I'm late, I'm late, For a Very Important Date!

I cannot belive that a week has gone by. It's been filled with a fabulous concert (which I will blog about later this week), a grad party, visitors and not much time for writing. I feel like the little white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I'm late, I'm late, For a very important date. No time to "Blog"....

Today I've written a submission about the wedding--its actually a practical piece which discusses a budget idea for creating centerpieces. Again, its a case of writing what you know about! Once I get a response I'll either post it here or post the link to the other site.

Goodbye. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.

Salynne ©2009

Seeing in Colour

Its funny how sometimes things in your life all come together. On Saturday I was watching The Murdoch Mysteries which is a series set in the late 1800's. Detective Murdoch is a police detective who uses science to solve crimes. In this particular episode he met one of his mentors Nikola Tessla. That name was already familiar to me because of the Movie "The Prestige"--I knew that Nikola Tessla was a real person and I had looked up information on him after I'd seen the movie but quickly forgot most of it. When this character popped up again in the Canadian show I wondered if Tessla had actually been in Toronto so decided that I would look him up on Wickipedia.

As I was reading it said that he was a "synesthetes". Not being familiar with that term I looked it up. Synesthesia encompasses many things including not only tasting but seeing letters and words in various colours. Then today I got an email from the leader of our writing group about this same condition called "People may be able to taste Words". There were a number of other articles about this which discussed people who see words in colors or see certain things & hear sounds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8070210.stm

This is particularly interesting to me because while reading these stories I began to realize that there have been times where I have written about this kind of phenomenon that occurs within my own "minds eye". When I'm focusing on writing I see words that swirl around in a vortex and then when I decide what I'm going to write those specific words appear in a ticker-tape procession in the order that I write-this is very similar to a woman described in one of the articles. Most of the time the swirling mass of words also contain images--its like watching a hurricane; the majority of time the images & characters are ghostly, not fully formed and then if I concentrate and put the thoughts & words into order they become solid, dark and they then appear on a ribbon before me.

I've also written about the fact that there is inside of me, at my core, a fountain in a lovely garden. It is in that place that my emotions come out of the spouts as colours. Red is anger, depression is navy blue to black (depending on the level), grief is black, grass green is contentment, yellow green is envy & greed; sky blue with white wisps (like a summer sky) is happiness, hot pink fuchsia is love & burgundy is passion. They have always been those colours for as long as I can remember--that is just the way it is. When I'm experiencing intense emotion there are times when I feel my chest is being crushed or squeezed by the "ribbon" of colour. Kind of weird but that is how I've perceived it--I've never questioned it and its normal for me.

The other thing I've suddenly realized as I'm thinking about this is that whenever I pray, I see the words. They start in a central place & move towards heaven. It is most clear when I am praying myself whether in my head or out loud. When someone else is praying and I'm listening it still happens but the words are not as clear. They are in the same black & grey as the other words in my "hurricane" appear-I've never noticed if they are in colour or not. What is interesting is that eight years ago when I started learning sign language I started praying more in images than words--those images like the words would start in that central space and move towards heaven.

Two of my blogs in the past month discuss the colorful way that I see the world. My "Inspired by Blue" blog on May 23 was all about the way that I see the world--I was feeling blue and I equated that to my emotions and to my eye colour. The colour of the blue umbrella is the exact colour of the "blue" melancholy emotion that was coming out of my "fountain" that day. I used a photo program to get the exact shade-it was important for me to capture that. On Thursday in "Music as Muse", I referred to the connection between past events and the future as colourful ribbons. That is how I see them in my minds eye...its not just pretty or pictorial wording. I "see" a timeline and depending on how I view the event-if its a happy event it is a light blue, green, pink or yellow ribbon, if its an event that caused me pain the line or ribbon is red, black or blue. I have considered it my rainbow of experiences that connect past & present. I've thought a lot lately about how I see the world and this new information and research really dovetails with those personal explorations surrounding my "creativity". So...does all of this mean I'm a synesthetes? I don't know and I don't really care. I do have to admit that it actually surprises me to think that not everyone has experiences in their head like mine & it is shocking to think that perhaps I might have a "condition" or that I might be considered a person with a learning disability. Then again, what is normal? What is a disability? Who's way of thinking or way of experiencing life is the right way? I prefer to think that I have a vivid imagination and that my "colourful" way of looking at the world, my creativity, is something that I thought could be cultivated and it was something that I hoped I would pass on to my children. So far it seems that my daughter has the gift of visualization, she seems to have a photographic memory but I'll have to ask her more about the way she perceives things.

Regardless of whatever this way of seeing life, words, emotions and thought is, it is one of the greatest most wonderful gifts I possess. To me it is a treasured gift that makes my life rich and unbelievably interesting and it is something that I hope I will never lose or have fade away.

Salynne ©2009

Music as Muse

It seems to me that you know its summer when...there is marriage of various elements that blend together to show us that the season is in full swing-a cold, chilled pitcher of margaritas, the constant droning of fans, Shorts & Capri pants appear everywhere as do flip flops, and then there is great seasonal music. Remember those songs that just naturally make you of think hot weather? The relationship individual melodies have to certain events, especially when related to summer, I think can be described as vivid brightly colored ribbons that connect the past to the present. Some of my most memorable tunes and moments are:

One Stormy Night-A Dream (Mystic Moods Orchestra) I came onto the world scene in 1963 and my brother in 1965. Sometime during the summer of 1966 friends visited our family home for the evening wherein my father and his friend decided to play a joke on the entire neighbourhood. My Dad had quite a stereo system in those days and the two of them dragged the entire unit so that it was sitting in the living room windows. Dad hooked up another large auxilary speaker & placed it in behind the screen door. It was a not a cloud in the sky, hot, and still evening around dusk. My Dad turned his speakers up to full volume and played the huge clap of thunder that started the record. Neighbours came out of their houses and congregated in the street looking heavenward. I remember my dad & his friend howling and rolling around the living room with laughter. Then they played the rest of the album, much more quietly of course and my brother and I got to eat ice cream with our friends!

Born Free (Andy Williams) Our local Drive-in had a family night featuring the movie Born Free. It's such a vivid event for me because it was so strange that my three year old brother and I were allowed to go outside in our PJ's. Mom packed up the car with our pillows and blankets and we drove to the site. We found out we weren't the only kids dressed for bed when we went to play on the swings and merry-go-round that sat beneath the big screen. The smell of popcorn permeated the air and I remember after we got back to the car leaning over the back seat to reach the golden kernals in bag sitting between my parents. I don't remember much about the movie but I know I asked my mom & dad a lot of questions. At some point I must have gotten tired because I laid down with my feet on the window and let the breeze caress my toes until I quite obviously fell asleep.

Downtown (Petula Clark) At five or six life was pretty simple. My main focus was figuring out how I could distract my parents so that I didn't have to go to bed so early and wondering if I could really swing high enough to go over the bar. One morning while mom was getting me a snack I got down on the linoleum in the kitchen of our Blue "Barn" 1915 Arts & Crafts house (I didn't know that was what it was called then). The announcer on the radio station introduced the song while I was starring at the multi-colored dots on the floor. I rolled from my belly to my back revelling in the coolness of the hard floor and decided that one day I would grow up to be big and live Downtown in an apartment.

Am I Losing You, Four Walls, Stand at Your Window (Jim Reeves) It was bed time. After my bath and prayer, I jumped into the clean, crisp sheets on the bed in my upstairs attic room. I could hear my parents talking downstairs and knew that they were sitting down for a glass of wine and some shrimp cocktail. My Dad turned on the stereo and put a Jim Reeves album on to play. As the summer evening twilight deepened I watched the colours of my purple and pink ballerina wallpaper soften and blur and eventually it was so dark that I could see nothing much at all. Still, I laid there awake for a very long time because I didn't want to miss even one note of Jim's rich, mellow voice.

Amazing Grace (Bagpipes) We were staying at our family cottage on the lake in Fort Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan during the summer I was eight. I don't know what happened every year on the other side of the lake but each day there started and ended with a bagpipe serenade. One morning I got up just before sunrise and wandered onto the porch with my favorite book. As I stepped out onto the screened porch the notes of Amazing Grace floated across the waves and I watched the sun grow from a spark to its full brilliance. There have only been one or two moments in my lifetime that were as peaceful and as beautiful as those few minutes when I stood there bathed in sunshine listening to that melody. It is no wonder that I still love to hear the "pipes".

Taking Care of Business (Bachman Turner Overdrive) It was the summer I was thirteen. Once the late 1960's hit and modern music went "downhill" to quote my Dad, my parents didn't often listen or let me listen to the radio. I was therefore brought up on their extensive record collection. My favorite singers were Elvis, Paul Anka, Patti Page, Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. Friends visited us that summer and they had a family band modeled after KiSS. I will never forget sitting with those three teenagers in their fifth wheel trailer and looking at their disbelieving faces when I told them that I didn't know who BTO or KiSS was. The next couple of hours and days were pretty mind-blowing--they opened an entirely new world to me and they started with "Taking Care of Business"!

Afternoon Delight (Starland Vocal Band) My family was at the beach the summer of 1976 and I had my trusty yellow transistor radio blaring. Afternoon delight came on and when I expressed how much I loved the song my father made me shut it off because the words were so graphic and certainly not appropriate for tender ears. What was the world coming too!

Sister Golden Hair (America) My brother, cousin and I were in the backyard listening to this on the radio seeing how many juicy, succulent cherries from our tree we could each stuff into our mouths! At 14 I was on the cusp of adulthood but summer was a great opportunity to be a kid!

Another One Bites the Dust (Queen) This song was hitting the charts during my later teens, those years I affectionately call "my biker years". After my wake-up call to "modern" music I wasted no effort in making up for lost time in discovering the hits of the 70's and then moving on to hard rock groups like Molly Hatchet, AC/DC, and Iron Maiden. There's nothing like trying to balance a shrieking boom box ghetto blaster on your lap while sitting on the back of a motorbike and hanging on for dear life. Whenever I hear this song I get a really strong urge to dress in a leather jacket, skin-tight jeans, high heels, big hoop earrings, then line my eyes with black eyeliner & find a bike to hop on to. Not a pretty picture at 46...

Footloose (Soundtrack) We had celebrated our one year anniversary in the spring of 1984 and that summer we went to the drive-in theatre in Cache Creek to see the latest movie, Footloose. We loved it so much that the next morning I took the day off and drove the hour to Kamloops to do some shopping. I picked up the soundtrack and a Madonna album. I remember going top speed and bouncing away to Footloose in my seat as I drove back home on the hot, desert road!

Kokomo (Beach Boys) It was 1990, our oldest daughter, Brenna, was two and I remember holding her and dancing to this on many summer evenings until she was drowsy and ready for a bedtime bath. She died in 1997 and there are occasionally times that come out of the blue when both my heart and my arms ache when I hear this--precious, precious memories of happy times.

SClub Party (SClub7) Our house was cool the summer of 2001 because of the huge tree in our back yard. Being cool gave us energy for important things like watching our youngest daughter, Keeley, dance the routine she learned for this song in school over and over again. What a performer!

Truly, Madly, Deeply (Savage Garden) We moved through the late 1990's and into the new millennium and with that came new technology. We got our first CD player. We listened to NSync, 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, Shania Twain, Lou Bega, and The Mavericks. I will never forget dancing with Keeley to Truly, Madly, Deeply in the living room when our brand new dog jumped up and started dancing with us. We named her Truly of course!

Pon de Replay (Rihanna) Pon de What? Since 2005 I've been trying to figure out the name of that song--my age must be telling. Keeley introduced me to it and we listened to it in the car, on her mp3 player (new technology again) and danced to it while doing housework all summer long.

New Soul (Yael Naim) While in France during spring 2008 we stopped at a large Hyper-Marche to pick up some CD's. Keeley had a school assignment to bring back whatever the latest French music teenagers were listening to. We picked up a CD of the latest hits and while we were driving through the countryside past vineyards and lavender fields New Soul came on and we were all hooked. We must've played it ten times in a row and of course we sang it at the top of our lungs with the windows down. Every time I hear the song now I am transported back to Provence and I swear I can smell lavender and wild rosemary.

Banana Pancakes (Jack Johnson) During summer vacation 2008 Keeley went on YouTube and found a guy who gave guitar lessons. We were totally amazed because within just few tries she was playing Banana Pancakes. She is becoming more accomplished every day and has never looked back!

Say Hey-I love You (Michael Franty) This is new guy-someone I've never heard of before but the song is so catchy that we've been listening to it several times each day for the past few days-there's nothing like a Caribbean beat to get you in the mood for summer!

So now you have a snapshot of some of the summer music in my life....amazingly its a very lopsided view of my music tastes-there are so many more moments that I've shared with some of my favorite artists like Diana Krall, Michael Buble, The Mavericks, Prairie Oyster, Blue Rodeo, Joe Nichols, (I'm a big country fan & jazz in case you haven't figured that out yet), Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, George Michaels, Loverboy, Trooper, Men without Hats, Alan Jackson, Moody Blues, The Beatles, Elvis, Doc Walker, Neil Diamond, Paul Brandt, Classical-Vivaldi, Pachabel's Cannon, etc, etc...

It would certainly take a very long chronicle to capture all of those treasured moments where my life has been affected by or has associated with certain pieces of music. I hope you too have many happy memories of summer melodies!

Salynne©June (Summer) 2009

The Heat

We residents of Vancouver are used to the typical west coast weather so when things start to heat up it takes a few days to adjust. At work today an email was sent out asking people to turn out their lights if possible and turn off any unused computers because of a fear that we would overload the system and cause a black-out. Not a good thing for a hospital!

Our air quality is becoming an issue and there are warnings for people who have asthma or pre-existing lung conditions. Environment Canada has asked people to avoid driving unless necessary and to not use gas-powered lawn mowers. The fire hazard rating in all areas of the province are either moderate, high or extreme--guess there will be no fire tonight or for the next couple of weeks in our chimnea.
After a very dreary and late spring, summer has hit with a vengance!

I find its easy to get irritated so I've decided to take action--all of our fans are on full blast, taco's for dinner (hot weather food-if people in hot weather Mexico can eat it in the heat so can we!) and although hubby will be drinking beer I'm thinking margarita's are in order--to help with the irratibility of course! In the meantime though a story is worming its way into my thoughts--something about a murder committed because of the irratibility of a heat wave--perhaps a menopausal woman undergoing a hot flash--hmmm...a heatwave and hormones...seems to me to be a deadly cocktail for a crime!

I thought I would check out the concept of a Menopause Murder mystery on the internet and to bad...it looks like someone has beaten me to the punch!

Read Everything-Books, Books, & More Books

As a writer I've always believed that you should also be an avid reader. Today that was confirmed. YouTube is a rich resource for writers; there are plenty of "how to" videos and this one by Claire Cooke, author of several novels, including Must Love Dogs supports that view.

When it comes to my own reading I fluctuate between more serious novels and what I call mindless distraction literature--mostly chick lit of some kind.

So I'll start with a list of my all-time Favorite Novels:

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer/Annie Barrows

A Year in Provence (also Toujours Provence) - Peter Mayle

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen

Brother Cadfael Mysteries (I love them all!)

Madeline - Ludwig Bemelman's

The Tea House on Mulberry Street-Sharon Owens

The Girl with the Pearl Earring-Tracy Chevalier

Recently Read or Reading:

Letters from Yellowstone (fast becoming a favorite)

Sundays at Tiffany's-James Patterson

Hot to Trot-Lou Wakefield

The Pilots Wife-Anita Shreve

The Kite Runner-Kahled Hosseini

Rachael's Holiday-Marian Keyes

Looking Forward to Reading:

Girl in Hyacinth Blue-Susan Vreeland

Me & Mr. Darcy-Alexandra Potter

Five Quarters of the Orange-Joanne Harris

The Handyman-Linda Nichols

The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger

What are you reading?

Salynne©2009

The Other Writer

Today at Starbucks I was not alone. A man with a backpack came in, sat down with his coffee and proceeded to pull out a journal and write. It felt very strange. I felt intruded upon and yet on the other hand it was like we two shared some deep secret. I smiled, he smiled back and we each went back to our writing.

I had to observe him and leave my story. I opened my character journal (the book where I keep interesting notes about people that I want to put in future stories) and started writing about him. "He writes slow in his quality leather bound journal. He prints-just a few simple outline notes and I wonder if he is a deep thinker and feeler or if he is writing something mundane like a shopping list or work notes. Maybe I intimidate him as I am writing with my usual vigor, unable to slow down or pause when the words come pouring out of me."

I thought about how true it is that you never really know someone and that you cannot judge a book by its cover. The other writer, "doesn't look like a writer to me. He is average height, 5' 10" perhaps, with a receding dark hair-line, round John Lennon glasses-definitely old and out of date; kahki pants with white runners that have gaudy bright orange and brown soles". I wonder, "are his shoes a "rebellion" against his staid looking persona or are they a cheap discount pair of shoes from Wal-Mart that just do the job. His leather journal is telling though-he clearly loves his book and handles it softly and gently".

He did not stay long. He closed his book, started getting his backpack in order and that is when it hit me. Maybe his book was a character journal like the one I was writing about him in. Maybe he was writing about the red haired woman in the skirt and new shoes who was eating oatmeal and writing. "She smiles to herself when she writes something that strikes her fancy & she gives sidelong glances to the people in the shop & then writes furiously". Maybe he's put down that "she don't look like a writer", that "she is a frumpy, slightly overweight woman writing in a journal and chasing empty dreams of grandeur".

It was with this realization that I discovered, that despite being surrounded by people in the shop, I like being the only resident writer--at least when I'm there. The other writer walked out the door and I was happy to have MY writing spot and MY private coffee shop back to myself.

Salynne ©2009

Little Story Lost-In the Twilight Zone

As I stated in an earlier blog it was my intention to enter a writing competition. I wrote my Lost & Found piece on a scrap of paper while I was waiting in the car for a friend. It was brilliant in my eyes; I cried when I wrote it. Later that day I brought it into the house but with the chaos of the wedding it disappeared. I've spent days looking for it everywhere, even searching through the garbage and recycling. Nothing. It feels a little like the Twilight Zone episode "Little Girl Lost":

Missing: One really great story. Name: "My New Brother". Description: Words on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Last seen: on the kitchen table. Last heard: aye, there's the rub as Hamlet put it. For "My New Brother" can be rememered quite clearly but cannot be recaptured accurately at all. Present location? Let's say for the moment--in the Twilight Zone.

This has been agony. The day before the competition ended I sat down and tried to re-create it but eventually gave up realizing it was a futile exercise. My story is now a moment lost in time. I wonder, was it my subconscious, my fear of entering that made me do something thoughtless with it? Or maybe I put it someplace "special" for safekeeping and sometime in the coming weeks I will find it tucked between papers or scrunched in the back of a drawer. More than likely however, there is a good probablity my "masterpiece" is sitting in a dump somewhere among rotting stinking garbage. I would prefer to think though that the paper is at least being recycled and something new will be created. Perhaps like the Twlight Zone episode where the Dad reached into the 4th deminsion to rescue his daughter, I too, will some day be able pull those thoughts and ideas back into this reality.

Salynne ©2009