Barbara's Meanderings: betty boop

Poems for last week and this week and a peek at radio show guests

4rvpublishing Thursday, June 17, 2010

Vivian Zabel - publisher

4RV Publishing. My guests on

Red River Writers Live Tales from

the Pages on Thursday, June 24th.

Janie Franz - author of The Bowdancer series
Hear her on Red River Writers Live Tales from

the Pages on Thursday, June 24th.

This has been a very busy month for me. My husband's condition has pretty much occupied most days. He is a little better and more focused, but still he requires a great deal of attention. This month has been taken up by doctor's visits for him. He is set to go up to Boston in July to see not the top specialist but his second. The head of my husband's medical group is talking to the head of Massachusetts General to see if they can move it forward a little bit.

I can't believe that summer is coming next week! I am not ready for it at all, but I am going to try to get out to the pool. It sits there outside my window taunting me with happy people relaxing and enjoying themselves and making fun noises. But that will require buying a bathing suit, which is probably an entire blog post in itself.:)

I'm not here to write much, but I did want to post my poems from last Wednesday and my poem for this Wednesday's prompt. I have also been busy thinking about subbing my YA novel and I think that is going to happen this week! Yes, I am finally going to send it out and keeping my fingers crossed that this time it will be accepted. My luck has to change soon!!!

Meanwhile, here are the poems:

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Prompt from Poetic Asides website was choose 3 things you can see from your computer or laptop and write a poem about them:

new table, Betty Boop nurse doll, Balzac statue

In the course of events
a new table doesn’t compare to
winning the lottery or the joy of your
child’s first step

But for us the event, uncelebrated
as it was, brought a quiet happiness
replacing the trepidation we all felt
at mealtimes balancing paper plates
on knees while the Balzac statue
looked on safe on its temporary kitchen bar home

And the Betty Boop nurse doll, who had
survived inside the hermetic glass seal
of the antique china cabinet while smoke
invaded the place we used to call home,
must watch as a man twists in the vice
of his own body’s war upon him.

More from my laptop

They traveled long distances
from their original home where
their angelic faces were painted
with delicate strokes – in perpetuity
dangling on the stone wall with goats
at their feet, maybe siblings or perhaps
close childhood friends. Such innocents
whisked from the chaos soon to come
in their homeland and carried across the
ocean to rest for years secure in a Queens
apartment. Bundled in cotton batting or
within old discarded pantyhose they journeyed
across the country, from Cortland to West Covina
Vestal to Buffalo resting at last in Queens again
chipped,diminished by the jostling of unconcerned
movers Long Island to Westchester plunked into
moving boxes until the last move when my numb
fingers wrapped them once more while I with breath
held prayed all would survive.

Steadfast they stand a shelf above a transparent preditor,
one who should be roaming verdant wilderness takes center
position on the first shelf its jaws closed
My birth stars dictate the symbol; form the core of my being.

Next to it viewed in profile its massive distinctive head
modeled from sand, painted black it had aged with white
spots ruining the smooth black fantasy. It’s haunches flat on the
shelf – perpetually guarding us all proud as the living model

These artifacts retain the loving
touches from gentle fingers
absorbing a family’s life.

(Hummel figure, glass lion, Newfoundland statue)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Prompt: Write a poem about being stuck.

Blocked Words

The words sit like polite guests
waiting for the moment to spring from my fingers
But that doesn’t come and instead they remain
in my brain unable to move until the right
order brings them forth

Meanwhile hands sit on the keyboard
while patient words bide their time
becoming unsettled and floating
Awaiting the moment when the right
sentence arranges itself

The first sentence, remains stuck
glued in the recesses of my cerebrum
Over run by Bthe clog of thoughts
surrounding it like the hair that
Keeps the water from draining

Recriminations, guilt, remorse
refuse to allow that fledgling sentence
to form – bullies disrupting the calm
Pain, distress and aggravation loose
themselves on the helpless words

that courageously form a line and storm
past the word bullies as the first sentence
appears and fingers bring it to life.
copyright 2010 by Barbara Ehrentreu

Before I end this I wanted everyone to know about my June show for Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages. I am going to have as my guests Janie Franz, who has visited here before as a guest author and finally Vivian Zabel publisher of 4RV Publishing. I always love having a guest that I have interviewed beforehand like last month with Eric Luper. Next Thursday's show should be great, because Janie's new work in the Bowdancer series is being published. Vivian will be talking about whether she is open to submissions and sharing a little bit of her list with us. 4RV Publishing publishes almost all kinds of genres. If you are interested in learning more about Vivian and 4RV this is a don't miss show. Vivian has a few books she has written that I'm sure we will be talking about on the show.

Until the next time thank you to any new readers. I'm so glad you decided to visit here. Also thank you to the readers who continue to come here to read my meanderings. Another giant hug to all the wonderful people who have sent me their thoughts and prayers and hugs. You are all the best and your support helps me so much!!!

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When Abnormal Becomes Normal!

betty boop Tuesday, January 19, 2010

After the fire we moved into a hotel and since then we have been in this same hotel. At first our life seemed upside down and strange. After all we were all comfortable in our own place and knew where everything was and everything had its place. Not that we were such great housekeepers, but my daughter and I had successfully organized several areas of the house and we were working on doing more. My things were all around me and I could sit at my computer and see my china cabinet filled with my Betty Boops and my piano. Yes, we had to have my piano in the dining room, because that was the only place it would fit. I was going to practice more and get ready for a performance this spring. Don't get me wrong. I am not a professional and definitely not someone you would consider accomplished. But my sister-in-law kind of cajoled me into playing with her. It's all done without music. It's all improvisation, which can be very well done.

The people I have seen are accomplished pianists and so is my sister-in-law who has performed several times and sung too. They perform with other instruments such as a viola or a drum and occasionally there are other kinds of artists involved who draw or improvise a project. It's a very harmonious experience and you can see how all art is related.

Getting back to my practicing, the thing is that I also had a lesson from a piano teacher who is a mutual friend and now if I go back it will be awkward. The lesson was back in the summer and I promised to practice. This promise was difficult, since there were always people around me and no one wanted to listen to me practice. That's no excuse, but I'm using it.:) Seriously, I didn't practice enough and now that my piano is no longer with me I can't practice.

Today I had to make a very sad and necessary decision. We met with the man from ServPro again to get another estimate today. I have decided to give up my piano.We had to meet in our smokey apartment and now going in there is starting to feel like I'm in a set for Supernatural.:) By the way if you haven't checked out this awesome show you should definitely watch it. If you like clashes between good and evil and stories about the Apocalypse then you will love Supernatural. Add in two really hot guys, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, who play respectively, Dean and Sam Winchester. These two hunt and find demons, vampires, and ghosts and usually slaughter them. After the fire watching Supernatural was a way for us to feel more like it was home. If you watch the program and get hooked you are going to have to buy the DVD's for all the seasons before this one to get caught up in the story. Luckily, we had loaded them all on our computers so we could watch. However, connecting the computers to the hotel TV required a couple of days in Best Buy and don't get me started on how awful that was.:) But at least we were able to watch a wide screen.

Sorry I've gotten side tracked from what I was talking about and that is life in a hotel room. At first it seemed strange. I admit, putting a key card into a slot is different from opening your own house door. Not having an oven is difficult, but that isn't the worst part. The worst part is trying to make life normal with a refrigerator filled with snack food and nothing else.:) The room has pots and pans and dishes, but it's not my kitchen and so it's strange.:) We have eaten out or brought in food every night. The hotel has a free dinner three days a week, but I'm picky about what I eat so I haven't eaten too many of them. Tonight was only the second time I ate down there. We have a living room where we all congregate and a table where most people eat. However, my husband has decided to use this as his catch all and desk so it looks pretty much like his side of the table looked at home. Gradually as we have been living here it has started to look more and more like home as we have brought in more and more things from the house that could be salvaged without being cleaned.

It's hard going back to the house to pick over what is left. We still have clothes in the closets and in our drawers. We are leaving a lot of stuff including most of our bedroom stuff including the mattress I've had for over fifteen years. I can remember my daughter shopping for a new mattress and don't look forward to that again.:) Yet I'm okay with doing that and even though I will probably cry when I have to get rid of my piano, I'm okay with that too. You start to prioritize what is important to you when an event like this happens. But every time I have to go into that house I feel intense pain that such an event could have happened and about the loss of life next door. Nothing we give up will replace those lives and I feel much better when I think that I can give up almost anything as long as I have my family.

Because they are my real home and always will be. They are not easy to live with and sometimes I want to wring everyone's neck. But here in this fairly spacious hotel suite we have somehow made an abnormal situation about as normal as being home. Now it doesn't seem odd to me to have to park my car using a key card, find a parking space then walk through a hotel lobby, get on an elevator and use a key card to get into my room. I found myself thinking about going back to the hotel as home. In a sense it is my home now until we find a place to live in permanently.

I'll tell you a secret. I spoke with the mailman today and told him that we are keeping our mailbox until we get a real address. Knowing that we still have the same address helps me, because at least we have a place to get our mail. This is now the only real sense of permanence that we have. When we first got here I tried to think of what I could describe my situation. If I had to name it I would say this is a velvet nightmare. Velvet, because it's pretty soft. We have a very nice hotel room and we are comfortable. We were able to get new clothes and we are able to eat decently. But the nightmare happens when I realize that at the end of the month we need to find a place to live, because it is really expensive to live here. My house has layers of smoke and grit over almost everything and we have to pack everything without any heat or electricity in the middle of winter.:) If we pack enough of our stuff for the ServPro guys then it will be less money. So stay tuned for news about our packing experience. I am sure it won't be boring.:)

What I have learned from all of this is that life goes on even though it might be abnormal and if you live with this abnormality long enough it becomes normal.:)

One more thing before I end this. I want to thank all of the people who commented here and expressed their concern for me and my family. I also want to thank everyone who both offered us gifts and the ones who gave us gifts. My family and I are overwhelmed with the generosity that has been shown toward us and so I want to give you all a giant hug!!!!!!!!

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Postcard Friendship Friday!

betty boop Friday, July 17, 2009

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What Does It Mean to Be a Woman?

betty boop Friday, May 22, 2009

Okay, it's Postcard Friendship Friday and I am posting one of my own here. This is for Marie. I told you I had these postcards and finally got to scan one into the computer. I'm hoping to scan the whole collection. But Betty Boop represents to me a woman who is totally confident with herself and doesn't exclude anything from her life.

Yes, she 's a cartoon character and I know that!:) But I don't know, she just makes me smile.:)

It goes along with the theme of this post. Yesterday I told you I found a new blog because Out-Numbered referred me to the post there. I loved the discussion there so much that I decided to devote most of this post to it. I'm going to show what she said and then show Out-Numbered's comment. Then I'm going to show my comments and add to them. Here is what she said.

She is the author of My Bottle's Up who wrote this:

fact. and male readers out there, i don't write this because i'm a man-hating feminist (though i am a feminist). i write this because it's true.
my blog. my post. my truth. ya don't like it, don't read it. (I loved this approach, by the way!)
this truth is becoming more and more apparent to me by the minute. literally, the minute. if I see men unable to multi-task, make decisions, take care of their health, take care of their families...and then i see women carting babies,toddlers and groceries up three flights of stairs while on their cell phone, hosting a conference call. i see men who are unwilling toght for what they want... because they don't know what they want. and i see women fighting to the death for what matters to them because they see it, they know it, and they go after it. i see men sitting on couches. i see women running towards the goal line. i see men going through the motions. i see women creating motion.

">Here is what Out-Numbered said about this post:

"You see, the thing is that we like being lame. We embrace being lazy. Before our wives came along, we were able to cook our own food, clean our own apartments, follow directions, read a map, socialize like human beings, laugh, act silly, dress ourselves and do a whole slew of things. Back then, nobody told us we were wrong or called us idiots. We just got shit done and you know what? It worked! We survived! You know what else? You found us, picked us out fromthe crowd and married us because you liked how we acted. How quickly one forgets. But now, everything we do is completely and utterly fucked up. Not because it's wrong but because it's not how YOU do it. So like a dog that is kicked one too many times, we just stop doing it. It's much easier to get yelled at for not doing anything than it is to drag our fat asses off the couch and waste our time only to be told it's not good enough. That's my rant. Now... lets talk about how HOT chicks are when they ;Okay, so we are to believe that men don't do what they used to do because living with a woman makes them feel like they are doing things wrong? So they stop doing these things altogether because they can't stand the criticism? If this is true then all women are telling the men they marry or live with that everything they're doing isBTW, in case things get out of hand, the safe word is... Out-Numbered.

Maybe it's something else. Maybe it's that men just go ahead and do whatever they want to do without consulting with the woman with which they are living. I think it's important for couples to discuss big things together and when there is a chance that one or the other isn't sure of the decision he or she needs to clarify that.:)Also this applies to the little things. When a man is sent to the store he buys whatever he feels like buying. Unless you give him a list he will buy only what he wants without thinking about the needs of a woman. If you send a man to say, Costco, he will come home with huge amounts of things you would never buy as a woman and which if you were there with him he wouldn't even think to get them. Yet they manage to bring home stuff you wouldn't want to buy. In fact, most men with women don't care what a woman buys. But alone they'll buy the craziest things!!

It's the same thing when it comes to preparing their own meals. Men will eat the weirdest combinations of foods when they are alone. Yet when you ask them what they want for dinner they would never tell you that combination. In other words, I believe that men have a private life they don't want women to know about and it entails their exercising their freedom of choice. But if a woman is in charge of the kitchen and preparing meals, shouldn't she have the last word about what comes into her cupboards and refrigerator? What do the men out there think of this? Are men just trying to show how free they are?

I hope this question won't crash my blog as it has probably done for MyBottle'sUp.:)

Until the next time. Have a great, great Memorial Day Weekend and try to get to the beach.:) Any beach will do if you are landlocked, but people on the coast try to put your feet in the sand sometime this weekend..:)

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Poem A Day for April 13, 2009

betty boop Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I'm still on my daughter's computer and I miss my MAC soooo much!!!! There's nothing like having eight windows open at once and being able to go to each one without having to click off the others. I know PC users will say it's the same as having tabs open, but it isn't. :)

Anyway, today's prompt asked us to talk about our hobbies. I was going to write about my Betty Boop collection, which is pretty extensive - not taking up a whole room, but I have stuff all over the house including a Betty Boop clock. Her legs move in time to the seconds, very cool. You hear them go back and forth like a grandfather clock.:) But I decided against this, because though I love her, what else is there to say?:) Instead I thought of another hobby of mine, which is baking. I love to bake and according to my daughter, I bake some things better than others. She's not thrilled about my chocolate cake, probably because I always ice it too soon and the icing melts. But we eat all of it anyway. I wish I could wait for it to cool, but the smell drives us all crazy. So I have to ice it warm. But the taste is always great!:) She's a very picky eater. (I can rationalize to make myself feel better.:)

Here is my poem for today:

Baking a chocolate cake

It starts with a mere whisper of thought
How the kitchen smells when the cake
is in the oven. The taste of freshly baked
chocolate cake, moist and sweet in my
mouth. Sliding over my tongue as it reaches
to catch more flavor.

Two round eight inch cake pans receive
the butter pat I rub against the bottom
and sides until both pans wear the butter
Like a coat.

Melt the chocolate
Glass bowl over boiling water
Mix with butter and the aroma
overpowers the kitchen
I want to dip my finger into the
steaming hot melted mass and it
Tantalizes my senses creeping
through nostrils and into my
Stomache begging me to taste

Organic brown eggs at
room temperature are best
Measure the flour, sift til it’s soft as silk
Some falls like indoor snow onto the floor
and clings to my hands and apron
Add measured spoonfuls of baking powder and salt
Wooden spoon, worn smooth from years of stirring
mixes the separate into the whole.

Mixer whirrs with eggs and sugar
Turning them lemon-colored
Add the vanilla, just a teaspoon
Smell entices me closer to the
liquid but the taste is bitter
Cooled rich chocolate creates
a marble finish until the beater
Turns it dark brown

Add the flour mixture alternate
with fresh cold milk –flour, milk
Flour, milk until the batter is thick
yet pourable ready for the pans
Watch as the ribbons of mahogany
fill the space in the pans. Tap once
or twice to settle the contents.
Place in the oven until done
Remember the timer. Wait
for the aroma to overtake
the kitchen as my tastebuds
await the moment.
copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu

I tried to get a picture of a piece of chocolate cake that I could have gotten easily with my MAC, but can't seem to grab it. So you have to imagine it yourself. I hope the poem does that for you.:)

Until the next time, please let me know your comments about the poem. I've already posted it on Poetic Asides with Robert Brewer, but didn't include the prompt today. Anyone who is interested can go to the website and see it.:)

Hope I'll be back on my own computer tomorrow.

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Poem A Day - Poem for April 11, 2009

betty boop Sunday, April 12, 2009

You know the best laid plans aren't always completed. I finished my poem much earlier today, but if you've been reading my crazy meanderings for awhile you'll know that my family requires a lot of time. Also the people next door were having a birthday party for their little boy. He's two years old today and that is kind of a miracle. When he was born he had respiratory problems and he was on a respirator full time until he was a year old. Now I think they only use it once and awhile and he is growing and healthy looking. So people kept ringing our bell, because ours is the first door they came to and we'd look outside and they'd be gone. Then kids kept running up and down the stairs and banging on the porch railing all night long. It was hard to do anything but watch TV.:)

So today's poem was much harder to write, since it was about an object. Since I have about a million different objects in my place, including at least thirty or forty Betty Boop statues I couldn't figure out what to write about until I decided to write about the object that probably has the most meaning for me. Here is the prompt:

"I want you to write a poem about an object (or objects). Though you don't have to confine yourself to straight up description, I do want you to focus on object and/or make it a central piece of your poem. One of the more famous poems of contemporary literature does this wonderfully in William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow." (from Poetic Asides with Robert Brewer)

My piano

Mom wanted to keep it
in her living room to hold
her picture frames

Our photos stared at me
each time I sat on her
gold couch always covered
by the green couch cover
I’d beg her to give the piano to me

She never placed her hands
on the ivory keys –kept the

cover closed and the objects

on the top of it

dusted. The legs of the piano
bench moved so there wouldn’t
be a mark in the gold carpet

I’d visit from across the street,
where we landed after Buffalo,
to play. My fingers moved
over the keys wanting to be better.
Amusing myself in an hour stolen
away from children’s prattle and
endless tasks.

I’d play my favorites, “Arragonnaise” and
“Fur Elise” improvising and dreaming
The music moving me beyond her small
Kew Gardens living room into a world
filled with peace and the crisp sound
of major and minor chords as my
right hand tapped notes harmonizing
with the dreamy pleasure found when
I opened the cover and music floated
over and through me obliterating
sirens and doors slamming. Again
I’d ask when will this be mine?
Never wanting to hear the answer
Knowing the sad day

That day came and we moved
the piano everywhere we lived
Though it is not played
Once more mute, untuned
Again a display piece.

She didn’t want the piano
all those years ago
The tune she wanted was me.
copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu

**********************************************************************

I'm putting some links here for you.

The first is to Internet Book Database where you will find people who love books and a great free offer.:)

The second is to a wonderful article by Penny Ehrenkranz who will be a guest author on this blog toward the end of this month with the Red River Writers Blog Tour. Her article was published in Funds for Writers and if you are a writer this article will be very worthwhile for you. :)

The third is to a new blog all about books by a woman who owns a bookstore near Philadelphia. Her blog is called Sweet Reads. She has something called The Lollipop Book Club. If you have young children who love picture books or if you are a children's author or a grandmother or grandfather you will love this blog. Karen has just become a member of the Women's Blogger Directory of which I am a part of too.:) I hope people have scrolled down to the badge here to find out more about this great network.:)

Also wanted to let you know about two great monthly newsletters. The first is the SFC Newsletter or Stories for Children Newsletter, which accepts fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children and young adults. When you send them an email they will subscribe you to the newsletter.

The second newsletter is Long Story Short Newsletter. They also accept fiction, non-fiction and poetry, but not just for children. So if you write for adults this might be better for you.

To sign up for this newsletter, send a blank email with Subscribe Me as the subject.This month they have limited the story length to 1000 words or less.

Just wanted to say how wonderful it is to be a part of this blogging world.:) Please leave a comment and feel free to send me your own poems all through April. Until the next time,

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates.:)

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Postcard Friendship Friday!

betty boop Friday, March 27, 2009

For Postcard Friendship Friday

Thank you to Tim Hooker for a very interesting and complete interview about his writing. Thank you also to the people who left comments and/or questions for Tim. I will leave this open for more people to ask questions or comments if you missed doing that. Otherwise it's only four people who are in the drawing and the winner will be announced in the next post. I am disappointed that there weren't more people who left comments or questions.

One of my daughters told me that I had too many ideas and too much to read in my blogs. I have nothing to say except these are my mind's meanderings. If you read the description of my blog it says these are the thoughts of a writer. Unfortunately or fortunately for my ideas, these are the things I think about during the day. I want to share them with you, since some of them are rarely discussed and some are only my thoughts. I would like your opinion on whether I should shorten my blog or not. I'd be interested to know if it's too much to read and I should put it into shorter blocks. It seems that today everything needs to be in short spurts like Twitter responses. You can see I can't do that. It's one of the reasons I have to spend so much time on revising my work. In any piece of writing I can always go back and cut some of my words. I can probably do it here too, but most of the time I don't. It's more a stream of consciousness thing and more like I'm talking to you. I feel blogging is like having a conversation with a lot of people at the same time. Even though most of the time you don't get too many responses right away.:)

I used to carry around a journal and write down my thoughts whenever they occurred. But it's too heavy to carry it around in my bag, so I leave it home and come back and write about everything in my blog now. :)

So this has nothing to do with anything that I've written before, but today for some reason I started thinking about a middle grade fantasy novel that I wrote as my first serious novel. It came from a story I used to tell my brother when he was younger and that I recycled and told to my daughters before they went to sleep. By the time it had come to my daughters it was elaborate and I couldn't start the story where it was. So for a project for a Writing Workshop for my masters degree I used it and started from the beginning. It didn't matter that when I started the story I didn't start it at the beginning and that I never knew how it began. I went back and introduced the characters and wrote a fantasy story that is very unique.:) No, seriously, I have never read anything like it. Neither had my professor, though she never really commented about the story, but rather about whether I had fulfilled the assignment, which I had. Then I left it alone and picked it up again a few years later when I had plenty of time and thought I had it ready to be published after a few critique groups had commented on it. Now that I think back on it this wasn't ready at all. It received three rejections and I put it away and have never looked at it since then.

Then Virginia S. Grenier and Donna McDine from Stories for Children

Magazine announced a contest to write a dream story for children, Wacky Dream Contest and I thought, why not make this a dream! Of course, this is a dream. It's a fantasy and it's about a scary thing that some kids think about. This contest is for both adult and children writers who are interested in writing a story to be included. More about the story in my next post. I have to go back and reread it first.:) Don't forget to check the link for all the contest details. There are too many to list here.:)

The picture on the top is for Postcard Friendship Friday and it's one of my favorite things. I love Betty Boop and can't seem to get enough of her. I love the small dolls and the large ones. I even have a clock of her.:) So Marie of Cpaphil Vintage Postcards, here is my offering for Friday. Sorry it's a tiny bit late.:)

That's it for today. If you want to comment on yesterday's interview you may leave your comment until the end of the weekend. I'll give all of you who didn't get here that much time!!! Until the next time thank you to all of my readers and I hope you will post a comment when you visit.:)

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