my head is in the clouds
my spirit soars
free from ground
bouncing in between
everything
but clouds can’t be grasped
they can’t be held
they are only there
to bounce on
elusive goals
spreading and thinning
dissolving into sky
I love the game of tag. It reminds me of running around the neighborhood while blending in with the twilight and feeling daring for being out so late. Kasia James of Writer’s Block tagged me for Lucky Seven. She’s a talented writer and friend from Australia. Please take a look at her site if you haven’t yet – it’s a great one.
Here’s how Lucky Seven works:
Lucky me - I have two unpublished novels to choose from for this! The excerpt from the novel I’m querying gives too much away, so here’s the excerpt from page 7 of my first unpublished novel:
Cars of different colors and in different stages of disrepair glided easily along. From the outside looking in, everything seemed so simple. Every car stayed separate, yet the same road connected them all. That idea fascinated her. Where were they all going? Where would they end up? She peered in, catching glimpses of people she would never meet.
I’m going to reach out and wildly tag five people just to be different:
When The Blissful Adventurer announced he would be going off to Italy, his excitement became contagious and soon I began reliving everything all over again: rows of vineyards and golden green fields, distant mountains and shimmering lakes, the relaxed feel of a culture that turns wine and pasta into an art form.
I may not be the greatest tour guide since I tend to get lost easily, but if you’re up for an adventure, follow me on over to The Blissful Adventurer’s site for my guest post on The Invasion of Radicofani. The town’s winding stone paths lead up and up to amazing views and a few surprises. I’m going to close comments here and will hope to see you over there for some Italiano fun and adventure.
Our hot air balloon pilot looked young enough to be at home watching cartoons. He probably didn’t have a driver’s license. Yet, he busied himself preparing a balloon and a rickety basket for an ascent thousands of feet into the sky.
Hot air balloon companies fly in the early morning calm. No wind could be felt on the morning of our scheduled ride so we figured it would be a peaceful one, maybe even boring. Little did we know that our pilot craved extreme sports.
You can’t really steer a hot air balloon. Altitude is controlled through the propane burner below the balloon opening. Since hot air rises, when the air inside the balloon is heated, the balloon goes up. Any sideways traveling depends on air currents.
When we first took off, we headed sideways and then somehow down into a canyon. The balloon wouldn’t go up fast enough but it did travel sideways pretty quickly. The wicker basket headed right for a canyon wall. Our pilot was in training so after some expert advice from another pilot who looked like he might have a driver’s license, the balloon finally moved up and away from the canyon wall just in time. The basket practically scraped the wall. We could have collected rock samples.
After that, we went up to about 3,000 feet. At least there were no obstacles up there that we could see, just clouds and a few birds. The sensation is more like floating than flying and when you’re that high up, you become very much aware that you’re really just in a basket. There’s not much else between you and the sky.
We floated over desert canyons and a shiny new neighborhood. When it was time to descend by letting air out of the balloon, the pilots figured the neighborhood would be the best place for a landing. We ended up flying in at a steep angle and almost landed on someone’s roof. When we did land, we bounced off a front yard bush and eventually came to rest in the middle of the street. The expert pilot turned to the trainee and said, “Nice use of the bush.”
Luckily, it was a quiet enough residential street and the people who lived there were used to this sort of thing.
a secret garden hidden
buds hold tight within themselves
through winter days and nights
explodes with sudden laughter
in puffs of white delight
and with a lingering chuckle
petaled memories fly
free of clinging branches
into the brightening sky
“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin
“Earth laughs in flowers.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve been blogging for a few months now and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know so many great people out there in the world. Thank you all for visiting, reading, following and commenting.
I’d like to thank Cynthia at Seasons and Impressions and Jamy at A Rhythm Runs Through It for the Versatile Blogger Award. Both sites are filled with wonderful, inspirational poetry. Please give them a visit. You’ll be glad you did.
Thank you to Mark at The Vibes for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Mark is a graphic designer and photographer from Manchester, England. His site is visually stunning and informative with posts on traveling, photography, art and music. It’s all that and it’s fun to visit.
For both awards, I’m supposed to list seven things about myself and then pass the awards on to others.
Seven random things about me:
1. I’m originally from Michigan and I’ve been happily surprised by the amount of people from Michigan that I’ve accidentally found here.
2. One of my favorite time periods has always been the 1920s.
3. I like Guinness and red wine but not at the same time.
4. I really like Lyle Lovett. His music always puts me in a good mood.
5. I keep trying to give up coffee but always end up going back to it.
6. I once risked my life for a hot air balloon ride. We almost hit a cliff, a house, and then somehow bounced off of someone’s hedge before finally landing in the middle of the street. I just might have to do a post about it even though I’ve already covered the exciting parts.
7. In my dreams, I often fly and would love to be able to do that in real life.
I’d like to pass the Versatile Blogger Award on to the following people. I’ve seen this award passed on to either five, seven or 15 others, so I’ll choose seven:
Scott Bartlett – Scott is currently competing to be the United Nations Environment Programme’s official blogger for World Environment Day in Rio de Janeiro. Please vote for him by following this link and hitting the “VOTE” button at the bottom of this informative post.
The Cause Blog – Focuses on important causes and the little things that can be done to make a big difference.
Brian Tomahawk – A very funny site including 80s nostalgia and a recent obsession with zombie bunnies.
Playing with Words Is Fun - Humorous posts with a unique view of life, inspirational photos and poetry.
The Edmonton Tourist – Great posts on books, movies and life.
The Vibes – This site is truly versatile and always fun to visit.
Charlie & Yannie: Cebu Trek and Treat - Biking and other adventures in the Philippines with great photography and book reviews.
I’d like to pass the Kreativ Blogger Award on to these seven sites:
Writer’s Block – Kasia James is a talented science fiction writer from Australia with a soon-to-be-published novel that I can’t wait to read.
Meg Travels – Travel posts and tips for traveling anywhere in the world.
Adriano Antoine – Travels through Brazil with colorful photography and artistry.
foundinfrance – Musings of an ex-patriot in France, beautiful photography.
saying it anyway – Poetry and writing ”to move hearts and set the world on fire.”
moonlitpoetic - Beautiful poetry.
I Have A Voice: Ye Shall Know Me By My Fruits – Inspirational quotes, poems and photography.
During the 2011 International Coastal Cleanup volunteers collected more than NINE MILLION POUNDS of trash (9,184,427) along 20,000 miles of coastlines. While at first this might sound like a good news, it’s also very sad that it’s even possible to collect that much trash from the ocean.
For this Earth Day and every day, we need to make sure to care more for the ocean and all the lives that call it home. Whether trash is left on the beach or the ocean coughs it up, seeing it there is at least an opportunity to pick it up and get it out of circulation before it does more damage.
According to data recently released by the Ocean Conservancy, within the nine million pounds of trash collected, the top ten items found were cigarette butts, plastic caps or lids, plastic bottles, plastic bags, food wrappers or containers, plastic utensils, glass bottles, straws or stirrers, cans, and paper bags. Most of these things (including cigarette butts) are not biodegradable. Sea life and birds often choke on or become entangled in plastic trash. One of the most heartbreaking pictures I’ve seen was of a bird cut open after it died. The bird’s body was completely filled with little plastic pieces.
A few more things Ocean Conservancy volunteers found:
In the past 26 years of cleanups, volunteers have found:
While walking the beach, I’ve been surprised not only by the amount of deflated balloons to be found, but also those curly ribbons that are usually tied around presents. People must have lots of celebrations at the beach, but why not try celebrating the Earth and ocean by making sure not to leave those things behind? It’s easy to imagine the ribbons and balloons wreaking havoc with sea life and birds. I’ve also found lighters, sneakers (always just one sneaker at a time), a tire, plastic fishing nets, and of course, lots of little plastic pieces. Unfortunately, no messages in bottles. The messages are instead spread out all over the beach.
What are some strange things you’ve found while walking on the beach?
Related:
Ocean Conservancy Home Page
Oceana – Protecting the World’s Oceans
Project Kaisei: Capturing the Plastic Vortex
Related articles:
Sun, sand, and surf lure us back to the beach each summer. Whether we decide to stretch out and luxuriate or build castles, we might not notice that the threshold to another world beckons right at our feet.
The waves, while hypnotizing us with sun sparkle, occasionally offer gifts: an abandoned home, an ancient creature. We examine these gifts or plunk them into our buckets and walk on without thinking too much about that underwater world or what’s lurking in its depths.
The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface, yet 95 percent of it remains unexplored. In this otherworldly place that covers most of the planet, stars crawl on the ground. Fish fly through the watery skies. Lives more ancient and mysterious than ours climb its mountain ranges.
Even the commonplace can be extraordinary. Horseshoe crabs are living fossils that have remained virtually unchanged for 350 to 400 million years. For comparison, humans have been roaming the Earth for about 200,000 years.
Crabs communicate by drumming and waving their pincers. Scallops can swim by opening and closing their shells. Barnacles spend their lives standing on their heads and eating with their feet.
Snorkelers are surprised to see visitors from the tropics adding their bright colors to the grayer New England ones. In one tropical tank at a local aquarium, northern red and frilled anemone grow like trees from a rocky terrain. Their pink and orange stump-like bodies billow out into delicate tentacles. A flying gunard flaps its fins as a bird would, appearing to fly over these trees and through the water.
Striped searobins use their lower pectoral fins to walk along the seafloor while probing the bottom for food. 
With warty skin and a humped profile, lumpfish may be difficult to find since they often blend in with the rocky bottom area. Their pelvic fins form a suction disk, allowing them to cling to rocks and other seafloor objects.
Cold-water, eel-like fish called “ocean pout” are sluggish and often hide in holes with only their heads protruding to watch for intruders. Their wide mouths and fleshy lips form a permanent pout and may remind visitors of some people they know.
At fishing docks, harbor seals poke their heads up through the waves. They look like they’re examining us as much as we’re examining them.
Endangered North Atlantic right whales and humpback whales feed at nearby Stellwagen Bank. Defenders of Wildlife estimates that there are about 350 North Atlantic right whales left in the world.
Earlier this year, an unusually large mass stranding occurred on Cape Cod between mid-January and mid-February with 179 dolphins stranded, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). It was the largest single-species stranding event on record in the Northeast. Of the 179 stranded dolphins, 71 were found alive and 53 were successfully released by IFAW volunteers. By early March, the number of stranded dolphins for the year reached up to 190.
These days, marine animals are struggling to survive, whether it’s because of overfishing, accidentally getting caught in fishing nets, boat traffic or pollution. To them, the ocean isn’t a vacation place. It’s their only home.
Related:
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Oceana – Protecting the World’s Oceans
Defenders of Wildlife
flowers puddle under trees
forming waves with a breeze
inviting passersby to swim
through velvet petals on a whim
or to simply stop and dip their toes in
The surprising thing about Graceland is that it’s more of a home than a mansion. I thought it might be a Versailles of sorts, a personal palace befitting the King of Rock and Roll, but mostly it just felt like a home. That made me like Elvis even more.
The decor it’s known for is a bit on the outrageous side, but it doesn’t feel overly decadent or opulent. The kitchen looks like a regular 1970s kitchen, complete with carpeted floors and laminate counters. According to the tour tape, Elvis spent most of his time in the kitchen. It’s a cozy place, remarkable only because of its homey feel.
In Life & Cuisine of Elvis Presley, David Adler mentions that Elvis wrote out lists of items to be kept in the Graceland kitchen at all times, including peanut butter, pickles, banana pudding, brownies, and three packs each of Spearmint, Doublemint, and Juicy Fruit gum.
Graceland is one of the most visited private homes in the United States, after the White House, with more than 600,000 visitors a year. The home has been left as it was at the time of Elvis’ death. It’s a peek into his personal life as well as a museum dedicated to his music and public persona.
In the Jungle Room, a teddy bear sits on the couch near a guitar. It’s easy to imagine Elvis relaxing and joking around there. A television room in the basement gave him the chance to relax some more while watching three television sets at once.
It’s estimated that Elvis has sold more than one billion records worldwide. His gold and platinum records line the hallways, but even more impressive is a room covered with personal checks of $1,000 or more written to local charities.
His car collection is kept across the street and includes his famous pink Cadillac. At the car museum, a home movie plays showing Elvis and his daughter zooming around the Graceland grounds on a snowmobile. Since they didn’t get much snow in Memphis, he added wheels to the snowmobile. The movie shows the kid in Elvis since he uses small hills as ramps to launch the snowmobile into the air.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Elvis’ death. If he had lived, he would be 77 years old. Every day, fans bring flowers, wreaths, and pictures to the Graceland meditation garden where Elvis is buried along with his parents and grandmother. A memorial gravestone for Elvis’ twin brother, who died at birth, is also in the garden.
According to a tour guide, Elvis was originally buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery but soon after his death people actually tried to dig him up, which is why his body was moved to the Graceland meditation garden. With all the rumors surrounding the death of Elvis and the possibility that he might still be alive, perhaps the gravediggers were hoping to find an empty coffin.
Elvis still lives through his music. His spirit can be felt at Graceland, at Sun Studio, and in the streets of Memphis. For evidence that he is still alive, all anyone has to do is listen to one of his songs.
