20 Minutes of Insanity: Day One

I've been having great fun reading fellow blogger Craig's randomness (here) this past week. He's doing a thing where he writes for 20 minutes and posts without editing - his way of participating in an immersion project that a friend of his is doing. I like that. I need that. I've been way too deep in my own head lately. I spend way too much time writing posts that take maybe 3 minutes to read. I worry over them. I type a paragraph, or sometimes just a sentence, and then pace and ponder, type, pace, ponder, lather, rinse, repeat. It's beginning to feel burdensome. So, I swiped the idea from Craig and I'm goin' with it.

Here's what Craig posted about the idea, "The aim of this project is to let go and to document the experience... it got me to thinking: How would I let myself go? What would I do? ...And then it came to me: I would stop writing deliberately. I would give up proofreading and revising. I would close my eyes and just type. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do. ...I’m going to post at least once a day for a week here, and I’m going to spend no more than 20 minutes on each post. That means I won’t be tweaking words or editing paragraphs like I normally do. I’m just going to plunk away about whatever and click publish."

I need to run wild for a bit, to write for the sole purpose of... of getting it out. So, until the end of next week, that's what I'm going to do. I'll set the timer for 20 minutes and babble away. Then I'll hit post without editing and you'll be able to see just how much of a doofus I can really be.

I'm also going to do that with art - set aside 20 minutes to just get crazy with whatever medium I choose. I'll post pictures of what happens starting tomorrow.

Starting... now.... and.... GO!

I'm feeling very Spring-y lately. There's that vague promise of newness in the air. Things are starting to bud.

Yesterday I cleaned, really cleaned for the first time since... I don't know when. I'm not a great housekeeper, although I can safely say that we don't live in abject filth. I dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed the kitchen floor. I even opened the back slider for about a half an hour to let some fresh air in. It made me feel... lighter.

We had wild heavy rain for two days that almost completely flooded the field out back. I don't mind. I love the rain. What I love even more is what it left behind. A new "pond" that ducks are loving. In turn, I've been loving watching the ducks. The pond has bid welcome to some seagulls too. It makes me feel like I'm at the seashore when I awaken to the sound of the seagulls screeching at each other. Last night as I stood on the deck and watched the ducks floating back and forth and dipping into the water for whatever tasty tidbit they found, an enormous wingspan suddenly filled my peripheral vision. It was a blue heron. The heron landed deftly, knee deep in the new pond. I quietly said, "Dude... there ain't no fish in there! Go back to the river."

It's humpie season again on the river. Humpies are salmon that are distinguished by... da ta da!... a hump on their backs. They show up every two years, fighting their way up river to spawn. It makes me appreciate the relative ease of my sex life.

I also have a pair of hummingbirds building a nest in the blackberries that thrive along the fence line. I marvel at the way they move. What surprised me was how loud their call is. I don't know that I've ever heard hummingbirds call to each other before, or if I did, I wasn't aware of what it was. Mr. Hummingbird has gotten used to seeing me out on the deck. Most mornings he will take the time to perch on a blackberry branch and yammer at me. He's a handsome little fellow, bright green with a magenta colored throat. It won't be long before he has blackberry buds to sip from. I hope he invites friends and relatives.

The bushes also host jays, robins, nuthatches, sparrows, titmouses, chicadees, and... crows. I don't mind the crows. They amuse me, those curious, smart, silly birds.

Every now and then I also get to see eagles and hawks circling overhead. Majestic. Beautiful.

And the frogs are back... cheeping and croaking to each other constantly.

This is my little nature habitat. This is what I stare out at when my mind needs a break. And sometimes when it doesn't.

Life is a beautiful thing to watch.

*ding ding ding* ... and.... "publish post"