Currently Making Me Happy - Tuesday 10/10/2006

Le Pop 3! It’s this collection of upbeat French pop tunes that was playing the last time I was in Hear Music in Santa Monica.

I love vocals, but when I’m writing or working I sometimes find them a little too distracting in my own language. So I opt for cds like this or Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge by Charanga Cakewalk.

I think these are happy songs. But you know, they could be talking about stalking each other or serial killings, for all I know.

My undertanding of French is decidedly—sparse. I am fairly certain that one song (“Un Homme a la Mer”) is about a man of the sea. There’s the one that I think has something to do with something small or a bakery. One of the singers seems to be very happy about white wine. And there’s one about—I’m pretty sure—diuretics and aikido.

Those French. So original.

Released 5 more books on Bookcrossing

It gave me a huge rush to go to the coffee house and scatter books around. They are on outside tables and newspaper racks where people will see them.

This makes me happy.

See more progress on: Get rid of things I don't need or love

The Insomnia Must Stop - Monday 10/9/2006

I woke up at 2 a.m. Sunday morning and went and wrote for about an hour. Might have come up with my NaNoWriMo concept. Seemed like a good thing. Went back to sleep until about 7:30.

This morning. Boom. Awake at 2 o'clock again. There will be no sleeping until 7:30 on Monday for this worker bee. Maybe it's just the idea that the alarm is going to go off at 4 o'clock. I want to get back to sleep. So this morning I read, thinking I'd fall asleep. I may have for brief intervals, but the book I'm reading Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson, is really good.

Anyway, I got out of bed in a huff and decided to take matters into my own hands. I showered and got ready, and drove on down to the Bob's Big Boy across the street from where I work. Where a nice man served me oatmeal and coffee, and I worked on the rough draft of an essay or article (yet to be determined) from 5:30-6:30 before ambling across the street to my office.

So I have done my writing for today and can merrily run errands and maybe get to bed early...which may only mean that I wake at 2 a.m. again. Sigh.

Oh. Right. The photo.

This is the wall of photographs of old Burbank scenes and celebs next to where I sat this morning.

My Mountain - Sunday 10/8/2006

Hydra’s is the one behind our house. This one is mine.

We seldom get to the top of it because—ahem—it is taller than Hydra’s.

This shot is taken from the door of the camper, where we store it in a lot on the edge of our neighborhood. I went down to tape the new license plate into the back window, since the plate and the holder went missing at some unknown point. (Also the reason for the DMV visit Friday.)

Took down some extra bedding for Mom, who’ll be joining us camping next time! (Note to self: must remember to take down a towel for her.)

Friday Traffic - 10/6/2006

I even left work early in order to run an errand. Had to go to the DMV.

On the rare occasions that I get through here without waiting, I feel like I’ve had a little memory lapse. Hey, what happened? How’d I get to the 14 so fast?

This one’s for socalifer!

Hydra's Bruise - Thursday 10/5/2006

It’s arguably my fault, since I left the iron on the edge of the washing machine because I didn’t want to put it away hot. Waah.

He knocked into it (cold, a day later) and in trying to catch it, got this nasty bruise on his picking hand. (Guitar picking, that is.)

PAUL SIMON!! - Wednesday 10/4/2006

Sorry, am I shouting? It’s hard to make myself heard over the Graceland CD blasting in my studio.

Yes, that’s Paul Simon down there. Once again, I was so excited about the event that I forgot to change my camera batteries, so didn’t have many opportunities to take pix. It was a cool night at the Greek, which is—of course—open air. He looked a lot like a Songmaker at one of the campouts we go to several times a year.

We had a miserable time getting to the venue, and although we bought the most expensive tickets that TicketMaster had to offer, we were still back fairly far. How do you get those section A tickets at the Greek and do you have to pay double or triple the face value??

But wow. The music was great. And quite a head trip. He played songs from all eras, all the way from his & Garfunkel days to his most recent CD, which I have been listening to for a couple of weeks. I got teared up during “Only Living Boy in New York,” which I knew from my big brother’s LPs, and “Slip Slidin’ Away” from my own treasured moments of teenaged melancholy.

And then I danced as energetically as you can without hurting your row-mates when we were all out of our seats for “Graceland,” etc.

Amazing band, I have to say. Great depth of talent, which is to be expected.

Would have liked it if he had told a couple of stories, but not everyone’s a talker. (Now Arlo, there’s a talker.)

Great way to start out our month of music!

Big Sky - Wednesday 10/4/2006

Taken from the road up to our neighborhood. The sky just looks bigger when clouds are all stretched across it.

Linear Sunset - Tuesday 10/3/2006

On my way to the library, then to my writing group. Sunset over Moorpark Avenue.

You catch the snippets of beauty you can catch, between the lines.

Even Corporate Symbols Can Be Pretty - Monday 10/2/2006

I know, I know. It’s an evil gas station sign shattering the peaceful blue afternoon.

Or, it’s a kind of interesting geometric shape over a more abstract background.

It just caught my eye as I returned to my car from the neighboring grocery store on Sand Canyon. There’s really no defense for it.

Getting My Writing Mojo Back

I have been working on a goal, over on 43Things, of getting my writing mojo back. That's part of what this blog--which I've been doing for more than a year now-- has been about. Keeping my creativity going while I denied, then gave into, then got over a brand of depression about my first novel being rejected and my not knowing how to fix it.

I think that this past weekend in Lone Pine really pushed me over the edge from okay-I’m-writing-regularly-again, to the-mojo-is-back! I wrote on rocks, between rocks, under trees, in a coffee house. Last night I wrote two single spaced pages of what will probably be a personal essay based partly on my experiences over the weekend. I can’t wait to get back to it.

What’d I do to get my mojo back? Many things.

Pouted, cried, finally allowed myself to mourn the rejection of my first novel, put said novel DOWN instead of torturing it or me any further (for now.)

Wrote what I wanted to write in various non-novel forms: reworked short stories, worked on personal essays, a secret project, poems, greeting card sentiments, long letters to friends, and my blog. Sent these things out to the world via USPS or the Internet.

Stopped complaining to my writing group that I wasn’t writing. That’s a self-fulfilling problem, because no matter how much I was actually writing, if I kept telling people I wasn’t, it felt like I wasn’t.

Started writing every day for 15 minutes, aiming for 7 days a week, but not beating myself up for missing one here and there. It helped me remember what’s fun about it and what can happen if you just show up, and how it’s not always great, but at least you were there. And I checked in daily for a while with my writing group, which helped compell me do do it.

Realized that I will write, no matter what. And that making art is it’s own reward in many ways. It’s all right to make money with it and to want to make money with it, but it’s also intrinsically good for the soul. Reading bits of The Resilient Writer by Catherine Wald helped here, too.

Signed up for NaNoWriMo, which sounds like good medicine. Got a huge rush when I saw my word count page on the site today. I’m there under the nickname SallyKitt, if anyone wants to buddy up.

Just wanted to say publically that I am reclaiming my creative health. No turning back.

Foot and Feathers - Sunday 10/1/2006 bonus

Just had to get a shot of Rocky’s sweet little blue feathers after Hydra swept them out of the trailer as we packed up to head home.

And my foot. Always has to get into the act.

Passed by Red Rock Canyon again on the way home. Some weather was brewing, but we didn't see any rainfall until after we were home and all unpacked. Terrific weekend.

A Much Needed Day Outdoors - Saturday 9/30/2006

We ventured into the Alabama Hills again on Saturday. Hydra was busy with his metal detector, while I trundled up into one of the many spaces between rocks with my camera, notebook and a desert guidebook that was written in 1969. Some beautiful writing in the introduction, etc.



It was shady and cool between the rocks, and the loudest sound was my fountain pen gliding across the page.



This granite is so decomposed that you can actually crumble bits of the edges away with your bare fingertips.


We drove deeper into the hills in search of Gene Autry Rock. The road was quite narrow in some places. See how the side mirrors are folded back?



I hiked up a ways and did some rock-hopping. Love this boulder that dropped down and filled in the gap. I did get a bit of a feeling of not knowing where I was when I'd hit a few dead ends in a row, but it's easy to keep your bearings with the Eastern Sierras on one side.


Hydra played a song in the shadow of Gene Autry Rock. Sounded great out there!



Leap of faith... We just believed that the road was down there below the hood. And it turned out that it was.



Finished up the day at an event at the Manzanar National Historic Site. Took the photo below on our way into a panel discussion about the Owens Valley, partly in relationship to the Manzanar internment camp, which involved a panel of old-timers (some in their 80s and 90s) and audience responses to questions. It was an amazing evening partly in support of the publication of Voices From This Long Brown Valley by Jane Wehry.

Sunset in the Alabama Hills - Friday 9/29/2006

We had a great drive up to Lone Pine at the base of Mount Whitney in the Owens Valley. It was not windy and highway 395 has been recently repaved, so pulling the trailer up there was the best ever.

We’ve got the set-up thing pretty well figured out, and we were able to get from our campground to the Alabama Hills just before sunset.

We followed the Movie Road to a site where a battle scene for Gunga Din was shot and Hydra tried out his new metal detector.

He found a penny! From 2005!

Only 1,994 more and the metal detector will have paid for itself!



In his defense, he did also find several nails, bottle caps, big staples, spent bullet casings, one bullet and a horse shoe over the course of the weekend.

The Reason I've Been MIA - Thursday 9/28/2006

Actually, maybe I should have taken a photograph of my file drawer. Looking at these piles of scripts, you really don’t get a clear idea of the amount of work they generate.

It’s been a very busy week, and I would not have been able to leave after just nine hours yesterday if it hadn’t been for the help of my coworkers, One-L and Luna’s Girl.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Yes, I applied a cartoon effect to this to make it less readable.

More Downtown Acton - Wednesday 9/27/2006

A barn on the other side of Gillespie from the photo I took the other day.

When we first moved here, there was a long horn steer in this pasture. Looks like a good place to hang out.

You know...if you’re a steer.

Jamaica, mon - Tuesday 9/26/2006

Stopped at Food 4 Less, which has amazing produce. This is the place I found the garbanzo beans in the shell. They have lots of Latin foods here, and one of them was this big pile of what was only labeled as “Jamaica.”

I was curious after my last visit, and looked it up on the internet. Had a feeling it was a flower. Yes! Jamaica flower is hibiscus.

So I bought some and made iced tea!



It’s pretty and tasty. Tangy. I’ve had it in Celestial Seasonings blends I’m sure. Fun to steep the actual flowers, though.

Okay, you can tell me. Maybe I’ve been living outside the city too long if I have begun to categorize steeping flowers as “fun.”

Yellow Crook-neck Squash - Monday, 9/25/2006

Yes, I am sometimes moved to photograph my dinner.

Instead of just steaming the squash, I got a little creative with it, and it’s a mix I’ll do again.

Love these square dishes, which I found at Trader Joe’s a few years ago…a set with four different creamy colors.

This is also part of another goal over on 43Things, to Try 43 New Recipes

Downtown Acton Sunday 9/24/2006

Yep, that’s downtown Acton, as seen from Gillespie Avenue. I am feeling compelled to take photos of the way it is right now.

Driving along our winding rural roads, I sometimes have these visions of towns like Moorpark where there is development all around for miles and you wonder why they didn’t lay out the roads straight.

Because there used to be undisturbed geographical features here.

Boa Boa Boa - Saturday 9/23/2006

I think this is an albino boa constrictor. It was at the Agua Dulce Country Fair on Saturday.
Saturday was such a big day, it’s what kept me from posting for so long. Okay, prepare to skip to someone else’s blog, this is going to go on for a while.

First off, I drove home from Braveheart’s house. We’d had a great time on the town the night before and I stayed at her place to avoid all those crazy Friday night drivers. Which made it kind of ironic when I was pulled over for speeding up the 14. Sigh. What can I say? I was singing a Betty Hutton song and anticipating a pretty much unscheduled weekend, and I was just…going! Only a little faster than surrounding traffic, but too much.

I just grinned at the officer. Can’t argue. I told him I was singing. The only person to be mad at was me, and I just didn’t want to mess up my good mood. He asked if I was going to the parade up there when he saw my address. I said, “No, but I have photos in the photo contest!” He wished me luck and advised me to pay a little more attention when I’m singing, but he was smiling too. He was on his way to Agua Dulce to handle parade traffic. Like, all twenty cars.

Hydra and I went over in the afternoon to see the photos and also encountered this snake, and a big hawk. It’s a very very small fair.

I didn’t win anything in the photo conest, but it was a good experience to get the photos together and submit them. The big glitch was that they’d said we could take the photos after 9pm, so we went over there (about 10 miles from our house) to pick them up, thinking we’d just stop in and go. 2 1/2 hours later, they finally finished tallying the votes and let us take the photos.

We stood around feeling disgruntled for a while, then gave in and danced in spite of me being in a really odd outfit…paisley yoga pants, a coral hoodie, and my hot pink Crocs. I thanked the poor people who had just run their first photo contest and we got home a little before midnight. Sigh.