ArtVenture

As an activity to get my mind off fire clean-up, I attended a wonderful event in Mercer County on Saturday. The newly formed Arts Council of Mercer County held its first ever ArtVenture for all artists in our community - painters, sketch artists, writers, photographers, musicians, dancers, etc. The goal of an ArtVenture is to expose all artists to the same environment or inspiration and see what type of art is created.

We meet at Terrapin Hill Farm - a 375-acre organic working, sustainable farm in Mercer County - for a morning trip to inspire our creativity. For me, I was able to write a long poem about the farm, do some sketching of local fauna and take numerous photos, which I will use to help illustrate my poem. At our next meeting, we will bring in our finished products to share with everyone.

Even though the morning started out as gray, overcast and rainy, this was the perfect kind of day for my muse - I love these kinds of days. At the end of the morning, we were treated to a wonderful organic lunch, prepared by Terrapin Hill - most of the food was grown or raised on the farm. We ate several different varieties of tomatoes, dill pickles, bread 'n butter pickles, pasta salad, potato salad, and chicken salad (yes, from organic, free-range chickens). For dessert we were treated to cantalope, peaches, red and yellow watermelon and ice cream.

If you have never visited Terrapin Hill Farm, I encourage you to do so. There annual Harvest Festival is coming up September 24 - 27th.

Cool Beans

I was so thrilled when Katerina Klemer choose my "Cool Beans" poem to read on her radio program, Accents, on August 21st. To hear the program for yourself, check out Accents and click on August 21, 2009.



COOL BEANS

If you come from Kentucky,
or any Southern state,
you know about the delicacy known to all as beans;
soup beans
kidney beans
navy beans
baked beans.
Try as I might, I never acquired the taste
for this healthy food of my parents and forefathers;
Kentucky pole beans
half runners
Roma flats
Blue Lakes.
Staples from the victory garden,
favored veggie of many home canners,
A bounty found in autumn
beneath the harvest moon.
Chili beans
red beans and rice
Lima beans, oh yuck;
recalling days I was made to clean my plate of these icky, mushy pods.
My taste runs more to sweeter beans –
okay, not veggies at all;
jelly beans and
vanilla beans and
coffee beans brewed on ice.
Occasionally I am tempted by a taco pizza with refried beans,
but Mexican jumping beans are really more my style,
pretty to look at instead of beans to taste;
And that’s really cool beans to me.

Fish Out of Water

I feel like a dog without a bone - a fish out of water - Harry without his wand. We've been out of our home for 10 days now and I'm starting to go stir crazy! Don't get me wrong, I love my mom-in-law to death, but her house is just not my house. I feel like we are an imposition, even though she tells us it's fine.

The electricians can yesterday and got all the old wiring and the breaker box ripped out. They are supposed to start on the re-wiring this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed they can finish by Friday because the electrical inspector visits our area on Fridays. With a little luck we may be back at home by the weekend.

Clean-up is coming along very slow - it's hard to clean adequately with no hot water (our home is all electric). One good thing has been my ability to purge items I've been hanging on to for years. I'm looking forward to having a more organized home when we finally move back in.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers - they have helped us get through from difficult days!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race ...

... or at my house, gets the clean-up done. Progress on our clean-up effort after the fire is slow but sure - the slowness is mainly due to no electricity, so, no hot water. Hot water helps to clean a multitude of messes. Because the house wiring has to be reworked, it may be Wednesday before we have power again, so I'm just making due at the present.

They say, "everything happens for a reason" - we just don't usually know what the reason is, or the reason will come to us later. I have come to the realization that I'm a pack-rat married to a pack-rat and these 2 things don't lead to a neat and tidy household. During the cleaning process this week, the evidence of my pack-ratty ways has been staring me in the face - screaming to be thrown away.

So, while I'm semi-cleaning with cold water and waiting on the electrician to do his magic, I am also taking this time to clear out years of "junk" we have accumulated after 20 years of marriage. Do I really need to keep every single school paper my children have every brought home? Yes, No, I am systematically going through years of papers and picking out the best pieces to save. Do I really need to save every single glass jar I've accumulated in the past 20 years? Yes, No, the majority of these can go to the recycling center - one or two is all any household can use at one time. Do we really need to keep every plastic cup my hubby brings home from Speedway because their soft drinks are so cheap and his commute is so long? Yes, No, there are only 3 of us, and even with the older girls are home with their family, we still don't need a gazillion cups.

The list could go on and on - accumulated sports equipment that hasn't been touched in 10 years, review copies of books I've read but really have no desire to read again, the clothing in size 8 to 22 that I may loss enough weight to wear again, every pair of glasses the 3 of us have ever owned, etc. etc. etc. etc. ....

Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers this past week. We have been blessed with wonderful families and outstanding friends. I may never know why this happened to us, but I do know it has helped me appreciate life more and I never plan to take life for granted again.

A Big Thank You

Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers! Clean-up is going slow, but at least it's going. We still don't have electricity restored, but it should be any day now. I guess on the bright side, this is a good time to do all the painting we've wanted to do - hehe. It is heart-warming to know we have so many friends sending up prayers and well-wishes. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Blog posts, stories and poems are going to be hit and miss this week - can't understand why I'm not in a writing mood! Although I have been jotting down notes, quotes and feelings, so I feel a large writing piece coming on. Hopefully, when we are finally back in the house, I'll be able to relax and start writing again.

We are taking a few hours off clean-up detail this afternoon to go see Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. Maybe "killin' nahtzeys" will make me feel better! It'll be 2 1/2 hours won't have to worry about cleaning.

"You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nahtzeys business. And cousin, Business is a-boomin'."

Tarantino is in that hit or miss category - people either love him or hate him. As you can probably tell, my family is in the LOVE HIM category. I love his screenwriting (True Romance, Pulp Fiction, From Dusk till Dawn, and Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2), I love his directing (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, and Death Proof) and I even love his acting (From Dusk till Dawn, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Death Proof). He also produced Iron Monkey, Four Rooms, Hostel, and Hell Ride.

Prayer Request

I would like to apologize for the lack of posts this week, but my family is in the midst of a major clean-up effort. We had a fire at our home on Tuesday morning. The major damage was to the laundry room - apparently our deep freezer shorted out. We lost everything in that room, but thankful there is no structural damage. We have smoke and water damage in the kitchen and living room, but this can all be cleaned up.

One of the hardest things has been losing our 3 cats - Frankie, Bella and Elinore. For those of you with pets, you can imagine how hard this has been, especially on our daughter. Thankfully, our dog, Rusty, appears to be uneffected, even though he was in the house with the cats.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days. God spared our home because we very well could have lost everything we own. Thankfully, we weren't home, so God also spared our lives - He is truly great.

Musing Monday

This week's Musing Monday prompt:

How do you react to movies made of your favourite books (or even not-so-favourite books)? Do you look forward to seeing them, or avoid them? Do you like to have read the book before seeing the movie?

I'm one of those people who think a movie can never be as good as the book - however, there are exceptions to the rule.

Everyone loves the movie The Wizard of Oz - it is a timeless classic. The problem is, most of the children today - and many of their parents - have never read the original book by L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I think it's funny that most people don't know there were NO ruby slippers in the book - the shoes were silver. Or that Glinda was the name of the Good Witch of the South, not the North. Most people think Dorothy dreamed her visit to Oz, when in fact, she actually did go to the Land of Oz. I think it's a shame most people have not read any of the 16 original books by Baum about the Land of Oz.

I loved the book The Horse Whisper, but I hated the movie - they totally changed the ending of the movie so it was unrecognizable from the book. I also had problems with the movie DUNE - as a stand alone movie, it was okay, but it strayed too far from the book for my taste. I enjoyed the book Sahara, but detested the movie. I also love the children's book The Polar Express, but thought the movie was boring. The Golden Compass, based on the book Northern Lights, should have been the beginning of a great series for kids, but the movie was lacking so much over the book.

There are some movies I think are faithful to the books, even if some detail is left out or changed. I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy and so far have enjoyed the Harry Potter movies, even though many things have been left out of both because of the length of the books. To Kill a Mockingbird was true to the book, as was The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Kite Runner, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the Tim Burton version), The Green Mile, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

There are very few movies I enjoy better than the books, but I do have one or two favorites. Secret Garden is based on the short story Secret Garden, Secret Window and although I enjoy the story, I think the movie is wonderful and it is in my top 25 movies. Cold Mountain is a great book, but the imagery and visuals in the movie are outstanding. I really didn't like the book BLOW, but I loved the movie - maybe it was Johnny Depp, I don't know.

I love the saying:

Books - Read the Movie

I think this is what everyone should do because there is something powerful about the written word. However, I realize there are many non-readers in the world who enjoy seeing movies, I just wish they wouldn't take the movie as the whole story. So many times, the movie just doesn't compare to the enjoyment of reading the words and having the pictures form in your imagination.

Book Launch

Congratulations to Tony Sexton and Earl P. Dean on your successful book launch/mixer yesterday at the Kentucky Fudge Company. Tony has just released his first book of poetry, "Scraps," and Earl has release a science fiction novella, "A Tailor Maiden's Secret."

Both of these books are available at Wasteland Press and Amazon.

Herschel McKinley - the MC (Photo by Bobbi Rightmyer)

Earl P. Dean (Photo by Cheryl Sexton)

Tony Sexton (Photo by Bobbi Rightmyer)

Earl P. Dean and Tony Sexton (Photo by Cheryl Sexton)

Cool Beans

Cool Beans
By Bobbi Rightmyer


If you come from Kentucky,
or any Southern state,
you know about the delicacy known to all as beans;
soup beans
kidney beans
navy beans
baked beans.
Try as I might, I never acquired the taste
for this healthy food of my parents and forefathers;
Kentucky pole beans
half runners
Roma flats
Blue Lakes.
Staples from the victory garden,
favored veggie of many home canners,
A bounty found in autumn
beneath the harvest moon.
Chili beans
red beans and rice
Lima beans, oh yuck;
recalling days I was made to clean my plate of these icky, mushy pods.
My taste runs more to sweeter beans –
okay, not veggies at all;
jelly beans and
vanilla beans and
coffee beans brewed on ice.
Occasionally I am tempted by a taco pizza with refried beans,
but Mexican jumping beans are really more my style,
pretty to look at instead of beans to taste;
And that’s really cool beans to me.

No Place Like Home

Today's One-Minute Writing Prompt: Home
How do you feel when you walk into your home after an out of town trip?

I feel like Dorothy just before she comes home:

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home ...

Welcome to Ragweed Season

Have your allergies kicked into overdrive? Blame it on Ragweed. Check out my new article on Examiner.Com.

What's Blooming Around the Bluegrass ...?

... this week it's Pokeberry. Check out my newest gardening article on Examiner.Com.

Butterflies of Love

BUTTERFLIES OF LOVE

Why does unfaithfulness
come to ones you've sworn to love?
Does one fall out of love,
or were they never in love at all?
Till death us do part are the sacred words,
but some can't stay true to the vow.
Maybe it was lust and not true love,
or maybe the love of butterflies
beating a tempo inside the chest is the feeling you've come to love?
But when the graceful wings are gone,
so, too, is the love,
or are we really meant for one person,
does God offer contingency
for those who are unsure?
Are soul mates made up by poets
to describe an unending bond,
or are we really destined to mate our cosmic love?
Sometimes the butterflies are truly missed,
beating inside my chest,
but I've found my one true love
and though we didn't start out together,
the hand of fate stepped in
and now we're wedded soul mates
until the blissful end.

Reflections

REFLECTIONS

The mirrors turn in,
reflecting past sins, grievances,
showing hallow ghosts of shining hopes and dreams,
with no way to keep at bay the dark and sorted nightmares.
Does the Bogey man exist
like beings of daytime hours;
or is he like the man in the moon,
only showing when a cycle is full?
Creeping darkness under the bed,
or a slightly cracked closet door
scaring even dust bunnies away
like particles dancing in a sun beam.
The stars may sparkle to mimick a diamond
with all its Teflon facets,
and waves may ripple the water surface
like warbles upon the glass.
Hopes and dreams are shared
with those closest to our heart
wishing for a brighter way
to end this foolish slump.