I think visually. I cannot remember names or directions but, like corvids and rodents, I have an Eidetic memory for visual cues, like faces and physical surroundings. That skillset is consistently reflected in my writing. Once I get the readers to step into the physical settings, the story and characters will do the rest.
If you stand right in front of Casa Claire and face West, on most days, like yesterday, you will see the Three Witches peeking over the foothills. Maiden, Mother and Crone. Mother Nature at her best.
That is the view that caught my eye yesterday when I went out to retrieve the mail. Majestic.
I always feel safe when I see those peaks. Always watching over me.
Back in Riverdale, if I stood on any street and faced West, I saw the concrete substitute for the above mountain peaks in the form of three twenty-plus story monoliths called Skyview, that stood on 25 acres of the highest land ridge of the Northwest Bronx overlooking my neighborhood.
Teaser
https://www.apartments.com/skyview-on-the-hudson-bronx-ny/pb422ns/
https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/riverdale/skyview-hudson-5900-arlington-avenue/61628
https://www.compass.com/building/skyview-on-the-hudson-bronx-ny/293417855687381093/
When Lisa and I were first married, we lived on the top floor of the middle building, 5800 Arlington Avenue.
The western view of the New Jersey Palisades from that apartment was beautiful, but I much preferred the Eastern view of Riverdale and the rest of the Bronx. Even as a young man, I had little interest of what lay west of New York, which I believed was the center of the universe.
I am older and wiser now. But Riverdale will always hold a special place in my heart.
Just as The Three Witches played a recurring visual cue throughout much of The Claire Trilogy, particularly in The Wise Ass and An Alien Appeal, the Skyview Triad played a significant role in Finding Jimmy Moran. Both structures had supernatural occurrences associated with them. Jimmy Moran was forever mystically connected to both sets of peaks.
Unlike The Three Witches, other mountain ranges are harbingers of evil in the remaining books of The Claire Saga. In Kissing My Ass Goodbye and Where The Ley Lines Meet, decisive battles occur in the shadows of the various mountain ranges.
Even the ancient Greeks realized there is something powerful in the image of a heroic character descending from a mountaintop.
You just cannot have a memorable epic adventure without mountains and tall foreboding towers. I made sure to include both. Now you know why.
Shifting gears to real life heroic individuals, my great nephew, Grayson Tatum Sacca, came through yesterday’s long and arduous heart operation like a champ. Terry, Tyler and Elizabeth are thrilled and the family thanks everyone for their prayers and good wishes. Go Grayson.
Speaking of going, I better get on it.
It’s hump day. So you fine, five readers get your skates on, the far side of the week’s hill awaits.
Don’t forget to wave at Friday from the peak.
I must first stop and cuddle a kitty or two. Then my rounds.
But whatever else we do, let’s make today a great one.
