Dreams Are All True While They Last

Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?

Alfred Lord Tennyson

What a coincidence that my last blog post was about dreams! Today I just received word that  my YA novel in progress Lovely, Dark, and Deep has been awarded an Honorable Mention from Alabama Writers' Conclave in their First Chapter of a Novel contest. And this story is all about dreams, but definitely not in the ordinary sense.

None of my dreams are ever in the ordinary sense, so I have plenty of material for Lovely, Dark, and Deep!

Now, I just need to finish my Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge sequel, titled The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, which I'm determined to have finished by the end of summer, then get busy on Lovely, Dark, and Deep, a YA supernatural mystery.

Edgar Allan Poe said:  All that we see or seem , Is but a dream within a dream.

What Did You Dream Last Night?

Last night I dreamed that I was jogging toward home from The Rowan House, a restored home circa 1854 on Hwy 119, and I had some folded money in my hand. A cute, short guy with dark hair jogged up beside me and started talking about how he supposed I was a Democrat and he was a Democrat too. Then he went into this long discourse that was so far-fetched I couldn't follow him about Democrats in the UK! Just then I saw a wooden leg lying beside the road, and I thought it looked like something we ought to keep, but I couldn't stop to pick it up because the Democrat was so engrossed in his great conversation, and I was trying to follow what he was saying! And I thought it would be hard to jog all the way home carrying a wooden leg.

What did you dream last night?

Some Facts About Beans

Mr. Bean is one of my favorite guys.

In his book, Navajos Wear Nikes, A Reservation Life, Jim Kristofic says Navajos eat beans every day. He was talking about school lunches, but I decided this sounded like a good idea for everybody. so I'm eating more beans. It's a good book, by the way.

                                                                   The Pinto Bean

This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Phosphorus and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Folate.

For lunch today I'm having a bean burrito from Taco Bell...

And I'm trying, with minimal success, to keep it out of my lap and off the front of my shirt.

...and some Mexican Rice from Taco Bell.

I love Taco Bell rice!

                                                    

For desert I'm having peanut butter pie from Rusty's Barbecue, a home-town epicurean extablishment serving gourmet barbecue and various scandalous desserts. I don't know for sure if the peanut is a bean...but I think so. A legume, I think.

Oh! This is sooo good!

I don't often blog about food, but because I'm extra hungry today, and haven't blogged at all for a while, and because this lunch is so tasty and delightful, well, I'm blogging about lunch!

Here's a scrumptious recipe I found on the Internet at Scarletta Bakes .

Pinto Bean Blondies

2 c. pinto beans (I used well-drained, rinsed, canned beans.)
1 c. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/3 c. light agave nectar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs

1 c. cashews, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place chopped cashews on a rimmed sheet pan and toast for 8-10 minutes or until golden and fragrant. Set aside to cool.

Line a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, place the beans, melted butter, brown sugar, agave nectar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs. Process until smooth and remove to a large bowl. (Note that you should process the mixture long enough that the beans’ skins are in small pieces; you’ll still see little bits of skin in the mixture, but you want to get the pieces as small as possible. I processed for approximately 2 minutes.) Stir in the cashew pieces. Pour the mixture into the lined pan and bake for 47-50 minutes. Cooked blondies will be set and dark on top and at the edges, which should be pulling away from the pan.

Allow blondies to cool to room temperature before unmolding.

Bon Appetit, Y'all!



Fleas!

This has been a loooooonnnnnnnng day. I'm sitting down for the first time... I've been at the circulation desk at the library all day...circulating.

I have fleas in my house. I have sprayed the dining room carpet twice and put medicine on 3 cats, Poppy, Buttercup, and Bunny.  And gave Gretchen, the dog, a flea pill. I'm worn out from flea fatigue. So, this afternoon I have to go buy another package of cat flea medicine and apply it to 3 more cats, Musey, Aussie, and Big Tom. Then I'll have to get a flea bomb for the garage. Then I'm done. Hoping the fleas will subside. Hoping for no more hopping.

So, I wrote a flea poem. Trust me, I wrote this from a true-life experience.

Flea
A flea, a flea
a flea on me
it’s on my toe
it’s on my knee
it’s hopping high
it’s hopping low

it’s on my neck

and my elbow

It’s on my leg

it’s on my shoe
it hops so fast
what can I do
it’s hopping here

it’s hopping there

on my shoulder

in my hair.

A flea, a flea
a flea on me
and I’m as mad
as I can be
I took a bath
I took a shower
I soaked and scrubbed

about an hour

and now the flea
cannot be found
I’m glad to say
I think he drowned.

© Ramey Channell 2012

Buttercup and Poppy

Poetry in Fairhope

Soooo - I went to Fairhope with sister Joanne and nephew Jed, for the Alabama State Poetry meeting! We had a wonderful trip, beautiful weather, good conversation on the road, everything delightful for an enjoyable week-end.

Here we are, the traveling poets, enjoying the beautiful weather and brisk wind on the bay.

My poem, "Eden Road" won 1st Place in the Alabama Residents Only contest, and my poem "david's blood" won an Honorable Mention in the David Cato Prize contest.

Joanne won a truckload of prizes, including a 1st Place, a 2nd Place, two 3rd Place prizes and 2 Honorable Mentions.

Apache Indians at Mt. Vernon, Alabama

We had a great time, and cruised around Mt. Vernon and McIntosh on our way home, hoping to see some historical sites and glean some knowledge of the history of The Old Man, Geronimo, and his time spent in south Alabama in the late 1800s. We saw Searcy State Mental Hospital, the original building which was the military fort around which the Apaches built their cabins, and there were some little white houses which we guessed may have been from the Apache period.

We all thought that visiting a mental hospital after the poetry readings seemed like a logical progression. Jed, who was the designated driver, did "joke" about leaving me and Joanne there, but ended up bringing us back home!

The hospital is scheduled to be closed in September, and we saw no one around to answer questions. I think I'll have to do some online research and make another trip down.

All in all, it was a fun little excursion.

Alabama Poetry Events

Hello world! Ramey and all the painted possums have been out of touch for a while! There has been a flurry of activity here in Possum World, now it's time to blog.

I sent ten poems to the Alabama State Poetry Society's spring contests. And this weekend I plan to attend the ASPS conference in beautiful Fairhope, Alabama, one of my favorite spots to visit.

Also, I have sent entries to the Alabama Writers' Conclave contests. The AWC conference is scheduled for the week-end of July 21st in Huntsville this summer, and I look forward to a trip up north for that event.

   ** One of the oldest writers' organizations in continuous existence in the United States. **

This is a busy time of year for Alabama writers.

Also, I'll soon have a big announcement concerning my book Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge. A new edition is soon to be available in ebook and paperback, and I'm working on the second in the Moonlight Ridge Series.

Picture Book Journey - The Long and the Short of It

I just entered one of my children's picture book manuscripts in the National Children's Book Award of the Year Contest, sponsored by the NAESP Foundation. My picture book manuscript, of course, features a possum!

I'm so excited about this manuscript and this contest! I wrote this story many years ago for my daughter, India Camille, when she was about three years old. She's all grown up now, and this is still one of my favorite stories. I've been working on illustrations and, I must say, the possum and his co-stars are enchanting!

The National Children's Book of the Year Award Contest is open to anyone who is interested in being a published children's book author. Two winners are picked: one picture book and one chapter book.