Amazing Possibilities Ahead

 

                                                                 December 28, 2021

It's not the new year quite yet, but I am treating this week as a time to regroup, reflect and reassess.

I have already signed up for two writing classes beginning in January and have two more in the queue.

I have already committed to myself to finish my Peace Corps memoir and in the meantime, follow more postings on the Peace Corps publishing/imprint site, perhaps review books for them.

I have already decided that I am happier keeping busy and will commit to my beginning art endeavors with new vigor.

I am grateful and choose to face each day seeking out the amazing opportunities and experiences God has in store for me that specific day. It is possible that attitude will affect what I experience, don't you believe?

And so with these few sentences I hope that you will accompany me as I begin my tour of 2022.

.....and blogging requires a commitment! I desire for my blog to be informative, friendly, and entertaining. I do not have plans to give the reader a day-to-day diary of my activities. I prefer sharing what is on my heart and in my computer keys, you know, those words that want to pop onto the page.

Happy Almost New Year!

 

                                            Greetings Two Days After Thanksgiving 2021!

What a lovely time Dave and I had spending the day with Brynna, Rosson and Sophie in their Lakeway home, near Austin. Watching the kitchen in action, spending quality talking time and just enjoying the amazing New Orleans fried turkey with ALL the side dishes.....truly I feel fortunate, blessed and ready to be thankful more than just for one day. 

Although there was no celebration my middle son had a birthday that day also, turning 49. He lives with his family in Virginia.

And now I am in the throes of painting Christmas Greetings on wine bottles. I have purchased all the necessities including graphics to use for the lettering. This is a project I have been mulling over for several months and decided no time is better than December! Ideas are coming from the internet.

Stay tuned and meet the goat came to the dog park next blog!

Murals of Alpine, Texas

 

                                                       Cruising Big Bend by Tom Curry

We found this mural in downtown Alpine. It was in an alleyway with other murals, big and bold. They call that area Alley Art. I love this mural. Excuse the shadows and the wires criss-crossing in front of my camera. There are, according to a brochure from the visitor's center, forty-four murals in Alpine and the surrounding area.  

Alpine has a suburb art colony and the presence of Sul Ross University is a tremendous asset to this community. The college is very impressive in size and its beautiful architecture.

It is a quiet, very quiet, Sunday afternoon. If the western museum is open today on the Sul Ross campus, I believe we should venture over.  Dave will like it -  I have read it is extraordinaire.

Big Bend National Park Visit

 

                                                                                            (stock photo, don't think we saw this)

Hello to the Day After Our Big Bend Trek!

It was a bit tiring - 100 miles to the entry, 100 miles throughout the park (at least), and 100 miles back to our rv camp. We saw much of what one can do in one day, including lunch at the lodge and a peek at the Rio Grande. I don't think we are going back to the park this trip. It is a long way and we have a good idea at what we are missing. 

The landscape is West Texas plus boulders and mountains as only West Texas can do it. 

Today we have reservations for lunch at a restaurant in Alpine. And then I want to traverse the town with the Windshield Tour brochure in one hand and the Alpine Mural Map in the other. Dave will drive and I will navigate around town.  The murals are going to be very entertaining!

See you around the bend - the bend in little Alpine today!

 

Greetings from Alpine, Texas!

Although the above is a stock photo, this is pretty much what it looks like as I view the scenery from my rv window.  I am now sitting in one of the two rv recliners typing this blog. Ava is peering out the same window from the bench seat. 

We are spending the week here in La Vista RV park, six miles from Alpine towards Big Bend National Park on Highway 118. It's a small rv park, maybe fifteen drive-through sites and very quiet, very very quiet. Dave just read the welcome rules and discovered the free wifi - whoopee!

Tomorrow we will drive into Big Bend, 100 miles from here and spend the day enjoying what I am told is a "magical place." 

In the meantime we are relaxing, reading, watching some satellite news and enjoying a choice on our home-cooking menu due to today's trip to Porter's Grocery store in Alpine. I also visited a very well stocked independent bookstore and enjoyed spending my disposable $50 on two poem books, The Sun literary magazine and, of all things, an $8 Texas map!

The sun is setting, Ava needs to take a walk and I am ready to join her.

                                         *  *  *  G'night from Brewster County *  *  *

A Poem Using Prompts from Children's Poems

 (untitled)

my fingers tap                       my pencil floats…..I have confidence (p. 129, Naomi, grade 4) 

i have confidence

my words will                       let my words mean something to others (p. 107, Sean, gr 4)                    

mean something

to someone.

perhaps that’s what              that’s what I want to believe (p. 127, Ruby, grade 6)

i want to believe.

perhaps it is a mere

mirage, creating a 

waterfall of words                   a waterfall with words (p. 111, Morgan, grade 4)

the teacher                             but the teacher says (p. 121, Isabelle, grade 4)

my inner teacher says 

my waterfall

is not a waterfall at all

merely a cascade of circumstances

paths chosen, thwarted 

seldom straight

you walked into my heart         if you walked into my heart (p. 125, Mike, grade 4)

i was as a child 

reborn, rechanneled, reassigned        a star child to be reborn (p. 119, Boy, grade 4)

to go on with my life as if                    go on with your life (p. 122, Lea, grade 5)

you will always 

be here, there

that’s what i want to believe.    that’s what I want to believe (P. 127, Ruby, grade 6)

by Joan Connor 11/02/2021

The above italicized quotes are from Expressive Writing, edited by Kathleen Adams. Chapter 7 by Perie Longo, Poetry and Emotional Intelligence, speaks of children and their insightful use of poetics to express themselves.

Women and Story Circle Network

They are the nicest bunch of women, my Story Circle Network compatriots. Strong and intelligent, creative and compassionate, I am a member of this group and you all are welcome to join.

I have been a member for the past ten years, striving to be a writer and hopefully gaining sharper abilities and more intrigue within my essays and poems as the years get flipped on spiral rung calendars.

Some of my submissions have been published in their journals, some have been rejected, but my spirit is seldom dampened as another opportunity avails itself within the group. I just discovered their blog and several familiar names are submitting in that area. I shall consider that option now.

Check it out, join up with this league of women writers and take a class or two. I am counting my online classes that I have taken with SCN and there have been many. Most classes are filed away in manila folders with the appropriate writings done at that time, but some are in journals and/or notebooks. I'm still looking....

I just finished my fourth Writing for Twenty Minutes Class and once again, I didn't want it to end.  One of my classmates is attempting to keep a small group going - writing to one another and maybe even a zoom get-together. I hope to join. I hope it continues to be as motivating as writing every day has been.

Story Circle Network — Women Writers & Writing Resources

This is a test! I am going to post twice a week and hope I garner a following - it takes know-how and wherewithal, all of which I am a bit negligent.

However, I just finished a 20 Minute/Day writing class and will share some of my favorite posts from that experience.

Let's give it a try. 

I'm off to play with blogspot a bit, playing with fonts right now.

As you know, I am a Word Press drop-out and invested several hundred dollars to do it "right" with that site!

Feeling successful with this site,

joan

(Early Sunday in Texas, 10/24/2021)

I’m back!

 This blog post is my first in over a year!  Why? You ask.....I tried Wordpress but it overwhelmed me. My investment was flushed down the “wasteful decision” flushline.

Let’s try this site.....