Flowers in the Desert

I spent the last two days of 2010 reading. For me,  reading is the best way to slow down and begin a period of introspection.

Recommended by my dear friend, Mercedes, I chose "The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir" because I longed for the warm sun of the desert and I was looking for a way to quiet my mind after the holiday rush and focus on my goals for the coming new year.

Sometimes the best way to find clarity or a solution is to literally walk away. I walked with Silko as she spoke about her thirty years in the Tucson desert, feeling blessed to be there and how she made friends with the rattlesnakes, pack rats and bees understanding the tenuous balance that existed between the wild and not so wild. I listened as she worried about the approaching development and destruction of the desert by bulldozers, painting small white crosses on boulders to ward off Machine Man like she had seen in the petroglyphs left on the boulders by the ancient people centuries earlier. I cried when the owls raided her aviary and killed her beloved macaws.

Silko explores the sacred and mystical quality of turquoise.

"When I was a child, people at Laguna and people in Spanish-speaking villages nearby used to paint the doors and window frames bright turquoise blue to keep away witches. The Spanish-speaking people used to save the bright blue stamps that sealed the Bull Durham tobacco bags, and whenever they had headaches they wore the bright blue stamps on their foreheads to stop the pain."

Thrilled whenever a piece of turquoise appeared on the trail, she returns home and places the new found treasure on her desk among the other treasures, writing or painting about that particular piece of turquoise and where she had found it.

With the recent shootings in Tucson, I am recalling the peace I felt as 'walked' with Leslie and the strength I get whenever I am in this part of the country, envisioning bits of turquoise being left by the ancient people for those harmed and lost as well as their families in the hopes that their pain will be eased and the healing will begin.

Magpie Tales-The Muse vs. the Fuse

                                                               You should know that my fuse is long

I can understand the yelling
I can hunt for the answers
I can tolerate the bad luck
But give me excuses
Or try to tell me there are no words
That's when I start to burn
Just when you thought I'm lost
Snap, crackle and pop
That sizzle isn't bacon frying in the pan
The bang isn't the door slamming in your face
It is just me
Refusing to accept
Pushing forward
Writing what must be heard
Snap
Crackle
Pop
Burn

C.M. Jackson 2010

The photo is courtesy of Willow and this is just one of the many tales you can enjoy at Magpie Tales.

Flash 55-Now

There are times when I can be here and there. Moving back and forth enjoying the view of many facets of life. Lately I have had to focus on there despite wanting be here. Job’s done, so I can now look through the kaleidoscope and see beyond my desk. I’m here, happy, ready to play.

Welcome to Flash Friday - If you can say it in 55 words go tell the g-man! Happy Friday all!

Open

"Even if it's not your ideal life, you can always choose it. No matter what your life is, choosing it changes everything."
Andre Agassi

I spent my early twenties watching tennis. Evert, Conners, McEnroe and Borg were my introduction to a game that I came to love. The discipline, excitement and the sheer drama of each player and their resulting matches made certain that I planned my 4th of July and Labor Day weekends around Wimbledon and the US Open. Despite my best efforts, my ability to play the game was limited largely due to this unknown skill called eye-hand coordination. Alas, I grew up before Title IX and never really grasped the idea of hitting a ball with a bat or a ball with anything for that matter though I tried. So I watched the game and the battles all the while witnessing these amazing athletes along with this upstart Agassi as he showed up to play wearing something other than white at Wimbledon and looking like Bonjovi with a tennis racket. Too quickly, they all faded away and I was left to watch how Agassi fought to stay in the game. Suddenly he had my attention.

So it was not only because of the love of tennis that I picked up Andre Agassi's book, "Open: An Autobiography", but because of his determination and his willingness to go to battle in spite of the odds and the better athletes in his path. I watched him as he reinvented himself through training and sheer resolve win.

But wait, this is not only a story about an athlete but also about a man trying to find himself. A journey. The ability to realize one's potential in spite of the day to day responsibilities, excel and find happiness. Sound familiar?

Magpie Tales-A Mother's Love

"I just want to make her legacy live on and make it live through me." Johannie Rochette

tonight is yours

the world awaits
my work done
I am here
watching
you
glide
jump
and fly
know cheri
the kiss
sent skyward
sparkles
on my cheek
like a star
my pride
and joy
lifting you
up
I feel
the weight slip
from your shoulders
to your hands
a bronze medal
resting there
as you smile
a ribbon
connecting
my heart
to yours
well done

This is week 3 of a wonderful blog designed to get writers writing and keep the muse alive!

For more information about Magpie Tales fly here!

Thank you Willow!

Presidents' Day

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.


"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass."

George Washington
 

Let's remember, give thanks for their efforts and continue their good work.

Mardi Gras Starts Now

Congrats to the Saints on their win!

Flash 55-The Audition

She hears her number and walks onto the stage. Darkness before her, the music starts. A voice sings in her heart. She flies, her body moving across the boards, the leather of her shoes squeaking as she touches the wood. Skin glistening, her breath comes quickly as she awaits a decision looking into the darkness.


More Flash Fiction may be found here!

Bad Attitude? Change your Altitude

Work! What can I say? This is what I felt like during the day ---a silent roar rumbling behind my smile as I nodded my head--"Sure I can do that!" Then it occurred to me, I needed to take a hike albeit mentally and I was in Chaco, the man in the mountain roaring with me--the blue,blue sky and hot sun melting away the stress. Attitude, Altitude---ah yes, all is possible.

Monday Morning Wake Up Call--Up and At 'Em!

For me the key to staying motivated in my work year in and year out, is to reinvent myself. By reinvent, I mean force myself to do things I never do or think about how I do them and to never, ever stop learning.

I came across this bit of advice and have tacked it above my phone as a reminder to be present and to embrace change.

If you have been sitting, stand.
If you have been standing, sit.
If you have been traveling, stay home.
If you have been home, travel.
If you have been teaching, learn.
If you have been learning, teach.
If you have been talking, listen.
If you have been listening, talk.

Annharriet Buck

Here's to a great week!

A New Year...One Word...Realize

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you are valued more than you know, by more people than you think.
It might be good to get in touch today with your true worth.
It is much higher than you often give it credit for being --
and now is a perfect time to know, and to gently assert, that fact.
This is not about arrogance and it is not about over confidence.
It is about a simple, dignified Knowing.
You will not have to think but a second to understand precisely why you received this message today.
--Neale Donald Walsch

I treasure this time of year. I take time to hear the voice that cannot be heard above the noise of have tos, shoulds,did nots and failures, perceived or actual.

Many years ago, a dear friend of mine told me that no matter who you are--mother, father, sister,brother, wife or husband,  one must always have a place in their being that is exclusive and sacred to the individual ...this to me is "a simple,dignified Knowing." 

My resolution for this year is to take that knowing and act upon it.

To realize
I must
be conscious
of a plan
understand
goals
think
of process
do
what makes me happy
envision
tomorrow
fancy
the impossible
achieve
my due
acknowledge
blessings
live