"The poet refuses to let things merge, lie low, succumb to visual habit . . . she hoists things out of their routine and lays them out on a papery beach, to be fumbled and explored . . ."
-- Diane Ackerman

Beautiful, strange and unique things happen around you every day. Don't take them for granted; get your pen and paper out, and try to capture the moment before it flees!

I watched a progam on Friday 18th May on SBS TV and I thought I would share with you a part of it.
Temple Grandin is a Professor at the university of Colorado and a world expert in livestock handling systems. Temple was born Autistic.

A Letter to Temple from her Mother is as follows.(Written July 9th. 1966 )

Dear Temple,
I was thinking about our conversation about love. The hugging that makes you feel suffocated, don't worry about it its only a physical response to love, it's not what lies at the core.
To me love is wanting to make things grow, plants, animals, yourself. Remember how you plant a seedling. Treat it tenderly so you dont break the stem and young animals touch them gently let them know they are in a safe place.
The same goes for you, love the best in yourself, treat it tenderly, carefully, help it to grow and as you grow you will find you want to make the best grow in those close to you and in this fashion without really knowing why or when we find we have each gained a stake in the other, for love is mutual, it is the glue that holds us all together......Love Mother.

The Program was a tribute to a Mothers Love and A Daughters wonderful spirit and love of life......Lois Daley Port Melbourne
Monday 21st May 2000.

"You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly posses all you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality."

-- Florida Scott-Maxwell

And what do you do with all this newfound reality? For that matter, how do you truly claim the events of your life to make yourself your own in the first place? Each of us would find our own methods that suit us best, but for me, as for many others, including my fellow Musers, this can be done through writing. It is the best outlet I have found for fierce reality.

What else would I do with all that I have experienced, all that I have been and done, but try and turn it into something useful and memorable – to write about it?

By way of introduction, I’m Amanda Maruhn, proud Muser and proprietor of Writing Voices. For a while, struggled with the dichotomy I found in writing to please myself and writing to please others. I decided, after quite a bit of heartache, that it was necessary for me to write first to please my self alone, before I could try and write for others. It was the only way I could be true to myself, and find out where I am, what I really think, and what direction I should take.

But, I recently decided to try and do both at the same time! Wanna see a writer stretch her wings? Take a look at Writing Voices. There is a place with some fierce reality for you.

Wise Words from Inga Glendinnen's award winning memoir " Tiger's Eye " As she hovered in a hallucinatory state between life and death she said. "I began to write because I needed to, I needed to hold on to my mind,to get some kind of grip on it.

What she found when she did get that grip amazed her. " I was suprised to find the self is not one but many. I was surprised to discover that my sense of self relied on other people's perception of me, how they read me, so that in fact I was a kind of fiction" Many of us I'm sure can relate to how we have often seen others perceptions of us & have taken them on and lost along the way much of oursleves.

Lois Daley Port Melbourne.

Would you like see the Emerald City of someone's mind? Since exploring the work of visionary architect Achilles Rizzoli, I've been entralled. Rizzoli's work is a representation of a mind landscape. And what an amazing landscape to travel through. Drop into Elizabeth's Tea-room for a construction of ideas based on Rizzoli's extraordinary legacy. There are many resonances between architecture and writing. Thanks Achilles. Your work has helped me to draft some more writing dreams. Maybe he'll do the same for you.

Hi Everyone! I'm Nicole Cody, one of Heather's Musers. The Writing Notebook is a compost heap of ideas, and I have found that my writing always works like that. Ideas, experiences, impressions, smells, textures, emotions - they all go into a certain part of my brain. One which seems dark and inactive and full of useless and unrelated bits. But this is also the place where magic happens. Over time, and with no conscious effort from myself, these fractions of worth rot down and knit together into an amazing array of useful bits of writing fabric, and then like quilt pieces they arrange themselves into a fantastic order which is then miraculously transported to my conscious awareness. Nothing, it seems, is ever lost or wasted. As a writer I take great comfort from that!