I collect evocative signs. Here are some of my recent favorites.
Hoping they mean of and to:
And now Big D-O’s is out of business. Standards too high, perhaps?
Fortunately, this was not my experience:
(The WP Weekly Photo Challenge was Rare.)
musings
Habits of the Unwatched Bee
Like many a gardener, my appreciation for insects was transformed when I began spending time around plants. I’m downright proud that so many plants in my yard have bees buzzing around them all day.
My impression has always been that the bees browse and linger over their meals.
But I’ve never tried to photograph them before.
Turns out they move all over the damn place.
My mad plan to photograph bees at a variety of flowers began while out for a walk this morning. A distant neighbor has a spectacular hedge of Matilija poppies (a southern California native plant), which tower ten feet tall, invade for a few weeks each year, then disappear. But I digress.
Anyway, I liked this bee. See it? On the yellow globe center of that Matilija bloom:
So then I wanted more photos of flowers with bees. I kept my camera/phone ready, but for the rest of my walk, I saw nothing but yards devoid of bees. Why would bees ignore all those flowers? Perhaps those yards use pesticides?
(If only someone would invent something like the internet so I could investigate such questions.)
Back home, there were plenty of bees around my plants but. They. Would. Not. Hold Still.
I took a whole lotta photos and got two that sort of included bees. Can you spot the bee butt near the bottom of this photo?
Zoom in he’s going to land no, wait, ahhh, there he goes…
Perhaps my next photo project should involve snails.
(The WP Photo Challenge is Partners.)
Exotic Infrastructure
There is so much beauty in modern infrastructure. No wonder I take so many pictures of that stuff.
Admittedly, I’m obsessed with subways. I could fill a whole other blog with subway photos and videos. (<– Hmm. Am I the only one who thinks that’s a good idea?) Meanwhile, here’s a recent moody image from NYC:
This power line runs through my neighborhood (although not precisely at this angle):
Can you guess what this is?:
It’s the crumbling (sideways) letters of a storm drain warning. NO DUMPING DRAINS TO OCEAN.
And how about this?:
Well, if you’ve been a reader of this blog for long, that’s an easy one to answer. It’s part of a pair of decaying sea walls that fascinate me. (Fascination is a kinder word than obsession.) Here’s a wider shot of the same wall (earlier that same sunrise):
If you ever want to visit this wall, it is just east of East Beach in Santa Barbara, CA.
(The WP Weekly Photo Challenge was Abstract.)
Harsh Yet, Apparently, Nurturing
This bleak landscape is the exterior stucco wall of my house:
It is apparently an excellent venue if you are a ladybug larva ready to transform:
It is a short flying distance from a native sage crawling with kinfolk:
(The WP Weekly Photo Challenge is Abstract.)
Guest Character Interview: Nica S.T.A.T.Ic.
Nica got interviewed. Inevitably, she said a bit more than might be considered wise.
Would We Call That A Cowgoyle?
Good luck all around: I got to spend a week in New York and the weather was mostly beautiful. I must have walked 100 miles!
Headed south along the Hudson River in midtown, New Jersey looked picturesque:
In Manhattan I’ve always got tourist neck from walking with my head thrown back to take in the architecture. New York’s buildings of a certain age are loaded with decorative frills such as carvings, cornices, balustrades. (I’m confident I know what one of those words means.) There is even the occasional gargoyle.
On my walk along the Hudson, I discovered a yard for old building decor. Mammoth stone pieces lay scattered behind chicken wire fence.
There was even a cow’s head. Or, apparently, two.
Such pieces were built to last, so I couldn’t tell how long they’d been sitting there.
Certainly, there was a whole lotta building going on nearby.
I’m hoping the decor yard is a storeyard, not a junkyard. But it’s been a long time since construction trends in the U.S. favored such ornamentation.
Perhaps the pieces can be repurposed in a cemetery with really large mausoleums.
(The WP Photo Challenge was Ornate.)
Attempted Break Out From Daily Patterns
Walk-wise, I’m in a rut. Every afternoon for weeks I’ve made the same trek up and across a hill near my house. The incline is steep enough that I feel virtuous and the view is swell.
All of which has nothing to do with this post.
Somewhere there is a list called Ten Things To Never Do On Your Blog. Wonder what number it is on the list: Never Open With An Aside.
If I open with two asides do they cancel each other out?
Anyway.
I walk the same walk every day, so I was amazed to discover that, from one day to the next, my neighbors erected a wood fence, then weathered it, distressed it, and rusted it, to create wonderful textured patterns:
Alternatively, I’ve walked the same walk every day for weeks without noticing this fence before now. There is a slight chance that that is the explanation. I am someone who walks down the hall of the house where she has lived for a decade and reacts wow! never noticed that wall sconce before.
As I’ve mentioned here recently, I am trying to, struggling to learn how to live in each moment. I’ve lived most of my life inside my head and I’d like to try somewhere new.
(The WP Weekly Photo Challenge was On The Way.)
Be Bright and Be Bold
It’s tough to be a flower in her garden. For years we’ve had little rain, and yet the human walks past, muttering, oh right I meant to water you. Too bad I’m running late. Fortunately, Darwin was right and those of us who survive are remarkable specimens.
I am the only poppy of my kind:
I won’t get much time in the sun so I make the most of it:
I’m proud to be a native flower. Some of us thrive in the company of kindred spirits:
But even those of us who must solo reach tall, however grey the day:
Be bright and be bold, my friends!
(The WP Weekly Photo Challenge is Vivid.)
Asphalt Portal
At first glance the image had an easy explanation – a reflective puddle in a church parking lot. That’s what I thought, and that’s what you would have thought if you were out walking with me. But then I looked up, to enjoy more of the pink clouds. Had we been together, maybe I would have clutched your arm and pointed above our heads. There were no pink clouds.
Our sky was cloud-free.
This wasn’t a reflection, then, but a glimpse of somewhere else.
Someday perhaps I’ll figure out how to visit. Although I’m not sure whether it’s knowledge, faith, or courage that I lack.
Meanwhile, I can only imagine the somewhere elses as I send Nica to other Frames.
(The WP Photo Challenge is Enveloped.)
My Novels Now Have Playlists on Spotify
No question that writing is my calling, but if I had my druthers (or any talent), I’d be a musician. I missed my chance during the punk era, when ability was optional.
Music is exceedingly important to my writing – and the rest of my life. I can’t write while listening to music, yet music dictates the shape and feel of every page.
I’ve now got playlists on Spotify (a digital music service). These playlists summarize the music that constructed my latest novels, Scar Jewelry and Nica of Los Angeles. I put these playlists together after the fact, and they each hold a couple hours of music. Spotify compiled some of the album covers:
If you’d like to hear both these playlists, take out a free membership on Spotify, then follow scperryz. Or you can listen to the playlist for Nica of Los Angeles. Or the playlist for Scar Jewelry. (I’ve provided browser links but most folks prefer the phone app.)
I’ve got a still-evolving playlist for the still-being-written, second book in the FRAMES series, Nica of XXX. (Nica’s location in the second book is currently embargoed.) Today the new playlist is 9.5 hours long… I suppose that only the music I listen to repeatedly should survive to the final playlist. Anyway, here’s the Spotify thumbnail of the playlist for the new Nica:
Let me close with a few digressions. (Bookmark this page! Digression on this blog – a first!)
Digression #1. Looking at these album covers, I am reminded that, on the whole, musicians are way cooler than writers. Which sets me to wondering. Do people become musicians because they are that cool, or is it the playing of music that makes them cool?
Digression #2. Spotify is an amazing invention and it rules my version of consumer heaven, along with the automobile seat warmer and the iPad. Driving to a concert recently, Spotify let me listen to nearly an hour’s worth of different versions of Moonshiner. Who knew so many existed? (Verdict: several otherwise-lackluster bands have excellent covers of this song; however, the various cheery Irish versions are creepy. This ain’t no happy drinking song.)
Digression #3. Who wrote Moonshiner? When? No one knows for sure. There is even debate about whether it originated in the U.S. or Ireland. Typically when great art generates immortality, it is not anonymous immortality. To me this adds bittersweetness to one of the saddest songs I know.
My personal favorite Moonshiner isn’t on Spotify because Kelly Joe Phelps hasn’t recorded it (yet?). Fortunately YouTube, bless its digital heart, has a live version:
Required Writing 