To whomever is lighting fires in the open space surrounding my neighborhood:
PLEASE STOP!
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Uncategorized
Every creature means just that
Every creature is better alive than dead,
men and moose and pine trees,
and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.
~ Henry David Thoreau
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Today I embraced my inner squirrel
I’m working on a synopsis for my work-in-progress and, as anyone who has ever written one can attest, it’s not a pretty process. This time around I’m writing a synopsis before writing the novel which means I’m not locked into anything.
NOT LOCKED INTO ANYTHING = EVERYTHING IS A POSSIBILITY
Or another way to describe it: SQUIRREL BRAIN FREE-FOR-ALL
My ADD tendencies are having a blast-y as I try to reconcile my rough outline with all the brand new shiny ideas firing in my brain.
ZIP ZAP ZOOP.
However, I did make progress today. And when I’d had enough of ye olde synopsis, I put Emma on her leash and we went for a run on the trails.
Nothing clears the squirrel from one’s brain like a run over uneven terrain.
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Waving goodbye to another Easter
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I changed my mind
Just now, I sat down at my computer and went to pexels.com in search of a Lamb’s Ear photo. My plan for this blog post was to publicly declare my new-found hostility toward that invasive plant, and to describe how I’d ripped out AT LEAST SEVENTY GAZILLION of them from my garden today.
But when I got to pexels.com, my search results from several weeks ago were still there; I’d been looking for images for the characters in my work-in-progress.
And this guy was the very first photo:
I’ve decided to drop my rant and, instead, dedicate today’s post to this delightful child.
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Friday Haiku
Which sounds most graceful:
Anhinga, water turkey,
snakebird or darter?
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Because it’s been a hard day on the planet
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
~ Mark Twain
From “The Top 40 Most Hilariously Wrong Exam Answers”
I hope that helped. I’m definitely feeling better.
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Wordless Wednesday: Black-Billed Magpie edition
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Twofer Tuesday: Tulip edition
Today’s post is brought to you by people who no longer live here. The first tulip was planted by former neighbors, but not when we were gardening side-by-side. Rather, they did one of their infamous “drive-by plantings” when we weren’t looking, and gifted us some miniature tulips.
The next tulip is a senior citizen and was planted by the former owners of our house. Next month, we’ll have lived here 20 years.
That red flower is a lesson in being beautifully tenacious.
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Today, I am an exhausted field
On an exhausted field, only weeds grow.
~ Henryk Sienkiewicz
However, tomorrow is another day.
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Sunday Confessional: Sometimes I’m perfectly happy to be less-than-perfect
I made a new hoop today, something I’ve been talking about for months. My reasons for not doing it sooner include the usual procastinate-y suspects, but one of the main reasons I put it off was because I was nervous about taping it. The last hoop I made (in 2008) has layers of gaffer tape where I screwed up and overlapped. The tape added heft to that hoop (and a little imbalance).
Today, after Zippy measured, cut, and connected the irrigation tubing, I decided to take the easy approach: one color.
The spacing varies and there are some wrinkles, and I’m pretty confident that I’ll discover dog and/or cat hairs stuck in the tape, but I’m thrilled with my taping performance.
The hoop is pretty and blue and ready to go for a spin, and I’m perfectly content.
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A garden had better make room
A garden is to be a world unto itself,
it had better make room
for the darker shades of feeling as well as the sunny ones.
~ William Kent
I worked in my garden today and experienced conflicting feelings. Why was I born into this life and society while others were born into regions of the world that are under constant assault? I’m no more exceptional than any of those people facing horrific circumstances. Why is that I can quietly work in my garden while others know only mayhem and violence?
At times, I felt guilty for my easy day outside under the blue sky.
However, I also felt satisfaction knowing my work would help living things thrive and that my efforts were keeping materials from the landfill. I reminded myself that I was creating beauty in the world and that beauty is a legitimate pursuit.
Last spring’s poppy blooms reminding me of the beauty yet to come.
Today, my garden made room for all the feelings.
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Friday Haiku
Image from Pexels.com
Now more than ever
creatives are essential.
Can’t let ugly win.
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Thankful Thursday: Emma of the short legs
Although I wanted to run today, Emma was more interested in walking than running. I was still grateful for her company. It’s impossible to be grumpy with a dog trotting along, smiling up at you.
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Wordless Wednesday: Tracy & the brown bears of McNeil River
Click on the image to better see the bears!
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A feeling of buoyancy and clarity
For me, when I ‘discover’ a story,
there is a feeling of buoyancy and clarity,
perhaps similar to early morning out on a prairie highway,
when darkness lifts and reveals
the outline of farmhouses and copses of trees in the distance.
~ David Bergen
Image from Pexels.com
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Doing the chicken dance with the Bluths
Just hit SEND on the opening pages of my brand new middle-grade novel to my critique group. We are WRITING ROOSTERS so it feels appropriate to do my celebratory dance with the Bluths:
Lindsay is definitely bustin’ the most rooster-like moves.
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Sunday Confessional: I feel like Imelda Marcos
Okay, I’m exaggerating. Imelda Marcos was/is WAY more obsessed with shoes. However, I’ve got a shoe tower growing in my dining room.
I wear a women’s size 12, which most stores don’t carry. I’ve come to the realization that in-person shopping is inefficient. Instead, I’ve started going online to order shoes in hopes of finding styles that fit well. I’m tired of settling for whatever unattractive and/or ill-fitting shoes I come across in stores.
The only caveat? The online source must have an easy return policy because I have nowhere near Imelda Marcos’s closet space.
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SQUIRREL!
Actually, unlike Dug the Dog from the movie UP, I maintained my focus today. I woke this morning with a game plan for working on opening pages of a new middle-grade, and I kept to that schedule. I made good progress and am feeling (slightly) less nervous about sending those pages (plus more) to my critique group on Monday.
I declare today a WIN for this writer.
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Friday Haiku
Two compost tumblers
ready to process yard waste.
None for you, landfill.
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Thankful Thursday: the sweet Zoe-tato edition
Zoey gave us a scare a couple days ago and I didn’t think she’d still be here.
Very glad to be wrong.
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Wordless Wednesday: spring-can-be-a-cruel-and-untidy-mistress edition
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A photo to honor a friend’s good news today
Marcel on October 31, 2015
All in the spirit of feline solidarity. Cat lovers, unite!
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Bunny Monday
It’s always a good day when a bunny hops into my line of vision. May you also be blessed with a similar sighting.
Wishing everyone a happy Bunny Monday!
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Sunday Confessional: Today I’m wishing I could have a do-over
This afternoon I randomly thought about a man I once knew and then looked him up online. Well, I discovered that he’d died about 18 months ago. He used to be married to a friend of mine, but they divorced. The man had done some stuff that ended up being unforgivable. Zippy and I had spent quite a bit of time with both of them as a couple, and we liked the man. He was smart, funny, and always made us feel welcome when we visited. But after the bad stuff came to light, my loyalty was to my friend. The man reached out once, but I didn’t return the call.
I still believe I was right to stand by my friend, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m now wishing I’d tried to communicate with him at some point. The thing is, my friend and I aren’t really in touch anymore so this news makes it feel as if I’ve lost two friends.
But, as Billy Wilder said, “Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”
Because he loved these flowers.
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