Thanks to Renee at Unpacked Writer for this fabulous Doll God review!!!
Tag Archives: Essay
Book Review: Luanne Castle’s Doll God and Why I Loved it When I’m Afraid of Dolls
Filed under Book Review, Books, Doll God, Dolls, Nonfiction, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, WordPress
Reading to the Kitties
I’m happy to report that the cats at the shelter are fun to hang out with! There weren’t a lot of cats the night we worked because the others, including all the kittens, had been adopted (yay!!!). We were able to play ball with the free roaming (in the cat room) cats. Henry and Bobbette were the big scorers. Four cats were in kennels. I didn’t know why at the time, but I have since gotten the low down. Two of them I could have let out while I was there. I feel bad that I didn’t, especially for the black cat who really seemed to want to interact more with me. The other two are too hard to get back in their kennels, and I wouldn’t have wanted to “go there” on our first visit. The reason two of them have to be kenneled when they are alone is because one of the other cats doesn’t leave them alone otherwise.
Then I read them three stories that were up on my WordPress reader at that time. I looked for story-stories that were appropriate for cats. No 50 Shades of Grey allusions for these cats under my watch ;). I read “the bingo ladies of old / Tess Tales” by Kate Crimmins, “Hennie Kirstein’s Well” by Amos van der Merwe, and “Does Kindness Matter: My Grandmother’s Legacy of Love” by Kristin Shaw on the Kindness blog. I animated my voice and gently acted out the stories. This was the perfect order to read them in, too. All the cats were enthralled and finally, near the very end, they all curled up and went to sleep–tuckered out and happy.
The handsome guy above (even his belly has beautiful markings) is Henry. He’s the king of the room.
The sweetheart above (she might have a bad eye or is cross-eyed, a bit) is Bobbette. A truly darling cat who loves to play.
The black and white medium-length coat above is Felix. He’s a little shy, but came right out when hubby and I played ball with Henry and Bobbette. He also loved the stories I read to him.
This is the cat room. There are a few kennels along the walls for cats who need to be in there for their own protection when humans are not there or when they are new and acclimating to the cat room. I feel bad that I didn’t let Nakana and Betty out of their kennels, but I wasn’t sure if I could at that time.
Nakana is an all-black beauty. She was so sweet and so desperately wanted me to like her. And I do!
And then Betty might be harder to put back in the kennel, but I suspect she’s like my Tiger, so I am willing to try.
Lest you think Betty is in a small kennel, this is a 3 level townhouse!
I can’t wait to go back. On Saturday, hubby drove the animals who didn’t get adopted home from PetSmart.
For those of you wondering how my dad is doing. He was back at the hospital, very weak, but they got him going again and now he has moved to a short-term rehab facility–very new and nice–and he sounds stronger and happy to be at this place. And guess what? The facility has a dog and a cat!!! 🙂
Cat lives in the therapy room at my father’s short-term rehab nursing center
Filed under Arizona, Blogging, Cats and Other Animals, Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Photographs
What Inspires My Poems
Is it annoying if I admit that I’m really enjoying reading the reviews of Doll God ? All but one have been highly positive (5 stars on Amazon and 5 stars with a 4 star on Goodreads, as well as written reviews).
Here are two blog tour reviews from the end of last week:
Harvee Lau at Book Dilettante is fascinated by the dolls in the book. I love her reading of the poem “Caught.” She shares the poem in the review. Check it out :).
Randi at Bell Book and Candle Blog says Doll God is “an outstanding collection of poems.”
Today I have a guest post up at Peeking Between the Pages
about my poetic inspiration. I’d be tickled if you go check it out.
MaryGold enjoying the Arizona weather
UPDATE: A review of Doll God is up at Peeking Between the Pages.
Filed under Arizona, Blogging, Book Review, Books, Doll God, Dolls, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Publishing
Websites and Nursing Homes
The guy who created my daughter’s website made one for me (ask me for his contact information if you are interested in hiring him). I might make a few small changes to it, but see what you think: website link. I wanted it to focus right now on Doll God, but to provide samples of my writing, as well.
Then I wanted to add something fun related to dolls and art, in honor of Doll God. So I asked blogger mareymercy if I could put up her recent doll photographs. Here they are! If you want to find her photos from the home page of my website you click on DOLL GOD and then go to Dolls as Art. There is a reason her blog subtitle is “Photography and Frivolity”–so much fun!
On my links section, I have mareymercy’s photography links. If you know of other doll art that is appropriate, good-natured, and high quality, post me the link in the comments here so I can consider adding it to my list of links.
PHOTO BY MAREYMERCY
My dad is in the nursing home now. He’s not happy to be there, and I completely understand. My experiences with nursing homes have not made me too keen on the places–even the best of the nursing homes are still “institutions” with all the potential problems of institutions.
When my grandmother was in a nursing home for rehab after surgery (years ago), a large lady named Frieda gave her baths, shoving and slapping her. Grandma had a panic attack and called me, telling me how she needed to get out of there. It’s the same for my dad. He had a nightmare that he was in jail.
Those of you so inclined please pray for him. And he will be thrilled with good vibes, virtual Reiki, and all manner of well wishes.
Filed under Art and Music, Blogging, Creative Nonfiction, Doll God, Dolls, Nonfiction, Photographs, poems about dolls
My Mother-in-Law’s Legacy, Part III
What I didn’t realize until after my MIL passed away was that she had painted my first school–McKinley Elementary–where I attended kindergarten. My grandparents lived across the street, and I stayed with them during the day while my parents were at work. Grandma walked me across Emerson Street every morning for school. In this painting you can see my grandparents’ house on the other corner. Sorry that the image below looks a little crooked. There is glass over the painting and I had to angle the camera in order to avoid the glare.
The school is long gone, but the house my grandfather built is still standing. When I was a kid it was white, but then it was gold. Now it’s white again. The gray house on the other side of theirs is also gone. Here is the house today as I saw it in October.
Here’s a little tangent away from my mother-in-law. Although the house looks modest, it was a wonderland to me. I loved every minute I spent there–from the 2nd floor with the 3 bedrooms still preserved as my mother and her siblings had lived in them (complete with books and toys) to the kitchen where my grandmother made homemade doughnuts and delicious farm suppers to the money plants and strawberries growing out back.
My gigantic classroom at McKinley was at the opposite side of the first floor from my grandparents’ house. It had a huge window which opened out to a grassy field. We could walk out through that field and sit under an old thick-trunked tree while the teacher read to us or we played post office. I do wonder sometimes what it is that makes us tear down public buildings that well served generations. Why do we need new?
My MIL’s paintings captured many buildings in Kalamazoo that had new facades put on or were destined to be destroyed. How sweet of her to paint my first school.
P.S. We discovered the painting after Diana passed away, and my husband and I gave it to my mother because it was her school, too!
A Doll in Need of a Name
Thank you so much for your support for the publication of Doll God. I had no idea there is so much work involved with the birth of a book. I’m running on little sleep and learning everything from scratch.
I feel like I did when my son was a baby. Nearly headachey through the eyes, foggy, and sleepy. But definitely not crabby. Hahaha.
If you did or do order a copy of my book and you like it, please write a couple of nice sentences over at Amazon (and Goodreads if you’re on that site). Apparently this is very important to the sale of the book. It doesn’t have to take much time; it’s more important that it be heartfelt.
So what have I been doing? Too much and I’m too tired to make a list, I’m afraid, but I can tell you that at both Amazon and Goodreads I set up author profiles. I spent hours reading a book telling how to market a book on Amazon only to discover that the information was so old that it’s no longer applicable. Most of the bells and whistles the writer referred to are no longer available. I contacted friends by email about Doll God.
It’s also important for me to pay it forward by reading and reviewing other poetry books (along with my memoir and some fiction reviews).
With all this hubbub, I don’t have anything brilliant to say. But I do have a shot of the doll from my book cover cavorting in my flowers. Note that these flowers were saved from the freeze this year by lots of hard work by hubby and by me. We had to cover all the shrubs and flower beds and even the cacti and succulents when we had a freeze that lasted a week.
This doll has been through the mill, as my mother would say. She’s been face down in mud puddles and tide pools and traveled back and forth between Arizona and California several times (through the USPS). This photo is proof she has a face, too. In the book cover below, her face is hidden.
I think she needs a name. My daughter, who took the original photo for the book art and who took the photo of her in the flowers, as well, thought she needed a name, but we never settled on one.
Any ideas on a name for the doll?
Filed under Art and Music, Book Review, Books, Doll God, Dolls, Nonfiction, Photographs, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Writing
Never Too Young for Soda
While I’m twiddling my thumbs waiting for Amazon to list my book, I thought I’d mention (again) that my husband has a soda pop advertising collection.
I have to walk past this every day.
Here is a vintage ad I think is particularly bizarre, hilarious, or disgusting–probably all of those descriptions.
A baby drinking 7up! Can you imagine what would happen if a company tried to create an ad like that today?! No wonder my generation is hooked on soda.
Or am I the only one with a soda problem? I have it down to one a day, but even that seems ridiculous with all the wonderful teas available. And plenty of water.
But think of it: every day I walk past all those signs. They murmur “refreshing,” trying to coax me over to the refrigerator.
Filed under Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Memoir, Nonfiction, Vintage American culture
Time Suck by Choice or By Nature
My new healthy lifestyle is off to a good start. I haven’t had a truffle. I bought a Fitbit. The very first day I walked over 10,200 steps. Here‘s an article about the origins of the 10,000 step goal.
***
Every year, around this time, a bird attacks a certain window on the back of my house. The first couple of years it was a larger bird, similar to a starling although probably a more mild-mannered species and a bit smaller. Peck peck peck at the windowpane.
I find it very upsetting because I know that birds need to eat all day long–and any bird who spends hours pecking at a pane of glass is not eating enough food. I always run outside with a broom to shoo it away, but it comes back the moment my back is turned. Let’s assume it’s been a different bird every year, but I can’t be sure.
This year a smaller bird is going after the window, but he isn’t just pecking.
What do you think he’s doing? She’s doing?
Somebody told me that the shiny film that “tints” the windows creates a mirror for a bird. He sees himself in the mirror and thinks he is seeing another bird. So are these birds trying to mate with their own reflections? Can’t birds tell when another bird is a male or female? When the bird was just pecking, I figured it was a male thinking he was attacking another male. But this behavior looks a little different. In fact, it almost looks like the bird is trying to jump up to see inside the house!
Before you laugh dismissively, thinking I’m being whimsical, let me tell you that one time, when I was sitting at the computer, a young bunny ran up to the glass door. He stood on his hind legs and peered into the house, very obviously trying to see inside.
I’ve been thinking about this poor bird. Although I keep trying to scare him away, he always comes back, wasting his valuable feeding time. Does he do it because he chooses to do so or is it part of his bird nature?
Will this baby bird grow up to be as silly as the adult birds?
I started to wonder how often I’m like that bird, wasting my precious time on something that doesn’t “feed” me in a nourishing way. All those times I sit there with a numbed brain scrolling through my Facebook home page. That’s a time suck that has to go.
What do you waste your valuable time on?
Filed under Blogging, Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Nonfiction, Photographs
The Words I Didn’t Know I Knew Until I Read Them
Have you ever read a line or two in a poem or a sentence in prose that you “recognize”? Words that seem to speak to you? I’ve had the thrill of that experience many times, and even so, it always feels like something rare and special. As if the words reach somewhere inside me and find a perfect match. A puzzle piece in the proper place.
I began a memoir piece I wrote about the bomb shelter my father built in our basement with lines from a poem by Brigit Pegeen Kelly:
while the one divides into two: the heart and its shadow,
The world and its threat, the crow back of the sparrow.
These lines are from a poem called “Of Ancient Origins and War.” When I read them for the first time, I felt as if I already knew them although they contained fresh images that I had never read.
They reminded me of when I lived in the house with the bomb shelter under my feet. I previously wrote about the shelter here. When I last visited Michigan, I drove by the house. The trees are much more mature today, and the house is no longer white. Is the bomb shelter still there?
I think the reason Kelly’s lines struck me is because they felt “real” to me. The notion that the heart has a shadow. That’s not something ever said, but it’s true. It’s kind of frightening. There is love and there is love’s shadow. There is the beating center of our existence and there is a shadow created by our very existence.
And of course there is the world and the threat to the world, as well as the threat that comes from the world. What better representation of the threat is a bomb shelter. By trying to protect his family, my father terrified us.
Although “the crow back of the sparrow” feels so right here, my understanding of it seems to float. What do you think it means?
What fresh new words from a story or poem have you recognized?
Filed under Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Literary Journals, Memoir, Nonfiction, Poetry, Writing
The New Year’s Post I Never Thought I’d Have to Make
New Year’s resolutions have never been part of my life. It all seems like such a waste of time. I never thought I would make a genuine definitely-gonna-keep-this resolution.
However, this year I made one–actually a slew of them, all related–but not because the year has slipped from 2014 to 2015. I did it for these reasons (and I apologize in advance for boring medical info):
- My dad is recovering from an aortic dissection–without surgery, surgical skill, and good luck, this has fatal consequences
- My mother had several stents put in her heart when she was 70
- My DNA health report lists a lot of possible potential coronary type problems
- I have the teeny tiniest circulatory channels (blood drawing nightmare stories abound in my memory banks)
- My doctor is rechecking my cholesterol the 3rd week of January
- I’ve been letting my health slide during the mad rush to get a book draft done for Stanford
- I eat too much cheese
In light of all that, guess what my resolution is?!
Yup, to work on my health! These are some of the ways (nothing radical here–after all, I want this to work):
- Veggies at least 3 times a day
- Veggies prepared in new healthy ways
- Keep both spinach and kale in the house at the same time–and use it
- Fruit–try to “gut it” at least once a day (I know, I know, but fruit creeps me out with its bruises, hidden bugs, and sudden rotting)
- Never more than one soda a day and try to skip it sometimes
- Walk every day (and buy one of those step counting technogizmos)
- Stationery bike at least 4x a week (because of my recovered foot I am not allowed pressure on the foot as in running, dancing, etc)
- Learn to use the elliptical already . . . (this exists in my own house!!)
- Keep up the other exercise
- Limit cheese to one serving a day
- Limit chicken and fish to 1-2 servings a day (I don’t eat other meat and am not a big fan of chicken either, for ethical reasons)
- Try some new things, such as almond butter
- Figure out a healthy and flavorful way to get my breakfast protein (I am a person who needs warm protein-rich food for breakfast and can’t eat cereal, etc.)
- Forget the truffle instead of dessert idea. I looked at the nutritional guide on the package. 26% of my daily fat allowance in one of those little balls!
Any other ideas, folks? Nothing too crazy, please ;).
Oops, and champagne (note: champagne is fruit so all is well) contains zero fat, so I can add that to my diet!!! Happy New Year!
Filed under Essay, Nonfiction, Writing
