Blogapalooza 2016 - Day 7: I'd Love to Learn ...

     I'm sure everyone has their list of things they'd like to learn how to do and a while back I wrote down mine.  Unfortunately I don't have the confidence or the money to take advantage of any local opportunities to fulfill these right now, but hopefully some day!

• Learn how to do a handstand (I can do a cartwheel so I'm halfway there!)
• Learn to pick a lock
• Learn calligraphy
• Learn Russian
• Learn Sign Language
• Learn Hebrew
• Master 5 makeup tutorials
• Learn 5 dance routines from YouTube/Disney
• Get CERT trained
• Learn to make 5 types of bread
• Figure out how to make Greek Lemon Chicken soup with orzo like New Seasons  (I want to be able to eat it all the time, but without the nasty celery!)
• Learn a complete song on the piano, both hands!  (I'm good at read and playing with my right hand, but getting my left in at the same time is tough.  Rhythm is not my strong suit so I have a hard time keeping track of the timing for both parts.)
• Learn to play the guitar  (So many musicians seem to use guitars as their composing instrument and it is ever so much more portable than a piano so I think it would be a good skill to have.)
• Learn archery (longbow and compact)
• Take horseback riding lessons so I’m more comfortable around horses
• Learn how to load, unload, and shoot a gun
• Take a self defense course
• Restart piano lessons  (I know I am better at something when I am accountable to someone else so this would help with my goal of learning a full song.)
• Learn to swim confidently  (I love the water but am also terrified of it.  "Oh the shame of the polar bear who fears the water. No wonder we are shunned by our fellow bear. Woe is us." - Muk and Luk from Balto.)
• Take swing dancing lessons

     What are some things you'd like to learn?

Day 13 - The jetty and other diversions

August 13 - Something you saved

Every scrap of paper that has ever come into my hands or been given me.  I'm a terrible packrat.
I also saved my sister's life on the jetty.  I'm also the who kinda put it in danger by choosing to run to the jetty instead of up the shore but I did my best to keep everyone safe.  The image of her frightened, screaming face, the gum falling out of her mouth as the waves crash around our feet is indelibly imprinted on my mind.

So, the story with the jetty.  My family and several others from the congregation took a camping trip to Southbeach, Oregon.  One of the days we were on the beach we wandered in the direction of the jetty and Jake and I, being young teens/preteens at the time blazed the train, with Deanna, my younger sister, somewhere in between us and the group of grownups and older kids.  Deanna had mostly caught up with us when we saw a giant wave coming that was going to flood where we were.  I could hear Dad yelling for us to run and my brain went into overdrive.  Running up the beach, away from the waves was one option but I didn't feel we could run fast enough to escape it because the beach looked almost completely flat.  The other option was climbing the jetty and I chose that option, you could get higher, faster.  So Jake scrambled up first, Deanna in the  middle and me at the bottom.  Jake tried pulling Deanna higher, I tired pushing her higher, and she played limpet, gluing herself to the rock she was on.  And we made it just in time.  The huge wave lapped at the bottom of my shoes, nearly covering the rock I had gotten up to.  When the wave had mostly receded Jake decided to play hero and jump from the rock.  Evidently he hadn't seen the large trench that was now filled with water.  He got dunked, my dad grabbed him by the front of his shirt and Jake flew to the shore.  Go Dad!  Dad then waded over to us and carried either one or both of us to the rest of the group.  I remember Deanna being carried.

Day 13 - The Matanuska Valley and Other Diversions

 "Libraries and the Internet can be like crack houses for the research addicted."
Amen!  I can't count the number of hours I've spent wandering the internet or a random book after going in search of one specific piece of information.  I can't research worth squat but I can wander and find the most random and fascinating facts.

Day 1 - Nothing lasts and writing spaces

August 1 - Nothing lasts
      Rayella and peppermint ice cream
     Threatens to be depressing and sad, something with kids/swimming/Baskin Robbins
     The ice cream was a melted little puddle by the time they got back.  The once lovely mounds of peppermint were long gone.  Rayella and her kids had stopped by a quarry lake on their drive, decided to take a swim, forgotten their half-eaten Baskin Robbins.
     Thankfully they had gotten bowls to rest their cones in so the pink puddles were contained but the children stared mournfully until their mother promised to buy them more - later.

Day 1 - Switchbacks up the Mountain
So, what would my perfect writing space be?
Not alone really, or maybe ...

• Quiet but stereo system through the whole thing
• Big comfy couches and armchairs
• Water feature in and out
• By train tracks?
• Big library of non-fic ref
• Art prints/paintings on walls
• Not too clean or white 

My current 'switchback cabin' is a table at the library.  But preferably on the right side.  Left is associated with studying.  Either way I see the duck and goose ponds but on the right side people feed them less, there is less a concentration of people and few distractions that way.  I put on whatever music I need in order to be inspired: epic, sweet, rock, medieval.  Usually I write on my laptop (now) but there is something wonderful about sitting down with a notebook and pen and going to town.  At home when I write, scents can be important so I have a variety of candles that I will smell/light/or have it sitting next to me.  Some stories are orange cinnamon, some are apple spice, some are a delightful musk (like the Outsiders with Darry Curtis).