Living today Creatively

Okay so this is my second post with the topic of living creatively. Hmmm... The thing is I was asked to teach a class on this once.. and the truth is I wasnt sure how to do that so I declined. Now after several years of thinking about it I find I do want to teach it and I have several ideas but am still not sure how to go about it. How do you teach what you instinctively do? I will try and then we will see how it goes.

Today, I will start with creative planning. I could do creative banking but there is way to many people doing that and well... I am not real good at that so we will do creative planning. First, plan for things to get in the way... Why not? They always do and to deny opportunities is to deny life. I enjoy the unexpected. It is part of living. So plan for it and then plan for the necessary.

My day today is planned as follows: Go to bank, post office, library, grocery store. I have to walk there so that is excercise well needed. Then I need to clean the kitchen from a weekend of belated Christmas activities with family and then blog! I need to do this blog and work on Blog Whidbey. At some point tonight I want to sit down and work some more on painting my nativity set.

So far today I went to the bank, post office, library, and grocery store then I spent 2 hours with some dear friends discussing a project we are trying to establish in Clinton and I came home and am blogging. My son is picking me up for dinner in about an hour but in the meantime I am cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. So I am getting things done and I will be home early enough this evening to finish the rest. So it will be a good day. To me most days are good days it is just how I use them that can suck!

I will be posting again later this evening or tomorrow as I am able with a creative solution to a problem I had at Christmas. For now, talk with ya again this evening or later tomorrow.

Creativity? Think Whidbey Island.

Where Do I Go From Here?

So it has been a while since I posted and mostly I have been busy spinning my wheels. So many people want to know what I am going to do next and I just tell them that the plan is to clean the house that has been neglected for 3 1/2 years and paint a garage that is peeling... Isn't that enough for the immediate? But I guess not because most people who have asked cannot accept that answer so here is some of what I am thinking of doing...

When I say that I am taking care of my house I mean that three and a half years ago I got about three fourths of the way done with a bathroom remodel. I need to finish it. My kitchen is in sad need of a remodel as well and no I don't believe in paying someone to do what I can do myself so I will be painting it and putting down new counters and painting and fixing my cabinets and sometime in that time because it is fall... I really plan on doing some canning although I may end up doing that at my girl's house since she has said she would like to do some too.

Did I mention my garage? Well, I want to paint my house and the garage but since time is not going to allow both, the house will wait till next spring. The garage however is shedding it's current coat of paint like a cat sheds its fur and I desperately need to get it prepped, and primed and painted before the fall rains begin.

Ok so that is not enough then how is this? Next month Dan and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary and we are taking a week and going on a road trip! I want to visit the Oregon Trail but we may choose the Oregon coast since we haven't been there before. Add to that the Island County Fair and well it makes for a pretty full month.

I have four screens that I am painting and several canvasses. I also have several necklaces that I am currently working on. I plan on giving several pieces away for gifts this year. I am also considering entering some craft shows next year. At this point it is just a thought and not one I am really working actively on. I have several designs spinning around in my head and well we will see if I can at least get them on paper.

Still not enough? Add a silly idea about being an agent that represents some of my musicians and a few of my artists, doing house parties and events out of our house and off our porch, putting in a new driveway and landscaping, cleaning out our three bay shed and getting rid of all the junk in it so we can do events in the shed when the weather gets bad and well......

Should that not be enough then the topper and most important time consuming thing I plan on doing (other than spending time with my husband) is taking care of two very special young kids (my grandkids) and spending time with friends and family. Those of you have gotten to know me know that there is not a huge amount of difference between friends and family for me so that means I will be serving a lot of coffees and teas but they will be at Ferry Folks home not at the Rockhopper. So expect invites but please do not feel you have to wait for them to come visit me at home.

plans on Whidbey Island.

Changes coming to Rockhoppers

Rockhoppers is looking for some good people. Next month Rockhoppers will be building on it's projects. We are looking for people who might be interested in running small groups. Specifically, Rockhoppers would like to start a singles group and we are looking for a manager to work with Rene to schedule events that singles would be interested in do in small groups. These events cover everything from art openings to music events to theater to hiking, biking or rollerskating.... and anything in between. Rockhoppers is looking for someone who could work with Rene. Rene is married and does not feel she would be a good person to run the group and is looking for a single person with an outgoing personality who loves to meet new people and might have an hour or two for planning every week. If you are interested in this please e-mail or call Rockhoppers.

Rockhoppers is also looking for a music manager who would like to host our open mics. We are considering changing the dates and time for the open mics because of lack of participation on our Friday night open mics. Just let us know if this is something you might be interested in.

Rockhoppers is getting ready to teach classes this fall in textile art and painting as well as holding a class in blogging and hosting an opportunity for our community to share their opinions on government and local issues through a "voice stew". This will be an open air time to talk and share ideas and opinions. There will be more on this later.

Rockhoppers will be working on several different ideas for the upcoming months and we are interested in anyone who might like to volunteer for these events. If you are interested in this please give us a call. We are still very interested in hosting a radio show that is a variety show involving radio theater, music, interviews and other fun things. Please if you are interested in this idea stop by and see us and we will explore the possibilities.

Don't forget that Rockhoppers serves breakfasts, and lunch now and on Saturdays where we have music we also offer a wonderful dinner. We also offer wine and beer now so if you have an evening out and want a place to come sit and converse... Rockhoppers is your place.

Text about Whidbey Island.

High-Speed Train

California is looking to build a high-speed train system from San Diego to Sacramento, with stations in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, and all along the route. I note that they expect the system to cost only $40,000,000,000.00 (40 billion), and that it will be 800 miles long.

California thinks it's worthwhile to spend $50,000,000.00 (fifty million) per mile for high speed rail. That's an astounding amount of money, but it's a necessary step for connecting their communities without using automobiles. California is an incredibly long state, and the only realistic option now is driving.

California, at least, is planning for the future.

Images from NC3D

Trains on Whidbey Island.

Ferry-to-Ferry Tram?

Even though Island Transit does a fine job with it's free bus service on Whidbey Island, I think we could use a radical change in our transportation system. When we get a Whidbey PUD, we'll have access to inexpensive electrical power, so it will make sense to use some of that power on electric mass transit.

The most efficient transportation option for us may well be some form of light rail. Light rail can include monorails, but I think simple trams would work best for our needs. Monorails are usually elevated, but we are lucky enough to have a nice wide highway right-of-way running all the way up the island, so we shouldn't need to elevate any of the line. A simple electric tram should work nicely. We have electric lines following the highway anyway, so there won't be any high-wire issues, either.

Construction costs for simple light rail run from $15 million per mile to $150 million per mile, in fact Seattles light rail is running $175 million per mile. Since we won't need to buy any right-of-ways, nor do we have much in the way of road crossings -- certainly not every block, like big cities -- our construction costs should be amazingly low, probably below the $15 million per mile considered the low range. Even at $15 million per mile, we only need about 40 miles to connect the bulk of our population -- Clinton to Oak Harbor Naval Air Station. That works out to just over half-a-billion dollars. Not really that much, nowadays.

If we want to get fancy, we could run a tram to Langley, to connect with the new small boat harbor, however I think our bus system should be used to connect outlying points. We should, however look into running the line down to the Port Townsend ferry. There might even be some state money for us if we run the line all the way up the island, onto Fidalgo island, and to the San Juan Island/ Sidney BC ferry terminal. If we did this, someone could fly into Sea-Tac, take the light rail to Seattle, take the Sounder train to Mukilteo, and then take the Island Transit train all the way to the San Juan ferry, all without getting on a single smelly, noisy, slow, rubber-tire bus.

Most tram projects are very expensive because they aren't built until the population is so huge that there is no better choice. Then there's a lot of right-of-way that needs to be purchased, and existing infrastructure to be built around or through. If we think ahead, we can be ready for the growth that our island will experience as global climate change continues to improve our weather. A Whidbey tram service would reduce the number of cars on our roads, stimulate the local economy through increased tourism, and provide a brighter future, both for our children and for us all as we gracefully grow old, and must rely upon public transport more frequently.

Trams on Whidbey Island.

Impractical Ideas

Sometimes I get wild ideas. These ideas may well work, but are generally impractical or over-reaching. I'm a genius at impractical ideas. For example, 40 years ago, before I was even driving, I noticed that drivers looked through the rear windows of the car ahead of them to see the road ahead. My idea was to have the entire rear window flash red when the driver put on the brakes. I tried to envision ways to do this, but other than a red window shade and strong spotlights on a lucite core, I couldn't come up with a practical way to turn that window red. I continued to think about complex and novel designs for 20 years.

Then someone had a similar idea, and the now-ubiquitous center-mounted stop light was born. My idea was good, but impractical and over-reaching. Similarly, I have an idea to reduce the danger of the little island deer we get on our highways. These deer are a real problem here on the island. There is little hunting, and few natural predators, so the little black-tailed island deer are everywhere. We've seen them grazing behind Rockhoppers, for example -- right in downtown Clinton.

Why do the deer love highways? Our highways are cleared of trees and other obstacles, for safety, then we plant grass to make them pretty. We've essentially re-created the forest meadows where deer are supposed to graze, then put a highway down the middle. Not too bright on our part, if you ask me.

What to do about this four-legged menace to traffic? We clearly need to make the roadsides unattractive to deer. One way to do this is to do away with the grass. We should use landscaping that is both unattractive to deer and actively repels them. Poisonous plants, rocky footing, thorny hedges -- you get the idea. Make the highways someplace deer avoid.

Another way to do this, my way, the impractical way, is a more active way to make the deer avoid the highway. As I said, there isn't a lot of hunting pressure on the deer. They aren't too shy, and basically ignore cars. If you are in a car, you can stop and watch the deer without startling them. They'll barely look up. They aren't afraid of cars.

We need to make the deer afraid of cars. My idea is paintball guns. Paintball guns sting, but they won't actually harm the deer. If, when a car goes by, the deer are shot with a paintball, they'll soon start running away when they see a car. Obviously, we can't just arm everyone on the highway with paintball guns, and let them fire at will. We'll have to have roving bands of people specifically authorized to perform this public service. I don't think we'll have problems getting volunteers.

On top of this, since we'll be spraying the deer with paint anyway, why not use reflective paint in the paintballs? That way, the deer will be much more visible at night. Can you see the deer in the picture? If they had reflective paint on them, you could.

So, that's my idea for solving the deer on the highway problem. Roving bands of volunteer 'hunters' armed with reflective paintball guns. I told you I was a genius at impractical ideas.

No more deer on the highways of Whidbey Island?

It has been a busy week!

There are some weeks when you sit back and go hmmmm... I didnt have a lot of business.. and yet I was busy every day of the week. Then you try to account for what made you so busy... Hmmmm....

Marketting! I followed up on my brochures which will be on the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry and on the Pt. Townsend ferry next week sometime. I paid bills, attended 3 meetings and did some design work and then I worked on Marketting! Designing signs, and then finalizing the false front of this building. I finished the design work and am sending it off to my landlady. (Say a prayer for me and my false front!)

I spent time getting people together to discuss the prospect of creating a book store in the old LaPaz space. They want to do a co-op. Anyone interested out there let me know...

I took one day and read and I did banking, and bingo biz. So that is my week. Tom spent time talking to me about my signs and it got me thinking about re-designing the signs I have. So I have been working on ideas for that. hmmm...

I spent some time working on an altered book and I want to spend a small amount of time this afternoon cleaning up my studio. It is getting time to do some work on my wonderful designs.

So here I am now blogging and thinking "What am I going to talk about?" That is the hardest part of doing blogging daily.. especially when nothing is really happening that is blow your world away exciting.. OH YEAH!! I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDMA FOR THE SECOND TIME!!! ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL!!! If I were honest i would have to say that it is more torture than wonderful. I hate that I have a grandson who does not know me because I cant see him more than once or twice a year! Now I will have two and well we are hoping this situation changes but to tell you the truth Florida is looking mighty fine right now except for the tornadoes, hurricanes and other weather phenomenons.

I did finish the false front so you can get a little better idea of what I am talking about so let me show you what I have in mind.

Use your imagination please! It obviously wont be quite that bright but It will be close and Don't you think it makes the front of the building look better? Anyway, I need to go but will talk with you soon.

Big thoughts for a Friday!

So Wednesday was kind of a thought provoking day for me.. First thanks to the UU's who have their coffee clatch on the second Wednesday of the month. The UU's brought a very thought provoking discussion to the table on Wednesday. The talk came around to evolution and the awful global warming that is occurring today. It was pretty much a consensus that many species would be becoming extinct due to the warming process that the earth is encountering today. Certainly in our life time we will see increased catastrophes which will only aid in the eradication of certain animal and plant life. My question was this... given that many scientists feel that the amount of warming occurring on the earth is a natural evolution caused by many things but speeded up excessively due to human "contamination" and given that for many eons now, life on earth has evolved to meet the living needs it faces here on earth.. could we in fact see life on earth evolve in order to continue to survive here on earth? The group seemed to think that this type of evolution could not occur rapidly enough for certain species to survive and that in fact it would take millions of years to occur at all. I suggest that possibly this evolution is what is occurring now before our very eyes. Here is my summation on this evolution. One of the reasons that my theory was shot down was that birds are now having to fly to different areas to eat and nest and are having to do this at different times of the years now.. Well.. the thing is is that birds are doing this. They are evolving to meet the needs of their survival. Nesting, eating etc. has been believed to be an instinct for these animals. This instinct is controlled by the brain (so scientists believe) so could it be that the brain of these birds is evolving to deal with the birds survival? If instinct is not a function of the brain then doesnt that go even farther to show how evolution is working today to ensure survival of the species? The other argument was that when these birds move to new habitats they are leaving large "holes" or voids in the environment. Insects that these birds preyed on are thriving and disease is destined to grow because of this.. However, in the last 5 years there have been several reports that have been announced about new species of animals never known to man and about two species of animals that were thought to be extinct and indeed are not. Could it be that nature (given the fact that she does not like voids) in an attempt to fill the gaps caused by evolution in other animals is now filling in the gaps with other species that have evolved or changed? This is a really big question for me and although I found the answers from the UU's interesting I am forced to admit they did not really settle my curiosity. To make things more interesting, I posed this question to a friend of mine while walking this morning and she agreed with my summation and added this anecdote to it. I maintain that man is in a constant state of evolution. When my mother was born it was almost unheard of for someone to not have wisdom teeth. I have never had wisdom teeth. Indeed after talking to my dentist I discovered that more and more children are being born without these teeth. It is felt that these teeth are no longer needed for our diets so we are evolving by eliminating them. The same can be said for the appendix and the tonsils. (Although children born without these are smaller in number they are still being born.) My girlfriend Kimi said that she had just read a very interesting article related to hyperactive children. She said according to the article 1 out of every 4 boys are being diagnosed with hyperactivity before the age of 12. There is a group of people who recognized that these children should be studied to determine what it is that is causing this hyperactivity. They also related to hyperactivity to our poor diets and thus began studying these children. It was interesting to learn that what the scientists studying these children learned was that these childrens bodies seem to be able to utilize sugar in a more advanced way than the rest of us. The sugar seems to be changed into a more complex protein that gives these children the energy needed to maintain the activity their bodies require. In other words their bodies were evolving to be able to survive and in fact thrive on a diet comprised of junk food. My father was a scientist. He taught science for many years prior to my entering high school. He was also an evolutionist. He was adamant that life evolved and that rather than a species ending at a specific state by evolving there that the state was a constant state of flux so no one or no thing is evolved with an ending.. rather we are all just evolving. What was really interesting then was to think ... wouldnt it be interesting if we took evolution and religious beliefs and philosophies and rather than excluding them as fallacies accept them as all having some truth and being a result of the evolution of man work them all together to show how man does evolve and deal with those events and ideas that become a model of the times? Could we possibly find a way to prove that all these religions, philosophies and theologies actually have some basis in fact that have helped man to evolve? If we did find this then would that be the key we needed to get past "my religious beliefs are the only right ones and if you dont believe this way then you will go to hell" type of mentality? Now given that this was my thought also recognize that these types of thoughts are soooooo far beyond my normal thought processes that I will no doubt be able to follow through with this idea or even understand its processes but I just thought that this was an interesting idea and i would throw it out there for all you computer geeks and scientists out there.

Friday Night Open Mic report: Slow

We had a new musician come in, she plays 11 instruments, sings, and writes her own songs. All at the same time! :) (not really) Anyway, if you're reading this, and you aren't coming to open mic, you're missing some fun. Tomorrow is the Chess Simul, and Rene's finally letting me mow the lawn. WooHoo! I was driving around this week, and saw lots of people running red lights. I noticed that the highway department has increased the time between the light turning red and the green light for the other direction. The longer this time gets, the more people run the red light! Humans respond well to positive stimuli, adapt quickly, and figure out how to 'game the system'. Increasing the time between the red light in one direction and the green in the other actually encourages running the red light. Reward without punishment. The problem is not the people running the red light. The problem is the people getting the green light are not looking for traffic before pulling out. We've become complacent, mindlessly obeying the signals in our hurry to get somewhere. How to fix this problem? Cycle through the yellow light before switching from green to red. The sequence would be: Red, Yellow, Green, Yellow, Red, Yellow, Green. . . . When the driver waiting to go gets a yellow light, they will look both ways, and proceed safely on the green. This would improve traffic flow, too. Drivers are much better at regulating the flow on their own than people think. Ever seen a traffic jam with a policeman directing traffic? It's because the policeman is directing traffic that traffic is screwed up. Just my 2¢.