How Does My Garden Grow

This year I put in a small garden, again. I skipped the garden last year - I was busy, the timing of a trip, rapid sprouting spinach and lettuce the previous year which we never go to eat. And. I didn't.

But this year I purchased several varieties of tomatoes and different sizes of plants (ages). I wanted to have the tomatoes spread out as to when they ripen and are ready to eat. I also planted spinach, variety of lettuce, a spaghetti squash plant, a watermelon plant. And I put in beet seed. Oh, and kale. I don't have hope of getting much of the kale, since the aphids really love kale around here. But, from the last two times I had kale, the aphids keep primarily to the kale and off the other plants. So far, I have been able to harvest a little of the kale and no aphids, yet!

We do have a few baby tomatoes on the biggest plant, The others look like they're going to make it, too.

The beets have sprouted - although they drifted significantly from where I put the seeds. But that's not a problem.

I've had several green smoothies with spinach from the garden. We've had a heat wave the last few days and three of my spinach plants are threatening to bolt, so I did some major pruning/harvesting today.

This is some of what I picked today. A dinner salad straight from the garden. So delicious!

Still Editing and More

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I always think I will get more done when I have some down time than I can realistically do. There are many reasons, but I'll start with the most obvious: I think I am SuperDot and overestimate what can be done in a particular period. I also don't always account for the unexpected. The "unexpected" can be something wonderful, and it often is, but it is still outside of what I had planned.

Everything is good. Truly. I'm working on interpreter information packets for next season, which is an exciting and interesting process. I have been working with an editor on a piece I submitted for publication - they are interested but there are some edits; I just finished round three this morning (the editor is wonderful and her feedback is helpful). And I am still working on manuscript edits - the by-hand edits, which are time-consuming but a necessary and important part of my manuscript process; I catch some things I wouldn't on the screen and some of the rewrites have to be done by hand because there is no way for me to do what I do on the screen and have it accessible for me. I think I just hit the halfway mark on the hand edits.

So, before I tackle another level of a very messy and time consuming project, I will share this.

Where I am remembering being, in this mental and physical space:

Where I am actually and the task I am tackling:

and this second task, which I may or may not get to today

It's all good and necessary.

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NaNo 4, 5, 6

I've already fallen behind on the daily posts here and not even through week one. That's okay, though, because I am still ahead of the word goals. Which is good. I am nearing that point where I will fall behind; and if I don't, well then. Okay!

My current word count at the end of the sixth day of NaNoWriMo is 12,417. That is an impressive number given everything else. The story did change, as I suspected it would. It has become a series of exploratory essays, I think, or something. I have committed to writing every day this month on this topic and seeing where it leads and what I discover. So I am a NaNo Rebel this year, and I am okay with that label. The goal is still 50k+ words in November and my own personal of write to this topic every day.

In other news, [besides the angst of rising health insurance costs (which were not a surprise but it doesn't lessen the impact) and the shock of the increased property tax bill (that was a surprise; a significant increase) and the car insurance raising the rates just because] our furnace has now stopped heating. It started acting up on Saturday. It still worked but was noisy; it heated and pushed the warmed air around. That continued Sunday and I asked a friend for a referral and got one. I called them Monday morning and they are coming Tuesday afternoon. But when I got home after my late night Monday shift, the furnace was humming quietly but no heat or fan. I reset it, the fan blew, then it stopped. No heat. At least it's not getting down into the 30s tonight; we do have a portable heater so I ran that in the bedroom to warm it a bit, then turned it off. Headed to bed now to get my side of the bed warmed while the chill is off the air. Tomorrow it will be fixed (I assume and hope). These are the facts of having a home, I know, it's just one thing. These are just a few of the little details of life which are encroaching on writing time. And I am grateful to have a home and insurance and a car and a job and a relationship and my cat which take up some of my time. Truly.

I am still confident I will make this my tenth consecutive NaNoWriMo win. I have a small retreat built in later in the month where I will catch up and get it done if I need to; or just continue to write every day on this topic if I've already passed the 50k.

Now, to bed, before all the heat leaks out of the bedroom.

NaNoWriMo Day 9: Words Hard Won

This was not an easy writing today. Up until now, the novel has flowed - for the most part. The scenes have come easily - most of the time. The characters show up and interact - most days.

But today, on the NaNoWriMo writing marathon day? No, writing was not easy. That's okay; I know that is a part of the process. I have also done NaNoWriMo enough to know that week two is a hard one. The exhilaration of another NaNovember and a new novel are wearing off (perhaps; for some authors). The story has taken twists and turns, not as expected. For a myriad of reasons, week two the writing starts to slow and the momentum can be harder to keep up with.

And that's what happened today.

I set everything up. Ready to write. Ready for the muse and a day of fantastic writing and lots of words. And.

I did make a little over the daily average to reach 50k. But it took a many hours. It required taking a break to finish loading the dishwasher and running it. It required doing a load of laundry from beginning to end. It required the snacks and good food I bought as incentive and as reward. It required henna-ing my hair (which, it really was time, and this was my last opportunity until about the 20th).

But I did it. I wrote just under 1800 words today and am closing the laptop with 18750; still ahead of schedule.

I also finished up and posted a poem in the Literary Kitchen poetry class I'm taking from Daphne Gottlieb.

It was, overall, a good writing day. I will even admit to it being productive. Just a little less productive than I had hoped.

But a good writing day. And I still have my word bank intact.

I also have enough time left for a little more Wii.

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Non-Writing NaNoPrep

NaNoWriMo is about writing. And having fun doing it, and more. NaNoWriMo is about a lot of things, but for me, one important aspect of the month is making time for writing. Moving writing up the ladder of Things That Must Be Done.

So my preparation for NaNovember has included doing more writing, stepping back up to writing every day, and thinking about what I might write. I've made several changes in potential topics, titles, and so forth. I think I have a plan, though I can't say as I have a plot. What I do have is ten characters with names and I'm fleshing out their details, writing up character sketches. I do have one of the major settings of the novel and have even come up with a name for the place - it's a theater. I'm writing up some history about the theater company and where they rehearse and sometimes perform, which isn't the same as the theater company's name.

A character from a short story which is currently out of consideration at a magazine, is making an appearance in this larger novel. She seems to want to be one of the major ten, so I have altered one of the original names and will let her play. And with that, I do know that the book's theater company is going to either take a company retreat to the coast or they might be performing at the coast. That part isn't clear, but this character insists on a trip to the beach, so they will.

But every year I have a few projects I want to get done before NaNovember starts so they are not distractions. There are plenty of things to draw my attention away from the novel without significant items on my to-do list. I didn't have many this year, but there are some.

One thing I will do on Thursday - a day off from all work - is laundry. NaNoEve and my clothes will be all clean and ready for the new novel to begin. Yes, I will have to do laundry during the month, but in the first few days, when the writing energy is high, I want as little else to do as possible so I can capitalize on the first flurry of words. Especially this year when I will be off on NaNoEve, NaNoDayOne, and the day after. I should be able to get this novel going with a large word count.

Today I finished cleaning up the garden, mulching, and putting it to bed for the winter. The late spinach never did take off and I pulled out the one surviving plant and had a bitty snack. I discovered two more ripe spaghetti squash and brought them in. And the garden beds are composted over and we will have awesome soil for next season.

Another major, albeit boring task was to replace all the toilet seats. I made a trip to Home Depot (and then to Lowe's for something Home Depot doesn't carry and Lowe's said they had in stock - but it turned out to not be what I wanted, so that project is actually going on hold until spring or until we find someone to do the actual job than my intended temporary fix). Boring, boring, I know. But the seats needed replacing and now they are. And we have shiny, new, better than the original toilet seats and I don't have to think about it while I'm writing.

I also have spinach bagged up in the freezer and fresh in the refrigerator; frozen homemade chicken soup stock, a bunch of apples and a couple of jars of organic crunchy peanut butter. And tea - I already had the tea from our favorite store in Taos, Wabi Sabi, and from a nice cafe and tea store in Yachats; but I now have soy milk to go with it, and I bought some cans of Amy's lentil soups for quick, healthy meals (which goes really well with the spinach).

I am NaNoReady. And still working on the characters. In five days, two hours and thirty minutes, NaNoWriMo 2013 will begin. Then I will be writing about my Novel In Progress rather than my NaNoPrep.
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A New Garden

I woke up early this morning. Very early, considering that I went to bed late. Not a good combination; but that's what happened. 

I was excited to go to the "master gardeners' sale" and so I decided to go ahead and get up, despite being short on sleep. I figured I could nap later.

First we had to go to the post office so my partner could mail copies of her book to people who'd bought them at the art retreats earlier this month. She had a huge stack of books in envelopes - all personally signed, and she needed help. So post office. Then coffee (I'm still only drinking decaf; but even that minor amount of caffeine was needed today).

And then on to the plant sale. They were out of a few things - but they had the primary plant starts I wanted: kale, spinach, tomato (large and cherry and pear), and a few other miscellaneous edibles. We also picked up some herbs for one of the half whiskey barrels.

We dropped the plants off at home and gave them a drink of water. 

After taking Dexter out for dinner and a walk, we returned home and I started setting out the plants where I wanted them in the beds and planters. And then we did it. All of the plants are in the ground, watered, the tomatoes covered with their cages.

It looks great and it was fun to dig around in the dirt a bit. I'm going to have to remember to water the plants every day this week before I go to work, since we have unseasonably warm temperatures predicted (hovering around 80; this is definitely more like summer weather and not our typical spring at all).

I just finished reading the "21 Moments" prompt for today and am going to write the moment as soon as I'm done here. Or maybe this is my response to the prompt. Yes, I think that's it. It's not what I intended it to be - but perhaps it is.

I think I am growing a new writing garden along with the veggies and herbs in the back yard!

Oh - and my food dehydrator arrived today. I haven't dried anything yet and it might be a couple of weeks now before I do. I have a couple of interpreted plays coming up in two and three weeks, so I probably don't have time to actually do it until after those two shows are done.  Or maybe I'll try something the weekend between the two shows.

Writing and Planting

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No, I haven't bought any plants yet to go in my raised garden beds. But I will tomorrow!

Wait. Let me catch you up.

On Thursday I had an entire day off work and I had no appointments, or places to be. Wednesday night I decided I'd go to the store and buy supplies to make raised garden beds - which I did. I unloaded the supplies from my car at 10 pm, because I am a night person. On Thursday I turned over the soil, put down weed barrier, assembled the raised bed, and put the organic soil into the planting boxes. Voila! Garden space.

I also heard about a master gardener sale taking place midday on Saturday, so I will go see what they have and buy some plants to go into the boxes.

There's the planting part. Or the literal part, as in talking about real plants.

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But there is also the writing planting part of my week.

I signed up to do the "21 Moments, Part One." This is a program where I receive an email prompt each day for 21 days and I have to write my response. I can write them whenever I want - it doesn't have to be 21 days in a row, though that is what I'm going for. For the most part.

So far so good - I've been writing every day. Continuing with the daily writing, from April's A to Z Blogger Challenge, now with the "21 Moments."

Planting seeds or moments. To write.

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I like having time at home, without places I have to be. When I can get enough sleep, and exercise, and do projects. Time without work and without hurry. It's been a good three days.

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Radical Writer in the NaNoWriMo Zone: Day 5

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"One Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Dieties" from Rigpa Shedra

Today was an interesting day. I made my word count early.

Okay, I'll qualify that relative term - "early." It means I wasn't scrambling to type out my words on my late night lunch/dinner break or in the wee morning hours. It meant long before I went to work today (which I start at 5 pm) I had my minimum done.

Due to the state of the downstairs bathroom, which is where our washer and dryer are housed, we don't have a working laundry system at home. We have to go to the laundromat. This is our current state for another two or three weeks. Luckily, we have Belmont Eco Laundry just a couple miles from home. It's clean, good machines, there's an attendant, and they have wifi.

So, today, I got my writing in at the laundromat. As the clothes spun in the washer and then the dryer, I spun out my tale. Or the tale of my MC (main character, in NaNoSpeak). Because I'm no longer driving this ship. I can't even rightfully claim who is the MC; I have two characters vieing for that position. Maybe I have two MCs.

But the story is progressing. There have even been a couple of mentions of the plot essence I went into NaNo12 with showing up here and there. Not that I have much clearer of a picture of the path of this novel - I don't - but at least the topic I brought into November is present.

So. Progress is being made. The novel is sort of coming together. There are some good pieces which may be salvageable and there is some junk which will be tossed without a twinge of guilt.

And I may have a love scene coming up. I haven't had too many of those in my novels; I haven't been avoiding them, they just haven't come along. And I started with a death - but that's more than the readers would know. It's kind of obvious that someone has died, but it's in the interest of my novel's plot that who died isn't clear. And that's holding true. No one knows who died. I think even I don't know even though I have a guess. With today's writing, I think even that mystery may be left to the characters.

Oh boy. NaNoWriMo is a wild ride if you let it be.

NaNo NaNo!
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Daily Update: NaNoWriMo Day Two feels like three

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I'm ending the second day of NaNoWriMo with 3404 words. That's pretty good, though I'd hoped for more. But, judging how things have gone the last two days, I'm fine with ending the second day on target.

See, in case you're joining me late in this story, we had a water pipe break at home. Upstairs on the second floor, in the bathroom, behind the cabinet. That has been a very long process of dealing with a water damage recovery company which led to discovering asbestos backed floors in both bathrooms and having to move a claw foot tub for the new floors (both bathrooms) and more. Delays and haggles about what would or wouldn't be covered; miscommunications; wrong orders. One thing and another. Oh, and this happened on September first. Not a typo - September first; and today is November 2nd and we just got the upstairs bathroom all put back together today. Or I hope so; I haven't been home to see if it's final or not, but they were working on it when I left.

Two months without a working shower, without our washer and dryer. Luckily we do have a half bathroom and I do have a gym membership.

Today they arrived to start work at a time which was just a little over six hours after I arrived home from work. Ah well.  I moved things being stored in the guest room from that bed and climbed between the washer and dryer being stored there to get into the bed, where I slept for the better part of the next two hours. See, the upstairs bathroom is off of our bedroom.

Anyway. Then the contractors had to show us some "bad news" they found under the downstairs sink and explain why the downstairs - which is where the washer and dryer live - is going to be delayed another 2 - 3 weeks.

Which made me lose my swimming time but I had just enough time to get to the gym to shower before my chiropractic appointment. Which isn't quite true because I was 5 minutes late to the appointment, but that all worked out fine.

But I did manage to grab 45 minutes with a decaf soy latte and a breakfast bagel sandwich at a little coffee shop and managed to knock out about 1100 words before going to work.

Then at work, on breaks, I managed to scrape together about another 600 words.

So, my little story is chugging along, although the last 600 I typed are probably fit for the early parts of the book, maybe the opening. With some major rework but I like parts of it very much.

So, for today, I met the minimum daily average. And I'm happy.
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Radical Writing Advice: Story Time

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As I begin typing this post, I'm not sure where it's going. Yes, I know.

But what about your platform, Dot? Your image. You should plan it better, you should know what you want to say before you put it out there.

Surely you're not going to just wing it and fly it? At least look like you have something to say!

Part of what I write about when I write about writing is the process. So that's what this writing is most likely to be about: process. And in that process, something other writers can use may emerge. Or maybe think, I'm not alone out here.

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The topic is making decisions. It is a writing related decision and it is a taking care of me as a whole person decision.

Here's the dilemma. In a couple or so weeks I'm driving down to Berkeley to see the touring performance of Philip Glass' "Einstein on the Beach." I knew I wanted to go when I first saw that it was being performed, which was a while ago. The stops of the tour weren't yet posted and I was hoping for something nearby. Berkeley is the closest stop; although I would love to see it in New York, too. But Berkeley is do-able.

I purchased my ticket and would plan the trip later. Then I decided to take a few days on either side of the 4-hour performance to have a vacation, see the sites, allow enough time to drive. Since I bought my car 18 months ago, I've wanted to take it on a long drive. The furthest I've been able to go since then is Seattle. So Berkeley seemed perfect.

Then I started thinking, "Hey, since I'll be 'in the area,' I should try to see Bonnie Hearn Hill." Being three hours away from her is "in the neighborhood" compared to our homes, which are nearly 13 hours apart. So I wrote an email and we started a correspondence about a visit.

My original - no, my second - plan was to drive half way on the day I left and stop overnight. Not push too much driving in one day. Then I thought maybe stop in Ashland, take in a play. Maybe. Then get to Berkeley the second day. Have time to chill and relax and settle; and see the performance on the third day. Then I would have a couple of days to take BART into SF, sleep in, write, walk, whatever I wanted to do. Then come home.

My original thought was drive straight through to Berkeley in one day - the day before the performance.

And, as I already said, with my second plan, I realized that since I was driving, I could pop on down to see Bonnie. It's no further than from Portland to Seattle and I've made that a day trip before. That seemed like a very good plan. Visit Bonnie and then start the trip home from Fresno and divide that up over two days.

Now it's several weeks past all of those options coming up. And I have a new option to throw into the mix.

Bonnie invited me to visit her writing group, and bring something to read. This is exciting. I've been hearing about her writing group since I was reconnected to her. I've read about it online. And it seems like a very good writing group. Of course I want to go. But, wait, it's the second day of my little vacation. At 9:30 am.

Still. Not impossible. No. But I certainly won't be staying overnight in Ashland!

For those who don't know me well, I'm a master at trying to make everything fit. If I shift this thing in my schedule and slide in that thing, and the other thing that this other person wants to do goes here, and if I skimp a little on sleep and and and. You get the picture. I did that very well. I am actually an excellent multitasker. The problem with all of this is that I sometimes forgot to take care of me or got my priorities mixed up and there were some less than optimal personal things which happened. Enough of that.

So, when I start "figuring out" - those can be trigger words.

But the opportunity to meet the members of this group is something I want to do. It seems like an opportunity that I don't want to pass up right now. And I have to be careful to not push myself physically too much in that way.

My thoughts have been:
- no, I can't make it to the group.
- I can drive all the way from Portland to Fresno in one day, crash in a hotel and sleep and go to the group.
- I can drive to Berkeley on day one; then get up early to drive to Fresno.
- no to the preceding idea; that means leaving Berkeley by 6:30a; for those who don't know, I'm not an early morning person.
... and a few others.

I've ran this idea by a few people and I think, finally, I have a plan. With flexibility. And I guess that is the key - at least for me. I will drive down towards Fresno, and stop at a town along the highway that is about 2 hours from there. Going to Berkeley adds about an hour to the total time. That way, I can get up at a more reasonable for me time and get to the writing group. And, while it will be a long drive for sure, it seems do-able and, with short stretch and restroom stops, I won't get in that late. Do-able.

And I realized that I can have this plan, and leave it open for change. I'm not going to make a hotel reservation in a nearby town - there seem to be a bunch of them along the highway. I'm going to see how I feel and what seems like a good place to stay. And it leaves it open, if I need to, to stop earlier and not go to the writing group. I don't think that will happen, but I need that option. I could be wrong about my back and knee being fine to make that long of a drive in one day - but I don't think so.

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I'm excited to meet these people.

I'm excited to see "Einstein on the Beach." All 4 hours of it. Yes.

I'm excited to get a little time away from all work. And to take a little road trip in my car.

I've checked my priorities, I've checked in with my heart and body and soul to see what is the true desire, and I believe I've found it. And I'm not closing out the option of stopping if I need to.

In a way, this is keeping writing high on my priority list. There aren't many things at this point in my life, after a few lessons the universe has handed me, that I would even consider doing this for. But to spend time with Bonnie and her writing group, to spend time talking about writing and sharing writing - this I will do.

And I believe that both the performance and the time with these accomplished and talented writers will be inspirational and an energy boost to get NaNoWriMo 2012 to a great kickoff for me, not too long after I get home.

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Yes. To Fresno and the writers. To Berkeley and the Philip Glass epic production. To me, and listening to what I need, too.

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Radical Writing Advice : Creativity Missing in Action?

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I haven't come up with a great topic for this week. I've been thinking about it. And I think, in the midst of the contractor-insurance dance, the will-they-won't-they debate of who will show up but then doesn't, and certainly the hurry-up-do-it-now flurry of activity followed by periods of silence while they haggle over dotted t's and crossed i's. (Yes, I know I wrote that backwards. Thank you for noticing.) In this find the floor and contractor and we're coming to your house now, that my ability to think outside the box and be radical has diminished to just-write-it. Whatever it is. Just put down the words and call it good.

I had a story to tell, but even that seems mundane. Too boring to share. Or maybe too personal; no, not that. Too - well - undecided.

Maybe some of this is that I'm interpreting my first play of the season tomorrow. There has also been a lot of focus on that - time spent at the theater, with the script, with the CDs, thinking about it, figuring out creative uses of the target language. Practice.

I did manage to write something for last week's Literary Kitchen assignment. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. But the topic? Yes, the water leak, the contractors, the unplanned bathroom remodels.

And what's so "radical" about that? Nothing.

What I keep thinking, when the stress climbs and we have to do things in time we don't have is:
(a) as a good friend says, "it will end:" and
(b) someday this will make a good story.

Perhaps that is the message for this week: Even when things seem hard or impossible or that the schedule is too full, don't give up. This is all fodder for the next short story or novel or play. Someday, it will make a good story.

Keep in touch with your writer self even when it seems pointless or hard or boring. Nothing we as writers do is wasted or unrelated to writing.
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Razor's Edge: Where We Live

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Today's prompt is a series of pictures. Found prompts from a recent walk. An intriguing place which sparked the creative fire and I want to know more.

Tell me the story. Who lives here? Or who died here? The history?

If you'd like, start with this ...

That morning, as the sun fell across her face, she knew ...

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Razor's Edge : Water Movement

Water is important; we all know that. But this week water has been a particularly commanding presence in my life. It started with the discovery of a soaked bathroom rug in the middle of the night, which led to shutting off water to the entire house, and calling a plumber.

All this on the day the Literary Kitchen started another round of Wayward Writers. And we had a date with the youngest member of our family to go to the Pirate Festival. Oh! And Pirates = water. Yet another connection.

The plumber came and went last Saturday and we had a new cold water connection, a new sink drain, and were told we needed to call our insurance. Which we did. And we waited.

For returned calls.

Which came. With anxiety producing predictions of the process. With threats that the potential damage may not be covered. With trying to schedule visits from a disaster recovery contractor and an insurance adjuster and then another visit from the contractor's office. With more promised appointments and visits to be made, with the potential of another team of workers if the samples taken today turn out to contain asbestos or lead paint (our house is over 100 years old; the chances are good).

All this while trying to work. To write a story. To prepare to interpret a wedding on Saturday. To rearrange the interpreter line-up for PCS because one person had to back out for the season.

This momentum, this movement in a new direction while holding our own in the stream of our lives, started with a burst water pipe under the sink and behind a drawer.

Stepping on a soaking wet mat on the way to the toilet in the middle of the night.

Water. Important. And powerful.

So, for you, today's prompt is water related.

This is a relaxing and attractive video of a river. Turn it up so you can hear the water. When you feel yourself letting go a little, feel the edge of tautness slipping away, read the prompt and write.

Or, read the prompt first and then turn on the video. It's 10 minutes in length; the amount of time I'd like you to write.

PROMPT: 

I looked into her eyes and knew ....

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does one person make a difference?

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Today I attended a fundraising lunch for Human Solutions - one of the local non-profits working with people who are homeless. Their focus, from what I learned today, seems to be on families - which made up 58% of the homeless population as counted on January 27th, 2010 here in Multnomah County. It looks like a great organization, with wonderful resources, which includes a program for people on the brink of becoming homeless - prevention.

My reason for posting about it here, though, is not necessarily to try to convince everyone to go out and donate to Human Solutions (though wouldn't that be awesome? If everyone who read this donated $25 or $10 or $50?) - and it's not even to spout my strong belief that each one of us who can should find an organization to donate to (though this is something I also believe - find the community service/non-profit agency that fits who you are and works for what you believe in and donate whatever you can, be it money or goods or time).

No, my reason for writing here today is to share a quote. It applies to any social service agency or non-profit or - probably a list of other things set up to help people.

When I can I will find the name of the person who said this - but for now I just remember it was the E.D. (Executive Director) of Human Solutions who said:

The big government grants are the $25,000 car. That's great! But without the smaller $2.99 donations from the community - the "gas" - the car can't run.

Be the "gas" - find an organization that could use time/money/things - and do it.
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NaNoWriMo: day 16

No, being home sick all day did not mean that I got to write my brains out and get to 50,000. Definitely not.

It was a hard decision to stay home. And it is not because it's the "piggy" sick, as my friend said. It was hard because it was the last session of the Write Around Portland group I was facilitating. I have a cold and was (am, admit it, it's not gone yet!) stuffy and blowing my nose and a sore throat. But I could have gone if it were just for me. But it would not have been fair or healthy for the participants. So I didn't go and, after talking with the staff, the decision was made to just cancel it rather than send a stranger for the final group.

So I did spend some time making up little envelopes stuffed with the things I was going to give them today. That was fun and took some time - but time I was happy to spend that way.

Then I had to deal with health insurance. What a pain. TMI so I'll stop on that topic now.

And picked up supplements from my naturopath to help get me through this - quickly, I hope. I still have some training days for the half marathon!! Help!

Otherwise, home. Home and taking care of business. And a nap.

But I did manage to sit down tonight and get some writing in; I thought I was going to have a -0- day. But, no, I actually managed to hit...

33,925

...so just over the minimum daily average needed: 50k, here I come!

a picture is worth....

This photo, by Serena Barton, just begs to be used as a writing prompt.

So : if a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then what are the 1,000 words that go with this picture?

Do it - write a story using this picture as a prompt. Or draw a scene. Or sculpt or weld or build a piece whose inspiration was sparked from this photograph.

nrU siH sevoL retseL

event: Alltopia Antholozine's launch and reading

from, Lara, the founder of Alltopia:

It's my great pleasure to announce the first public performance of Alltopia Antholozine's contributors. May it be the first of many! Our Spring issue, "Home," is currently in the capable and creative hands of our publisher, Eberhardt Press , and will be reader-ready in about a week. We will be celebrating the release of this issue at The Press Club, located in SE Portland, on April 25th.

Details:

When
Saturday, April 25 - 6:00 PM until 7:30 or so...

Where
The Press Club - 2621 SE Clinton St.
(503) 233-5656; they have a full bar, plus a great menu (think: crepes, bistro sandwiches, etc.) and an extensive selection of wines, but are also an all-ages venue.

What
The Spring issue - Home - will be available for purchase at the reading for $8 / copy. It will also be available at a few local purveyors of quality independent publications. Check our website for details, soon.

One of my poems is being published by the 'zine and I am planning on being there to read on the 25th.

NaNoWriMo: day 7 (fri 11/7)

Today, again, I am almost back on track with word count. This is a fun experience and it is a workout. Sometimes at the end of a writing session I feel like I just walked for the whole time I was typing - which is exactly what I *wasn't* doing ... I was sitting. Interesting experience.

At 11:59 I updated my word count on the NaNo website: 11,286. That was a gain today of 2754. Hard to get to the writing today, but I made myself sit down and do it. Today I opted out of going out to write (I thought I would ... ) because I couldn't decide where to go and then the time to get there and I just thought, why bother!?! So I stayed in to write.

I also took a little time with family and there was something I had to go do, in addition to the one job. And still I got almost caught up. I am about 500 words short of the daily average, but I know I will be able to get caught up and make it to the end. I am maintaining confidence that I will reach the 50,000. I will I will I will I will......

returning home

People have said to me many times, "oh, you're from Oregon? It is so pretty there..." and I nod noncommittally and think, "yeah, yeah. It's green, it's gray, it rains." Sometimes I do know I'm lucky to live here with the options of mountains, desert, coast, or big city all within driving distance for a day trip. I don't disagree with the label of it being a pretty place to live, but I also don't generally recognize it as such nor see what is all around me.

That changed yesterday.

Shortly after the plane passed Mt. Hood it started its descent and we flew over Troutdale and Gresham and neared the airport. Looking out the window, I saw the green continuing into the cities. I saw roads with trees lining them so that some areas were hidden from view. I saw pockets of trees with various shades of green. There were hills like Mt. Tabor and Mt. Scott, bulging from the city and sprouting full heads of trees. Some areas of the city were obscured from view because of the trees. There were streams and rivers and lakes. I truly had a small pool of tears in my eyes because of seeing trees and water as far as my eye could see, and downtown Portland with the pink bank tower building reflecting the remaining pieces of sunlight (I don't remember the name of whose building it is now, but I still think of it as the pink bank building), the other buildings marking the downtown area against the backdrop of the west hills. In that plane I actually *saw* what people had been commenting about and I felt it.

Driving from the airport - rather, being a passenger being driven from the airport - I rolled down my window even though the air felt cool, and let it sink in. I could smell the water in the air, along with the trees and grasses, and it was refreshing. I smelled and felt the green and it smelled like home.

This morning I opened the bedroom curtain when I woke up and there it was: the tree. Right outside the window. And the neighbors' tree. And a cool edge in the air which will warm to just below 80 degrees, they say.

Ahhhh. Home.

And a piece of irony - although it is only supposed to be the next few days and then returning to more regular Oregon weather. The forecast, beginning today 8/3/08, for the next week (this time I downloaded the jpeg rather than linking to the KATU weather page I know will change):
I will enjoy the cool 81 (if it reaches it) degrees today and be patient until the temperatures take the predicted downturn later in the week. And I will still count my blessings that 94 degrees in the land of green trees and multiple water sources will feel better than 103 degrees in the city with a scattering of trees, miles of concrete, and surrounded by bovines in various states of aliveness with accompanying odors.