On my twilight walk last night, a small owl flew from the pine trees over my head.
Now that most of the trees around the manor have lost their leaves, the otherworldly drone of the interstate can be heard from my bed at night. It gives me haunting, frosty November-ish thoughts and miles to go before I sleep.
My hair is finally long enough to twist up in a messy clip on top of my head. It makes me feel young again (anything along these lines is good) and I've rediscovered all my fun dangly earrings.
Most days I write in crisp fine-point black ink, but today is a pencil day. I'm enjoying the brush of gray lead against the paper and the soft scratchy sound it makes. November is for pencils.
I got a new pair of small, dark, round readers. I'm incredibly analytical and Freudian in them. Just call me 'Dr. Villow'. I don't know about you, but I have to have a pair of readers on my head, and in every room, including the car.
Today is 11-11. Curious, since I am constantly hunted by pairs of elevens. Uh-oh. Excuse me, gotta run, feel a poem coming on. I leave you with this important bit of nostalgia...
...a PINK tamborine...
ReplyDeletewhere can i find one? i love that.
happy to stop by for a visit today, my friend
kary and teddy
xxx
I like tamborines and the sound they make, I have one I bought long ago when I made a hitchhiking and walking trip through Spain.There are still moments I jingle it.....25 years later :)
ReplyDeleteI've got red jingle bells that belonged to my youngest daughter and enjoy jingling them now and then.
ReplyDeleteI have quite a smile on my face over the thought of you giving your tambourine a jingle at random and pink to boot. What fun! Pencils, I love them. I have them here at my desk, much prefer that scratch to a pen.
ReplyDeleteWhere else should glasses be but on top of your head. My daughter did request for me not to wear them at her wedding!
ReplyDeleteDear Willow, I do so love 'a touch of madness'...my Russian friends concluded their wedding celebrations by leaping, fully clothed in wedding finery [ veil and all] into a swimming pool. Perfect!!
ReplyDeleteSoul sister, I have one too
ReplyDeleteand a pair of red ankle bells and a few excellent rattles
nothing better for a bonfire meeting of kindred spirits to welcome in the new season
I once used my rattles to welcome the sunrise in Door County...it was pure magic..there were about 15 of us..dancing in the sand and shaking everything..and we did a drum wash....oh my I need to reconnect with these friends!
always a delight to come over for a visit Tess..and may I say that necklace is gorgeous
Willow, here is some fascinating info on all things eleven!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.greatdreams.com/eleven/num11.htm
As you undoubtedly already know, the Lemon Pipers were from Ohio. Someone else wrote the song, about a street musician who used a tambourine for people to drop money into, and that's why it's "green."
ReplyDeleteThe Lemon Pipers were a psychedelic band, and didn't want to do the song, but their label told them do it or be dropped, so they did. It ended up being their only charted hit.
I'm a treasure trove of useless information lol.
I used to have a tambourine. But like a lot of things, I have no idea where it has gone, maybe you have mine and I delight that it gives you pleasure. Your moonlight walk sounds enchanting.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRene, thanks for the eleven info. I'm off to check it out...
ReplyDeleteFireblossom, no, I was not aware the Lemon Pipers had their roots in Ohio! Good thing they agreed to the Green Tambourine! Fascinating stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnother sterling and stirring
ReplyDeletepost, Miss Willow.
Your tamborine shaking puts
me in mind of gypsy women,
and harem dancers, and those
halcyon hippy days in the 60's
when women burned their bras,
we grew our hair to our butts,
and stood by the thousands
blocking freeways to protest
the war in Viet Nam.
I just adore your peek into
a day with the Mistress of
the Manor; makes me envious'
that you can find such joy in
leafless trees, solitary owls,
freeway droning, an orphaned
tamborine that you have adopted
and now have grand affection for,
your hair clipped and flipped,
your gypsy earrings, so very Rita
Moreno, your John Lennon readers,
and your incredible style and ability
to engage us in the simple, yet
profound, events of your life.
And then there is the writing.
When a writer writes about writing,
it is like a some kind of coronation,
some justification that sitting in
silence, relatively, in an empty room,
and feeling the need to write is
not a disease process, no, it is
through your eyes, a ceremony,
and a celebration.
And your return to pencils, your
embrace of lead on pamprus,
that really catapults me into the
past, a sense memory rife with
secondary school lined paper
and stacks of returned reports,
poems, and short stories with
high marks on them, with all
those teacher's notes scrawled
in red ink in the margins.
Somewhere in high school I began
to believe that it was braver,
purer to the muses, to write with
an ink pen, to line out the mistakes
and live with them; not be able to
erase them, and send them into the
smudged nothingness.
Yes, it's 11/11. Remembrance Day. I was at Jane Austen House today and we all wore our poppies and observed the two minutes silence.
ReplyDeleteI was born on the 11th. (I feel like I'm chased by 11's, too.)
Your pencils and tambourine and "readers" are all pleasing images. (I need "readers;" keeping putting off that eye test that I know I'm going to fail.) And btw, I know you favour wooly socks, but I am loving my sheepskin sleepers!
I formally herewith, bestow upon you, Glenn, of the "Feel Free to Read" Blog, the Presidency of your local chapter of The Willow Manor Fan Club.
ReplyDelete(Heehee! Seriously, I appreciate your most kind, insightful and generous comments, dear friend.)
Bee, I'm wearing the woollies, as we "speak". It's finally cold enough here to enjoy them! Sheepskin sleepers? Now that sounds warm and woolly.
ReplyDeleteI have a guitar on a stand, behind where I sit at my desk. Occasionally, I'll pick it up through the day, and strum a few chords. Maybe we should start a band?
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm, I've read that many Rh negatives are often "hunted" by pairs of 11 ~ I've often thought you must be Rh negative.
ReplyDeleteHow are you gonna get the band back together, Mr. Hot Rodder? Martin, I couldn't help but think of "The Blues Brothers", after your comment.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Germany, wow, interesting concept. I'm pretty sure I'm 0+, though.
ReplyDeleteI have to keep reading glasses in the kitchen because if I grab something to cook and have to read something, I can't see without the glasses now. The idea of the tambourine sitting on the shelf with books is a fun concept. I think book shelves should be packed with all things fun just as reading is fun.
ReplyDeletedear Villow, such a lovely colection of important thoughts.
ReplyDeleteYour pink tambourine is a genius idea: i will look out for one, would love to randomly jingle!
And long hair? oh yes! that is fun!
I have readers in every room, bag and in the car, cos I can't even think without them! And worse, I peep over the top of them, so I look old and cranky (which of course I'm not!!)
I love that tamborine song...brings back memories.
ReplyDeleteI'm already looking forward to next November...it will be 11-11-11I'm thinking of having a party, since it will be on a Friday. Everyone can countdown and toast at 11:11 on 11-11-11. You and WT are invited!
Cat, what a FABulous idea! Pencil us in! We'll be there!
ReplyDeleteDr. Willow
ReplyDeleteI too love dangling earring and the soft scratch of a freshly sharpened pencil against white paper. Now I have it in my head that I need a tambourine.
So nice to find another femme d'une certaine age! I call my readers my middle aged headband,love cool twilight walks and always write with pencils. I want a pink tambourine!
ReplyDeleteWow! This makes me want to go in search of a tamborine... mine will be purple!
ReplyDeleteYes, re the ubiquitous readers. In the john too.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Lemon Pipers, who took me back to peace and love in a squalid rented house in Charlton, S.E. London, which had a coin operated gas meter that you could fire up by inserting a bread knife into the coin slot.
Oh gosh the video is not loading - am having real problems this evening.
ReplyDeleteTambourines are wonderful instruments.
When we lived in Blackheath, SE London (for Dick's benefit) we used to give quite a lot parties. The big bash of the year was always the Saturday closest to my husband's birthday (in November) and everyone knew the instruments would come out one by one as the evening progressed. From tambourines to shack-shacks to drums, maracas and rain makers. Such fun!
I always write in black ink - preferably with a fountain pen - ball points and I don't get along!
I have wanted a tambourine since kindergarten when there were only two tambourines for a class of twenty some kids. A triangle to ding on was also desirable or maracas but I seem to remember always getting stuck with a pair of sticks, alas. You inspire me ...
ReplyDeleteParabens ! Boa composição !
ReplyDeleteAh, memories - I wish I could rediscover my dangly things too...
ReplyDeleteHello. its been awhile. I sometimes can hear owls outside but have never seen one.. and I am also growing my hair out longer... it is always a nice visit to stop here.
ReplyDeleteVicki, Vicki, Vicki. I didn't mention this, but the reason I was drawn to this little tambourine, was because of my own, same exact kindergarten experience of being stuck with either the rhythm sticks or the dumb blocks.
ReplyDeleteNow all I need is a triangle.
Tom, I've been waiting for someone to mention the dangly.
ReplyDeleteBee, I loathe ball point pens.
ReplyDeleteThese ARE important thoughts Willow.
ReplyDeleteI love them all.
November is for pencils. Loved that. And the thing about 11/11. I have a thing for poems, numbers (when paired) and tamborines, too.
ReplyDeleteHilarious! We both bear th0ose kindergarten scars... the blocks, I'd forgotten the dismal blocks!
ReplyDeleteGive that tambourine an extra jingle for me, would you?
so personal, and the pencil is now beckoning...stop tapping the computer keyboard, get a pencil and a journal or scrap of paper.
ReplyDeletewrite.
and
tap a tamborine!
I always had long hair but when my son was born, in 1983, I cut it short. Easier to manage. Then cut it shorter, then shorter still. But back in 2004 I was very sick and getting my hair "done" was the least important thing on my agenda and it started to grow. I went through the frustrating/awkward stages of growing your hair out, but I was too sick to care. And then, miraculously, my hair was, well, LONGER. And longer still. And now friends who did not know me when I was younger make comments about how "different" I look, but what they do not realize is that now I look like ME. Finally, I rediscovered ME. And beaded clips and dangly earrings became important again. And hair bands. Oh, glorious hair bands.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting about your hair, and your tambourine. I have a white one; I think I shall paint it.
I had a dear friend tell me how nice it is to enjoy the small things ... otherwise we'd know what state we're in! Thanks for the reminder. -j
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nostalgia… and the glimpse into your day. Now I must pick up my graphite on this November day.
ReplyDeletewillow --- tambourines are great when you want a bit of frivolousness in your life. Also, to greet visitors. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteWoolly socks, round readers, hair clipped atop you head, AND a tambouring...pink, yet...all I can say is wow. There is just too much fun going on at Willow Manor. Keep it up, by the way.
ReplyDeleteGosh Willow, you almost made me shed a tear for the late 60's.... almost. A sweet reminder of the psychedelic sound of the era. I guess the old electric sitar has been retired to a far away ashram.
ReplyDeleteMillie ^_^
P.S. Great comment by Glenn, he's a cool dude.
Ah Dr Villow, it's so good to be catching up again, I have missed your Blog. The pink tambourine idea I love (I'm on the look-out for one as of now) but what really made me stop and once again say that surely we share the same genetic material was the idea that November is a pencil month. I would go further and suggest a B or even a 2B month rather than the clarity of an HB or the harshness of a far-too crisp H.
ReplyDeleteHello Willow,
ReplyDeleteJust catching up! Love your new-look dining room; the black looks great, WT is a dab hand with a brush! Your necklace of dew is most sultry and your random thoughts are entertaining. Amazing what goes through our heads!
Oh Dr. V. might I consult with you to the tune of your tambourine?
ReplyDeleteI love writing in pencil.
Have fun doing a wild, gyspy dance.
I forgot to mention, that every month is a pencil month for me.... but without an eraser! -J
ReplyDeleteI just loved, totaly loved this wild assortment of thoughts. Can't wait to read your poem. Of crazy, tambourine-filled moments like this comes creativity. :-)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks.
Greetings from London.
Jingle those Jangles girl!!!
ReplyDeletehave a great weekend! :) The Bach
"Help a poor man fill his pretty dream..."
ReplyDeleteGod, I'm lost without readers these days. On the road, I'll buy new ones, thinking I've lost a pair, and then as soon as I purchase new ones, I will realize mine were perched on top of my head the whole time, or tucked into my top, and I just forgot I put them there. Jeeeeez...I'm blind and losing my mind, too.
Sue, you're in good company, my friend.
ReplyDeleteYour posts are always like have a lovely visit, Willow!
ReplyDelete"The Lady with the Pink Tambourine." Now there's a great title for a novel. Just keep shaking that tambourine daily and it will surely ward off the evil spirits and you continue your journey across life's landscape.
ReplyDeleteNever seen a PINK tambourine, but if it makes you happy then I am glad.
ReplyDeleteGroovy video man. I loved that tune when it was on the radio. Had a tamborine when I was a teenager - only musical instrument I could "play."
ReplyDeleteOkay Dr Villow....you are playing my tune to the only instrument i feel i could ever be good at...the tamborine is wonderful...especially when it is pink! I do not wear glasses just yet...but i do have note pads and pens in every room. Look forward to reading your newest poem...hope you have a weekend as amazing as you are Willow! :-)
ReplyDeletei know what you mean about that gray graphite softly scratching across the page. In this digital age, I don't use pencils enough. Thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteThat first messy updo is a real pleasure, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteI can just see you dancing with your pink tambourine. The tambourine...so timely! I have meant to make a pencil bouquet just like yours...I may make that a Christmas present to myself.
ReplyDeleteWould you believe that two members of The Byrds played here in Auburn this weekend? They made Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" a huge hit ... along with "Turn, Turn, Turn"...
http://byrdstribute.com/
All this eleven talk makes me think of my favorite world- The Shire, Bilbo and Pippin's - "What about elevenses?"
ReplyDeleteOH MY! Did you ever resurrect memories. It's late 1967, I am meeting my Navy officer husband in Honolulu for a week of rest and relaxation ~ never really possible in the midst of the WAR. Green Tambourine plays incessantly on the radio in our little pink Mustang convertible ...........
ReplyDeleteGREAT find!
ReplyDeleteAt last I was able to watch and listen to the video. Oh memories............
ReplyDeletehow jovial of you and throw in the dangley earrings and floppy bun--well you are well on your way there, Willow! Now, what our us guys meant to use instead? :)
ReplyDeleteI always write in pink or purple ink. Always.
ReplyDeleteAnd, oh, I do love the whimsy of your jingle jangles.
And your rush to write the poem.