Wild Geese Over The Clam Sands-Marcia

Autumn brings out the best in me. I always want to be kicking through drifts of fall leaves in Frye boots and a calf length wool skirt, or perhaps a nice pair of courduroy trousers.

I will muse as I kick through the leaves. Alone with my deep thoughts. The brisk air putting the sap in my veins, the scent of apples making me want to bake, and eat. And sit in front of a fire, and drink coffee, and eat. Coffee cake. Mmmm. Larded with brown sugar and walnuts. And coffee! And quiet. And my deep thoughts and my courduroy. I'll look out the window at the leaves floating down to earth, I will have a nice fire, and listen to it crackle. And then, after, I've had this rich amber hour or so of lolling, and eating, and coffee, I will feel deep enough into my writer's mind to go and write a rich story larded with meaning and crackling with intensity, and blazing with fire, solid as Frye boots, and textured as corduroy, and and and and and. Everyone knows this won't be possible until I'm like 72.

So the stories are percolating. Hopefully they'll linger until I have the time to catch them. Hopefully they won't flicker out as quickly as my attempts to light a fire.

Despite a few frustrating weeks of no time to write, I've made a few positive moves.

1. I submitted an article!!!!
2. This made me want to submit more. It was fast, easy, and fun.
3. I found out what I need to do to get the family room computer hooked up to the Internet, so I can get the kids OUT OF MY OFFICE!
4. I've got STUDIO SPACE!!!!


Saturday, after almost having a heart attack when all I wanted to do was sit and work, and I couldn't get my children uprooted from my space, I called the Princess. She has what I need. An empty house, counter space, proximity, and privacy. I asked if I could rent her home office. Being a good princess, she declined, but suggested a fair trade. I keep the surfaces dusted, flies out of the window sills, and air the place out every once-in-awile, and we're even. Wow! A studio.

As soon as my house guests leave, I'm moving in.

So for now, as I bust around to jobs, kid activities and lessons, I know that my space awaits me. Autumn isn't over yet. It's all Wild Geese Over the Clam Sands.

I mean Calm Sands. A CD Christy gave me, that I decided to listen to on the way home from work this morning. Hoping to stave off any need for Anger Management classes or Tai Chi, I put the CD in, and was reading the jacket before pulling out of the school parking lot.

In two places, mainly the cover and back cover of the album, it reads "Wild Geese Over The Calm Sands," yet where the "cover tune" is listed it says "Clam Sands." Maybe the Chinese musicians were trying to musically depict the geese delicately plucking up scrumptious clams with chopstick-like beaks. Maybe the jokester translator forgot to revert back to the original title before submitting the job to the printers. Either way I like it.

Breathe in, kick through the fall leaves, picture your life as smooth and relaxed as a beach of teaming sea life ready to be steamed, chowdered, or, my favorite, turned into linguine. With clams there's so much more possibility. A life waiting to be opened and devoured.

Enjoy your Calm and Clammy day