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events, International Women's Day, news, politics, Uncategorized, women's, writing

10 Actions in 100 Days

January 24, 2017 emmapalova Leave a comment

IW Inspiring Women Sharon Ellison

Note: This IW winter series features inspiring women from all walks of life who strive to make a difference in other people’s lives.

orchids-log

The difference in the society these women make is not measured by money or accolades they receive. It is measured by the progress in the society, because we as a nation cannot go backwards.

The IW series which leads up to the International Women’s Day on March 8th was also inspired by a dedication note on “365 ways to Relax mind, body & soul” from my son Jake:

“I dedicate this to my inspiring and motivational mother.” -Kuba

Nominate a woman who has made a difference in your life for this series.

Lowell woman shows passion for human rights, marches in Washington

Name: Sharon Ellison

Residence: Lowell, MI

Occupation: retired from Lowell Area Schools

Family: husband Tony, sons Steve and Tony

Interests: travelling, art

Education: bachelor’s from Central Michigan University

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI – It was a solid wall to wall crowd between the main route on Independence Avenue and 14^th Street, where Lowell resident Sharon Ellison and team ended up last Saturday during the Women’s March in Washington D.C.

“We could not reach the main parade on Independence and Third Street, because it was a solid wall of people,” Ellison said. “There was no break in the crowd.”

So, instead the team made their way to 14^th Street were the parade was headed.

“I felt fenced in,” she said. “There were solid walls of people all around us.”

However, in spite of the crowds, the march was peaceful, according to Ellison.

“Everyone was respectful and polite,” she said. “There were only three police cars. We were looking out for each other. I did not feel vulnerable.”

There was a woman who went into labor and an ambulance had to make its way through the crowds.

But there were also some embarrassing moments like when someone questioned why women from Michigan were at the march.

“I felt sad for Michigan, whose electoral votes were for Trump,” Ellison said.

The crowds in Washington D.C. were estimated at 250,000, while worldwide around three million protestors gathered in major cities.

Ellison and other women carried signs bearing the name of those who couldn’t come: whether live or in memory of. Ellison gathered 74 signatures including memorial signatures of late family members.

“I felt those women were with me that day,” she said. “The atmosphere was peaceful, everyone wanted to be present.”

Ellison is no stranger to the Lowell community located at the confluence of Flat and Grand Rivers in northeast Kent County known as “The next place to be.”

Ellison, who is now retired, worked for the Lowell Middle School for 16 years, and she served on the Lowell City Council for eight years.

In the 1990s, Ellison with husband Tony had a video store in different locations around town.

Ellison enjoys travelling around the world and getting to know other cultures.

However, due to the events of the previous 19 months of the presidential campaign, Ellison felt she needed to do more than just complain.

“I went to D.C. for the Women’s March out of fear of what might happen,” she said.

Fountain Street Church of Grand Rapids organized last Saturday’s trip to Washington D.C. However, the charter buses were sold out early on, so the church also organized a local Women’s March in Grand Rapids.

“By sharing our experiences, writing to our representatives and making phone calls, we’re going to keep the movement going,” said Ellison on the future of the movement.

Ellison said there is no way of going back in protecting human rights.

“If any group is marginalized, we all lose,” she said. “We can’t go back.”

iw-postcard-preview

Unlike at the inauguration on Jan. 20, the metro trains were packed, according to Ellison.

“We rode the metro, but we had trouble getting in,” she said. “We were met by walls of people. The best we could do was to march on 14^th Street to Constitution Avenue. It was amazing, you could hear the wave of people moving.”

Ellison said she went to the Women’s March in Washington for the same reason, she ran for a seat on the Lowell city council in 2015.

“I did stand up to make a difference,” she said. “I don’t want to be just politically correct. You get tired of banging your head against the wall.”

Ellison’s biggest pet peeve are bullies in any environment.

“I couldn’t tolerate it at work, as a child, or as a politician,” she said. “We wanted to send a definite message that this is not okay.”

And it’s time for action.

“We’ve gone past words,” she said. “We have to do something. This is the upside of the downside.”

Other women present in D.C. from the Grand Rapids area along with Ellison were: Nancy Misner, Alice Harwood, Kathy Sainz, Maria Lara, Nancy Misner, Shelli Otten.

Join 10 actions for the first 100 Days.

For more info go to http://www.womensmarch.com

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blogging, Greenwich Meridian memoir, immigration, love, memoir, relationships, travel, Uncategorized, WordPress, writing

Four Years on WordPress

January 17, 2017 emmapalova 5 Comments

Trip from Czech homeland marks 4^th anniversary of blogging

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- On board Air France flight 1383 from Paris to Detroit, I was watching our route leaving the shores of Europe on Jan. 15, 2017, as I realized it was the fourth anniversary of my writing on WordPress.

ew-anniversary-2x-4-years — 500 posts Four-year anniversary

It was all so fitting, because I started blogging on WordPress in 2013 to promote my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” Copyright 2017 Emma Palova. I named the book Greenwich Meridian to depict our family immigration saga between the East and the Western hemispheres over the last five decades. The memoir tracks the Konecny family migration between former Czechoslovakia and the USA from 1969 through present.

Reaching higher with WordPress after four years.

The journey of blogging parallels my writing path through life almost identically. I don’t remember a period in my life not writing.

At first, it was writing letters to my mother Ella when she immigrated to the USA for the second time in 1980 to join my father Vaclav Konecny. Later, when I arrived in the USA in 1989, I embarked on a professional writing career as a journalist and correspondent for regional and Czech media, based in Michigan, New York and in Prague.

I followed Earnest Hemmingway’s correspondent footsteps.

Writing much like my husband Ludek have been my lifelong companions in good and in bad times, as expressed in our wedding wows in 1978 in Stipa, former Czechoslovakia at the Church of Saint Mary.

Writing has helped me survive major life crisis, like in 2008 when Ludek and I had to part due to the economic crisis in the first decade of the millennium. At that time, Ludek worked in Prarie du Chien, Wisconsin, while I stayed in Michigan to save our house. In the winter of 2008-2009, I wrote the screenplay “Riddleyville Clowns” Copyright © 2009- 2019 inspired by a hometown clown parade in Lowell that celebrated 175 years of the town’s establishment.

Writing has been the fuel of my life. Writing for me is like a fountain or elixir of life, when everything else around me is arid, dry and angry.

Instead of turning to violence and despair, I turn inside, meditate and feel into the overall emotions of the surrounding world. Then, I transform these powerful outside forces into a stream or an avalanche blanketing all with a soft cover of love, like a mother covering her child.

Transforming violence into love. A sculpture at LaCoste in Provence.

Today, as I write this 500^th post on the WordPress publishing platform, I am thankful for the 1,066 followers and the future ones to come.

I also would like to thank all, who never stopped believing in me.

At the end of last year, just before I have reached the 1,000 followers mark, I realized that I have completed a second degree thanks to the WordPress (WP) Blogging University, the support happiness WP engineering team, my family and my beloved readers.

“Congratulations, honey. You have another degree,” said my husband Ludek. “It was just like back when you were in school in Brno. I had to be constantly quiet.”

I wanted to quit just as many times as I did while working on my bachelor’s degree at the Technical University of Brno from 1982 to 1986 in former Czechoslovakia. My path on WordPress was constantly jeopardized by the lack of finances and understanding of the principles of freelance blogging.

I plan on finishing my second degree on the WordPress publishing platform with a blogging directory and an app for the thesis.

Thank you. You make me who I am.

Love always,

Emma

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celebration, events, inspiration, Uncategorized, writing

Happy New Year 2017

December 31, 2016 emmapalova 3 Comments

I would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year 2017. May all your dreams come true in the upcoming year. May it bring peace and love around the world.

Let it fill us with joy.

On this last day of the year 2016, known in Czech Republic as Silvester, my heart goes out to my readers around the world.

A sincere thank you to all my followers for a very fruitful 2016 filled with deep appreciation for the passion to write.I am thankful for the ability to transform the human experience into stories.

This is my story.

You motivate and inspire me on my writing journey every day. You make me who I am.

Love always,

Emma

Greenwich Meridian memoir, history, immigration, inspiration, memoir, psychology, relationships, traditions, Uncategorized, writing

2016 Retrospective Kaleidoscope

December 28, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

Looking back into the future

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI – As I look back at 2016 like into a colorful kaleidoscope that keeps changing when I move it, I see a clear picture of the past.

I move it again, and I can see how the little pieces are transforming into the future, that is the upcoming year 2017.

Sometimes I shake that kaleidoscope violently, so that the picture changes into what I want it to be.

Well, it never is what I wanted it to be. Just like the molecules and atoms in space keep fusing and defusing, so do the events that these little pieces form not always to our liking.

And I have to quote Mr. Albert Einstein:

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

As in years previous, I looked deeper and deeper into what I saw around me. At times, experts call this,” being aware.”

Things lost and found in 2016, things old and new

On the last day of January in 2016, I rediscovered the power of the church in the christening of grandson Dominik Ludek Pala at St. Rose Catholic Church in Hastings, MI.

I had broken away from the church for many years. As I watched the christening rituals and both of my adult children, Emma & Jake, standing at the altar with the baby at the center of attention, I realized something big was happening inside and out.

My brother Vas was sitting in the first pew to the right, Dominik’s uncle, war veteran Tony was holding the baby, and my daughter Doc Emma Chavent flew in from Dijon, FR to be the Godmother to Dominik.

The church united us all together regardless beliefs, distance or occupation.

Things lost for 10 years: the church, but not faith

In February, I rediscovered Florida, that some people Up North lovingly call southern overrated “Hicksville,” either flooded by tourists or college kids on their spring break.

I’ve been going to Venice, FL for writer’s retreats since 2009. This time, our entire group led by Doc Emma went to Saint Petersburg. And I loved it. I loved St. Pete for its cosmopolitan feel, culture and secluded historical beaches.

Things lost: St. Pete’s city pier that has been rebuilt many times was gone to make way for a new one.

In March, I observed my son Jake’s birthday too sick to go to Hastings. On March 8^th, which is International Women’s Day, I gave accolades to all the women who are making a difference in this world in my popular series on EW Emma’s Writings “Inspiring Women.”

Also my favorite feature post on March 19^th is “Czech Name Days” honoring my grandpa Joseph along with millions of Josephs around the world.

We celebrated Easter on March 27, still without my parents Ella & Vaclav, who winter in Venice, FL.

I wasn’t even a CEO (Christmas, Easter, Only) visitor to church on that festive Easter Sunday, when most of the women wear white dresses.

However, I wrote about the age-old custom, the whipping of girls and women in “Memoir highlights Czech & Slovak Easter Traditions” in Czech Republic. The post generated incredible controversy about being evil to women.

See post :https://wordpress.com/post/emmapalova.com/167550

Things lost: me

April to me signifies spring, here in the North. I gave it salute in many different ways: April 8^th, according to Czech calendar is Emma’s name day. Throughout the year, I write posts about Czech name days wondering why Hallmark has never jumped on this social occasion. Many countries around the world celebrate name days, not just Saint Patrick of Ireland.

My daughter Doc Emma was also born on that day in the old country Czechoslovakia.

Inspiration: the spiral staircase at the Dali in St. Petersburg, FL

Her birth certificate is now a historic document, a testament to the changing times in the former socialist country. It reads, born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia. The Moravian city Gottwaldov no longer exists under that name. It took back on the old name from the capitalist times under the industrialist Bata, and that is Zlin.

It was also the 45^th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. I usually write the post “Earth Day” to honor Mother Nature. Locally, the sign by Wege/Wittenbach Environmental Center in Lowell best expresses my feelings at any time of the year, and especially now as we enter 2017:

“May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

May is big, anyway you look at it. It’s “Mother’s Day” and the earth blossoms to honor all mothers. I celebrate my birthday on May 9th with my family and my friends. The annual get together on our three-acre ranch surrounded by lilacs in northeast Kent County is the highlight of my year.

Anna & Anna Drabkova — Greenwich Meridian memoir inspiration; the family Drabkova. Front row from left to right: grandparents Anna & Joseph.
Top row: Eliska and Anna.

May 9^th also coincides with the “Czech national holiday” that celebrated the freeing of Czechoslovakia from the Nazi occupation in 1945 when Soviet troops arrived in Prague.

The modern calendar changed it to May 8^th when the Americans freed the beer city of Pilsner in western Bohemia.

I call the change in the date of the biggest Czech national holiday, a farce in history, depending on who you are currently serving. Actually, it is a little piece in that ever-changing kaleidoscope.

Naturally, people critiqued me for using the real date of freedom for the Czech national holiday. For me it was a lot like changing the American Fourth of July Independence Day to let’s say July 3^rd.

History, and the way we live it and change it to our own fancy, is an endless source of inspiration to me.

On May 13, 2016, I picked back up the “Greenwich Meridian” memoir which was the reason, why I started blogging in the first place in January of 2013.

Based on that, I published the post “Picking up the Pieces” on https://emmapalova.com/2016/05/13/picking-up-the-pieces/

I call June the month of the Gemini and the Summer Solstice. I write about both in my posts. Three of my great friends are all Geminis. I don’t know if that is a coincidence or some kind of a card trick that I could use.

In June of 2016, I found a friend that I thought I had lost a long time ago. I found her in such a way that even a kaleidoscope couldn’t put a picture like that together. I am sure I will write about this in 2017.

Right now she is calling me for the fourth time, so I am wrapping up the first half of the year 2016.

Written also in response to the Daily Post Retrospective

Retrospective

The second half of 2016 will continue, stay tuned…..

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Christmas, immigration, inspiration, memoir, relationships, traditions, Uncategorized, writing

Czech Christmas

December 23, 2016 emmapalova 2 Comments

Czech Christmas at the Palas

Note: This account of Czech Christmas contains excerpts from my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” © about the family immigration saga from former Czechoslovakia to the USA dedicated to my mother Ella.

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI – I carefully set my foot on the American soil for the second time on Dec. 22, 1989 at the frozen John F. Kennedy airport in NYC. I had two children by my side: daughter Emma, 10 and son Jake, 2.5.

With a shaking hand, I signed off on the US resident’s green card long before (Transportation Security Agency) TSA came into existence.

The night had already set in on the city with its million lights and bridges.

Before we headed out west like the early settlers, we stayed overnight at my parents friends’ house for some respite from the travel across the Atlantic.

Our Christmas tree 25 years later in Lowell.

25th anniversary of arrival to the USA

In the meantime, my husband Ludek was waiting for us in Montreal, Quebec. He received immigration visa to Canada, while I received mine to the USA.

After two days on the road in a frosted car on the deserted turnpike, we arrived at our destination: the college town of Big Rapids in Northern Michigan on Christmas Eve.

Mom Ella had already prepared everything ahead of time as we picked up brother Vas in Roger’s Heights for my first Christmas.

Later, in the early years around holiday time, I would drive to the Gerald Ford International Airport in Kentwood and nostalgically dream about hometown Christmas in Czechoslovakia with all its magic under the chestnut trees. That meant treasures bought at the Zlin Christmas market. I brought a piece of that Christmas magic with me to the new country in 1989. This included the hand-crochet yellow doilies for afternoon high tea and tablecloths made by ladies from Slovakia.

Whenever I get homesick, and I still do, I pull these treasures out of their drawers at our Pala homestead in Lowell. I try not to use them so I can preserve them forever. I usually have a story attached to whatever I keep, and my adult children and friends can attest to that.

I think of that time long ago at the market under the chestnut trees. It must have been that first bronze shopping weekend in Advent when I walked past the booths with silver and golden coated mistletoe all piled up into these pyramids.

I was immediately drawn to a lady dressed in a folk costume called “kroje.” She was always there also on Saturdays throughout the year. I wish I had asked for her name.

“I am looking for a Christmas present for my mother,” I said.

“What does she like?”

That made me think; what does my mother like? Do I know her?

I picked up the yellow hand crochet doilies set and admired the craftsmanship that would become lost art. I looked up at the woman with an old wrinkly face from the sun in the Slovakian highlands.

“How much are they?”

“Your mother is going to love them,” she smiled as she held up the biggest met for the coffee table.

I was a student at the time, and I didn’t have a lot of money.

I remember exactly, they were 220 Czech crowns which was a lot of money for anyone to pay for a fancy fragile cloth.

“I’ll take them,” the lady wrapped them in a brown paper.

At our Southern Slopes apartment, I hid them in a closet. The Sunday after we came home from church, my mom made festive dinner and we sat down for desserts in the living room. We reserved Sunday afternoons for guests. Mom, like most women in the old republic, always baked for the weekends, not just around Christmas.

“You’re such a bake nut,” aunt Anna always laughed at mom because she was jealous.

I noticed the old worn-out coffee table met.

“Mom, I got something for you,” I said.

“Why? What is it?” she asked.

I came back and gave her the Christmas gift wrapped in brown paper three weeks early.

“That’s beautiful, but why?” she pursued. “It’s not Christmas yet.”

“Because I can’t wait for you to have it,” I said smiling. “I would die waiting. Please, please take it.”

That little episode still brings a smile to my face. Mom Ella knew how much I loved that set. When she moved permanently to the USA to join my father Vaclav in 1980, she left the yellow doilies set at home.

“Mom, you forgot your yellow tea crochet set,” I said in a phone call months later.

“I know, I left them for you.”

Merry Christmas 2016 and a sincere thank you to all my followers.

May peace prevail on Earth.

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celebration, Christmas, events, writing

Finding peace in Christmas

December 20, 2016 emmapalova Leave a comment

Dreaming of a peaceful Christmas

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- As we draw closer to this Christmas, which here “up north” in Michigan, is white and cold, thoughts of peace resonate inside me.

In spite of the world’s aches and pains including my own, I have been able to put myself in the Christmas spirit.

Every year, Christmas for me is different. I can’t say that I have a consistent attitude toward this time of the year. It actually runs the gamut; from being tired of the ubiquitous commercialism and exploitation of the Christian holiday to embracing it in its entirety without fighting something I cannot change.

That is human nature.

Peace in Christmas — Hometown Christmas in Lowell.

I cannot change that parents are desperate because they can’t find the latest fad in toys the Hatchables, and that some woman hoarded them somewhere in her closet.

I am sure that problem will have been resolved in the next 10 years.

I cannot change that people are dying in Aleppo and that people died in the Berlin shooting at a Christmas market on Dec. 19. I cannot change that the Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was assassinated in Ankara on Monday. I cannot change that electors have indeed confirmed president-elect Mr. Donald Trump as the next 45^th president of the USA in spite of the ongoing protestors who are in denial of reality.

Christmas bouquet with cutout ornaments.

I cannot change the consequences of the above mentioned actions because I am not in any place that would slightly resemble power.

Except for one: the power of the written word.

Historically, the power of the written word and its transformation over the centuries into different media platforms has influenced the thinking of most.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the most read book in this world, and that is the Bible. According to accounts, many authors took part in composing this book.

This year, some motels and hotels took the Bible out of their room furnishings not to offend anyone. Money talks. After all travelers are of all religious denominations and atheists.

But, I took offense. What if I only wanted to read the Bible for comfort of a weary traveler or for inspiration of an inquisitive writer? Thank you for reminding me, I know I have my cell phone, tablet and a laptop with me in the various hotel rooms. I can also get the Amazon or Google talking “Bubble.”

Christmas peace — Hometown Christmas by the wood stove.

After all some stories in the Old & New Testaments are very violent.

The next thing that comes to my mind are the Greek mythology mega-works such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey that have inspired a myriad of films. I deeply love all of them for the magic minds behind these works.

Some stories in Greek mythology are very violent.

The third thing that comes to mind in the powerful word trio are the works of Italian poet Dante Alighieri and French novelist Honore de Balzac.

Dante’s “Divine Comedy” with depictions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven has inspired generations of artists.

Balzac wrote about the human experience in “La Comedie Humaine.”

Some stories in these epic accounts are very violent.

While perusing through modern works of art or living them, I arrived along with millions of others to the following conclusion:

Hometown Christmas. — Hometown Christmas “Up North.”

Most stories in modern works depict prolific violence and human suffering.

“Why,” the public asks, “are all the stories even around Christmas violent?”

Because of the never-changing human nature.

“All the people around the world are the same,” my dad Vaclav says.

According to accounts from universities, my mom Ella’s and my own observations, my dad is a very smart man.

The overwhelming saturation of violence in the media has come to a point where some networks instituted an inspiring finale story that leaves us all with an overall good feeling that erases the previous footage of horror.

“Hail to them, because it works.”

I’d rather leave for bed with a story about a gentleman who finally got his degree at 80 or the Hungarian socialite Zsa ZsaGabor dying at 99, than with a story about a wedding party being trampled over by a tree or Kanye (the husband of Kim Kardashian) having “some kind of a mental breakdown.”

The social media and the Internet have designed a class for a group of people who influence others: the Influencers.

Go figure.

Although, we cannot ignore the realities in this world, it is our choice what we focus on.

As we head both into the happy and sad time of the year known as Christmas, I have to quote my Gemini friend:

“Life is for the living, we’re only ants on logs.”

Live your life, don’t consume it.

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1001 Days of Blogging

December 15, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

Annie plans to blog for 1001 days

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- It is Day 395 of the 30 Day Content Challenge that officially ended last year in December.

But, Annie Conboy of Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom is still burning the midnight oil as she cranks out post #395, “Dreaming of a Peaceful World.”

Conboy is a medium and the founder of “Down 2 Earth Medium.” Her major focus is to channel for energy beings, such as angels, archangels and fairies.

She reached her one year anniversary of daily blogging on Nov. 15 with post #365, “First Year Done and Dusted.”

“I need to clear my head, so I can sleep,” she said in a recent Skype interview about her writing schedule.

“It’s felt a bit strange today. I’ve done something I’m really proud of. My writing has been happening for a full year. I have written every day than just the monthly articles I started in June 2015.”

Annie Conboy

Before starting the challenge in November of 2015, rookie writer and blogger Conboy wrote a few pieces for Valley Life.

“Then out of cyberspace I got an invite from my lovely friend Jan to join her in a 30 day blogging challenge. And I said yes. Now I’m a year on and amazed that I had all those words inside me. I have to say I don’t feel like I’m done yet either,” Conboy wrote in the anniversary post, “First Year Done and Dusted.”

Conboy has realized the challenge came at the right time for her.

“I was invited, it felt good, I was supporting a friend,” Conboy said. “I knew there would be discipline because it was every day, and I wrote every single day.”

And when she couldn’t physically write on the computer, Conboy wrote a post on a piece of paper.

“It helped me make a commitment to me,” she said.

Like for many writers, the first challenge was to find the right time to write. Conboy chose to write as the last thing at night.

“The clicks came quickly,” she said, “as I continued through the month I was sleeping better because I was clearing up the clutter in my head. I was clearing the day of everything that had happened.”

During the last week of the challenge, Conboy felt she had acquired a distinct voice in writing that was very specific.

“If I was to continue to write, I needed a commitment, a goal,” she said. “I decided I was going to blog for 1001 days.”

“Why in the world,” I asked, “Would anyone want to take part in the challenge beyond the designated 30 days?”

I participated in the original 30 Day Content challenge along with some 600 other bloggers from around the world, including Australia. Sometimes, Bradley Will, the founder of LearntoBlog, posted the daily guidelines and the themes 24 hours early “for the Ozzies.”

But, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I wrote posts in the morning, just like my regular writing. Every morning a new theme for the day awaited in the inbox. That part was exciting.

And the time was of the essence for the challenge due to the intensity and the synergy of the group. I felt like back at the university cramming for the final exams. Also the timing was unbeatable, since the challenge ran in a framework when all the catastrophes in this world seemed to happen, and during the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA.

To be continued………………..

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In my winter dreams

December 13, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

Warm thoughts spread under full moon

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. shivering with cold. I slept covered by two blankets and it was 13 F outside. I quickly turned on the additional water heating we use on top of our wood stove and propane. It was still cold.

The forecast called for the extreme chill, coming over the North Pole from Russia, but that didn’t make it any easier. Ludek hauls in the wood before he heads off to work. That helps, I don’t have to go out to the shed in that cold.

Luckily, we didn’t cave into the Arrowhead Meadows neighborhood association’s pick of Darin, the snowplow man. Two years ago when we had the polar vortex, the snowplow man plowed, after everybody got home from work including himself.

Although, Darin didn’t plow on weekends, he managed to pound on the door on a Sunday morning to pick up his check. So Ludek finally said, “I’ll do it myself, we got the jeep.” My 1998 Jeep Wrangler, our workhorse came in handy again. Now, I call it the “Blades of Glory.”

I sat by the wood stove in Ludek’s wicker rocking chair to warm up and to clear up the sinus cold that’s been gripping me since last Friday. As I watched the flames I contemplated today’s writing strategy.

“No, I am not going to check my e-mails, because that either makes me angry or puts me behind in writing.

“However, should I or should I not fill out a slip of paper with today’s predictions and seal them into an envelope only to read them tonight?” I asked myself.

Instead, I picked up the phone to check the notifications on Facebook. I kind of knew about the upcoming full moon from friends in Europe, but it was my Arizona friend and owner of Beutiful Body, Mind, Spirit Nan Raden who confirmed with the beautiful pictures of the moon over the majestic saguaro cacti with the following post:

“Full moon in Gemini-on December 14th. This full moon is occurring on the cusp of the Winter Solstice, which is Dec. 21st.

“Gemini rules the mind and is mentally razor-sharp. It is inventive, playful, childlike and communicative. Gemini loves to widen your perspective by integrating information. Mercury, the ruling planet for Gemini, will be going retrograde five days after this Full Moon, right before the Winter Solstice.

“Your thoughts, ideas and how you think about life are going to deepen, while you integrate a new heart-centered awareness.

“This Full Moon in Gemini happens on Dec. 14th at 12:04 a.m. in London, England and in the Americas on Dec. 13th in the late afternoon and evening.”

According to the full post, year 2017 is the Year of Money, Miracles and Manifestation.

“With number 17 activated, you will get a preview of the leadership, abundance and immortality themes that will inspire us all next year.”

And now, Nan asked:

“How are you going to share in a way that allows you to feel happy and empowered?”

The post continued: During this Full Moon thoughts will be transmitted very quickly and effortlessly, so you want to listen in and tune in to new perspectives and your perception about life.

“Have a happy and engaging Gemini Full Moon.”

As I sat by the wood stove, of course I didn’t read the entire post. I just glanced at the beautiful photo that warmed me up. I shared it, and that was it. And I didn’t fill out the prediction slip, because predictions were already piling up in my head.

“Oh, I am going to face another long phone call, and I’ll have to deal with IT stuff. I am not going to finish the story about blogger “Annie.”

For the rest of the morning, I continued to work with my back to the wood stove sitting on the brick ledge; my mind spinning. I did all the social media marketing work, I needed to do for the day.

I took a photo of the wood stove and I posted it enhanced on Instagram with this caption:

“My work station by the wood stove, until May.”

My friend, a Gemini, responded with:

“LOL.”

And after her, many others followed.

I found a way to make a miserable cold wintry morning in West Michigan dissipate in warm thoughts, and I shared them.

And after that I discovered Nan’s Facebook post in its entirety and wrote all 779 words of “In my winter dreams.”

Well. there goes my answer to Nan’s question.

“Thank you, Nan for sharing. Thank you, Full Moon.”

For Nan Raden’s Beautiful Body, Mind, Spirit go to http://www.beautifulbodymindspirit.com

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Thank you for your response. ✨

art, healing, inspiration, Uncategorized, writing

A Haiku on “Magic”

November 29, 2016 emmapalova 2 Comments

Feeling inspired today by the Traveling Nurse’s Haiku on “Magic.”
I might try to write a few of my own Haikus.
I wrote some and illustrated them in the early 2000s and later in 2008. I feel like it’s coming back to me at full force during this busy holiday time.
I actually find reprieve in Haiku writing. Haiku to me is like an island in the midst of the vast ocean of writing.
I need to spend some time on this Haiku island to gain strength to head out back into the ocean of writing.
Sometimes, like most writers and authors, I am intimidated by my upcoming writing. I know the idea has already taken some form in my head, and it is waiting to break out.
Will it be the right time and shape for that idea?
I’ve been carrying all these ideas in me for a long long time.
I’ve also been storing the products of my ideas on the shelves of my book cases for what seems like infinity.
Sometimes, I find old stories all dusty and fading on the yellow paper. Editors demanded hard print copies back then.
As I pick those products back up, I wonder what am I going to do with them this time?
Should I wake them up and bring them to life? Like a sleeping giant or a boring midget?
I have an entire collection “Glass Flowers” (c) Emma Palova that was inspired by an important time in my life.
I am dusting that off and bringing it out into the daylight.
It’s about time for my “Glass Flowers” to be broken into endless pieces.
Copyright (c) 2016 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

blogging, events, France, history, inspiration, travel, travel writing, Uncategorized, WordPress, writing

WordCamp US 2016 comes to Northeast

November 3, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

WordCamp comes to Northeast, brings technology evolution

Lowell, MI- Since one of my goals for 2016 was to stay up to date with technology, I would like to go to the WordCamp in Philly from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4.

First of all, the camp is close to home and I’ve never been to Philly or to a WordPress Camp. That in itself is very exciting for me.

I have recently completed a large Podcast Website project for Americas Community Voices Network (ACVN) based in Tampa, FL with founders Ronald & Donald Brookins. It was a very interesting project on the cutting edge of British developers changing under continuous development.

I finished one phase of the project during a recent stay at my daughter Emma’s house in Fixin, FR. The Internet in my studio wasn’t working half of the time, so I had to use my son-in-law Adrien’s studio overlooking the wine village.

Church in Fixin, Burgundy.

Inside the bastid. A large living and dining room with French doors into the garden.

The view from the window of the vineyards or the “climats” of Burgundy was awesome and inspiring.

Even though, I arrived back at home in Grand Rapids on Sept. 6 with a smashed computer screen, I still feel inspired by the stay in France. Travel has always fueled my writing, design and photography. It doesn’t matter if I go three miles east from my home to take photos in Fallasburg, Lowell or 4,000 miles to Paris, or even to visit my brother Vas Up North in Paris, MI.

Thoughts on fear in the wake of Paris attacks. — Paris from a rooftop restaurant with the view of the Eiffel Tower.

I keep my eyes open for new angles, new stories as everything changes in the flow of time. Whenever I look at the grandfather clock that says “Tempus Fugit,” I get scared. I am afraid of time. The clock was one of the first things I bought here in the USA in 1990.

Now, we don’t even need watches anymore because we have cell phones. Long before cell phones, I never had a watch. I didn’t want one. Not wearing a watch has sharpened my sense of time and dimensions.

I was comfortable using the clocks on church and cathedral towers. While hiking in Burgundy, I used the church steeples to orient myself in the “climats.”

This morning, I discovered the news about WordCamp on Facebook and I got a kick out of the fact that the after party “A Night at the Museum” will be at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

My husband Ludek and I organized “A Night at the Museum” Thanksgiving party at the Lowell Area Historical Museum in 2012. Ludek wanted to alleviate the stress on women during the holiday season.

What a great coincidence.

Last year in November, I participated in the 30 Day Content Challenge by Learn to Blog. On Day #3 I posted the following article:

“Thoughts on fear in the wake of Paris attacks.” And that was the end of my blog on Gateway Media. Some corporate brass didn’t like my thoughts.

While respecting both, my passion and fear of time, I love history. I always have. All the history, I don’t pick and choose. So, Philadelphia is the perfect location for an all time history lover and a technology user.

For more info on WordCamp go to: https://2016.us.wordcamp.org

For “Thoughts on fear” go to: https://emmapalova.com/2015/11/19/30-day-bloggigng-challenge-3/

or go to www.sentinel-standard.com/article/20151120/opinion/151129832

For Americas Community Voices Network go to: http://www.americascommunityvoicesnet.org

For Podcast Websites go to: https://podcastwebsites.com

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