Update about blogCa

Who knew all this would happen afterwards! Welcome to my little town.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

The creative process - writing

 


Wow, May will have 5 Saturdays! And the first prompt is a typewriter, spectacles, and a lot of papers strewn about.

Mmm, my experience in writing has been mostly blogs of late, so I might talk about that. I admit to spending quite a lot of my time just reading the blogs posted by others. My shaky fingers has expanded to my hands, so even mousing around is getting very difficult - so I'm glad that I can still at least type. And I may not be doing much writing while on this antibiotic which seems to have made shakes worse - though I'm glad to have posted a few in advance.

But Sepia Saturday is looking for some old photos. Therefore, I'll see what kind of snapshots might exist related to writing.

Besides brains, one need sustenance to write. I sit here just having finished a bag (small) of potato chips and 3 cookies, while drinking a diet Dr. Pepper. But fresh donuts and 7-Up would have  also been good! I'd prefer not to eat brains. Just my personal choice. 


Archive Holdings-  Factory workers manually assemble typewriters. 1920s


Probably reenactors of author Mark Twain and his friend John  T. Lewis. Below is a version of these men as published by a historical society.




Journalist Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House, 1887

I also have the hand-written letters from some ancestors from pre-Civil War times, with examples on that old post...

See other Sepia Saturday  posts !


Entertainment:

Reading Dan Brown's "Origin." Much the same feeling as his other books of being led along over long winding ways with peril due any moment, to maybe something in the last chapter. But it's so fun to imagine Tom Hanks playing the role of the hero, I am halfway through and enjoying this Spanish and religious-questioning book (as an audio version.)

I also would recommend the movie "Frida" which I recently watched on Prime. It shows much of her art, as well as her husband's (Diego Rivera). There is an artistic twist in the film whereby different works are connected to the quotes by the artist by animations. It also has English subtitle translations of the Spanish words. However it doesn't include the two houses she and Diego lived in for years, nor the beautiful death scenes I've seen in other Frida Kahlo movies about her life.

And among my new newsletters I read are Rebecca Solnit's "Meditations in an Emergency." The recent one was an article about an activist elder, "... Jo Anne Garrett of Baker, NV, who would've turned 100 on April 30th."  The title of the article is The Art of Arrival, and it includes some wonderful thoughts about journeys.

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Sunday update from Starhawk about the boat carrying food to Gaza which was bombed by an Israeli drone:  

Here’s a short update on the Conscience, the Freedom Flotilla boat attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. The boat was bombed two nights ago by drones sent by the Israeli military, and severely disabled. Fortunately, the thirty humanitarian activists on board are safe for the moment, and the ship has not sunk. But the Maltese government is not allowing the ship into harbor, where it would be safe from further attacks and could be repaired. Please contact the Maltese Government and urge that they allow the Conscience safe passage and shelter.

Maltese Consulate in New York:

(closed until Monday, no message option)

(+1) (212) 725 2345

Email:

malta-un.newyork@gov.mt

Maltese Prime Minister’s Office

Maltese prime minister's office +35622002400

For the moment, the activists on board the Conscience are unharmed. But the people of Gaza are being harmed, with no aid or food allowed in...

You may contact Malta government to urge them to let the boat into port for repairs.

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Today's quote:

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the earth revolves.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Small jar by Barbara Rogers - another use of overlapping three glazes
 




28 comments:

  1. Nellie Bly was well corseted.
    The jar is fab.

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    1. I look at that waist and remember the poor women who wore those things and couldn't get a good breath in.

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  2. I did go back and read the transcribed letters. what a snapshot of life in the past.
    Sorry to hear you have the shakes. I have Essential Tremor in my hands with right more than left. It affects my handwriting if I've been doing a lot of things or am stressed. It's difficult to carry a full tea cup across the room.

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    1. Essential Tremor isn't for the faint of heart, is it! When people hand me a sheaf of papers to fill out, I just say I can't write. They are stunned.

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  3. Lovely collection of Sepia images. Your Jar is pretty.
    Take care, have a great day and happy week ahead.

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    1. Sometimes gathering sepia photos is lots of fun. And please note that I didn't have such a long post today...well, relative to other times!

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  4. Replies
    1. Sometimes I have found interesting things which never get published because they are so bizarre.

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  5. ...what great price for brains.

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  6. Sorry about the tremor. It's a nuisance, and it's limiting. The nelly Bly picture is a great example of early photoshop. Yes, they did that way back, manipulating the background to nip in waists etc. Even then they knew!

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    1. Wow, photo manipulation! Yes tremors are a nuisance indeed.

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  7. Love the photo of all the typewriters! Kind of a prequel to the modern age of computers... ;-)

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    1. I remember walking into a room where typing class was being held, with just manual typewriters. Such a clatter!

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  8. Your pottery has been amazing! I would buy all of it and have it displayed on it's own grand display unit. Well done , you! I understand about writing and blogging while being less than perfect- I can not see , so that makes blogging a bit tedious! Carry on, they say, do your best, they say....

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    1. I have huge bookshelves in my apartment with lots of my and others' pottery displayed.

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    2. Any chance of a gallery walk of your collection?

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    3. Not quite possible at this time, Boud. It's hard enough just publishing one piece at a time.

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  9. I don't have tremor problems, my hands are just always going to sleep which makes picking small things up a bit difficult. That first photo is great. Wouldn't it be neat if you could just drive into a place and buy a brain of your choice. What about interchangeable brains - one day be a good writer, another day be a super artist. Oh wait. You're both with your own brain. :)

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  10. Brains? I love those old sepia photos. So much personality!!

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  11. It's not just the cheap price of brains that impresses me, it's that you could get them at a drive-in too! I think I'd pick up a dozen at a time.

    I regret to say your image of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain is not him or his friend. Lewis was the inspiration for character Jim in "Huckleberry Finn." Here is a link to the original 1903 photo and the story of the two men.
    https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/twin-tiers-roots/2017/05/05/inspiration-huck-finns-jim/101352552/

    Hope your hand control improves.

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    1. Thanks Mike...I did include the one the historical society published...and will just leave the one up of Mark Twain that I found on the net, as probably reenactors. It's a good link to read, to find out that my birthday was actually the date of Lewis' saving the lives of the two women with the runaway horse and buggy - well, a few years before my birth!

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  12. Amazing sepia photos, I like them. Nice jar!

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    1. Thank you. Sepia Saturday is open for anyone to post, so if you ever feel so inclined...

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  13. I love the quote on how to drink tea!

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    1. I'll have to try that sometime! Just because all those of British persuasion drink it constantly!

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  14. The picture of the typewriter factory is quite interesting.

    There is so much evil going on right now and somehow people justify it. I was listening to NPR yesterday and they were talking about how empathy is related to the size of the Amygdala. I suppose that explains why some people are so deficient in empathy.

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  15. My husband also suffers from hand tremors (not Parkinson’s) so I sympathise with you - but do keep writing and reading! Love your beautiful banner picture. Two images were particularly striking - the one of the girls assembling typewriters. (I would hate that job) and the picture of Nellie Bly, complete with briefcase. And oh, that waist!

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There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.