The Anole and I

March 29, 2013March 29, 2013 / Janna Hill / 12 Comments

Native Texans

I learned something new today. What I have always called a Chameleon is actually an Anole. Ah-know-lee, it sounds very French, doesn’t it? [Well kick me runnin’ I happen to know a little French]

Tending the herb box

Fact: They change colors like the Chameleon but are more closely related to the Iguana. Très el strange`o as hell I know. I also know they consume pesky little insects but I did not know that Anoles eat snails! That definitely sounds French.

The Anole and I have a lot in common. Okay maybe just a couple of things because I’m not eating a damn snail- not willingly anyway. Well maybe if it were fried and crispy… or pureed and stirred into a fruit smoothie. Oops I just puked a little. Sorry. I’m sure the French word for puke would probably sound less vulgar. Heck if they can get people to devour something so slimy and creepy by calling it escargot surely they have an elegant word for puke.

Around here we’ll leave the eating of invertebrates to the Anole. The truth is the only thing we have in common is that we are both native Texans scrounging in the same box of dirt.

Insight (Sight & Seeing Red)

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013 / Janna Hill / 6 Comments

This post should have been the Indie update I’ve been planning, giving you all of the gory details about what I’ve learned on this Indie adventure (now having a full year of experience under my belt) but…

I was seriously composing the post meant to share my progress when I diverted my eyes. Did you know you aren’t supposed to stare at the computer screen for more than twenty minutes without looking twenty feet away for at least twenty seconds? It’s called the 20/20/20 rule.

Being the rule devotee that I am [go ahead and laugh if you know me] I looked away and spotted a lovely red Dianthus. Of course I had to grab the camera and take a walk…

I spied a red aphid on a yellow Iris. The eye tends to be drawn to these two colors. You didn’t think McDonald’s success came from their fresh delectable burgers did you? Oh, okay.

I suppose the Red Wasp, Nandina berries and Red Tip Photinia are all shades of red but they look kind of orange to me. That may be from staring at the monitor for too long. See what happens when you don’t follow the rules?

I ended my journey with a collection of red shells. I didn’t find these on a beach but they were near a body of water. Hmm, now I’m wondering if there might be a body in the water? Or a story in the making…

Seeing Red has nothing to do with the upcoming post regarding my first year as an independent author/publisher, I just thought I’d share this little excursion. On the contrary I’m in the black and all lights are green. It’s a go for another trek. I really will post something in the near future that offers more personal insight until then take care of your eyes.

P.S. I once had a patient with Macular Degeneration who told me she saw the most unbelievable shades of red and that she painted more beautifully than ever just before she went blind.

Marching Into Spring

March 14, 2013 / Janna Hill / 11 Comments

If the old folks in East Texas are right we will have another cold snap so don’t plant your tomatoes yet. I’m not in any hurry, after all we are just getting to the Ides of March and the Spring Equinox is still a week away. What does all of that mean? I could write about it but I’m afraid it would bore you straight to death and I don’t want to be listed on your death certificate as the official cause so how about I show you some pictures instead? Okay! Moving right along…

From the Bluebird outside my window.

Jonquils

Looks like me without coffee.

Pretty purples

The Eight Spotted Forester Moth

Weekly Photo Challenge: Home

February 11, 2013 / Janna Hill / 2 Comments

The Home Inside My Home

The home depicted here is only one of many inside the house where I dwell. After all I do did have a sign that says Mi casa es su casa.

The lamp (filled with moth carcasses and webs) might be witness to my housekeeping but I prefer to see it as testament to my many philosophies. Live and let live. Live and let the spider have the lamp. Live and let the over abundant population of moths sacrifice themselves. Live and hope the spider never comes out of the lamp…

There is no place like home.

Two bedroom web for rent.

Dining in.

Learning to Love Winter

January 31, 2013April 1, 2013 / Janna Hill / 15 Comments

I have never loved winter. The truth is I have hated her most of my life, I say her because she feels like a cold b*tch. Sorry warm fuzzy lady friends but winter to me has been a bitter woman with a barren womb… a frustrated old spinster that has never shared an orgasm. She is an ugly gray witch with a huge wart on the end of her nose, or maybe it’s a mole…

Today however I have decided not to hate her. I actually made the decision yesterday but just now got around to sharing my ‘come to meeting’ with Mother Nature. You see we have been experiencing some warm sunny days in this part of Texas, warm enough to spark a storm (lord forgive me I do love a storm) and it was that very tempest that let me see the heart of winter.

I saw her weakness in the barren branches

Her sorrow in the ashen sky

Her longing for an absent lover

As lonely as the winter rye

I saw her weakness in the barren branches…

Her sorrow in the ashen sky

Her longing for an absent lover…

As lonely as the winter rye

A short, short story about a timeless life.

December 20, 2012December 16, 2017 / Janna Hill / 7 Comments

Inspired by Time and Eternity, on a topic I have often dwelt on and for whatever reason I feel compelled to share a piece written in in 2011. And congratulations to Snowak for being Freshly pressed

A short, short story about a timeless life.

Consumed by a paralyzing and debilitating dread. Lying inert as frenzied milliseconds spark still frames with bursts of terrestrial years past.

Whirling memories so fast they pin my mind to the wall with such intense pressure I cannot even utter why or what.

And then…

Quiet… Calm… Tranquility as clean and clear as the waters of a mountain spring. A peace more pure than morning dew.

Entrancing light more than warms and welcomes me, it heals me.

All of my troubles now seem trivial, fleeting, and totally unimportant.

I am overcome by a sense of well being… an indescribable comfort that makes pain, sorrow and worry words I no longer comprehend.

There are no strangers here, I know everyone and everyone knows me. The glowing they emit is untainted and wholesome, it is love and it nourishes my spirit.

The further I travel from this flesh and bone shell, the more peaceful and perfect I feel.

Awakened to the memory of such wonder and well being I can see the universe. Where we have all been, where we are going, together.

I am not grieved for anyone who is not here, only grateful for those present.

I want to ask questions but none of them really matter now. The few inquiries I have are answered before I can speak:

Yes, they are here. The answer is no. Time? Time has many meanings. .. All in due time.

A sudden jolt and I awake ensnared in this weak, pained, decaying carcass. More aware now of all these imperfections, though less troubled by them for they are the fate of every man to some degree.

I am made aware that the anxiety of transition will remain. As it was coming into the flesh, it will be when returning to the spirit. Much like the fear of a roller coaster one is determined to ride.

Death comes to every life and life comes from every death.

And me…. I nearly lived.

It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

December 12, 2012 / Janna Hill / 5 Comments

I wish I hadn’t drank all of those margaritas on the beach the night before…. I wish I hadn’t downed so many Dos Equis on the bus ride but OMG it took like ninety hours to get there and a margarita hangover leaves a person very thirsty.

December 21^st of 2012. I don’t recall that date being mentioned in 1995 when we toured the ancient grounds of Chichen Itza. I suppose it was irrelevant with Y2K looming in the not so distant future. Maybe the guide did make mention and I missed it because I was ~~passed out~~ resting half way up the pyramid. That of course would not have happened if he’d sent the Sherpa I requested.

I don’t think the tour guide liked me despite my best efforts to build a rapport.

“Parlez-vous français?” I had asked. “Oui- petit.” He responded. That exhausted my french so I gave him a slap on the back and said, “Well jolly good for you old chap.” He snarled and started his rehearsed dialogue for the small crowd.

Everyone listened in awe as he pointed at the cracked engravings and bits of broken symbols, skirting over the fissures and holes filled with smooth stones. I am not a hieroglyphics expert but I could see large gaps of information were missing from the story. Laying my linguistic talents aside and in my most authentic voice I gently interrupted, “Sir? Pardon me? With so much of the picture missing how can you be sure of that interpretation?” but like a well-trained telemarketer he pressed forward with the history lesson he’d been taught.

“Escuzzie moi señor? Ooday ooyay hablas ingles?” I asked. Initially he ignored me but after repeating the inquiry eight times I got his undivided attention and readied my next question as he turned to face me. “Are there any little Mayan peoples left? Perhaps you have an oral history -”

“NO!” he snapped before slowly raising the corner of his mouth to reveal sharp decaying teeth. I have to admit it was a bit creepy staring down the rusty tines of this human tiller so I spat, “Fine! I’ll just look at the rocks and make up my own story.”

After silent hours of ~~wandering aimlessly~~ research (silent unless you count the noise of the Quetzal) the only conclusion I came away with was this: We are not an advanced generation; not in 1995 and not now. We assume way too much and despite all of our technical gadgets, we are idiots.

So December 21^st is only days away and I sit staring at 17 year old photographs wondering, Where is my fanny pack and that intelligent archeological tourist hat that hubby was wearing? Where on earth did I get those outrageous shorts and what will I get the children for Christmas? All the while one line from a song I can’t remember loops in my frontal lobe. ‘It’s the end of the world as we know & it and I feel fine.’ I think that’s REM. They may have been ahead of their time and we may be out of it. Any naysayers, doomsdayer’s or opinions on the subject? Personally – if I can pinch my own flesh I’m not falling for it.

The Temple of the Jaguar

After the Sherpa saved me.

Hmm – I forgot 😦

The Temple of the Warriors. Psst. The column count is not even near 1000.

Forget the ball game let’s get right to the removing of the heads 😮

The Observatory. I could live there.

If the hieroglyph were complete it would say…

So that explains the Colonels recipe and why KFC will never be the same.

That is the most intelligent archeological tourist hat – why isn’t he happy?!

Rocking a most awesome fanny pack

Weekly Photo Challenge: Green

November 20, 2012 / Janna Hill / 9 Comments

The challenge came in knowing when to quit. I have narrowed it down to three.

This weeks photo theme is Green.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Renewal

November 10, 2012November 10, 2012 / Janna Hill / 19 Comments

Renewal… replenish, regenerate, rejuvenate or restore…
This week’s photo challenge was indeed a mental test, for me anyway. I considered a photograph of me in a warm tub of bubbles recharging my chakra with a glass of champagne but no such photo exits. I know that to be true because I rarely bathe and my chakra eloped with a bottle of Brut one dead winter night many Decembers’ ago.
There are a few photos of hubby napping in his recliner that seemed fitting but he wasn’t too fond of the idea. It’s not that I caught him drooling and snores can’t be heard in a snapshot. I think he’s concerned people will think he is Salman Rushdie and send a rocket into our living room. That or ask him for an autograph. He would prefer the rocket.
So with the first two options off of the table I mulled over the theme again.
Renewal… replenish, regenerate, rejuvenate or restore…
My thoughts continually returned to Spring, the natural season of renewal. To new blooms and young butterflies, abandoned cocoons and Cicada’s emerging. So I rummaged through my jump drives, blew off the digital dust and here you have it. My take on this week’s photo challenge: renewal.