the good, the bad and the chipmunks

If anyone had wanted the goods on me they would have had it the other day. I knew there was a chipmunk in the house. It was hard enough living with that reality. I know my cat can hold the reality of a chipmunk living in the house and still get a good night’s sleep. She did it two nights running, best I can tell the amount of time that poor thing was stuck in the house.  But Molly would check the grates and sniff around the study now and then during the day. That’s what made me suspect the critter was in the house until I finally saw it and confirmed my suspicions.  But when it came out into the open, well, I just wasn’t prepared for the next part.

I was on the phone with a good friend asking for a recipe.  That’s when I saw it and it saw me seeing it.  So it wasn’t my imagination.  All the books and everything that I kept tidying up over the last few days wasn’t an indication of a new behavior pattern from Molly.  She kept to the usual items we left as a release valve on the counter tops for her to knock over.  Empty creamer containers from the diners; empty skate cases from the beach. Anything that made a nice enough sound when falling on the wood floor and then had the added benefit of making a good sound as she practiced driving the ball down the soccer field.

When I saw the chipmunk and it seemed to go, “Cripes! She’s here too!” it ran back into the bowels of the house; first by the dining room and then I lost track of it and feared it went into the bathroom or the basement. I was hoping it went into the bedroom after losing the dream of it opening the front screen door and leaving of its own free will.

This seemed like the time to run and get Molly and lock her in the study. She was behind the French doors in the front room and banging the doors so much that their weak excuse for a lock wasn’t going to hold much longer. I’m not sure if my concern was more for the chipmunk or me trying to pry the chipmunk out of her jaws.  But I knew I didn’t want to face either situation.  I grabbed her and she must have thought we were going to go hunting the chipmunk together because she was eager but didn’t squirm out of my grip.

Once I got her in the study I starting whooping and hollering to rouse the chipmunk from wherever it was and drive it into the bedroom. Well, that poor thing must have freaked. Suddenly, I saw it run to the bedroom and then try to escape through the open windows. But the screens stopped it. It ran across the bed, ran into each windowsill but the screens were there every time, blocking its escape.

Then it looked like it was coming at me. My neighbor just got done telling me the other day that they do that - run right at you.  I totally freaked.  I screamed and yelled as I jumped on top of the bed. What a sight that must have been. I think I could have jumped higher than Michael Jordan at that moment. My heart was racing.  I kept on hooting and hollering really loud and the chipmunk was running amok.  'Oh shoot', I realized, I’d have to get off the bed, run to one of the windows and pop out the screen. I did just that too.  And don’t ask me how I moved so fast because I have no idea.  I jumped off the bed and unhooked the latches that held the screen in and pushed the damn thing out of its tracks and onto the flowering hastas outside.

Then the critter was trying at the windows again but the wrong ones. Damn.  It was trying for the windows but expecting the same results, no pass to the outside.  What’s that saying about trying the same things and expecting different results?  The definition of crazy. But clearly not the definition of chipmunk.  It kept trying the same thing but expected the same results.

Honestly, I wish I could tell you I know just what happened and how it got to the open window the second time but I can't even though that's all I was focused on. But when it got to the window with no screen it was just staying at the edge of the window as if maybe it still didn't have access to outside.  This time I yelled so loud I thought all the neighbors would be calling the cops.  I swear that the force of my sounds is what finally gave it the final push out the window.  It leaped. What a leap! If there were Olympics for chipmunks, really, when you think about it, there should be, it would have won the broad jump. I don’t know who displayed more valor that day. The chipmunk or my cat Molly. It certainly wasn’t me. By the way, nobody called the cops. So much for neighborhood crime watch.

Conversations with Nic available at  http://amzn.to/14jUNUs

 the wild blue is available at http://amzn.to/13RKQ2i

Resources for the road home

from Conversations with Nic -http://amzn.to/14jUNUs

You often create your own resources for moving on.  There are landmarks, some wisdom recipes, and other ways of knowing that are laid down like tracks for the trains but you frequently miss these or find them after you’ve gone through something.  You’ll find yourself saying, “Oh, that’s what that meant.”  It’s an initiation.  It’s a natural desire to learn something on your own.  Possibly going through these trips and transitions activates something in us that would otherwise lay dormant if it was handed over.  I came to recognize the rules of the road as I went along.  An important one was that I couldn’t change Nic.  Not a chance of that happening.  But I could alter my consciousness.  That’s how I freed myself from his pull and moved on.  And I learned about my desires.  My desires and Nic’s are much like the use of smoke itself.  Sacred and profane.  Going on the road was a way of announcing to my psyche that on this level the conversation and the journey were about my desires not Nic’s.  Before, it was all about Nic.  What he wanted.  Where he wanted me to go.  These trials are a part of journey.  If I could find a creative response to them I would be on my way home.  Creativity is a word I now freely exchange with desire because the more choices I could create the less chance of being manipulated by another.  

            Arise, wake up, and go home are three definitions of the word origin that resonate with my journey.  In finding your roots, returning to your true nature, you will wake up as they say people do when walking their true path.  All three meanings represent various levels of spiritual consciousness.  Including, getting back to basics, to your core self before someone or some element’s desire co-opted your own.  To return to your truth, arise, wake up, and head home.  It’s a pretty neat package.  Getting home is the tricky part.  There’s nothing in the hero’s manual about how you’ll go or how long it will take you.  After all, this isn’t a job regulated by the unions.

Purchase Nic at   http://amzn.to/14jUNUs

the wild blues is available http://amzn.to/13RKQ2i

You know you're on the right track when you fall through a synch hole

Synch holes, as I call them, are one of the features you’ll come across in a journey.  Though I ran across many myself they’re difficult to point out to others.  But you can know the conditions where they might appear.  A synch hole can also be your introduction into the land of mythos. They are like the firemen’s pole that cartoon characters slide on.  As they’re responding to the fire alarms they jump from their beds, grab the pole and slide through the world of waiting, into their fire suits, down to the fire engine.  And they’re off into the world of experience.  That’s pretty much the story with synch holes.  You fall into them and travel through the world of coincidence at break neck speed.  Synchronicities are events that occur concurrently in time filtered through your experience.  One event will lead to another and they’ll mirror each other and relate in profound ways.  Often, they represent a blending of dimensions.  

            What are some of these synchronicities?  Some, you might say, are one coincidence too many.  I like to think of them as synch holes because it’s similar to a fishing hole that you can return to time and again with a sense of certainty that you’ll catch something.

            I had a bear synch that blended dimensions for me.  Bears came as gifts, as answers to my prayers, as sayings, as visitors to my lean to on a camping trip.  The saying ‘sometimes you eat the ear and sometimes the bear eats you’ transformed through my bear synch into sometimes you become the bear.  I received a bear carving from a friend, a stuffed bear, the bear visitors at the campsite, all without speaking of this bear synch to anyone.  I know that we can inadvertently create our own synchs.  Often by seeking others with similar experiences and desires.            But this means that we’re touching the deep currents of thought and motion in our lives.  You’re bound to do this when your false oars, nicotine and sugar were mine, drop off into the seas leaving you with your own resources to row home.  When you have no place to turn to on the outside you often go inside.  As others have done before.  And this is where you can sometimes see the writings on the wall.  Noticing synchronicities helped me on my way.

Check out the Kindle version of Conversations with Nic at

http://amzn.to/14jUNUs

Also, the wild blues available only on Kindle at http://amzn.to/13RKQ2i

What's better than cheddar? Cheddar and apples

Coming this fall.................apples for all

Why are Stayman Winesaps all around in the markets at this time of year?  Are they now shipping apples from Chile as well?  If they are, at least a well known New York apple from another country still goes well with cheddar cheese. 

I can’t remember if it was last year or the summer before that we saw a pod of dolphins swimming and jumping and churning the water right in front of us.  The water glistened on their bodies.  Then all of sudden we noticed that there were fish jumping straight out of the water too.  When we understood what was going on it just about was ending.  But clearly the dolphins were heading out to NYC for the day; decided to stop and gather a meal, and then continue on their journey. We saw them head back south later in the day.  But they just headed straight home.  Just about took the same exact route and distance from the beach as the last time.  Maybe they caught a good current. You have to wonder if their time back was an hour shorter than their time out to the city like the Vegas trip.  Ater a full day they just cruised along, easily slipping through the water going and coming back.  I wish my day’s energy were as even from stem to stern as theirs.  I just can’t get myself to eat fish.  That’s probably the answer but I can’t do it. 

I can manage some extra sharp cheddar with a really good apple though.  What a beautiful combination. You have to wonder who first discovered these great synergistic foods. Lettuce and tomato on toast with mayo. Was it the early Deliman?  Barely mentioned by anthropologists; hardly known through the fossil record. I mean, how well do you think toast lasts through the millenia anyway?  But Deliman certainly discovered the egg cream after a long day of making Woolly Mammouth Reubens for the whole tribe.  Apples and cheddar are a more modern invention. Lighter, less tools, no need for swirling deli counter chairs.  Portable and satisfying, the cheddar apple combination no doubt a product of a nomadic civilization.   Here’s hoping everyone’s journey, including the bay dolphins, be smooth and healthy.

What's wild on Kindle? The wild blue - a journey to resilience

The wild blue                                    by freda karpf     http://amzn.to/15QB7rO

 

 

The difficult terrain that is grief and the road back that is resilience - this is what the wild blues is about.  Healing from the loss of a loved one’s dying, or from the loss of your home, or a job you identified with or reeling from the loss of a landscape that was changed by a storm or from being forced to relocate – the central idea behind all of these big changes one can experience is loss. … there is a common road many of us will go down before we feel like we’re back in the swing of things again. The trick I’d like to share in the wild blue is really simple, life never left us; nature has always been a part of us, all of us really, and our losses are intricately bound up with all the life on this planet.

Self-Publish Your Book!

Self-Publish Your Book!

A writer’s workshop with Merry Brennan

From Manuscript through Marketing:

a six-session series

Tuesdays from 7-9 pm, beginning Tuesday, Aug. 13

@ Belmar Arts Council (

608 River Road, Belmar, NJ . www.BelmarArts.org )

$25/session or all six for $125 with BAC membership

Whether your story is destined for the best-seller list or your family reunion,

it’s never been easier to publish your own electronic or print book.

This six-session workshop will give you an overview of your options,

as well as specific steps, resources and costs for preparing, publishing, and

promoting your book. Choose one or more of the following sessions.

1. 1. Make Your Manuscript Shine – Aug. 13

Feel the sizzle? It’s the pop in your prose, the drama

in your dialogue, the sting in your surprise ending.

Learn sure-fire techniques to take your writing to the

next level. For beginners and seasoned scribes

alike, find out how to improve the pull of your

opening lines, the impact of your endings, and wow

with the words in between.

2. The Scoop on Self-Publishing – Aug. 20

The popularity and convenience of self-publishing

has also borne confusion and competition. This

workshop provides a broad look at the growing

number of indie and DIY options, as well as general

information about how to prepare, publish, and

market your book. (These topics are covered indepth

in related workshops.)

3. Create a Kick-Ass Cover – Aug. 27

You know what they say about a picture’s worth, so

you want to create or commission a great design to

get reader’s attention. But a cover is more than just

a graphic image: you also need to craft an intriguing

blurb for the back and include other required details,

including ISBN numbers. This session will offer

ideas, information, and resources for an inviting

book cover that works for you and your readers.

4. Format Your Manuscript – Sept. 3

Even the best stories are left unread if margins are

screwy, lines have gaps, or it just looks

unprofessional. Learn the importance of proper

formatting in e-books and print books, including title

pages, chapter heads, and page numbering. For

print books we’ll also look at choices you have with

the size of your book (known as “trim”), typefaces,

paper, photos/graphics and more.

5. You’re Ready to Self-Publish – Sept. 10

Your manuscript is polished, your cover is amazing,

you have your ISBN number and you’re ready to

publish your book. Now what? This session will

cover step-by-step instructions for e-books and print

books using popular vendors like CreateSpace and

KDP Publishing (Amazon) as examples. We’ll also

talk about strategies for pricing your book.

6. Promoting Your New Book – Sept. 17

After the thrill ebbs from seeing your baby on

Amazon and sending copies to friends and family,

you’ll want to expand your market. Learn basic PR

and marketing tips you can use before and after

publishing to increase sales. We’ll cover the pros,

cons, and how-to’s of media kits, author talks, niche

marketing, book signings, social media and more.

Merry Brennan is an award-winning journalist, communications consultant, adjunct writing

professor and author of the self-published biographical novel,

Peace Pilgrim: walking her talk

against hate

. She’s finishing a teen/’tween realistic fiction, Mystery Scars. The Jersey Shore

resident is mom to three terrific children and an old lab, Scout, who breaks into the refrigerator

when no one’s looking. Connect with her at

www.merrymorphosis.com, where she blogs about

writing, and living in peace. Or email

merrymom@mac.com.

FOR WORKSHOP INFORMATION or REGISTRATION: visit
www.BelmarArts.org (732-749-3360)