so quickly some may not have been as fortunate as we were. We hoped their engines weren’t under water by the time they could get to their cars, but we couldn’t stay to find out as we had to be elsewhere by a certain time. They weren’t left alone, though, as there were a few other people still there. I told my daughter most people don’t understand how quickly the tide comes in there; years before Mum’s cousin occasionally would have to go out in his boat and rescue people who had been caught off guard.

The above shows low tide, and when the tide comes in you can step right out onto that boat.

Oh, how I love the ocean! I have a short, fun video clip of our little adventure but I’m disappointed that I can’t open it to put here to share with you.

Now please tell me: What fun – unexpected or planned – adventures did you enjoy this summer?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Saving lives

My sincere apologies for not posting lately. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and a lot tired. I do have a little story to tell you today, though.

A few weeks ago I went along with my daughter and young grandson to the magnificent performance of Beauty and the Beast. It was a wonderfully executed musical with excellence in the acting, dancing, singing, sets, costuming, lighting … and everything I may have missed mentioning. (My only complaint was regarding the small restless child seated behind me who whined, kicked my seat and somehow managed to kick me a few times over the top of my seat. Fortunately that didn’t last.)

At first my grandson didn’t seem all that impressed when it began with a short narrative, but once the ‘show’ got underway he didn’t move his attention from the stage. It was that good.

If you know the story of Beauty and the Beast, you know Belle’s love is what saved the Beast so after he died he again lived to become who he really was. (Reminds me of the Christian experience of grace.)

The ending of this live performance got to me; it was so beautifully done in such a touching way. I confessed to my daughter afterward, “I got tears in my eyes at the end.” She replied, “Me too! I was thinking don’t look at me!” 🙂

Now you may be wondering about the title of this post … Saving lives. It was on the way home we got to be part of another dramatic live-saving adventure.

Part of our hour-long drive from the city to home is on a divided highway, three lanes both ways. As we drove along we noticed traffic in our lane was slowing a little and pulling out around something. My daughter was driving and suddenly exclaimed, “A mother duck and her babies!” On our left side – which was next to the median – there was a duck and her nine ducklings, waddling along in the same direction as the traffic. She obviously wanted to get up over the median, then would change her mind, and instead move into traffic in our lane. Her babies were staying very close to her, except for one little fellow that literally fell behind. It toppled over, got up again, and waddled even faster to catch up. So cute, and very stressful for us watching and worrying about them getting run over.

My daughter pulled on her four-ways (emergency signal lights) and slowed since they were then right in front of us. Eventually all traffic in our three lanes came to a stop, and a man in a van two lanes over, and I, got out to direct the duck family across all three lanes to a ditch. A second man from another vehicle joined us so they could not go off in the wrong direction.

I told my grandson the mother duck could have flown up over the median but her babies couldn’t fly yet and she wouldn’t leave them. It was quite an example of dedication for him to witness.

The duck rescue was a stressful, exhilarating, satisfying experience. When I told my husband about it later he said if the police had come along I could have been ticketed for stopping traffic on a main series highway. If that is true then I would not have been the only one. (Please don’t tell on me. 😉 )

I checked on YouTube and found many similar incidences, but they were captured on video whereas we didn’t even get pictures. Oh well, you will just have to believe me.

I did find this video that will take your breath away, as must have happened to this unfortunate – or fortunate, depending on how you look at it – family of ducks. (I hope the video works for you.)