Programming Note: Miss me?

Image courtesy of toothpastefordinner.com

I know. I know.

Soon.

Things will be random. I may WILL backdate things. I may double up. Stay tuned. Check the archives.

Where are we with cloning technology? Or timeturners ala Hermonie Granger? I need a clone to get things done and posts writ.

Soon.

Quotes of the Day: Blogging

remember that you don't owe anyone in blogging. You are doing it for you. -@emily_ladau #HealingStories #BlogHer15

— Phyllis (@phyllismyung) July 17, 2015

Advice: Don't worry about fitting into a niche. Write for yourself first. Be authentic to your experience. #healingstories #BlogHer15

— Danielle Thompson (@uppervalleymom) July 17, 2015

from Twitter

Pardon the Blog Hiatus

The next day?

I'm exhausted from the last 2.5 months.

I knew the summer would be long and hard. It was definitely something I KNEW would happen.

But man...

I don't have the stamina I did when I was in my early 20s.

This summer was LONG ... and EXHAUSTING.

I don't want to make any promises, but ...

but ...

I think ...

I'm beginning to emerge from the "Festival Fugue" that sucked me down, in, and under ... when, from early June to August, you are working so many hours/days in a row, that you can barely remember to eat, go to the bathroom, and pay bills on time, forget blogging.

There were many days -- in a row -- when I didn't know what day of the week it was ... It was just the "Saturday schedule." There were four or five "Saturdays" in a row, due to weirdnesses with weather, generators, holidays, and weekend.

There were late Festival weeks when I was just on autopilot: [get up, shower, get dressed (in a dress), find the rental car, go to work, work, rinse, repeat], that I forgot that I had scheduled myself NOT to be there. I was so worried about all the other people on the schedule, I TOTALLY BLANKED ON MY OWN DAYS OFF!

I mean...

COME ON!

Others are on vacation now. I'm back on a train-commuters' schedule. I'm reading more. I'm sleeping/napping. It's quieter. I'm catching up. ... I think .... I'm slowly emerging from "the Fugue."

Maybe I will find more time now, to blog, and to retroblog -- once this introvert has finally regrouped from having to act like an extrovert for more weeks than her reserves could handle. (Adding to the Fugue-state/zombie-hood.).

I still need about 2 more weeks BY MYSELF to finally feel like myself. Since THAT won't happen, it's self-imposed exile when and where I can.

And, I need to retroblog.

A lot of family stuff happened this summer.
A lot.
Some pictures were taken this summer.
Cute mail came in this summer.
More plans were made for next  summer.
I have more Wishes and Dreams that I need to articulate, as some from last year are actually coming true.

But for now...

Hi!

I'm sunny, but I'm still drooping.

Kinda like this

Turn of the Page/ Turn of the Phrase

It's ... June?

June?!

With the turn of the calendar page, I'm going to try and be better about adding a note or two to this blog page. 

Maybe if I ease back in, the words and creativity will start to flow down the dry paths?

Sometimes it will be a photo, or sometimes it will be a turn of the phrase.

Speaking of a turn of phrase:

These, from a recent New York Times Travel article, particularly struck me, especially after a recent quick trip back up to Connecticut's familiar back roads:

At that moment, I understood that you could not inhabit anyplace permanently, except in memory, and that this was as it should be. ...

I felt the shimmer of time’s continuum flickering against the backdrop of place. ...

... I realized there did not have to be just one home: In the mind, geography converges; beloved landscapes, villages, cities, countries, all become one, in the borderless scrapbook of memory.

 

from A Return to Rural France, and to Childhood Memories, by Liesl Schillinger on May 28, 2014, New York Times

Writer's envy? Travel envy? A bit of both. You betcha. But ... so grateful for what I do have.

Scenes from CT quick trip:

 

Xo, Auntie Nettie

Pardon the Silence ... Extended Pause

via here

But ...

via here

The words aren't coming. 

The inspiration isn't flowing. 

The "processing" isn't happening. 

Actually, nothing creative is happening lately. 

I'm in a creative winter. A dry spell. A rut of a new road.

Photo by Pete McBride, from here

 

Resources are being reallocated for other vital functions. 

I need to learn the new patterns to start things up again. 

But, until then.

Pardon the silence.

I'll be inspired  ... hopefully.

Eventually.

Image courtesy of toothpastefordinner.com

Plugging My Friend's Book

I am so proud of my friend, aka The Ironic Mother. Leaving our organization and New York was a big step, but she had gone on to some great things, including writing a BOOK! Arts & Numbers

Now she's on a series of book tours.

Guess what I'm doing tonight?

I'll be the one in the back, cheering loudly. Maybe with Levain cookies, banners, and a grin.

For ONCE, I will link to Amazon. BUY IT. It'd be a perfect graduation gift for arts grads, along with Neil Gaiman's Make Good Art.

Blogging is Time Consuming

Image from here

Blogging is time consuming. Even for someone unencumbered by responsibilities like spouses, offspring, or pets, there are only so many hours in the day to balance the many demands placed, or self-imposed, upon me. I am invariably dropping one ball or another in the great juggling act of life (sorry friends). I also want to experience things and be present in my life and not a slave to social media and this blog.

As technology has shifted to new mediums, I have seen some blogs shift completely away from this forum and/or be taken down from the Internet (I really hope they saved them in one form or another). Other have managed to somehow integrate networking streams and their lives a little more successfully than me. It's hard not to compare and contrast lots in life and to feel inferior to other people and their many accomplishments, presented both in real life and on the web.

I keep coming  back to my reasons for doing this in the first place - documenting my life for future generations.

It is not for revenue streams.
It is not for readership statistics.
It is not to compete in a popularity contests.
It is not a platform for a book/television/movie deal.
It is for my nieces and nephews and their offspring.

Yesterday evening, between the baking marathon that helps me de-stress and honestly, to bribe various people to like me, and the phone calls to some friends and family, I managed to catch up on some reading of an online periodical. I SHOULD have been finishing the Refrigerator Roll Recipe and/or "banking" more posts for the week, but I was prompted (I realize now) to catch up on my reading.

It was to find this article in the Deseret News. It was to extract these quotes to keep me on track and remember WHY I am doing this -- to keep me motivated to keep this blog going despite time constraints, writer's block, the dearth of readers, and the fact that it this a very public forum and I am actually a very private person.

Now, I don't usually post too many faith-heavy entries, but this one will definitely have a Mormon-slant, and I'll do my best to post links to explain the jaragon. The themes, however, are universal.

With thanks to the article’s writer, Trent Toone. The full article was published on February 21, 2013, and may be found at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/865573684/Tips-guidelines-and-principles-How-to-write-a-personal-history-your-posterity-cant-put-down.html 

Copyright 2013, Deseret News Publishing Company

Extracted for length and pertinence, all phrases bolded for emphasis are done by me and not in the original article. 

Tips, guidelines and principles: How to write a personal history your posterity can't put down

By Trent Toone, Deseret News, February 21, 2013

Regarding the book: “More To Your Story: Discover the Powerful Experiences You’re Already Having” by LDS Church leader, Elder W. Craig Zwick and his wife, Jan. Elder Zwick is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy [See the hyperlinks for definitions of these LDS terms].

“…We believe it is impossible to overestimate the influence our own stories can have on us, our children and future generations,” the Zwicks wrote in the book’s introduction. “But if we and those we love are to benefit from these moments, we would be wise to ‘Treasure up … the words of life’ (Doctrine and Covenants 84:85), write them down and frequently recount them — thus making them part of our family lore and heritage.”

“There is power in teaching true principles the same way we learned them,” Elder Zwick said. “The purpose of all of us in mortality is to learn through our experiences, whatever they may be. Stories infuse our life with meaning. We are here to learn from our experiences. … For the experience to be meaningful to you, it needs to be verbalized or written. … Until you speak or write about it, it doesn’t have power in your life.”

Once an experience has been identified, don’t get too hung up on details or flowery words, focus on the feelings that were felt, Elder Zwick said.

“The real essence of the experience is what we felt in our heart,” Elder Zwick said. “It is not so much what you write, but the idea is to convey a feeling.”

For help on deciding what is appropriate and what isn’t, Elder Zwick pointed out two scriptures in the Book of Mormon.

Alma 37:8 states, “And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.”

In 3 Nephi 27:23, it reads: “Write the things which ye have seen and heard, save it be those which are forbidden.”...

Notable author, Lee Nelson also has this wisdom about documenting your life …

… Nelson wrote: “How many departed souls are regretting that they didn’t write something down before it was too late? How frustrated are they that the too-brief stories of their lives, often written by people who didn’t know them, miss the mark by such a great distance?”

As he wrote his own story, his life made more sense.

“I began to see pattern and purpose instead of accidents and dead ends,” Nelson wrote. “As I wrote about regrets and mistakes … I began to see some of these events as wonderful learning opportunities preparing me for future events.”

Writing a personal history is not like writing an algebra textbook, he wrote, it is nothing more, or less, than telling stories of your life. Some are short and funny and some are longer and more serious. Sometimes you explain at the end of a story what you learned, sometimes you don’t, he wrote.

“There is no secret,” Nelson wrote, “It’s not hard, but it does take time and attention, usually over several years. It might go faster if I do it for you, but it might be better if you do it yourself. After all, you are the one who did all the research.

“The elements in great stories, the stories that never die, are the same elements we see in our own lives. The great stories parallel the lives of human beings. All of us are reluctant heroes or heroines engaged in life’s journey.”

Also from the News:

Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander
"A life that is not documented is a life that within a generation or two will largely be lost to memory. What a tragedy this can be in the history of a family. Knowledge of our ancestors shapes us and instills within us values that give direction and meaning to our lives." (General Conference, April 1999) [AN note: emphasis my own]

And so, onward ... to keep trying to keep this up, to keep writing the stories, documenting the milestones, and articulating the oddities that are my life.

~ Auntie Nettie

Auntie Nettie's Attic - New Header

Just a quick blog shout-out to Sarah at OrdinarySarah.com for the sweet new blog header.

Thanks to the wonders of social networking, I found out about a special offer to do header design. A couple of e-mails later, a few questions, some tweaks, and a Paypal entry, and viola.

I've done some minor readjusting to side-bars and colors, but doesn't it look so much better? It only took four years and some futile hinting to the Bloggysphere.

Thanks again Sarah.

Thesis Statement

I am one of the fortunate college graduates that managed to matriculate without writing a thesis, for either my undergraduate or graduate degrees. Oh, I didn't get off scott-free. I had to write my share of tomes, but I avoided the dreaded THESIS.

My Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature saw many a paper written over four years. I had old fashioned comprehensive exams wherein I filled out many, many a little blue book. In two separate three-hour sessions, I scribbled away, struggling in vain to remember four years worth of readings ranging across centuries of literature. These writing sessions were very intense. Imagine a locked room in a library. 25 or more anxious English majors gathered around a large wooden table. Proctors handing out blue books and instructions. Add in the ever growing realization that you have only a few hours to regurgitate all the things in your brain, and that the result of how you do in the next hours would determine if you pass and graduate or, heaven forbid, you have to take the test again.

Panic has a smell. It's not pleasant.

On the other hand, my masters degree in Librarian Science was considered a "practical" degree and there was no thesis requirement. One of the requirements for graduation, however, was an internship for which you had to write a paper on your experiences. I had a lovely internship at a college music library, and over three months kept a journal that developed into a larger paper. With the addition of copies of the research, advertising materials, new flyers, and other brochures I developed for the library, I handed in quite a large binder. I don't even think my advisor read my paper. I think she weighed that binder, by eye and by mass, against some of the other papers that were handed in, and just gave me an A. I still have the binder. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's as large as some of the dissertations that I've come across in various library stacks.

Now, this is not to say I didn't have the opportunity to write a thesis. There were honors tracks in both degree programs which culminated in a thesis project. As you can see here, verbosity is not my problem. I like to read. I like to research. I usually like to write. At the time I just had other priorities. I finished up the bulk of my undergraduate degree in three and half years. I was living off-campus my last semester, taking two night/weekend courses, and working two or three jobs. I didn't have time to do extra credit honors work. Same situation with my graduate degree. I was working full (plus)-time, travelling onto Long Island or into New York City for my classes, and was commuting to the internship. More importantly, I could only afford to put so many graduate credit tuition fees onto a credit card or to incur more student loans.

I'm capable of a thesis. I just chose to take other academic and life paths.

There was also one other factor. The whole thesis process always seemed like such a daunting thing to me, but it was based on perceptions and childhood impressions. You know how, when you're looking back through the filter of childhood memories, things always look bigger, and tasks seem more daunting? And then when you come upon them later, things are surprisingly easier or places smaller? That's the THESIS for me.

When I was little, my father was working on his undergraduate and graduate degrees, working two or three jobs, and all the while raising a family in a day and age where there weren't so many technological advancements. I have vague memories of him struggling to write that thing out long-hand before dashing off to a night job, and then my poor mother "translating" and editing it. After staying home all day with three young kids under the age of 8, dealing with all our issues, she would then stay up late typing Dad's thesis on a manual typewriter ... over and over and over again. The sound of a typewriter got to be a comforting rhythm to my childhood dreams. Later on, I remember my parents having conversations about thesis advisers and approval committees -- how these professor-types would argue and haggle over language/sentences and how these changes made my mother have to retype the whole paper ... you guessed it -- over and over and over again. The folks kept drafts to track the changes, and would cynically comment about thesis advisers who would say one things in a draft, insist on edits, and by draft 20 or 30, would have managed to flip all the way back to the original version. I was about 6-8 about this time, and somehow all of this was floating around my head when it came time to have to decide on educational paths.

I admire anyone who has willingly taken on a thesis project, especially one that involves surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and other research. It's hard work getting people to respond, and then to provide data that you can actually use. I remember all too well from grad school.

So, when I read about Whitney's thesis project on blogging, I was more than willing to help.

Extra bonus ... Whitney is attending Dad's alma mater.

Won't you click through and then take some time to help a fellow blogger out? She asks some very important questions about why you do, or do not, blog, who you blog for, and what other blogs you read. If you haven't already thought about these questions for yourself, it does help you to focus on your subject matter and intended audience.

Write on, Ms. Whitney, Write on!

GOOOOOOOO Aggies!

"Famous"

Check it out ... One of my guerrilla-style photography shoots got posted to another blog.

Click on the Blog of Unnecessary Quotations Marks for a take on "burgers."

Awful Library Books

I think it's time to resume educating people about librarians, their duties, and their odd senses of humor. To that end, and as a public service, I'd like to share a new blog with you all, one called Awful Library Books.

The blog was started by two public librarians in Michigan, who cannot understand why libraries don't do more to "weed" the junk from circulating collections. (Well, we know why... the public doesn't like to see books discarded, no matter how cr*ptastic the books may be!) The blog is a collection of the worst of public library holdings, featuring books so old and obsolete that you won't believe that the material was/is still accessible to check out. No specific libraries or librarians are named to protect the guilty....

The photo here is from the July 13th entry, a book that is still in the catalog for many libraries. It reminds me of the old Dick and Jane books.

Blog FAQs

Recently it occurred to me that new readers or others who stumble across this in the future may have questions about this blog. Since I had time, I thought I’d try and answer some of them.

Why did you start the blog, Auntie Nettie?

The blog was started to be a loose record of Auntie Nettie’s life, mostly for the purpose of entertaining herself, and by extension, her nieces and nephews. As the kids get older and can read, hopefully they can use this blog as a way to get to know their Auntie Nettie better and read about shared visits and family stories that they may not remember.

Auntie Nettie? Why are there no pictures of you/uncle/kids/cousins on this blog?

Well kids, you see, the Interweb and Blogosphere can be read by lots of people all around the world. There may be some nice people out there, who are generally interested in our well-being, but there are also some not-so-nice people who cross lines and do some mean things. (Ask your uncle one day. He can tell you stories.) Auntie Nettie and Uncle G-dawg made a decision to not reveal too many personal details, like real names, addresses, phone numbers, and pictures of us or your cousins on the blog. Plus, the blog is called “Auntie Nettie’s” not some variation of maternal musings. Pictures and communications about your cousins will be shared in other old-fashioned way.

Didn’t you used to post a Grateful List?

Yes my darlings. Auntie Nettie did start out one year keeping a weekly Grateful List. However, Auntie Nettie got very busy with all her jobs and with living life.

Here’s a sample of her general, ongoing Grateful List, in no particular order:

~ Loving family, including all of my far-flung nieces and nephews, Grandmary and Grumpa, Uncle G-dawg and our little hatchlings;

~ Gainful employment, even if it can be a bit much a times;

~ Health and relative sanity;

~All the beauty of the various fine arts;

~ Mother Nature’s endless beauty and bounty; and the

~ Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and Inalienable rights, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Auntie Nettie? If you are so busy, how do you have time to craft?

Crafts therapy is infinitely cheaper than regular therapy. It’s a way to harness my nervous energy, relieve stress, and manage anger issues in a productive way, so I don’t end up cleaning obsessively, peeling my cuticles down to the bones, or noshing until the cupboards are bare.

The side effect of all of this crafting is the accumulation of more supplies, more projects, and more handicrafts in the art studio, which in turn adds to Auntie Nettie’s stress because it starts to pile up. It’s an endless cycle.

You might ask how you can help relieve this stress by buying some of the handicrafts. Sadly, you have to know Auntie Nettie and/or know when she’s having one of her boutiques/trunk shows, because she’s just not gotten an on-line etsy shop … yet. That’s more stress.

Why are there so many pictures on this blog, Auntie Nettie? Isn’t a blog more of a written record?

To paraphrase an “ancient” song, it’s my blog, I’ll post what I want to. But really, there are a few reasons that photos appear so much. As you’ve read from the profile and some of the entries, Auntie Nettie’s very busy, between work, family, crafts, commuting, etc. Sometimes, I don’t have time to write a whole entry.

Also, Auntie Nettie realizes that while all of her nieces and nephews are precociously intelligent and very advanced for their ages, they are all at various reading levels. I’m trying to post a little something for everyone to understand.

After all, A picture is worth a thousand words.

(Plus, sometimes, I just like to amuse myself.)

Speaking of which … Auntie Nettie? What is the deal with The Shushing Librarian?

Ah … The Shushing Librarian.

Let’s just put it this way. Alter egos come in all shapes and sizes. Pookahs, Imaginary Friends, Avatars, Imps of Perverseness … and Action Figures. "Nough said.

If you have other questions, just let Auntie Nettie know.

Please and thank you.

Friday Festitivies -- Update

Sniff. Casey has left the building. The Big J Building that is.

Casey is, as expected, AWESOME and gracefully put up with my getting us lost in the Big J hallways (it's still a construction site), my ramblings, and babblings etc. She also helped me remember why the Big J is so cool. You spend time there and you forget, as you get caught up in the administrative details of making an institution this size work, and the rush of one concert/event to the next. It's really the staff and the students, from the crazy security guards, to the Dance and the Drama staff that let you duck onto stages and into rehearsal rooms, and the students practicing away in little rooms, dancing their feet off in studios while strangers lurk in doorways, and or just going about their lives. The music can be a cacophony of vocalises, scales, percussive drills, timpani, combined with the sounds of rip saws, or wonderfully familiar classical melodies floating around corners or across the vastness of empty recital halls.

Once upon a time, coming to the Big J as a musician was more than a few people's dream for me. At the time I couldn't convey why I just knew, in my heart of hearts, that being a concert pianist wasn't to be my path. Somehow I was aware even then, that you didn't have to BE an artist to be in the service of Art. It may have taken more than a decade or more, some rebellion, and different career explorations, but ultimately my current journey has merged paths with that other, older one. I'm at the Big J, but just in a way that no one could have imagined back when I started piano lessons as a 7-year old.

Hey Casey? Thanks for helping me remember why the Big J is such a special place. Glad I could help you check off something on "the list." You actually helped me do the same and to keep a resolution or two for the year. Travel safe. Be Well. Be Happy.

Much love to you, Cody, and the Moosh.

Xo Auntie Nettie

Friday Festivities

Have you ever had a week that just was a blur of work and exhaustion? One where you came home completely drained, leaving you to resort to putting jammies on by 7:00, eating no dinner, and just going to sleep by 9:00?

(Realize that this is the "no dependents" scenario here. Add in pet(s)/spouse/partner/kid(s) to the equation and you just don't get to do this. I am completely aware of grateful I should be that I get to revel in this sort of "indulgent" and "selfish behavior" AND for the fact that I HAVE a job. [Actually I have two@once now; that might have something to do with the exhaustion].)

The only redeeming quality to this week has been knowing that FRIDAY was coming, and knowing that there was a special treat in store for THIS Friday!

I'm supposed to meet the famous Casey of ...

mooshinindy!

How DO you act when you're meeting a blogger? It's one thing when you know lots about them from the blogosphere, it's another thing to actually meet. Throw in the fact that YOU are completely shy and retiring, and argh ... I just hope I maintain some sense of togetherness and don't scare her off OR make her break the famous camera lens.

NieNie Updates

Early last month, I asked for your thoughts and prayers for a fellow blogger, NieNie, aka Stephanie Nielson, her husband, and her large extended family. Before reading about her on other sites, I had never heard of NieNie. I had never read her blog. Beyond issues of a shared faith, a love of crafting, and blogging, I don't have much in common with her. All of that aside, something about the plea from her beloved sisters and many on-line friends reached out through the Blogosphere and made an impression -- perhaps a bit of her grace made evident by His Grace.

Now I check in with her sister Courtney's blog daily to see how NieNie and her beloved Mr. Nielson are doing. Word of Stephanie's plight and of the courage of the extended Clark/Nielson family continues to spread. Local and national media outlets have done articles and stories, including coverage by my sister-in-law's aunt (it's a small Mormon/cyberworld). In every single blog entry, article, or news clip, something touches my heart and leaves me weepy ... and I am definitely NOT a heart-on-your-sleeve-show-emotions-in-public kind of gal.

So it is with a tissue-box size warning that I let you know that this beautiful article ran in a paper over the weekend -- and you will need tissues. Then this article ran today and is just as hanky-worthy.

Won't you keep Stephanie, Christian, and their families, especially her heroic siblings who are caring for their four children, in your thoughts and prayers? (The prayers are working. Christian says he could feel them.)

If you can, please contribute to the families' recovery fund via one of the various auctions or funds that have been set up. A long road is ahead of them, but all will be well.

NieNie in The New York Times

Sometimes the Blogosphere is nasty, mean, and petty. Sometimes it can bring people together and be a powerful source for healing and support. This is one of the latter cases.

I first learned about Nie Nie (aka Stephanie Nielson) and her heartbreaking, yet uplifting, situation over on mooshinindy's blog and then saw it again at homemadebyjill's. Reading her sister Courtney's blog almost brought me to tears in the office and then her brother Topher's entry just completely did me in. (Luckily I was the only one around at the time.) One of the impressions that Stephanie seems to be giving her sister is to "Continue to tell her story." I'm more than happy to do so.

Stephanie's story was also picked up by The New York Times. Click here for the article.

Won't you keep Stephanie, Christian, and their families, especially her heroic siblings who are caring for their four children, in your thoughts and prayers? If you can, please contribute to the families recovery fund via one of the various auctions or funds that have been set up. The information can be found at Courtney's blog.

Blogs and Twittering

You know you've been spending too much time in cyberspace, surfing blogs and looking at people's Twitter comments*, when the first reaction you have to the extensive graffiti in the restrooms in Grand Central is:

Someone really must have wanted to be twittering.

... where twittering happens, old style!

* Yes, Krippy. I mean YOU! (and Sleepygoat and MooshinIndy!)