Discover Challenge

Call Me Matilda

/ animar64 / 2 Comments

There are a couple of reason for why I chose this song today.

For the most part I have been singing Waltzing Matilda since  I first heard it- and I have no idea when that  was. I was a little girl and I think my Grandpa Bert may have taught it to me, so I was around 5 years old.

I caught on to the fact this song was about a traveler all along in the world surviving by his wits and that he sang a lot ( come on now, I was five ). The thing here is, when I was five I was positive I was going to grow up and wander the world ( with a dog  ) and one day I would leave this world- me and my dog- when we got old but would a little thing like death stop us?

HA!

It would most certainly NOT.

We’d be ghosts, me and my dog and our adventures would never end.

Me at five and I was ready to see the world!

 

Oh there once was a swagman camped in a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling
Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda my darling
Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me
Waltzing Matilda and leading a water bag
Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water hole
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Down came the squatter a riding on his thoroughbred
Down came the troopers one two three
Whose is that jumbuck you’ve got in the tucker bag
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me

But the swagman he up and he jumped into the water hole
Drowning himself by the coolibah tree
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the billabong
Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me

I chose this version of Matilda for two reasons.

First of all Puddles has the most  magnificent voice in the world- you can catch him live or recorded and delicious voice is there waiting to treat your soul to a feast of notes just ready to feed your hungry soul and all of the muses.

Second- if you went by looks you’d probably think you were going to get pranked and  maybe you wouldn’t give Puddles a chance because of the way he looks.

There’s a life lesson in that.

I’ll let you work that part out while you click play and waltz with me and Puddles.

Challenge Accepted!

Song A Day 

Thoughts Of An E’ville Woman

Where The Magic Happens

/ animar64 / 5 Comments

My Friend Lori created a space dedicated to working on her art.

What I found inspiring was that she didn’t need an entire room or an office or even a moat filled with sharks. She just put together what she needed and there you had it- a creative enviorment.

I decided to do the same because with more space I just goof off.

This is what I did:

I asked myself- what do I really need in my space when I write.

It was simple-

A laptop, something to set it on, a  comfy chair a cat ( in this case it’s Carl Kolchak ) a file cabinet and a few shelves which are part of the table I use for my desk and something to listen to music on:

So here it is:

For such a small dedicated space I actually have everything I need to feed the Muse here.

Let me show you:

My Laptop has Anubis on it- he reminds me to  respect the process and I do. I’m not embalming people anymore but for me writing is a gift,  and it deserves to be treated like the important art form that it is. After all it’s how we share the human experience.

You need something comfortable to wear- meet my current lucky writer’s sweater- it has bones on it- My Enduring Bones see what I did here? Ha, right. I know:

Music- I must have music when  write- otherwise my brain flat lines.

Mozart, Robert Johnson, Django Reinhardt, Electric Light Orchestra- they are all there when I write.

My BFF Hamish Macbeth is always around- he hates it when I talk on my phone. He will try to lick it, knock it out of my hand or breath so loud that the person on the other hand of it will have to ask me to tell the heavy breather to leave the room because they can’t hear what I’m saying- ‘and who is that anyway’ they’ll ask.

” My dog ”

” Sure he is Anita- sure it is.”

Hamish keeps me on task.

And as a rule- I keep the books I’m reading or that are on my list ( which I’m proud to say I do complete- reading before Tv. ) close by my lap top.

These are my books for February- top book is what I’m reading now- the rest will get their turn and believe it or not, by the end of February I’ll have read them all. I love reading as much as I love writing and music.

Sometimes though, I do need to do something just because its fun, so I color.

It’s supposed to relieve stress  but I do it because I can’t draw at all and this brings me as close as I will ever get to being able to do that.

Did I mention it’s fun too?

And there you have it- my little corner of heaven where everything I need to be who I am is right at hand.

Thank you for the fabulous idea Lori!

Inspired By ” Tour of my Creative Corner“

Questions

/ animar64 / 1 Comment

Vilhelm Hammershøi

 

The hardest questions I’ve ever been asked:

 

Why do you think you’re still here and better people then you are not?

It took him twenty years to break my heart, will it be another 20 before it stops hurting?

Why do burnt marshmallows taste so good?

 

There is something comforting in knowing there isn’t an answer for everything. It makes me feel better about being so imperfect.

 

What do cats dream about?

Why are you so weird?

Why do you believe in ghosts?

 

Sometimes  I think people ask impossible to answer questions because they don’t have the nerve to say, ‘ You’re a jerk and I can’t say it so I’ll make you say it for me.”

 

Do you think my daughter thought about her son before she hung herself in her backyard?

 

I remember this one time when I was about eleven years old  someone asked me to explain why Mars was red and I knew the answer and after I gave it, this person sort of sneered and said  ‘ You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

 

‘ You have an answer for everything’.

Sometimes I wish that were true.

 

Discover Challenge: Tough Questions

When Snakes Dream

/ animar64 / 1 Comment

 

The snake did nest in her mouth

it’s poison ate away at her skin

nothing covers her aged bones

but lies and smoke and sin.

 

The snake did nest in her mouth

it’s forked tongue pierced her brain

no thoughts live in her skull just stories of what had been.

 

The snake did nest in her mouth

it slithered its way to her heart

she wants to love she wants to live but the snake has its own dreams now.

 

Discover Challenge: One, Two, Three