WRITING

THROW A SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE

/ janpriddyoregon / 12 Comments

I can’t be the only one sick of hearing about Barbie. I could write about my Barbie doll—the original gifted by my mother; I do not remember asking for one—and how much I disliked her hair and makeup. Instead: weather, birds, writing, and a mountain lion.

It’s been hot in Portland, cool on the coast. The house south of us at the coast sold for 3.3 million and the new owners seem nice. They are the first to actually put a car in the garage in at least twenty years!

In Portland, the new couple on our floor are nice, too. Gary took over from a real estate agent when they were viewing the unit, pitched it hard, and is pleased he made that sale! [No commission.]

We go out for our walks before the sun rises very high because it’s cooler and we are less likely to see people. Gary has always been an early riser and I gave up fighting that a long, long time ago.
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GOOD NEWS

/ janpriddyoregon / 8 Comments

I knew this was coming because the editor had contacted me, but it was still a surprise. I had been working so hard on the novel that when Gary brought me the mail, I wondered why I’d gotten two copies of the OEJ. My essay about “Best Teaching Moments” was chosen to appear first in the Oregon English Journal right after the Editor’s Note. I began by confessing that my greatest moments teaching were those in which I was among those learning. It’s true.

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THEN & NOW

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On my run this morning I thought about how, as a teenager, I used to plan my life. Alone or partnered? With or without children? Horses? Goats? I was still dreaming of five acres and independence in college when I completed a sustainable living plan for a Botany class using a book by that title as a reference. [Five Acres and Independence by Maurice Grenville Kains, 1935]

I was younger than the young woman pictured below, but she must also have dreams of where her life might take her. Life will probably surprise her.

While we were waiting for a friend, I asked for a photo of one of the two girls celebrating her quinceañera in the Portland Rose Garden this weekend. It does not show in this photo, but she sparkled extravagantly! Behind and to the left you can see two of her quinceaños wearing black shirts with white embroidery, one holding his hat over his face. The other quinceañera wore peacock colors.

I’d hoped to meet up with a friend from my MFA program in the garden. I walked with Gary to the park, but she drove. She’d forgotten it was Memorial Day weekend, and I had never visited the roses after 8am. The crowds were astonishing and Felicity could not find a place to park. We walked back down the hill and sat outside Starbucks after she parked in the Zupan parking lot.
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‘DOING?’

/ janpriddyoregon / 6 Comments

It might have been a very young Ruby who used to say: “Doing?” as in “What are you doing?”

Knitting, reading, and revising and submitting two stories and four poems. And working on the novel. You remember that? The book? I meant to take a break from the novel, slow down, get some rest, but it’s almost as hard to stop as it was to get moving so fast last month!

You might just be able to make out the numeral 18 on this sign. These signs are meant to aid rescue workers offshore in locating people in trouble, but they are out of luck with this marker. Even here on the coast, people think their trashy writing is clever. It’s boring. Seattle is considering making graffiti a felony because of the cost of repairing the tags. The spiky and bubble-letter nonsense reminds me of what classmates doodled when I was in Second Grade. I found it stupid even then. People who tag raw wood, stone, tile, and brick are abominable. They should suffer guilt and shunning, imo.
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UP HILL

/ janpriddyoregon / 6 Comments

Gary doesn’t want to walk up hill to the rose garden this morning, especially with bears. (Probably just one black bear, but three sightings so far in Forest Park… not anywhere near the area we walk.) Climate change seems to be foremost in the news everywhere in the world but in our country. Recent heat here suggests this may have to change. Reading, writing, walking, and admiring trees.

One of our favorite local beach gardens a couple weeks ago. There is a lovely succession beginning with pale daffodils and hyacinth, the tulips and bluebells, and eventually hosta and hydrangea.
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THE BOOK: stirred words

/ janpriddyoregon / 10 Comments

When I was teaching high school English, I kept a Bible and the Qur’an on my shelves. I had the American stories collected by Erdoes and Ortiz. (Most of my books were free to borrow and generally came back, but that book and the side-by-side original Spanish and English translations of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda had to be replaced again and again.) I had many novels, books of poetry, collections of short stories, literary journals, nonfiction, science fiction, fantasy, realism, traditional and modern stories. I urged my students to be respectful of what is called “myth” because that word has become pejorative. Myths are most often the sacred stories of other cultures. Have respect.

On the way home from a walk.

My own book is not a myth, not sacred, magical, nonfiction, poetry, or even published. But it is done.

Yes, there will be further drafts, editing, revision, new words, passages cut, rewritten, moved. I may have crossed a line with Nadya’s or Amani’s story. Just for the next hours, let me say it is done. Just for today.

And if you or someone you know might be willing to help me make the story better, please let me know. [See below.]

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‘scared to death’

/ janpriddyoregon / 7 Comments

Ralph Yarl is home from the hospital and recovering, “a miracle” considering he was shot in the head before the “terrified” gun-owner shot him a second time as he lay bleeding on his front porch. He’d come to the porch to pick up siblings but rang the bell on a Street instead of an Avenue—or was it the other way around? The shooter fired through the glass in the door. Ralph is 5’8″ and weighs 140 pounds. Perhaps he weighs a little less after hospitalization.

A fifteen year old girl in Georgia is taking birth control despite being a virgin because abortion rights have been ended in her state. She is scared to death that the law might require her to carry a rapist’s baby to term.

This month I have been thinking about whether a better world might be possible? I thought, maybe yes, and wrote a book to find out how. And I did not intend to write any of this post today. But there you are. We never know.

The critter on the right is what we call a sand flea. This is a big one, about a centimeter long. Sand fleas aren’t usually not around much except when it’s warm. The critter on the left is something else. The sun was out. Briefly.
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LIARS&ICE

/ janpriddyoregon / 2 Comments

Word count, dental visits, complaints about the weather, lies, and the lying liars who tell them.

I hope I don’t often complain about weather or climate, but any time the snow and hail wants to stop for the season is not too soon for me. It hailed off and on all day yesterday, and I am sick to death of it. A few plants in the garden are sick to death of it too. These are the hill back behind our house.
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GARY’S WOODPILE

/ janpriddyoregon / 7 Comments

I should have got a photo. I caught Gary vacuuming his woodpile.

Somewhere in this photo is a hummingbird feeding off the rhododendron that began blooming a week or so ago. I can only spot it because I compared my photo to the view and spotted the smudge. We’ve had snow since, but the hummingbird is still alive.
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NEXT?

/ janpriddyoregon / 25 Comments

Gary and I are working on our future. Eventually the upkeep and isolation of the Arch Cape house will be too much. Our sons do not seem attached to the coast—oh, they say they miss it, but they seldom come out to visit. Once a year, or twice. They lead busy lives. That means we’ll be on our own for day to day assistance with what we’ll need if we try to stay there forever. Shopping, repairs… No simple workaround in our unincorporated community and no fewer local political issues. In our 70s and in good health, we manage fine now. We did, after all get the new roof on and Gary spread compost. We drive to Costco once a month. I’d like to think we might become ninety-something-year-olds who manage on their own till death takes us. But as a compulsive planner, I’m not counting on that.

We are working up courage to let go.

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