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I rarely post on LJ, but I'm still around. Most of the time, I blog over at mentalmosaic.com , so swing by and say hi. :)

Every year, I tell Naomi, “I wish you & Max could come to the states for 4th of July!” because it has become tradition for my family to celebrate Independence Day at my brother’s lake home. It’s so much fun! Well, of all the ironies... this year, N&M are finally in the states for the holiday, but I am in Italy!

If you read her journal, however, you know that her grandmother recently passed away so their trip was well-timed, somehow, after all. One of these years, though, I want to sit on the deck overlooking the lake with them, drink beer, eat watermelon & bbq & hang out with my family for the 4th. Meanwhile, I am missing them & my family dearly today. Thank goodness for Skype! My sister-in-law is giving my family a Skype tutorial as soon as they arrive (i.e. before they get too rowdy!)

Hope y’all are having fun!

I'm beginning to feel settled in! I bet it�s because I *finally* started writing again. For me, writing has always been a way to digest my experience, but between the tumult of transitions and being computerless at home it's been challenging. So this past week I resorted to that old-fashioned method called writing by hand. It�s slow going, but the immediacy of it lets me empty my mind throughout the day. Whatever works! Even so, I still need to get a solid writing schedule together, especially if I want to be ready in time for the One Act Play competition at the end of this month.

We strolled through town, then up the beach and through the park with N&M on this sunny day. Later we rented �The Ninth Gate� thinking that it would be a suspenseful tale with some groovy special effects. I now suspect that Johnny Depp and his co-star (the director's wife) had golf announcers for dialogue coaches in order to achieve such a pinnacle of spoken monotony. The capper to this dull caper was the ridiculous sex scene near the end that had us roaring with laughter - certainly not what Roman Polanski intended.

We picked up Naomi�s boyfriend this afternoon and, although slightly punchy from jet lag, he managed to stay up and watch most of Saturday Night Live. He and Naomi have been dating for nearly two years, yet they�ve spent most of their time together in his time zone, so this is our side of the family�s chance to get to know him. Those two are so obviously happy together � I wish there were an easy way to resolve the geography issue.

Jef and I chauffered Miss Elsie Watson over to Galen�s for a film shoot tonight. Miss Watson is a dynamic 90-year-old lady who was involved in the creation of the United Nations. Her husband was a scientist who occasionally brought home the likes of Albert Einstein for dinner.

As we helped Miss Watson from her wheelchair into the car I realized how spending time with both young children and the elderly has this way of keeping one in the present. It had been a rush-rush sort of day and this enforced slowing down was just what I needed to relax.

When Miss Watson asked, �Exactly what is this film about?� Jef and I laughingly admitted we didn�t know. Galen had simply told us that he was creating a film based around a James Broughton poem and that he needed a couple and an old person for one of the scenes.

When we got to the shoot, Galen�s studio was set up as an impromptu green room with wine and beer for the actors. In the photography studio next door was a large bed. This made more sense once we were told that the name of the Broughton poem is �The Bed.�

A sweet fellow named Matt recited the poem to us. (I looked for a copy of it online to link to in this entry, but had no luck.) What I got from Matt�s recitation is that the poem expresses how so many of life�s milestones can occur in bed.

It was fun to see Galen and Jim in action as they coached and coaxed the various participants during their turns in bed. Jef and I were instructed to be goofy, which wasn�t much of a stretch for us. I�m really curious what the finished product will look like. It�s going to be the first film shown in the upcoming Port Townsend Film Festival.

Seven people from our old hometown were involved in serious car wrecks this week; two of these were friends. As I mentioned in a previous entry, my friend is in the hospital; Naomi�s friend did not survive.

She really wanted to attend the funeral, but it was too difficult to arrange the transportation in time. I wonder why they have funerals in such a rush? Especially this time of year, I'm sure some of her friends are vacationing and don't even know what happened yet...

As I was looking for obituaries online, I discovered that a man who used to play in the trumpet section of my band had died of cancer that day and that my former co-worker�s brother died suddenly from an aneurysm while on a business trip.

What an unsettling week�

I'm curious about other people's motives for having a live journal.

I, for one, already have a personal journal, so this needn't serve that function. And while I'll try not to be petty in my posts, there is also the aspect of how one person's petty details can seem exotic to another.

A picture of my house once prompted a Belgian pal to inquire, "Your house - is it made of wood?!?" Most homes in Belgium are stone or brick, so this was an oddity through his eyes.

I suppose that for me, livejournal is an open letter to the world.

In return, I hope that maintaining it will keep my eyes open to the world around me - a myoclonic jerk to the psyche so to speak...

Actually, if this is one of the only livejournal entries that you see, it means that you are not on my LJ friends list.

After my divorce, I chose to make this journal for friends' eyes only. (For some reason, it won't let me make all my posts private, so a few random ones remain unlocked.)

My public blog, however, is here: mental mosaic