Tag: writing

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Travel: North Carolina with the Brother

A trip to North Carolina to see the Brother

It all started out with The Queen giving me the stink eye, because she saw the suitcase and that always means trouble, in her pointy little head’s opinion.  After the final treat, I headed to OKC and caught my first flight to Atlanta. I remember Drew always referring to it as “Hotlanta.” Somewhere I saw a sign… several years back… that said, Nobody calls it that. We did.

Spent an hour and a few dollars in the Braves Bar during the layover before taking off for RDU–The Raleigh/Durham airport.

That evening, my brother and I spent hours outside talking and drinking. He was hanging something fierce the following day (the whiskey was good but perhaps a tad too much), so we lay low and just hung out.

Truly a very nice evening. We haven’t talked like that since we were kids, and I suppose that is a good thing.

Hangover and a Papilio glaucus

We spent the day just resting and enjoying being outdoors in the beautiful weather. There are several very fat mosquitoes around his house. I had no idea they were feeding on me until the following day. Ate my ass up! After a bit, the brother felt well enough to move around long enough to go to the grocery store. I picked up the fixin’s for a nice chicken curry. When I started to put it together, we discovered that they had no curry powder; however, they had all the ingredients to make their own curry powder… very tasty.

The butterfly was beautiful.

Duke

On this day, we went to Duke University, where my brother received his PhD.  A beautiful campus and very rich. I bought a flimsy t-shirt and thought it would cost about $20. Turns out… $56! Almost told the girl she could keep it, but came home with it anyhow. Glad I did.

At the top of my list was the University Chapel. Yeah, they call that a chapel. Truly stunning and I would like to have heard that organ play. 

We went to lunch in the refectory at the School of Theology. Should have taken a picture, but had Zimbabwean Beef Stew, Fufu (a doughy African bread used for scooping food), and a curry cabbage dish. Everything was excellent. Afterward, we went over to one of the many libraries, where I saw an exhibit on Indigenous Peoples’ Graphic Novels/Comics.

Had to send several pictures to my friend, Faith. There were several pieces on The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

The interesting thing about the exhibit was to see the evolution of the portrayal of Indigenous People in the graphic novels/comics.  From Scalphunter to Superhero…

That evening, the brother fixed us all a steak dinner, and I had the opportunity to finally begin to know my sister-in-law, Tori. So great. The conversation was very wide-ranging, and before it was over, I had ordered a specific translation of Dante’s Inferno. Definitely looking forward to the read. I have shied away from it in the past because I did not understand all the historical references to persons and places. Tori says that it is not necessary. Seems it is a bit like Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum–read and enjoy the larger story without getting too bogged down in the details.

Saturday with Mark and Tori

Tori had a meeting with their Quaker group, so Mark and I eased into the day. When we got moving, we headed to the University of North Carolina. Mark’s official title and position: MARK TOLES, PHD, RN, FAAN Professor; Beerstecher-Blackwell Distinguished Term Scholar & Senior Division Chair, Health Systems, Policy and Leadership Innovations. He’s pretty much got his act together.

We began the day at UNC’s botanical garden. Way too many pictures to post here, but it was beautiful, even though late in the season.

Bald Cypress
Tithonia

Also in the garden was the cabin of Paul Green. I knew nothing about him, but I very much enjoyed seeing him. According to Wikipedia: 

Paul Eliot Green (March 17, 1894 – May 4, 1981) was an American playwright whose work includes historical dramas of life in North Carolina during the first decades of the twentieth century. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1927 play, In Abraham’s Bosom, which was included in Burns Mantle’s The Best Plays of 1926-1927.

His play The Lost Colony has been regularly produced since 1937 near Manteo, North Carolina, and the historic colony of Roanoke. Its success has resulted in numerous other historical outdoor dramas being produced; his work is still the longest-running.

The plaque behind the desk reads:

WHAT IS THE SOUL OF MAN?

I WALK THROUGH THE WOODS, AND I WALK THROUGH THE HILLS,
AND I ASK YOU TO TELL ME IF YOU CAN –
YOU KNOW WHAT A TREE IS, YOU KNOW WHAT A ROCK IS,
BUT WHAT IS THE SOUL OF MAN?

I SEARCHED THE BROAD EARTH, I BEGGED THE FAR SKY,
I QUESTIONED THE RIVERS THAT RAN,
BUT NEVER A WHISPER TO TELL THAT THEY KNEW
AUGHT OF THE SOUL OF MAN.

I BOWED DOWN AT EVENING, I BOWED LOW AT MORN.
I PRAYED FOR SOME SIGN OF LIFE’S PLAN,
WHEN LO, THE GLAD ANSWER, THE WORD WITH ITS LIGHT —
LOVE IS THE SOUL OF MAN.

FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT WILDERNESS ROAD

MARCH 17, 1979

It’ll probably show up in a sermon someday.

Mark also enjoys water painting. He is much better at it than I am.

We met Tori for lunch at Sutton’s Drug Store, but unless a tasty chili cheeseburger is a drug, then it is now only a restaurant…. but what a burger, and yes, I got the t-shirt.

We continued touring the campus and saw a show at the planetarium (there may have been a nap involved during a portion of it) and then stopped at the Ackland Art Museum. We were all delighted with this visit, and it definitely made the day.

My favorite piece was Saint John the Evangelist by Valentin de Boulogne. He is listening so intently to the Spirit.

Richard Westall’s The Sword of Damocles. The story behind the painting: 

The “sword of Damocles” refers to a situation where a person lives under the constant threat of an impending disaster or harm. The idiom comes from an ancient Greek anecdote where a sycophantic courtier named Damocles, who envied the powerful life of King Dionysius II, was offered to trade places with the king for a day. Damocles found himself in the king’s seat, enjoying the luxury, only to look up and see a sharp sword hanging precariously above his head by a single strand of horsehair, symbolizing the ever-present danger and anxiety that comes with power and fortune.

Finally, there was a fine etching by the German artist Albrecht Dürer titled The Babylonian Whore, a depiction of a scene from the Book of Revelation.

Saturday and Home

La Luna, è bellissima. A wonderful few days in North Carolina.

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Interview: LA Talk Radio – Rendevous with a Writer

Join me tomorrow night (Thursday, July 27, 2023) at 8 p.m. CST for an interview about the Fr. Anthony Savel Mysteries and other things writing.

Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/latalkradio

If you don’t do Facebook, I’ll be providing other links following the show.

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Journal: September 11, 2022

The Queen was always a big help while I was writing. Full of inspiration and love bites to keep we awake. Crazy Cat!

I typed the date and realized that I should probably be journaling about the events of this day twenty-one years ago, but no… there’s been so much of that. Time to find peace even in the horror of it all. Instead, I checked back and saw that it was June 3, 2022, of my last journal entry, and I needed to catch up. (I’ll be off and on with this, so don’t expect one all the time.)

What’ve I been up to? Writing. Writing. Writing. I have finished the third draft of The Marble Finger: a Father Anthony Savel Mystery. What a remarkable process writing a book can be. It seems that every waking moment and available thinking space in the mind can be consumed with something entirely fictitious. I wrapped it up on Saturday, but all those characters are still chatting away in my head, wanting to go off on some new adventure–which, by the way, I’m already plotting… Salt Lake City. A long way from Wisconsin, but… no. No. No. That will have to wait for another time. Must finish up the Finger first. It is presently in the hands of five beta readers. Once they blow holes in it and I attempt to patch them up with bubble gum and ostrich feathers, I’ll get it out. The original deadline was December 1st, but I believe I will be several weeks ahead. Keep you posted–of course, I will! I want to sell a few copies! But… back to that bit where they want to keep chatting.

I’ve been so involved with it for so many weeks now that I’m finding it hard to let go and not want to go back and fiddle with it a bit, to be involved with them and have them fill the mind. That is one of the great aspects of writing: they take over. They do their things and say what they’ve got to say, and you are at their mercy. OH! That does remind me of a movie: Magic. I don’t know that I ever saw it, but I remember it. The movie poster! Such great rhymes 🙄…

Abracadabra,
I sit on his knee.

Presto chango,
and now he is me.

Hocus pocus,
we take her to bed.

Magic is fun;
we’re dead.

I promise you it is certainly not all that bad! It is just that the process is very consuming, regardless of whether or not the end result is any good. Anyhow…

I’ll be working on the grammar of The Golden Fistula and reissuing it a few weeks before the Finger comes out. Of the criticism that I received on Fistula via Amazon, it was the grammar. I’ve no idea what to do with any of it, but now I’ve got people who do. haha. I’ve also got new cover art coming for Fistula. The same artist will be doing Finger and the label for the new wine that is currently fermenting: Isabella. Can you say, “Some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”

Preach the Gospel. Write books. Make wine. Hmmm… I haven’t painted for a while.

Recipes to try: Pull-Apart Rosemary Garlic Bread. This one looks delicious, and I will definitely be trying it out.

What I’ve learned: If you try, you may surprise others, but you’ll definitely surprise yourself. You have a great mind. Apply it.

Thought for the day: Rejoice with me! I preached it this morning, and it is a good thought.

That’s it for now. Time for sleep and dreams…

Ay, there’s the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil…

… and Shakespeare now sleeps.
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Journal: June 3, 2022

I arrived back in Oklahoma late in the evening on Tuesday and have been processing all that I was able to see and do while in Italy (Florence/Rome). It was my first time out of the country (other than Canada and I don’t really count that one), so it took me a few days there just to get past the initial travel jitters. Afterward, I settled in and enjoyed it all. Funny, in all the pics and photos that I posted and that generated the most comments, etc, it was The Hat that generated the greatest conversation.

I do like the hat and it has now found a prominent home in my house. A great reminder of a wonderful experience.

I haven’t decided where I’ll go next, although the church has a pilgrimage to Israel in the works for next year, I’m thinking I would really like to visit Sweden/Norway. Not sure why other than to go up to the northern parts of those countries to try and see the trolls (an excellent documentary on the trolls can be found here.) There’s also India and that has been pulling at me for a long time.

For now, I’m working on getting back to normal. Nothing bad on the jetlag issue, but I have been waiting on the plumber to show up for the last three days to fix a leaky main leading into the house. Yep. You can go on vacation for as long as you like but the pipes are still going to break and the world is going to continue to revolve, and that’s OK too. I’ll be back at it for real on Monday but for now, I’m going to continue in vaca mode, which included bottling up the new vintage: Lucrezia (as in Borgia).

A very tasty, bright, and light, Chardonnay.

Finally, this morning, The Queen knocked over half a cup of coffee onto the book/manuscript I’ve been trying to write for the last couple of years: The Marble Finger (the second of the Fr. Anthony Savel mysteries). I figure that it was her way of telling me to get on with it or get it off the desk so that she’ll have more room to lay down. It is time. Actually, it is past time: let the murdering begin!

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Fiction: The Death of Fr. Anthony Savel

A few months back I joined the Enid Writers’ Club. It has really provided some motivation and encouragement for the writing of the next Fr. Anthony novel. As part of each meeting, there is a Roll Call where each member reads a piece of 150 words or less based on a given topic prompt. The prompt for this month: Have one of your characters or poems give you writing advice. Everyone reads and everyone votes. This month I tied for the prize and I’m beaming like a little kid who won the hot dog eating contest.

Photo by Joe Calata on Unsplash

Father Anthony climbed the stairs to the top of the bell tower, more than a hundred feet up.  The wall surrounding the uppermost landing was only eighteen inches, so he always stood at a safe distance.

“Hey, what are we doing up here?”

Unbeknownst to Father Anthony, Elvis, the custodian had eaten his lunch on the landing and had accidentally left a banana peel lying directly in Father Anthony’s path.  Had Father Anthony been more observant, he would have seen it and been more careful.

“What do you mean, ‘More observant’?  I see it.  It’s right there.”

Father Anthony took the last step of his life.

“Wait!  What do you mean the last step of my life?!  Look!  Is this about the plot hole in the last chapter?  I can fix that. I’m your main character!  You can’t kill me.”

He slipped. He fell.

“You son of aaaaaaaa…..”

He died.

Fear not. Fr. Anthony is a bit fluffy these days and simply bounced around, eventually landing on his feet.

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Journal: August 5, 2021

It is out of control! It is growing! It must be remedied! What pray tell is he going on about this evening? The stack of unread books upon my desk! I am well into In this House of Brede, but my glasses are fogging up from the other unread volumes, and this says nothing about the number of Audible credits that are itching to be plundered (although, I confess, I’m really saving them up for books along the Camino.) So, where to go next? Constant Reader, we all know the answer to that one. Who is this Billy Summers? I have forbidden my curiosity from even reading the cover until I have finished Brede. Read on… read on! How wonderful to have all these words strung together and opening the imagination to other lives. I do love a good book.

I’ve been on vacation this week, but it has turned into about as much work as a normal work week. Is OK, because I love what I do and I got to sleep in a bit most days. Did I accomplish everything I wanted to do? Absolutely not. Hardly even scratched the surface, but… I have a good life whether on vacation or not, so I can’t really complain (not to mention I have a 13 week sabbatical next year! Did anyone else just hear the angel choirs singing, “Hallelujah!”) Of the work, the week was filled with plentiful meetings and more than a few emails and then there was the Sunday sermon for the 8th. I wrestled with that one ALL day yesterday. Called it quits about 9 p.m., watched a few episodes of the Tudors (season 2), sat back down with it at about 1:30 a.m. and the entire thing unfolded in front of me. After hearing it on Sunday, there may be some who would have preferred I folded it back up and put it back on whatever shelf I found it, but… I actually kind of like it. Speaking of which….

My sermons and sermon writing seem to be evolving these days. There is something different about the way they are forming up and the way they are preaching. I feel more of an urgency when writing them. Being a people pleaser is difficult work, but it seems that in my sermonating that I’ve been able to set that aside more. Yes… I’ve always sought to please God, but there’s always been this twitch that says, “Maybe you shouldn’t say that.” Well, that twitch called me up short on my silly story last week, but I feel much more free in the preaching. This week was the same if not more so. What’s that all about? I suppose it is good that we all grow (as long as we are growing in the right direction.)

The next two days will be truly vacation days where I may go blind from watching too many movies… the FLY Film Festival is tomorrow and Saturday and I’ve got my two day pass. Bring on the popcorn. Hmmm…. should I write my own movie reviews? (Enquiring minds would prefer I didn’t, but that’s never stopped me before!) Primarily short films with a few feature films thrown in for good measure. Very much looking forward to it. Please lead me to the nearest pub (Callahans… across the street from the Gaslight Theater), should you see me afterwards stumbling around in the bright sunshine.

I was just staring at a recipe for Salmon Cakes, which I will be making for hors d’oeuvres Monday night… yeah… you’re going to want to try those.

The Queen says, “Why you wake me?”

Please forgive, Your Majesty!

What I learned today: It is important to drink a margarita while cooking Mexican food. No… I did not cook Mexican food today, nor did I have a margarita, but I heard this from a reliable source. We should all cook more Mexican food. Carnitas anyone?

Thought for the day: “Did-a-chick? Dum-a-chum? Dad-a-cham? Ded-a-chek?” (Stephen King, The Drawing of the Three) The Lobstrosities sometimes make sense, but mostly it is just nonsense.

Pax

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