What I've been learning lately

I finally got out my copy of Clarissa Pinkola Estes' book from the early nineties, "Women Who Run with the Wolves". I've been meaning to read it for ages (it actually still has the receipt in it-I bought it at Esalen during my workscholar month), and now I'm finally getting around to it. It's really a wonderful read-very insightful. I'm only about a third of the way in, but there are already some real nuggets of wisdom there. She's had some interesting psychological insights from the stories of Bluebeard and Vasalisa the Wise which I've really enjoyed.
I've also been immersed in my studies for my French 2 class at Bellevue Community College. The material is starting to get more challenging, and the instructor is moving more quickly through it, which makes it more fun for me.

Writing and the Interstitial

Writing has not gone particularly well for me over the past several months, and I've been struggling to understand why that might be. I know the lack of reaction to my "Anya and the Bear" may have been a part of it, but not entirely the problem. In reading the Endicott Studio blog over the past few days, they had an entry that the Interstitial Arts Foundation will be publishing a second anthology of interstitial fiction, and they're having an open call for submissions. This seems like a good opportunity for me, and is far enough out that I have the summer to work on a story, versus the two weeks that I had before sending my story out a few months ago.
I've been thinking that I would rewrite "Anya and the Bear" as my submission. I think that Anya is, or could be, in an interstitial place, between the ordinary world and the spirit world, and in my rewrite she is pregnant, telling her story of the bear to her unborn child. Being an unborn child is about as betwixt and between a place as anyone ever is. So, I'm going to work on the rewrite, submit it to the IAF, and see what happens. It's a small enough project that it doesn't seem too overwhelming, and it's a rewrite of a story that I've already written.

Things

I haven't written a blog post in a few days, mostly because life has just been moving right along, and no one thing seemed worth a blog post devoted to it.
I've been knitting Alex a new sweater since the Aran sweater turned out so well. The new one will be charcoal gray with an orange star on the chest. Ron's mom mentioned star-bellied sneetches, which I had totally forgotten about, so Alex got a new book yesterday to go with the new sweater I'm making him. :) He's also been really fascinated with cars lately, so he got Richard Scarry's Book of Things that Go. Of course, for him anything with a motor is a car (lawn mowers, trains, etc.), so we've been working on the difference between cars and trucks, cars and airplanes, and so on.
In dog-related news, Hank has finally learned to swim! I'll post photographic evidence tomorrow. :) On Sunday when we were at Magnuson Dog Park he went into the water and was actually swimming to get his tennis ball, and the last two mornings I've been throwing the ball into the river at Marymoor for him, and he's really swimming! It's exciting to see him finally do it-he's figured out how fun it is. He is a lab, after all ;).
This weekend we had my friend Dan Gronwald from Pacifica staying with us. He was in town for a workshop, so we offered him the use of our spare bedroom. On Saturday night we had my friend Liz and her husband over for dinner (Liz was also in our class at Pacifica). It was such a gorgeous day-rarely hot for spring-over 80. We ate outside on our deck, and it was so much fun. Ron Alex and I went down to Pike Place Market in the morning and got a dozen oysters, salmon, fresh asparagus, and a pear tart from the French bakery. It was my first time with raw oysters at home, and they were so delicious! The salmon turned out really good too-Ron cooked it on cedar planks (the traditional NW way of cooking salmon), and it was so delicious.

We also went to my niece Korienne's 7th birthday party on Saturday afternoon. My brother Chris has been urging me to express some of my feelings about the situation with my dad in this blog, but I don't think it's a good idea. For one thing, if I did that, I wouldn't really be on a break from things, I'd just be communicating in a different way. I know he's been really involved in the situation, as he and my dad have been talking things over about me, but I'm really not ready yet to reengage with that situation just yet. I'm still looking for a therapist, for one thing.

Alex's new sweater

I finally finished the Aran sweater I'd been knitting for Alex yesterday-check it out! I think it turned out really well. :) I'm proud of myself. My knitting has come a long way!

Kairos time vs. Chronos

I've been having a hard time lately getting myself into a creative head space, particularly for my writing time. I spend most of my time these days in Chronos time, changing diapers, keeping the house clean, running errands, etc. I'm trying to look for ways to bring myself into Kairos time, because without it writing is impossible for me. Today on my morning trip to the dog park I tried to hold onto that state of kairos time from sleep, and let my mind drift in the space where my story lives. It was a misty morning today, and somehow the "mistery" of the mist (sorry ;) helped me to retain my state of kairos time. It wasn't effortless, but I think things will improve with some mindfulness. I think if I use my morning walks with Hank to meditate on my story, I will be more able to write. We'll see how it goes.