I promise to tell you all about sessions soon. The Zoom ones like today wear me out, so it is nap time! My Songs page is back on the menu if you want to hear some of my songs.
Blog Posts
Another Writing Sessions
I promise to tell you all about sessions soon. The Zoom ones like today wear me out, so it is nap time! My Songs page is back on the menu if you want to hear some of my songs.
Dog Days
Every year July and August – those dreaded dog days.
Never have I ever heard anyone say, “I love dog days!” Jada wants no part of them outside. She much prefers to stay inside lying on the cool hardwood floor, her bed, or the couch.
When I was growing up, spending my summers in the country with my grandparents or cousins, I thought dog days meant days so hot the dogs did not want to do anything but laze round in the shade. We were lazy, too. Our clothes and hair were damp, or even wet, with sweat if we had to do anything in the sun. I do not remember being told to keep hydrated, but I do remember drinking a lot of tea.
In Alabama, Dog days are getting hotter and hotter. Today it is 94 degrees Fahrenheit with a heat index of105F (40.5C). I dare say anyone or anything who has to be outside is suffering. I have not tried frying an egg on my concrete but maybe could. I do know I can not walk barefoot on my concrete.
I found this butterfly on one of my zinnias this morning. Likely the heat compromised his wings.
The term dog days goes back much farther than those hot summer July and August days of my youth. In ancient Greek, dog days began when the bright star Sirius, the dog star, rose in the sky. I do not have enough imagination to see a dog in the constellation, but the ancient Greeks did.
Go to DogTime.com for images and explanation of the history of the term. I am going to keep my growing-up-in-Alabama definition, make some tea, and go sit under a shade tree though and sweat.
https://dogtime.com/lifestyle/65835-dog-days-of-summer
If you are interested in Astrology…https://web.pa.msu.edu/people/horvatin/Astronomy_Facts/constellation_pages/canis_major.htm
You Know You Gotta Friend
Mark Narmore and I sat, both masked, in my backyard under a shade tree this morning and talked like old friends do. We have Zoomed, but this was our first true visit since March. In fact, this was my first visit with anyone other than family since then. We agreed you know you have a true friend when they will mask for you.
Later Will McFarlane came by, and we visited under my shade tree. There are many people I would like to see, but a few I need to see. Mark and Will are two I need to see.
July 19. 2020 Beauty
Primrose, drift rose, black-eyed Susan, Indian blanket
ZINNIA BEAUTY
Today’s Win
Today will be a win if I post this and one more but do not go down the rabbit hole of this blog by changing themes, adding features, or researching how to improve this blog. Not going down rabbit holes can be hard!
How Will I Be Remembered
I am working on this one. Help me out by giving me your thoughts in a reply. For what do you think I will be remembered? Leslie Paul interviewed me this morning for his radio talk show, Leslie Paul’s Hour. I rambled and was unfiltered. Hopefully this will be more thought out and succinct.
Get me out of this vacuum!
Please, follow this blog and leave comments. I am missing the interaction and feedback now that I am on social media break. This feels somewhat like a vacuum .
Instead of quick Facebook posts, generally not edited, I want to find my style and my voice for the novel I plan to write. To do so, I have to slow down and not be so quick and careless.
On a Bipolar Day
My Day Is a Win If..
Having bipolar disorder is challenging in the best of times. Now, during Covid19 self-isolation, I struggle. My mantra Sleep Eat Meds is often enough for a good day, but other days I need ways to stay up and going and positive. I rely on strategies, some long standing and some new.
Now in the morning or the night before I decide my day will be a win if I do a certain thing. Yesterday my day was a win because I got the trash and recycling to the curb. The day before my day was a win because I did not nap during the day. Today my day is already a win because I am writing this.
July 16, 2020
The Importance of Showing Up
This morning I opened the Zoom room for Thursdays Circle Coffee, a meeting I host every Thursday. Some weeks I do not feel like setting it up, making the link available, or even being present. Thank heavens, I have a co-host, Grant Walden, so the coffee hour can go on without me if I am just not up to it.
Grant Walden, ElizaBeth Hill, and Jim Parker joined me for coffee this morning. Grant is a Muscle Shoals studio owner, engineer, songwriter, musician, and more. Jim has been in music longer than I have, and that is saying a lot. He wrote “Chicken Truck” by John Anderson and many, many more songs. He hosts the monthly Jim Parker’s Songwriter Showcase at the Huntsville Von Braun Civic Center. Elizabeth is a Native American Canadian songwriter, screenwriter, and more. Grant I work with now; Jim is a newer friend; ElizaBeth and I go back to the late eighties.
We talked about everything from the mundane to the sublime. I am glad I showed up.
Stephanie C Brown 