Not working on the house

Every weekend I have the best intentions of working on the house and tidying up. Every weekend I seem to do the most basic I can - laundry and dishes - and spend my time in the studio.

Art and Age

I've had a little time in the studio the last few days. I thought I'd share some snippets of various pieces. One of these days I will get things posted on etsy, but so far I haven't had time to do that. But, one day. Really. One day.



This weekend I'm finishing up a magazine article and writing my column for Kansas Country Living. Those things must be done before Monday rolls around. I have a very long list of other things that should be done but I guess we'll see how the weekend goes.



I'm so glad it's the weekend. I really needed some quiet time at home, which I've had tonight. When I don't get enough quiet time I get really grouchy. I just need time to be still and quiet and think.

Something that's on my mind these days that I'm not sure what to do with is age, and how for some people it's such a dividing topic. Virginia and I had lunch today and were talking about this and she made some good points that it's hard to communicate sometimes with people when you don't have a lot of shared experiences in common. Well, I should be more specific and say communicate deeply.

I've always had friends of multiple age groups, and I'm very comfortable with that. Yesterday at lunch with the Ellsworth ladies I enjoyed meeting Rosemary, a lovely woman, who is 93. Last night I had a nice conversation with a twenty-something man who was at the movie at the Wichita library, and continued on Facebook. I'm comfortable with both ends of that spectrum. I probably have more in common with the 20 something, but certainly don't want to miss out on the 90 something, 80 something, 70 something, etc.

I've really been puzzling over this for a while. I live in a community where the focus is on getting young people to move here. "Young" in this case is defined as those under 40, although under 30 would be preferrable. I'm in my 40s and feel very much like I'm not wanted here anymore. I feel like I've "aged out." I'm just not sure what to do about that yet. Obviously, I've been thinking about it for a long time and haven't done anything except think. Maybe by the time I get around to making a decision the focus will have changed yet again and people my age will be welcome again.

Quote of the Day

"There's no point in arguing with someone who's certain in their beliefs."
- Joe Winston, filmmaker

I went to see Winston tonight in Wichita and he made this comment. I was reminded of how many times I've puzzled that we ignore facts, even when it would be in our best interest to not do so. It's a theme that repeats itself. I'm sure that means there's a lesson I need to learn, but as of yet I've not been able to figure it out.

Always A Great Day

This afternoon I went to record a radio spot and stopped to take this photo of the door on my way out. It has written on it: "Welcome! It's always a great day at the Eagle Media Center."

When you go into the lobby this is the first thing you see. I wonder what kind of impact that has on people - even subconsciously. If it's always a great day there you probably expect your experience to be great on some level.

Just this morning I was engaged in a facebook conversation about my general "perkiness" level. I was explaining that I grew up with a mother who believed if you were going to be interacting with people you should be pleasant about it. It's good training for life.

When I wake up in the morning my first thought is, "Wow... okay... cool... I woke up... I'm still breathing, thinking, talking, walking, functioning... nothing bad has happened overnight to me or anyone I love... thank you, God." When you're grateful for these things, it feels as though a good 90% plus of your day is taken care of. These rest is just gravy.

People sometimes ask if I don't ever feel down. I certainly do. But being happy is a decision I make every day. I choose to find the positive parts of a situation whenever possible. I've discovered that focusing on the negative doesn't really do much to address it, and it wears me out. Finding the positive may not do much to fix the problem, but it doesn't hurt anything, and I feel better on the other side of things. As far as I'm concerned that's reason enough.

How My Brain Works

This weekend when Mark was here we had a conversation about how brains are structured. I was explaining my own thought process with the aid of the diagram above.

I'm thinking about hundreds of things at any given moment. Each thought branches off others, but each one continues to its natural conclusion. When something occurs to me that requires some action, I move it to the front part of my brain, in the part I've highlighted with yellow. It takes tremendous energy to keep something in that "top of mind" position, and it slows all the other thought processes. So, my solution is to write it down. Then my brain can be free to continue all its thoughts.

If something interrupts me I am physically jarred by all of these thoughts ending abruptly. I'm likely to lose some thoughts and it takes a lot of energy for me to restart what I was thinking about on at the time. This is why I hate unnecessary noise.

If someone yells, or uses a car horn, it signals danger and means there's something I need to pay attention to. But if there's no danger, and I've stopped all these thoughts for no reason I'm not a very happy camper.

The way my brain works allows me to be thinking about hundreds of things at a time. If something is requiring a lot of intense thought, and using a lot of that "top of mind" part of my brain, the other thoughts are slowed.

At some places I've worked other people have assumed I did not have my mind on "work" because I would always be making notes about other things at the same time - from calling for a dentist's appointment to an art project I want to make. By the same token, in my "off" hours I'm still devoting thought to my work place and making notes about things we could do there.

I've come to realize that this thought process is one of the reasons I really value intense conversation with people. When I'm involved in really good conversation, fewer of these thoughts are happening and it's "refreshing" for lack of a better term. It's why having lunch with someone in the middle of the work day makes me much fresher for the afternoon than I would be otherwise.

I'm a prime example of how if people are allowed to think/work in the way that's natural for them they produce more. I am far more productive for my workplace, and with my own projects, when allowed to have this natural blending. Obviously, some work days and some evenings at home don't allow for this sort of thought process, but when possible it's better for all concerned.

Noise

Our world is noisy. And it seems to be getting noisier all the time. I don't understand the point of noise. Why do we need it?

Obviously, a yelp of surprise is reason for us to pay attention. It's a way to warn us of possible danger. A car horn tells us to exercise caution. But noise for the sake of just noise makes no sense to me. It's jarring to me and disrupts my thought processes.

I grew up in a household that came with a lot of noise. My first career was in radio, a job in which I controlled sound. I've always thought it was probably no accident that I liked having volume control buttons on the sound in my world.

When editing audio, being able to hear subtleties is important. If you cut in the middle of a breath, or don't let someone have a natural pause, it sounds artificial. I was very good at those details of audio editing.

Some years ago I had a boyfriend who would walk into my apartment and turn on the television. It was an automatic wish to have that noise going on. The relationship didn't last long, and that was part of the reason. Unlike him, I had absolutely no need to have extraneous noise in my world.

I read a few years ago there are very few places left on the planet that have no man-made sounds bleeding into them, and no where left in the US where you can experience that. In the intervening years I'd tried to find a spot. I've listened carefully in canyons near Amarillo, open prairie in Kansas, the jungle of Guatemala and the desert of Egypt. Unfortunately, I've not yet been able to experience a moment without some manmade sound being present.

I find that terribly sad.

Flooding in Hutchinson Kansas

Main and 13th street in Hutchinson, Kansas is one of the many places that are flooded in town.













Water is getting into Carrie Lynn's Flower Shop. They've sandbagged the doorway.



Some seem less bothered by the flooding.



It's not your typical Fourth of July.

How to Have a Successful Fourth of July Parade Float

The quickest, easiest way to have a Fourth of July parade float is to stick a cute kid and a flag on any driveable conveyance and proceed immediately to the start of parade route.

A bonus is that if your business is written on the door, you are automatically advertising it when eyes are drawn to the aforementioned cute kid and flag.

If you can find a kid, like this one, who offers an abashed smile, as if she's surprised you're taking her photo, all the while posing perfectly, it's all the better.

If you don't happen to have a cute kid handy, you have two other viable options.



Option one - a very large flag.



Option two - bright, colorful, child-like attire on an adult.



If you are a person with a legitimate, real cause, you can be serious and not have to carry big flags, dress like a clown or involve juveniles. See a fine example here by my friend, Trish Rose, who's running for judge.



But be aware that cute children and flags will abound. Of course, these happy smiles are generally only seen near the beginning of the parade route when feet are not so tired.

Happy Fourth of July!

A Holiday Weekend

Michele, who I work with, designed the buttons for the Fourth of July Festivities in Hutchinson. I asked her to autograph a couple of them since she did the artwork. Mark is down this weekend and both of us like buttons. So, we have autographed ones!



Tonight there was a free Blues concert in the park downtown. It was Little Smoke from Wichita and they were really good.

Tomorrow is the parade and then I'm meeting a film crew at work in the early afternoon. Like most towns across America, Hutchinson has a whole slate of festivities scheduled for the holiday weekend.

Photos with the Evo Phone

Greg has a new phone - the Evo - which I took this photo of him with. Isn't that an amazing pic for a camera phone?

The Evo does all kinds of cool things that my seven month old camera doesn't do. Of course, now I want a new one.

Greg asked if I liked his new phone. I told him yes, that the only thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't mine.

I'm quite amazed by the clarity and color of the photo. I didn't do any color correction on this - just cropped in on it a bit.

Grateful

I'm in an incredibly grateful frame of mind this evening. Grateful beyond words.

Grace seems to be my nearly constant companion, for which I'm thankful.

I am blessed. The miracles in daily life are astonishing. I lead a charmed life.

A little paint is good for electronics isn't it?

I try to be careful in the studio but I'm a messy painter.

Every day starts better when art is involved.

I got a little time in the studio this morning before work.

William Stafford Archives

This weekend at the writer's workshop one of the faculty was Steven Hind, a Hutchinson poet. Steven has published a number of his works and has an amazing command of the language, as most accomplished poets do.

He mentioned William Stafford multiple times. Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, the town where I live. He's featured on a mural downtown, and his son, Kim, has spoken here more than once.

I was looking up something about Stafford tonight and found the William Stafford Archives, which are a treasure trove.



Stafford was one of the most important poets of the 20th century and received the National Book Award. He wrote more than 60 books of poetry, and had well-formed ideas about peace, nature and education.

One of the things I've always loved about Stafford is that he wrote every day. The website says, "Stafford wrote every day of his life from 1950 to 1993. These 20,000 pages of daily writings form a complete record of the poet's mostly early morning meditations, including poem drafts, dream records, aphorisms, and other visits to the unconscious, recorded on separate sheets of yellow or white paper or when traveling, often in spiral-bound reporters' steno pads."

They've done a beautiful job with the archive, showing each poem from its handwritten version to published state. I always love to see inside a creative person's brain.

I didn't find the quote I was searching for, but ran across this poem, Prairie Town, about Hutchinson.

The archive has more than 7,000 items, a nearly complete record from 1937 to 1993. Quite amazing. And we can all enjoy it with a few clicks on the computer.

Quote of the Day and Workshops

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
---Mark Twain

These days I'm imagining a new opportunity. At the urging of friends I'm organizing my thoughts about putting together a series of workshops about how to get the most out of your life.

People often comment that I seem to always be doing something interesting and how do I know about these things and how do I find the time. After many conversations with people, I've figured out there are some techniques I employ that are not common knowledge. I'm still working out all the details, but I'm getting a bit more of a handle on it.

I'm not sure how these workshops will be structured yet, but probably a Saturday afternoon for a few hours - maybe 1-5. It would be so fun to meet people and get to interact in this way.

It's still in the notecard planning phase, but I expect it to take shape pretty quickly, so maybe I could do the first of these later this summer.

If you have thoughts I'd love to hear them. I'm excited by the possibilities

Brightening up my desk

This is why I grow flowers... to have them inside. I do like them outdoors too but I am inside more. Like at my desk.

Posted via email from Patsy's posterous

Wrapping up the Weekend

I spent the weekend in Emporia at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop. This is the third year I've attended and it has been fabulous each time.

Driving back tonight my brain was churning around a whole bunch of thoughts - many of which are related to writing. There are so many writing projects I'm interested in and novel writing is just one of them.

I haven't worked on my novel in awhile. I would have said it was done, but after rereading it I've decided I need to add more to it. And some of those things require some planning and plotting. I need some uninterrupted time to get that done. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

So, in the meantime, maybe I need to be working on other writing projects. I've got some non-fiction topics I've wanted to write for awhile. Maybe it's time to do that.

I was mulling all of this over on the drive home. I need to sit down with pen and paper and do some planning and decide which project makes the most sense to work on next. So much to think about.

On the spur of the moment I decided to detour through the Maxwell Game Preserve. I haven't been there in awhile and I'm glad I stopped in. As usual I had to climb the observation tower.

I created a self-portrait while I was there.



Okay... I thought that was pretty funny.

I also saw the beautiful sunset above.

I need to spend more time in nature. I'd like to take a weekend and go out to the National Grasslands. It's one of those things I'm always going to do that I never seem to get done. Of course, I know the remedy for that is to do it.

This photo was snapped on top of the tower today. I like the windblown look.



I wish I had another weekend to work on things. I now need to do all the things I should have done this weekend that I didn't get done because I was at the workshop. So many cool things to do in life.

I'm always prepared for note taking the old fashioned way.

These are only some of the notebooks I have at hand. I didn't show the ones already in my bag. These are just the backups.

Posted via email from Patsy's posterous

Writing and Publishing Advice from Greg Tobin

Greg Tobin spoke at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop at Emporia State today. Tobin has been a writer, editor and publishing executive for more than two decades.

I thought I'd share just a few of the things he said - in no particular order.

*the rights today that are really big are electronic and audio
*print is a great medium, not only for reading, but also for preservation
*he wants to hear an author say that they're working on their second book and learned a lot from their first book
*more and more scouting for new talent is being done on social media sites
*publishing parts of your novel online is more acceptable now - editors for non-fiction, in particular, are scouting that way
*having a "platform" and some name recognition is more and more important - especially in non-fiction writing
*before you search for an agent, have your manuscript ready to send immediately if they ask for it
*don't be afraid to start at the top when you start looking for an agent
*agents and editors are looking for first of all great writing but beyond that personal stories that are appealing and a willingness to participate in marketing the book and an understanding of the process

Social Media Club in Hutchinson

This morning we had our first meeting of the Social Media Club. Five of us gathered. It was cool we had multiple generations represented, which I loved.

We talked about a variety of ideas. There are two main areas of focus that came up.
1. to have an opportunity to be social face to face with people who know from status updates and tweets
2. to encourage others to use social media

Some ideas were floated around about ways to accomplish those things. Next up is a lunch on July 13. Hopefully more folks will join in then.

Speaking about Food Traditions and Cookbooks at the Wichita Sedgwick County Historical Museum

Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of speaking at the Senior Wednesday gathering at the Wichita Sedgwick County Historical Museum. There were about 75 people there and it was great to get to visit with many of them.

I spoke about food traditions and cookbooks. Each time I give this speech, it's a bit different, but the gist of it is that we take food for granted and we should be more respectful. Food is essential to live, and to be able to prepare it for someone you love is a gift. Think about how amazing it is that you can take flour, yeast and water and make bread - the staff of life. The kitchen is sacred ground. Food deserves better than paper plates and plastic forks.

I touched on five or six themes, including rituals and traditions, how availability and ethnicity affect what we eat, and why growing and preparing food has far-reaching impact in our lives.

It was great to speak with this group. Jami, who you've met on the blog before, was instrument in setting it up. I was delighted to meet Abby who was in charge of the event and Nancy, who was helping with all the details. A very fun way to start the day.

They gave me a beautiful basket as a thank you. I'm sure Jami was involved in the shopping. It featured some of my favorite things, including Hob Nobs, whish I've written about here before.



Folks from the Art Museum brought one of their cookbooks for me to review in Kansas Country Living. They wrapped it up such that it's so pretty I'm loathe to open it. But, the enticement of a new cookbooks will win out, I'm sure! But I'm going to enjoy it for another day or two. Isn't it beautiful?



I really love public speaking. I have four or five different topics I speak about. Each time I speak it's really wonderful to connect with folks in that way.

Making Private Pain Public

I was reading "Better Together" by Robert Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein and they quoted Father Alfonso Guevara, a pastor in Brownsville, Texas as saying, "We make private pain public." That phrase really struck me. The idea of making private pain public seems at once fascinating and horrifying. I guess it depends on if it's your pain or someone else's.

I'm reminded of instances where seeing someone's pain is so difficult you just can't take it in, so you look away. It has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with us. We are the ones who can't take it. The person in pain has no choice in the matter. But we do. And we look away. Or sometimes run away.

By the same token, there are people who can look at pain - stare it down, take it in, accept it and the person living it. But those people are rare. And they're a tremendous gift when you need someone to look at your pain, especially when you can't look at it yourself.

Making private pain public is a concept I want to think more about.

Speaking

I'm speaking in the morning at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum Senior Wednesday in downtown Wichita. I'm talking about food traditions and cookbooks. It should be fun.

I love doing things like this. Everytime I do one I reread my notes, get out the index cards, and start rearranging things. I always end up with a pile of notecards that wouldn't make any sense to anyone but me, but there are words there that trigger things for me. One day... some day... I will do a speech from a pristine, printed, white piece of paper. But it will not be this day.

Everytime I do a speech I leave thinking, "oh, shoot, I forgot to talk about ..." Or, "I wish I hadn't spent so much time on..." But it all always comes out in the end. Or at least I think so. I guess Abby and Jami can tell me otherwise tomorrow!

If you're in the area, drop in. Here's the info they put on Facebook today - Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum Senior Wednesday, 6/23, 10am, $2 admission, "Cookbooks and Food Traditions" with Patsy Terrell. Discover the cultural influences behind some of our favorite regionally traditional foods, sample some local fair, and become inspired to preserve your family's recipes for future generations. More about the amazing Patsy at www.patsyterrell.com.

Needless to say, they flatter me! I'm looking forward to it.

Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City

The Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City houses items found from the wreck of the Steamboat Arabia that went down in the Missouri River in 1856. It's an amazingly well-preserved time capsule.

Our FCC group visited recently and I'm already ready for a return visit.







In the late 1980s, five men decided they would look for the wreck of the Arabia. They were not historians. There were repair people, restaurant owners and construction people. Their original intent was to sell what they salvaged to pay for the operation. But once they saw the items being uncovered they realized it should be shared. So, they created a museum instead.









It was no easy feat to retreive this. Their website gives a more detailed story and I won't presume to tell it, but it's fascinating the lengths they went to, to recover the Arabia and let her tell her story.





Three previous attempts had been made to retrieve materials from the Arabia, including 400 barrels of Kentucky Whiskey rumored to be on board. But none were successful until this band of adventurers.



The Arabia held everything you might need for life in a frontier town. There were building materials, fabric and sewing notions, printing items and boots. It's the most comprehensive assembly of such goods you'll find. You really get an idea of what life was like in 1856.









It's also gives you a sense of the growth of products in that time. Between 1850 and 1870, registered US patents increased 10 fold, going from 9,000 to nearly 100,000. The Arabia seemed to have one of everything that was around in 1856.







The group removed a portion of the boat, and about 2000 pieces of material from it. Of those, about one-third were broken, but the amount of intact items from china to buttons to boots is astonishing.







Something of note, one of the cases is covered with glass recovered from the wreck so you can see the wavy glass. Amazing.





The Arabia was one of 289 steamboats catalogued in 1897 as being wrecked in the Missouri River, from St. Louis to Pierre, South Dakota.

When you visit the museum, part of your tour is a short video. After the video, David Hawley, who was one of the treasure hunters, came in and spoke to our group. Talk about getting some extra bang for your buck, getting to ask questions of one of the men who was there from the beginning was a real treat. I asked him for a photo afterwards and he generously agreed.



You also get a peek at conservators working on items in the lab. When we were there they were working on shoes. At the lab you also get to sniff some of the perfume they've had reproduced from what was found on the boat. You know I love perfume but I resisted the urge to bring some home. It was tough.

The lab is a great stop on your visit.












Near the end of your visit you can see the boilers, the anchor, and the "snag," the fallen tree that brought the Arabia down.







I highly recommend a visit. I hope Kansas City realizes what they have in this museum. It's really wonderful.