I have been writing my Saturday Book Musings ever since we started up Raven & Gryphon Fine Books back in 2017. I chose the word “musing” because I hate the word “blog”. BLOOOGGG –ugh! Nothing uplifting about this word!
“Musing” sounds nice and soft and musical. But what exactly is a muse. Let’s go to our friends at Wikipeda.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture. In modern figurative usage, a muse is a person who serves as someone's source of artistic inspiration.
The Roman scholar Varro (116–27 BC) relates that there are only three Muses: one born from the movement of water, another who makes sound by striking the air, and a third who is embodied only in the human voice. (Remember this first attribute, as this has a major influence on my muse – Sabrina).
Ancient authors and some later authors and artists invoke Muses when writing poetry, hymns or epic history. Ancient authors invocations often occur near the beginning of their work. It asks for help or inspiration from the Muses, or simply invites the Muse to sing directly through the author. The Muses are explicitly used in modern English to refer to an artistic inspiration.
Sabrina
Sabrina lives on the shoreline of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. She has been there for a long, long time. She doesn’t get around much, but she enjoys being in the salt water. She changes her hair style twice a day and changes her glasses to fit the weather conditions and her temperament.
I walked past Sabrina almost every day for the past twenty some years, first with Gryphon and then with Freyja, our wonderful Belgian Shepherds. Now, I walk by Sabrina by myself.
She started to reach out to me just over the past couple of years. I started to stop and look at her beautiful hair and she started to respond to my attention by planting thoughts in my head. Good thoughts, encouraging thoughts, stimulating thoughts, influential thoughts. She has become my muse. Although, I must confess some days she is stone-faced and refuses to talk to me. Thankfully, not often.
Meet Sabrina
From now on, I will end my musings with a nod to my beautiful muse, Sabrina, in appreciation of her thoughtful contributions.