Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Giving In
No Friday Five Favorites today. Just a quick update.
.
I gave in this week. I determined to let my body take the sleep it cried out for and craved. I gave in to the exhaustion of FM. And instead of thinking of it as losing precious time, I looked at it as a period of restoration. [Thank you, Alethea!] Time will tell whether it makes the difference. I am sure of one thing though. One day it was Tuesday, and the next it seemed--- was Friday. No. It doesn't mean I slept straight through. But the week simply came and went; much too quick.
.
There's a local health food store that sets up weekly for B12 injections; $15 per shot. I've determined to go next week and give it a try. Can't hurt. Well, yes it will! (~: ANYway, if it helps me to feel less tired, it will be $15 well spent.
.
And as regards my pc monitor dilemma. That resource did not pan out. The power switch is "not fixable," and he didn't have any monitors to sell. So, I gave in today and started to do a little online window shopping. I'm going to take my time. But. My saving grace in all of this? Comparable 19", wide flat screen monitors are a good $100 less than what I paid just a year and half ago. Still-- it's a strain on my already fragile budget!
.
Remember my work on refurbishing my Saxony spinning wheel? Well, I finally got around to taking that polishing cloth to it today. I still need to purchase a maintenance kit. But what with needing a new monitor, the kit will have to wait. Besides, I still have the cord band drive and I can fudge a connector to the peddle. And wheel oil? I'll think of something.
.
Oh! And the basket behind the wheel is that rose gray alpaca roving I bought from Marathon Alpacas, on ebaY. I picked up another bag of loose black alpaca roving about two weeks back. So, I've got the fiber. I just need the wheel.
.
There's also the matter of finishing up work on rejuvenating the small drop spindle for spinning that silk hankie.
.
In the meantime, I need to finish reading Stella, by Colin Galbraith. More on that soon. [See the side bar for my Review Queue.] For now, have a look at the book trailer.
.
I gave in this week. I determined to let my body take the sleep it cried out for and craved. I gave in to the exhaustion of FM. And instead of thinking of it as losing precious time, I looked at it as a period of restoration. [Thank you, Alethea!] Time will tell whether it makes the difference. I am sure of one thing though. One day it was Tuesday, and the next it seemed--- was Friday. No. It doesn't mean I slept straight through. But the week simply came and went; much too quick.
.
There's a local health food store that sets up weekly for B12 injections; $15 per shot. I've determined to go next week and give it a try. Can't hurt. Well, yes it will! (~: ANYway, if it helps me to feel less tired, it will be $15 well spent.
.
And as regards my pc monitor dilemma. That resource did not pan out. The power switch is "not fixable," and he didn't have any monitors to sell. So, I gave in today and started to do a little online window shopping. I'm going to take my time. But. My saving grace in all of this? Comparable 19", wide flat screen monitors are a good $100 less than what I paid just a year and half ago. Still-- it's a strain on my already fragile budget!.
Remember my work on refurbishing my Saxony spinning wheel? Well, I finally got around to taking that polishing cloth to it today. I still need to purchase a maintenance kit. But what with needing a new monitor, the kit will have to wait. Besides, I still have the cord band drive and I can fudge a connector to the peddle. And wheel oil? I'll think of something.
.
Oh! And the basket behind the wheel is that rose gray alpaca roving I bought from Marathon Alpacas, on ebaY. I picked up another bag of loose black alpaca roving about two weeks back. So, I've got the fiber. I just need the wheel.
.
There's also the matter of finishing up work on rejuvenating the small drop spindle for spinning that silk hankie.
.
In the meantime, I need to finish reading Stella, by Colin Galbraith. More on that soon. [See the side bar for my Review Queue.] For now, have a look at the book trailer.
I looked and looked, last year for a battery recharger system, and couldn't find one to save my proverbial soul. BUT, after using up the last of the throw away variety, I renewed my search effort and found a Kodak Value Charger. My digital camera is now back in 'greener' business. So is my tape recorder, which I intend to use, to take notes, as I read the hardbound Every Heart Has Its Day, by Lynda Lukow. [Scroll down the page and you'll see I am one of the winners of her Sweet Treats contest. Thank you, Lynda!] I find hardcopy books great for those periods when I'm relegated to the couch; in Recovery Mode. And the tape recorder will also help cut down on the use of notebook paper. Oh! My Kingdom for a Laptop! (~:
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Sunday Morning Gardening
.
The Sun was barely up when I set out to putter in my humble little garden. That's the one I planted while I was a few weeks offline; with another dead pc monitor. I'm currently using a loaner [Thank you, Raymond!] , but have a resource to see if my 19" Flatron can be repaired. More on that later!
.
This post is about gardening. I'd already set the stakes for the two tomato plants, earlier this week. But today, it was time to tie them up.
.
Oh! And let me offer one helpful hint. If you decide to cut costs this year and purchase a package of those green bamboo stakes, just remember to use gloves! That dye brushes off onto everything you touch and does not wash off easily. My hands and nails were a faded green for days.
.
There's another helpful hint I now have the experience to offer. Before anyone sets out to create their own Victory Garden, take in the full account of the project and know your limitations. I wanted to do my part and plant [albeit a small one] and grow my own food, but failed to give consideration to the entire process.
.
Knowing I can no longer plant and work a proper garden is one thing. Deciding to utilize the empty containers sitting in my garage doing nothing, is another. But failing to consider the basic maintenance and the toll it has already taken on my ailing body, well-- for now, let's just write that off to brain fog.
.
I also believed that gardening would help get me outdoors and keep said foggy brain more active. But watering my future crops has me in recovery mode every morning. I make at least 3-4 trips, inside and back out, with my watering cans. At very least, I eventually gave thought to, and now take a foot stool out so I can sit as I water. That's been of tremendous help.
.
Getting it all planted had me recovering for days. Setting out and fussing with those tomato stakes had me in recovery mode for hours. Even container gardening goes not well with a degenerating and OA-ridden spine. Securing the tomato plants this morning, has me sitting here, again, with the heating pad on HIGH! And I can't sit here much longer.
.
But here's a quick update on the fruits of my labor.
.
That first little everbearing strawberry that formed in my hanging berry patch, is just turning red and will be ready to pluck in a matter of days! And my first Roma tomato has taken its beautiful meaty oblong shape. Oh for the first salad they end up in!
.
There are also the bush [not vining] cucumbers. I found the first liddy biddy inch long cuke nestled underneath all those prickly leaves. I'm so looking forward to the first few slices of homegrown cucumber.
.
I need to do a little research, though, as I've discovered SOMEthing is nibbling at my eggplants. Only one plant so far [of the two varieties I planted], is showing wholes in the leaves, but I've never grown eggplant before, so I'm not familiar with the possible pests.
.
The Radicchio is coming along nicely [as you can see to the left. I have two pots of that.], but I've had to go out late in the day to re-water. And, I've already harvested a few White Sage leaves and brewed my first pot of tea. I've found absolutely nothing more soothing than the first swallow of sage tea.
.
I came up here [to my studio office] with the scent of tomato plants still on my hands. Regardless the pain, I've been too long away from that kind of smell. Purchasing twine isn't in my budget right now, so I made a quick decision on which spool of 1/4 inch ribbon to sacrifice to the cause. And as I tied, pulled at, and straightened the branches and stems, I took the quiet of the new day to thank them for being here. With the sky as my church, this is where I find and have known the Creator. By being with and respecting Nature.
.
Need to go now; my back is screaming!
.
Have a wonderful day, and Blessings to All.
The Sun was barely up when I set out to putter in my humble little garden. That's the one I planted while I was a few weeks offline; with another dead pc monitor. I'm currently using a loaner [Thank you, Raymond!] , but have a resource to see if my 19" Flatron can be repaired. More on that later!.
This post is about gardening. I'd already set the stakes for the two tomato plants, earlier this week. But today, it was time to tie them up.
.
Oh! And let me offer one helpful hint. If you decide to cut costs this year and purchase a package of those green bamboo stakes, just remember to use gloves! That dye brushes off onto everything you touch and does not wash off easily. My hands and nails were a faded green for days.
.
There's another helpful hint I now have the experience to offer. Before anyone sets out to create their own Victory Garden, take in the full account of the project and know your limitations. I wanted to do my part and plant [albeit a small one] and grow my own food, but failed to give consideration to the entire process.
.
Knowing I can no longer plant and work a proper garden is one thing. Deciding to utilize the empty containers sitting in my garage doing nothing, is another. But failing to consider the basic maintenance and the toll it has already taken on my ailing body, well-- for now, let's just write that off to brain fog.
.
I also believed that gardening would help get me outdoors and keep said foggy brain more active. But watering my future crops has me in recovery mode every morning. I make at least 3-4 trips, inside and back out, with my watering cans. At very least, I eventually gave thought to, and now take a foot stool out so I can sit as I water. That's been of tremendous help.
.
Getting it all planted had me recovering for days. Setting out and fussing with those tomato stakes had me in recovery mode for hours. Even container gardening goes not well with a degenerating and OA-ridden spine. Securing the tomato plants this morning, has me sitting here, again, with the heating pad on HIGH! And I can't sit here much longer.
.
But here's a quick update on the fruits of my labor..
That first little everbearing strawberry that formed in my hanging berry patch, is just turning red and will be ready to pluck in a matter of days! And my first Roma tomato has taken its beautiful meaty oblong shape. Oh for the first salad they end up in!
.
There are also the bush [not vining] cucumbers. I found the first liddy biddy inch long cuke nestled underneath all those prickly leaves. I'm so looking forward to the first few slices of homegrown cucumber..
I need to do a little research, though, as I've discovered SOMEthing is nibbling at my eggplants. Only one plant so far [of the two varieties I planted], is showing wholes in the leaves, but I've never grown eggplant before, so I'm not familiar with the possible pests.
.
The Radicchio is coming along nicely [as you can see to the left. I have two pots of that.], but I've had to go out late in the day to re-water. And, I've already harvested a few White Sage leaves and brewed my first pot of tea. I've found absolutely nothing more soothing than the first swallow of sage tea.
.
I came up here [to my studio office] with the scent of tomato plants still on my hands. Regardless the pain, I've been too long away from that kind of smell. Purchasing twine isn't in my budget right now, so I made a quick decision on which spool of 1/4 inch ribbon to sacrifice to the cause. And as I tied, pulled at, and straightened the branches and stems, I took the quiet of the new day to thank them for being here. With the sky as my church, this is where I find and have known the Creator. By being with and respecting Nature.
.
Need to go now; my back is screaming!
.
Have a wonderful day, and Blessings to All.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
A Story of Prompt and Circumstance
.
I took a little time out today to practice my craft. The following exercise comes via a writing prompt from one of the Daily Writing Challenges, found in the forums of The Working Writer's COACH.
.
The Prompt:
.
Candace looked up at Mark. “You know what this means, don't you?”
.
He gulped, then nodded. His head bounced like a bobble-head ball park figurine or one of those dogs seen in the rear windows of cars that have known better days.
.
"Well!" The one syllable word flowed sing-song (not quite a statement; not quite a question) out of his mouth, as he turned to meet— well— what he alone perceived as doom.
.
However adept back home, Professor Townsend now knelt in the company of a long-drawn-out avoidance of Fate. Oh! He talked the Talk. But when faced with the more mobile aspect of said equation, his flair for the verbal banter knew no bounds. And, it actually stood beyond reproach.
.
Too excited to wait for him to answer, Candace continued. "I get to see your brilliance at work. First hand!"
.
Though several years his junior, and at times markedly naive, Mark knew Candace was no fool. He watched her drink in the excitement of the moment. And revel in the grandeur of the exotic and other-worldly surroundings.
.
"If you like, I can step aside and grant you the honor of coaxing it back out." Mark craved the luxury of knowing how much longer he could stall.
.
"Oh no, Professor!" Dark ringlets of damp hair clung to the sides of her face. "I couldn't imagine missing out on such a rare opportunity; seeing you in action."
.
'There it is.' Mark reflected.
.
He’d savored every gradation of their well-meaning, if ill-placed praise. And he'd been fortunate, all the years of his tenure, to be the sole witness to the extent of his fraud. Relatively speaking, Mark found Candace a credit to her species. But her incessant public requests, demanding a spot on his next expedition, completely wore him down. Even more when the Dean of Faculties insisted he open up and garner field experience to commendable students; i.e. Ms. Foster.
.
“Alright— ” He replied, running the backside of his hand across his forehead.
.
As Candace moved to the fore to set up the camcorder and documentary video, Mark drew in and released a hard-drawn breath. His eyes rolled up and to the back of his head as the lids crept over them slowly, and then shut.
.
Pulling a frayed and faded plaid hanky free from the upper pocket of his photographer’s vest, Mark wiped it across his face. And here, in the sweltering heat of the Amazon Rainforest, Professor Mark Ellsworth Townsend, wet to the core with sweat, had no choice but to shake loose the shackles of his fear. Trapped by the inevitable, and regardless how ungracious his potential undoing, Mark turned back to the earthen doorway of the elusive long-haired Giant Hissing Arachnoid.
.
“I’m ready when you are, Professor.”
.
“Yes. Well. Your eagerness is— well— It’s—” Mark practiced pointing to the tree when his head started bobbling again.
.
While Candace focused the lens and her attention on the base of the massive and ancient tree, Mark wrestled with the image of eight long legs jutting out and wrapping about his hand. And while the question of his manhood never once entered the student's mind, Mark struggled with the subsequent sensation of being dragged through the comparatively small opening and down into a dark and vast abyss.
.
Though he also gave thought to feigning heat stroke it was sooner, rather than later, that Mark's pride in his standing in the academic community triumphed. With a tinge of salt in his left eye and every ounce of courage he could in secret muster, Mark braced himself against the lichen-covered tree and plunged a very, very, very long stick forward and inside the whole; to poke at a monster of both dire and imagined proportion.
.
Story draft by L.L. Abbott
.
I took a little time out today to practice my craft. The following exercise comes via a writing prompt from one of the Daily Writing Challenges, found in the forums of The Working Writer's COACH..
The Prompt:
.
Candace looked up at Mark. “You know what this means, don't you?”
.
He gulped, then nodded. His head bounced like a bobble-head ball park figurine or one of those dogs seen in the rear windows of cars that have known better days.
.
"Well!" The one syllable word flowed sing-song (not quite a statement; not quite a question) out of his mouth, as he turned to meet— well— what he alone perceived as doom.
.
However adept back home, Professor Townsend now knelt in the company of a long-drawn-out avoidance of Fate. Oh! He talked the Talk. But when faced with the more mobile aspect of said equation, his flair for the verbal banter knew no bounds. And, it actually stood beyond reproach.
.
Too excited to wait for him to answer, Candace continued. "I get to see your brilliance at work. First hand!"
.
Though several years his junior, and at times markedly naive, Mark knew Candace was no fool. He watched her drink in the excitement of the moment. And revel in the grandeur of the exotic and other-worldly surroundings.
.
"If you like, I can step aside and grant you the honor of coaxing it back out." Mark craved the luxury of knowing how much longer he could stall.
.
"Oh no, Professor!" Dark ringlets of damp hair clung to the sides of her face. "I couldn't imagine missing out on such a rare opportunity; seeing you in action."
.
'There it is.' Mark reflected.
.
He’d savored every gradation of their well-meaning, if ill-placed praise. And he'd been fortunate, all the years of his tenure, to be the sole witness to the extent of his fraud. Relatively speaking, Mark found Candace a credit to her species. But her incessant public requests, demanding a spot on his next expedition, completely wore him down. Even more when the Dean of Faculties insisted he open up and garner field experience to commendable students; i.e. Ms. Foster.
.
“Alright— ” He replied, running the backside of his hand across his forehead.
.
As Candace moved to the fore to set up the camcorder and documentary video, Mark drew in and released a hard-drawn breath. His eyes rolled up and to the back of his head as the lids crept over them slowly, and then shut.
.
Pulling a frayed and faded plaid hanky free from the upper pocket of his photographer’s vest, Mark wiped it across his face. And here, in the sweltering heat of the Amazon Rainforest, Professor Mark Ellsworth Townsend, wet to the core with sweat, had no choice but to shake loose the shackles of his fear. Trapped by the inevitable, and regardless how ungracious his potential undoing, Mark turned back to the earthen doorway of the elusive long-haired Giant Hissing Arachnoid.
.
“I’m ready when you are, Professor.”
.
“Yes. Well. Your eagerness is— well— It’s—” Mark practiced pointing to the tree when his head started bobbling again.
.
While Candace focused the lens and her attention on the base of the massive and ancient tree, Mark wrestled with the image of eight long legs jutting out and wrapping about his hand. And while the question of his manhood never once entered the student's mind, Mark struggled with the subsequent sensation of being dragged through the comparatively small opening and down into a dark and vast abyss.
.
Though he also gave thought to feigning heat stroke it was sooner, rather than later, that Mark's pride in his standing in the academic community triumphed. With a tinge of salt in his left eye and every ounce of courage he could in secret muster, Mark braced himself against the lichen-covered tree and plunged a very, very, very long stick forward and inside the whole; to poke at a monster of both dire and imagined proportion.
.
Story draft by L.L. Abbott
.
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Friday Five Favorites of June 5th
.
Though I've been back online since last week, getting a post updated has proved difficult. More on that later. For now, I merely want to get a Favorites out to everyone. This week I thought I would address five of my favorite RSS feeds. So here we go.
.
.
No. 1—Words on a Page
I’ve posted a link to her blog more than once already, but it bears repeating. Lori Widmer is a great resource for freelance writers. She is also a champion for fair working wages [Writer’s Worth Day], and not selling oneself short.
.
No. 2—The Urban Muse
I found Susan Johnston’s site via Twitter [UrbanMuseWriter], and find it to be another great source of information. See: 5 Tips for Organizing Source Material or I Said, He Said, We Said
.
No. 3—Freedom From The Mundane
Okay! I’m more familiar right now with his website and Twitter posts, but— I’m a few chapters into Colin Galbraith's, Stella, [Yes. You read right! Review pending—and more about that soon!], and subscribed to his blog a day or so back. Check out his first stop on the blog tour for:
Though I've been back online since last week, getting a post updated has proved difficult. More on that later. For now, I merely want to get a Favorites out to everyone. This week I thought I would address five of my favorite RSS feeds. So here we go..
.
No. 1—Words on a PageI’ve posted a link to her blog more than once already, but it bears repeating. Lori Widmer is a great resource for freelance writers. She is also a champion for fair working wages [Writer’s Worth Day], and not selling oneself short.
.
No. 2—The Urban Muse
I found Susan Johnston’s site via Twitter [UrbanMuseWriter], and find it to be another great source of information. See: 5 Tips for Organizing Source Material or I Said, He Said, We Said
.
No. 3—Freedom From The Mundane
Okay! I’m more familiar right now with his website and Twitter posts, but— I’m a few chapters into Colin Galbraith's, Stella, [Yes. You read right! Review pending—and more about that soon!], and subscribed to his blog a day or so back. Check out his first stop on the blog tour for:
No. 4—Quips and Tips
Another Twitter find, Laurie Pawlik-Keinlen’s site is another great resource for both the beginning and seasoned writer. As goes her Tweets? They're filled with inspiring quotes and quips.
No. 5—Working Writer’s Coach
Lastly, I met Suzanne Lieurance during last year’s Muse Online Writer’s Conference, and subscribed to her Build Your Business Write newsletter soon after. Do yourself a favor and meet up with her as well.
Though I linked only a few, all [myself included] tweet regularly on Twitter.
That's it for today. More posts pending. Reeeeally!
Blessings
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