"The home gardener is part scientist, part artist, part philosopher, part plowman." - John R. Whiting

I like this quote because we are all so many parts of different things to make up the whole of who we are. When you write a character does he or she have a lot of parts? Can you name them all? If not, chances are the character is falling flat. Give them more, don't keep them too simple or plain or focused on just one thing.

Try to describe a character who is a gardener, start there and see what comes into the description when you really think about who your gardener is.

I haven't worn a shower cap since I was a little girl visiting my Grandmother. I wasn't even in the shower.  We were having a girl's night and I went to bed with my head full of curlers. The shower cap was pink and plastic, with frills. My Grandmother would wear it in the shower when she just wanted a quick wash or to cool down in the summer, without getting her hair wet.

There are alternate uses for shower caps. If you're traveling light you can wrap it around your toothbrush, toothpaste and shampoo to keep them sorted out in your luggage. Saves buying an extra little bag just to hold your bathing essentials. I bought my niece curlers last year. I hadn't even thought of myself with curlers and the shower cap so many years ago. As I took the curlers out of her hair the next morning I used the shower cap to store them in, thinking it would keep them together for the next time we curled her hair. She also had the shower cap on overnight, it does work to keep the curlers from coming loose over night. One little tradition passed on to the next generation.

These days I'm usually in the shower to wash my hair, scrub up and get out. I like to shower in the evening to give myself a little time to stand there and enjoy the hot water.  I don't use a shower cap. They are one of those nice, old fashioned kind of girly things that (in these days) seem to be more ceremonial than practical. When did you last think of a shower cap? When did you last use one?

How about a royal shower cap?

Fancy new shower caps for sale with Jennifer Lyn, Diva Sharon, Mimi a la Mode and Retro Revival.

The old standard, "love makes the world go round" really does work in so many ways.

When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life. - Kofi Annan

From the Free Dictionary - Dystopia: an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be.

Dystopia is the opposite of a utopia. It's a pretty great word if you're a science fiction fan, like myself. I hadn't heard of it before. Or, at least I didn't remember it. My nephew started playing a new game on his PS3, BioShock. It's a real experience into dystopian societies.  Pretty grim in fact. I was looking up more information about the storyline and characters when I came across the word dystopia in a write up about the game. So I had to look up the word. It was self explanatory really but still, I gave into temptation to find out more.

Exploring Dystopia - a forum for science fiction and horror fans. There is an old site too, pretty abandoned and comes with pop up ads and a thick banner on top.  But the site itself is pretty cool if you overlook the ad junk. Too bad they didn't keep it up and move it to a different free host.

Suite101: Utopian/ Dystopian Fiction.

Dystopia -  A cyberpunk game.

Happy (belated) Valentines Day

I noticed I had lost a button on my sweater. Gave me kinky thoughts about taking a photo and sending it to Stephen who I have been talking to since meeting through CollarMe in December. We have not met yet but I began this blog with the idea of keeping ideas and thoughts here to share with him later if things work out. There is something very stimulating (for me) about taking photos of myself like this. I don't pass them around like business cards or anything. But, it is fun for me and now I will be thinking about reading some erotica later tonight.