meska's Blog

Game ideas
Jul 1, 2007 | 6:45 AM PST

After a day and evening of off -and -on "wild" garden-gaming , aka "partying " to Meska (Yes, that's about the extent of it for this wild woman.),  I settled down last night for some good sleep when all of the sudden I was awakened, as is sometimes the case, by certain creative juices that kept pouring through my brain.  I should have known better than to try to fight for my much needed rest  from countless past encounters of the same kind.    I should have been  well aware that I would never get back to sleep until I went ahead and got up to fill whatever "glass" that was empty.  But no, not me, I had to prolong the agony, as usual, tossing and turning and trying to get back to sleep.  Finally, I succumbed, remembering that this is a battle I never win. 

So here I am at 5 AM creating a blog, the last thing on earth I  thought I'd ever do.  And I could have saved 2 whole hours and been back to bed by now if I'd have just gone on and gotten up at 3 AM when it all started.

Actually, now that I think of it, in this case  the lapse in sleep may have been at least generated by a nightmare rather than a juice flow.  All I can remember now is a huge pink ostrich running wild through an African veldt.  Astride the ostrich was  a screaming, wild-eyed,  magenta peony, holding on for dear life.  The poor pitiful peony had already lost many of her precious petals! Oh, the freakish images by which we are sometimes visited in the wee hours of the morning!

I will now attempt a chronological and, hopefully, half-way logical account of the stream-of-consciousness journey through which my semi-conscious mind traveled, in hopes of explaining the reason behind this blog.  I know what you might be thinking, but don't be too frightened.

1.  The nightmare as described above led to..... (Don't ask me how.)

2.  The repetition of the first two lines of Joyce Kilmer's poem "Trees," my mind struggling to flow into the lines that follow--again and again--but drowning in the attempt each time.  Then came a "tree link"....

3. " I wonder if Treeman is familiar with this poem," I thought.  "Surely," with almost certainty, I decided.  (Quoted below for those who are not familiar or just for a breath of freshness for those who are) .....

Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918   119. Trees   I THINK that I shall never see   A poem lovely as a tree.      A tree whose hungry mouth is prest   Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;      A tree that looks at God all day,          5 And lifts her leafy arms to pray;      A tree that may in summer wear   A nest of robins in her hair;      Upon whose bosom snow has lain;   Who intimately lives with rain.   10    Poems are made by fools like me,   But only God can make a tree.

Ah.... Breathe it in, deeply.

(I don't know why the poem won't format the way I pasted it.)

  Ok, so that led to the "juices" aforementioned.  Meanwhile, I still fight to get back to sleep.  The first drop of juice.....

4.  Hmmm.  The garden games.  Song titles.  Wouldn't it be neat, since it is a garden forum, to have a game where some part of the title contains the name of a flower, fruit, or vegetable? I guess it could even be a garden "item" --seed, hoe, whatever. 

 I have no idea how far it could go, but it might be interesting to try.  Then, ...

5. "Oh," I lamented, "but 'Trees' couldn't be included because it is a poem, not a song."  I then pondered the possibility of it being "Garden Songs/Poems," thinking the thread might be able to go further that way.  Next....

6.  I start thinking of possible songs.  Another river of repetitions begins to flow, this time with an actual melody:  "I'll be seeing you in apple blossom time..." and, of course, I can't think of the next line, but who cares because it wouldn't be part of the game anyway.  (I did have to go look the lyrics up on the web, however, and found that  I had completely forgotten that it was a song about marriage.)

7.  Almost immediately, I think, "Oh, drats! Does much modern music even bestow the virtues and glory of nature?  Would the youngsters, you know, those under 40 or 45 or 50 (you get my point), even be able to relate?" Now, don't misunderstand me, I may not have been alive when the Andrews sisters originally sang that song as I'm not sure if it was in the 40's or 50's, but most likely I was born when Tab Hunter sang it.  (Come to find out, Barry Manilow released it not too awfully long ago.) 

8.  I proceeded to delve deeper into the music side of my brain to ransack it for more modern tunes, all the while, still fighting to go back to sleep.  I was relieved when, yes, I did think of a few,and that  with all the whiz kids around here who play in the game garden on a daily basis, this game idea just might be able to go somewhere. ( I also tossed around the thought of perhaps making it Garden Titles/ Lyrics, as lyrics would certainly open it up even more.  Or it could start with titles and when those run dry, switch to lyrics.  Several possibilities, but being quite a newbie, I wouldn't want to take it upon myself to start it without some  input from at least a few of the myriad of experts here.)   

Back to the stream..... 

9.  Well, what do you know? I must have had just enough relief to let me drift back to sleep for a short time when that galloping, gallumping ostrich reappeared and awakened me once again, which, in turn, brought me to my next game idea.  Some of you who read this will not be surprised to hear that it has to do with alliteration and assonance.  Surprise!  Surprise! 

Now, I'd like to go on and get this posted, not to mention that I simply MUST get some house organization done, so I'll save the details on that game possibility for later, that is if anyone might be interested and if I can remember them by then!  :-)

 Good gardening, Meska