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The taste of a tangible memory ...

6/22/2016

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"Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased."  So wrote John Steinbeck in his novel, Travels With Charley.  Much like an artist's sketches, destined for paint and canvas, I rely on tangible memories.

There used to be a small bakery in Pacific Grove, California: The Scotch Bakery.  It was situated on Lighthouse Avenue, back when John Steinbeck was a local resident.  He made brief mention of it in his novel,
Cannery Row.

That bakery was still a going business up until December 2006.  During it's 50 year span, I was fortunate to visit it many times.  It was my favorite bakery in the Monterey Bay area, and I often purchased the loveliest sweet treats there.

​For instance, the yummy Beehive Pie ... aka Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake) ... pictured above.  It is the most wonderful birthday cake I've ever had: a soft brioche, with a sweet cream filling, and covered with honey and almonds.

​I grew up enjoying Beehive Pies as birthday cakes, and my husband used to buy them for my birthdays as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed them; so much so that I can still taste their tempered sweetness when one comes to mind.

Sadly, this is cake is not as common as it once was, and it is certainly not available where I live.  But, to quote the noted playwright, James M. Barrie, "God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December."  

So today, on this the eve of my birthday, I am enjoying a delectable Beehive Pie ... so much as memory serves ... and looking forward to perhaps yet another someday.  For the time being, the one in my mind is so, so yum!






Image: foodgawker.com
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My corner of the room ...

6/10/2016

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No one is really sure who coined the phrase, "Location, location, location."  It had been attributed to real estate tycoon Lord Harold Samuel ... until the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations managed to find that adage in a 1926 real estate ad in the Chicago Tribune.  Hmm ... Harold was just fourteen years old in 1926.

Regardless of who came up with this saying, I like to apply it to the subject of writing, as it also speaks of ambiance, "the character and atmosphere of a place." Thesaurus.com.  Ambiance can make or break a poem for me.

​In my teens, I would walk three steep miles to the beach, at three am, to sit on a favorite rock and write, because the night air and the waves fed my muse. That undisturbed setting easily pushed aside the doors to my imagination.

I often missed that beach, that rock, those waves, and especially so when I'm trying to concentrate on writing a poem amid the day to day distractions and occasional interruptions that are common to a non-reclusive lifestyle.

I know a few writers who have found their preferred ambiance in music, and others who will shut themselves up in a quiet room.  I opted to adopt the semi-catatonic state, focusing inward to the exclusion of all external stimuli.    
There is a great deal to be said about writing in a cozy cafe, provided that you don't mind the clinking of cups, the coffee grinder, the chatter of other patrons  ... and that the servers don't often disturb you with, "More coffee?"  
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As I've noted before, I love writing in cafes and coffee shops, especially those which stay open late into the evening, but I've had to leave them when they fired up their open mics.  Open mics are great ... if you're not trying to write.      
Some writers prefer to work in the comfort of their own home, which is great, unless myriad household chores are calling for their attention, or their computer is situated in the cross hairs of a busy, shared family room.

I've been in search of the perfect ambiance for decades now, and when I have found it, it proved to be only temporary.  Alas, where I live now there are no local opportunities to sit and sip and write without driving miles and miles.
 
But, last Summer, we went shopping for a new home.  We found one that is surrounded by trees, is near the beach, and has a lovely, soft yellow, multi-windowed sunroom which looks out on a forest ... and, it was affordable!

Bingo!

It's taken me years to finally find the unimpeded ambiance that works for me: this large corner of a comfy room, where interruptions call to me only distantly.  For this poet, it really is all about, "location, location, location."  



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Image: Emily Thompson      



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    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

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