Tag Archives: Essays

Sandy Klaws

TBM-2312.18 – Yes, Marina There IS a Sandy Klaws

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Sandy Klaws

Description:

#audio. #parody #humor #essay #withapologiestoFrankChurch

Excerpt:

Yes, Marina, there is a Sandy Klaws. He exists as certainly as the tidepools, ocean currents and kelp forests exist, and you know that they abound to help sustain the lives of you and your family, as well as providing beauty and joy.

Links and References

Guest Voices

n/a

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Me-Me del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:25 — 4.7MB)

TBM2102.28 – Sunday Brunch – Leonardo Was Right

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Description:

#audio. #essay #sundaybrunch #LeonardoDaVinci  #winterstormuri

Excerpt:

I look around my house and feel nothing but anger at being cheated out of enjoying a rare snowstorm, and at the fact that the Texas government would prefer that people freeze rather than lose a penny.  I feel like I’ve betrayed my dogs by allowing them to suffer, to be confused by being moved away and then home, and by not behaving in ways they expect. My house is no longer a haven, but a prison I can’t escape.

Links and References

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Mei-Mei del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:14 — 8.1MB)

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TBM-1901.01 – 2019-This Will Be Our Year

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101543498_s

Description:

#Audio. #Blog This will be our year. All of ours.

Excerpt:

I know I’m not the only person who was more than ready to kick 2018 out the door, and welcome in the promise of a new year. Like a brand new pad of drawing paper, a brand new spiral notebook, a brand new computer with a virtually empty hard drive, a new year is a blank canvas, as yet untainted by politics or pain.

Links and References

  • Read the text of this piece at MissMeliss.com
  • “This Will Be Our Year” was originally by the Zombies, I used the cover by Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:36 — 9.1MB)

TBM-1812.26 – DDOA-020 – 1stDayAfterXmas

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butterflytopper-e1545884363647

Description:

#Audio. #Blog Tree toppers, as requested by Nuchtchas.

Excerpt:

Two trees means two tree toppers. The main tree, which is seven-and-a-half feet tall and is in the dining room, has a traditional angel on top. For the longest time, when Fuzzy and I both worked nights doing tech support for Gateway, we had a gold moon as the topper, but as our marriage matured our trees grew in stature (well, we kept upgrading to larger ones) and the moon was soon relegated to normal ornament status. I bought the angel a few years ago because she seemed serene, and she reminded me of a Renaissance painting I’d seen once..

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:52 — 3.9MB)

TBM-1812.02 – DDOA-001: Breathing

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anunay-mahajan-545899-unsplash

Description:

#Audio. #Essay. The Bathtub Mermaid muses about breathing and how it relates to reading, writing, and creativity.

Excerpt:

And breathing… breathing isn’t all the same. There’s meditative breathing, and contemplative sighing. There’s the sharp intake of breath when something surprises you (for good or ill) and the abrupt outflow of air when you express yourself with a hearty “Huh.” There’s the way we choke on breath when we experience sudden cold – that knife to the chest feeling – and the way overheated air makes us feel like there is no air to take in.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:50 — 10.5MB)

Copyright: arcticphotoworks / 123RF Stock Photo

TBM 1712.09 DDOP-Advent-04: Winter Flames

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Copyright: arcticphotoworks / 123RF Stock Photo

Description:

Sunday Brunch column for Modern Creative Life. An essay on the flames we light in winter.

Excerpt:

And yet, these winter holidays all have something in common as well – aside from the tendency to celebrate with incredibly delicious, albeit unhealthy foods. They all bring light to the longest nights of the year.

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo Copyright: arcticphotoworks / 123RF Stock Photo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:20 — 5.6MB)

TBM 1509.16 – On Crayons

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Crayons

Show Notes

On Crayons

Audio essay loosely based on a 2002 blog post (of my own) about Crayons. “I think the names of colors are at the edge, between where language fails and where it’s at its most powerful.” ~A.S. Byatt. The first box I remember having is the child-sized ‘basic eight’ which were large and long and only half-round, like a bunch of wax logs, split for easy use, and wrapped in colorful paper. They’re supposed to be easier for young children, those who haven’t yet developed fine motor skills, to handle. You know you’re growing up when those fat coloring sticks become too heavy, the tips too large, for the work you want to do.

Credits

Music

Music for this episode was provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. Visit them at music.mevio.com.
Opening: “Soap in a Bathtub” by Stoney
Closing Music: “You Can Use My Bathtub” by Little Thom

Production

Recorded and Produced using BossJock and Audacity.

Links

MissMeliss: On Crayons
A.S. Byatt
Bill Watterson
Crayola (formerly Binney & Smith)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:07 — 13.9MB)

DDOP-1508.31 – Ten Dollar Summer Smile

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Dog Days of Podcasting

Show Notes

Ten Dollar Summer Smile

Sometimes the best thing to do is spend your last $10 on flowers.

Excerpt

Twenty years ago, when I got married, my husband and I went through the same budget struggles all young couples experience as we learned to balance the freedom of living entirely on our own recognizance with the requirement that we pay bills on time, keep gas in the car, and have money for laundry.

We learned that we each have minimum requirements for happiness. For my husband, to this day, sunflower seeds and fantasy novels are essential for his well-being. I, on the other hand, become bitter and cranky when I don’t have frou-frou coffee and fresh flowers.

More than once, I have spent my last ten dollars fulfilling that need – buying a bouquet of irises, indulging in five bunches of daffodils, filling the house with carnations – because those small joys that bring summer into the house are the things that keep me going, even when I feel tired, frumpy, and boring.

Credits

Music

Music for this episode was provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. Visit them at music.mevio.com.
Opening: “Soap in a Bathtub” by Stoney
Closing Music: “You Can Use My Bathtub” by Little Thom

Production

Recorded and Produced using BossJock and Audacity.

Links

Summer Love Notes
The Summer Smile $10 Can Buy
Dog Days of Podcasting

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:23 — 5.8MB)

DDOP-1508.23: The Hottest Blood of All

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Dog Days of Podcasting

Show Notes

The Hottest Blood of All

In March, 2014, my husband and I joined my parents on a whale watching expedition. I wrote about it for All Things Girl, when I got home, and meant to post it to this podcast then. A year and a half later, I’m finally doing so.

Excerpt

I also know that something deep inside me has been profoundly affected by this experience. Whales, when you’re close to them, when you look them in the eye, radiate this ages-old preternatural wisdom that you can’t quite grasp, except by the edges. The calf and I locked gazes, and it felt, for those precious seconds, like I was in the center of the universe and made of starlight and whalesong.

Credits

Music

Music for this episode was provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. Visit them at music.mevio.com.
Opening: “Soap in a Bathtub” by Stoney
Closing Music: “You Can Use My Bathtub” by Little Thom

Production

Recorded and Produced using BossJock and Audacity.
Special thanks to Clay Robeson for recording bits of D.H. Laurence’s poem, “Whales Weep Not!”

Links

Clay Robeson
Eduardo’s Tours
Dog Days of Podcasting

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:07 — 15.3MB)

Dog Days of Podcasting #17: Cello-bration

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Dog Days of Podcasting

– Recorded 29 August 2013
– Includes random babble about cellos, and music.
– Mentions Aaron Minsky, aka Von Cello
– Mentions Darling Violetta
– Mentions Apocalyptica
– Includes reading of my piece, “Sunday Brunch: Cello Hands,” from All Things Girl
– Links: Sunday Brunch: Cello Hands

the-girl-and-her-cello-mats-eriksson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:49 — 12.7MB)