DANCE OF THE DEMONS

Tags: poetry

EYE ROLL EARNERS

There are those occasions and those people who earn my patented, exaggerated eye roll. I am annoyed by the situations or the people, and my eye roll just happens. Involuntarily. Sometimes, though, when an annoyance becomes habitual, I have this "thing" I do and say to the person. I reach up and tug down my lower eyelid and say, "Note the concern in my eye?" Ever hear me say that, and you will know I want nothing to do with you anymore. You are done. Gone. Tell it to someone else.

 

I became aware of the fact that I eye roll probably more often than I had realized. We all probably do. What drivers have not rolled their eyes when an idiot cuts in front of them? Okay, there could be a few colorful words muttered and a hand gesture to accompany the eye roll. But, the eye roll is there.

 

Stores are a terrific place to count the number of eye roll times. Topping the count would be those people who ram right into me in their hurry to get to the toilet paper on sale. ::snicker:: They practically knock off my shoulder and say absolutely nothing. No "excuse me." No "I'm sorry." Geez. I am not going to bark anything at them when they do it, because they probably bite. And usually look like rabies shots were not a part of their health care. Oddly enough, the "store cart ankle clippers" almost always apologize for destroying my Achilles' tendons. I like courtesy. Even if I am left temporarily crippled.

 

Sporting events are a real treat. It is a small wonder my eyes have not permanently taken up residence under my upper eyelids. Adults acting like spoiled, undisciplined children. Shouting out the most obnoxious insults to youngsters (ack, don't really old people use the word "youngster"?). Even at the college level, fans need to remember that the players are still teenagers or have only just barely turned 20 or 21. That is young. They also need to remember that most arenas and stadiums adhere to the one-seat-per-person rule. That's right. You have your seat number, and I have mine. Stay OFF my seat. No sprawling your arms and legs into my personal space, either. I have practically raced to sit down on stadium benches after some super athletic or scoring play brought everyone to their feet in order to avoid being shoved six rows down when the stranger to my left decides to park his usually wide load onto MY seat. Even when there are individual, separated seats, it amazes me how people plant their elbows into your ribs or steal your cup holder.

 

Moving on to another eye roller. Ah, I refer to them as the "don't confuse me with facts" folks. Good grief. If it is raining and the evidence is in their drenched clothing and rivulets of raindrops cascading down their faces, do not insist it is NOT raining if I say it is. We are not talking opinion. It is fact. If the facts happen to get in the way of your beliefs, suck it up like a big boy or girl. Just do not do battle with me.

 

Snobs. They are better than everyone else, aren't they? Just ask them. ::grin:: If I do not laugh at them, I eye roll instead. I am never quite sure if their snobbery is masking extreme insecurities or if they truly believe they are superior. Either way, they do need to grasp the concept that there will always be people who are prettier, wealthier, nicer, smarter, funnier, etc., than they are. It does not negate their worth. It simply establishes that they are not perfection personified and had best not expect me to drop to my knees and kiss their feet.

 

There, that is a smattering of eye roll earners. I am certain I could go on and on, but I do not want to dwell on it. I do not even know what exactly prompted me to write about this. I had one of those grand weekends that just felt soooo right. You know what kind I mean. The kind that finds you singing up a storm, feeling all content, walking with an extra bounce in your step...yet there is no one thing you could identify as the reason why you feel that way. You just do.

 

And you love the feeling...

 

Far more than the feeling of eye rolls.

 

"What annoyances are more painful than those of which we cannot complain?" ~Marquis De Custine

MY COMFORT AND JOY

This painting o' mine is completed. I think. Okay, I am sure I will still pick at it and add little highlights here and there before I call it done.

 

Somewhere, somehow, and from someone, I had a photo of this scene. I have no idea who sent it to me with the suggestion that I attempt to paint it. It immediately grabbed me, and I knew I would try to do just that. I could not decide if it would be suited best for acrylics, watercolors, or pastels. The pastels won out. I like the freedom they give me when I use them. 

 

I worked on it far longer than I typically do any of my paintings. It sat on my drafting table while I hovered over it working the pastels into the mix. I had to keep getting up and walking away from it at times. I was not getting the depth right. It was maddening. I finally put it on the easel. There, I was able to work more easily. I could see where details were necessary to give it a three-dimensional quality.

 

It was a nightmare and a pleasant dream. A source of frustration and delight. An exercise in futility and small success. And through it all, it still brought me contentment. I am certain that is why I play with my paints. They do take me to a place inside of me where tranquility exists. I need to visit it often.

 

The husband wants this painting for his office. My daughter wants it for her room. My son simply says he likes when I use pastels. And I? I want it for myself.

 

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." ~Vincent Van Gogh

Run your fingers through my soul~

Tags: pastels, painting

HOPE FROM THE HEART

There are countless songs with lyrics pertaining to love and the heart. Some happy, some sad. And I gave a great deal of thought to which song I would feature here via YouTube for this final entry of my February "heart" month theme. Trying to narrow it down to one was almost an exercise in futility.

I finally decided to put in a song that I feel encompasses our hope that we...our hearts...will be remembered after we have gone. 'Tis beautiful. Just close your eyes (the video image is anime, which I dislike) and absorb the sounds and the emotions they conjure up within you.

Be kind to others' hearts...and your own.

 

Keep The Flame by Stratovarius

 

The shadow falls on me today.
Oh, why can't it fade into the distance?

And darkness calls, no other way.
I rage at the riddle of existence.

The day's almost gone, but you'll carry on.
Can you keep the flame for me?
The day's almost gone, but you'll carry on.
Can you keep the flame for me?

A broken plan, a fleeting past.
Oh, how do we always keep on trying?

A tired man is free at last.
Oh, what would the purpose be of lying?

My life's almost gone, but you'll carry on.
Can you keep the flame for me?
My life's almost gone, but please carry on.
Could you keep the flame for me?
Will you keep the flame for me?

Tags: Stratovarius, Keep The Flame, heart

A GENTLE TUG AT THE HEARTSTRINGS

I love this photograph. "Eternal Embrace" is what it has been dubbed. The discovery of these skeletons locked in an embrace was quite a find. It is not just the age of the remains~6,000 years~that drew worldwide attention, but also the positioning of the bones in a joint burial. You see, during the Neolithic period it was unheard of for a burial spot to contain more than one body. Archaeologists do not know what to make of this unusual find.

The plan is to excavate all around the couple in order to keep the bones exactly as they were found, instead of dismantling the bones one by one and reassembling them as is typically done. After studying the remains, they will be exhibited in a museum in Italy. Scientists said it will be a record of the longest known hug.

 

All sorts of stories are swirling around about why these two young people (intact teeth indicate they were young) were buried together and who they are. Most think they were in love. Some that their deaths were a la Romeo and Juliet. After all, the remains were found a mere 25 miles from the city of Verona in Italy. How strikingly curious that Verona was the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Or maybe it was a tragic accident of some kind. The cynics demand to know why everyone is so quick to think the couple was in love. Ah, always someone at the ready to be vocal and rain on everyone's parade.

 

Yes, I adore this picture. The people are not pretty. There is no glitter, no flashiness, no sparkles in it. Nothing but old bones surrounded by dirt.

 

Yet, if you look very, very closely, I believe you will see two beautiful hearts joined together as one.

 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." ~Albert Einstein

 

Run your fingers through my soul~

Tags: Eternal Embrace photo, Verona Italy, Neolithic period, skeletons

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS

I am she. The Queen of Hearts. "Off with their heads!" And I mean it when I shout it! The rules are my rules. I define them. All will follow them, or it's "Off with their heads!"

 

It keeps my world orderly, don't you see? I want everything to be perfect. To run smoothly. I have no tolerance for disorder or for fools. Confusion is not embraced in my world. Far better that my form of justice is carried out, even though others (like that pesky Alice) do not care for my style. Why prolong the chaos when I can halt it immediately? 

 

Ah, but like Lewis Carroll's story, few actually do get beheaded. The King of Hearts makes sure of that. And those surrounding the Queen rarely obey her rules. She is feared, but she is actually quite powerless. It does not matter to her as long as attempts are made to keep her world free from disharmony.

 

My King of Hearts does, indeed, exist. ::smile:: He is the calm to my fury. He is the voice of reason to my cry of unfair. He is the even to my uneven. He is the day to my nite. And occasionally he "gets" me when I am not sure I "get" myself. He accepts that I sometimes love others with an intensity and passion most reserve for only one. Why? Because he knows he is my only King of Hearts for life and far beyond.

 

And I am his Queen of Hearts.

 

Together we are an anomaly. I laugh at times when I think about us. We almost never fight. But, when we do, he is the "Off with her head" Heart of the couple. My head. He wants it off. Big time! ::grin:: I cower. Yep, the Queen of Hearts is not her usual bold self then. Scared, even. Ah, but the beauty of it is that the tempest is over quickly, and he is genuinely full of remorse and once again restored to his natural King of Hearts ways.

 

We are a couple of well-suited cards. ::cheesy pun intended::

 

"Your way? All ways here are my ways!" ~The Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland

 

 

Tags: Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland

HAPPY HEART DAY (::blowing you a kiss::)