I used to be on Instagram, Tik-Tok, Facebook, and Twitter/X. Now I am on none of those. I decided that my short time in this life was better spent reading a good book, listening to music, or taking a walk. Am I happier now? You bet, I am! I think the best part of the abandonment was to get rid of the negativity. People like the "OMG stories," and exaggerate them to garner more attention. And now I have more "me time." I've even taken up a new hobby, though I don't know if I'll stick with it. But I will until I no longer enjoy it. It is knot-tying! Every few days I learn a new one and then test myself until I'm sure its in my memory bank. Today's is the Midshipman's Knot. Look it up. It is fun and useful. It is like a little noose that doesn't tighten unless you take pressure off it to slide-adjust it. 

I realize that other people surely know most of the words I post here that are new to me. Well, here's another: numinous—"having a spiritual or religious quality; suggestive of a presence of divinity". I could have used this word when I wrote about an experience after my father's death in the middle of a December. I had just come home from his funeral, where I'd told the story of his saving a lizard someone had callously thrown in the trash. I went upstairs to assuage my grief by holding the pillow on which he'd died. I had placed it in a bag in the guest bedroom closet. Upon opening the closet, there was a lizard on the pillow. I urgently called for my husband, who came and we stood in awe, just absorbing the moment. A numinous moment.

My short is the 10-minute-long film I'm planning to shoot in April. The script is based on a short story "The Foursome" in my latest book, Moments. So far, I have recruited a producer, one of the four actors, and the sound designer. But that is doing organizing business. On the artistic side, the really fun side, I am also making progress, having almost finished a shot list. That is a spreadsheet that lists every shot to be taken in the film, including the angle, movement, subject, and purpose. Basically, it is a run-through of the film in your head. The exercise is not only to make it easier to convey the director's objectives to the cast and crew, but also to help make lists of the equipment and set to make the scenes envisioned become reality. I am preparing the shot list on Google Sheets so that it can be shared with all who'll need it.

Last year, I bought a nuc of bees for a wooden hive . Watching them buzz around my flower beds was a sort of zen process that was so relaxing and refreshing. When the heat of summer got to them, they gathered outside the hive and fanned their little wings to cool off (photo below). Then tragedy struck yesterday. Bees from elsewhere descended on my hive and there was a horrible war, which my smaller group of bees lost. At first I put on my beekeeper suit and tried to nudge the attackers away, but they were relentless as they isolated each defending bee and killed him. With the battle won, now the intruders are stealing the stores of honey. I find myself remarkably emotional about this and am wondering how I could possibly hate one group of bees over another. But I do. I am trying to come up with a positive thought: maybe the honey from my bees will help the other hive thrive in the coming January cold. 

I was looking for the word to describe what one misses by relying on written words instead of hearing them spoken. Without the melody, rhythm, rate, and emphases, one can completely misinterpret the intended meaning. You might imagine sarcasm or emotion when none was intended or you might miss it when it is intended. And this problem is accentuated by texting because even the use of italics and punctuation is usually missing. Bolding and exclamation marks are so overused that they convey little these days. 

So what is the word for these vocalized touches that enable us to fully understand the speaker's words? Prosody.
Although I had heard the word in connection to the reading of poetry, I was unaware of its application to everyday speech. (People who have experience with sufferers of autism or Parkinson's may be familiar with the word because people with those diseases often have absence of prosody in their speech.) I am trying to rely a bit less on texting and emailing so that prosody can play its all-important role.

Where you see wrong, or inequality, or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.
 – Thurgood Marshall
​

You may think first of politics when you read this. I did. But several months ago, after I had read and filed this, something happened in my life that made this quotation both more meaningful and a call to action for me. The country club where I play golf opened a new bar and cafe, but made it men-only. Yes, they did. I objected, but was put down by the Board of Directors who heard my appeal. So, yes, I see injustice and inequality and am compelled to do something (working on it). I don't know how all this will turn out, of course. But I can say for sure that it can be mighty uncomfortable when you speak up. Even the people who agree with you in their hearts can treat you like a leper. This experience makes me value John Lewis and all the others who've sacrificed their comfort (and more) to try to right wrongs.

There's a short story in my newest book, MOMENTS, that's about four guys who play cards together and the attempt by three of them to help the fourth—when he doesn't want or need the help. It's a situation many or most of us have been in.

Anyway, I would like to turn it into a film of about 10 minutes. I've just finished the screenplay for it and am scoping out the mechanics of bringing it to life. The part that is most exciting to me is to see what other artists—actors, cinematographer, producer, editor—will do to it. If I can pull this off, it will be great fun. Will keep you posted.

I finally forced myself to sit down and go through the 19 propositions on my voting ballot so that I can go when early voting opens for Texans on October 21. What a task! The problem is that there are too many discrete issues lumped together in each proposition. I agree with some elements and others, oppose. There must be a better word for this than mish-mash, I thought. Then the word arose from deep memory: farragoes. So I looked it up to see if it is apropros.

Originally, it was used to describe mixed fodder, and gradually became "a confused mixture". Yes, this word does nicely here. 

Another problem with some of the propositions is that they overprescribe. Yes, I agree city council members should get a raise; no, I don't agree that their wages should double all at once. Yes I agree that getting measures onto ballots should be a bit easier, but no, I don't want it so easy that I face many times the number of propositions each voting time. Voters face enough farragoes as it is!

Here's a pithy thought for you:
"Be careful. When a democracy is sick, fascism comes to its bedside,
but it is not to inquire about its health."
​~ Albert Camus

A midden is a refuse heap or dunghill. I look at the alarming, sad, and just plain awful images of Ukraine and the Middle East and try to think of what it would be like to lose my home in a bombing, assuming I lived through it. I just can't really imagine it, and I guess I'm grateful I can't. But my heart is often heavy when I think of those poor souls. How much torture and angst those people (and the animals) suffer and for what? It is about power, money and control—the everlasting sources of war and fighting.