Inspiring

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A Start

July 5, 2010 in Celebrating, Inspiring, Learning, Loving, Writing by Colleen | 7 comments

Well hello there friends -

I am not about to beat around the bush on this one, no way, no how.  What do you think?  Do you like it? I hope so, because I really, really do.

After all of that writing about it, I decided that if I am a Writer (notice me embracing that capital W), I better start acting like one.  Step one, business cards.  Super duper lovely and ever-so-Colleen style business cards.  Many, many thanks to Marty of Bartleby’s Letterpress Emporium (how perfect that the shop shares the name, though certainly not the demeanor of one of my favorite literary figures, too).  Ever so kind, patient (if you hadn’t noticed, I am a bit fussy), and supportive, not to mention her phenomenal talent with a letterpress brought this girl to tears, even though I promised her I wouldn’t.  Not a bad promise to break, if one must, after all.  They turned out exactly how I imagined they would:  the heavy cotton, that beautiful texture, our our humble red roofed abode (drawn by me).  They are perfect.  By the by, if you live here in Stumptown and love fine paper goods, do pay her a visit.  Her printed cards are exquisite, really.  The shop is just a charming place to wander, too.

Okay, getting to the second step now, full speed ahead.  I will also be attending the Willamette Writers Conference in August where I hope to wow someone into representing me.  So, for the next month, I will be polishing  my manuscript, honing my elevator speech, typing up dazzling query letters, and generally believing that I can do this.  You know what the wonderful part is?  I am not afraid.  I am ready.  I am worthy.  I am talented.  I am a good writer and a terrific person.  Why wouldn’t someone want to represent me?  Okay, I just ventured into Jack Handey territory, but that’s okay too.  I am among friends!

So, a start.  I hope you will join me on my journey.

This is It…

June 8, 2010 in Being, Inspiring, Learning, Thinking, Writing by Colleen | 5 comments

Well friends, I have what is surely the last of the peony photos this year and a broken record alert!  Aren’t they pretty?  Aren’t they pretty?  Well they are, and these two smell quite lovely, too.  Yes, yes they do.  We also managed to get two dry days in a row to enjoy them, but the clouds are rolling in, and I’m pretty sure that means Mr. Rain will be up to his old tricks in no time, which is okay.  The little break of sun was enough to tide me over until next time.

I have no clever segue way to what comes next.  I’ve been thinking a lot about what it is that I want and how to get it.  I came to a conclusion that probably should have been obvious, but wasn’t, but now that I’ve made it, I feel as though I’ve been hit over the head with a hammer in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.  Yet, instead of stars, I am seeing what I do with greater clarity than ever before.

I have never called myself a writer.  I have always said, “I’ve written a book,” or “I’ write a blog.”  In some ways, I didn’t want to pigeon-hole myself in the “I am not what I do” way because I feel I am so much more than a single word.  I also didn’t think I deserved the title of Writer without being published.  Yet, in this way, I believe I have been selling myself short, for who will believe I am a writer, especially one who is worthy of publication, if I don’t?  It also diminished my work, made it less important.  Well, dang it, it IS important, even if only to me.

So, a change.  A “this is it” moment:  I, Colleen Sohn, am a writer.  Gosh, I got weepy typing that last sentence.  I am a writer.  I wrote a novel that I hope to get published one day.  I write a blog.  I write poems.  I dream up worlds.  Words dance in my mind and through my finger tips.  They are alive, just like me and you.

That felt good.  Thanks for reading.  I love sharing my writing with you!

Not Their Usual

June 4, 2010 in Inspiring, Spotlighting, Watching by Colleen | No comments

As my cutie pie neighbor Keirnan (age five) might say, “She’s up to her old tricks.”  He’d be right, too.  I am up to my old tricks, loving the offbeat films where the actors are decidedly not up to theirs.  It is so refreshing!

The hubster and I saw Greenberg this past weekend.  Finally, finally something I was interested in seeing at the Academy.  I have been waiting for ages.  Seriously, I cannot remember when I was there last, and it totally bums me out.  I love movies.  I love sitting in movie theaters.  I love watching people file in and search for the perfect seat.  I love the moment the lights dim and the action starts, all the while munching on buttery popcorn and Reese’s Pieces, despite their absence of nutrition.  For the film is the sustenance, the essence of life, moments in darkness that ultimately illuminate.

I digress.  Greenberg, save two, um, cold(?) sex scenes, yes, cold, is one of those train wreck type films.  I could not look away, yet my heart kind of ached to.  It is the story of Roger Greenberg: broken man, letter writer, vest wearer.  He’s come to Los Angeles to house sit for his brother’s family after suffering a mental breakdown.  He’s meant to build a dog house, take care of its future occupant, Mahler, and, as he states rather explicitly, do nothing else.  It doesn’t quite work out as planned, as he immediately has feelings for his brother’s assistant Florence (a pitch perfect performance from Greta Gerwig), the dog gets sick, and he generally makes an ass of himself, though he puts the blame squarely on others.  It’s a great story about loss, starting off on the wrong foot, and the way we cobble our lives back together.  Perfect in its imperfection.

Will Farrel is Harold Crick, a boring and friendless IRS agent who suddenly starts hearing a voice.  A voice that knows him well, is never wrong, and clearly states that he is going to die.   What ensues is a beautiful transformation – from a numbers man ticking away the hours to a human being truly living and loving life.  So very, very good.  It makes me want to be a better writer.

This is Paul Thomas Anderson’s fantastic and exhilarating art house version of Adam Sandler.   As much as I like movies like 50 First Dates and Mr. Deeds (Are you surprised?  Do you underestimate my sneakiness?  They’re funny!), I sure wish he would make more movies like this.  Sandler plays Barry Egan, intense, lonely, incessantly badgered by his annoying and domineering sisters, he is constantly on the verge of rage and violence, and utterly powerless to stop it.   When a woman unexpectedly enters his life, there is instant chemistry and mystery.  What will he do?  Will this end badly?  What about that awful guy at the phone sex place?  Finding out is a great and scary ride.

This last one could actually be tied with Vampire’s Kiss.  Have you seen that one?  Nicholas Cage (circa 1988) plays a guy who thinks he’s been bitten by a vampire and acts accordingly, sporting fake teeth and all.  Which only makes me think of Chris Cooper’s teeth in this movie, oy vay, creepy.  This movie is strange, smart, and beautiful.  Nicholas Cage plays the Kaufman brothers, so unlike any character I have ever seen.  Fearful, weird, out of shape, paranoid, balding, and obsessed, yet likable.  The kind of underdog fellas you root for.  Besides that, there’s Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper.  Who could ask for anything more?

Bird Watching

February 10, 2010 in Admiring, Celebrating, Inspiring by Colleen | 2 comments

Look at my sweet Birdie.  Doesn’t she have a fine profile?  I love the curve of her nose, her enormous ears, and all that soft, silky fur.  She is a fine specimen indeed.  It’s funny, too, even after nearly fifteen years (her birthday is March 4th!), I never grow tired of watching her.  Playing, sleeping, running in the yard, it’s always a pleasure to see her happy.  Unhappy is quite another matter, but I won’t get into that!

In other bird watching news, I had the FINEST (all caps for serious emphasis) sighting from my back window this past Thursday afternoon.  I was walking by and saw something high in a treetop, a slight white glimmer of movement.  My heart leapt!  Could it be?  I turned back and stopped, focusing my eyes.  It sure looked like it.

I whooped and hollered down the stairs,  “Oh my goodness!  Oh my goodness!” I grabbed the phone and the binoculars as fast as humanly possible and bolted back up the stairs.  Imagine my excitement when I learned my hunch was absolutely correct.  There was indeed a Bald Eagle atop a tree, no more than a hundred yards from me.  I could see its regal gaze scanning the horizon, the beautiful white feathers, the golden beak, the lovely eyes.  I called the hubster, and I spent the next few minutes detailing the eagle’s every move.

“It’s turning his head, yikes almost 360 degrees!”

“It’s moving it’s wings.  Wow, it’s so big!”

“I think it’s looking right at me.”

“The crows are coming!  They’re cawing, but this guy isn’t paying one iota of attention to them, no matter how close they get!”

“Oh my goodness, Buddy, I’m watching a Bald Eagle from our back window!”

In all, I probably watched it for ten joyful minutes, repeating that last sentence about five times.  It then left it’s perch and flew right over our house, so close I could see individual feathers.  I’d like to think it was a “Hello Colleen, I saw you, too,” gesture.  Whatever it was, I could not have been happier (well, maybe if I could have taken a photo, but our camera cannot zoom like that), and I certainly won’t ever look at that tree in the same way again.

Herb and Dorothy

October 16, 2009 in Admiring, Inspiring, Spotlighting, Watching by Colleen | 2 comments

I am spelling out the following number for emphasis: Four thousand seven hundred eighty-two.  This set of digits is hardly impressive when one considers population, drops of rain on my red roof, or annual salaries in America.  However, when one ponders the fact that it is in relation to  how many works of art were amassed by Herb and Dorothy Vogel in their tiny New York apartment over the course of forty years, then it expands into something nearly unfathomable.  Holy smokes – 4,782!

The absolutely adorable couple (they still hold hands and find each other cute), a now retired librarian at the Brooklyn Library and a postal worker, began collecting in order to follow what was, at least initially, Herb’s passion.   He worked nights at the post office, would sleep a few hours, and then go to the library and read everything he could about art, as well as take a painting class or two.  Dorothy, wanting to share in her husband’s interest, decided she would paint, too.  Soon, the walls of their apartment were covered in their work, but then, in 1962, after realizing they could live humbly off of Dorothy’s salary and purchase art with Herb’s, they marched forth with gusto, visiting galleries and studios all over the city and purchasing inexpensive works by unknown artists.

Their criteria were simple – they must like the piece, be able to afford it, and it had to be carried via foot, bus, or taxi to fit in their apartment.  They weren’t looking to collect anything just for the sake of it; they had to love it as well, and love they did.  They covered every possible surface with art: walls, ceiling, floor, amassing piles and rows, squeezing it in among their fish, cats, and turtles, a wonder of physics if the truth be told.  Dorothy remarked, “Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment.”  She was right.

In a bold and quite generous move, the couple decided to donate their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the site where it all began, the first museum they visited together as husband and wife.  Of all the museums clamoring for their collection, all of them willing to pay princely sums, I might add, the Vogel’s chose the National Gallery because quite simply, as Americans, it belongs to everyone.  The works will never be sold and anyone can visit, for free, furthering their belief that wonderful art can be both affordable and accessible, just as it was to them.

It is a marvelous portrait of love – for each other and modern art.  It made me weep at how having a benevolent spirit and following our passion is rarely about how much money we have but what we choose to do with it.

Inspirational Men

October 2, 2009 in Inspiring, Spotlighting, Watching by Colleen | 1 comment

Two great movies for you today, gems received via our Netflix queue.  Oh heavens, please don’t you ever go away Netflix.  What on earth would these two Portland film addicts do without you?

Let’s start with fashion and the man who works magic with red, Valentino Garavani.  Forty-five years of gorgeous gowns with equally gorgeous women donning them.    While I hardly have enough moolah to be able to purchase a couture gown such as these (nor an occasion to which I’d wear it), it was a sheer delight to observe a bit of the process that brings them to life.  A dream in a man’s head, a sketch, and a klatch of women with talents I can only aspire to.  No sewing machines, no fancy equipment, just divine talent with a needle and thread.

Follow bits of Valentino’s life since launching his career in the 1960s: the bankruptcy, the huge success, the sale of his company in the 90s, the dresses (oh the dresses!), the pugs, the houses, and one very sweet, loving, and patient man with my favorite name in the Italian language, Giancarlo, Valentino’s partner for more than fifty years.

It is a love story about style, fabric, and men who share the same exquisite passion to make women feel a bit more beautiful and, of course, glamorous.  There are lots of surprises, and I shed a few tears, inspired by the drive and success of these lively and talented Italians.

And now for a little something from Italy’s neighbor, France.  It is quite a different story, yet it rings of the same truths, that passion, dedication, and perseverance bring sublime rewards.

It’s a story that begins in a dimly lit dentist’s waiting room, when a young man with an aching tooth spies, in a magazine, an advertisement for the yet to be built Twin Towers.  A tight rope walker, he decides, then and there, that he will walk between the towers, drawing, rather symbolically, a crisp line between the buildings.  Thus, he sets forth on a plan that will take him thousands of miles and hundreds of feet above New York city.

Though the fact that he walks the tightrope is a foregone conclusion, it is a delightful journey to follow the route to his achievement.  There’s footage of the preparations, including his victories over Notre Dame and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  As well, we meet his accomplices, friends and protectors, eager and willing to pay the high price to accomplish one man’s dream.   Another joy to watch such determination and dedication to a particular and quite electrifying goal.

Guest Blogger Gregory: “Colleen, My favorite topic”

July 22, 2009 in Admiring, Inspiring, Loving, Watching by Colleen | 5 comments

A smile like that after a 6 hour surgery. Inspiring!

A smile like that after a 6 hour surgery. Inspiring!

For a rather verbose start as guest blogger here “Under a Red Roof”, until Colleen is back at the helm, I will just post some status on Colleen as she is easily my favorite topic.   I love her very much and am certainly inspired by her love of life.  As you can read from previous posts, Tuesday was a day of surgery for my wife Colleen.

The surgery started out as a laparoscopic procedure that would last about 3 hours or less.  As the Dr. was working it became apparent that there was going to be more to do and Colleen had to be opened up. I believe it became a laparotomic procedure with a single horizontal incision, but I can only play doctor so please forgive the terminology. It ended up being quite a long day with a surgery from about 10:00 am to 4:30 pm and then recovery until about 6:00 pm or so. Her doctor said that the reason a transfusion wasn’t necessary in surgery was, in large part, due to the good care Colleen has taken of her blood (which isn’t easy with the heavy monthly blood loss).

I am grateful that my best friend in the world was sleeping through this ordeal! I am also very grateful that the most excellent doctors took their time and patience to really do things correctly and safely.

Today, the day after the surgery, was a good day.   Colleen is in a good deal of pain but her vitals are good and her body is healthy.  Fluids are passing normally, lungs are clear, and there isn’t any blood loss.  Naturally I wish she was feeling better, but I am happy her body is working well!

Legacy Emanuel hospital in Portland Oregon has been absolutely wonderful.  The doctors are first class and the nurses are very capable and helpful.

I would like to also apologize if you feel slighted for not having been notified more personally.  Please feel free to give me a call or send an email as I’m trying to connect Colleen with the outside world as much as possible.  I think Colleen is remembering more than I am right now and I don’t even have any Dilaudid in me!  (The morphine didn’t do much for her.)

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dilaudid or Drugstore Cowboy here’s a lighter view of the drug… Much lighter:

What is Dilaudid? (Warning: Rated R perhaps, take with grain of salt)

(PG-13 (PG-13 perhaps)perhaps)

For Iran and the World

June 20, 2009 in Inspiring, Quoting by Colleen | 1 comment

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.

Anton Checkov

Inspired

May 20, 2009 in Cooking and Baking, Drinking, Eating, Inspiring by Colleen | No comments

A couple of weeks ago, the G-Man and I went out with our good friends Bridget and Eric, something we’d been wanting to do for ages, but every time we tried, it didn’t work out.  Wouldn’t you know that this was one of those last minute arrangements that comes together perfectly?  I love when life places all the little ducks in a row and I benefit from it.

Our first stop was Bridget’s mighty fine choice, the Gilt Club, where we enjoyed stellar service from an uber cute and funny waitress and a super fine happy hour menu (I love adjectives!):  A Moscow Mule (kapow!) served in the copper cup and an Appletini (made with real apple, no frightening neon green concoctions) were the beverage highlights.  We also got some delicious salads, cute mini burgers with drippy gruyere cheese and yummy fries, and  manchego cheese fritters that I insisted on calling cheese balls.  “Come on Eric, taste the balls, they’re delicious.”  I know, sometimes I’m beyond silly and bordering on impossible.  It’s my way.

After that, we walked two short blocks to the Augen Gallery where we enjoyed Morgan Walker’s exhibition Rodeo Combinations.  Here’s where I struggle a little bit to describe it:  Not quite whimsical, but there is certainly great humor in it (I laughed!).  I like how many of the paintings are a story for which the viewer chooses the length.  Gaze for a moment at the title and the composition and receive the Cliff’s Notes version.  Stand a bit longer and the the tale grows longer, more textured, and complex.  Speaking of texture, that’s something else I like about the paintings, I think he must load his brush with a lot of paint and then make very small brush strokes because the canvasses are not at all flat, but very much the topographical versions of the stories he’s telling.  Yet it’s not too much either.  There’s a subtlety to it.

One of the highlights, I might add, wasn’t even a painting, but a blueprint of thought.  Morgan, over a period of a year and a half,  wrote down connections between philosophy and surfing that included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, Wittgenstein, and, of course, Gidget.  To say I was inspired is putting it mildly.  I love getting glimpses into people’s minds.

Finally, speaking of inspired, these are salads I made after the one that I had at the Gilt Club.  Their version didn’t have steak on it, but I needed some protein.  It is a mouth watering combination of baby greens, watercress, peas, shaved fennel, grapefruit, and pine nuts, tossed in a simple balsamic vinaigrette.  The post card is from Morgan’s show, and since it is called Rodeo Combinations, I’ve got to say, “Giddy-up!”

A Moment of Forever

September 5, 2008 in Inspiring, Listening, Spotlighting, Watching by Colleen | 5 comments

Sometimes it is really difficult for me to put my feelings into words because they feel so inadequate or they just seem silly, and in this case, both.  I do not tend to get starry eyed about celebrities.  Yes, I do find them interesting, as I do all people, and occasionally get the gossip via magazines, but I know that, ultimately we are all human in the end.   We all eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom every day.

One exception to this rule is this fella here.  Good golly, Gregory and I were so darned excited to see him last week at the Oregon State Fair.  I mean, the guy’s done so much – Farm Aid, Bio-Fuel, and all that singing!  When we first arrived and perused the various sites, we’d look at each other and ask, “Do you think he’s here?”  Then, after we’d seen the Honeysuckle Rose and knew he was, indeed, at the Fair, we wondered aloud, “What do you think he’s doing now?”  And then, when we finally got to take our seats and his roadie brought out Trigger, we just about burst.  “Willie Nelson is back stage and he’s gonna sing – for us!”

Well, my friends, he did not disappoint.  The man, who is seventy-five, played for an hour and forty-five minutes without stopping.  When the band played “Bloody Mary Morning,” I thought old Trigger might break at the seams.   Willie was strumming so wildly, and me, right there with him, whoopin’ and hollerin’, hands drumming on my thighs, feet stomping to the pulsing beat.  Hot damn, he is good!  Sometimes, he didn’t even finish a song before starting the melody for another.  The man was on fire.

He played old favorites, like “Whiskey River,” “Crazy, ” and “On the Road Again,” and new songs, like “You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore,” and “Over You Again.”   Of course he played “Georgia,” and of course, I cried, but sweetly, because the night was so magical there in Salem.  Big clouds threatened us and a cool breeze blew, but the sky turned starry, and the people were so kind, happy as clams to be in the presence of this sweet, generous, and funny man.  Oh Willie, it was a delight to spend a “Moment of Forever” with you.

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