Watering the Family Tree

Most of us know something about our family tree, our genealogy. Many of us are proud of our antecedents and some have spent considerable time and money researching our roots. But what of the future?

In these early years of the twenty-first century, with the increasing concern over climate changes, dying polar bears, diminishing species, what is our individual responsibility to be good stewards of the earth? Will our actions make those in our families who come after us, proud? Or will we carelessly contribute to difficulties they might encounter because today’s population (that’s you and me, folks) is made up of people who are too lazy or too self-centered?

Do you tell yourself that letting the water run in the yard, the kitchen or bathroom sink doesn't matter? Or that flushing the toilet after dropping in a piece of tissue is insignificant? It most certainly is significant, and as time passes it becomes more and more so.

Some may find this graphic comment distasteful, but many years ago when I was living in Eugene, Oregon there was a water shortage in that part of the country. The motto all across the state was, "It's mellow if it's yellow, if it's brown, flush it down."

My research has informed me that the highest average water use in the world is in the US, where the average person uses 150 gallons of water per day. Do the math… multiply the number of people in your household times the average amount of water a person uses in one day and multiply that again just by the number of households in your family. If you keep on going, it becomes astronomical.

So what’s the point of my harangue? Well, here in Georgia we’re in the middle of a drought. There’s a water ban in effect (are you paying attention yet?) and like it or not every one of us is responsible for keeping our usage to a fair and reasonable level.

As water continues to become a critical concern for everyone I thought I would pass along information on the websites below. One is for the latest watering ban information in our local area, four more include water saving tips, the fifth is about water facts, and the last one is for a small but possibly important solution... information on rain barrel cisterns.

Here you will find ban information: http://www.northgeorgiawater.com/html/305.htm; here you’ll find some great downloadable tips to save water: http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/.
Want more information on water use? See: http://www.wssc.dst.md.us/INFO/tips.cfm, www.caes.uga.edu, www.watersmart.net, and
http://www.water.org/resources/waterfacts.htm
And last, to find out more about rain barrel cisterns for collecting rainwater, go to: http://www.SavingWithRain.com.

Every household, whether in a drought area or not, ought to review the information on water, water conservation, watering bans and why it is an increasing problem.

And while I’m berating you, are you recycling? (Paper, aluminum, glass...) It’s every bit as important as saving water. Please help me to help your great grandchildren and mine to a healthy planet. Let’s not have them remember us as being selfish and lazy, or worse, make it impossible for some of them to survive at all.

Mother’s Day Matchmaker

As we sat in IHOP laughing and talking and enjoying Miss Elsa’s antics, Michelle, Teryn and I noticed a gentleman seated at a table across the aisle from us. He was waving to Miss Elsa and laughing, too. Finally, he could contain himself no longer as she flirted in her one-year old way, and he spoke up. As he watched her nibble on the puffs her mother had supplied, while we ate crepes and other grownup foods, he assured her that he would be happy to cook just for her.

Our Mother’s Day breakfast progressed and Michelle, (more like her mother than she realizes) engaged our breakfasting neighbor in conversation. After a few pleasantries she asked him where he was from and as both Michelle and I already knew the answer due to his accent, we weren’t surprised when he said “Italy, I am from Rome.”

Encouraged, as his willingness for conversation continued, Michelle explained that we are four first (and only) daughters. The gentleman, whose name we later discovered is Romolo, told us that he has four grown daughters, all independent from his care, and that his wife passed away from breast cancer five years ago.

I’m certain it was in that moment that Michelle made her decision. Continuing in breakfast table conversation across the aisle, she managed to tell Romolo that I speak (or rather used to speak) Italian, and she also managed to pique his further interest by conveying to him in a subtle manner that I might be interested in making a new friend.

He was interested. Romolo and I discovered that we live nearby one another. He mentioned that he has a very nice home and I said, “So do I.” Michelle, now playing matchmaker to the hilt, mentioned that I prepare wonderful Italian dishes, whereupon Romolo assured her that I wouldn’t have to cook, that he’d take me out. As his enthusiasm gained momentum he mentioned that a trip to Italy for we two was possibly in the cards for next year and I decided it was time to leave the restaurant, before I found myself engaged to be married.

When we stood to leave he asked if I’d care to have him call. I asked for his card but as he had none I gave him mine. In the best tradition of the continental gentleman he took my hand and kissed it, and looked deep into my eyes.

On the way out my daughter, completely tickled with herself, told me more than once how sweet a man she thought he was, and I could tell from that sparkle in her eyes that she had visions of a happy forever after for me, in her loving heart. We are a family of romantics but from my point of view, that's a bit of a reach.

Thanks, Miss Elsa, you little flirt!

A New Writing Task

Over the past few days I've been working on what is one of the toughest writing tasks I've ever attempted. For some this might be easy but for me it is a genuine (and welcome) learning experience.

I was recently contacted by a company that prepares writing tests on fluency and comprehension for Departments of Education over elementary school children in four Southeastern states. They asked for short "stories" of from 100 to a maximum of 175 words, depending on the grade level. I was provided with an online tool to check the reading level of what I would write and I got to work. I began by rewriting a couple of stories I had written in the past just to see how to "downwrite," restructure my writing to a far lower grade level than the one the story had been written for originally. After numerous tries I finally began to get the hang of it but single syllable words don't always get the point across.

I was really surprised when pasting the stories into the program to learn which words scored as difficult. Contractions such as "can't" or "wouldn't" were highlighted for 4th and 5th grade readers. Words such as "feisty" or "territorial" received the same warning score for 6th grade readers. No wonder this country has so many literacy problems! It seems that our children aren't being taught the sort of written language skills needed to comprehend the world around them. Yet I know they hear these words and many more sophisticated ones on TV and in the movies. So what is one to think?

In the meantime I've begun writing new little stories. I think about our daily lives and about things that might interest or inform youngsters, then I craft a lttle story around these things. I'm getting better. Pretty soon I'll be churning them out so fast it might even work out to be worth my while.

Motherhood in the 21st Century

Last Thursday I received an invitation from the AJC Gwinnett Opinions page, sent to those of us on the Voice of Gwinnett panelist list to comment on Motherhood in 2007, posed as follows:

Question:
What are the qualities, character and skills needed to be a good mother in 2007? Are they timeless, the same as in generations past? Or have they adapted and evolved as society has changed?
My response:

I know I'm not unique, but it hardly seems possible to me that only yesterday I was a very young mother and today I am a great grandmother. I have much to reflect upon. Motherhood? Though the care required and the skills needed to raise a child from infancy upward remain basically the same, we know there are far greater challenges in 2007 than there were in 1952.

Safety and health, nourishment, love, play, instruction and discipline are as much in the mix as they ever were. But as the world has changed, become so much more complicated and now offers the very young choices not even imagined in the past, a mother must remain far more discerning regarding the physical, cultural, moral and intellectual development of her children. Whether threats come from the street or from information filtering into the home from television and the internet, a mother's task is to choose wisely what is simply a matter of cultural change or is insidious and harmful. Nothing, however, can take the place of love, bedtime stories and being the anchor of the home.

I sent along the photo of myself and Miss Elsa, taken in November, which you can see right here.

It seems my comments were appreciated and will be published in Sunday's paper.

Georgia Writers Association's 11th Annual Spring Festival

Yesterday was Georgia Writers Association's 11th Annual Spring Festival of Writers Workshops. As usual it was an event loaded with information for both wannabees (thank goodness they keep surfacing) and those who are nearly ready, ready to publish, or already published and seeking marketing tips and information. You can see the lineup on Georgia Writers website if you're curious. It is http://www.georgiawriters.org/Festival-2007.htm.

Each year, usually starting in December or January, I have put this event together. Many of the presenters have been "regulars" with new ones added each year. If I do it again, and I might, the next one will be different. Of course there are a few I will always ask to participate as they're mainstays, people with information for writers that is solid and timeless. But I'm thinking it's time for a possibly fresh approach.

Quite a few of the writers attending signed up for In The Company of Writers' mailing list. I'm hoping that nearly all of them will want to sign up for the next Webinar. Valerie Clark will be presenting What Agents Are Looking For on June 9 and it promises to be well worthwhile for anyone at the point of needing an agent in their writing efforts. If this fits you, go back to the ITCW website and click on "Coming Up!"

A Poem to Outgrow A War

I've been wondering what I'd say on my next post... I don't have to wonder any more. This just came into my email from ARTNEWS, a listserve of artists, poets, writers and other loveable (and sometimes not so loveable) creative types. Thanks be.

Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal

by Naomi Shihab Nye

After learning my flight was detained 4 hours,
I heard the announcement:
If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any
Arabic,
Please come to the gate immediately
Well -- one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own
gate. I went there.
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress,
Just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor,
wailing loudly.
Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her.
What is her
Problem? we told her the flight was going to be four
hours late and she
Did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.
Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway,
min fadlick,
Sho bit se-wee?

The minute she heard any words she knew -- however
poorly used -
She stopped crying.

She thought our flight had been cancelled entirely.
She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical
treatment the
Following day. I said no, no, we're fine, you'll get
there, just late,

Who is picking you up? Let's call him and tell him.
We called her son and I spoke with him in English.
I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on
the plane and
Would ride next to her -- southwest.

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just
for the fun of it.

Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while
in Arabic and
Found out of course they had ten shared friends.

Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call
some Palestinian
Poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took
up about 2 hours.

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her
life. Answering
Questions.


She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies --
little powderedSugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts --
out of her bag --
And was offering them to all the women at the gate.

To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It
was like a
Sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler
from California,
The lovely woman from Laredo -- we were all covered
with the same
Powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better
cookies.

And then the airline broke out the free beverages from
huge coolers --
Non-alcoholic -- and the two little girls for our
flight, one African

American, one Mexican American -- ran around serving
us all apple juice
And lemonade and they were covered with powdered sugar
too.


And I noticed my new best friend -- by now we were holding hands --

Had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some

medicinal thing,

With green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling
tradition. Always
Carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones
and thought,
This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.
Not a single person in this gate -- once the crying of
confusion stopped
-- has seemed apprehensive about any other person.

They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other
women too.
This can still happen anywhere.

Not everything is lost.

The Hummingbird Wars

My friend Bill York, who like me is a hummingbird enthusiast, tells me that the hummers have returned early this year. Bill called the other day to say that he had already seen a pair near his deck. He promptly put up a feeder.

At the end of last year's season my favorite feeder fell and broke, leaving me to search for a new one. I was unable to find a replacement as the season was over and the kind I like were off the shelves. The stores that sell animal products have a selection of various sizes and styles and most of them are pitiful.

Yesterday, keeping in mind that I knew what I wanted, I went hunting. I was in luck. One of the local stores had a 50% off sale on last year's feeders and as it happens they were exactly the kind I prefer. I bought three.

From this time of year until October when the hummingbirds leave for warmer climes, every week or so I can be seen with red-stained hands. This is because I always make my own nectar; 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water and a tiny drop of red food coloring, and I always manage to get some of the powerful red stuff on my fingers. I heat the water so the sugar will dissolve thoroughly, add the food coloring and when the nectar has cooled down I fill the feeders. I hang them from the pergola above my deck and in the trees in the front yard and then I wait for the hungry little birds to entertain me as they zip in for nourishment.

A few years ago when they were in full summer's activities, and after having tried for weeks to attract these tiny birds, I wrote this little story and I share it with you now.

The Hummingbird Wars

I have finally been successful in coaxing the establishment of a hummingbird population in my yard. The feeder needs regular replenishment. My cats and I are royally entertained by “hummer” antics as we watch them just outside the living room window. Unaware of their diminutive size, hummingbirds are feisty and territorial. They are diligent in their performance of hummingbird business: raising lilliputian progeny and vying for first nectar-drinking rights.

Lately a dominant male has taken to hiding in the philodendron that swings beside the feeder. He is determined to keep others away from “his” food source. It is a constant battle. The moment he takes off chasing one impertinent interloper, another zooms in to steal a meal.

The other day while I was watering the flowers on my deck, the self-appointed proprietor of the feeder confronted me. For a moment, it was a stand-off as we each remained in position, he in midair, I, motionless, not wanting to frighten him away. How often can you stare down such a brave critter? But in a flash a brazen encroacher, unaware of our rendezvous, zipped onto the scene and he and my heroic tenant nearly crashed before my eyes.

An old fable about the hummingbird goes like this: Once there was a great fire in the jungle. A hummingbird, flying at high speed, passed by a lion. The lion, startled, asked him, “Hummingbird, where are you going in such a hurry?”

The hummingbird responded, “I am carrying water, in my beak, to put out a fire in the forest!”

The lion retorted, “But the amount of water you can carry in your beak is so tiny!”

To which the hummingbird replied, “I am doing my part!”

How about you?

Miss Elsa’s Lesson for Writers: What My One-Year Old Great Granddaughter Taught Me About Writing

As I was watching Miss Elsa, my beautiful almost one-year-old great granddaughter, learning to walk, it occurred to me that a process we all take for granted was once a major challenge. And what really impressed me is how she went about acquiring the ability to go from one place to another on her two little legs and tiny feet, limbs and appendages she was hardly aware of to begin with.

I realized that her learning process had some profound lessons for us as writers.
• First, she was single-minded and on-purpose. Once she realized walking was possible, she chose to go everywhere on two feet. Never mind that she often fell down. Unless there was some tight spot she couldn’t get through standing up, she was up trying to walk.
• Second, she is Unstoppable. If someone or something gets in her way, she’ll walk around them or it. And she keeps on going. She’ll walk from the front door to the kitchen to the living room and back again, just because she can.
• Third, she is failure-proof. When she started off she fell down every few steps. She realized, however, that all she had to do was to get up and she could be off on her mission again. Getting up became easy, and falling down became less frequent. Even when she fell in a way that would cause any adult to wince, she just popped right up, because getting up after falling down had become second nature for her.
And you know this is a proven formula for success. We all learned to walk quite well—right?

How Does This Apply To Writing?

First, Be Single-minded and On-purpose. To do this you have to have a goal. For example, “I’m going to finish one short story each month for the next six months and submit each one as I complete it. I will then have my work circulating and greatly increase my chances of becoming a writer who is supported by her/his work and be accumulating credits.”

You have to have a plan to reach that goal—i.e., “I’m going to research the best places to submit my style of work, whether to magazines, literary journals or reviews, or contests.” Become familiar with the best ones likely to accept (and pay for) it.

Seond, Be Unstoppable. If rejections seem unending, learn why. Do you need to be more selective in where you submit your work? Have you sufficiently reviewed the type of material your target publishes? Are you familiar with their audience? Remember the mantra of the four Ss: “Some will, Some won’t, So what, Someone’s waiting (to publish your work).”

Third, Be Failure-proof. Remember that challenges—like “falling down”— are part of the process. Get up and keep on going. In time, the getting up will become easy and second nature and the challenges will become less frequent. Do you need to rework the story? Do you need to develop your character(s) more fully? Are you telling rather than showing? How is your dialogue? Find or develop a really good critique group. Take the best classes in your genre that you can find.

Would you like a little help in getting back into your one-year-old mindset? Keep these points in mind:
• Clarify your goals and set up a step-by-step plan, in writing, to achieve them.
• Get the knowledge you need to improve your skills.
• Seek out support and guidance to acquire what you might be missing.
• Get the marketing insights for your particular kind of work by reading and researching what’s out there.
You must go out on that literary limb and do it—no whining, no excuses. Your success depends on your diligence and dedication, the investment you make in your art and to improving your craft. If you’re willing to do what it takes you can achieve your goal to become a recognized and successful writer.

Credit where credit is due: Many thanks to my son-in-law, Dr. Richard Odessey, for the concept on which this fun article is based.

Blackberry Winter

The other day I received an email from my friend Charles McNair. He and his Paste Magazine partner, Nick Purdy, are founding a "media brand" for the South called SCOUT. In the email Charles named the freezing morning a "blackeberry winter morning." I was curious about the phrase and this is what I found: A (mainly Southern) term used to describe a brief period of cold weather that coincides with the time the blackberries are in bloom, (typically in early to mid May). I like the term but detest the cold and my blackberries are most certainly not in bloom.

Nearly all the beautiful azaleas, lilacs and other flowering delights in my yard are pathetic looking after this record-breaking freeze over the last few days. My luscious tropicals, many of which I have nurtured for long years, were moved outdoors for the season by two strong men. They couldn't be moved back in on short notice, they're just too huge. They're wrapped in sheets and plastic but I don't have a good feeling about what the cold might have done to them. I've been reluctant to go and look until the cold snap is done... maybe by tomorrow. I had thought about waiting to move them until after the tenth of April but the weather seemed so lovely... I should have heeded that little voice, now I'm experiencing Mother Nature's little "gotcha."

I'll bet I'll have to replant all my tomatoes, peppers, sweet basil and strawberries.

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