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!
Apr 4, 2012 |
I’m happy. I’m very happy!
I endeavored to beautify outside my house, and with cooperating weather and an assisting Mother [read: someone with more gardening experience than myself], I think it’s going to be a success.
I finally took the old pile of scallop bricks and cleaned them off of bugs and whatnot. This disturbed the yard lizards, as they lived between the bricks. I’m pretty sure they’re a little upset with me as they scurried back and forth today just waiting for me to stop wrecking their homes. Well, too bad, Longfellow! Too bad, Izzard! I was tired of looking at a cobwebby pile of brick like this:
And since we chopped down the tree last year, there’s been a stump in my front yard as well. So today, I took the brick and laid out a general idea for two flower beds. Last week I bought a canister of desert flower seeds: just sprinkle and water, and see what takes.
So now, instead of a stump and a pile of bricks, I have these:
This is my attempt at creative photography:
This is my Heavenly Bamboo that I planted a month ago. I took a new picture because I want to remember today.
I lowered the root ball for better protection. And had an encounter with the hugest black widow spider I’ve ever seen. Now, I’m used to seeing black widows out and about, but usually they’re either dead or dying, thanks to my monthly pest control guy. But today… apparently, she thought the opening at the bottom of the planter would make a good nursery and I didn’t discover the egg sac, or her, until after I fixed the Bamboo. As I was wiggling the planter back into place, she ran up the side. Of course, of course I screamed. More than just a little. Cuz this was one stinkin’ huge black widow. Complete with red hour glass. Talk about… well, ugly. Luckily, the Raid was within easy reach and after a few doses of aerosol poison and a beating with a big stick, Ms. Widow and her kids were no more. I conquered the Great Outdoors!
Yesterday I realized the lilacs were starting to bloom. They smell wonderful! I wish they lasted more than just a few weeks; and I wish they all bloomed at the same time.
Then, ta-da!, I finally hung the Topsy Turvy Tomato Grower. This is the finishing touch for today. I’m so very excited. We had some problems with the drill. I couldn’t get it to go more than a tiny bit into the hardened wood. It was really frustrating… until hours later (like, about 36), I realized we’d had it set on “reverse”. Yeah. That’s a conversation that ended in more than a few laughs!
I call him Fred. [I call everything “Fred”, but that’s another story..]
So. Yesterday nature came to my yard. And today I began to give back.
Now I just have to wait and see what happens. I’ll consider it a success if nothing dies in the first week.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Apr 3, 2012 |
Last week I parked my patootie on my patio chair (say that five times fast!) and photo’d the flock of feathery friends. (Oh, c’mon, you may be rolling your eyes, but you gotta admit, that’s some awesome alliteration!)
My own version of Zaboomafoo! Doesn’t this one remind you of a sloth or lemur peering out from the branches? 
Peek-a-Boo, I see you. At least, I think I do.
Budding Beauty.
One Cactus Wren.
And its mate.
I also saw Longfellow and Izzie, our yard lizards; but they didn’t want their photo taken.
I bought flower seeds: the kind you just sprinkle like crazy over the yard and see what takes, and I also bought a Topsy Turvy Tomato Hanger. As those grow (or not), I’ll update those photos. Right now, well, there’s nothing to photograph.
But at least Spring is in the air, and it’s a nice air. 72, sunny, and not a smidge of wind today.
Finally.
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.”
