Blue Moon Muse

Lion, and Tin Man, and Scarecrow, Oh My!

One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her – is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? ~Wicked

Thank goodness for today! What a wonderful day spent with family. As our national celebration of the Day of Giving Gratitution is winding down, I only have a few clock ticks left to share what’s been on my mind. So, this will be unpolished and without a pretty pink bow atop adjusted just so. And there most definishly won’t be enough time to apply any glitter for that extra shimmer. It’s just me typing my thoughts on my technological pocket clock…

As I like to put a timestamp on my thoughts, my fellow Ozians and I are in our Wicked movie release era. Lion, and Tin Man, and Scarecrow, oh my! Ballyhoo, butterflies, and bubbles galore! I’m obsessulated. Some of us switched gears from orange glitter in October, to pink going good with green in November. From Showgirl to Girl in the Bubble. It’s been a truly festivating fall! Don’t mind me just singing and dancing through life over here…

Unbecoming

You cannot grow because you have decided you have stopped growing. You haven’t grown in ages and you’ve lost the knack. ‘Twas a time you used to believe six impossible things before breakfast if I’m not mistaken. ~ The Hatter, Unbirthday

What do Instagram, operas, tattoos, and Taylor Swift all have in common? The art of storytelling. I just finished reading a book called The Storytelling Animal. With topics like why the idea of story shapes our lives, how fictional stories promote pro-social behavior, and what our night time dreams are made of, I was captivated from spark to finish…

Intersections

When the day becomes the night and the sky becomes the sea, when the clock strikes heavy and there’s no time for tea; and in our darkest hour, before my final rhyme, she will come back home to Wonderland and turn back the hands of time. ~ The Cheshire Cat

(BANG!) It was like a rollercoaster ride through a color run that came to an abrupt stop. No lights. No warning signs. Just a loud confusing sound of static and other engines passing by. Three minutes prior to this scene, I had been walking outside before setting sail down the Green River. I looked up high and noticed the Cheshire Cat with a silly smile on his half-hidden face in the night sky. Was that a glimmer in his eye or a wink? What was he trying to tell me? Go this way or go that way? Oh what to do, what to do…

A Bite of Blood Moon Pie

Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines with my dead beat sky, but this town doesn’t look the same tonight. These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere, and in all my life I don’t know that I ever felt so alive. ~ Switchfoot, “Awakening”

Scene: Midnight ~ that paradoxical hour that divides our sense of time. (“Is it night or is it morning?” Hmm…both.) Happy Blood Moon and Pi Day! I feel like there’s been a lack of social awareness for this grand celestial event which happens to be in congruence with all math lovers’ favorite day of the year. Last year millions of people embarked on trips across the states to view the solar eclipse while sporting eclipse glasses and souvenir t-shirts and indulging in special eclipse-themed snacks. I think this lunar eclipse deserves equal attention. We all should have planned to collectively eat moon pies at 3:14 in the morning, while solving mathematical equations under the crescent of light that will be present during this eclipse. Instead, a few dedicated moon lovers will be turning their gaze and their cameras upward on this “once in a red moon” kind of night…

No Place Like Home?

Brave, gotta call it brave to chase that dream across the sea. Names, then they signed their names for something they believed. Red, how the blood ran red; we laid our dead in sacred ground. Just think, wonder what they’d think if they could see us now. ~ Dierks Bentley

Click, click, click. I was walking through the magical land of Toys “R” Us with my parents one night when all of the sudden something glittery and red on a low shelf caught an eye behind my large pink glasses. It was a pair of slip-on heels with red bows across the toes. I reached for the sparkling ruby slippers which were just my size, bound up in Wizard of Oz packaging. I had never seen anything like them, and they may as well have been made of real rubies. In all actuality, they were plastic and designed for a little girl to dance and prance around in; not actually wear out anywhere, much to my chagrin. It was the first pair of shoes I remember buying, and I was tickled pink! This purchase by my seven year old self was made possible from an allowance after helping out with chores at home. Right then and there I became head over heels for red shoes, and the affinity remains. Isn’t it amazing how seemingly insignificant moments in childhood can have a lasting impact…

The Wild Goose Chase of Birdnapper Brown

The name’s Pearl. Blizzard Pearl. She’s called the Snow Goose by those who know and love her. And she likes to fly fast. This blog is about the day the Snow Goose took a high speed flight, and the secret mission to bring her home.

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful bird in a far off land known as Stoplight City, where the corn fields shake hands with suburban living. This bird shone with a radiant iridescent glow and so was called Blizzard Pearl. This Snow Goose never asked for much; she was happy to leisurely fly her lady, known as M, wherever M’s heart desired. But Pearl did have one secret longing: she yearned to fly fast. And on one now infamous day, fate would give her that chance…

Bears in the Night

The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows. ~ Brené Brown

“WHOOOOOOO!!!” The vivid hoot of the night owl awoke me from my slumber, and I cried out in fright. Except…it wasn’t a real owl; I opened my eyes to the darkness of the room and slowly came to my senses. It seemed as dark as the midnight, but it couldn’t have been much past nine o’clock. Maybe if I keep squinting, I’ll be able to see what the little red numbers say on that clock sitting on the dresser in this now distant memory of my childhood bedroom. The light in the hall cast looming shadows onto the walls. Hearing the cry, my mom rushed into my room to see what was wrong. Three-year-old me with blonde hair at the time, wearing my favorite blue pajamas, was crying my big brown eyes out while sitting on my bed. My mom in her navy blue robe adorned with tiny pink and white flowers, held me close and listened to me describe the scary owl who had felt so real. Like a night-light in the darkness, she came to the rescue and assured me…it had just been a bad dream…

Lipstick, Fitness, and Things Like Horror Movies

“I hope they’ll know how hard I tried to live in love, to love in depth, let wonder take away my breath, to give until there’s nothing more, this is what I want to be remembered for. Everything else you can set it on fire.” ~ Colony House

“I want your lips to be the first thing people see when they walk through that door!” my boss exclaimed while we young ladies were gathered around for a staff meeting. I’ll never forget that line or the fire in her voice as long as I live. Think Devil Wears Prada with the southern allure of Dolly Parton. At the time, I was in sales training at a high-end makeup and formal dress store for brides and beauty queens in a large micropolitan area just outside Brad Paisley’s southern comfort zone. I’d always loved makeup and dressing up, but the energetic owners of the store gave a new meaning to my previously held visions of a glam up. Plump, vibrant, impossible-to-resist lips were a requirement. Lips that could sell anything. I won’t deny the power of the right lipstick, but maybe I didn’t want my lips to be the talk of the town. In all FAIRness, I love a bold COLOURPOP. It just seemed VANITY to me regarding what my priority was supposed to be; not a genuine smile, but sales lips. I learned a lot during my time there. About fashion, cosmetics, and the not-so-glamorous side of sales. Life lessons that still resonate and fill me with gratitude many years later…

Letter to Helen

To my great-grandma Helen ~ Mother of my grandma. Matriarch of the family. Lady of mystique.

Dear Helen ~ You don’t know me, but I’ve heard stories about you all my life. I’m your daughter Sheri’s oldest granddaughter. I wish I could have met you; you’re the missing person I’m often wondering about. The older I get, the more I think about you and your impact on our family, and how at age 36, I’m a year older than you were when you were gone way too soon from this life. I often wonder how different our lives would have been had you been here with us. I think your story in particular is why I feel emotions so deeply. Why I have always thought about life and death so seriously. Why I want to live life to the fullest amount of joy and passion possible. We aren’t guaranteed a long life on this earth: we only have this present moment…

The Wound, the Wind, and the Wizard

“All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” ~ Leo Tolstoy

I find myself drawn to both light and darkness, and by this dichotomy I am often perplexed. I guess it explains my fascination with the idea of shadows. And the moon. In cryptic prose, I often reflect on the topic of pain. Maybe if I finally chronicle this story, I’ll be able to let the pain of the past go…

The wizard ~ I was peering through the lens of apprehension as my eye appointment neared the shore of reality. Perhaps I was less than optimistic because instead of one, it had been two years since my last visit. But eight tests, four cornea specialists, and two hours later, everything appears to be fine. My eyes are “quiet” as the wizard says. Unbeknownst to him, that’s how I refer to my eye doctor. A world-renowned surgeon. A miracle worker. A man who once told me in his dry sense of humor, “I don’t have a crystal ball,” when he couldn’t conjure up a vision of my future eye health for my peace of mind…

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31