I’m Doing It … ! …?

Well, I think I’m finally going to do it.

After years of fiddling around, drifting off to other causes, other creative crafts, I have gone back to my first love — writing. 

At least for this moment in time and space.

I have written two novels and part of a third about Gaia Borealis, a middle aged astralologist who travels to an alternate dimension to help the kingdom of Tinaria.

Ummmm, yeah. My heroine is not your typical heroine. She is middle aged, flaky, cosmic, and modern. (At least I hope she is.) She’s different — she’s older, settled down somewhere between astrology and astronomy, and clever in an  eccentric way.

Of course the premise sounds daft. But you know me. I am often daft. And this is some of the most creative daft writing I’ve ever done (I think).

I am going to do a final editing and find an editor and see if I can get it published. If not, I’m going to put it on Amazon. I mean — why not?

I’ve said this a million times. I tried years ago to get my first two novels out to the public, with little success. I probably didn’t try hard enough. Or whatever. But these novels are quirky enough that someone may think they’re bankable quirky and can be shared with the public. 

I am taking a big chance here, but I’m going to publish my prologue here and see what you all think about it. The feel, the mystery, the promise. Does it pique your interest? Nudge you to want to read more? You don’t have to be a fan of this sort of writing to share your thoughts.

 

SOOOO … ALL of you followers … let me know what you think. 

P.S. If you know of any editors who might be interested in this sort of story, let me know that too! You know me … always open to new experiences … and people ...

 

Gaia and the Etruscans

 

My name is Gaia Borealis.

I was told most introductions, most self-driven non-fiction recordings, start out with a name and an insight. Well, as you can see, my name is not of the usual variety. I suppose you could say the same about my life. Of course, doesn’t everyone say that?

I am about five feet six inches tall, with shoulder-length curly Moroccan hair and round hazel eyes held in place by a few wrinkles. I weigh – dear me, I don’t believe that is relative to this part of my biography. Let us just say I am neither stick thin nor robustly round, but just perfect for my age.

Spirit says I should record my experiences for posterity, and also that I record my experiences before I forget the details. I am not sure about the validity of either, but I have to tell you, it is hard to begin my story talking about the first forty-some years of my life. Truthfully, there is little to tell that would surprise or titillate anyone.

But all right – let us cut to the chase. I went through the normal rounds of high school, a bit of college, and held several jobs through the years, including working in a bookstore and as a hosiery salesperson. My mother and father are still alive, residing in comfort in Fort Meyers, Florida, and my older brother lives in a commune out in Colorado.

I’m not sure if that’s what you were looking for. I wonder if you can hear me sigh. I have written and deleted the beginning of this story a hundred times, wondering what is pertinent and what is bramble. But let it be for now. Let me grab my glass of Alopa and continue.

I was recently asked to become a part of the legacy of King Rexor of Etruria. Rexor is the name of the King. Etruria is the name of a city on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea on the planet Tinaria. (Tinaria, by the way, is the ancient Etruscan name for the god of the sky, a.k.a. Jupiter. Zeus.)

How do you like it so far? Oh, I know it sounds babbly brook, and perhaps it is. But believe me – no one was more surprised than I to be solicited by the Consigliore of Etruria to save their world.

Now, I know you are tempted to close this book and find something more … mmmm … middle-of-the-road, as they say, to read. After all, who wants to have to remember outer space names and places and such? Trust me, though. Soon the names and places will become second nature, and you will be brought along on a journey of a most extraordinary sort.

And once I get into the “meat” of the story – well, let’s just say it will keep you quite entertained. For the story I am about to share with you is the latest addition to the archives of the world known as Tinaria.

 

As much as I would like to say I have had a life just like everyone else, I did not. There were male and female companions, even a few good friends throughout my life on Earth. But I was also lonely, as I had a gift like no other, a gift that no one could understand. A gift no one wanted to understand. I don’t blame my parents – I wouldn’t want to bring around a child who claimed to have just had a conversation with Galileo Galilei either.

You see, I am an astralologist. No, not an astronomer or an astrologer. An astralologist. Someone who communicates directly with the cosmos on a physical level, so to speak. I communicate verbally with spirit guides, prominent scientists and philosophers, and others who are pursuers of Conversation and the Arts.

How could such nonsense be a part of my daily routine? How could I believe in things that science said did not exist? I don’t want to get lost in the cosmic or religious inferences of such claims. For the moment, let’s assume that you, the reader, have accepted the possibility of such, and move on.

As I got older, my “psychic ability” (if you wish to use such a pedestrian term) exploded in leaps and bounds. I found my intuitional tentacles reaching out and touching realms I never dreamed possible. Sometimes I sat and channeled sentences or paragraphs or essays from beings on the other side. Other times I would peer past the edge of the painting, seeing objects or landscapes or people the artist imagined but could not fit on the canvas. Intruding, perhaps, but thrilling as well.

Why then, you ask, did I leave my world to become lost in one whose existence could never be proved? I suppose it is like asking why you fell in love with a particular person, or why you ordered fettuccine instead of pot roast. Sometimes choices are made for us. Other times we just choose. Period.

So through my choices, I took my first-ever magic carpet ride through the cosmos to a world I never imagined existed.

And this is what happened. 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Mark Gee

Mark Gee is an award winning photographer, time-lapse filmmaker and digital visual effects supervisor based in Wellington, New Zealand.His love of the New Zealand landscape is a big part of the inspiration for his photography.

Gee has always been interested in the night sky from very early on in life, but never experienced its full effect until he moved to New Zealand in 2003.He often ventures out to the darkest, most remote skies all around the country, enjoying the challenge of combining New Zealand’s striking landscapes with the ethereal beauty of the night sky in new, creative ways.“Planning, patience and persistence is the name of the game,” Gee says.“Believe me, some of my planned shots have taken me over a year to get right.”“Constant obstacles from bad weather and bad timing to landslides and equipment failures all make it a very frustrating pursuit.”“But in the end, after all the failures when you finally do nail the shot, astrophotography then becomes one of the most rewarding forms of photography there is.”More of Mark Gee‘s amazing photographs can be found at https://theartofnight.com.

 

Faerie Paths — The Ages

 

As the air I breathe is drawn from the great repositories of nature, as the light on my book is yielded by a star a hundred millions of miles distant, as the poise of my body depends on the equilibrium of centrifugal and centripetal forces, so the hours should be instructed by the ages, and the ages explained by the hours.        

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, History

 

 

Eye Saw The Eclipse

Alright all you T.E.G.s — Total Eclipse Geeks —

Did you all go outside the other day with your glasses and try and catch a glimpse of one very cool astral happening? Tell the truth — how many of you tried to catch a peek at what was going on without your protective glasses?

It was pretty cloudy here in the Midwest United States. We were scheduled to see the moon/sun thing about 1:10 pm. I must admit I did sneak outside (at the end of my lunch time) only to be greeted with bumpy clouds. Alas…about 15 minutes later there was this little uproar throughout the office — the clouds had parted! It was happening!

So I, along with a dozen of my co-workers, went outside (after our scheduled lunch time) and gazed at the phenomenon through eye-protecting glasses (although I have to raise my hand…I did for a NANOSECOND peek at the sun without said glasses…just to see…)

So I figured I would share some old-world explanations for what today’s scientists so flippantly explain with exact detail.

According to TimeandDate.com:

In Vietnam, people believed that a solar eclipse was caused by a giant frog devouring the Sun.

Norse cultures blamed wolves for eating the Sun.

In ancient China, a celestial dragon was thought to lunch on the Sun, causing a solar eclipse. In fact, the Chinese word of an eclipse, chih or shih, means to eat.

According to ancient Hindu mythology, the deity Rahu is beheaded by the gods for capturing and drinking Amrita, the gods’ nectar. Rahu’s head flies off into the sky and swallows the Sun causing an eclipse.

Korean folklore offers another ancient explanation for solar eclipses. It suggests that solar eclipses happen because mythical dogs are trying to steal the Sun.

The Pomo, an indigenous group of people who lived in the northwestern United States, tell of a story of a bear who started a fight with the Sun and took a bite out of it. In fact, the Pomo name for a solar eclipse is Sun got bit by a bear.

The ancient Greeks believed that a solar eclipse was a sign of angry gods and that it was the beginning of disasters and destruction.

According to Inuit folklore, the Sun goddess Malina walked away after a fight with the Moon god Anningan. A solar eclipse happened when  Anningan managed to catch up with his sister.

I don’t know about you, but I’m rather amazed at the explanations the ancients had. After all — what did the poor sun do to get bit by so many animals?

Saturday Morning Reflections on Creativity

 

15 - 1[3]1112335Lazy Saturday mornings always bring out the philisopher in me. Especially when I listen to Martini Music from the 60s in the background.

Ever take one of those online tests — What is your favorite (fill-in-the-blank)?

Sometimes they’re easy. Favorite Food: Spaghetti. Favorite drink: Milk. (I know..boring…) Other times it’s a little catchy. Favorite Music? Ah…in what category? Favorite Book? Again, I need a genre. Favorite Dessert? Now, you really need to specify…

So it is with picking out an artist’s work for my Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog.

Sometimes it’s easy. Judit Czinkné Poór specializes in incredible cookie designs. Craig L. Haupt does whimsical abstract images. Jackson Pollock does…well, does Jackson Pollock things. The biggest problem with these artists are which 6 or 7 (or in the case of the larger Gallery, 12-15) images showcase their artistic range.

I come up with fantastic artists that span several techniques. Selecting which style or gallery to highlight is often an arduous task. Louise Bourgeois not only sculpted giant spiders but was actually best known for her representations of the female form and dreamlike imagery through paintings, prints, and installations. The Universe not only holds the glory of galaxies, but planets, stars, nebulas, gamma ray bursts, and galaxy clusters.  I have had artists that are not only great sculptors but painters and sketchers, too.

How do you decide which side of their diamond to polish?

I have learned that sometimes an artist’s fame is not the same as an artist’s flame. Often what strikes an audience as unique is not necessarily what made them famous. I highlighted Luke Jerram‘s extraordinary microbiology glass works, but if you read his website, he also designed a sculpture based on the Tōhoku Japanese Earthquake and subsequent tsunami of 2011, and solar-powered kinetic chandeliers  that consist of dozens of glass radiometers, which shimmer and flicker as they turn in the sunlight. Who knew?

Artists are such an eclectic lot. Writers, sculptors, painters, graphic designers, all have their favorite form of expression, their main obsession. But I imagine you can be 150% into oil painting and 150% into charcoal sketching and 150% into pen and ink and still find 150% to spend on computer graphics.

It’s all relative.

When I find an artist that I think my followers would enjoy, I research all their work. Often that’s a daunting task, for those who are truly creative, truly gifted, spread out in a hundred different directions at one time. One branch of their creativity is just as amazing as the next.

It’s not much easier when I pick a subject to highlight. In digging around, I often find 35-40 great representations under the headings of things like ice sculptures or paperweights. Each picture is more fascinating than the next. I try to include my favorites and others not in my top 10, just so I can show a fair representation of what the artist/subject is all about.  After all, my favorite color may be blue, but yours may be red. And who am I to confront the difference?

That, to me, is the essence of an art director. Of a museum curator. Exploring the creative mind, the unique palate, and choosing just the right combination of awe and familiarity to showcase. We all do this in our own way — look at the pictures hanging on your walls. The crystal pieces on your mantlepieces. The books on your shelves. The flowers in your garden. The colors you pick for your outfits. The way you arrange your bookshelves.

You have created your own atmosphere with the gifts from the creative world. You are abstract, you are conservative, you are orange-reds and country blue. You are Amish and Renaissance and Science Fiction and Chick Lit. You are poetry in motion, an art critic in your own right.

And that is a beautiful way to spend your life, isn’t it?

 

 

 

 

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Announcement Fun for Friday!

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Happy Friday!

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Just popping in to share some fun, amazing stuff this Finally Friday!

First — there is a new Gallery open at Sunday Evening Art Gallery! Amazing images, Amazing inspiration…

Star Stuff

v838-monocerotis

Star Stuff

Goddess Blog:  http://wp.me/p1pIBL-16Q

Website:  http://hubblesite.org

Of course, once you get to the front page, check out the OTHER galleries! Awesome, unique Art.

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And, once you are done flying through the Universe, there are other ways to celebrate, as today is …

Hug a Vegetarian Day

International Ataxia Awareness Day

Love Note Day

Math Storytelling Day

National Comic Book Day

National Crab Meat Newburg Day

National Food Service Employees Day

National One-Hit Wonder Day

National Psychotherapy Day

Native American Day

Save the Koala Day

World Dream Day

World Pharmacist Day

National Research Administrator Day

National Tune-Up Day

National Lobster Day

So tip your food service employee extra today, while you eat lobster and read a comic book…

Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog — The Universe

The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.

Mystic Mountain

On this shore we’ve learned most of what we know.

Saturns Rings

Recently, we’ve waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep,

Orion Nebula

and the water seems inviting.

Sombrero Galaxy

Some part of our being knows this is where we came from.

NGC5584

We long to return, and we can because the cosmos is also within us.

Whirlpool Galaxy

We are made of star stuff.

Abell 1689

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

Pismis 24

Carl Sagan, 1980 Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

These, and literally hundreds of other images of galaxies, stars, nebulas, star clusters, planets, and more taken by the Hubble Spacecraft, can be found at the magnificent site http://hubblesite.org/. You must go visit some time. Travel through the universe. See where we’ve come from. See where we are going.

You may never want to come back.