Creative
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Second Summer | 30 Days of Writing
Second Summer has arrived. We still get that tease in the early mornings that perhaps we can pretend it is fall. That has been quickly dissipating, though, as the day warms up. In August I decided to get a head start on some fall veggie crops and sowed kale and cabbage seeds, which all germinated. In my head I envisioned planting them all out mid-September and by October there would be great growth with the cooler weather. I went ahead and transplanted the kale and cilantro seedlings on Sunday evening and am hoping that adequate mulch and frequent waterings will get them through the upcoming high 90s, possible 100*, temperatures.…
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Battleship Texas | 30 Days of Writing
A few weeks ago Battleship Texas was towed from its home near the San Jacinto monument to a dry dock in Galveston to have major repairs and work done to it. Tonight we walked over to get a glimpse of it from near Fisherman’s Wharf near The Strand. Whenever it is finally back in public view we will have to make plans to see it up close. Short and sweet tonight.
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South Dakota 2007
(This post is courtesy of my former boss Steve (hi Steve!) who sent me a thumb drive a few months ago with some photos on it from a trip I took to South Dakota in 2007.) If there is one thing I miss a lot about my previous job in Florida, it is the access to travel that I had while there. Several times a year I had the opportunity to attend conferences or trainings in various places throughout the country. I enjoy traveling alone, though sometimes I traveled with co-workers or with Steve. When I was alone I would often spend time wandering around whatever town I was visiting,…
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Editing isn’t bad | 30 Days of Writing
I thought about writing a Wildlife or Wildflower Wednesday post today but decided I am not invested enough in doing the little bit of research I need to write that up today. And then I thought Wordless Wednesday would be a good alternative but hey, I’m trying to write some paragraphs here these next 30 days. Even if they are short and sweet. I have finally begun one last round of edits on my Florida Trail book. It’s going a lot easier than I thought it would. I had built it up to be this hard, unbreakable thing and as I read I realize it doesn’t suck. I’ve only told…
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It’s Been A Day | 30 Days of Writing
Last night I did not envision for today: +A kid waking up with an earache at midnight and continued to sleep terribly the rest of the night. There’s been congestion for days that I was hoping we’d just wade through. +Me getting a second night of bad sleep. +Knowing earache meant a trip to the pediatrician, so planning for that at midnight. +Realizing I also needed to get my laptop to work at home. +Making plans for that after calling the pediatrician at 8am and driving to the office where in the middle of updating Chris, who is out of town, of what was going on I get an alert…
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Tendrils of Fall | 30 Days of Writing
A glimpse of fall happened this morning. Forest led the way out the door and as I stepped out behind him, pushed the key into the lock and turned it to secure the house, I felt tendrils of cool air on my legs. Not quite cool enough to grab a fleece, but the kind of morning you would spend drinking some coffee on the porch and then puttering about the yard for an hour before heat and humidity seeped into the day. It’s almost mid-September, about the time to start getting these teases. A little cool to remind you that Texas will be released from the hold of swampy moisture…
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Diana Baby 110 Toy Camera | Fun with Film #1
After Christmas in 2019 I bought some 110 film from Lomography, one of the few places you can buy 110 film these days other than old expired rolls off of Ebay or Etsy, and also a toy camera, the Diana Baby 110. I also had a pink Concord 110 camera from childhood and wanted to take photos with it as well. And so the last 2.5 years I’ve been shooting a photo or two at a time on them. I’m unsure what exactly happened with this photo, I thought perhaps it was supposed to be a double exposure but it looks like half the film is from one photo and…
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Art with Hummingbirds
While in New Mexico I had hopes to spend more time working on some sketchbook art, primarily my perpetual nature journal that I started in early September last year. I’m several months behind because I sunk into a pit of not doing anything in May so I’ve been continuously working to get back on top of things. A perpetual nature journal is one that has some flexibility but ideally you are using one page or set of pages to chronicle something in nature for a certain time period on every year until that page is full. Mine is set up weekly, though the weeks will slide a bit as they…
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Second Quarter Reading Wrap-Up 2022
As per usual, I hit a reading slump around May which lasted through most of June. I didn’t finish a book for about six weeks but I am slowly climbing out of that hole. I will likely have another slump, based on years of noticing my pattern, sometime later this summer. Which is why I do a lot of reading at the beginning to the year to counterbalance it all. I’m currently at 35/45 for my Goodreads challenge and I suspect I will end up around the 60 book mark again this year when all is said and done. Audiobooks are still carrying a heavy weight in the count but…
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First Quarter Reading Wrap-Up 2022
A few years ago I regularly did Monthly Book Reports but that fell by the wayside. It’s hard to believe it has been so long but I think I’m going to bring them back in the form of quarterly updates with my favorites from the previous three months. For the first quarter of the year I’ve read 19 books. Some were great, others I muddled through, and I abandoned one or two. It has been good to see so many people talk about abandoning books that you can’t get into because I was a former “finisher” and it is something I still cling to and am working on. Sure, it…
