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A garden had better make room

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

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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Sunday Confessional: I feel like Imelda Marcos

/ Tracy Abell

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!

/ Tracy Abell

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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Bunny Monday

/ Tracy Abell

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

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

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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On the 14th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, G.W. Bush is still a war criminal

/ Tracy Abell

In March of 2003, my family took the train from Denver to San Francisco during our sons’ spring break. Wildebeest was 9-years-old and Zebu was 7. As had millions of people around the world, we’d marched and demonstrated and written letters and called our representatives to say NO TO WAR ON IRAQ.

Didn’t matter. Bush said he wouldn’t shape his policy according to public opinion, even when it was the whole freaking planet screaming NO.

We were in a hotel when it was announced that the U.S. had begun dropping bombs. We were outraged and heartbroken. So were many, many people in San Francisco. The police were out in full riot gear, looking very nervous.

Over the next days, people chained themselves to manhole covers and blocked streets.

Protesters were everywhere. So were the cops.

That Bush-Cheney invasion, powered by lies and fear-mongering, made the oil companies and mercenaries much richer, while destroying the lives of millions of Iraqis.

Now it’s March of 2017, and people are saying they miss George W. Bush. Unbelievable. George W. Bush is a war criminal, plain and simple, and the repercussions of his crimes continue fourteen years after he wrongly invaded another country.

 

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Twofer Tuesday: The Signage Edition

/ Tracy Abell

A while back I blogged about discovering the perfect sign for the times. I went ahead and ordered two (in case one got stolen OR someone was keen to add a sign to their own yard).

The bright and welcoming little sign has been out front for a while.

Yesterday, as Zippy and I walked across the yard while heading out for Emma’s daily jaunt, he spotted something:

A scribble of thanks from another human being sharing the planet.

Every time I read those words, my heart swells with gratitude and a renewed sense of connection. Thank you, Helga M., for taking the time to reach out.

 

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Is that you?

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

I spent a fair amount of time yesterday and today searching for character images. I’m writing about a girl and her little sister, and want to have touchstone photos I can refer to when I feel myself veering off track.

I love this photo, but it’s not quite right. There seems to be something off about each image I find. The expression is wrong or the hair is too long, too blonde, too short, too punk. Or the hair is perfect, but the eyes don’t speak to me and the body language is wrong.

I guess what I really need is a photo-based Mr. Potato Head.

 

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Like this Northern Flicker, my feathers are ruffled

/ Tracy Abell

And it’s starting to feel as if those feathers will be in a permanent state of ruffle. It’d be awesome if we could drag all the cave people back to their caves, slide boulders in front of the entrances, and starve their mean-spirited carcasses to enlightenment.

A bird woman can dream, can’t she?

 

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Magpie Monday

/ Tracy Abell

There are many rhymes about magpies, but none of them is very reliable because they are not the ones that the magpies know themselves.
~  Terry Pratchett

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Thankful Thursday: The such-a-good-girl edition

/ Tracy Abell

Today I’m thankful for my new walking buddy who did such a good job with me just now. No twirling, snarling, lunging or barking in 2.11 miles of neighborhood walking that included four other dogs on leashes.

Yet another out of focus photo of Emma who's always on the move.

Yet another out of focus photo of Emma who’s always on the move.

 

 

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