December 2020 Finally! & IWSG

 

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I am so darn happy December is here! (and not only for the snow!) I'm sorry I missed last month's post, and almost missed this one, but in November I was depressed, and, today is my son's birthday!

I feel a lot better this month. Last month I think because of Thanksgiving, I felt the absence of my family too keenly and couldn't write about it. We all made it through and for that I am more than grateful. I still miss the you-know-what out of my parents though. This is a looooong time to go without hugging/touching/seeing them. But I won't jeopardize them just because I miss them.

My son has been living with us all year because of a medical issue. He can't work and is not only in constant pain, but also depressed because of it. Finally, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. It will take more time and more physical therapy for him to get back to his former self, but it IS working! I/we have much to be grateful for. So, December has not come too soon for me. 

The young lad with his snowman "Churchill!"

The other wonderful piece of news is that my book cover should be finished soon. The edits are finished. The formatting is happening as I write, and hopefully my next novel, "Rain" will be out before Christmas! (Hint, it would make a great present!) Shameless I am. But not about being happy! For the first time in a while, I do genuinely feel happy and hopeful for not only my future, but for our nation's future as well. The Covid vaccine should (hopefully) go a long way toward helping us all heal.

So I am not feeling too insecure today, even if I'm late to post. I feel optimistic and full of love for the world, and especially my son. He is a light in my life and has been since the day he was born 34 years ago. Though I'm sorry for the reason he is with us, I am not sorry he's here! I wish you all the best of the holidays, a Merry Christmas, whatever it is that you celebrate. I also wish us all the best in the new year to come. May we all be able to move on to a life that even though Covid will still be here, hopefully the new year will give us a chance to learn to live with it without fear. Blessings to you.

And before you stop reading, please stop by our wonderful co-hosts this month and thank them for being there for us! 

Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney,Liesbet @ Roaming About Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre!

October and The Air is Sweet IWSG

 

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Have you heard of the singer Jackson Browne? 

He sang a song when I was younger called "Running On Empty". 

That is how I feel today, as I send my thoughts out into this crazy sad changing world. I mean, I know the world is always in a state of flux. The world is not stagnate and that is a good thing. The changes happening right now however, feel more threatening than changes I've lived through before. I am concerned for my children, for whether they will even have their own children and that if they do, what will their lives be like? Not like mine, that is for sure. I understand people reminiscing for the "good ole days" now. For me, that is BC... Before Covid. I've been doing well I thought until now. I've been very busy finishing a novel, moving, creating a new garden/yard, building shelves, building a gardening shed, taking care of our son. Busy. And happy to feel blessed to be able to do all these things. Now I see autumn and the colors starting to appear outside and I know this part of my life is done. I put my lawn "to bed" yesterday, mowed and weeded for the last time till spring, and I felt like a chapter closed in the book of my life. What will winter bring with people having to stay indoors more than they had to during the summer? Will our country smarten up and make more of an effort to end this devastating virus in a united front? Will the ones who refuse to wear masks for others finally realize that we need to stick together on this? That we can beat it, or at least slow it down if we just do basic steps to help? I feel the only blessing is that the majority of the time when the virus hits, it does it gently, that the majority of people do not die or have horrible consequences. That is indeed a blessing I am thankful for. Still doesn't mean I want to get it!

Anyway, I'll stop now and think about the breeze carrying autumn that blew over my face yesterday while I worked outside. I'll think about the love of my family, and my friends. I will listen to a favorite song that seems to speak to my soul no matter where I am every time the seasons move from winter to spring or summer to fall, "The Southland In The Springtime". I wish you all peace, health and happiness...

The wonderful co-hosts of the IWSG this month of October are....

Jemima Pett, Beth Camp,Beverly Stowe McClure, and Gwen Gardner!

Please go visit their websites and thank them for being here for us all!

ISWG September in 2020

Okay, this new format on blogger is definitely a challenge, especially at 2 am. This alone is enough to add to insecurities! Of which I have many at the moment. My current WIP is with the editor and all I can think of is what I should have written here, or there, how it really isn't any good, after all these years of working on it. I don't have a real title for it yet. Is it actually boring? Is it interesting to anyone else but me? This is the part of writing that scares me, makes me feel vulnerable and constantly questioning myself. 

And I guess there is nothing I can do about that right now, so I should move on to other projects and let that one be until I hear back from the editor. Meanwhile, back in this crazy virus-laden life of 2020, I've been gardening like a mad woman, and building a garden shed with my husband, and putting in a new walkway, and reseeding my torn up lawn, and trying to raise a caterpillar, and, and, and... I'm getting a lot done but somehow don't feel a sense of accomplishment, unless I actually stop, sit out on my deck, and stare at my garden/yard. That seems to be my only place of peace right now, and I am grateful for having it in these strange times. Do you have a peaceful place? I hope so, because I think we all need one right now. 

OUR AMAZING CO-HOSTS THIS SEPTEMBER ARE

PJ Colando, J Lenni Dorner,Deniz Bevan, Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, 

and Louise - Fundy Blue!

PLEASE, GO PAY A VISIT AND THANK THEM

Also, the IWSG WEBSITE  is an amazing site full of information 

and other folks just waiting to hear from you!

 I know the photos are out of sequence, but hope you enjoy them anyway, like I said, we've been busy!

Straw down after seeding this side of yard/garden

The After shot!

The Before shot

The brand new shed we built from the ground up!

Flowers from the garden...

One of the new flowerbeds we put in

To give an idea of where the old path was and the new beds

How the yard was when we bought the house...

The new (using the old pavers) path!

The old path...

IWSG August- All About Positivity

IWSG WEBSITE

I want to write about something positive in the midst of all this chaos in the world right now. I know there is always chaos, just seems like more than usual this year. Yes, this YEAR! Seems it will never stop, so I want to write about, think about something positive.
For me that would be a few things I feel grateful for...
One, my husband and I celebrated (as best we could!) our 37th anniversary in July (which actually ended up being why I missed posting here that week!). We've been together 38 years, married 37. We're closing in fast on that 40 number, and it's strange to know that I've spent more of my life with this man than without. I love that. We've earned this. Fought for it at times. Not knowing what the future would hold, and still don't, but it's something to look back and see what we did to get where we are. I am proud of us.

Our wedding all those years ago...

This year turning "37"!

And two, we've been building a garden shed in our back yard. I absolutely love doing things like this with my hubby. Having something that we do together, especially after two years of him being in university and having almost no time at all doing things together. Again I am grateful.

Also, when it comes to writing, I am in the "reading it out loud" stage before I send my WIP to my editor for the final touches (fingers crossed!) I feel good it's almost there, and feel ready to start on a different project.

I hope you and your loved ones are safe and stay that way. I will say no more about C-19 because I'm trying to stay positive. I wish you all the best at the end of this strange summer and beginning of what is usually a new school year. What a school year it will be. One for the history books I'm sure, and I hope in a good way (fingers crossed again).

Don't forget to visit our wonderful ISWG co-hosts this month! 

Susan Baury Rouchard, Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jennifer Hawes, Chemist Ken, and Chrys Fey!

June and I'm Late! IWSG

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Welcome to June. Already. Not fair! And because of the crazy of life and country right now, I missed posting last week (not to mention moving).  Being that I'm recovering from an operation (last Tuesday), I've had a little time to read between news check ups. I have finished Trevor Noah's "Born A Crime" and it feels particularly relevant right now. Reading it is like listening to him talk. Like you're watching his show. He writes the way he talks, and he does both very well.

A Boss To Work For

One thing he wrote that felt appropriate for our times goes something like this. Taking from the adage "Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Trevor added: "But if you don't give him a fishing rod, he can't fish no matter what he knows." He was talking about South Africa, but it resonates here and everywhere in the world where there is inequality. He is saying that educating everyone is good, but that if poor people don't have the same access to good and steady education/home life/tools, etc. as "well off/rich" folks do, it doesn't matter what you teach him if he has no means to use that education. This is where our society breaks down. At this moment in time, I hope we as a nation and a planet can finally move beyond the social structures we have put up with for so long. As a woman I feel this acutely, and I live in one of the better countries of the world for women to live in.

So, this is my post for IWSG June, for the insecurity of our changing (hopefully for the better) world. May a treatment, then vaccine finally be found swiftly for C-19. May people of color be accepted into the world that has barred them/made it difficult to enter with grace and compassion. May our country re-learn what empathy, and compassion, is and put it/them to good use. These are my thoughts half way through 2020.
Peace, health and harmony to you all. (And read Trevor's book!)