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Thursday, August 29, 2019

"See You in September..."


Tomorrow is the start of the Labor Day Weekend for 2019 and in order to take advantage of it, I will not be posting here on Blogger until it ends. Meanwhile, I wish you a good one, dear reader, and as the song says, I'll see you (here on Blogger) in September.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

"I have a dream..." (So do I, Dr. King)

Today is not part of my blog posting schedule for this week, but in honor of the 1963 anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech," I am making an exception.

In his speech, Dr. King states: "....I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character..."

Like Dr. King, I have a dream too. I have a dream that one day I will not be judged by the fact that my eye turns inward.

I have a dream that one day I will not be judged by the fact that I have thousands of bumps and lumps all over my body (as a result of having Neurofibromatosis).

I have a dream that my insights into the power of verbal bullying will be healing and helpful to others who have been marginalized for whatever reason.

I spoke about this in my introductory video for" Imperfect Strangers" posted on You Tube as well as on Vimeo.


I plan to create a follow up video in the coming days. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you'd like to read the text of MLK's speech in its entirety, dear reader, please click here. Rest in Peace, Dr. King.


ADDENDUM

Here are the links to the follow up video mentioned in this entry which is posted on You Tube and Vimeo (respectively).

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

I'm on my way! Tuesday's Truths WK 140


TADA! On 8/23/2019, the eve of my birthday, I announced on FB  that upon reading my author bio and my synopsis for "Imperfect Strangers," a book publisher had contacted me requesting my full manuscript. I emailed a PDF version of it to them yesterday morning and have already gotten a response (seen in the "dialogue bubble" atop this entry) as to when I will hear their decision regarding publishing it! Thanks again for your support, readers of this blog!

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Sunday's Sequel to Friday's Follow-up


In my last entry here on Blogger, I discussed the fact that I had submitted a synopsis for my book project, Imperfect Strangers. Later that same day my aforementioned post was published, I received a response (email) from a person who works for the place I had submitted my book. Her words are featured in the "talk bubble" atop this blog entry.

I am beyond thrilled to have received this news and they came on the eve of my birthday, which was yesterday.

Friday, August 23, 2019

The Latest Status re "Imperfect Strangers" (Friday Follow-Up)




TEXT BASED IMAGE CREDIT

As many of you know during the years 2017 and 2018, I published a three volume book series, Words In Our Beak, where the stories are set in my rooftop garden and told from the perspective of a female cardinal.


THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

And you may also know, from my video on You Tube and/or Vimeo that I introduced my book project, Imperfect Strangers.


"IMPERFECT STRANGERS" VIDEO-1 ON YOU TUBE
"IMPERFECT STRANGERS" VIDEO-2 ON VIMEO

Yesterday on Facebook, I announced that the book is completed and has been submitted!

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

WW*: "BEST IF USED" — EGGS-ACTLY! (*Wednesday's Wisdom)


This Wednesday's Wisdom comes from a bus-stop on the UWS in NYC: BEST IF USED! According to an article in the Smithsonian Magazine, "it takes roughly 620 gallons of water to produce a dozen eggs, which means that each time we dump an unused egg in the trash, we waste about 50 gallons of water. Food waste has other environmental impacts, too. “If you put all the food waste into one country, it would be the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter,” says Brian Lipinski, an associate in the World Resource Institute’s Food Program. Decomposing food that makes its way into landfills releases methane, which is significantly more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide."

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

"Young waterfowl face many challenges but are well-adapted..." Tuesday's Truths WK 139




A couple of weeks ago while I was near the northeast corner of Turtle Pond in Central Park, I came upon a Mallard with her ducklings. These birds can be seen in the photographs atop this entry.

The ducklings captured my heart with their actions and I'm sure you'll see why they did upon looking at the next set of pictures.




Seeing these ducklings engaging in life, prompted me to do some research to learn more about these sweet-looking creatures.

Monday, August 19, 2019

"...We're all just people..." (Monday's Memo)



A short clip from the 1983 American comedy-drama movie, Terms Of Endearmentis posted atop this entry, for this week's Monday's Memo. The character  Emma Greenway-Horton  (played by Deborah Winger) is spot on when she says, "We're all just people."

Saturday, August 17, 2019

It's Honeybee Awareness Day!


Today is National Honey Bee Day (formerly National Honey Bee Awareness Day) which is set aside to raise awareness re bees; hence my choosing to include the picture directly above of a bee who visits my indoor succulent garden.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

A Cicada's Perspective (Throwback Thursday)


Nearly two tears ago, here on Blogger, I published an entry about cicadas that includes the mini essay by E.B. White which is posted directly below.

"At eight of a hot morning, the cicada speaks his first piece. He says of the world: heat. At eleven of the same day, still singing, he has not changed his note but has enlarged his theme. He says of the morning: love. In the sultry middle of the afternoon, when the sadness of love and of heat has shaken him, his symphonic soul goes into the great movement and he says: death. But the thing isn't over. After supper he weaves heat, love, death into a final stanza, subtler and less brassy than the others. He has one last heroic monosyllable at his command. Life, he says, reminiscing. Life."

Over the past few weeks, maybe even several weeks while hearing cicadas the essay always comes to my mind. Now, on this throwback Thursday, I'd like to share with you the Mutts comic strip atop this entry where a cicada points out not much has changed since he/she went underground and that insect is absolutely right.

Meanwhile, in the aforementioned posting I also stated (and included a copy of the same picture used at the conclusion of this entry)  "Additionally, a web-page for the Home Depot (which includes the image directly below) states: "If you live anywhere from the Midwest to the East Coast and you’ve ever been outdoors in spring, chances are that you have heard the distinctive sound of the annual cicada. The tinny buzzing sound seems to go on forever, but it really only lasts for a few weeks in late spring. This year though, the love song of the cicada will become a deafening roar for people from North Carolina all the way up to New England when billions of the Brood II Magicicada species emerge from deep beneath the earth for their time in the sun – an event that only happens once every 17 years."

IMAGE CREDIT

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

JULY 30th: That was the day that was! Tuesday's Truths WK 138

IMAGE CREDIT

Two weeks ago (July 30) in my 136th segment for my Tuesday's Truths series, I stated, "....As for my completing my projects, my work was truly disrupted by an unexpected major upheaval in my rooftop garden and at this time, I cannot even write about it, but I will do so in a few days, dear reader, after I've had time to deal with today's unfortunate situation..."

Now, before too much time passes, I'm using this week's Tuesday's Truths "episode" to catch up where I left off in that posting and tell you a little bit more about that unfortunate situation, which for now (and hopefully for the long term been resolved).

The situation I referred to in my July 30th entry is the fact workmen showed up on that day to replace the building's gutters (a repair that had been long overdue) under my rooftop garden (which is atop a roof extension). Their plan had been to attach a ladder to the railing around my garden, remove the old gutter and replace it.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Sunday's Sequel

CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

"I'm molting! I'm molting," a cardinal told me when I saw him in Central Park the other Sunday (it was a very hot day). His words made me think of The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton seen in the image below) from The Wizard of Oz, ultimately saying, "I'm melting! I'm melting!"

IMAGE CREDIT

But the cardinal was far from wicked, for even though he was molting and it was very hot, he pecked at seeds that had fallen on a rock in order to feed them to his fledging!

CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"
As you know, dear reader,  cardinals are featured in my book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES


Friday, August 9, 2019

Friday's Fact: It's Book Lover's Day!


According to many sources (including Wiki) "Book Lovers Day (aka National Book Lovers Day in the US) is celebrated on August 9 every year. This is an unofficial holiday observed to encourage bibliophiles celebrate reading and literature. People are advised to put away their smartphones and every possible technological distraction and pick up a book to read. Book Lovers Day is widely recognized on global scale yet its origin and creator remains unknown to date."

While I'm glad to know there is a holiday dedicate to book lovers, which I certainly am, and have been since childhood as evidenced by the photograph of yours truly that is atop this posting...

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

The Fire Island Lighthouse is for the birds! (Wednesday's Wisdom)


Many web-pages (including Punchbowl) concur, "Today is National Lighthouse Day! On this day in 1789, the United States Congress approved an Act 'for the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers.' This piece of legislation commissioned the first Federal lighthouse, which was constructed at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. Two hundred years later, Congress designated August 7th as National Lighthouse Day to commemorate this important moment in history and to celebrate these beautiful structures.

For centuries, lighthouses have served as beacons of light, guiding ships safely to harbor through storms, fog, or dark of night. To celebrate National Lighthouse Day, visit a local lighthouse near you or donate to a lighthouse preservation society."

The lighthouse featured in the image atop this entry and directly below...


... is The Fire Island Lighthouse, a lighthouse that has 182 steps which I've climbed in two occasions.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Show up! "Put the ball on the court & RUN!" (Tuesday's Truths WK 137)



Welcome to my one hundred and thirty seventh segment of Tuesday's Truths. In my last segment, of this series, I confessed a personal truth re my need to get back on track putting my finishing touches on my proposal for Steidl as well as tweaking my follow-up video for Imperfect Strangers.

The following Thursday I spoke to Dr. EK about the difficulty I had been having in settling down to work on both of the aforementioned projects and she referred me to this amazing video featuring Roberta Vinci (a copy of it is posted above).

In this video Vinci unwittingly provides much inspiration by explaining how her mindset was going into face Serena Williams in a tennis match.

My viewing this clip has been a great help in my making strides in showing up, settling down and writing! I'm thankful to now report that both of my projects are back in the making progress stage.

Please stay tuned for updates (which I'll give during a given forthcoming segment of Tuesday's Truths series) on my endeavors.

Meanwhile, dear reader, hope you continue to enjoy my blog posts even though they will not be as frequent and that you also find the Roberta Vinci interview inspiring!

Saturday, August 3, 2019

In Honor of Ellen McConnell Blakemann


As I mentioned in a post I published one year ago today, "Normally on this day of August 3rd, I would be calling Ellen Rachel McConnell Blakeman to wish her a happy birthday. However, she died earlier this year and is missed very much by Cam and yours truly.

As some of you may know, volume two of the Words In Our Beak book series is dedicated to her.

I think of Ellen [who can be seen in the photograph atop this entry] often, but especially today and my thoughts are also with her family (including her mother, her sister Martha, Douglas McConnell, Susan McConnell and Bennett Paul) as well as her friends, especially Loris Damerow, whom Ellen often spoke about whenever we discussed various topics."

The last time she and I spoke by phone was late January or maybe early February 2018.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Thursday's Testimony

IMAGE CREDIT

I begin today's blog entry with a recap: In Monday's post here on Blogger, I discussed a problem (related to writer's block) I'm having getting back on track with my proposal for Steidl (a publisher of photography books) as well as with tweaking my follow up video for Imperfect Strangers

And in Tuesday's entry I announced that "my work was truly disrupted by an unexpected major upheaval in my rooftop garden and at this time, I cannot even write about it, but I will do so in a few days, dear reader, after I've had time to deal with today's unfortunate situation."

Within Wednesday's entry I confessed "Consequences as a result of the disruption in my rooftop garden and the work space in my home that I mentioned in yesterday's post are something I will be contending with today."

The past few days disruption to my home and rooftop garden that came on the heels of recovering from a bad cold, undergoing dental procedures and losing my Internet as well as my phone services (which I've mentioned in a few blog entries) have impeded my ability to complete my Imperfect Strangers manuscript that is currently 32,680 words.

I've also admitted that  my recent series of disruptions have interfered with my ability to re-record my follow-up video to add to my You Tube and Vimeo channels.

Additionally (as I've been saying) I've allowed these circumstances to hinder my ability to tighten up my proposal for Steidl — even though the photographs I intend to include with my submission are in PDF format.

Time continues to march ahead rather I do or not! I had planed to have submissions out as well as have videos posted by June 21! Now, today, is August 1st and neither are ready, although they are both mighty close.

Therefore before any more time passes or I enter the state of denial (as the passengers in the cartoon atop this entry are about to do) that I can do everything, I need to accept that I can only do so much in a day, especially if I want to do it well. In accepting this fact, I realize I need to free up some time. The only way I see to that at this juncture is to adjust my blogging schedule.

As you may have noticed dear reader, for the past several months, I've published posts on a daily basis. However, during this time of my now being fully committed to the process of completing Imperfect Strangers as well as Steidl's proposal, I have decided to post every other day, except for Tuesdays (on that day I'll always post to keep up the momentum of my Tuesday's Truths series).

I will stick to this schedule (with the exception of an occasional extra posting on a non-scheduled day) until the end of the month of September (2019).

Thank you for understanding and I'll see you here on Blogger either this coming Saturday!