so,  sitting in the Morning Chair and it's still dark,  as in STILL dark,  it's not letting go,  but sitting there because somewhere in the night i'd made the decision to make the MOST of this one day that i possibly could….. …… ….. my mind is wandering back to  Big Magic….about creative living….not necessarily "art" but creative Living…. and my mind goes to the part where she tells about coming to write The Signature of All Things.  It's in the part of Big Magic called Scavenger Hunt.  I won't write what she wrote here,  but it was a really great example of just letting inspiration IN. 

Letting it In,  without knowing a single thing about Why.  Just letting it IN.  Well,  maybe i'll write some of what she wrote tomorrow,  but not now.  

What happened this morning, for me,  was a totally NEW and really exciting thought.  The thought was that i could write a work of FICTION.  It never occured to me to write FICTION.  I don't necessarily love FICTION except for Louise Erdrich's   or maybe Housekeeping and i can't remember who wrote it…should have checked before starting this post,  or maybe the God of Small Things,   Arundhati Roy,  and too Barbara Kinsolver's  the Poisonwood Bible….so maybe i DO like fiction,  not not all enough to go to the library to get it and then not so much because of how reading it eats my life up.   But it was never a question,  when i thought of wanting to become a writer way back,  it was never fiction.  Fiction would be so beyond me.  

But somehow,  that use of the expression "out of character" yesterday set something loose.  Out of character would imply there being a character.  What if i am just a character?  

Sometimes when faced with some dilemma, i use the tool of becoming the observer of my Self…looking at my self as if i were just someone i know, faced with a dilemma.  What would i make of them?,  their dilemma?  What would i say if asked?

So this is kind of like that,  but really way more fun.  What if i make the 70 Person into a character in a NOVEL,  the novel being really my life,  but not so much really because tho it would be maybe structured around true events and feelings,  it could also include……

Fiction   stuff made up.  

So i got all buzzed with this thought this morning and these are some of the things i wrote down really fast:  

How there is true fiction everywhere….my neighbors with the couch stuffing ALL OVER their yard and how they will most likely NEVER clean it up,  and still have one more lazy boy chair and one more couch still out there with the same bored pit bull,  how even though there are quite a number of ify homesites around here,  theirs is the WORSt…?  Why?  who ARE they and don't they NOTICE the total MESS their place is?  and if they do,  what keeps them so reluctant to do something about it or are they reluctant??????

Robin,  who came from somewhere,  i think Texas,  to work on the Mustang Ranch Project last year,  who i talked to this morning about coming to help me do stuff here and thinking of her i thought about how there are many Stray Women in my world…Stray Women, like Jude's stray Cats,  Women who have strayed ……so Robin

And then the Two Moms and their daughter Talula,  and really Talula and her two friends,  Jora is one and i can't remember the name of the third,  but they are like joined at the hip,  the three of them,  have been since very young maybe 5 or 6 yrs and they are Eleven now,  i listened to them in the background last night at Jamie's,  often they talk at the same time,  totally in unison,  long things,  i don't know what they were,  memorized and spoken completly in unison,  Sydney said something from a TV program when i asked,  but WHAT IF they became the Three Mothers?…what if THEY went on to have children together?????  as Three Mothers….like Talula was conceived?

So…characters and Sydney and Shela….both strays again,  Shela from Canada…She is an Arborista.  Teaching Sydney.  How they are lovers in such an interesting way to me.  While Jamie is the Other Mother,  she is no longer the lover but how they all hold so tight and well to the Family that they are.

and how it's all such a Grand Story.  I don't intend to become a Writer,  but i might want to Think like a writer,  See it like a writer might….with Intense Interest…

Write about the Goats,  about TenZen's vocalizations…not just one sentence, but really try to convey the thing it is,  the guteral to the shrill falsetta,  their sticky faces     Which would be part of it…What DOES she DO,  the 70 Person,  having inherited 17 Goats.  How does that happen in the story?  What do they do with ThemSelves?  How?  Fiction.  You can make part of it up.  Having to do things to create the story lines might make the reality of the doings really interesting,  Try it,  E. Gilbert says.

Try it E Gilbert says.  What if it goes on getting written until the last line when the 70 person dies?

But then, of course there would be a sequel.  Who would write that?  Talula?

And i forgot the woman who is making a Shrimp Farm in Lemitar down the road.  I read about it in the crummy little local newspaper….someone has a Shrimp Farm in Lemitar.  You can call and order your shrimp and she will have them ready for you.  OK.  Yes.  The woman who is a Shrimp Farmer in the desert needs to be included.

and back to it going on till the 70 Person's Death.  And how death comes with the last INHALE,  not exhale….as i'd believed before,  But the INHALE.  You breath IN then there is just the slightest pause,  the moment of saying OK,  and the in that pause,  you lift up into the Inhale and continue on.  Lifting Out of the body,  loosening at first,  lifting then,  until you are Free.  There IS the exhale,  but that belongs to the physical body,  because you have lifted OUT,  and the shell exhales, or,  that last breath simply escapes naturally,  slowly and at ease.

So…all the above this morning and then a truly excellent day when i worked some on the Net of Mother Night

DSCN0420g

adding the second round of split back stitch….Jude Hill…. and how incredibly GOOD it was after a few days away

Then OutSide to prepare for the days of cold that are coming.  5 of them.  Making things Good for the Goats,  as Good as i can.

Bring in 5 days of wood.  Turn the wheelbarrows down so the snow does not settle.  Tarp the feed.  Tarp some firewood in case.  Move the truck.  Change all Goat Water tubs.  We are Ready.

ADDENDUM:

Tay is sleeping in her crate but hears the laughter of drunk people in the distance.  Comes out to stand, listening.  Growls,  which is rare and goes through the dog door to stand OutSide at the gate.  It's Christmas Eve here in the barrio.

 

 

 

 

 

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32 responses to “a very beauty FULL day”

  1. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    YES…Soooooo YES! Write about what you know, see and feel. You can do it ..yes you can. I was not planning on reading Big Magic but am now changing my mind….oh Grace you are AMAZING. Merry Christmastime amazing lady!

    Like

  2. LaceLady Avatar
    LaceLady

    Christmas eve on the old farm – a nearly full moon, and my hopes rising to see the meteor! I love every. word. you. wrote ~ truly a gift and treasure, beyond measure. Blessings, joy, peace, and much love, to thee, and thine.

    Like

  3. Martine Bos Avatar

    I’m thinking of you under the full moon……

    Like

  4. grace Avatar

    Tina…..no…Stuff is Amazing. What it is is that i like Stuff. And…really, We All, would also be part of the story, the true and the fiction because we Are already part of the story

    Like

  5. grace Avatar

    to thee and thine
    what Beauty Full words…
    to thee and thine
    aren’t we ALL the and thine?, yes, we Are.
    We Are.
    Love, LaceLady, Love to you

    Like

  6. grace Avatar

    be~loved Martine, you, who watch over me
    tonight
    the full
    FULL
    moon

    Like

  7. Liz Avatar

    Wishing you warmth and a safe journey through the storm … bidding you peace

    Like

  8. grace Avatar

    there is Peace here. We have done what we can.
    Earth moves.
    We have done what we can.

    Like

  9. deb lacativa Avatar

    Enjoy that moon for me. We are under thunder, lightning and downpouring rain. What I know about writing fiction. That big “what if” is the thing that will lead you there.
    Merry Christmas!

    Like

  10. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    happy days grace. . .you have opened to it and the stories will find their way bit by bit through you. . .I think of the circumstances of our lives and how they can be told from so many different angles. . .different frames of reference. . .and how we have choice in that. . .lots of love. . .

    Like

  11. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) this is a good start for spinning out a fine tale of magic and wonder!

    Like

  12. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    You have a sharp eye, fertile mind, and maybe enough time to tell all the stories that need telling. Perfect timing for a Winter retreat. one thing is sure, no one else could tell them like you see them.

    Like

  13. Sharon Tomlinson Avatar

    Before getting to the good part, I had to stop and write down a Grace quote. It is something I do when you say something that just zings me. Today’s zinger, “Sometimes when faced with some dilemma, i use the tool of becoming the observer of my Self”
    Then reading your first draft of “Stray Women” (I caught the title) buzzed me as much as you. I simply can’t wait for the book. I believe this is what you are suppose to do now that you are 70.
    I could go on but now I must go put the tukey in the oven.
    Merry Christmas

    Like

  14. beth Avatar

    What a joyful post to read this morning. I was reading Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees when I first found your blog several years ago. Your stories and that book intertwined for me somehow. Apricot trees and spade foot toads. This would be grand.

    Like

  15. uli Avatar
    uli

    I so enjoy reading your blog, and I look forward to whatever fiction you create, I think you are awesome.

    Like

  16. Linda Avatar

    i wrote earlier in the day and it got lost.. i hate that.
    anyway as a repeat.. I went to the same ashram in India that E Gilbert went to.. it was a very accurate description.
    i loved your comment about the inspiration being the last. so interesting to me..
    so love to you on this christmas morning.. a full day for me and enjoying this quiet time.

    Like

  17. grace Avatar

    i knew you would prick your ears….but not like you…here, in a so much lighter way….not as Strong, like you
    I think of you with your WEATHER….a candle is lit

    Like

  18. grace Avatar

    yes…and what i didn’t put on the post last eve…it’s the Next Day now, is the drawing i did of Different Points of View that the lama at Jewel Heart once gave…i should do that, put the drawing, because it is just as you say….so many different angles, frames of reference, points of view….how they are all real and valid and quite amazing…
    and i thought of that in the night last night, how when we look at things or people even, we see kind of a Flat image…the Front,
    when really it’s more a holographic thing but what we see is the Front. If we are looking at the side, it still tends to be a Flat image…
    lots of love back, Jan

    Like

  19. grace Avatar

    well…no, it don’t want to spin out a tale, just allow the magic and wonder to touch against what IS

    Like

  20. grace Avatar

    well, we Each See what WE See…as do you, there in your
    wonder Full magical apartment in NYC…which i see as such fertile ground

    Like

  21. grace Avatar

    did the Turkey come out PERFECT? i bet it did. and i am wondering who ate it?
    That tool….the becoming the observer…it works every time.
    it will never be a book…i’d just write here, it’s enough,
    and maybe something will come to life, maybe not, but i just so much loved the Idea of it
    LOVE LOVE to you

    Like

  22. grace Avatar

    funny…i never read that book

    Like

  23. grace Avatar

    oh, Hey, uli….thank you for coming along on this wandering way, awesome, no, not. Just reporting the stuff as it comes. But
    thank you for writing here and please continue if you are so
    inclined….
    Winter love,

    Like

  24. grace Avatar

    you know, i might go to the Library and get the book. Because
    she wrote it. and now to hear that you were at the ashram, eeee
    i think i will go get the book. Will blot Julia Roberts out of
    my mind and just read.
    and then her botanical book…maybe too. something about her
    feeds my soul

    Like

  25. LAB Avatar
    LAB

    I loved BIG Magic, surprised & pleased, you did too.

    Like

  26. grace Avatar

    OH HEY!!!!!, O HEY and O HEY….LAB…do you have an idea how so totally GREAT it is to me that you show up here???????????????
    How so really beyond Great that you show UP?
    do you care?
    whether or not you CARE, to me, it is just a kiss on the forehead from the God Thing that you show up and say this.
    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

    Like

  27. julie Avatar

    Stray Women…its what is not fiction about them that grips me, your descriptions pull me in. I write now from under three blankets in Tucson, in the 30s, where we ran away from xmas but also ran away frrom 75 degrees!! Ghost towns and massive skies with sunsets from MGM. Love to you in the snow, maybe the goats get accustomed? like we do–or dont,

    Like

  28. debbie.weaver Avatar

    Only just read this, two day later, you could write Grace, about this 70 year old wonderful woman,well you already do, your blogs would make a wonderful book already and your writing is always so magical.

    Like

  29. grace Avatar

    no. it’s the or don’t. Tuesday there is supposed to be some
    SUN.

    Like

  30. grace Avatar

    thank you Debbie for your goodness….as i said somewhere along
    the line, i think it is just that i’d like to Think like
    a writer of Fiction….let my mind open out.

    Like

  31. debbie.weaver Avatar

    I wrote earlier but it doesn,t show. You write beautifully already Grace every day you write your wondrous thoughts and doings, you must have a book already, I feel it would be a wonderful thing to do.

    Like

  32. grace Avatar

    debbie…thank you for saying this, i think this is enough here,
    how it is…as it goes…it feels right and it feels enough.
    Just that little added thing of What If? i like that too…

    Like

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