Sunday, August 24, 2008

All is Right on a Lazy Sunday

Very tired tonight, some gig weekends take it out of you. Worth it, every time, but I do end up a Zombie some Sunday's....Nathilie is back and that is all to the good. Val has her painting up, hurrah, and Phiala is , one hopes near to getting done with her mountains of paper...Gayle is back in school, and everyone is working on our Nightime Garden. Jess and Dr Score may be starting their own Zombie revolution, along with the Happy Guy from the Pub last night (also a Zombie nut, weird how these things come out..)

Dan Guy, of course, is still working hard with the Bengals-Bee alliance and their quest for world domination.

All is right in the world.

No word yet on if I get the F1 Kitten. I'm hoping I do, just for the chance to try. I am going to need some expert advice tho, and am starting to look for someone who has dealt with F1's.

I've been reading a lot about the life of John Donne lately, one of my favorite poets. Brought him into the Haunted House a while back. See what you think, goes a long way towards explaining a lot of things.. It feels so good to finally have broken the "I can't show these to everyone" barrier." I think I want to know how it all turns out, and what these Creatures are as much as anyone. Plaguing me they are...

Love and Rest, Lorraine


If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee
And swear, No where
Lives a woman true and fair.
John Donne



Do you remember some years ago, 400 or so, if one would be exact, there was a poet born? I remember how you looked at him. I remember how you sang to him, how you danced with him, and how you left him.

Poor soul, he married foolishly, and quickly, stayed a time in prison for it, in fact. Lost his living, his religion, twelve children, and his life. John-Donne, Anne-Donne, Un-Done, he said.

He traveled so far, looking, searching, wanting. He sailed with Sir Walter and the Lord Essex, for a time, and saw the last of the grand ship San Felipe , saw all aboard die, saw the ship burn, and sink beneath the waves. He looked for you in Germany, in the embassy at the Princes court. And in Italy.

He did not return to England for many years. And never a word of what he wrote, while he lived, was read. Not until long after he had died.

What do you think he and Jemmie, that first King James, spoke of late at night? That was a King who saw too much, but had not the soul, or imagination for it to destroy him...I had something to do with that. It was one of my, let us say, slight miscalculations. I regret what came after. Too many dreamers died, too much magic was lost, all stemming from his fear of demons, of witches, of things that can happen in the night.

Never was a poet born who lived happily. I think, when they see such things, hear such things, and dream such dreams, it is better for them in the next world than this. They burn so brightly. It is worse for them if we find them. Or better. You can look indifferent and shrug if you want to, but there is some truth in what I say.

I just wondered if you remembered these things.

For I think you might be about to make a slight miscalculation of your own.

50 Comments:

At 7:49 PM , Blogger ariandalen said...

Hmm...leanan sidhe, perhaps? I suppose I'll wait and see. ;)

The first step is always the hardest. After that, it's just one foot in front of the other. :)

Have you found homes for Ginger and Sabrina? Surely you need to find homes for them before you take on the F1. Don't you?

 
At 8:03 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Haven't found home yet, but I took an ad in our local paper which will run this week. If it doesn't work, I will go to Minneapolis/St Paul, Hudson, STillwater. I will find someone.

I could take another, I do have three bedrooms. I can't save all the Kitty's in the world, but I can save these ones. And that's something.

 
At 8:14 PM , Blogger AletaMay said...

Lazy. Yes.

Or in my case at least easily distracted!

I am feeling more attached to your story with each installment. I am so glad you are sharing. I can't wait to find out what the new miscalculation will be!

I need another day in this weekend.

 
At 8:27 PM , Blogger Stacy Hurt said...

Donne is one of my very favorites; besides Yeats.

...When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false and true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face..

You've got great stories in you yet still Ms. L; can't wait to read further.

 
At 8:39 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Ack. Hadn't thought about the order of them...Just sort of tossing them out...Perhaps I ought to,,,

I am glad you like them tho, this makes me happy. I so didn't know if they would work...

Stacy, I love that too, le's finish it off..It's the same sort of thing, isn't it?

"
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars."

 
At 9:03 PM , Blogger spacedlaw said...

Great story smelling of sea salt, tears and salpeter.

 
At 9:06 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Nathilie, my thanks, you are the one who has the fine way with words....

It still seems strange to me how we say goodnight to you in the afternoon, and the I big you Good Morning, before I've gone to bed.....

 
At 9:07 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Make that Bid not Big, maybe I'm the one who should go to bed , hee-hee...

 
At 9:08 PM , Blogger spacedlaw said...

It's handy to wake up at 05:00...
Nightey night.

 
At 9:12 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

I went to bed at 5:00 last night.....Have to get up earlier tomorrow, Sharon is coming and we are doing mysterious Bee Things...

(Mysterious because I have no idea what we are doing...)

 
At 10:44 PM , Blogger Chantrelle said...

Now that i've found this blog, how will i ever keep up?!? I was gone for the weekend and I'm so behind.
I'm doomed! ;-)

 
At 12:08 AM , Blogger spacedlaw said...

A little off topic, would you guys go and check the art pieces of Amy Leonard? I am particularly fascinated by her shell girl piece...

 
At 4:10 AM , Blogger Dan Guy said...

I love the latest Haunted piece; especially the kicker of the last line.

I once read a very long biography of William Blake, having gotten him confused with W.B. Yeats. I kept waiting for him to write "The Second Coming".

 
At 4:18 AM , Blogger Phiala said...

And.... Round 1 goes to Phiala!

I did indeed read a thousand pages of proposals in 48 hours, a feat I never hope to repeat. If you've never seen government grant proposal forms, there's a lot of paperwork not important to my mission, as well as incredibly important parts like the full page at the end that says "End of Proposal". I had to pay attention to about a third of the total, though I had to look at all of the pages.

Round 2: Write up detailed reviews of four of the eleven. I have a week. The catch: I also have to do my regular job, so this will continue to be evenings and weekends. But only for a week!

I want to start the garden "sketches" instead!

Or sleep.

I like the Donne... haven't read much. Somehow my life doesn't lend itself to reading poetry lately, which is sad now that I think of it.

 
At 4:26 AM , Blogger Jess said...

Night Gardens under glass! That's a nifty find, N. I think I like the little shell-girl best, too. :)

I love the way your story's unfolding in all sorts of different directions, Lorraine! The history you're slowly bringing in adds a lot of richness to it. You mention feeling like you want to know who these characters are-- have you thought about writing some alternate versions of these chapters from different viewpoints? I did that with a couple of scenes from my Novel-Inna-Drawer, and was surprised at how much I learned about all the characters. It's like how you never really get to know a person if you only meet them in the coffee shop once a week; it's when you see them in other contexts, and talk to their friends, that you begin to understand the whole person.

The neat thing about the exercise is that you can then go back, if you want to, and choose the character who seems to tell the story best. I'm really keen, actually, to hear the other character speak. :) We can gather a lot about him from what the current narrator says, but we've never actually heard him or her yet. (For some reason I've been assuming all this time that the speaker is female and the "listener" male-- though I'm not sure what reason I have for that.) I do think it's important that you know very firmly who they are, whether you or not you reveal their identities to the reader or keep them guessing.

Zombie Revolution? Now hang on-- do I have to reanimate the the corpses myself, or will Dr. Score be handling that? I'm a little worried it'd put up my electric bill. Actually, I'm not sure my house is really wired to handle that kind of voltage.

 
At 6:27 AM , Blogger ivenotime said...

Yey Phiala - no mean feat that! best luck with writing about these grants. Lorraine - another evocative piece, have fun with the bees today (bee careful!) Yes Chantrelle, this blog moves at the speed of light - i am never caught up either. Jess, what an interesting idea, would be neat to apply to drawing as well. have a good monday all, i am off to work.

 
At 6:28 AM , Blogger K said...

Lorraine, are you sharing a bit of my brainspace? I have been explaining my passion for Donne several times recently on LJ, in response to people's questions.

I made my poor father-in-law read this one when J and I got married.

But I think I like "The Relic" best (and secretly I want to be buried with J's hair around my wrist. I've hung on to his ponytail just in case.)

Poor Donne, poor tormented soul. He did get some credit in life, though; he didn't publish his poems, but he was a popular preacher and ended up Dean of St Paul's. Flagellating himself the while for having gone over to Protestantism, but there we are. I hope he recanted on his deathbed, since he clearly wanted to...

 
At 8:20 AM , Blogger Dread Val said...

Donne's one of my favorites, too. Keep on posting more of the stories; I'm enjoying seeing how they fit together as little prose poems. :)

Phiala, good luck with the grants.

Spacedlaw, welcome back from your holiday!

 
At 9:37 AM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Good Morning! Yes, this does tend to move pretty fast...Hope I've had enough tea...

Easily confused, I confused myself, just went and read Second Coming again....

Thanks Jess, interesting idea...I wonder if I could?? Try it from an third viewpoint...Hmmm....I know the genders in my mind, but I think they ought to be something everyone decides for themselves, perhaps, same with WHAT they are.

K, I know what you mean, for the third time in a week, the other night , someone brought up Terry Pratchett, all people who don't know who I work for...

I will keep posting them, if you want to read them, I just don't want you to get tired of them..

Turns out I'm not getting the F1 Kitty after all. They found him someone out east who is willing to take him on. Not sure if I am happy or sad about this, but I am thinking happy, F1 is a LOT of Kitty, maybe I should start with , say, an F3....

Never read government grant forms, but one can imagine.....

Bees today!!!!!!!!

 
At 9:39 AM , Blogger spacedlaw said...

Good morning! I thought you had already done the bees, but I have got my time tables in a twist it seems.

 
At 9:54 AM , Blogger Jess said...

I am excited to hear about bees! Roll on the bee post! :)

Sorry about the F1-- taht's too bad. Venus and Mim are a screen-tearing handful, though; maybe that's Cat Madness enough.

Phiala - I've only ever worked on arts grants, and a couple of landscape architecture design-award apps; they tend to be short, which is a plus, but they still make for some dull reading. You must have a superhuman attention span-- I wince in sympathy!

 
At 10:01 AM , Blogger spacedlaw said...

Phiala, your reading and analyzing grant papers sounds very much like what I do when I evaluate proposals from industry for work we want contracted out. My full commiseration.

 
At 10:02 AM , Blogger EmilyLady said...

I love John Donne! He is definitely amongst my favorites, and I was interested to find a compilation of just about every sermon he ever preached. Haven't read it yet, unfortunately, but thanks for reminding me ....

~Emily

 
At 10:06 AM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Bees were meant to have happened yesterday, but got put off till today...

I think I am going with relived , even an unsocialized F4 is a lot of work, and it doesn't always work. My foster co-ordinater just wrote and told me that it was me getting involved and offering to take him that moved the breeder to find a home for him, with, what we hope, are good people, so I helped in that way.

Now if only someone would call about Ginger and Sabrina...

 
At 11:22 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Quiche, I’m loving your prose poems –and inspired me to go and dig out my metaphysical poets … have you ever considered putting any of his work to music? I notice that ‘goe and catch a falling star’ is simply titled ‘song’ (at least in the book I have)

By the way, it’s a little off topic but I just got a parcel of stuff I ordered from Dreamhaven (and having been busy, I’d forgotten I had done it, so it came like a gift when it arrived) I’ve spent all weekend listening to ‘Play each morning, Wild Queen) and I love ‘A meaningful Dialogue’ and ‘All Purpose Folk Song’ especially. So thank you for the music. 

I’m with you, Chantrelle, on the ‘turn your back and it moves so fast’-ness of this blog – I’m going on holiday next week and I know I shall miss so much…

Maybe I will have time and inspiration to write something Night-Garden related, although whether I shall be brave enough to submit it to scrutiny if I do is another question altogether!

 
At 11:30 AM , Blogger Dread Val said...

I hope someone calls about Ginger and Sabrina, too. Not that I'm not still willing to be plan Z, because I am… but there's a reason I'm plan Z. ;)

In other news, I finally am getting email again, after a day of my DNS server being cranky. I hate sending out the 'Hi, did you email me?' email, though. ;/

 
At 11:34 AM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

There's a piece by GK Chesterton, called "The Great Minimum" that I always thought would make a lovely song....

Glad to hear you are enjoying the Flash Girls and the Haunted poems! Paul and I are starting to work on some Flash Girls tunes again....They really should be played.

Thanks Val, you would be plan A except that you are far away, and have a dog and cat already...

 
At 12:16 PM , Blogger EmilyLady said...

Lorraine ... I write a lot of poetry. Some of it has been published. Um, should I expect to go downhill from here?

~Emily

 
At 1:08 PM , Blogger ariandalen said...

I wouldn't worry about it, Emily. Poetry is eternal, and you will find new things in it as you experience more of life. You may look back and say, "I wrote that!" And you may look back and say, "I've come back around to that same place," which can be a bit on the odd side when you've been an adult for almost 20 years.

Ms. Fabulous, I'm not sure Venus and Mim would have forgiven you if you had gotten the F1 with Ginger and Sabrina still there. I thought about getting a Bengal, oh, 15 years ago, but didn't have the money for one, nor did I know anything about rescue groups. Now, I have two girls under 10 and a cat that is over 11. ::shrug:: Life is.

Soon, I'll find out how well the first day of first grade went for DD1.

 
At 4:07 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Ah school starting again...Yes, you are likely right, Venus would NOT have approved...

Writing just gets better , Emily. Do it because you love it, or because you have to because the stories will bash around in your brain begging to be let out, giving you no peace until you grumble and write them out...

You will right different things at different points in your life yes....

I've much to say about bees tonight...And gardens's but now I am making Rat-a-too-ee (Spell check just gives up every time I try to spell it right , no guesses it says, sadly...)for me and the Birdchick.

 
At 4:11 PM , Blogger Dread Val said...

Hey, Emily -- if having published poetry early on means you're going downhill, then I'm in the same boat. ;) So, uh, don't worry about it. Just write what comes to you.

I am hungry for ratatouille now. Mmmm.

 
At 4:29 PM , Blogger gaypet said...

I feel like I am just repeating myself but, really, bravo Lorraine! I am getting a feel for the characters and I love, love, love that you leave so much up to the reader to decide!

I hope that the Night Garden project is still open for submissions when I have time to work on my ideas. Today I started designing a necklace that I picture on the woman who is in my head, asking to be drawn; in a garden at night, etc, etc.

I'm happy that the F1 found a home but sorry for that it was not with you. I know the feeling of wanting to save them all.

I don't know if I said this already but I did put up some more "Love Wanted" signs here in Northfield. I will put some up in St Paul this week when I go up for class.

Spacedlaw, I love the art in the link you posted! I had a friend (who I have sadly lost track of) who did something like that but with lots of animal bones. She spent a lot of time picking up road kill. I hope no one was eating while reading this. Sorry. She was actually a really amazing artist.

 
At 4:37 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

How did you learn to spell that WORD??????????

I'm jealous. Show off. Hmmpph. (Hee-hee)

Thanks Gayle! I am glad you like it, I truly didn't know if it worked for anyone but me. I do so want it to grow up and be a book.

Thanks for posting flyers, it all helps...

The Night Garden Project isn't going to close, and there is no time limit. It will have it's own home over at the new website. We'll post things as people get them done.

(Which Val was going to help with until she showed me up!)

Well, my Rat-a-too-ee is ENTIRELY from the garden. Toms, zucchini, eggplant , onions, basil and parsley and garlic. As soon as the friend green tomatoes are done, we eat.

And watch Buffy. Just got the boxed set, and have never really seen it...

 
At 4:38 PM , Blogger gaypet said...

The animals have noticed the shorter days and the abundant harvest. Crows and insects and squirrels are all a little nuts trying to gather, gather, gather. I am not afraid of squirrels but sometimes when I walk by them and they run down the tree doing that Mars Attacks "Ack, Ack, Ack" sound it can be disturbing.:) I actually did know a woman who was attacked by a squirrel. Birdchick may know her, come to think of it, she worked at the Raptor Center. She had bad cuts all over her face and hands. From a squirrel! That said, I love the bumble bees and gold finches on the sunflowers!

 
At 4:40 PM , Blogger gaypet said...

No fair! A night of Buffy and rata-can't-spell-either from the garden? Sounds like heaven. Enjoy!

 
At 4:42 PM , Blogger Dread Val said...

Heh! Just be glad I didn't email you a picture of me typing the word out. ;)

Don't think I won't. :)

 
At 4:43 PM , Blogger AletaMay said...

I'm with Gayle. Rat-a-whatzit and Buffy after some great beeing sounds like a bit of heaven to me too! (A good meal need not be spelled to be enjoyed -- thank Fod!)

 
At 4:45 PM , Blogger Phiala said...

Ooooh, Q, can I come over for dinner? I love eggplant, and Nick won't eat the stuff.

Tonight is a no-proposal night - work on those will resume tomorrow night. Tonight I blog and catch up on the string business. (I suppose it's good that people keep buying stuff from me, but sometimes...)

I was mugged by a squirrel once. (Penn State squirrels are notoriously stupid/brave. I'm sure Jess will agree!) I was carrying a bagel in a paper bag, heading down a sidewalk in one of the green spaces on campus. A squirrel ran up, along the sidewalk, and stopped about a yard away, posing like the sherriff stopping the horse rustlers from coming into town. "You aren't getting past me, no way!"

I looked at it.

It looked at me.

Then it charged, and dashed up my leg, heading for the bagel bag! I'm standing on one foot, kicking violently with the other, trying to dislodge this fearless squirrel from my shin!

I won, but my bagel was in terrible danger.

Then there's the squirrel that ran into me last winter...

 
At 5:53 PM , Blogger ivenotime said...

Wow Phiala, talk about a desperate squirrel! glad you weren't bit. I too am hungry for ratatouille (no, I can't spell but I can use the copy/paste function (thank you Pantagruel:)). and fried green tomatoes -yum. sounds wonderful. can't wait for the new website, will be such fun!

 
At 5:56 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Who knew this about squirrels!?!?! The Birdchick doesn't know this squirrel attacked women, she says Hi tho....

Hee-hee, Val...

The Rat whatever was great, as were the Toms.

Watched episode 1 of Buffy. Hmmm...Birdchick says we are going to watch a couple of season 2's as that's when things get exciting. It seemed the first episode was lots of set up, and I kind of feel like I can see where it is going....

 
At 6:33 PM , Blogger gaypet said...

Oh, well, yes, you can see where it is going. Buffy is not a great intellectual exercise but it is comfort food for those of us who enjoy the character driven story. At least that is what I think. :)

I wish I could remember the squirrel-attack woman's name. She worked for some people that I nannied for in Edina. And hello back to Birdchick. I have been planning to take M to the Raptor Center but just haven't done it yet. Any suggestions for the best time to go? M is 4, by the way.

I would be grateful if you would post your rata-what-not recipe. I have all of the ingredients but have only made it once.

 
At 6:51 PM , Blogger Dan Guy said...

If you think that Buffy is not an intellectual exercise then you are not hanging out in the same academic circles as I am. There have been cultural anthropology and literary analysis conferences just for Buffy! And several books of collected papers.

 
At 6:55 PM , Blogger Jess said...

I'm glad Val spelled ratatouille before I did. Now I'm not in trouble. ;) I don't know how to make it, though! Please to post rata-recipe. Sounds goooooood. And it just so happens that I've got some zucchini and tomaters to get rid of before they go off. Also yellow crookneck squash! My CSA has begun to supply us faster than we can eat. Aieee!

I think the squirrels in happy valley must have turned ugly since I was there. I remember thinking that they were unsettlingly rat-tailed for squirrels, and that I didn't like the way they looked at me. But I never had one try to climb my leg or take my bagel. There was a guy at the bus stop on the corner of College and Allen Streets, right across from the Corner Room restaurant, who once threatened to hit me with the hammer he had hanging off his belt. But he wasn't a squirrel, and I was assured by another passenger that he and his hammer were harmless, really. So that's all right.

Can't wait to catch up with the bees! It's such cool stuff. I love your and Sharon's bee posts. :)

Happy Buffying! I'm off to bed. G'night, all!

 
At 7:10 PM , Blogger gaypet said...

Yes, Dan you are correct. That was a poor choice of words on my part. I do know people who have written Grad papers on Buffy. What I should have said is that Lorraine probably does get where things are going and that I have enjoyed the character driven story. I did not think about that post enough. I did not intend to demean the story. My bad!

 
At 7:24 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Poor bee post has been eaten by Buffy. Second season rocks, tho I am gong to go back and watch first. Hadn't known it was Joss Weadon, I bet there is a lot that will surprise me...He's so good. I didn't mean to sound snotty either, and I might have...

(See how out of it I am??)

Here is my Rat Recipe:

Onions
Garlic
Eggplants
Summersquash
Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Salt
Pepper

Put as much of each thing as you want into a pan, in that order, and cook it for a couple of hours. This is important, the longer the better.

Actually the order is not important, except onions go first, and don't do the basil until right at the end.

That's it.

 
At 7:25 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

The Bee post IS coming. I am waiting for the Birdchick to download photos for me. She is working on that..

(While watching Buffy)

 
At 8:38 PM , Blogger ivenotime said...

I've never seen any of Buffy (deprived aren't i, or depraved, depending) that would be fun to do this winter once indoors beckons, the almanac is predicting a very cold winter this year. think i will go to the farmers market on thursday and try rata for labor day weekend, thanks for posting the recipe - the kids are coming home from college, hurrah!

 
At 9:25 PM , Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Cold this winter? Very cold????? Could be right, it already feels like fall up here...

Hurrah for kids coming home!

Ok, ok, bee blog....

 
At 1:11 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not all that familiar with much poetry (un-edumacated I am) but I'm liking these Donne pieces. They read like something Loreena McKennitt would set to a tune.

Sadly, I am Buffy ignorant, though I have several friends that are huge fans, I just never got around to watching it.

Philia: Congrats on making it through that mountain of reading. That squirrel story is just scary..that was one aggressive critter! Maybe my Mom's horse is right and they really should just be avoided at all costs..she seems pretty sure they have retractable fangs or something.

 
At 4:45 AM , Blogger Dan Guy said...

I'm not a Buffy snob or offended, that was just a fly-by posting that probably came off sounding too curt.

I think Buffy was the original impetus for me to leave my first, bad job. I was leaving the house at 5am and getting home at 7:30pm. Well TNT started re-airing Buffy two hours a night, in order, starting with the first episode, from 7-9pm. Or maybe it was 6-8pm, I don't remember. It might not have been TNT either, actually.

Point is!: I was missing the first half episode (or maybe episode and a half) every night, having to tape it and watch all time-shifted fast-forwarding through the ads to catch up with the live feed, and that just would not do. Clearly, something had to be done.

So I started leaving work an hour early to get home in time for Buffy, my bosses freaked out and then ultimately caved, and then I decided I needed a new job.

 

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