Creative
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January 2023 Books
Alright, time for January’s book roundup! I read 8 books this month! I’ll break down which is audio, kindle, and paper. Audiobooks did a lot of heavy lifting as per usual and I think you want to add in more reading to your life, an audiobook is the way to go. 1: Playing God in the Meadow by Martha Leb Molnar – Kindle I enjoyed this book but was frustrated with the author at several points along the way. The author and her husband have bought a property in Vermont and in front of their house is a huge former apple orchard that has fallen into disrepair due to disease.…
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1SE – January 2023
I’ve known about the One Second Everyday App for several years now. I think I even tried it back when I had my old iPhone but could never get into a routine with taking the photos/videos. An internet friend has been using it to document her new baby and I thought I would give it a whirl this year. The good thing is you can import photos and if you use the Live photo mode it makes those photos a short video which really helps with having the 1-1.5 second clips needed to make this video. I’m not good with taking a video every day but I can manage a…
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Goodbye NanoWriMo, Hello NanoEdMo
Four days into NanoWriMo and I think I’m going to call it. Why? I realized I have a plot issue. The plot where I left off last year doesn’t work in my brain this year. And try as I may, I can’t get it to work. Typing words is difficult and I find myself stumbling. But I came up with an alternative plot this afternoon that works better. However, I’m going to have to edit the first half of the book before I get back to writing so that I can get into the groove of the book again. *phew* So, no winning for me this year. But coming to…
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The Best of Intentions
Well, 30 days of writing just isn’t going to happen. As per usual, I start off well for these types of things and then fail rather quickly. It isn’t for a lack of interest. I go into weekends with the plan to do more creative projects than I actually get done and over the years all of those plans fall apart faster than they used to. I can’t even get all of the chores I want to get done completed in a weekend anymore. What I have been doing is spending a lot of time in my head brainstorming ideas and thinking of the projects I’ve started that I need…
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Magnolia-cone Mushroom, Strobilurus conigenoides | Wildlife Wednesday
While fungi aren’t quite wildlife or plants and I probably should have called this Fungi Friday instead, we’re going to shuffle our mushroom friends to a Wildlife Wednesday today. And while we’re enjoying Second Summer, I’m dreaming about a day that will come soon enough, one that requires a light fleece in the morning, warming to the high 60s or low 70s mid-day, but under foot, while traipsing about the woods, are tiny mushrooms growing on decaying magnolia cones. I first saw magnolia-cone mushrooms, Strobilurus conigenoides, a few years ago when out in Sam Houston National Forest, not realizing that they were a specialized fungus that grew only on magnolia…
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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…
