Friday, April 13, 2012

ALL MY BAGS ARE PACKED...NOT!

Well, since I'm your classic last minute packer (no point packing too early, when you know you'll be needing to use all that stuff right up 'til the end, right?) I'd been sitting in my sunrise-watching-nest since about 5:00 this morning, just thinking about all the stuff I still needed to do in order to head out for Austin by 10:00 -- like shower, dress, take meds (for this tooth thingy), finish packing, reprint my story for open mike in a larger font in case the lighting isn't too good there and it's hard to read, clean up the kitchen, load the car, do a blog post, etc. Unfortunately, most of that needed to be done in the bedroom, where my hubby was still fast asleep.
Oh, speaking of that tooth thingy, did I tell you that I finally got Phase II of my dental implant on Monday? The part where they actually insert the rod?  Fortunately, it was a breeze -- the only bad part being them trying to get my conscious IV sedation going, since, even if you are lucky enough to find a decent vein on me, it will probably shut itself off as soon as you poke it. Anyhoo, they finally got one going on the side of my wrist, I slept through it all, and I haven't had a lick of pain or any swelling since. Woohoo! I was so afraid it might mess with my fun this weekend!
Well, daylight's a-wastin'. Time to get this show on the road.  Ha! I just realized this is Friday the 13th. Sure hope we don't end up with some hockey-masked lunatic running amok in the hotel this weekend. If not, I'll see ya Sunday!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

HELLO, MY NAME IS BECKY T. LANE

The brochure for the memoir writing conference I'm attending this weekend included this little blurb:

We'd like to create a Story Wall to introduce ourselves. For those who would like to participate, please bring a short introduction of yourself and, if you like, a current photo. You may also want to bring a postable item that illustrates a part of your story. (This might be something you've created, a different photo, a newspaper clipping, or a symbol.)

So, I made this:
I think that pretty well sums me up, don't you?

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

DOWN TO THE WIRE

I can't believe the next Story Circle Network conference is only two days away, and I still haven't done a thing to prepare for it! About this time four years ago, I was preparing for my very first one, and I was a wreck, I tell you. A wreck! I was so, so nervous -- about attending my first conference, sharing a room with a stranger, not knowing a soul there, about getting up and reading something of mine during the open mike session, even about calling myself a writer, for pete's sake! Of course, it all turned out fabulous. My hubby had set me up with a blog for all my writing about the Hill Country, but I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. How lucky, then, that they happened to have a panel discussion all about blogging that year? I learned so, so much from it, and started connecting to other bloggers in a big way, creating a writing network! As an added bonus, that conference is where I met the friend I call Buffalo Woman, who happened to be from Wimberley (where I had just started living full-time, without my hubby, and didn't know a soul) and who introduced me to the friends I call my Muses, and who continue to inspire me creatively on a daily basis.

My new coffee group, The Muses
The next conference, which was two years ago, I was much more laid back about all that stuff. However, this time they had asked me to actually be on the blogging panel, so I was now a wreck about that. Again, it all turned out fabulous. It was such a thrill to be able to connect in person with some of the friends I had made in the blogosphere. It was at this conference that I first started thinking I just might be ready, and able, to write down some of those stories about our time in Indonesia and Bahrain, and that spawned a second blog!

New friends from the blogosphere
The 2010 Blogging Panel
This year I worry that I'm too laid back. Shouldn't I be getting worked up by now? What will I learn this time? What will I be inspired to attempt? What connections will I make? What about the two friends who have decided to attend because of me? Will they get as much out of it as I did? I sincerely hope so. I hope we will all be inspired and make important connections. I hope we will each learn something exciting -- something that will light a fire inside us, and push our writing in new directions. OK, now I'm getting worked up! Guess it's time to start packing!

Monday, April 9, 2012

FUN WITH SHAVING CREAM

There's a wonderful group here in Wimberley, called Arts From the Heart, that started supplying art education to the kiddos in our community, since it wasn't being offered in the schools. They are the same group that held that chair auction we went to last year -- the one my daughter made her Dia de los Muertos chair for. While we were at that event, I got to talking with another woman about all the fun things this group does with the kids, and I said "Man, I wish they offered something like that for adults. I'd love to be able to do fun stuff like that!" Know what she said? "Ah, but they do! Once a month they host something called Corks & Creations. They provide an instructor and all the supplies, you bring a bottle of wine or some munchies, and everybody gets a chance to play, visit, have fun, and do something creative." I finally got around to attending my first one this past Thursday, and I promise you, it won't be my last. High School Debbie went with me (that's her standing up on the left) and we got to try our hands at making marbled paper.
When I heard we'd be doing marbling, I assumed it would be with inks floating on water. Au contraire. We dribbled our paints and food colors onto shaving cream. We then swirled them around with a skewer or popsicle stick, pressed the paper down into the design, lifted it up, scraped the excess shaving cream off the paper, et voila! You had gorgeous marbled papers that you could frame or wrap tiny gifts with, or maybe even cover a little notebook or journal with.
Some of Debbie's Creations
Here is what I ended up bringing home with me, in addition to that piece at the top.
Fun, Fun, Fun!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

BE STILL MY HEART

Many years ago, when we first bought this house, my hubby scattered tons of wildflower seeds around. Nothing happened. Next year he scattered tons more. Still nothing.Then, two or three years ago, after a nice wet El Nino year, we suddenly had a bunch of poppies appear. None of them, however, were in any of the spots where he had originally scattered seed. They were mostly in a circle around our rain tank, where water running down the hillside must have carried them. We went right back into drought mode after that, and hubby finally gave up on putting any seed out. Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw this patch of weedy stuff right in front of my house this spring, and realized what it was.
Happy, happy easter!