Deep In The Forrest

Dear Blog Readers, It is April 30th, that means I have SUCCESSFULLY completed the NaBloPoMo challenge for 30 posts in 30 days . The April theme was "Letters", as you may or may not recall. I did my best to make most of my posts about letters, or something related to that... using my own creative license. Thanks to everyone who read with me through April, and reads and comments too, I always welcome newcomers, and want my regular 'blog family' to know how much they are appreciated! So tomorrow begins May and I have decided to try to participate in the MAY edition... May's theme is going to be "Voices". This opens up quite interesting possibilities. I could include sound clips of things, or I could creatively interpret voices in my writings, OR--now get this, ORRR I could actually put in podcasts of my voice reading out my content. So what do you think?? Are you ready for May NaBloPoMo?? It will be "31 posts in 31 Days"... Can I get an A-men?? :...

You have plenty to read and catch up on , so while you're here take a load off and stay for a bit, relax and read some of my latest entries, which are actual excerpts from my journal (age 14). Yes, you get to peek into the mind of the teen-Aunt-Jackie... it's going to get even more fun... so stick around. First, take a look at today's Weekly Words Challenge! Brought to us as always by our friend Tink of Pickled Beef . This week's words were "One" and "Water" . Off you go!! Watch the slideshow, then enjoy a good read. Click Here If You Are Unable To View Slideshow

Next up, of course is Weekly Words Challenge, brought to us by the uber-awesome Tink of Pickled Beef . This week's words are "One" and "Water"... check back for it right after these uninhibited teen thoughts by Jackie! That's right, it's time for more 14-year-old Jackie Journals ... I'm skipping around tonight, and bringing to you Journals #5 & #7. Here goes. Jackie's Private Journal - Entry #5 - 3/26/85 O.k., sorry I skipped a while. Today I did an unusual thing. I pierced my own ears a second time!!! I was fooling with my ears and just pierced 'em. Now I have 2 holes in each ear. I couldn't believe myself! I like them though. Mom didn't make a big deal but Dad hated it!!!! It didn't really hurt but about like the gun. I'm satisfied. I may I may consider liking Ken* again but I'm not sure. I'll decide later and report. he's had a collapsed lung, he's so little well not really but he's got a thin chest ...

I believe in magic... depending on what your idea of magic is, and your views on life. I believe anything is possible. Life is hard sometimes, but if you hang in there, and trust yourself and follow your heart Magic is going to find its way to you in some form or another. All you have to do is "look"... it's all about how you see things. Well, since I was a small child, I have been an avid believer of magic and also a relentless advocate of staying childish, and never getting "too big for your britches" (so-to-speak). Adulthood is all fine and good, but I always preach smelling the roses, and never letting life get you down to the point you lose touch with your own inner child, and "Magic". So when we were little kids, my nieces (Stacey and Kristie, they were the first before anyone else), we were all close in age... We would go into the back yard with spoons out of the Kitchen drawer. Then, much to my Mother's dismay, we would dig... and dig... an...

It's raining here today, and I was planning to visit my Mom and Dad but got a late start, had to go to the grocery store first, and then cook late breakfast. With the rain (supposed to be happening all day pretty much), I'll probably put off until next weekend when I can maybe plan a better visit and spend more time. Upon returning from the grocery store, we had a "Wasp Catastrophe". While Richie and I were putting away the groceries, I spotted a wasp hanging out on the curtain. (If you never knew this about me, just know that I have an intense wasp phobia that stems from childhood and includes any flying 'stinging' type insect). "Oh F****** J**us G*d!!!" I shout, and go darting out the door. This leaves Richie looking around going "WTF?!?!". He says "W**t is it?" I scream "WAAAAASSSPP!!!!" lol Then Richie comes running out the door too. Then I pretty much tell him that there's no way I can bend on this issue, he...

It's award time here at the Forrest! A few days back, I was given this "Gratitude with Attitude" award by Cindi (Somewhere Over The Rainbow) . This was so sweet of her. She gave the award to two others besides me, and cited "I may not get over to read their blogs as often as I would like to but every time that I do, I am reminded of how grateful I am that I ever found them in the first place!" Thanks so much Cindi! I appreciate the sentiment and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm so glad you visit my blog, and even more that you manage to extract some sort of meaning or enjoyment from anything I post here!! I find that amazing. :) So passing along the torch, It is my pleasure to give this award to the following (3) three people: First, My friend Awa , because she has become a great friend and I'm grateful to have gotten to know her much better in recent months. She's an inspiration, and an Independent lady! Taking care of those kids, and ki...

When you're having fun? When you're not having fun... when you're not even looking. Time flies (it seems, this time that we ourselves have created and made such a huge part of our reality here). It's so odd though, I was digging through my unorganized junk looking for something in particular, and ran across my journals from when I was like 14-16 years old. It's quite a ride to read this blast from the past. I think I might share some of it, as it is very interesting to see my feelings and points of view from that age, and then the way I seem now. Sometimes I still think I haven't changed that much, except I am a better writer now, and can get my points across with more 'intent'. Maybe that's because my mind isn't flooded with such horrible "crushes" and such as they were when I was that age! :) O.k. this is still in the vein of "Letters" I guess since it is about like "Dear Diary"... So take this little journey back ...

However, the guy in this video is about to finish killing it off! My husband sent this link to me in an e-mail and the subject line read: "It's Bizarro Richie, but not so bizarro"... hahaha. You'll laugh too. WATCH THIS! O.k., well I had planned on giving out the award today, but I am going to have to put that off until tomorrow... So stay tuned in tomorrow... you might be a winner!!!

Apparently, there is a lot sometimes! I found this and thought it would be a funny, light-hearted way to do Friday... The following are real names of actual locations: Arsoli (Lazio, Italy) Bastard (Norway) Beaver (Oklahoma, USA) Beaver Head (Idaho, USA) Brown Willy (Cornwall,UK) Chinaman's Knob (Australia) Climax (Colorado, USA) Cunt (Spain) Cunter (Switzerland) Dikshit (India) Dildo (Newfoundland, Canada) Dong Rack (Thailand-Cambodia border) Dongo (Congo - Democratic Republic) Fuku (Shensi, China) Fukue (Honshu, Japan) Fukui (Honshu, Japan) Fukum (Yemen) Hold With Hope (Greenland) Intercourse (Pennsylvania, USA) Lickey End (West Midlands, UK) Little Dix Village (West Indies) Lord Berkeley's Knob (Sutherland, Scotland) Middle Intercourse Island (Australia) Muff (Northern Ireland) Nobber (Donegal, Ireland) Pis Pis River (Nicaragua) Sexmoan (Luzon, Philippines) Seymen (Turkey) Shafter (California, USA) Shag Island (Indian Ocean) Shitlingthorpe (Yorkshire, UK) Tittybong (Austral...

Giving this another try... Nothing but blankness There's nothing I want to say Silence is golden

"T" is for Television... "H" is for Haiku! Today I will begin with a Haiku. So Tired From It All Need A One Way Ticket To Paradise Going To Blow A Circuit (Is that a Haiku? The Traditional ones are supposed to be 5-7-5, so I did stay within the confines of that... Anyone's critique is welcome). Anyways... I read this article yesterday... I am SOOO not a good example of any of this. I know I watch way too much t.v., but then again, not as much as some people... I guess I'm in the middle somewhere. Still it leads me to wonder. What would I do, and what all would I accomplish if I tried taking away my television viewing for a week or two... Must ponder. Anyways, the article goes: Turning off your television will gain you, on average, about 4 hours per day. Imagine if you took that time to exercise, give your brain a workout and develop strong relationships. Not only would you be adding years to your life, you would become more interesting, energetic, and fun. S...

Good Day All! And a Happy Earth Day Too. It's not a bad one here in the Muddy River City. I noticed that that down by Tom Lee Park, they are starting the set-up for our soon-to-be Memphis In May Festival , this year celebrating the country of "Turkey". The yearly event kicks off with the Beale Street Music Festival . Looks like an interesting line-up this year... I might have to go! If you're planning a trip sometime soon, May is an eventful month to try it out. Other than that, I had salad for lunch, trying to make it through the day and get my WWC stuff together... yeah! Supposed to do more vocal recording tonight, and that's really all I have to say today. Just not a very interesting gal today. I would go into my dreams the last couple of days, they've been vivid and very strange, but really not interesting enough to detail. I'll just say this, the most memorable part of last night's dream was that I was in some store, a weird big store reminiscent...

Last thing that caught my ear after lunch, getting out of my car was the radio telling some story about a person named "Harry Melons". I guess things always strike me funny, but I felt a little sorry for whoever this was. And if your name is Harry Melons, and you are reading this because you Google yourself too much, and you're angry because I'm making fun of your name, lighten up. Please, you know it's funny. Kick back and laugh at yourself. We are. I wanted to make a quick note today of the weekend's events, annoying and otherwise as I have had time to collect my thoughts, but not enough time to put it into writing. Friday, I got a phone call right as I was leaving which was project related and made me have to stay nearly 30 minutes more. Then, Friday night was "Me and Mr. J Time", we had a nice night watching movies and hanging out together, and stayed up relatively late. Saturday, I slept until maybe 10ish, layed around for a while, watching ...

Dear AJ, Since you haven't just sat down and "rambled" for a while, I thought I would make the suggestion to you that you write about whatever is on your mind right now without trying to make any sense of it. It might actually help your writer's block, and also help relax you a bit. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Love, Bizarro Dear Bizarro, Hi, I guess you are right. Who cares if I really have anything interesting to say, I should just "go with it" and let it flow. Thanks for your suggestion. You enjoy the rest of your weekend too... somehow I know that you will. Love, AJ O.k. so I talk to myself sometimes, and I even answer myself. I don't care, I know I'm crazy but maybe being crazy makes me sane! Right? At least I enjoy the conversations, which is saying something these days, when finding intelligible conversations with others is extremely rare (it does happen, and you guys know who you are). Anyways, I finished up 3 songs during my recording tim...

R is for "Recording", and today I have to go and "T.C.B." which in my case means going to lay down my vocal tracks for stuff we've been putting down for my band SAP's CD. Rock on!!! I'll be the one behind the big juicy microphone... Happy Saturday! ;)

I have spoken quite alot about Saturdays, and how Saturday is my favorite day of the week, but Friday is a close second. In fact, Friday has a somewhat "magical" feel to it in a way, given that I am not totally swamped or stressed. I wondered what it was about this day of the week that was so appealing to a lot of us, and in looking through Friday facts, there are some interesting findings. Frigg spinning the clouds, by J C Dollman Etymology The name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigg , a West Germanic translation of Latin dies Veneris , "day (of the planet) Venus." However, in most Germanic languages the day is named after Freyja —such as Frīatag in Old High German , Freitag in Modern German , Freyjudagr in Old Norse , Vrijdag in Dutch , Fredag in Swedish , Norwegian , and Danish —but Freyja and Frigg are frequently identified with each other . The word for Friday in most Romance lang...

is for Earth, as in our beat-up abused world we live in (along with all the beat-up and abused creatures that attempt to co-exist with us as well). As April 22nd is Earth Day , I thought I would mention it a bit early so you can be reminded and think of maybe one or two things you could do to help the environment. I'm sure I will get some cynical, negative feedback on this, but I don't care, I am a Treehugger, and although I am not always perfect (and certainly not an over-the-top advocate maybe), I still try to do what I can, and help my environment and the animals that must live together on our planet. Found this interesting site for other fellow Treehuggers: http://www.treehugger.com - "Walk the Talk" Thought I would share it with you. So, today's letter (although a bit late because of technical difficulties yesterday), is to the Earth. It's short, but sweet. :) Dear Earth, I really do care about you and I will try to do whatever I can to help the environm...

I've had a hard time lately posting early, but I'm at least making my daily post as vowed when I decided to participate in the April "NaBloPoMo" daily post-athon. :) Here we are already half done, because April is zooming along so fast. Lots going on this week, just been a little busy so bear with me. I'll try to get around and catch up on visiting maybe tomorrow! Meanwhile... Today's "letter" is a note-to-self, I guess you could say. Wrote it to Me this morning upon starting the day. Dear Me, When you finally wake up, I'll be gone. So I am leaving you this list of things to do today. As it is Hump Day and I know how much of a lazy-ass you are, I thought I would give you a break and let you do something I felt you might be able to handle. All you need to do today is the following: Get Out Of Bed. Survive. Go Back To Bed. How's that for generous?? I'll see you whenever... maybe tonight if you're lucky. Love, Me Yeah... makes as much s...

Dear readers, It's a lovely crisp day here in the River City. The last two days have been colder than normal, but it is warming up and spring is definitely chasing summer down. We'll be in a swelter before you know it. I'll grin and bear it. Honest I will! Today it is time for me to share my Weekly Words Challenge (WWC), brought to us by the adorable Tink of Pickled Beef . This weeks words are "Close-up" and "Background". I didn't have very many photos for this week, but I still put them in a slideshow for the ease of it all... I would like to enter my painting shot (below) as well, because I can say I have a "background" in art. It's not finished yet, I'll share the finished product once done. On with the slideshow then... and Happy Tuesday Y'all! :) If You Cannot View Slideshow Click Here Sincerely, AJ

Hot diggity dog! My easel arrived today, so when I got home I set it up and decided to do have myself a quicky... a quicky painting that is... I tossed off a little water scape. Keep in mind that it's not finished. I intend on doing more to it, but I thought I would share what I have so far... Hope you like it. Tomorrow, of course, is the weekly words challenge with Tweet-as-Tugar Tink of Pickled Beef (sorry Tink, I lost control for a moment). The words this week are: Close-up and Background So please check back for that, as I am sure it will be Totally Titillating! If you haven't joined the fun, go here for details. Happy snapping!!!

Dear Blog Pals, Friends and Family: I am working hard today and won't be posting a lengthy blog. However, the good news is I have been quite wordy the last few days, so you have plenty to catch up on! Get readin' and commentin!! :) Love, AJ

Funny Quote of the Day was brought to us by Mr. Yogi Berra - He said, "If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer." Good Point. I hereby vow that I shall do the same! I love Yogi Berra... he had a way of saying things that gave you a smile, all the while knowing, he made damn good sense (maybe more so than a lot of others). So many great quotations by him. Another favorite of mine is this: 'Once, Yogi's wife Carmen asked, "Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?" Yogi replied, "Surprise me." ' ;) So anyway, it's Sunday night alright, but the weekend isn't over just yet (unless you're one of my rare subscribers, then it is Monday)! Either way, I'm treasuring every last fleeting second. Just got back from a very enjoyable visit to my parents' house... had "umpteen" cups ...

Sometimes as I was saying yesterday Life can seem "out to get you". (If you read my long and worthy post-if not, GET READING!!). Yes, Life can seem so ironic or cruel... BUT--It's Officially the weekend-yeah! I'm happy about that, It takes the edge off. Still, it always feels like the weekend's fleeting before my very eyes... I hope to paint some this weekend, and I need to head down to Mom's house and check on them, and help with my niece's computer. Yesterday, our next-door neighbors' son (red head kid), came by to let us know he was intending to have a party tonight, and wanted to make sure it was o.k. if some people parked alongside the curve partly past our yard. He's always been a good kid, we said that's cool... We're noisy ourselves alot of the time. So I guess we'll see the block descended upon by some 16 year olds come nightfall. That should be interesting. Funny thing is, on my way to the store first thing this morning, I fo...

Dear Friends and Loved Ones, At first, today, I was driven on blogging about "love letter" in the spirit of NaBloPoMo, and in having some fun talking about the love letters that I have received in my life (which there weren't many), and then asking you all to share your favorite or most meaningful love letter(s) with me. However, I procrastinated (or actually was busy), so I waited until later to put my thoughts up for your perusal. It's uncanny that I did, as more things were brought to my attention today, things I was moved to share that might still merit love letters, or have a lot to do with love, as well as life, and death. These thoughts preoccupy us all at some point in our lives, thoughts about what we will do when we lose a love or loved one because of life changes, or lose someone because of death (even our pets, our very special loved ones). I have to pose a question, "Do you really ever lose someone?" My answer is "No.", yours might be ...

Another bad storm is supposed to be happening today here in Memphis. As if the river wasn't flooded to the hilt already. The high winds, possible hail & thunderstorms, and maybe even tornado warnings... so if you're in an area that is affected by all the severe weather, then be as safe as possible. This will be short and sweet today, as I just don't have much of anything to say. Since we're still keeping with the NaBloPoMo April theme of "Letters", then I will just say that letters are even better when they're edible. Gummi letters... MMMMM!!! Have a tasty Thursday!

That was another lovely thunderstorm this morning. In fact, things sounded so tranquil upon waking that I didn't want to eject myself from the bed at all. It would have been a wonderful morning to sleep in, long and late... just listening to the rain. Unfortunately, I could not do that (no thanks to you, Wednesday). You have never given me half the pleasure that Saturday does. I'm sorry to be mean, but I can't lie about that. You fall short in so many ways. Perhaps if you would offer me more holidays, or at least a few then we could work something out. I just don't see how this is going to work... I think we should just be friends. It's not me, it's you. Sincerely, AJ Readers! I know that our lovely day must go on, and some of us will have fantastic Hump Days! If you're actually doing something fun today, or you're retired/independently wealthy/just don't give a shit and you are not a slave to the man, then good for you. I hope you enjoy, and I have ...