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 |   Enga mellom fjella: where from across the meadow, poems sing from mountains and molehills. |
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Enga mellom Fjella  Sentinel Marked as if you own me I bow before the Bitterroots and just like you my rocky soil, my withered grass lays prey to the empty sky. © Kåre Enga 2007 "Sentinel"   Reader's Choice of Poems: "Zmitri" "In Lagada, la vita" "In search of Iris" "I, Katrina" "Drugs sold here" Reader's Choice of blog entries from my old blog "L'aura del Campo" :"Death of Jeannie New Moon" "Winter: 18 Mas'il (December 29)" "Even in chaos ... More hockey poems." "Half-naked dreams? 'Getting the stain out of genes!" "ENFP, what are you?" FACES     PLACES            Kåre  Enga~ until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go. ~ Elizabeth Bishop The Fish |
| ...nope, none. Yo: Game tomorrow. I'll go if I can get a ticket. Today. Got up. Showered. Went to Senior Center. Ate. Got on computer and worked on photos. Gawd... I'm boring. Beautiful FALL day. Frost and fog and the yellow leaves are f f f falling. Sunny and beautiful. Maybe I should take a walk, take my camera, take some photos, try to find some new or lost thoughts. The key? Walk away from the computer! Now. 43,377 |
| ...not! me: I thought there was a numerical limit on number of blog entries. Apparently not! However, there is a 4 mb limit. I'm nowhere near that. So... one less thing to think about. I'm good for many-a-year.  Only 21 WDC visitors this month. Could be better... back in the Days of Blogville the number of visitors was astounding. Of course, there were more people blogging and my blogs were probably more interesting. But that was way back when... before facebook, texting and so much twitter. I can't complain if my "product" isn't up to snuff. I can't complain much either if I'm not on the cutting edge of social media. I don't text nor twitter. In personal snews... my meds are waiting for me to pick them up. It means taking a bus there then waiting for the bus back. INR was 2.6. (translation: I'm on rat poison and the level should be between 2 and 3). So this is good. However, the depression of not traveling is setting in on this very grey day. Even someone else's grey days (think England) would be preferable to one's own. I have fond memories of roasted parsnips.  So... can't leave for Portugal until: 1. pick up meds. 2. help with French onion soup on Monday. 3. buy tickets. 4. pack. 5. have my head examined... Portugal? A good Queen Scarlet list of 5! Seriously. Portugal would be possible this time of year. However... the meds... have to be checked every month. Plus, I'm just not ready. Portugal would make a nice 3 week trip and Galicia in North-west Spain could be added. A month would do me well. Maybe I should be in no hurry. Even winter in Lisbon isn't very cold by Montana standards. And... although it's cloudy here today there's plenty of sunshine in the forecast. But, I still dream. Sénégal must wait until I write something up. Dustin was to submit a proposal for funding. Much would depend on his schedule as well. January? Time to look at tickets for Costa Rica. So much to think about! And how about my writing? Went to a poetry group on Tuesday night. Waiting to hear from friends about the prose I wrote in November 2011: "This and Every November" Shannon and Tom Harper got back to me in March. My cutoff date is the 20th as I want to have something printed by November 1st. Wish me luck on this one. I have plenty to keep me busy. But Portugal beckons. Sénégal beckons. Hell, the Man on the Moon beckons... 43,362 |
| ...can we climb out? ME: My nerves don't take much. On facebook I posted: Do you Americans know how much your paycheck is? In yen? In euros? As reported on the news: "Banks and money market funds are already shunning some government securities that are normally used for short-term loans. In China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, the state news agency Xinhua said it was time for a "de-Americanized world." We are already over the edge on this American-made fiscal crisis. Will we hang on or let go and fall? Comments on both sides (and any other side) appreciated. Wonder how this is viewed around the world: Linda Visman, Linda Cooper, Mattias Carlberg, Mavis Moog, Ann Carter, Holly Schwartz-Coignat, Huang Yan, Ronald Rojas. I'm hoping friends in/from the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Costa Rica, France can shed some light on this dark American shadow. Personally I finally did succeed in copying most of my Samsung tablet photos to my external drive. I can now edit (in Picasa) and post on-line. I will also be able to delete some photos and videos to free up space so I can use my tablet again as a back-up camera. I put 9 photos of boats in the marina on Skipholmen in Stockholm on-line just now. So much work ahead of me... Which gets back to my facebook entry. Will the U.S. Congress do its job or do they just let go and where we all fall nobody knows?  |
| ...what's there to do? me: Survived the Montana Festival of the Book. Went to four sessions and they all were good. I avoided the poetry readings this year (in the past they have been disappointing). Went to hear a group of Christian inspirational writers (all women). The presentation was great and quite funny. Poetry and Influence went well; I really liked the Art of the Short Story (I asked Sarah Stonich whether she was ADHD; she is; it helps); Babes in the Woods: Nature Writing / Memoir was all women. Nicely different perspectives. Thursday night was Sherman Alexie (full house at the Wilma, they turned folks away). He is a good reader, great on stage, isn't afraid to speak his mind and offend. I cherish his movie, "Smoke Signals". I have a copy. In other not-really-important news... The U Montana team won its football game. This is nice because happy drunks are nicer than pissed off ones. Also, if we get into the playoffs, there's an extra game! In absolutely unimportant snews... Congress still hasn't learned to play nice. Would someone please call their mothers? |
| ...a friend that's family. Me. Today is a friend's birthday. I already wished him a happy 41st earlier this week. I am still working on the chapbook "This and every November". This is my poem for him: "This and every November [#4 Gary Mc]" This and every November for Gary Thoughts flew off to somewhere in September. Lost themselves in the ebbing warmth of spent embers. I could not travel to find them. Rooted in the memories of other autumns I awaited leaf-change and the turn of directions cold winds would bring. I missed them until I forgot that once they were mine. I felt naked like a tree without leaves. And like a dead snag holding fast to the earth I was reluctant to bid them farewell. I faded before the flow of forever. Yet thoughts fled none-the-less like the days we worked side by side so aware of the distance, the necessary chasm that kept us sane and apart. My part in that forest-fire I try to forgive, no blame placed on you. Still the same, October followed and brought pumpkins and apples and frost, yet no harvest from fields never planted. Granted they had stayed snow-covered till June, mud-slick in July, gasping for breath come hot August. Now the winds come from the east, backed up by a northern bone chill; branch and twig and the verdant cockscombs of summer look more like old rotting snags. I could leave, but where would my thoughts find a home without me to return to? Yes, those, the ones that sneak back and perch in my thinning hair, this and every November. Of course, it's not the only poem I've written for him... there are many. I thought how nice it would be to make a facebook album of some of my favorite photos, call it "Because you could not be there with me", send him a copy. 41 photos would do. And I would do it today if I weren't so busy. Have doctor's appointment this afternoon and tonight, tomorrow and Saturday is the Montana Festival of the Book. I'll get around to it. |
| ...I wish. meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee: Checked money ...kinda. Checked travel costs ...kinda. Just waiting for a green light from the doc ...kinda. I visit the doc tomorrow and am willing to negotiate. Traveling is important for my well-being. Blood clots could kill me or worse disable me. So... medications and alternatives. I'm willing to negotiate on going from meds to treating with diet. The problem with coumadin is that it needs to be monitored and traveling might create a problem. I'm willing to put taking garlic and aspirin on the tablet as a negotiating point. One month trips including air fare: $1550 Costa Rica (700+850) $1550 Colombia (800+750) $2400 Sénégal (1200+1200) $2800 Portugal (1000+1800) $3500 Fji (1500+2000) These five one month trips would equal $11,800 ...ouch. Since I wouldn't be spending any money back home... (except for rent) that's $5,000 for 5 months. Final debit? $6,800. I would need that much and a couple thousand spare bucks for emergencies. That's traveling bargain basement economy style. It's actually cheaper per month to spend two months in most places (Colombia becomes $2300 for 2 months) or combine airfares (visit Potugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Sénégal in one trip), (Costa Rica and Colombia maybe Panamá) (Fiji and... flights are from LAX but there is a flight to Honolulu! And cost would be similar... Hawai'i and Fiji? Why not.). Ah, but traveling for two months is difficult for the body, especial considering meds. Do they have garlic in Fiji? Accommodation costs could be lowered by more research into hostels in Portugal and Fiji or campements villageois in Sénégal. Flight costs? How about a freighter? I don't know how to get flight costs down. Become a travel agent? |
...yellow.  This is good. Me: If I were pissing out magenta I'd be concerned. So... I'm: 1. not fainting. 2. haven't had a cold in ages. 3. no sign of back ache. 4. vertigo has lessened for quite a few months now. 5. finances are fine. 6. my mother at age 91 has all her marbles (I've lost a few, but no problem). 7. no headaches or stiff necks in awhile. 8. no one new is ticked off at me. 9. not forgetting to take my meds. 10. not pissing or shitting in weird colors. It's important for me to acknowledge past problems and be thankful for the present.  So although I don't feel well much of the time (legs still bothering and other assorted new aches and pains I'm not used to.) I really can't complain. I have a place to stay, enough money to feed myself and I can still dream of traveling once meds and health are straightened out. Plus, I'm reading and writing again. I'm serious about #10 though. I watch my body. When it does something odd I take note. Many illnesses show up in the color of urine and the many shades and textures of excrement. Sounds icky; but, I encourage everyone to know what is normal for them and take note when it isn't. That way one can tell the doctor: "Well, doc it usually is the texture of soft butter and that shade of suede I wore as a teenager. I just don't do lumpy and black buckshot like yesterday shouldn't be allowed. And cobalt blue tinkled in the toilet? I never..." Yes, I'm back to writing again. Ain't you-all happy now? 43,276 |
| ME: I "caused trouble" today. After a $3 lunch of chicken parmesan, scalloped potatoes, roll, parsley baby carrots, salad and a piece of mince meat pie... l had this notion that I should mention French onion soup to the cook. She agreed, ran to find the cookbook, checked with the boss. We have French onion soup in two weeks, the 21st. Aaaaah. It was also suggested that I greet/meet new people that show up. That would be something I'm capable of doing; but, it has to be unofficial. I literally can't deal with stress or drama. Which is why I stay out of the kitchen. Dinner at home? Fish. Did get some "work" done today. Editing pictures is work. Writing and editing and reading are work. I'd rather just dream. 43,264 |
| ...England again. me. Yep. I would definitely revisit England. My sojourn with friends in 2011 still ranks as my best relaxing vacation. I'd do it again. But folks move on! People rearrange their lives... would it ...could it be the same? Never. But still, it'd be great to have a new experience even if the weather isn't wonderful. I dream of recording voices of friends, responses to my pictures I took last time. The ones I want to arrange into a "Story told in stone". I could narrate... but wouldn't it be great to have British voices... Mavis, Julia, Amanda, Linda, Ann... Ab-fab wonderful I think! I can dream., can't I? Another beautiful day here. Cool, pleasant, bright sunshine. I sat in Bernice's Bakery and wrote two pieces including something for Dawn (it was Dawn's last day... a good prompt  ). I wrote something Saturday too at Writer's Anonymous in the library. I have no problem writing when I just sit down and write. I haven't been writing much though. Perhaps this down time between trips can be useful? I can only hope. |
| ...frosty too! meeeeeeee... I don't want to sound whiny ...why? because I'm don't want to be confused with a member of the U.S. Congress! The sunshine today is brilliant. The storm moved into the Dakotas. Snow on the peaks and sunny cold in the valley. Beautiful day. Really feels like autumn. There was frost this morning. On to other things: Met with Dustin yesterday about trip to Sénégal sometime within the next year. He's a videographer. Late 20s, professional. I need to get some ideas written up that he can then use to pitch to sponsors... I'll let him deal with the money-coming-in part. I'm good at setting up a reasonable budget and fairly good at adhering to it. He's a couchsurfer so low-budget is fine with him. Plus, he owes me a coffee... ...in Paris (and now in Dakar). If we flew Air France there are flights from Missoula through Salt Lake City direct to Paris (CDG) and connections to Dakar. I could get both coffees on one trip! So... how do I pitch Sénégal? One idea is to put forth the concept of "edges", how some animals like deer prosper on the edges. The Sahel is one of those edges, the ocean is another. Sénégal has both. Of course, the main animal I'm thinking of is humans. There is great cultural diversity in the Sahel and market towns are crossroads between the jungles and the dessert. People have been living next to each other for centuries. Add the ocean and the ports like Dakar, add the French colonial period and "culture" becomes multi-ethnic and wonderful to observe. I could go on-and-on... And then there is music... and dance... Yep. Sénégal has lots to offer both visual and audio. The trick is to "see" it, "feel" it, record it, digest it and finally understand what one has just experienced. So maybe...  |
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