Military Romance Author
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
It’s Friday, the sun is out and the weather will be perfect here in Oregon. So what better way to enjoy the first warm weekend than to watch an elite athlete playing in the park? I give you Frisbee dog Jubey!
This four-footed pro has all the right moves and even takes doggie cam Go Pro shots his own self! Border collies can run the world if we just let them. And do a better job I might add.
Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
I have several yoga/exercise balls around the house I’m not using. Seems like these kids have come up with a great way to exercise and entertain themselves. They’re having so much fun with the simple skill of playing ball!
Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
P.S. You have to watch it on YouTube!
http://youtu.be/mu31o9zzHQs
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Last Friday’s post I talked about playing in the dirt with my Matchbox car and travel trailer and I wondered; where is my little yellow convertible? I discovered it several years ago in Mom and Dad’s kitchen junk drawer and promptly airlifted it home with me.
Dived into my box of Happy Meal toys and assorted “must have” fun items I rotate on my desk for entertainment and inspiration. Ta da! There it was, beat up and intact. Checked Google and found www.toycarcollector.com in Vancouver, Washington had all the Matchbox cars for sale.
Found out mine is a model 39b9 Pontiac Convertible Excel from 1962. Didn’t realize they were made in England. Granted, the windshield is missing on mine, but it looks pretty good. The travel trailer disappeared many moons ago, but the trailers on the toy site didn’t look the same. I’m sure my memory is perfect. Ha!
My little excursion into toyland reminded me of my favorite Christmas toy gift. Okay, there are two. First was my Chatty Cathy who chattered until her voice box broke. Shipped her back to the factory. I remember the trauma of seeing her shipped off in a cardboard box, hoping and waiting until she’d return. Chatty came back in the box and talked for a while, then nada.
The second toy I got at age 21. Barely home from the Army for the holidays, having driven through a Wyoming ice and snowstorm to arrive two days before Christmas, I opened presents at my folks house on Christmas morning. I got an electric train. I cried with happiness. I’d always wanted an electric train. Since Dad worked for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad, then Burlington Northern for 38 years, one would think an electric train would have been in the house.
Sometime that summer the topic of toys had come up and I’d recalled how I never got an electric train. Dad made sure I had one. At 21. He crafted a special round green wooden platform for the train to run on, from his rail inspector and roadmaster days I’m sure. Still have both and think they are coming out this holiday season.
We did have a wooden train set growing up that snapped together, complete with tracks. Wonder where that went? Time for another toy quest!
Have you gotten your favorite toy after a long time or bought one for someone else? Do you still have a favorite toy? What is your toy story?
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Two interesting quotes jumped on me in the past few days. One in the January “Vogue” magazine from an interview with Cate Blanchett and the other an opinion piece by a doctor in our local newspaper.
Blanchett talked about the creative process, “there’s a kind of unrest that I think happens in any creative endeavor. You are endlessly disappointed. I mean, no artist worth their salt is ever pleased.” She went on to quote legendary dancer Martha Graham then wrapped it up with, “And that is actually what keeps you moving forward and makes you stay creatively alive.”
It was a nugget of inspiration I needed after trying to figure out what I want to do when my writing grows up, if ever. It’s also testament to reading everything, because you never know where pearls of advice might be hidden. I’d started reading the article in the middle since I wanted to see what Blanchett said about the new movie she’s in, “The Monuments Men.” I’ve owned the book for years! Now it’s a movie and seriously, who doesn’t want to watch George Clooney?
The opinion piece in the paper centered on the need for children to unplug and venture outside, to actually play with something besides a screen. He talked about the need for children to not be so scheduled, they need boredom time. The line that hit me hard? “Boredom is the furnace of creativity.”
What a great and true sentence. Then I immediately applied everything from both articles to adults and writers. When was the last time you were creatively perfect or truly bored? Can’t remember? Of course not! Between the screens, schedules and sleep, who has time to be perfect or bored?
And that is the issue. Writers and all creatives need time to sit, stare out the window and be restless and bored. When I can’t solve a writing problem, I treat it the same way as a glitchy computer; back away, go outside and reboot. House cleaning and mundane tasks give my right brain a vacation, then while my left brain is carefully supervising sock folding; voila, a solution appears in my right brain. Amazing stuff.
Not perfect? Are you bored today? Excellent!
Read the play article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/01/why_children_should_play_more.html
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