Mad Macedonian

Ever Seen the Smile of God?

 

The city of Houston, Harris County and other parts of Texas have had a rough week.

I count myself among the lucky.

The Houston Storm and Flood of April 2016

After a few days to begin drying out the rain returned for a while this afternoon.

The day began partly cloudy and so I hopped on my bike, even though its brakes appear to be loose or shot and pedaled, carefully, 10 miles or so to church at The Story of Houston for the first time since Easter.

Storyteller Visits The Story, to Hear a Story About THE Story of Easter

Life Draggin' You Down? Never Give Up!

 

I get inspiration in the most unexpected ways; Things I hear, things I read...and things I see and encounter can give me ideas for poems, songs, stories, writing prompts, essays, photos, and videos.

Two days ago I was walking across the parking lot next to my apartment building and happened to look at the ground and saw something that made me run to my apartment and grab my cell phone camera before the sun dried this vision up forever.

After attending church today I came home, after a rain delay caused me to stop my bike ride and find a dry spot for a bit, and contemplated the meaning of what my photo revealed to me.

Do you see what I see?

The message that popped into my head reminded me of the series of 30 blog posts I wrote last November.

The series was on the topic of "never giving up" and the message of this image can serve as a nice follow-up for those who finish the series and an encouragement to maybe check out the series for those who see this first.

Feel like life is draggin' you down?

That's the best time to roar defiantly and let your hopes and dreams take wing and fly free as a bird.

Follow-up: Speaking of images and messages about never giving up...

Ever Seen the Smile of God?

 

The Houston Storm and Flood of April 2016

 

Brays Bayou is a normally beautiful, varied, and peaceful landscape, more concrete than natural, unlike Buffalo Bayou, the mother bayou of Houston.

It meanders 31 miles, from near George Bush Park, in West Houston, east to enter Buffalo Bayou as it heads to the Houston Ship's Channel.

I ride my bike along the bike trail to and from work, a couple blocks from where the bayou goues under the freeways at West Loop/Post Oak.

This area was under water after the storm of Memorial Day 2015. This photo was taken 2 days ago.

I live about 3 blocks east of where the bayou passes under Beechnut, near Sam Houston Freeway/Beltway 8. There are apartments and streets beyond the right tree line, to the freeway, and more apartments, including mine, beyond the left tree line.

The bayou goes south through a private golf course before heading east alongside Braeswood Blvd., 10 miles or so, past The Medical Center area. This section didn't get near to flooding last year.

 

That brings me to last night and this morning....

 

CRAP: A 200 Word Musing

  It's been a while....since I last wrote a 100 Word Musing for this blog.

June 2013 to be exact.

The last 100 Word Cat Story was in August 2014 and there have only been 3 200 Word Cat Stories since May 3013, the most recent just last month.

Life has been difficult the past year or so, but to go so long with so little output of these little gems?

If I can create something as unique as AUBREY once who's to say I can't do more of the individual stories as well as another more complex tale?

Today has been an interesting day...

A couple of days ago I took the cats to a vet to get their nails done and get one a shot. When the folks behind the social media accounts for the vet got wind of  the blog post about the trip they asked permission to plug it on their social media.

Yesterday the cats posted a book review and the author of the book left a comment.

When I wrote the author a note of thanks we got into a little back and forth, the gist of which was that I shared a little about myself and my creativity and regretfully admitted that, no, I would not be able to attend Blog Paws and meet her, in June, despite scheduling a 5 day vacation around when the event occurs, as I could not afford to do so.

Three things she wrote me stood out:

"Writing is not easy and very much an ivory tower activity."

"If your poetry is cat related — you may have discovered a niche market worth pursuing."

and this.....

"My answer for writers block.

Sit down and write anything — crap can be fixed perfected and improved ... … if you write nothing — you have nothing to fix …. somehow when you write garbage and get it out — it clears the way for good things."

 

Thank you, Sandy Robins, for taking time out from your busy life to respond to the ramblings of a struggling writer in Houston.

New Month, New Beginnings, Resolving to Keep Completing Resolutions

I began the year by writing that I hoped to get a futon, take a vacation or 2, find new ways to be creative and doing more of it, submitting my work for publication, going back to church and more.

So far, so good...I've got a futon, had a vacation, returned to church, submitted my work for award consideration and found creative opportunity on this blog and The Opinionated Pussycat.

I want to switch to Windows 10 while it's still free and since a friend recently did so with no problem I may take the plunge.

I still can't afford to renew my Carbonite back-up but I can't let that hold me back from finally take the plunge into my CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing accounts...

I am wondering if small, one subject, poetry collections, to test the waters, would be a good way to start, as opposed to publishing  Nikita's short story?

I imagine taking those poems off line for good would be part of the plan.

I don't even know if there would be any interest, but if I am going to take new steps in becoming a published author, I have to start somewhere.

Speaking of that...several poetry submission opportunities have come to my attention that I may look into.

I've also decided on a new way to track my stats and explore just what sort of audience, if any, I have for my blogs...