Pam King Writes: Eyestream Blog

Lash Out

2011-11-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

John Barry Theme Out of Africa

2011-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

What My Life Depends On

2011-01-16T07:32:00.000-08:00

Barbara Brown Taylor contemplates, "what is saving her life now," in her book An Altar in the World. Which raised the question for me, of course. What is saving my life now?

The story my parents tell comes to mind. When they were in college, at the University of Colorado, they went out for dinner with friends. They traveled quite a ways from Boulder. The significance of the evening, in retrospect, was the weather.

In fact, the blizzard that followed dessert was so threatening, one fellow drove while the other walked a pace in front of the car, making sure they stayed on the pavement of the mountainous highway.

What is saving my life now is one foot in front of the other. With little inclination to look back or worry about the next day, I can engineer my life quite well, staying smack-dab in the moment. What does your life depend on today?

Christmas Wishes

2010-12-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,
My list is short. No wrapping necessary. Refreshment for you and the team will be waiting!!

Stay warm, pam

P.S. Sending nice diamond engagement ring for young couple who need one.

Sunny Side of the Street

2010-11-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

For every sunny side of the street, there's the shady side. Except in Texas, where the sun is simply all-consuming.

So, for every bloody 'Lucky Penny' I spy, year after year, some poor schmoo has lost his change fumbling around in his pocket for keys.

Who doesn't like FOUND!?

But here's the trick: finding FOUND! when all else seems lost. How sharp will our eyes be to seize on the shiny penny, the rainbow, the thrillingly wonderful, never-thought-this-could-happen-to-me, in the midst of life gone awry?

We Always Have Hope (and Hopie).

2010-10-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

I read a sweet story this morning about a child whose pet had died. No matter how his parents had hoped to shield him from that eventuality, they could not. Together, they prayed, the parents hoping it would help with their little one's sorrow, pain and anger.

The child, continuing to hold onto his parents' hands after the Amens had been said, told his parents, "I said 'Thank you to God, for Nibbles.'"

And, so it is that we can begin to heal and be whole when we focus on the blessings that live on. As painful and lonely as that is, time after time. Nonetheless, giving thanks is a practise of great value, for where would we be without the blessings richly heaped upon us?

Peaches Are In Season!

2010-10-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

OK, I admit it: I find little children charming. Not to the exclusion of babies and older kids but those 4 to 10 year-olds tend to have a delightful perspective on life and say such marvelous things!

Like the Second-Grader I know whose mother told me her daughter was reading a story recently when she started giggling. The giggling gave way to laughter and Mom and Dad just had to ask, "What's so funny?" The little girl looked up from her book and replied, "That just tickled my peach!"

As if it weren't cute enough that her 'peach was tickled, it was also the way that little southern 'belle' says the word peach . . . all three syllables.

Whether it's your fancy or your peach that gets tickled, I wish you the delight of a good giggle and the pleasure of children in your life!

Windward Flight

2010-09-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

The migration song. Leaving the stonewalls and long cool shadows, the vernal ponds and hemlocked hills to those who'll winter over, for safe-keeping.

Late Summer

2010-09-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

I am in love with these colors, especially on a lovely, late summer afternoon. And with having a camera in front of my face...think of the possibilities!

The Scarlet Letter

2010-07-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

Times have changed.

It struck me, after being unable to find full-time employment for more than 12 months despite terrific skills and experience, brains, humor, professionalism, genuine appreciation for customer service and a solid work ethic, that the Scarlet Letter stands for a whole new label. AGE.

Birds of a Feather...

2010-04-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Just my Spring thoughts to you...such a lovely time of year. Enjoy it!

The News of My Death Was Greatly Exaggerated.

2010-03-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently announced she relied entirely on SNL, these days, for her weekly news.

I was shocked.

The truth is there's little room for daily papers in our lives but some generational practises that die without a memorial bring a pang of disbelief and ... age.

In deconstructing the issue, I suppose we are bombarded by so much information, from so many news spigots, it's just more fun to watch the SNL version, at the end of the day. Thankfully, as humans, we are still suseptible to the well-written article or well-told report of an individual's struggle with adversity or triumph over challenge. And, as a genetically-predisposed journalist, that gives me hope.

Little Fishes

2010-02-25T14:43:00.001-08:00

Sweetness and Light

2010-02-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Greetings Dear Ones, I've been baking for you. Baking up a warm and yummy dish of words for you. Although it wasn't a plate of pale pink and confectioner's sugar, the Phantom of the Opera fundraiser I worked on, for Cleaning For A Reason, supersaturated the senses! Hauntingly beautiful voices and piano music, good food and Silent Auction items that had guests scrambling to outbid one another! If your joy is creating opportunities to motivate and inspire, I want to know!!

You've Lost Your Audience

2009-12-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

Trying to teach someone who really isn't interested? 'Here's your sign,' as Bill Engvall would say.

Fashionista With Frostbite

2009-12-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

Rain 'event,' Snow 'mist,' Snow 'showers,' Ice 'fog' ... who's making up this new weather lexicon? I want in!

The reality is, however, it's one thing to deal with the weather where you live, quite another to pack for someone else's weather across the country or the world.

What I can rely on is my southern wardrobe, no matter how layered, will not suffice in this year's New England winter. (Merry Christmas!) I am truly looking forward to a 'White Christmas' and, you'll know me by the little black flats I'm wearing, scampering over the drifts to get to the mailbox or around the snowplow hills to run in for a paper!

Even if I did have boots, those available in the South are strictly for show, not for snow. When you read of the Fashionista with Frostbite, on the news, that'll be me. Merry Christmas wherever you celebrate!

Being Esoteric is Chronic Not Terminal

2009-12-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

Are you a Recovering Esoterica? A Formerly Obtuse Communicator? If so, read on.

According to the experts, being esoteric is a chronic yet treatable, not terminal, condition. Sometimes associated wtih overwhelmingly obtuse tendencies, the bearer of the contagion often experiences reactions from those in proximity such as 'distancing,' cocking their heads and looking being looked at like the dog (out of the corner of the eye) or 'not getting' the gist of the (esoteric) comment. The condition can, while untreated, create loneliness, puzzlement and hollow Scrabble victories.

In a recently-released study, however, the AMA announced certain effective treatments for confirmed Esoterica, to wit: simple, straight-forward communication, short, 4th Grade-level statements, super-store announcements techniques.

"Hello! How are you?" has a neutral, normal affect on others. Avoiding puns and double-entendres has been discovered as an important practise. Finally, framing thoughts in fewer than eight, one syllable words ending in an exclamation has proven positive to a full recovery!

What Possibilities Do You See?

2009-12-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

We have gotten so far removed from hunting and gathering in today's society, we can now ask one another about 'Possibilities.' Tight! But, whether the current economic climate has you actually focused on the hunting and gathering (like mine) or not, you might consider your aptitude for Possibilities.

A favorite saying has always been, 'Glass half full or half empty? What does it matter if it's not vodka.'

What possibilities do you embrace?

Is It the Light or the Shadow?

2009-11-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

I wandered through the MADI Museum and Gallery, in Dallas, over the weekend, delighted and amazed by its calculated yet playful collection of works. Modern, geometrical, often vividly colored pieces, virtually all with moveable parts begging for interaction. Extend an armature here, change shapes, colors, patterns and shadows there.

The art and science of challenging the brain, of triggering cause-and-effect, in any discipline, is awesome!

Seeding the Clouds

2009-11-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

Cloud Computing is brilliant, bringing magnificent new structure and shape to the way we can communicate today. What breakthroughs for marketing platforms and practices!

The Troglodyte Trifold of yesteryear has (thankfully) been replaced by marketing now capable of pushing messages out to the public, gathering intelligence and pulling followers into relationship. The new 'Trifold Trinity.'

Today's cloud computing allows us to have everything we need to communicate on hand, any time, anywhere. What could be more powerful than seeding the clouds to rain information on a select audience one day and sending lightning strikes the next? The direction, speed and surface area we cover is now, more than ever, to the advantage of those of us who know how to use the environment in which we find ourselves.

2009-10-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Why quibble about 'There's no such thing as free lunch," when you can get a sack full of fabulous, free candy every Halloween? It is infinitely more difficult to trick-or-treat when you've run out of little ones to drag with you ,but if you're creative enough to come up with a clever costume, don't tell me you can't find a child with whom to share the bounty! Happy Hallow's Eve.

A Drop of Ink May Make a Million Think

2009-10-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Words can be powerful and they can change lives. Ron Hall and Denver Moore didn't set out to write a story or change lives but they have and their book, Same Kind of Different as Me, is incredible. One of the stories they share strikes me as singularly powerful. When the friendship was forged between the cotton plantation black slave, criminal and homeless man, Moore, and the 'high cotton,' international art dealer, Hall, bible study groups across the county began inviting the two men to come tell their story. Not too many 'talks' into it, however, Moore told Hall, "I don't want to meet no more folks who is bible studyin'; I want to meet the folks who's bible 'doin.'" Perspective can be powerful and it, too, can change lives.

Sew on & Sew Forth

2009-10-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

My life is being recut, reshaped, resized. That jumbled odds-and-ends drawer, that familiar collection of treasures and oddments from the ages and stages of life, it's being shuffled in a 'whole' new way.

John McCutcheon's song, Old Coat makes it all feel better somehow ... I've got this old coat, the collar's torn, sewed on a patch where the elbows worn. It knows my shape, it knows my skin, keeps the winter out while it keeps me in. I got it back in '61, when it was new and I was young.."

Friends who are professional sewers have made me an 'Equal Opportunity Housing' offer: to join them, in their dotage, at their Home for Aging Seamstresses. All I do with a needle and thread is mend pulled and poorly constructed seams and hems, but the lure of old friends, the industry of color and creation, laughter and love seems warm and appealing.

For now, I'll dust off my old coat, mend the tears and turn up the collar against the autumn chill.

Breathing into a Paper Bag

2009-10-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

My nerves were so shot, I finally tried breathing into a brown paper lunch bag. Amazingly, it helped. I'm going to try cupcake papers next time.