Apr 7, 2012
It’s here. My baby. My project. My business. My step into the unknown. My security. My reason for breathing.
My first publication arrived on my doorstep this afternoon. And it’s better than I even imagined. You know you’re doing something right when the publisher runs an extra copy for his wife who “just had to have one”!
The website for New Inklings Press is up and running. The best phone call I’ve ever had was hearing “New Inklings Press is now open for business.”
There’s nothing more to say right now. I’m in bliss.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Apr 6, 2012
Y’all have been reading all week about my outdoor/home improvement kick this week. It’s going great. Correction: it was going great. It was, as they say, all fun and games til someone got hurt. Me.
Today the clouds stayed around and the wind came back, making for a very chilly day. Not a good day for digging in wet dirt. But that’s not it.
So instead of actual yard work, Mom and I went to Lowe’s and I found a small bowl planter for the Lantana, and I had to get a 25-pound bag of rock for the bottom of the small planters. I had to lift the 25-pound bag of rock into the cart, and from the cart to my car, and from my car to my garage. But that’s not it.
I went back to Home Depot to buy a cactus for Dot and saw half-barrel planters. I love them. I tried to lift one. It was heavy. But that’s not it.
Mom gave me an early Easter present: she had bought me a Sweet Broom shrub tied up like a tree. I love it. I’d seen it last week and am so very happy to have it, already in a planter. So she brought it over and we hauled it out of her car and into my yard and positioned it. But that’s not it.
We positioned the plants and planters around the yard. I watered the new plants and checked on the ones already taken care of. Then we decided to sit and survey the colorful additions. I placed my plastic patio chair next to Mom’s and we sat for a few minutes and talked.
Then ~ in that stupid motion that’s slow enough to make you think a thousand ways to stop but fast enough that you can’t really do anything about it ~ the back leg of my chair began to sink into soft ground and I found myself tipping back. In one not-so-swift motion, I realized my wrist was about to break from the impending pressure. I had just enough time and space to shift my arm and landed smack-dab on my shoulder and upper arm, while the rest of my body tried to catch up.
You know that phrase, “head over heels”? That’s it.
And that was me.
And that’s about right. I’m pretty much that one in a million, but not in a good way.
So. After four hard days of digging, planting, transferring, growing, spreading, planning, reaching, pulling, tugging, and plotting… I’ve been done in by a two-inch square patch of soft sand.
Tonight I’m enjoying a hot apple cider after an Epsom Salt bath. And more than one ibuprofen.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote.
Apr 5, 2012
The last few days I’ve enjoyed my home improvement kick and yard beautification attempts. I’d like to say I’m seeing tiny new sproutlings in the flower beds and on the tomato stems… but I can’t really be sure.
Today I bought three new plants as well. A lovely yellow and green Sweet Broom for under the living room window, yellow and purple Lantana to spread over the stump, and Elijah Blue to grow in the corner.
Little by little, my dirt lot is becoming a yard.
I didn’t have time to take photos today, because I also have a leaky drip system and when I finally found the source, it wasn’t the real source. Which means more digging tomorrow. Yea! Dirt under the fingernails is an awesome feeling.
I uncovered (rather, finally paid attention to) a hanger for a flagpole, too. So this Bedford Manor will be flying the Red, White and Blue soon!
I’d write a lot more, but the truth is I was doing yardwork and housecleaning all morning so that I could spend over three hours in a movie theatre this afternoon with Mom and Dot to watch TITANIC.
It’s an overwhelming experience, to see it after all these years on the Big Screen. I visited the actual Titanic exhibit at the Luxor in Las Vegas last summer; and the Queen Mary, which was fashioned after the Titanic, is docked in Long Beach so every now and then I’ve been there. All that to say, watching the TITANIC today was really moving.
With that, I still have studies and writing to do, so for now I shall say adieu.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
The website for New Inklings Press is up and running. The best phone call I’ve ever had was hearing “New Inklings Press is now open for business.”
