MJS Creative Landing

Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way was recommended to me about 20 years ago. I spent a few years doing the Morning Pages which is a journal that accompanies the primary book. From what I can tell, I journaled from 2002 to 2005, from 2007 to 2011 and I am going to pick it back up again. Part of the process of the Morning Pages is that you do not go back and re-read what you wrote. It is just a mind dumping process. Dump first thing in the morning onto three pages. You do not judge the writing, the penmanship, the poor grammar or misspelled words or yourself. You just write and close the journal until the next day. I have taken a few of these journals off the shelf, and dare I say I am like, "Who is this person?" Not in a bad way, but there was a freedom in those pages that is not here with me presently. I guess I was so much in need of dumping after 30 years of living that I allowed it all to just fall onto the pages. Like taunt boils or festering wounds, it was easier ...

There are all sorts of stories unfolding right now. I have written a few in the past and will write some more in the future, Lord willing. At present this is a story unfolding right before my very eyes. I have yet to go back and fully edit all these posts on this blog or on any of my other blogs. "I am writing," I tell myself; "I am not editing." Be that as it may I think even as we are living we don't get all the editing done. We don't get all the writing done. We try to scratch things out and add things in to our days. We correct ourselves or others or our spaces or other people's spaces. It is the never ending story and the never ending editing and abridging of it all. The adding of footnotes and references and amendments and annotations continue on. As we move along life's journey, I encourage folks to write their stories. Who else is going to tell them the way you see it. Write the best you can. Offer what ever it is that is to be offered. Is is...

Trying times! Times are trying for a few people. I share your frustration. I share your anger. I share your befuddlement. I share your grief. I share your lack of understanding. I share your confusion. I know what it's like to be stumped. I share your desire to check out. I share your need to give up. I share your need to check out. I share your desire to live inside your head. I share the need to bury yourself in your bed. I share your need to take a long walk, a long shower, a long nap. I share your thoughts about lighting up, tipping that bottle, or taking that pill. I know what it's like Ms. Celie!!!! Just spoke with my adorable younger cousin who is in the middle of all sorts of drama... husband, in-laws, parents, siblings, teen children, tween children, and life on top of life on top of life. I asked her if her support system is holding up for her in Virginia? She said it is, but she is still exhausted and overwhelmed. I asked her if it was ok for her to feel the way she ...

Before an instrument is played, there is a moment of anticipation. When a hush comes over the room and the breathing begins to still, an inflection point of near silent harmony arises. And then the note comes forth and slowly an exhale slips through the atmosphere. It can be glorious. For some the wait is prolonged and the note seems to never arise into the living breathing world of sight and sound. It tarries, held back in that place where origins are origins and endings don't exist. Stopped from processions and willed to refrain, the notes uninformed yet knowing they are a real something, a creation as a vapor eager to join the chorus of all creatures here below. The in between can be the hardest, though. The in between can lull and rock and disappoint and shock. The in between can turn away or draw one in to contemplative meditation. There is that better place if rest is required before the thing comes. In between can be the calm before the storm. And once it occurs we might be ...

As I returned from my morning walk, I see in the middle of the one way three lane road next to my house a recently deceased by way of tire... squirrel. In the past, kind street walkers have bestowed on me the honor of disposing of dead squirrels hit by vehicles with tossing the road kill into my yard. Not on the easement, but into my yard. So, it was surprising to see that two large buzzards were on my sidewalk when I peeked back outside after a bit that day. Then it dawned on me... they have the squirrel. And indeed they retrieved the squirrel from the road and sat under the shade of the pecan trees that line my easement and dined greatly in the cool of the day. They chose the sidewalk for their meal. They took turns pecking away at the slowly dwindling carcass as I hopped into my car to run an errand. When returning from my short trip, the buzzards were nowhere to be found. I walked down the sidewalk to see the last remains of a fluffy tail and several bones. I head back inside to re...

 Two blocks up from me Fixer Upper has the street blocked off because the show is shooting a reveal episode. I do not have cable, so I will not be tuned in for this episode. I have been watching this buildout and remodel for a while now. The house is not that big and sits on a pretty tight lot between a house on the corner lot and a row of single story townhomes. The only other house is on the corner closest to me. It sits on a standard lot. Across the street from these homes, much like the block I live on, sits commercial property... A Lawyer's office and The Brazos Education Facility. Cones were set out from early this morning until about 3pm to block the road from people driving down the street. I use this street often to get home because my entrance to my house is on a one way street. I had to go down a block to Austin Avenue and around to avoid the blocked street. Two police offices were stationed at each end with their set of cones... Two real life police officers, not rent-...

My mother had a strange gift of coming up with things to keep her four children distracted. When we got too rowdy or too much kid-like, she had a way to get us corralled and cooperative. She had tricks to suck us in. She was a pied-piper of wizardry. As a child I remember the front screen door to our house always opening and closing with a loud whoop! The Summers especially were the times when we children would be in and out, in and out, in and out. Momma would hate that we let the flies in. She kept a fly swatter or a rolled newspaper close at all times. We children were not as annoyed by the flies, but as my mother grew more annoyed, the flies became out focus as well. We didn't think to make the screen door our focus and just stop all the in and out and back and forth. We became fly hunters. It didn't help that we watched Kung Fu and also attempted to catch the flies with two sticks or our hands as an impossible distraction from the task of ridding ourselves of the flies. Fl...

Jesus was not recorded as writing anything noteworthy; however, Jesus stooped down in the sand and wrote something with his finger. Writing something with your finger in the sand is a sure sign that it is not written in stone. What a powerful sign of grace. What is not written in stone for the woman who was caught in the middle of committing adultery, was indeed written by the Son of God in the sand. How great is the One who does not hold our sins against us. Who, after writing "something" in the sand, stood erect  and said unto "them," -- Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone. Then He stoop and stood a second time and no one was there to blame her. Yes there is law Yes Christ fulfilled the law Yes Christ died to save Yes We are saved because of God's Grace and not our works! Amen 

I am working on a prototype ladder and mini bed frame... I like the concepts. It is time to purchase other equipment to clean it up and round it out... To see both pictures, click on story. What else can we make? Blessings~

Not original work of ours, but definitely something I want to share as a fan of the show from back in the day... http://www.futuramay.com/the-luck-of-the-fryrish/