Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Sad Songs Say So Much

It’s Monday, right? I’m not the type to sing the Monday blues, because that’s just not my style. Every day when I can wake up and do what I love is a blessing to me.

Now that my “positive thinking” public service announcement is out of the way, let’s move on to the meat of the matter.

The blues.

Everybody gets them at one time or another for all types of reasons, but today I’m going to focus on the love blues.

“The blues are the roots, everything else is the fruits.” – Willie Dixon

What is the blues? The blues have their origin in slave songs, field hollers and spirituals. For my purposes here, the blues is what you sing and/or feel when you are feeling sad.

You lost a lover. You never had a lover. Your lover loves someone else. So you sing the blues. Somehow knowing that someone else, somewhere in time was and/or is going through the same thing makes you feel not so alone in the world. The brotherhood of mankind has kinship in sadness.

“I can’t sleep at night
I can’t eat a bite
Because the man I love
He don’t treat me right….”
– Crazy Blues – Mamie Smith

Everyday, everyday I have the blues
Ooh everyday, everyday I have the blues
When you see me worryin’ baby, yeah it’s you I hate to lose
– Everyday I have the Blues – B.B. King

Now that we know what makes us sing the blues, what blues do you sing? What sad song do you listen to when you’re feeling low?

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Tools for Writing – Beautiful Implements

This is mostly going to be a picture post, but I wanted to share my love of handwriting with  y’all.  Yes, I am a techie gal…the one with five laptops in the basement in various states of disrepair because I’m just about to order that part to fix them.  I won’t dare tell you the gadgets that I have, excepting that I do not own a Kindle.  Everything else is fair game.

While I do love my technology, a few of my favorite things include journals, pens and the like.  Take a look.

Journals – I’ve got a pile of them.  When I say a pile, I mean it. I collect them, write in them and gaze at them.

Here are a few “new” tools that I’ve had my eye on.
 

 

ENLIGHTENMENT JOURNAL from Peter Pauper Press

 

 

Celtic Blue Leather Bound Journal anewagephoenix.com

How about some pens to go with these lovely pages?

New hand-painted scrimshaw fountain pen – limited edition http://www.fountainpenstudios.com/

Don’t look at the price….revel in the beauty!

 

Visconti Her Majesty Diamond Jubilee LE Fountain Pen Royal Purple

There is nothing that inspires writing like gorgeous tools.

D

Simple Fall Decor Ideas

Autumn Picture
Image courtesy freedigitalphotos.net

It might be 80 degrees outside – at least it will be later on this afternoon in NJ – but according to the calendar, it is fall.  For those of you who like to decorate, but don’t have a lot of extra money to spend, never fear!  You can spruce up your space with these simple fall decor ideas.

Hit the Dollar Store for a Colorful Candle Arrangement

It’s all about color and what catches your eye.  Go to your local dollar and/or low-cost store (such as Big Lots) and select two or three large jar candles in orange, brown and yellow.  Add a few smaller votive and/or tea light candles in the same colors.   Grab a glass or silver tray.  Place the candles in an eye-catching grouping and place on a  table.  If you like, add some more fall color with an inexpensive garland twined around the candles, or pull off the leaves and “scatter” on the tray before placing the candles.

Note:  You can do the same thing in Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and AC Moore, but the prices are much better at the dollar store, especially if you are buying for color and not for scent.

Become a Basket-Case

While you are in the dollar store, select a fall-colored or themed hand towel (or two), and a basket (with or without a handle). Line the basket with the towels and use that to hold your fall apples, oranges and mini-pumpkins.  Or, if you’re not a huge fruit person, find fake fruit and use the leaves from that garland to create a lovely arrangement.  You can also use a flat basket on the back of the toilet tank or on a bathroom shelf with rolled hand towels in fall colors.

Be creative

Get a large-bowled wine glass and fill it with candy corn.  It can function both as a unique candy

From Poppies at Play
From Poppies at Play

dish and a decorative accent.

Use different heights of wine glasses  as votive and/or tea light holders.

Fake sunflowers (or other flower) stuck in a tall vase with some glass beads/marbles.

Pick up a few gourds in the supermarket (what I call mini-pumpkins) and place in a simple  clear glass bowl.

Though the fixes may seem small, these touches of color and creative decor will certainly brighten your living space.

Happy Fall!!

Dahlia