wordless wednesday

June 8, 2016 Arlene Giddings

one sided memories...

June 5, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i will warn you...this is not what i meant to write when i came here today....
but this is what came out.

it never fails.

every june,
i am drawn here.

i don't even realize it
until my car is passing my parent's house,
til I have passed the hall
where they used to hold Halloween parties,
where we used to meet "half-way" we said...
where i drive up the road
that we used to walk
relentlessly and tirelessly
singing billy idol
and bon jovi
at the top of our lungs,
neighbor's be damned....

the road where we used to practice curse words
and no one could hear...
where we shared headphones
and sang madonna...

til my car is passing her house
and the fields where we played both
baseball (by our own made up rules, of course
and likely with a stick for a bat
and pair of rolled up socks
for a ball) and barbies
that sported bathing suits made from
masking tape...
the field where we hid from the siblings....
the back step where we drank koolaid
(not kool aid with turpentine, that came later)
and the front step where we laid out
in matching white bathing suits...well,
not really matching...hers was christopher's beach club
and mine was the pink panther
with the smell of baby oil and fresh cut grass lingering.

past the spot where
i almost always have to close my eyes
but i can't now, cause i'm driving, so i look
at the fields, at the sky, at the radio,
anywhere but the road, anywhere but the driveway...

past the spot where the
bookmobile stopped,
past the part of the road where
at a certain time of day,
the shadows of the trees are cast
long across the road.
this was always my favorite stretch of this road
when we used to bike up this far...
and oddly enough,
this is very close to where you are now.
the shadows of the trees
cast long across you in the evenings.

i find myself on the dirt road
leading to our beach...
the road so familiar,
i could drive it with my eyes closed.

when i drive down this road,
i hear all of us crammed in the backseat...
all the fighting and the laughing and the teasing and the music...
bare legs sticking against hot seats,
no car seats, no seat belts,
8 of us crammed in a backseat built for 4.
warm koolaid with sand in it.
walking on the rocks as far as we could go...
looking for sandglass,
looking for boys...(there were never any)
swinging on the swings even when we were far too old
for that to be cool...
long baggy t-shirts over our bathing suits,
skin brown, hair messy and tangled.
happy.

every rock that i step on,
i think
we probably stepped on this rock.
i look for signs from you
and i worry
that you won't ever send me one
but then
i worry more
that you might sending them to me
and i might be
walking right by them
which would be so much worse...
so instead i focus on looking for
something
that i can bring to you...
a bouquet of wilted blossoms,
a stolen sprig of wild roses
not yet fully in bloom,
a misshapen heart shaped rock...
and when i slip and almost fall on the wet seaweed,
i laugh out loud...
cause i know that would have made you laugh.

every june,
i find myself drawn here
looking for us
in my one side memories.
♥♥♥♥♥

the BIG "why not" list...

June 4, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i don't really have a bucket list.
but what i do have...
is a BIG why not list.
(and when I am feeling really rebellious,
it becomes the BIG why the hell not list :) )

i started this list a long time ago,
maybe 2009...
i shared it on my blog then
but since then
there have been some changes...
some things have been added
and some
have just been removed
as i have realized over time that
that maybe that thing is just not that important to me anymore.

and...
some things have been COMPLETED!

a few people have asked about my list
so i thought maybe i would share it again
since i recently updated it to include it in my
bullet journal.

what the list actually looks like right now in my bullet journal

i apologize in advance for the length of this list...

the BIG "why not" list

Do 100 ideas for creativity by keri smith.
Read something of my own out loud in public. COMPLETE
Go to Cabot Trail again with my parents. (date is set for this! Sept 16, 2016)
Go to Disney with Stirling and kids...if they want to go, hahaha.
See a real 3D movie at an IMAX.
Build a studio (not just for photography but with good light).
Make a wedding topper out of fimo.
Have a gallery show at a different venue.
Be a part of a writing group. COMPLETE
Start a writing group in Summerside.
Take a writing class or workshop. COMPLETE
Take a creative writing class at UPEI.
Do ten tutorials about Photoshop.
Design my own business cards and logo.
Have something I have made in a shop.
Write a long story.
Drive a race car.
Drive to Moncton by myself. COMPLETE
Bungee jump
Do yoga regularly.
Try judo, tai chi or kickboxing.
Have one thing published somewhere.
Participate in a bridal show. COMPLETE
Start a real letter correspondence (a grown up way of saying i want a penpal!)
Participate in a Christmas craft fair.
Learn how to drive a standard.
Learn how to change a tire.
Have a photo published in a magazine.
Be interviewed.
Meet a blogger that i read in real life.
Make a quilt. (I may remove this one, I'm not sure it still holds interest for me)
Take a drawing class.
Try mixed media art (Kelly Rae).
Take a course in something.
Enter Island literary awards.
Choose a theme for one month (photo & words).
Make bread.
Make a large paper cut image.
Go to Italy.
See the Skydiggers. COMPLETE...TWICE!
Make my own salsa.
Grow sunflowers.
Reread all of Margaret Atwood.
Invite my parents over for supper.
Write a short story.
Take a sewing class.
Play scrabble.
Teach the kids how to play SCAT, play with my parents.
Find a job that I love ALL the time. COMPLETE
Go rock-climbing.
Ride a real roller-coaster.
Photograph all the churches & graveyards on PEI (this one may not make the list much longer either)
Own a hammock.
Build a tree-house.
Knit a robot.
Knit a sock monkey.
Make a blurb book of my blog.
Learn how to play one song on guitar.
Make peppermint bark.
Hand carve something from wood.
Write a letter to someone I am a fan of.
Do the second Simple Abundance book.
Hear Margaret Atwood read in person. COMPLETE!
Color every page in a coloring book - start to finish.
Try doing a latch rug kit.
Make cinnamon rolls.
Re-read Constance - Patricia Clapp
Try watercolor painting. COMPLETE
Play checkers.
Go to Ireland.
Plant a kitchen herb garden.
Make my own poetry/photography book.
Join a photography club.
Read all of the Harry Potter books.
Go to Scotland.
Read the Outlander series.
Make the 1001 ♥ shadowbox idea.
Go on a photo walk.
Go to Newfoundland.
Make a Halloween decoration out of paper mache.
Make a mushroom out of fimo.
Finish my Anne painting and post on Etsy. COMPLETE
Find Panmure Island.
Take photos of graveyard on trail.
Become a member of Women's Business Association.
Have a gallery show at Beanz.
Read War and Peace. started
Grow my hair long and tangly.
Journal every day for one month straight.
Write a kid's book.
Try karate.
Own a Mark camera.
Learn to crochet.
20 minute walk outside every day for a month.
Be debt-free.
Read and do "Writing Down the Bones" again.
Start and complete a 365 project of some sort.
Make apple butter.
Read at least one book on photography.
Own polka dot rain-boots. COMPLETE
Buy new docs. COMPLETE
Develop our forgotten rolls of film.
Buy a typewriter.
Plan an overnight escapade with 2 certain friends.
Go on a road trip with Stirling.
Attend a retreat (ideally...liz lamoreaux's)
Tree-go
Take a painting class with Suzanne O'Callaghan.
Act in a play. COMPLETE
Switch home movies to digital.
Learn to play the drums.
Add to my tattoo.
Get the dandelions to birds tattoo.
See the Redwood forest.
Get a new mailbox and cool house numbers.
Finish the house.
Buy a necklace from Liz Elayne
Make an inspiration board.
Take a photography class.
Finger-paint.
Bake a red velvet cake.
Learn how to cable knit.
Donate blood.
Go on a train ride.
Try a zip line. COMPLETE
Make a stop action movie.
Be in Artful Blogging.
Be in Where women create.
Do the "Drawing on the right side of your brain" book.
Make stamped metal jewelry.
Make meat pies.
Do an Alicia Burke class online.
Do a Mondo Beyondo class.
Make wonton soup.
Drive in a transfer truck.
Read all of LM Montgomery's books.
Hang glass bottles from a tree.
Move to the country.
Put some photos to music in a video.
Own a goat.
Knit a big comfy earth toned blanket for me.
Container garden. COMPLETE
Drive a snowmobile.
Sled down a giant hill.
Make caramel apples.
Go to a demolition derby.
Fly in a fast plane.
BE IN a demolition derby.
Make strawberry freezer jam.
Knit a dozen dishclothes.
Make a calendar out of photos.
Try Zumba.
Make my own pop up book.
Go to Canada's Wonderland.
Read and do Inner Excavation.
Drive a dirt bike.
Get my taxi driver licence
Shoot a month of sunsets
Go to Peggy's Cove
Get a little pug puppy friend for Pugsley
Shoot a month of sunrises.
Hike ALL the trails on PEI.
Go somewhere with zero gravity.
Go berry picking.
Hot air balloon ride.
Read the Robert Jordan series.
Watch a meteor shower.
See Blue Rodeo again.
Go to Niagara Falls.
Try flying trapeze lessons.
Raise chickens
Have a house with a sunroom.
Build a greenhouse.
Learn to meditate.
Read kids books to kids at a library.
Try glassblowing.
Go to Grand Manan.
See a murmuration for real.
Try mountain biking.
Make a coloring book.
Be a bingo caller.
Ride a mechanical bull.
Perform a wedding ceremony.
Segway
Go go-kart racing
Drive an ATV.
Own a jeep...orange...or purple.
Make an "all family" involved haunted house at halloween
Try horse back riding.
Do a big jigsaw puzzle

I warned you...it's a long list.
I just read something that talked about the Golden Rule of the bucket list
being not to focus
on completing the bucket list,
just the tasks that are on it...
but it's good to keep adding to it.

So I guess I'm doing it right, heeheehee.

And by sharing it, I'm throwing it out there to the universe.
Take a chance, see what happens.

friday i'm in love (summary::may)

June 3, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i keep a gratitude list where
i try to write 3 things every day
that make me happy.

here are some of the things
that made the cut
in May:

watercolor robots
sunshine
no headache today
game of thrones with stirling
canned corn
pc points
perfectly cold coconut cream pie from water st bakery
a good hair day
chicken fricot
polka dot rubber boots
a new space to put my pens and stuff
emma's mother's day gift...so sweet
seeing my family out in the sticks
surprise smurfs at work
emma playing purple rain on guitar
got my new bullet journal
robot shoes and mismatched socks
blackberry gingerale
my bff starting working days
bridget left me a comment
living your potential course
an unexpected and very sweet gift of a zentangle book
5 days off in a row!
emma got accepted to a school
hiking adventures with an old friend & a hand drawn map
oreo cookies
bare feet
campbell treating to ice cream at dairy bar
felicia day liked my tweet!
canned corn
overboard with emma and stirling
milk duds
giggly texts with M when i was stressed out and needed a release (& also couldn't find a bathroom...which i also really needed...)
sunshine when they called for rain
a trip to kool breeze with my mom
recreating the "little red car" photo
bob's burgers
stovetop dressing
bare legs
emma and her 8 chocolate bars
stirling's bone crushing back cracking hugs ♥

wordless wednesday (well...maybe a couple of words)

June 1, 2016 Arlene Giddings