REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Sophia the Art Mannikin: Dressing for Winter is Iffy

 

 Winters are unpredictable in Southern California, although world-wide the weather has become iffy. 

I'll admit I've terribly neglected poor Sophia the art mannikin. She wore her Christmas evening gown for all of December and most of January. Between a long bout of bronchitis, all my personal work on my physical self to alleviate the sciatica, being preoccupied with watching all last season's Downton Abbey and the first season of Doc Martin, making art journal pages, Christmas itself, and dealing with Mollie's flea infestation, Sophia was off my radar screen. 

Last Sunday, and most of last week, our weather was cold and we had a few days of rain. I've become a weather wuss and I attribute that to age--no extremes of cold or hot, pretty please. When I walked into the house after church and my class, I swear I heard a discernible HELP from Sophia's corner. 

She was possibly freezing to death in her Christmas outfit. Out came a long skirt, a fleece jacket, my beautiful black velvet cape lined in red and a red winter scarf I got on sale at Target. Though I don't wear red and black often, I love the color combination. Those were my high school, Verdugo Hills, school colors. 

While dressing her, for the first time I realized that Sophia really is my alter-ego. She is my mirror of who I wish I was, except that now I'm old and no longer svelte. But, she is. Her draw back, which my friend Lorna tells me, is that her arms must get tired in this position year after year. My own momma had a few exquisite baby dolls she cherished in her later years. I have Sophia.

My sweet trainer, Rachel, at the gym, always teases me because I wear the same color socks as my top, and have matching earrings and rings. I tell her that is a 50s thing--although I had never even thought of that before. 

So, talk about iffy. The past few days have been spectacular--80 degrees, and here poor Sophia is roasting in warm clothes. 

Now, if this post isn't a way of proving that my life is full of useless details, I don't know what is. 

This is what Sophia looked like at Christmas. 

 

 

Musings on Jesus's Call to the Fishermen of Galilee - and the Story's Relevance Today

 

When my friend Mary Lou and I went on our pilgrimage trip to Israel last February, one of the things we did--as most Christian tourists do--was go on a fishing boat on the Sea (really a lake) of Galilee. Highly touristy, I'll admit, but also highly meaningful to me personally. This young man gave a demonstration of what it would have been like to cast the nets some 2,000 years ago. He was also a docent, of sorts, and even taught us to do some Israeli folk dances. 

The readings at church today were about Jesus calling some local fishermen to follow him; he would make them fishers of people. Those of us who are Christians know this story practically by heart. Our rector at Christ Church Redondo Beach, Bob Cornner, preached powerfully on this story in his sermon today and our hour on the waters of the Galilee came vividly to mind. Then my friend Ann Markle, rector of St. Raphael's in Crossville, TN sent me a copy of her deeply meaningful sermon on fishers of men. If you click on her site later this week, her sermon will be posted. 

Each week I try to incorporate the readings at church and in my EfM class into the relevance of my every day life. It always makes me smile when the secular press helps and this recent article in The Huffington Post helped with today's readings. 

Haiku My Heart Friday: Dog Days

Preparing for rain

One cold last walk with  Mollie

Before settling in.

 

Dog’s indignity,

From a flea infestation,

Mollie plans revenge.  

 To see more haiku, visit Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon. 

SoulCollage® Card - The Book Lover

 

 This past Monday our monthly SoulCollage® group met for the day and though usually a very prolific and quick-working card creator, I had a hard time coming up with one. But this is the one I made and I must admit that I really like it. The man may be a Rockwell character, but he is me! 

I am the one who became a book aficiando from the time I could first read and some very happy times were spent in the Sunland, CA library which was a really tiny place when I was a kid. The photo of my hometown library below is from the historical collection at Cal State Northridge. 

 

My mother was not a big reader personally although she read books to me all the time when I was little and my dad was a prolific reader of science books and magazines and science fiction. My four older sisters always gave me books for gifts. My favorite was "Poppy: The Story of a Fairy," which I still own today, but is now out of print. I am the one who undoubtedly was encouraged by early teachers to read although it was my mom who took me to get my first card at age six. I am the owner of way too many books; I'm the one who is obsessive about surrounding myself with books and though I use an e-reader to travel, I still crave the feel of the pages in my hand. I knew I wanted to be a writer myself and began to type short stories very young and was soon writing and editing a neighborhood newsletter. 

I did not become a librarian, but when tested in my 30s when I returned to college seriously, all indicators were that I should have been a librarian. When traveling I always seek out libraries and in earlier years I admit I often hung out there. Now I can be seen in Palos Verdes or Redondo Beach searching and checking out. I began volunteering at the used books sales at Malaga Cove Library about five years ago and for the past four years I am the one who sits on the Board of the Palos Verdes Library's Friends board and the Malaga Cove Advisory Committee. I did not become a fiction writer either, by the way, but have long been in a profession where writing plays a lion's share of my time spent. I have written a few novels, unpublished, and still write poetry, largely unpublished. 

And though I am not a professionally trained librarian, my part-time retirement job is as an archivist--and my office and collection are--you guessed it. In a school library. 

I am the one who has a large stack of books by her bedside and have always read one fiction and one non-fiction book at the same time. If my fiction stash from the library runs out, I'll admit that I get anxious.

In SoulCollage® we have learned to ask the card a question and then I usually write about that in my handwritten journal. What is it about hard copy books, about language, about words printed on a page, that has totally mesmerized me all these years? 

And how about all you book lovers. What drives you? 

Have You Heard the Term "Highly Sensitive Person" or HSP?

 

On days when I am introduced to new thoughts or concepts, I’m a happy camper. Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks? That’s one of the beauties of continuing to work in a school. There literally is not a day that passes that I don’t learn something new. I always joked that given my druthers I would become on of those perpetual students who stay in college forever. Though not currently formally matriculating at a university, daily life has become my classroom.

But, today, by total serendipity, I was introduced to a psychological area of knowledge and study that has a label: highly sensitive people, or HSPs. As background, I had reacted internally to an e-mail I perceived as criticism regarding something I had written. I should say over-reacted—the story of my life! Intellectually I know not to take things personally, especially if the persons pushing my buttons are micromanagers or controlling by nature. I’ve worked hard to compensate for my over-reactions.

In recounting the story to a friend, she mentioned that she was an HSP, or highly sensitive person and she knew that I was probably in the same category. This is a well-educated woman who does not dabble in pop psychology. It seems that a scholar named Elaine Aron published a book in 1996 called “The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You.”  Now there are many scholars, therapists and coaches working in this area. I have long known I am overly sensitive as most creative people I know are; I’ve been that way since childhood. I always just say, “I was born with a crappy nervous system.”  I’ve been shrunk to the nth degree over the years and have learned how to cope very successfully within the limitations of my nervous system and a tendency toward chronic depression. I know my DSM codes.

My friend mentioned articles from Psychology Today and there are several.  

First I took Dr. Aron's test to see if I was a Highly Sensitive Person. I fall into the category—no surprise. I have a high need for being solitary, but I’m also a people person. Though an ENFJ on the Myers-Briggs, I pay a high price sometimes for being so extroverted. I react negatively to over-stimulation of my senses—sounds, smells, tastes, etc. I react in extremes to hot and cold and certain kinds of pain. I don't like noisy situations or loud noises. I do take things too personally. I can read people like a book sometimes long before they even know what they are feeling or hiding, just to name a few. (That trait has proved invaluable in professional life, but only as an observation.) I have spent a lifetime on the spiritual path and pursuing literature and art. I like recording dreams, journal writing, and “knowing myself.” I'm a people pleaser. These are all traits of HSPs. Sometimes it is comforting to have a label as I’ve largely perceived myself as “less than” without knowing that in my weaknesses lay some of my strengths.

My past work with CoDependents Anonymous has helped me enormously in my coping skills, and so have therapy and other kinds of group work. But, I suspect I am going to learn even more about myself in the days to come.

If anyone here takes the HSP test, would you categorize yourself as a highly sensitive person? Apparently there are newsletters, meet-ups and lots of studies and work being done. Tonight I will do some research on ProQuest to find articles and citations about Highly Sensitive People and hopefully scientific evidence to back up the term.  In researching DSM codes quickly, it does not have a code. 

So, I have a new awareness of some of my personality traits and hopefully, in Dr. Aron's book I checked out from the Palos Verdes Library, I'll discover some coping mechanisms I don't currently have. 

While researching, I did find Dr. Aron on YouTube and what a sweet lady she is, but she's a highly sensitive person. 

 

 

Haiku My Heart Friday: Foam Roller Exercises

Surgery? Not yet!

Foam roller body massage

Loosens tight muscles.

For several months I've been altering my lifestyle because of what was initially diagnosed as sciatica. I've had a lot of surgery in my lifetime and I don't want any more unless whatever is paining me or sickening me can't be handled any other way. 

A wonderful chiropractor has helped me immensely, but I've always known my knee pain wasn't going to be "cured" so simply. For at least five years I've known I have torn minuscus in both knees and am close to bone on bone in my right knee. But, I've lost weight and I now work out regularly with a trainer in the gym and the right leg pain has significantly improved. Yaaaay!

But--reality reared its ugly head yesterday when I finally went to an orthopedic surgeon and after x-rays, he recommended knee replacement. Next week I have MRIs on my back and knee, but this I know. I've felt the best I have in years and I am NOT rushing to the operating theater--just the movie theater. If I ultimately have to, I will, but not yet. 

One of the gym tools that continues to amaze me is the use of a foam roller for myofascial pain. I can't begin to recommend this form of exercise enough. I have one at home now, too. 

To see more haikus, go to Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon blog. 

Garage Sale Yields Some Great Treasures

Most Saturday mornings that I am not booked with other activities, I plan a little local route and go "junking" at garage sales. God knows I need NOTHING, but these days I am searching mostly for "stuff" used in mixed media assemblage and collage, not furniture or hot ticket acquisitions like I used to buy. I have no room left, although I am in the midst of refinishing a $35 dresser I got in the summer, I'll admit. 

Now, this haul has to be my all-time bargain finds--all for $2.50! I only scheduled one look-see at a garage/moving sale near my house and went half-heartedly. I don't have any mojo left after the lean holidays. What is inside all these picture frames will be removed and pieces used in collage or the art journals. The three watercolor pads are jammed full of a young artist's practice pieces. I'm actually scanning several of these images so I can use them in a variety of ways. The antique finial and the red belt with gold fasteners would definitely be re-purposed into something or other. I adore the orange mirror--made out of some kind of foam core. I'm thinking of painting it a Nantucket blue to go along with the dresser I'm refinishing for my guest bedroom. 

Being raised as frugally as I was, the garage sales and thrift shops give me the thrill of the bargain that I I was teethed on. I've never been drawn to shop in the malls or high end stores. I don't have the shopping gene per se. Down in my garage I have several empty Xerox boxes housing my small treasures--hardware, art supplies, frames, angels, small boxes, and other art supplies. I will never use all this stuff in my lifetime, but on the other hand, I don't have a huge Nordstrom bill each month. 

I like to tell myself I'm recycling and helping the planet, but in actuality I have some kind of adrenalin run when I do garage sale. Also, I have met so darned many wonderful people. But, my best of all and totally free acquisition came up on the Art Gang L.A. listserv I belong to. A woman was giving aways all her storage components of an art studio. They were moving to Hawaii. I didn't know this woman but I follow her now on FaceBook and bless her daily.

Do you have an garage sale adventures to share? 

Among Other Things, I Am Grateful for My Hands

This is an art journal page I created for Kelly Kilmer's Revel in the Moment class. The hand with the writing is my hand drawn on a copy of one of my handwritten journals with other hands snipped from magazines on top of mine. I'm just so darned grateful for the mobility that I have and particularly my hands. If you enlarge the photo, you will see some of my musings about my hands, which all too often I take for granted. 

I am thankful that for the past few years they have functioned well and I haven't had frozen fingers lately from arthritis. When that happens, the doc injects cortisone and so far no surgery has been necessary. Knock on wood!  I forgot one more thing my hands/fingers do that I didn't write on this page--using the computer. 

Off the top of your head, what particular part of your body would you like to thank for serving you well?