That feeling of being disappointed over circumstance and powerless, apathy with life, uncertainty and indecision with the future. People around me, when they feel that way, when they’re hurting, my empath takes over and I just…absorb it. Because each self declared “stuck in quagmire” person who’s expressed that lately (in my circle) is an inspiration to me with qualities I admire and just don’t have. To them I say, do a positive thing a day. Be kind. Be real. Be purposeful. Plan things. Follow through. What’s a passion? Think of that thing. The mind is more powerful than most people give it credit for, and enough steps in the right direction, no matter how small, add up. 

I love rocks. Agate for strength, amethyst for transformation, Quartz for healing and much more. 

I’ve got mica glittering like eyeshadow in a vial, and split geodes with little crystal caves inside them on various shelves, heavy quartz rocks parked in nearly every room on the floor, and bits of interesting shiny, smooth, rough, tiny, chunky, smooth, polished, (you get the idea) rocks in closets, bins and elsewhere, even in my pocket as I type this. 

Columnar basalt is but one rock on my long list of favorite rocks. You can find it in oceanic crust and other interesting locations. Basalt is on Jupiter’s moon Io. It’s on an asteroid and also on several planets including Mars. Being igneous, it’s formed by lava. It’s the pattern, the overall formation that makes it fascinating.  The phrase “columnal basalt” also just rolls off the tongue.

What does that have to do with the despair I started off talking about?

Somewhere in the world (here) introverts are thinkingthinkingthinking 

about problems. 

Lava is a problem. It can kill. It can transform, … It leads to interesting and beautiful changes in rock like basalt. 

Somewhere in the world, extroverts are chatting (with each other) at gatherings.

Socializing is how extroverts recharge. Too much interaction has the opposite effect on introverts of course. It drains them. The metaphorical “need a charge, now-low battery” light starts blinking in the brain from being “on” a long time and an introvert needs to plug into alone-time. I personally enjoy the same frisson-like charge from amassing facts that extroverts get from people-contact/small talk/conversations…

It’s important to note:

There IS nothing wrong with either introversion or extroversion; just a difference in brains. One may socialize for a release of endorphin, whilst another contemplates and thinks. Alone. Both get happy. Get charged back up. 

Here’s something as interesting as columnar basalt: Palindrome time is here in the U.S. Every date reads the same backward or forward for the next 10 days (as of the posting of this post). Enjoy synchronicity!
7-10-17
7-11-17
7-12-17
7-13-17
7-14-17
7-15-17
7-16-17
7-17-17
7-18-17
7-19-17

I recently literally skipped out to the container garden to pick some (drum roll) cruciferous CURLY KALE. I like how that trendy phrase rolls off the tongue too. I also love it under the broiler with garlic and lemon until it gets crisp. A big bunch shrinks up under the broiler and it’s possible for me to munch happily on large quantities. Returning to my front door with my little green handful of B vitamins, fiber, zinc, and beta-carotene, I was flooded with thoughts of a healthy immune system, cancer prevention, wound healing, skin health, and repaired enzymes within the body. I can wish. 

The kale was a success. It’s had two pickings so far with many more promised, but alas my over-the-railing Faery garden has not fared well.

 I stuck a trowel in the dirt last week to plant an ivy and came up with a squirming pincing earwig family, complete with cousins, uncles and drunken friends. They were having a party in the damp decaying earth beneath the village I created. Thinking water would scare them out, my grandson poured water on the patch of faery land, which exists of an oblong container filled with dirt, topped with moss, and faery buildings. 

The water disturbed an ant colony. Hundreds all at once, scurried forth out of the dirt, with larva in their mouths, on a mission up my lattice and porch rail, hurriedly relocating the population! As if that wasn’t enough, I picked up a faery house and found a dozen pill bugs beneath it. Just for good measure, a plump earthworm showed up too.

I’ve since researched the problem and relocated the buildings throughout the yard…

My yard. My sanctuary. My surprises. Like this one. A surprise inside the house. 

Al: there’s a snake on the floor. 

Me: no way. 

My adult son: oh there it is. 

Me: how long’s it been loose in the house?

Son: couple days. 

Later that evening, after the faery and bug fiasco, after what I affectionately have come to think of as “Insects Terrorize Smalltown Faeryland!” I saw this design that a puffer fish created at Bing’s wallpaper site, and it really lifted my spirits. Again, I think it’s the pattern that intrigues me. 

I enjoy grouting broken pieces into designs, something I haven’t done in a while. 

I’ve got a green 60s style suitcase full of broken bits of flea market plates and a repurposed large plastic pretzel container filled with smooth amber colored, muted green, mottled clear and blue sea glass (for mosaics).

Presently I’ve been plugged into painting activities. Here is one, in progress, as yet unfinished. Pattern has been a theme as of late.

Lots of news; none I can share just yet. Exciting work for me in future re: writing and arts. Sometimes the world has me hemmed in, actually feeling guilty for being introverted or sad for not being able to solve other peoples’ despair and then I think, 

I turn my inner into outer. 

I do my best. I won’t apologize for my brain, such as it is. I was painting the art you see here and as is always the case, my mind can go to a place where it can reboot. 

Invariably it travels. I was thinking, as I used India Ink to outline the pattern here, that in a way I’m a puffer fish myself, I’ve certainly been resembling one lately and-

here’s my pattern. 

Patterns emerge from so many sources- fish and lava being only two. 

This painting, unfinished, is a celebration of a friend’s life, a life taken way soon. I celebrate that life in a way I know how- during reboot sessions. 

Samantha Craft has added me to Spectrum Suite by the way: http://www.myspectrumsuite.com/neurodiverse-news/  It’s a well thought out resource, Samantha is that kind of person.

As for the news I can’t share yet, it’s roiling, the tectonic surfaces in my brain are rumbling; getting ready to string together words and something-something and given the go-ahead, it will hopefully be a pretty great or at least good contribution to the world. It will be my best. Send positivity. Please? Oh, and reach out to someone hurting in some way. Maybe even sacrifice for them. At the very least, wish those around you in despair, to be well. Wish hard for the world to be well. Silent wishes count. 

Also, did you know rainbow armpits are trending? I wouldn’t make that up. Here’s a picture. Not of me. 

bye for now

K

 

Filed under: patterns,extroverts,introverts,puffer fish, creative pursuit,curly kale,, reflection Tagged: artwork, curly kale, introvert problems, life stuff, observations, rebooting the brain