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Rated: 13+ · Book · Biographical · #2198921

Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana



Well, hey there!
Welcome to Roundup, Montana! If it's a nice day, we'll sit a spell on my porch and talk awhile.

A poem captured my attention the other day.

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget

Falls drop by drop upon the heart,

Until, in our own despair,

Against our will,

Comes wisdom

Through the awful grace of God.

Aeschylus


What's on your mind today?






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October 13, 2025 at 11:43pm
October 13, 2025 at 11:43pm
#1099267


Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the first of five writing seminars in Billings. These will cover poetry and prose. They are happening at a wonderful little independent bookstore not too far from a motel where I am tonight.

So as I walked to and from, about 3 blocks, in the largest city in Montana, I wondered at the peace and calm there was. No problems, just a little light snow/sleet at times. A few pedestrians on the sidewalks, but no crowds.

A lady from Roundup will join me for the next one come Sunday. She is another published writer I met at the meeting at Pictograph Cave state park. We feel fortunate to have met one another. She is also the kind heart that gave me flowers at the play a few weeks ago.

We read aloud some selected poems from the instructor.
I really enjoyed this one:

The Bat
By day the bat is a cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.

His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.

He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light.

But when he brushes up against a screen,
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:

For something is amiss or out of place
When mice with wings can wear a human face.


But then there was 'Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out'
That was a page and a half long. Hilarious.

From the reading we were to write our thoughts from several prompts. I chose my favorite hiding spot - the basement of our home growing up. And also my first memory which was evidently my bedroom as a toddler.

So the memory story I read, and it went from that bedroom to walking into a tree to always being clumsy to having a brain tumor. Really, it does tie together and I may rewrite that soon.

These sessions are about 2 hours in length and only cost me $15 for each. Oh, and the motel so I don't have to dodge deer at night.

Money well spent to spend time writing and thinking and remembering.
*Thought*  Comment   •   View 2 comments
October 2, 2025 at 11:31am
October 2, 2025 at 11:31am
#1098469


The community theater production is over for this year. I was in two theater groups, one in Roundup and one in Musselshell. I had small parts in both plays, but that's okay. Less pressure to remember hundreds of words. More of a chance to make an impression on stage. And it seems I did.

In one show, I was on stage the entire time, but had virtually no lines. I was just a customer in a coffee shop. So, I thought, what could I do? So I read books, I fiddled with flowers, I pet a stuffed cat, drank imaginary coffee. And it added to the drama but didnt' detract from the action. And someone mentioned that fact.

In the other show I was a 'winsome' maid. Well, I had to look up the definition of winsome. I am NOT winsome. But nevertheless, I was memorable. I again was not on stage much. But when I was, by golly, I thought, the audience would remember me. And they did. I even got a bouquet from a friend. My first ever for a show! Wondrous.

As I often tell people, there are no small parts, only small actors. You make the best of what you are assigned.

We had a good time traveling to Musselshell for practice. A group of 5 carpooled each time. So we had diverse conversations between us, included the 16 year old of the group, and loved every minute. As well as kept an eye on the road for deer, elk, raccoons, even an owl in the middle of the road one night. The stretch of road, 20 miles, is considered by me an 'animal suicide' highway. A cast member's parents were rammed by an elk on their way home after one of the shows.

But I am glad it's over. The time involved, the stress of performing, the worrying about scheduling. Now we are into OctoPrep here on the site. Busy month for that. I have also scheduled some classes in Billings for writing. The same person who held the free seminar earlier that I went to is having 5 classes over October and November at a bookstore. I will pay a nominal fee to attend his classes. He was wonderful.

Fall is upon us here in Montana. Days are shorter, cooler. Soon it will snow. Yep. Soon.
*Thought*  Comment   •   View 1 comment


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