Sunday Afternoons Winter Time

So what would I have done with a long Sunday, snow-cold afternoon lasts days of January along the Lake Ontario Shoreline back in the 60's...

Watch an old black-white movie on a Zenith black-white TV




Then, still today spellbound by Talent and Creativity


For more of the same visit my YouTube Channel. So far just a mixture of music I like, political or historical interests, movie or TV clips that spark my writing, comedy that reminds me not to take life so serious, storytellers and artists that spark my creativity. The variety can be viewed by clicking on Playlists. I update it at least weekly thru This Weeks Picks (Playlist) and by the Featured Video on the Home Channel Page.

I'm working on a few films of my own to post. Book trailers and others just for the fun of it. Stay tuned...

http://www.youtube.com/JaneMarlaVerDow

The Boxer

Referring back on this thread (October 16, 2009), college days and where this road on my path started.

"Service is the rent we pay for a room in Heaven." ~ Muhammad Ali

Time, energy...balancing the Spiritual-Material...

That's where I am on this day...both in mind and heart.

The question today? Still forming somewhere between head and heart.

But my thought-feelings:
Room in Heaven...doing the daily bread thing most days feels like earning rent money from Hell for a room in Heaven...

I'd prefer something in between...like more Heaven on Earth. Then again, I must be dreaming again.

My thoughts travel back in time to a conversation I once had at work while walking with a retired Priest. We talked of why I do what I do per diem and the obstacles he, too faced in his career. I remember he spoke of the Politics embedded. I remember my words back to him. "Isn't it sad how much the Powers of the World get in the way of doing God's Work?"

For today...
I settled for a day off from Hell to make my time-space on Earth today and my next tomorrows more like Heaven.

Forever Young

One of my favorite performers, Joan Baez. Loved her during the 60's listening from the farm and sorting through the World's images and realities of war and chaos...and today, 2009 still listening from the trees.

I love this performance. Such a gracious performer; Her Creativity, Art, and Appreciation shine through.




This next video is more from her performance in France,2000




The best performance of House of The Rising Sun by Baez featuring not only her voice but also her gift playing the guitar.





Album Titled: Day After Tomorrow. Released September 8th, 2008 by Proper Records

Celebrating Baez 50 years of voice.




Always, the search for peace. Honoring her contribution to the Cause. Thank-you, Joan Baez for sharing your gift.


Peace,
Jane




Don't miss watching this trip down memory lane. A gem.

The encore

Peace

Great when people of the world all come together on the same page, isn't it?

For more information go to: http://playingforchange.com

Orchard Songs

Recently I spent a few days stepping back into my orchards, especially the one I've come to know as my deer sanctuary. Named for the apples that remain there on the ground after frost and harvest time and for the deer who find them, but mostly for how content my heart feels in that shared space.

So for that and no other reason, I decided to share an older post. A time remembered in my thoughts or a reminder to you, the reader, to from time to time, take a step back. Read an older post on storytellers and writers for maybe that time, like this time is heart shared and only separated by this abstract concept called, time.


The beginning….
Songs of the orchard played in my mind as words appeared on paper.
I thought of Daisy and her home with Jim…

Nearing the ending…
At the depth of my heart I knew the Truth of my singing the folk songs in the orchards with the wind…

As I wrote…
Songs of days long ago lived then gone, never outgrown, continued to play in my head and I hummed along as words appeared on paper…



Songs of the orchard…closest I’ve ever found to poetry; truly, the inspiration for such…
words playing on canvas.

Winds blow then fade. One moment of time changes the world, or at least our perception.

There standing, sitting, being, holding her space-filling her space; Daisy.
Learned lesson, the one that came to me just watching Daisy, no words; she needed none:
Just hold your space-fill your space. Her message, so clear to me now.


So truth told, I learned about blank space in writing from her, and from holding my space while the winds did their own game. Filled in the space between with orchard songs. Daisy by nature didn’t use many words. The gaps between allowed me to just be, there with her.

So I learned most about words by time spent in listening and waiting. Let them be. Give them space and respect. Honor the life rhythm of each and every. Together, they find their own place and share.

Blank space in writing is where you, the reader comes…to sit and be.

Blank space, that’s where all the “what ifs” live.





From somewhere deep within, there was a voice calling me home. I had to listen. When a child of any age hears that voice, there’s no denying it, least not to yourself, especially when the call becomes a whisper.
Jane Marla Ver Dow
Dear Daisy, 2004



Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely.
~ The Land Before Time

For additional Author places:
www.storytellersandwriters.blogspot.com

www.risingsparrowpress.com

Twitter/JaneVerDow

Ephemera collecting is a hobby of mine. Postcards are just one example of what you can collect.

I have an evergrowing number of cards that I have collected during my travels. Best purchase places include antique shops, shops or dealers specializing in Ephemera items. Postcards are just a small sampling of such paper products that you may be interested in viewing or starting a collection of your own. It is amazing how much local history is recorded through postcards.

The following three post cards are samples of postcards for online viewing at the Rochester Rublic Library. Supplied here as examples of the quality available despite many cards reaching the century mark since original publication.

Support your local library. View their collections for pleasure or to expand your search capabilities and possibilities to expand your own search and collecting.

click on card to see enlargement and to appreciate the quality/age
and to appreciate Upstate New York

Location: Irondequoit Bay (Rochester,NY)











Remember if you purchase cards for your collection, keep the original intact. Do not destroy the history of the card. If scanning one of your ephemera items, save an original file before making a copy that you may digitally improve for presentation purposes.


Materials presented here are for sharing/educational purposes only, especially to increase awareness of community resources and to preserve local history.

Support The Rochester Museum and Science Center. Preserve local history efforts.

http://collections.rmsc.org/LibCat/libraries.html

From the Collections of the Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, NY.

Train ride Upstate New York Autumn

Train ride Upstate New York, Autumn

Hawk Airflight Upstate New York

Bored today?

Take a 5 minute flight over the southern shore of Lake Ontario.

Approaches Lake Ontario, Sodus Bay, Sodus Point

For those picturing New York City...well, I think you'll be amazed how rural Upstate New York really is.

Lake Ontario Chimney Bluff

Take a walk along the southern shoreline of Lake Ontario in Upstate New York.

This video shows the land path. Stay tuned for Lake Ontario views of the bluff.


Short video.

Stop Motion Video / Music Down Below

Found this on my travels today. What a gem!!!

Enjoy and give full thank-you for sharing credits to the creators...

I'm just the messenger.






Creativity takes time...and vision. And the world is still producing creative talent.

Jane Marla VerDow

SUNY Brockport

Special Olympics Oath:

Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.

Sculpture created by artist, Zureb Tsereteli (Soviet Union). A gift to the United States from the Soviet Union with home on SUNY at Brockport campus.

Special Olympics 1979 Remembered.
Host of the International Special Olympic Games

and yes this sculpture was celebrated

and I was there...1979
like most with Health and Physical Education degrees in process, volunteering for the games, meeting the athletes, and walking into celebrities. To name a few...I remember being there with Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue. Sally Struthers. Susan St. James. Christopher Reeve. And Muhammad Ali.

"Service is the rent we pay for a room in Heaven." ~ Muhammad Ali

Heaven is where most all felt they were living during the Special Olympic experience on our campus. Words can't explain it, nor express it. It just was...Heaven on Earth.

Of course there, the Kennedy clan (Ted, Ethel, Maria Shriver and now, not then Gov. Schwarzenegger) with Eunice (Kennedy) Shriver leading from the early days of site proposal and planning.

I remember their speeches.

Love this quote (Kaleidoscope 30th Anniversary edition)

"In Special Olympics it is not the strongest body or most dazzling mind that counts. It is the invincible spirit which overcomes all handicaps. For without this spirit, winning medals is empty. But with it, there is no defeat." ~ Eunice Kennedy Shriver

I would take the time to stand in front of this statue again for graduation. A moment in time taken to capture this gem...

Geek pictures from history



Caption: OK, Dad take the picture already.



What sparked sharing this picture?
Temporary loss of mind...

and enjoying the Kaleidoscope (Brockport College Publication).
The Vol 23, No. 1 Fall 2009 edition
Celebrating 30th Anniversary of the International Special Olympic Games at Brockport

what a gift from the College, my Alma Mater...how proud I am to remember those years and what I gained there and to remember this event of celebration of Olympians and Achievement...

The faces of the Olympians I remember most...pride and intense determination one minute participating and competing...a moment later celebrating the achievement even if that meant this time the victory went to someone else. Yes, all were winners, every time, every contest...

may we all remember their wisdom.

Thank you College at Brockport and to the Kaleidoscope.

For anyone interested in connecting further here's a link Kscope@brockport.edu

Our Hearts Remember

Today, this 911 we come together to remember our World's Family members...may we always reflect on our challenge as the survivors...


As individuals and as churches, we have need to determine if our mission is to light candles and to keep candles lit, or to blow candles out. I still believe that one candle and that candles united in purpose create the World’s path of creation and life, or can be used to ignite the fire of destruction. If we seek Peace, whether the War is between Nations or the War is between peoples, our own stone and our own flame is really all that any of us have control over.

- Jane Marla VerDow



Dear Daisy, 2004

As the story begins, the author caught in a personal struggle of survival under conditions felt oppressive, writes to Daisy. As the reflective search for self and path unfolds, the 9-11-01 story strikes as a Holy War between extremists of Nations. Before the dust settles, 10-28-01 brings world chaos personal. Living the aftermath, the author struggles to forgive and declares through writing an Epistle as part of her emancipation pathway that violence as a rightful expression and worship of God is not the God of her faith.

http://www.risingsparrowpress.com/announce.htm

Some Pictures are Perfect As They Are

Old Photos

The advantage of being a small press author-publisher is being able to select the project and to create the book in the image most desired, from the picture lay-out to storytelling. Next, how will that image be recreated? A book. An image print. A single picture or a grouping. A story told by words or through pictures that somehow when assembled and connected recreate or even create a moment in time.

I'm not an artist by paint or chalk. A single line I can't place on paper so it appears to be a line, least not straight nor of value or recognizable as object or subject. My penmanship...most laugh, those that is not struggling to read, for it flows for me when I create it, not much more can be said than that.

To take a picture, poor exposure or best of the time and create from that something new or improved...

A group shot gathering of kids with Grandpa/Grandma could become an improved photo with wear marks to be removed

or cropped to become just a special couple...










With color/lighting, somehow the characters come to life...




A family-friends photo becomes just family...





















Or maybe an old scrapbook photo could pull into a closer view...










Hey, That's me!!!!















Many hours I could and do spend on a single photo just to see what is hidden there, you know telling a story, or at least one I love to tell... of some story I remember and others...only the picture could tell...

These are examples of what I am currently working on...

What was...

Becomes...

What is now this...

Author: Jane Marla VerDow, Dear Daisy copyright ©2004; Independent Publishing: Rising Sparrow Press, est. 2003.
Visit Author Website http://www.risingsparrowpress.com/ to learn more about author’s upcoming titles or for writing and self-publishing resources. Also find Hard to Find Resources on history, travel, rare/old book finds, and arts/literature. Enjoy following Blogs: http://www.storytellersandwriters.blogspot.com/ and http://lakeontarioshoreline.blogspot.com/
And the latest addition, http://www.recordfootsteps.typepad.com/ to explore Writer-Publishing topics including Publishing Green/Environment Aware.

Winter Nights Waiting For Spring

So what does one do in a place like Pultneyville?

After one has done the Spring ahead an hour?
Before Spring flowers and buds pop?

On a night after work?
Or after all the seed books have been looked through in Winter?
At a time when all the fruit trees have been ordered?

Well...dream about play I suppose.

May is coming once we get passed the rains of April.
It will soon be time for the Apple Blossom Festival,
Williamson, NY
and the Lilac Festival in nearby Rochester, NY

So what else can we do for fun this year?

Here's a great find. Enjoy.

http://www.festivals.com/



Visit Author Website http://www.risingsparrowpress.com/ to learn more about author’s upcoming titles or for writing and self-publishing resources. Also find Hard to Find Resources on history, travel, rare/old book finds, and arts/literature. The latest addition, http://www.recordfootsteps.typepad.com/ to explore Writer-Publishing topics. Features leading to Spring: What's Green in Publishing?

Appleboom Point

Pettiness in Paradise
and
Other Tales of Appleboom Point

author: John E. Connors

Backcover:

What appears to be nothing more than a sleepy side note on the Seaway Trail along the south shore of Lake Ontario comes to life in these vivid tales. They are written by a beloved teacher and a keen observer of human nature who adopted the tiny town of Pultneyville, New York as his home. Originally known as Appleboom Point, the community is shown in its heydey as a bustling harbor town filled with lively characters busily making history. The author, using accounts from local newspapers, diaries, and other historical sources, builds a richly imagined world of days gone by. The stories, while fictional, paint a vibrant picture of a town's history. They are complete with accounts of local militiamen resisting the British assault during the War of 1812 and conductors guiding others to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Then, too, there are patrons carousing in the Pig's Ear Saloon, returning heroes haunted by the Civil War, and ghostly entities inhabiting elegant homes fully equipped with witch bottles in the ceiling. Spanning the decades when sleek and majestic schooners plied the treacherous waters of the Great Lakes, the stories tell how it must have been when the high and mighty were brought to this crossroad of commerce. Pettiness in Paradise: And Other Tales of Appleboom Point takes the reader on a fascinating journey back to upstate New York as it was when the captain was king, and the way of life was the way of adventure.

John Connors was a graduate of Alfred University with a Master's Degree in English. He taught English at Williamson Central School in Williamson, New York and at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He loved poetry and wrote many poems, some of which have been published in various poetry collections. He also wrote a collection of his own titled Conjure Man. This book is his only published prose and is his last. John died in June of 2005.

(John E. Connors lived)
In a Place called Pultneyville...Appleboom Point

ISBN #: 978-1-4251-1448-0
Trafford Publishing
Printed in Victoria, BC, Canada

Thank you Mr Connors for believing in me and my writings. Love Always.

One student,

WCS, Class of '77

Jane Marla VerDow