Bloody tears, and Surviving the Internal Storm

I dragged myself into the bathroom this morning to stare in the mirror, and thought what is that in the corner of my eye? I turned on more light and though I was crying blood – that can’t be good. In fact my illness befuddled brain went straight to Ebola, and other nasty terrible things, then I calmed down. I was still cocooned in dreams from last night and my dreams are not always the happiest. All you fans that say you’d love to live in my head for awhile, I wouldn’t advise it. My imaginings are often quite terrifying, like thinking I’m crying bright, red tears. What I had done was vomited so hard last night that I’d broken blood vessels in my eye just by the tear duct, so it does look as if I have shiny scarlet tears just waiting to be shed, but they aren’t wet and don’t come off on Kleenex. It’s a weird and nicely disturbing effect, look for me to use it in some story in the future. I’ve thrown up so much and been able to tolerate so little food during this illness that I’ve lost 9 pounds in a week, according to my doctor’s scale. I’d meant to lean down a little, but not like this, this has been pretty terrible.

I was in the emergency room earlier this week, which is how I got the rather gruesome picture of my arm bleeding in the shower. They told me I could shower, but I just didn’t realize The IV site would still be bleeding that much. I tell everyone that my veins are small, deep, and tend to roll, so pediatric needles work best, but no one ever believes it. They always think, they can get it, sometimes they can, but mostly not. They took blood, pushed drugs in, and basically did their job, but there was more blood than one hopes to loose during an IV, and even more to lose during a shower. Watching the reddish, orangish, blood trail down my body and entering the drain totally put me in the mood to write Anita. I know it’s a lot of blood when it goes from red, to orange, and only goes pink at the end. Usually the blood pinks-out much more quickly.

I feel purged and clean today like a shell washed up on the beach, as if I’ve survived the storm and now it is time to rest and figure out what I’ve lost and what remains. Like the debris of some treasure ship broken upon the rocks and now I get to pick through gold coins, sparkling crowns, rare spices and teas in their water tight bags, and mourn the things that burst open and were destroyed. Some things are gone, no salvage possible, but I will trust that I didn’t need them, that I had out grown them, and that what is left is mine – is me. I will gather my shiny pretties, my dangerous toys, my stocks and provisions from the edge of sea where we all washed up after the storm of this last month and I will rebuild. A tropical tree house, perhaps, with a waterfall trailing beside it, and only vines to climb up or down, so that everyday begins with effort and the reward of moving my body through the trees. Or perhaps a small cabin in a meadow full of exotic butterflies, and noises in the night of creatures far stranger than anything I could imagine.

Posted by LKH at 3:37:02 pm on May 17, 2013 in LKH Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Dawn Chorus

I did not sleep well, at all, last night. I’m still sick from the virus and sinus infection that I caught sometime last month, which went undiagnosed. Yes, I went to the doctor. I’ve slept most of the last few days. So much, in fact, apparently I can’t sleep anymore. My mind is too full of ideas, goals, things I need to do so other people can do their job to keep resting. I made myself sleep until 5 AM, but after that I allowed myself to get up and start getting dressed. If I felt wretched, then I’d go back to bed, but if I could manage it I wanted to be up.
In the bathroom as I dressed, I could hear the dawn chorus of the birds at their spring best, that spurred me on, energized me. Now, of course, the energy is ebbing and I’ve got a fine tremble in my arms as I type this, so perhaps not the smartest thing I’ve done, but . . . I called circle to the music of the birds in a choir all around me through the open windows. The cool, spring air is still caressing my bare legs in the skirt I’m wearing. I’m wearing orange and black for Halloween colors, which makes me smile, and because orange is the color for the navel chakra, and I’m wearing citrine set in gold, because those are colors that are good for the solar plexus chakra. These two chakras have been depleted, or blocked for weeks and now I know why. Sometimes I can keep pushing on sheer will power and guts, but eventually I pay the price, this illness is that price, but I push, that’s who I am. I push myself and I push those around me, not push them around, but I always want the best for and from those closest to me either in my personal life, or business. I want us all to be happy and to be the best possible us we can be, I don’t apologize for that, it’s who I am. Never apologize for who you are if it works for you and is your true self.
I called circle and entered sacred space with the moon still shining overhead in a veil of clouds, and the spring air soft on my skin, every bird in the neighborhood singing their hearts out like a blessing in the air, and darkness still thick enough that I had to light my candles carefully in the dark, so I didn’t trip over our three small dogs. For those who don’t know, I was lighting a candle for each element – earth, air, fire, and water. I also light a candle for spirit, and then invoke God and Goddess. If you haven’t guessed, I’m Wiccan, some of us use the term witch, but I do not. I find the word is too dramatic for most of the people here in the Bible belt and explaining that our path of faith is Wiccan, as they are Christian, or Jewish, or Muslim, works better than other terms. Some words are hard to separate from their past associations like witch, or inquisition.
The three small dogs were very happy that I was up and wanting to come over to the office and meditation area. They know they get treats and which drawer they’re kept in, and if they were bigger dogs they would so have had it opened and burgled months ago. I’ve caught our two Japanese chins, Keiko and Mordor, worrying at it, and trying with mouth and paws to open it. Our pug, Sasquatch, awaits his orders when they need muscle, like ramming doors that will not open. It’s given him his umpteenth nickname of Rhino. Sometimes Rhino finds doors too solidly closed and you hear a thump, and he staggers himself, but mostly he gets the doors in the older parts of the house to open, but most doors open promptly by their human staff, if they’re allowed in that room at that time.
I watched the first glow like a cut in the darkness that allowed the light to seep through, and then dawn spread in a pink, mauve, purple, lavender neon extravaganza lighting up the eastern sky just behind my eastern candle and I was able to greet the light, praise God and Goddess, though dawn always feels more feminine to me. I asked for their help in healing, and being positive while I healed, and finding the lessons that I’m supposed to be learning during all of it.
Now, the dogs are over with our daughter Trinity, who’s job it is to feed them, and I’m left to bird song and the first sounds of my neighbors rising for their days. The sun is a visible ball of fire through the trees like an orang-yellow spotlight and the sky is soft blue with clouds. I’m finishing the first tea of the day in my new chipmunk mug, and feel better than I’ve felt in two weeks. I can see the two silkie bantam hens grooming and searching for insects in the grass of their yard, and I am feeling all together domestic and biology loving, and that always makes me want to write. For those who are new to my books, or who know me only through the mirror of my books, you will find more about nature and animals in my blog and personal musings than violence, sex, vampires, or werewolves, or wereanything. I work in a world that is incredibly violent, but I try not to live there. I need the other sides of myself to nurture the parts that are drawn to the violence, and as for sex, I still haven’t decided how much of that to put here, or anywhere on line. I simply can’t decide my comfort level, so I leave it alone for the most part in these personal writings. If I find my comfort level at some point that may change, but for now there will be more of writing, ornithology, faith, and puppies in my blog than sex and sadism. If that isn’t what you want there are other writers that seem more than happy to share their most intimate details with you, or share the intimate details of others, but I am not one of them. I still feel that intimate reality is a gift to be shared with those who actually get to see you naked on purpose for happy nefariousness, not something to simple titilate and tease for more readership. Which is weird since I put more details in my books during the sex scenes than pretty much anyone out there, but that’s my fiction, and I’m comfortable with that. Don’t get me wrong, I love sex, but sharing my personal sexual details with the world, still not sure that’s a good idea, so – more of blossoms, than blow jobs, in my blog. Yes, that is a tortured reference to Dickens.
Now, I hear crows and they’re letting me know they’ve found a hawk, or perhaps the fledgling great horned owl that our pair raised this year, and I want to see what they’ve found. It sounds more like their, “We’ve found an owl, than we’ve found a hawk,”. Grabbing my binoculars . . . owl!

Posted by LKH at 9:14:38 pm on April 26, 2013 in LKH Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Updates

With Affliction now off to the publisher, and the release date creeping ever closer, we’ve updated the site to include the cover for Affliction and have changed the front page banner.

enjoy!

Posted by Jonathon at 10:23:50 pm on April 11, 2013 in LKH Blog | Tagged , , | 5 Comments