June 30: Writing Prompt #181-The Natural World

Describe your first memorable experience exploring and spending time in nature. Were you in awe? Or were you not impressed? Would you rather spend time in the forest or the city?

The first really memorable experiences in nature that come to mind are my family’s Spring Break snow skiing trips to Steamboat Springs, CO when I was a young girl.  I was definitely in awe of the mountains in their cold beauty, and especially the “black” ski courses with man-made moguls and such.  It was only a couple of trips (best I can remember), but they were such good experiences that it feels like we went every year.  J  Same goes for our trip to a Dude Ranch in the west on one of our motor home trips across the US.  I always thought we went there twice, but my parents said it was only once. The best part of that trip was horseback riding in the natural world around the ranch.  To be honest, my memories of all our family trips tend to be pictures in my mind of spending time outdoors (on the beach, on a horse, or on the slopes). 

To this day, I would rather spend time in nature than in the city.  I enjoy touring around the major attractions in big cities for a weekend or a few days, but as far as regular outings, I’d rather be hiking, at the river, or on the mountain.  How about you? 

June 29: Writing Prompt #180-No Longer a Mere Mortal

You’ve imbibed a special potion that makes you immortal. Now that you’ve got forever, what changes will you make in your life? How will you live life differently, knowing you’ll always be around to be accountable for your actions?

First off, I am not sure I want to be immortal.  Although it might be neat to be around for more than a century to see how the world changes, grows, etc…it would also be sad to watch everyone I love die and know that I will never have that same closure to my life.  If, however, I was immortal (by choice or not), I wouldn’t do anything differently.  I’d just live life the best I could, same as I am currently doing.

What would be different is that I wouldn’t worry about fitting everything in because I know I’d have plenty of time for that.  I might not spend as much time at work and find a way to be home more knowing that I’d have plenty of time for work and only limited time with my mortal friends and relatives.  I’d be even more spontaneous and let the housecleaning go a bit more than I already do in order to just enjoy life and not worry about those daily chores, how much I have in retirement and savings, etc…because none of that would matter so much if I had unlimited time to live this life.  I do a little of each of these things now, but not near enough since it should matter even more knowing that I don’t actually have forever, right? 

June 28: Writing Prompt #179-We Can Be Taught

Tell us a moment or an incident that you treasure — not necessarily because it brought you happiness, but because it taught you something about yourself.

I took piano lessons with Ms. Denton for 5-6 years of my pre-teen to early teenage life.  Ms. Denton’s focus was very much on theory and classical pieces.  She was a very good teacher. I learned all the basics of music and theory from her, just like my brother did before me.  And I mean all the basics, even down to the type of nail hygiene that I needed to practice in order to play piano properly. For example, one day I went in and my nails were a bit longer than usual…long enough that she could hear them click on the keys when I played. She stopped me right away and quickly left the room. When she returned, she had nail clippers, and she actually clipped my nails right then and there, not allowing me to continue until they were short enough not to interfere with my playing.  This was quite a contrast from my very first piano teacher, who not only played with her fingers flat on the keys, so she wouldn’t have to cut her long, manicured nails, but also was certain my name was Savannah, to the point that she gave me a beaded necklace spelling out that name for a Christmas present. Needless to say, Ms. Denton was much more serious about her craft, and she prepared us not only to play for the enjoyment of music, but also for competition.

That said, I am not the most competitive individual, but I did agree to attend one piano competition during my years of lessons with her. The competition took place on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, about a 3-4 hour drive from my hometown in the northern part of the state.  My dad was driving me, and not long into it, I began to feel very nauseous. This was NOT extremely unusual for me because I did tend toward motion sickness when I was younger, but I was old enough to sit in the front now, and I could usually deal with it from there. So, I didn’t think a whole lot of it at first, until I realized that I REALLY WAS going to be sick. I always felt the effects of motion sickness in my tummy, but I rarely, if ever, threw up from it, so I knew something else was wrong.  After the first request I issued to my dad to pull the car over, so I could vomit, we started back on the road, thinking maybe it would pass. Within the hour, I asked him to pull over again. After I don’t know how many stops, dad finally advised we not continue on to the competition. I refused and told him that I still wanted to go and play the pieces I had practiced so hard for so many months. 

When we arrived, I went into the room, played for the judges (although the entire thing was a blur to me), and then got back in the car and asked my dad to take me home.  Thinking that would be the end of it, I was shocked when I actually received an honorable mention for the music I played that day. Wow! So, the honorable mention did make me smile, but mostly, I learned that I can handle a lot more than I think I can!

June 27: Writing Prompt #178-The Artist’s Eye

Is there a painting or sculpture you’re drawn to? What does it say to you? Describe the experience. (Or, if art doesn’t speak to you, tell us why.)

I think there have been lots of paintings and sculptures over the years that have spoken to me or that I was drawn to, but the type of art that comes to mind first is batiks and in particular, Balinese batiks.  We have 2 of them in our home, and one of my children’s books is illustrated in batiks created by a very, talented American Batik artist, and I never get tired of looking at them.  There’s something about the vividness of colors that comes through from the dye and wax used to create this unique art form.  And the subjects…especially in the Balinese Batiks we own, I am drawn to the eyes in the people.  They pull you into their world, and you wonder what life is like for them.  They are exotic and down to earth at the same time.  Most of the batiks I am drawn to depict some sort of island living, so that may be one of the reasons they speak to me since I am part island girl at heart.  What about you? What type of art speaks to you? 

June 26: Writing Prompt #177-Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, or car? (Or something else entirely — bike? Hot air balloon?)

Train, hands down.  I can enjoy all the scenery in a comfortable, roomy seat without all the work of having to worry about traffic, etc…of driving a car.  Airplanes are nice for a across the world trip, but cramped conditions, terrible food, and little opportunity to get up and move around make it not as fun and interesting as the train ride where it’s an option.  In the US, unfortunately, trains are not as common a method of travel as overseas, but in Europe, the Euro rail is the best mode of travel as far as I’m concerned. I had the opportunity to travel on it for relatively little cost to several different countries (Spain to France to Italy, and finally Denmark) in a little under two weeks during my college trip to Spain, and I have nothing but good experiences to account for it. 

My second favorite travel option would be biking, but I would need to get a little more experience with actual road biking before I would be totally comfortable with that.  So far, my biking experience extends only to traveling back and forth to work and back on a tiny island on a Schwinn type leisure bike.  I’m not quite ready for riding down the NW coast on Highway 101.  J 

What method of travel would you choose?