Nan's C's: Cooperate, Cogitate and Crazy

triangulatons tagged me for this blog tag challenge....
1. Write the title to your own memoir using 6 words.
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who tagged you.
4. Tag five more blogs.
Patty
Candice
Jane Kirkpatrick
Erin
A blogger I haven't read until now, (I had to look for this one off of Mt. Hope Chronicles) Susan

It didn't take me long to come up with this title to the memoir I haven't written, after all, I was given only six words. Technically, I don't think I have six words.

Cooperate-My mother claims this to be a word I used quite often as a youngster. My family had at least seven people living in our house at the time. I'm assuming I heard the word on Seasame Street. I feel somewhat mixed about this word in the title, as it now seems this idealogical word is less of my mode of operation that some word that has to to do with doing things the way I want to do them. 

Cogitate-From someone whom has labeled herself ADHD, this sounds kind of strange. I think I heard this word from a cartoon character from television, but didn't take time to think about what it meant.  I've only recently come to use this word, but can say that I have spent a good amount of time cogitating. 

Crazy-Since I labeled myself "Crazy Aunt Nan" I thought I'd put it in the title. Why "Crazy"? Well, the word in now politically incorrect. I find myself believing, and thinking about things that are politically incorrect.

 I also have fantastical ideas, like throwing a folk concert in my backyard. 

I do things like invite myself on other people's vacations. 

There are others that would label me crazy especially when tall tales of celebrity friendships paint me as a celebrity stalker.  

I speak Spenchglish.

Since I have worked in the mental health field,  the "crazy" label might get me into trouble, but I would qualify the use of the word only if it's definition included that we are all crazy in our own special way. 

* My friend commented the other day, "We wouldn't call you 'Crazy Aunt Nan" if we really thought you were."

Self-control

The chicken are speaking to me...are they hungry? Do they want us to gather the eggs? Do they want their coop cleaned out? Do they want it to stop raining?
I'm not sure how often I actually hear them, as I have developed a great ability to ignore them in their chatter...
It's Sunday, and we don't have much planned today. My house has returned to disorder, due mostly to the fact that on Thursday we had glorious weather here, and I opted to return to my gardening duties. I have begun the process of moving my gigantomous Hidcote lavender from the front of the house, to the backyard, where, I can overlook it's needs as I do my chatty chickens. I love that our guests are greeted by their wonderful smells(the lavender, not the chickens), but the lavender has grown woody and I don't prune them as often as needed, hence, not so pretty. I like plants that need pruning, but I am a slow pruner. I am in need of a pruning tutor, mentor perhaps. OK, maybe someone sitting close by to supervise me while I prune. Seems as though my mother did that on her last visit...
So I spent the afternoon on Thursday in the garden. It felt so good to be outside working, as I am, sad to say, a fair weather gardener. Evander mowed the front lawn, and I mowed the back. Things progressed so well that I even pulled out my seed box. I was prepared to throw caution to the wind, and plant some seeds in the garden, when Emma informed me, it was time to go to the Cub Scout's Roundtable meeting. I stopped just as I was about to open the package. Alas, the rain has since returned, the seed packets are all over the kitchen table, and the lavender plant that I moved, isn't really in the ground.
Saturday's run notables...
I didn't see the moon on Saturday morning, but the sun seemed to be rising as we began our run. Heidi and I ran the first part of the Eugene Half Marathon course. About four miles into the course is South Eugene High School. Well, Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton just happened to be scheduled to show up at the school a few hours after our run. People had already begun to line up outside the school to get into the event. As Heidi and I ran by it was really, really, really hard not to taunt or heckle the crowd, as I am not a fan of Hillary. I joked with Heidi about what great self-control I had in not yelling, “Go John!” (Granted I don't know much about John McCain, and don't know if I will vote for him, but know I don't like Hillary). As I write this, I think that it probably was a good idea that I didn't taunt these Hillary supporters. Political supporters can be quite rabid, and now I envision their response to my teasing with Heidi and I running for our lives up East 19th street. Our safe half marathon pace would be pressed to an all out sprint to avoid the clutches of those I had offended.
It's a good thing I have self-control.

Illidiot

I have made it a whole week on the blogosphere only to discover that I am an illidiot. Or is it, I am illidiot? 

Writing this past week reminds me that although I began my college career in journalism, I ended it with Human Services. Instead of writing stuff about people, I did stuff with people. I do not regret the path that I have taken. I began my journalistic career wanting to make television commercials. But instead of working for "the man" I opted to work for "the Man". 

It was a horrible experience that I had in "Grammar for Journalists" my sophomore year at the 

U of O, that lead me to switch careers. As I recall, while taking the final exam, I became the victim of the multiple choice exam. I thought, "Well, I could use this in a sentence this way, or I could use it that way-no that way. It wouldn't make me a bad person to use it that way". I had so many choices, so many options-too many options. I earned a "D". I was horrified. I hadn't earned such a grade since French my freshman year (The teacher told me I could speak French, but didn't know anything).

 I prefer Spanish anyway.

 So now, this writing in English reminds me of my past grammar woes. I find myself in situations that leave me wondering if I should use a comma, or a colon, or a semicolon.  What or which are the rules? Then there's deciding which word would fit best in the context. There are a lot of words (I was told by my freshman high school English teacher never to use a lot).

I shant forget what I tell my children,  spelling does count. Especially when you've posted about a person, and then a little birdie tells you the name of that person is misspelled, not mentioning that it's misspelled over half a dozen times. 

But I will write on. I don't have my English teacher, grammar teacher, or French teacher telling me I don't know anything. I can figure that out by  my own, illidiotic self.  

Strength and Dignity

                                                                                                                                                                                     Photo Courtesy of Deanna Hershiser
This Monday, at the writers class I attend, our presenter was writer/seller, Dorcas Smucker. My history with Dorcas is quite short, sort of. A few years ago, I read an article of hers in the Sunday paper. I read the paper daily, (well, I read the headlines daily) and it's rare if I read more than one article a day (although I can't say I've ever counted). I don't remember the subject of the story I read, but I do remember I knew right away that I enjoyed her writing. The tone of her writing seemed to reflect that of woman whom I could easily admire. Perhaps it was her candid view of family life, combined with her humility that seemed to capture my attention. Another of her stories that I read was so touching and real, that the honesty of her words caused me to weep.
I don't recall if I'd seen a picture of Dorcas in the paper, but I saw her in person two years ago at a Northwest Writers event at the Eugene Public Library. She was selling books next to one of my favorite authors, Jane Kirkpatrick. I was waiting in line to buy a book from Jane Kirkpatrick and noticed that Dorcas Smucker was right next to her. I was having a dilemma, as there were two “celebrities” standing right next to each other. I admired both of these women, but would I speak to both? Isn't there a “ONE LITERARY CELEBRITY PER DAY” chat rule at book events? I was hoping Jane Kirkpatrick remembered me, yet this chit chat with Jane could interfere with the opportune time to meet Dorcas Smucker. As I had Jane sign the book Emma was purchasing for me, I just played it cool by saying, “Hello” to Dorcas, without introducing myself.
So on Monday, I did introduce myself to Dorcas, as did the rest of the crowd waiting for her to speak. I now think that they didn't really understand her celebrity. I tried to curb my enthusiasm, and didn't mention to her that I enjoyed her writings or that I had begun reading her blog. I didn't even ask her any questions when she asked if we had any for her. Later in the evening, I did ask her if she watched the Jane Austin series on PBS. She kindly replied that she didn't watch television. I tried to dig myself out of my own question by stating something about the videos probably being available at the library. Clearly, I need to brush up on such facts about an author before I make such suggestions.
Here's the one statement that I jotted down from her talk, well, at least I think it was something close to this...
“Society has it's standard of success...just disregard that.”
Dorcas Smucker