Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

another day in paradise September 2, 2012

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:46 am
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Saturday was time for an overdue hike in Gleneden.  While that sounds like it should be in Scotland, in fact, Gleneden is a hilltop area to the west of Salmon Arm.  From downtown, it’s about 3 minutes to the turn off the highway, and 5 minutes from there to the trailhead. Last weekend, my Handsome Hubby and I attempted to find the Syphon Creek trail, but could not find the trail or the parking lot mentioned in the guide books.  With a little further research, we returned this weekend, and successfully found the spot, hiked in, and returned alive!

We were not long on the trail before I’d spotted a creature- some sort of lizard or salamander that HH had just obliviously walked over.  It was smooth like a snake, about a foot long tip to tail, reddish brown with no obvious stripes.   It gyrated away with an almost snake like movement, except for the definite little jolts made by what I presume were four tiny little feet.

Further in, we admired huge patches of wild raspberries, with little patches of fruit still on them. I picked a berry, and it popped off its stem like a velvet marble.  Completely dessicated, it was rather chewy, but flavourful.  A few steps on and the Handsome Hubby remarked that this many berries would make this prime bear area.  I had just had the same thought, and sure enough, a few feet farther along the trail I was able to point out bear scat.  Thankfully, it was not fresh, so we didn’t worry too much.

The trail wanders through a rocky area,  thick under brush, and over a stream.  We appreciated the pallet style bridge someone had made, as the skinny log alternative looked dubious.  I was definitely puffing, being pathetically out of shape, but HH (who cycles a few hundred kilometres each week) strolled along easily.  When we reached the waterfall,  HH took some photos of me and the other beautiful scenery, and I took some photos of him taking photos.

This would be a nice spot for a kilted photo shoot, don’t you think?  Even if it isn’t Scotland, despite being Gleneden.  (Taken with my iPhone)

HH climbed up the steep side of the waterfall, while I sat on a rock, below, wondering about emergency cell service, checking casually around for suitable branches to use as splints, and figuring out what supplies I’d brought that I could use to tie on a splint (FYI, a plastic grocery bag would be split into strips).    I was glad not to need to put my emergency planning into effect, especially when a few moments later, HH read the fine print on a warning sign that announced there had been an accident there, and to take caution.  (Upon our return home, HH read the above linked article telling of the 60 foot fall and rescue.  With classic understatement I heard him mutter, “Wow.  That would hurt.”)

This is Labour Day Weekend, the last one before the kids (and I) head back to school.  It’s taken us ALL summer to make time for a hike in our own back yard!  We live in such a beautiful place, we really have no excuse.  Well, HH’s excuse is that he’d rather be on a bike, pedalling his way to health, and my excuse is that I have writing to do, but lets be honest, those activities don’t fill entire days, ever.  Hopefully, next year we’ll be better at vacationing in our own area!

FYI this hike is labelled “More Difficult” (i.e. not ‘dead easy’).  It was about 20 minutes from the small parking lot to the waterfall at the end of the trail.  There are roots, felled trees, and large rocks to step over, between, and around.  It’s definitely not a trail to take your aged grandma on, nor to try to push a baby carriage.  However, if you’re reasonably fit, it’s a lovely hike, and it’s about 15 mins from my driveway to reach it!

What’s your favourite getaway spot near your  home?

I have hat hair and I’ve been panting. It is hard to look glamorous. 😉

 

Join the Interstellar celebration September 1, 2012

Filed under: Commentary,Friendship — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:50 am
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You know those people who have a single, straight forward dream, and from the moment they climb out of their cribs, they head toward it with determination?  I have often wished I was as single-minded as my friend, Amin.

I’ve mentioned Amin before on this blog.  When I met him (back when he was an oh-so-mature thirteen and I was a star struck ten year old),  he was already striving toward his goal to become a composer for television and film.  To his natural talent he added perseverance, practice, and experimentation.  His whacky humour and considerable charm helped him attract people willing and able to support his dream.   When he was in his twenties, he won major awards and prizes which led to the  record deal that blasted Interstellar Suite  into the universe.

Interstellar Suite isn’t popular genre music.  It was hard to classify.  Usually, it is labelled New Age, because how do you classify a masterpiece of orchestrated analog synthesizers?  They didn’t have a big section in the record stores for “Electronic movie soundtrack for a non-existent sci-fi movie,” which is the truest label it could have had.  “Stinking brilliant” would be a good label, too, but the sound afficionados shouted that far and wide.  Amin composes for all sorts of shows you’ve known and loved (like Flashpoint), so you’ve probably heard his music.  He’s won many awards; go to BhatiaMusic.com to be impressed by the list!  You should go there just to listen to snippets of his work, actually.  There is a delightful breadth of styles represented in his music.

This year Amin is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the original release of Interstellar Suite, and you are invited to be part of the grand adventure to commemorate the occasion with a galactic celebratory launch into new frontiers!  Check out the details on the Interstellar Suite page and help the project go super nova!  You know you’ve always wanted to mingle with the stars!

Now, if you know Interstellar Suite, and you have something amazing to share about it, you were asked to tell the crew about it.  If you haven’t seen the plea, the deadline was yesterday, but the video about it is pretty entertaining and there’s some great music on it.  Who knows, maybe you can still sneak your memories in if you contact them quickly…

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Here’s an added treat because you made it all the way through this post.  While I truly wish there were photos of the 13/10 meeting, for all the inevitable mortification likely attendant, this one will have to do.  This is my high school graduation weekend.   I am chilling with a (soon to be)  famous musician, and as you can tell by my laughter, I am having fun:

(What’s happened to our hair?!)

 

Darwin Award star! August 31, 2012

Filed under: anecdotes — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:21 am
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I frequently use the Darwin Awards as a prompt for writing in my class room (and as object lessons for the students who may be inclined to travel similar roads).  For those of you unfamiliar with the Darwin Awards, they are given posthumously (smirk) to those who have improved the human race by checking out of the gene pool.

This one is a case in point.  This is NOT fake.  This is actual security camera footage of an impatient man removing himself from the gene pool.  Please note the clear glass inserts in the elevator doors.  Oi vay.

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please never die! August 30, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:30 pm
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This is purely selfish, I know.

Since October 2011, I’ve been obsessed with author Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series (though I read anything by her I can find: the Lord John series, blog posts, articles, tweets, Facebook postings).  Like millions of rabid fans around the world, I am waiting desperately for the next installment in in the adventures of Claire and Jamie Fraser, et al.  Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (aka MOBY) isn’t due until SEPTEMBER 2013!

>>Insert anguished groan here<<

Recently, Diana went to Scotland to celebrate the wedding of her daughter.  I found myself praying passionately that there would be no plane, train, bus, ferry, or auto accidents.  What if Diana was to expire in some sort of dramatic, Fraser worthy way?  She puts her characters through enough, fate might just mock her with an ironic  twist, and she could be caught in such a scenario up close and personally!  Worse, some ignominious event could fell her, some blip of biology could shut down that brilliant brain and still that witty pen.

😦  NOOOOOOOOO!  The very idea makes my heart pound in dread.

Yesterday, in my audio book of Gabaldon’s Drums of Autumn, Jamie fought off a bear with a dirk, bare hands, and sheer determination.  (Claire contributed to his defence by whacking at the combatants with a dead fish).  After this attack, Claire shakily observes,

Anytime. It could happen anytime, and just this fast. I wasn’t sure which seemed most unreal; the bear’s attack, or this, the soft summer night, alive with promise.

I rested mv head on my knees, letting the sickness, the residue of shock, drain away. It didn’t matter, I told myself Not only anytime, but anywhere. Disease, car wreck, random bullet. There was no true refuge for anyone, but like most people, I managed not to think of that most of the time.

I am not a worry-wart.  I have a generally relaxed, laissez-faire attitude about most things.  I believe in doing what you can, and then letting go.  I wait without anxious fear for results of jobs, test results, admissions, reviews, and queries. Impatient curiosity may cause frustration, but not anxiety.  My kids and husband are on their own, provided only with my good wishes and sensible advice.  I never panic over their prospective demises, despite their penchants for death defying recreational activities that would indicate I really should.  Yet, Diana Gabaldon’s books can keep me up all night, fretting about how things are going to turn out for a character who’s stuck in another impossible situation.  Her fictional world stresses me out far more than the real world does.

I love her for it.

So I worry about Herself .*   This is slightly absurd, and definitely selfish.    I know it, and yet I can’t help it.

Please be immortal, Diana.  Or at least, get yourself into a time loop next time you’re in Scotland.  I recommend looking for wild flowers at the base of standing stones around Beltane.

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*I also worry,  not infrequently, about Davina Porter, narrator of the Outlander audio books, for much the same reasons.  She HAS to keep narrating this series!  She can’t die or retire!

Imagine my head, cupped in my hands, shaking in embarrassment.  This is quite pathetic, but very real.  Am I alone in this absurdity?  Tell me someone else shares author anxiety?

July/2013 Especially now that MOBY won’t be released until March 2014 now!

 

publishing process by Nathan Bradford… August 29, 2012

Filed under: Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:32 pm
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Here is a very entertaining, gif filled blog post by Nathan Bradford about the publishing process.   Aside from all the rejections cited, I can relate to this!   (I only had 2 agent rejections before Grace was signed by the first publisher queried).

 

 

 

little boxes: thinking outside the big boxes! August 28, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:58 pm
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I have a friend who was raised, along with his 7 brothers and sisters, 2 parents and dog, in a one thousand square foot, non-basement home.  Many people in the early years of the baby boom and before can say the same.

When I see the humongous monstrosities of four or five thousand feet that have one or two people living in them, I feel concern for the message this sends about North American attitudes.  Do we need as much stuff as we fill these spaces with?  Do we need to waste the fuel to heat and cool these spaces?

In Europe, apartments are significantly smaller and in some big cities, people pay big bucks for what amount to tiny dorm rooms.  Ikea has several promotions in store showing how liveable ‘my small space’ can be at five hundred square feet.

Deek Diedricksen takes it even further.  With mostly found materials, he builds houses and living spaces that are under one hundred square feet.  Some of his spaces are under twenty square feet.  This is definitely thinking outside the box.  His micro homes are more about statement and novelty than function.  There are no kitchens or bathrooms inside a twenty square foot space.  There is no heater or insulation (or stretching space!) to get you through a Canadian winter.  However, there is room for you to crash in the woods during a summer vacation, and there is definitely a lot of creativity here.  The point is made.  You can live and sleep in small spaces.  You don’t need a couple thousand square feet per person!

Check out some of his innovative designs and ponder…  What if?

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story or death

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:23 am
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If the other fellow can’t tell you his story, you can never be sure he isn’t trying to kill you.

Orson Scott Card.  Ender’s Game.  NY: Tor, 1991. p.253.

This quote  is either really profound or hilarious.  There is a bit of a truth here though.  If you know nothing about someone else, you may distrust his motives, and perhaps for good reason.  However, if you know where someone has come from, have heard history and story, well, then you might be absolutely certain that he’s whacked out and you’re in danger every moment you’re with him!  Or not.

 

camstairy coccygodynians August 27, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:39 am
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I think my favorite line from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon might be in Drums of Autumn when Roger observes,

“Coccygodynians are camstairy by nature”

An English teacher, by nature, is thoroughly entertained by word play, and delighted with novel phraseology.  Gabaldon frequently provides such fun, and that quote is an example.  Roger and Bree are playing The Minister’s Cat, a word game where they work through the alphabet, labelling the poor cat with adjectives of increasing complexity.  They called this round a draw.

For your edification: coccygodynia is a pain in the region of the coccyx (tail bone), so Bree’s doctor mother identified the hospital administrators as coccygodynians,  i.e.  “pains in the butt.”  Camstairy is a little more layered.  It’s a Scot’s term that Roger claims means ‘quarrelsome,’ but assorted on-line dictionaries offer definitions of ‘unmanageable,’ ‘unruly,’ and ‘obstinate,’ which add some colourful possibilities!

I trust that your day will be free from camstairy coccygodynians! 😉

 

RIP Neil Armstrong. August 26, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:09 pm
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I was four years old when I joined a group of men in our back alley looking up into the sky.  At their pointing, I was certain that I could see a little black dot: the rocket carrying the astronaut crew that arrived on the moon.

I was in my teens, when I was in an audience to hear astronaut Jim Irwin talking about what it was like.  He described looking back on Earth and thinking it was just a blue marble.

Neil Armstrong echoed that thought when he said,

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

You may remember how in the movie Men in Black the alien disguised as a talking pug says,

“You humans!  When will you learn size doesn’t matter?  Just because something’s important, doesn’t mean it’s not very small.”

This concept is reiterated at the end of the movie in this clip:

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Requisate in pace, Neil Armstrong.  You captured a moment of greatness that emphasizes our exiguity.

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normal or amazing? August 23, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:58 pm
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‘

I’ve been thinking about this in terms of mid-life crisis (or mid-life analysis, if you prefer).  It seems a lot of people reach a point where they look around at where they’ve been, and just decide to toss out the societal constraints that ruled their earlier decision making.  After years of youthful striving for ‘normal’ (that boring conformity), they’re now stepping out.  Whether it’s tossing a twenty year marriage, starting a new career, or leaping into the bucket list with heretofore unobserved enthusiasm, there does seem to be a change that comes with the ‘middle years.’

I find myself that a lot of things I ‘always wanted to do’ have gotten done in the last year or two.  It’s not that I conscientiously aimed to accomplish those things; it just seemed that the stars aligned and they happened, almost without me noticing.  I found myself somewhat astonished to recognise the accomplishments or changes.  So now I’m thinking, if I was able to do those amazing things without intent, what could happen if I make an intentional effort?  To be honest, my past experience suggests that intention tends to lead to failure for some reason, so perhaps I should just let the universe take care of things?  At any rate, staid and normal are out.  I am getting whackier as the years go by.  I will be an amazing, creative, and crazy little old lady eventually, I think, and I’m embracing that.   How about you?