February 8, 2010
Winter: Country Style
The snowed-in took advantage of Sunday's sun to get outside for a walk in the neighborhood. This group broke the cabin fever with tea and cookies and good conversation inside the warmth of our house before heading back up the homegrown plowed hill to their farm.
The creeks were full and rushing.
Old mailboxes were full of winter's special delivery.
A snow covered mill looked picturesque at sunset.
Horses enjoyed a supper of hay.
Posted by colleen at 10:22 AM | Comments (11)
February 6, 2010
It Could Be Worse
Snowed-in and sick, but it could be worse.
We got Nora Jones on the stereo, dry wood for the stove, and a pot full of hot miso soup.
We got tissues and cough drops, a down comforter spread. We got PBS and a library movie to watch.
Our neighbor plows the driveway for the third time this winter. We thank him with venison burger.
We got merino wool long johns and fur lined moccasins. We got back rubs and hot baths to soak in.
The bird bath angel in the yard is decked in a full length gown of snow and the wrought iron lawn chairs are up to their seats with it.
I'm waiting by the window for the pileated woodpecker to return, so I can crank a window open and snap a zoomed in photo.
Snowed-in and sick, but it could be worse. So far we haven't lost power.
Note: Should I call baby Bryce to shovel our cars out? HERE he is shoveling out his own.
Posted by colleen at 6:03 PM | Comments (13)
February 5, 2010
Kiser Computing Makes House Calls
~ The following appeared in The Floyd press on February 4, 2010.
Computer consultant Ben Kiser is not your average technician. The 1999 ECPI College of Technology graduate and owner of Kiser Computing Consulting LLC not only repairs computers and keeps them running smoothly, he also makes house calls.
Kiser, a North Carolina native and father of two, had completed an associate's degree in architecture when he realized the potential of the computer field and decided to make a career change. While pursuing his degree in computer electronics and during his 9 years working as a System Engineer for Carilion Clinic, he repaired computers for his family and friends on the side.
By the time Kiser started his home-based business in the fall of 2008, he had a built-in clientele. Still, it was a leap to trust that the business would grow enough to support him and his family fulltime, Kiser said. With the growth of computer use, the advent of high speed internet in the area, and word-of-mouth referrals, Kiser's faith and skills have paid off. "I've been busier in the last two months than I've been all year," he noted.
Locally, Kiser has installed or cleaned up cable networking (for internet, phone, and TV) for The Village Green, The Station, Collin's Chiropractic Clinic, LCF Group, The Maples Bed and Breakfast, Crenshaw Lighting, Slaughters, and more. He's traveled to Hillsville and Roanoke and places in-between for work and has been all over Floyd County.
As a resident of Floyd since the 7th grade, Kiser knows his way around the county. He also understands the lack of technical skill that can make even unplugging a computer system - with its multitude of cords - an ordeal for some home users. 'We're here to help step by step. Not geek you out,' the Kiser Computing Consulting webpage (kisercomputerconsulting.com) tagline reads.
Whether working for small businesses or individuals, customer relationship is Kiser's specialty. The benefit of making house calls is that he can explain computer problems in language that his customers understand and can show them detailed strategies for solving those problems, Kiser said. If a computer needs extensive work and has to be taken back to his home shop, he returns when its fixed and reinstalls it, making sure it's working before he leaves.
Through his small business account with Dell, Kiser can order high quality business class computers at a discount and pass the savings on to his customers. He also saves customers money by directing them to free online sites that can assist in keeping their computers running fast and clean. As a follow-up to his services, he's created a youtube video that provides a step by step guide through the maintenance process.
Working from home allows Kiser to spend more time with his family. His wife, Holly (Nolen) Kiser, is a licensed day care provider who also works out of the family's home, a log home that Kiser built six miles out of town on Franklin Pike. Kiser appreciates that he has the freedom to adjust his schedule so that he can pick up his 7-year old daughter Alexis at the school bus stop, his 4-year old son Levi from pre-school, or help out his wife. "But I also put in more hours than I would at a regular job," he said about being self-employed.
Advice Kiser received from a business associate has become his company's mission. "If you want to be successful do good work and keep your customers happy," Kiser remembers being advised. Satisfied customers are important to Kiser. He also enjoys what he does. "I'm a problem solver. I work on something till it's fixed. There's a satisfaction to seeing something fixed," he said. ~ Colleen Redman
Posted by colleen at 3:36 PM | Comments (2)
February 3, 2010
iB13 Playlist
1. Ipod and Ipad inventors are running out of vowels for naming their future inventions. Somehow Ipud, Ipid, and Iped don't ring a bell.
2. I can't help wondering if Apple co-founder and Ipad inventor Steve Jobs's productivity has anything to do with his last name (and the fact that it's plural).
3. Jobs, a billionaire Buddhist who's been referred to as the Edison our times, gives this business advice: "My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other's negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people."
4. Most reliable 24 hour weather report: The window.
5. Strangest weird creative thing found online this week HERE.
6. LOST: THIS purple wool beret. Email credman@swva.net if you know where it is.
7. I want to wear THIS to the Floyd Mardi Gras bash on February 20th at the Winter Sun Hall.
8. Have you heard of the Ipad for feminine protection? Apparently it's the predecessor to the Apple Ipad and boasts the ability to "download protection for up to a 1,000 periods." Watch the video HERE.
9. My husband's about to launch a new organization that will bring together all aspects of his work with teens as a counselor, meditation teacher, and martial arts practitioner. It's called iBme (Inward Bound Meditation Education).
10. Catching a cold from your partner is like the weather man predicting a snow storm but because you're in denial, you don't move your car near the road and then the storm hits and you can't get out for days because it's stuck.
11. Learning that the late J.D. Salinger fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was among the first troops to enter a liberated concentration camp, and suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome made me wonder if he knew my dad, who did (or had) "all of the above."
12. I ran into my neighbor doctor at the mailbox today and he asked me how I was. "On top of the snow, ice, frigid temperatures, and catching a cold, I now have a bad case of cabin fever," I answered. He didn't have anything for that.
13. Salinger considered publishing an invasion of his privacy. He also said this, "I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."
More 13 play HERE.
Posted by colleen at 10:19 PM | Comments (23)
February 2, 2010
Dark Brew
Sparkling night ignited
Stars boil over
from the big dipper
a milky way of tea
~ From Teapoet, my chapbook of tea haiku and other sips of poetic brew. More teapoems can be read HERE.
Posted by colleen at 11:42 PM | Comments (7)
February 1, 2010
Forty Years of Clay
Last week I got an email from Gary, who blogs at Coffee Muses, telling me that my Asheville potter son Josh Copus is featured in the Artist Spotlight of the latest issue of Our State magazine. I hadn't seen it yet and neither had Josh, but we got our hands on one quick.
"I got a real kick when I turned the page and saw the picture and thought wow, I know that guy...and we've never met!" wrote Gary, a Loose Leaf Notes reader whose been reading my ongoing posts documenting Josh's work.
The title refers to the lifetime supply of wild clay that Josh and another potter dug from a Leicester County farmer's field not fit for growing tobacco. 
The writer of the piece, Alli Marshall, did a masterful job of weaving together the highlights of Josh's ceramics career in the past five years: The founding of Clayspace, the working studio and gallery that Josh founded in the River Arts District of Asheville; His UNC of Asheville BFA Building Community graduate show that featured a giant wall of 1,000 hand-built bricks with the word COMMUNITY on them, ceramics exhibits and performance art; The Windgate Fellowship grant he was awarded that allowed him to buy property in the country where he built The Community Temple, a large noborigami climbing chamber kiln; The 3 week immersion Carolina Kiln Build that Josh hosted on his property, where 12 potters from around the country built two kilns; even the incorporation of one of Josh's Community bricks incorporated into the wall at the Wedge Brewery, where a beer (Community Porter) is named after Josh and where Josh is a weekend bartender. 
The magazine Our State is to North Carolina what Blue Ridge Country is to Virginia. The article is broken up into 3 sections: Building Kilns, Studio Strolls, and Community Firepower, which are accompanied large colorful photos.
In the closing paragraph Josh talks about the downtown Clayspace studio and gallery, saying, "This place is a huge part of my identity. I like the activity and the interaction." Marshall writes, and I get chills, "While much of the integral interaction is with the other Co-op ceramists, Copus is quick to include the outside community - tourists, art enthusiasts, serious collectors, and curious passersby 
- when chalking up important connections. "The reason people need this" - he nods to the handmade coffee mug almost always in his grip - "is the same reason they need to get out in nature or visit a farm. To reconnect. When people come here, they get to meet the artists; they like that. I'm in here being as real as I can because people are buying a part of my life."
~ To read more about Josh's potter's adventures click HERE and scroll.
Posted by colleen at 7:30 PM | Comments (7)
January 31, 2010
You Don't Need a Weathervane to Know Which Way the Wind Blows
My living room window is like a wide screen TV where I'm watching the Saturday morning snow show. Wood smoke pours down from the chimney and floats in and out of the downy flurry. Birds hop and peck at the seed below the feeder. Tree limbs catch flakes. Inside where it's toasty warm, water pipes tick and the rocking chair squeaks. Closing my eyes for my morning meditation, I become aware of how drowsy I am. Soon, my head drops down to my chest and the dreamless morning drifts like a spilled pillow of angora falling silently to the floor.
See the video clip HERE.
Posted by colleen at 12:21 PM | Comments (11)
January 29, 2010
Winter's Postcards to Spring
1. Flight Risk
2. Down and Out
3. Santa's Big Hangover
4. Brighter Days Ahead
Posted by colleen at 7:11 PM | Comments (12)
January 28, 2010
Where the 13 Thursday Flow Can Go
1. Joe, leaves the house, kisses Colleen and says: "See you later, sweet pea." Colleen kisses Joe back and answers: "If I'm a pea, then you're a pie, as in sweetie pie."
2. My poem "After the Golden Globes and in honor of Valentine Day" has been published at Ronni Bennett's Elder Story Telling site HERE.
3. "I think the heart has to seep under the floorboard like water or slip through like mail. I hope for a low threshold when it comes to love." ~ That was my answer to my blogging friend Poe when she asked, "How do people get into your heart?" HERE.
4. Speaking of leaks, Sunday we woke to a leak that flooded part of our basement. It had rained so hard and long that it seeped into the foundation. Our water pump man confirmed that we weren't the only ones.
5. Confused about Health Care Reform? A very good and balanced article on health care reform is HERE.
6. Our warmed up leftovers from Floyd's new Mickey G's Italian Bistro and Pizzeria tasted as good on Sunday as they did on Saturday night. "I can get addicted to this," I said to Joe, "but think of all the money we'll save. We don't have to go to Italy now!"
7. THIS is the song that's been stuck in my head ever since eating at Mickey G's.
8. How Joe went from being called Oprah to Opa: My kids use to tease Joe when his long curly hair got big and unruly by calling him "Ofra Winfrey." Now he's just called Opa (as in Grampa in German) by 18 month old Bryce.
9. I had fun coming up with names for THIS video: Block Talk, Knock your block off, and If You Build It, It Will Fall.
10. When faucets leak here does the water go? Does it drip down into an underground purgatory? Collect into selfish pools that no one can drink from? Like a ticking clock our lives spill out. Drop by drop children die drinking dirty water. While rest of the world sprinkles their lawns, kills dandelions, and sings in the shower. ~ Excerpt from an old poem, titled The Leaky Faucet.
11. Current pet peeve: Buying olive oil by mistake that isn't virgin because it and the non-virgin oil bottles look the same. Virgin olive oil isn't hydrogenated, whereas light olive oil is, and so is a walking heart attack. It doesn't taste as good either.
12. Sayings that I first heard in 80's that just came back to mind: Walk your Talk, What You Resists Persists, Just say Know, and Go with the Flow!
13. Question for Mickey G? Does the G stand for garlic?
Go with the flow to other Thirteen Thursday's HERE.
Posted by colleen at 8:20 AM | Comments (13)
January 27, 2010
Moon Peace
The moon is a mutiny
a one bubble revolution
escape from the sky-sea
of sudsy clouds
It floats across the heavens
like a flower child pagan
in peaceful demonstration
against the status
quo
Posted by colleen at 9:13 AM | Comments (5)
From the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia I write to synthesize what I'm learning at the time, whether it be poetry, a political commentary, or a letter to my mother in Hull, Massachusetts, where I'm originally from. Whenever I don't know exactly what it is I'm doing and it borders on wasting my time, I call it research. 'Dear Abby, How can I get rid of freckles?' was my first published piece at the age of 11.
