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Personal

Nano Recovery

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Winner-2014-Web-BannerSome insanity overtook me and I decided to enlist in the Nano madness for the first time ever.  For those not aware of it, its Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month where you commit to writing 50,000 words in the month of November.

I chose to engage in it because I have had a book idea brewing and thought it would give me the kick in the pants I needed to make a serious dent in it.  And I am very proud to say that I did indeed meet the 50,000 word count.  *Bells and whistles off in the background*  The task took me away from many things and I pretty much spent all my extra time plugging away at the keyboard.  I got none of the books I had read reviewed, haven’t gone through the photos in my camera and haven’t drawn anything.  But, I got the 50K!

That said, I am such a very long way from saying that I have a “novel”.  I have the foundation of one.  But, as in most things in my life, I seem to have bitten of a rather large bite on mine.  I have decided that before I consider plowing forward, I need to take a step back on the book and lay a bit more groundwork and decide what needs expanding and what needs some culling.  So, I will probably become a quiet subject for a while.

But, its over!  I did it!  And in the few days since, I have gotten a couple of reviews written on books I read during November.  And I plan on going through the camera this weekend.  The swans and snow geese are in and I have gotten the first batch  of pictures taken of them!  Oh, and the snow is filling up the mountains!  Very pretty!  Which caused me to sing a little ditty on the way home while waiting for a friend to pick the phone back up.  Little Christmas trees in the snow on the side of the road, covered with Christmas snow in the afternoon sun.

What a joy to live where there are seasons.  And thankfully, the rain has taken a short break giving the roads a chance to dry out  bit.

Garden Musings

Sadness, clippings and cages

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Garden Blog May 201420140502_2023
May began with a sadness this year.  A farewell to one of the most beautiful souls I have ever
had the privilege to know.  May your soul fly free now dear Julian, may you dance and sing, may you run like the wind, dive the waves like a dolphin and may what lies beyond be all you deserve for the beauty and light you brought to all who had the honor to know you.  And don’t forget to sometimes visit to breath words of comfort into your dear mother’s ear.  As she will miss you most of all.
Cassie-3.9.2013--1And so mom’s idea of how to deal with the grief is to do massive amounts of work in the yard.  Personally, I think she should stay inside and let me cuddle with her, but she doesn’t listen to my floofy wisdom.
Garden Blog May 201420140503_2033

Yeah, I’ve decided I really don’t have a need for a gym membership.  I figure I will be nicely trim and strong by the time I have this yard to my liking.  Plus, there is always the potential for some running spurts in the instance of an unplanned game of eaglescat invaders!
May 2014-2I know, I did’t finish it.  But, I got about 2/3 of it done.  And a hot bath will be in order at the end of this day!
Its a POTATO enclosure!!!!May 2014-5
May 2014-6And another enclosure for the compost pile.
May 2014-8
Yup!  That was a lot of work for one day!
JMay Shots-1ust an interesting piece of driftwood in the front garden.  I’ll find some shapes in it another day.
 Cassie-3.30.2014--2
Done already, are you?  Well, I am sure mom will be right back at it very soon.  Don’t forget the offering dish right over there.  Just pull a handful out and set them on the chair here.
Garden Musings

First Spring in the Garden – 1

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IMG_2307Well, I shall try again with this post.  Had the whole thing done and then something flipped and the whole thing was lost.  So, lesson learned and this time I shall save often.So, this is the second day of spring and I looked out my kitchen window and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a lovely lady deer stopping by for a morning snack?
IMG_2313Who would have thought that deer had a liking for birdseed?  I may actually consider putting up a birdfeeder in my yard just to attract one of these lovely ladies into my yard.
IMG_2316And here we have a bird not on a wire but on a branch under a wire.  Just moments before the infamous battle between the robin and the raven which was unfortunately over before I could get the camera back up to capture it for posterity.  Ah well.  There is always the next time.  They need to learn to either battle longer or give sufficient warning that the battle is about to ensue.
IMG_2320No, I am relatively sure it isn’t Woody, but rumor has it that it might be a distant relative.  I have been on countless hikes over the years and seen evidence of these critters in the trees turned Swiss cheese.  It was nice to finally get a picture of one and then found out that they are around here in just droves.  They seem particularly fond of perching in one of the  trees in the back yard.
IMG_2323Gotta love living in an area where you can burn the yard cuttings.  Yeah, I know most do it because it is a cost savings of having it hauled away.  But, for someone like me, its like . . . . . . FIRE!!!!  Cool!!!Seriously gave some consideration to running in the house and grabbing a blanket to try my hand at smoke signals.  But, I figured as close as I am to one of the Indian reservations, I would probably send off some seriously inflammatory comments and they would send one of the elders over to make me turn over my discount dining and gas card at the casino.  That doesn’t mean I would give it consideration again sometime in the future.  But this time I was content to just play with fire.
IMG_2324It should be noted that no known life forms were sacrificed in the making of this fire (at least not to the knowledge of the fire maker)  There was however, a disturbance of an erotic episode between a couple of glowing bronze beetles as the branch they were using for discretionary purposes was pulled up to add to the growing pyre.  I did offer an apology for the disturbance, but they were too engaged to take note of it.  And yes, I did attempt to get a picture of them, but by the time I had grabbed the camera and walked back over, they had moved to some other location.
IMG_2325I must have done something right because look!  There in the center of the pyre is a fire elemental engaged in dance of such ancient origin that no one remembers what it means anymore.  But, you can see her right there beckoning for others to join her in her fiery dance.
IMG_2326And here we have the two story fire elemental two story hobbit dome style abode.
IMG_1724And her little flooferness self, Miss Cassie, said it is time to take a break and look upon her immense beauty and tell her what a lovely little princess she is and what a lovely white ruff she has.  She is hoping that I won’t point out that little area right there at the bottom of the ruff where the fur is kinda stuck together. which is where she has drooled on herself and forgot to clean off before posing for the picture.  She does this often, but will insist that she doesn’t.  Don’t believe this.  Cats are wicked and deceitful creatures.
IMG_2327And so now we return to the fire which is emitting the most lovely plumes of smoke.  I did give much consideration to cackling maniacally and tossing thing into the fire for the scarification of the hag, but because there were other neighbors out and making kind gestures, including the exchange of verbal pleasantries, I opted to refrain till possibly the next time I make fire.
IMG_2328And it is now burning down to the last of its branches.  I did mean to take a picture of the black smoldering mound at the end, but got distracted with other things and forgot to do so.  I suppose this is one of those times I should contemplate making one of those things to remember lists.  The problem is that I always forget where I put them, so they tend to be a bit of a waste of time.
March 2014 Garden & Around Town-60

And I shall end this with this lovely picture of my blooming hellebore.  Because what more fitting way to end a post than with a picture of a poisonous plant?  Well, maybe a poisonous critter, but there weren’t any around so I had to make due with what I had to work with.