The power went out in My World & we were left with candles, one Coleman flashlight & a box of crystals. Thought I'd share the end results...the flashlight embedded with crystals & the ceiling... wish the rainbow effect showed up in pics, it was beautiful. The crystals lit the whole room up with irredescent colors.
ps-i love roasting marshmellows over candlelight. yumyum!
When I entered school, we all all stood up and said the Allegiance to the Flag.
Growing up in the Sunshine State, multi-culturism & cultural diversity existed before these catch phrases really caught on.
We All Stood. Black, white, latino, christian, pagan, jewish...we all stood.
At the beginning of school, we were given the purple words on a ditto sheet & told to memorize them.
It was like the first taste of homework. I took the ditto home & had Momma help me understand the big words.
Propaganda? Politics in the classroom?
OK, whatever.
In my World, it was like a prayer.
At the end, I muttered 'Amen.'
Vietnam was still going on, the TV static was filled with it. So was the neighborhood and I scantily listened.
There was a house around the corner, we called it 'The Flag House.' This guy had every cubic inch saturated with stars and stripes. He had 100's of flags. He was a Vietnam Vet & we were still fighting.
Neighbors made fun of him, TV reporters would stand on the street illuminating his house in the darkness and festering around it, like flies on a carcass, by day.
People didn't like it, this flag house, but I did.
It was confusing to me...why would the city, the reporters, the neighbors have issue with this house?
5 year olds do not have years of wisdom & education under their belt, but...
In My World, 'republic' meant that us people, us Americans, us individuals had a say in Our World. In My World, 'indivisible' meant individuals together...like trees in the outskirts of our yard. All alone but all together. In My World, 'liberty & justice for all' meant freedom.
Wasn't he one individual in our Republic? Didn't he have a say? Weren't we really indivisible...each of us little trees in the forrest of America? Couldn't we let him alone? As sure as Molly had cats & Mrs. B had roses, this guy should have his flags...in my mind.
In My World, of course, it was not an eyesore...I loved the primary colors, the stars, stripes, the banners & flags. In My World, it was pretty and city zoning was something I didn't know about.
I was proud to have been one that got to see 'The Flag House' first hand. I felt priviledged & blessed. At school, the other kids just talked about it.
In My World, Mrs. Stafford was free to let her hair go blue & Miss Vicki was free to go bra-less, Mrs. M was free to paint her house orange & dye her hair blonde, Mr. Plumber was free to have a shower curtain with naked people on it in his work van, the lake boys were free to paint flowers and peace signs all over their VW and this guy should be free to have his flags.
Four years later, I was in 3rd grade, and we had a boy who refused to say the pledge & refused to stand. He said his Daddy told him he didn't have to. It was 1976 & Vietnam was over. The teacher asked him to just be quiet, if he wasn't going to participate.
I thought 'You are so lucky to be in America & you don't even know it. You could have a basket on your head, a bony bloated baby strapped to your back, callousses on your feet, with rocky unhospitable ground to cover, be nearly naked with flies on your eyeballs because its the only water around...'
I realized at the moment, thinking about him & all the National Geographics I'd seen... and my own petty, little experiences & mental connections, that I was not proud to be an American, I was relieved.
And so I just kept on saying 'Amen' after the Allegiance.
Even though I'd been told it wasn't a prayer, I just knew better.
To authenticate some of my words from "Playing Hookie."
Some things are only in the South!
Today we played Hookie...from the internet, the retail world, bookeeping & landscaping, busted pipes & barking dogs, from church, from the grocery store, the gas station, the bank, the post office, the telephone, the ghetto ... and some.
We found a beauty salon named 'Curl Up & Dye,' The Road-Kill Cafe,' wet misty mountains, long open roads, hawks as big as my torso, talking rocks that didn't say a word, 5 wild dogs that escorted us through the emerging pumpkin fields , 2 butterflies that I think were trying to show me the electric slide ... and some peace.
Please click here to view letters written by an American soldier serving currently in Iraq This link is borrowed from a fellow blogger & should not be accessed if you are not comfortable with profanity, war, politics or reality.
'Every Blue Moon' ... meaning once in a while, you have got to try something new. Or at least new to you, not everything & not all the time. But some things you just got to try, at least once.
Chocolate pudding or cheesecake, baseball or football, painting or singing, horticulture or the sub-culture, break-through medications or those tried & true, but new to you...whatever it is and for what-ever reason, it compels you...
you may not like it & may never do it again.
you may love it & may not be able to ever do it again.
you may hate it and have to do it over & over again.
But there are some things in life you just have got to try...at least once.
This whole idea, as simple as it is, has made Nike a fortune...along with a number of pharmaceutical companies.
Every blue moon, I play poker. Just for fun. I learned my first poker game, 7 card stud, in third grade. Although, I just play for fun, usually money is involved....pennies, nickels & dimes and of course, the occasional quarter. It's not about the money, it's more like score keeping...measured with loose change instead of a paper & pen, as is the case in say, gin rummy.
In My World, I usually win...even if it simply means that I have only traded my pennies up for dimes or loose change for human connection across the table. I don't always show a net profit monetarily, but usually I, do & almost always I feel like I won, in one way or another.
A lot of folks say it is the 'luck of the draw.'
I say it's Kenny Rogers.
You know him, he sings the song that says 'You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money, when you're sittin' at the table. They'll be time 'nough for countin' when the dealin's done.'
I think he's right.
I don't bluff. A lot of folks do & almost all of them assume that I do, too. But, I don't bluff. If my hand is weak & yours looks strong, I fold. If mine looks strong & yours does, too, then I take a gamble. If my hand seems strong & yours looks weak, I don't gouge the pot...meaning, I don't up my bets. My bets are slow & steady...strong hand or not.
My Mother always said to me ....'A smart girl knows when to play dumb.'
And at times, I have taken heed to the words.
At the poker table, I don't have to. More often than not, the other players do that for me. They assume that I bluff.
Why? Because they do.
Sometimes life is like a good old fashioned poker game.
It's filled with wagers and risks, bluffs and raises, ante ups and folds.
We never know what the next card may hold for us or how we will play it
Nor can we predict the next day & how we will handle that days change.
Like the loose change in my pocket, life is very real and should be well spent.
Well spent ... on the things that gives us nourishment, bettering our worlds, not to be gambled completely away.
Winning, sometimes, in My World just means breaking even, even if not in a monetary sense. Sometimes its simply trading out those pennies, nickels & dimes for a few hours of company & laughter.
Meet My World & Some of the Cast of Characters Within it:
They have been known as...Patient & Artistic, Defiant & Independent, Sweet & Thoughtful, Stubborn & Wise, Pure & Simple, Determined & Experimental, and in the background overseeing all of us ... Attentive & Unconditional Love.
Singleton, Paiger, Kimbies, Big Dad'O, ChantyBoy & CurtyBoy
with Momma in the background.
Holding On ~ 1971
1971, as is now, this clan is a tight knit group. We are a larger family now, scattered across the southeast, but with hearts, souls & insights tethered close to home...you know, where the heart is...with one another.
Ok, so this evening, after spending a day galavanting around town, checking out the art show, the local cemetary & such, I ventured to our local clothing store.
Walking in the door, I was greeted by an autistic child whose mother was checking out. He seemed to be having a good day. His arms and legs were loosely strapped into his oversized (non-tippable) wheel chair. He had a brace around his head, a protective barrior, protecting that precious smile on his face, from the occassional bouts of head bashing that invariably is gonna happen. He was jumping in his seat. He was crying out with squeals of joy. He was clapping his hands up & down. He was having a good ole' time as the clerk spoke louder than usual to communicate the total amount due to his dear momma.
I smiled at him & his moments of joy. He paid me no mind.
Behind him were 3 women, 3 adult women, 3 AARP women. 3 women old enough to know better. 3 women on their tippy-toes. 3 women with scrowls across their brow. 3 women with their mouths wide open.
Communication is 99% interpretation & almost immediately, I was mad at what these 3 women were communicating in My World.
But, after a few steps & a few more breaths, I realized that I was misunderstanding them.
They had simply never been blessed with the simple things in life, the joy that simple things bring, they had no idea how rewarding a trip to a retail shop, 5 minutes of the warm sunshine or a ride in the car could be. They had lived a lifetime being deprived & denied that priviledge. They weren't evil, uncaring, incompassionate people. I had totally misunderstood them, as they had misunderstood that young boy. It was all in the interpretation.
So this little experience, coupled with a few other more personal ones, has got me going :)
If you read the following sentences, placing emphasis on the words in caps...
'OH, you are so beautiful' can seem sarcastic, stunned or shocked
'oh, YOU are so beautiful' can imply others are not so beautiful
'oh, you ARE so beautiful' can imply that you are insecure
'oh, you are SO beautiful' can imply that you are so vain
'oh, you are so BEAUTIFUL' can imply that you are really ugly
...However, ALL of these can mean something very simple & pure, one thing only...and that is simply that you are beautiful.
Communication is 99% interpretation.
'Wishing Well,' 1994-2006, Paiger
'Sometimes it feels like hell
At the bottom of my wishing well.'
Mug Jugs, Butterflies & Cemetaries
Lazy day in Georgia, this Sunday was. It began with an afternoon trip to the local arts festival, where I snapped this artists' work.
Vendor was an outgoing, spirited soul & it shows through in his work Unusual for most potters, this stuff was microwave, dishwasher & oven safe...all lead free.
While we were there, we got some of the best damn salsa I have ever had. It's called Black Eye Pea salsa & was made in Cave Springs, Georgia. Some things, you can only get in the South.
Since art show only had 30-50 vendors, we still had a full day of nice weather before us, so we stopped by the neighborhood cemetary. Here we found the namesake for the street I live on, the headstone to the boy who was killed last spring down the street in a drug deal gone bad & what I beleive to be the tombstone of the late Fred Flintstone.
Finally, I was able 
to capture a pic of this crazy little butterfly that seemed to be following me from tombstone to tombstone. I always feel a special something when they let me take their picture. Their lives are so short & they seem to constantly flutter...so much to do in such a small amount of time. I'd rather be a butterfly, than an ant anyday, even though the ant lives longer, is more social, has more strength & accomplishes more...
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