R is for....

Boy, I've been busy. It doesn't seem like a whole week has swished by since my last Wordplay. But that's what the dates on my post say, so it must be true.

Red - red is such a powerful color. The color of blood, the color of life. The color of anger, which isn't always a bad thing if we channel that anger appropriately. The color of flashing lights and stop signs and flowers and fire. Also, anyone read Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard when they were a child? I loved that book so much I talked my mom into letting me get an Irish Setter of my very own.

Rosie - speaking of dogs, my little Rosita the flying monkey, Rosie-girl, Rosie-bean. She's the ball and chain around my foot sometimes but gawd I love that little dog

Robbie - oh, more dog talk. Robbie, aka Robespierre. I have no idea why my parents named him that beyond the fact that he was a french poodle. A miniature black poodle, he was the first dog in my life. My folks say we had another dog when I was really young, I believe a lab, but I don't remember that dog at all. Robbie came into my life when I was about five.

rocks - I love rocks. I'm a rock hound. My maternal grandmother was a rockhound as well, although I think I spontaneously started collecting pretty rocks long before I knew she did. She had a rock polisher and liked to polish them and make little decorations or statues out of them. Me, I just like to enjoy them best in their natural state. I have little bowls of rocks, jars of rocks. Larger rocks on my windowsills and laying about my gardens. If I had the means and money, I'd have some big boulders moved onto my property. My mom and stepdad moved a bunch of big boulders with crystal deposits in them onto one of their properties. Currently they have a modest sized boulder in their new front yard. After my stepdad rolled it into place, partially buried in the ground to look natural, they noticed that centered in the face of it was darker spot the perfect shape of a heart. I thought that was neat. But back to me, I love rocks. Wish I had more time to go rock hunting.

rain - I love rain too. I love to listen to rain on the roof when I'm inside. Of course most buildings are insulated enough, thank goodness, that you can't hear the rain inside very well. So that leaves places like attics, screen porches, or even just open windows. I like rain outside because it makes the plants so happy. It makes the air smell so deliciously clean and pungent.

Rocky - Rocky was one of our best cats ever, ever, ever! He became paralyzed at the end of his life. We don't know why - illness, a car hitting him.... I spent about three weeks caring for him in that condition, hoping against hope that he would recover. Sadly he did not. He had the most unusual coloring - he was a like a long haired Siamese, cream colored with chocolate brown points. But then he had very faint tabby striations that stretched out from his boot and ear colors. Finally, he had pure white mittens and nose, and bib, as if he'd walked through powdered sugar, sticking his face into it for good measure. My husband insisted on naming him Rocky and we all used to sing the Rocky Raccoon song to him. He was such a great cat.


raven - I love ravens. Members of the crow family, they're considered the most intelligent of birds. They're fascinating to watch. I love the symbolism they bear, of life and death, and also one of the pranksters of they world. And of course we share the love of ...... SHINY THINGS.

redwoods - my life would have been far less rich if I hadn't had the fortune to have lived and walked under these giants. If you need magic in your life, go deep into a redwood forest and listen, feel, be.

Roseville, CA - a nice little town, sadly now just a suburb of the greater Sacramento metropolitan area. That's where we lived when the kids were young elementary age. That's where we lived when William was born.

Rowling, J.K. - I'm currently rereading the entire Harry Potter series. I want to have finished all six books again before the seventh and final book comes out. Anyone know when that will be? Next summer maybe? I am anxious for the finale to come out and simultaneously I don't want the story to ever end.

Reynardine - the name comes from an old Irish folk song. In the oldest versions, Reynardine was simply a highway robber, in more recent versions he is a fairy who can bewitch. In either version, he is charming and leads astray any young girl who might wander too far into the forest. The myth, if one can even call it that as it's simply a fragment of a story, has always intrigued me. I first heard the story from a song inspired by the song, Searching for Reynardine by Maria Anthony on a wonderful CD called Foot to the Path by Uncle Dirty Toes. In this version, or rather, in this original song that borrows the story, the girl isn't just lost and innocent but rather wild enough herself to have intentionally gone out into the dangerous unknown. It reminds me of the more ancient versions of the Persephone myth where Persephone isn't tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds, but eats them on purpose, a symbol of her choice to become a woman, breaking free of her dependent state of childhood.

read - I love to read. Read, read, read, read, read, read, read. If I could clone myself for just one purpose, it would be to have another me who could read all the time.

rhubarb - a big, unruly plant with poisonous leaves and red stalks that are both bitter and sweet at the same time. I remember my aunt cutting them up for us kids and handing them over with a cup of sugar for us to dip them into. Nature's Dip'n Stick candies. I love rhubarb strawberry pie. When we moved to this house, I inherited a big patch of the wild plants.

rosemary - another plant I love. Rosemary for remembrance. We passed out branches of rosemary (lovingly donated by the owners of Hearts Ease Herb Shop in Cambria, CA - one of my favorite shops - such a sweet memory in a time of great sorrow) at Joshua's memorial service. Rosemary is a tender perennial, I doubt it grows outside of a pot in the Midwest, and I didn't get to meet this plant until I moved to California as a young adult. I have a hard time keeping it alive up here in the cold winters of the mountain. I believe it is native to the Mediterranean. It is always linked in my mind with the culture and mediterranean climate of the northern California coast where it grows into big lush hedges. Don't make the mistake of hugging it. Bees like to hide in it. It's yummy used in grilling and barbequing as well.

Rosemary Gladstar - the woman who introduced me to my love affair with the world of herbs

rainbow - who doesn't love a rainbow. I was in labor all night with my son Sam, during a huge winter wind and rain storm. Sam was born just about/before (I was a bit busy, I'm not sure which) dawn and when I finally looked up from his beautiful new face, it was to see that it was light outside and a double rainbow arched across the freshly washed sky.

road - "On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again...." An old Willie Nelson song, I've been known to sing a few lines of it as I drive off down the highway - sometimes as a happy song, sometimes in resignation, a parody. I admit I used to love road trips. I still do, except that I don't always get to pick the when and where I travel all the time. Regardless of whether the trip is planned or just a responsibility, I always treat it as an adventure with the potential for fun and discovery.