Tropical Twitters and Tweets

I live in the Tropics, or so I’ve been told. Fort Myers, USA is located so far South that its climate is tropical. This is the rainy season, known to many as “hurricane” season. Today is no exception. It is dark, dreary, windy and rainy.

A day like today pulls the plug on creativity. It makes you want to curl up with a good book, a Nook or a Kindle and eat ice cream.

Hand-held devices like Nook and Kindle are fast replacing books. You can download free or inexpensive books to read wherever you are. Hey, they fit in your purse, the pocket of a jacket, and they can be read almost anywhere. I must say I love mine, and I’m addicted to the word games I download free.

Perhaps the bookcases of today will become like the butter churns and carriages of yesteryear. I would miss that. I’m going to repeat an old blog – it fits!

I fell in love with paper somewhere between third and sixth grades. I remember the excitement of making that first mark on a white sheet and wondering where it was going to take me, either to capture a vision I saw in my head, or to write a few words hidden within my heart. It was magic!


My first visit to a public library was love at first smell. There is nothing like the fragrance of books, paper and binding material to draw the creative muse from the shadows. I literally sat at a table and sniffed the pages as I read my way through several children's books. A kind, and rather concerned librarian assisted me in getting my first library card. It was heaven!

But aside from "The Bobbsey Twins," "Nancy Drew," and "The Five Little Peppers," it was eighth grade before I read a real novel: "Les Miserables." From there I discovered the classics and the great artists in history. I lugged stacks of books home from the library each week, and I snubbed my nose at the coloring books mother purchased, requesting, instead, clean white paper.

I still like the smell of paper, and tremble with anxiety before each blank page or canvas. It's all about discovery; learning about yourself, and exploring the world around you. Using simple tools like pencils and pens, brushes and paint, paper and canvas, you can change lives. Heck, you can change the world!