One Day More
Well, in the United States, here we are, the day before the big election. In truth, many people have already voted, including me and my husband. I understand that because of all the early voting, we might not know the results on Tuesday evening. No matter. This song from Les Misérables captures exactly how I feel.
To calm myself down, I have been watching this short video—Blessings–—from Emergence magazine. Recently, my blogging friend Robin from Breezes at Dawn shared this on her blog. As soon as I saw that the video featured David Whyte and his poetry, I was in. If there is one thing I like better than reading Whyte’s poetry, it’s hearing him recite his own poetry.
This beautiful video is very soothing. Exactly what I need to calm my one-day-more jitters.
October Birthday
Today is the birthday of our eldest daughter, Dee. I have always loved the month of October, and her birth made it even more beautiful to me.
In honor of Dee, I post these pictures of this golden month that glows even when the days are gray and dreary, when even a walk to the mailbox across the street glimmers with a yellow- and russet-difused light, and the brisk air is filled with the nutty scent of autumn leaves.
Happy birthday, eldest daughter!
Ta-Dah! A Map of Elferterre
I’m coming down the homestretch with the proofing for my new YA fantasy, Out of Time. By mid-November, I should be done. Fanfare, please! I certainly won’t be sorry when that arduous job is done.
I’m not sure how much I’ll be blogging until the proofing is finished. More than likely, posts will be sporadic.
However, I did want to share our first-ever map that will be in Out of Time. The map was created by my husband, Clif, and it features the country of Norlander, which is in the magical realm of Elferterre, where Maya and her new team—Will, Jay, and Lexie—must travel.
In Elferterre—green and mysterious with a touch of steampunk—Maya, Will, Jay, and Lexie encounter allies and foes, including a talking cat, a witch, sprites, ogres, imps, and a mechanical horse. All the while, Magic swirls around Elferterre, enhancing the good and bad in every creature that Maya and her team meet.
Stay tuned!
Taking a Short Break but Still Time for a Couple of Friday Favorites
The time has come to take a short break from blogging, maybe a week, maybe two, as I finish proofing my new YA fantasy novel Out of Time, Book Three in The Great Library Series. Proofing is fussy, time-consuming work but absolutely necessary. Out of Time will be published in November, which is just around the corner. Hence the need to focus all my creative attention on the book.
Still, it is Friday, and before I go on my break, I do have time to slide in a couple of things that are making me happy.
Even in mid-October, when the leaves are falling and the air is decidedly crisp, the patio is still one of my favorite places. Nowadays, Clif and I must bundle up for drinks and snacks on the patio, but we still enjoy being out there. Notice how the patio has now been set-up for socially-distanced visits. The patio is twenty years old, and never have the chairs and tables been arranged the way they are now. A sign of life during the pandemic, that’s for sure.
Now on to an inside pleausre—music. What in the world would I do without NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert? Not only have I been able to listen to old favorites such as the Avett Brothers, but I have also been introduced to groups I’ve never heard of. One of those groups is alt-J, an English indie rock band. Why had I never heard of them? Indie rock is one of my favorite genres, and alt-J’s debut album, An Awesome Wave, came out in 2012. I have no excuse. But thanks to NPR and Tiny Desk, I now have another group to add to my list of favorites.
And because I’m going to gone for a while, here’s a bonus Tiny Desk Concert with musicians Lily & Madeleine. Such lovely harmonies.
As we Franco-Americans would say, à bientôt.
That Certain Glow of Autumn
Walktober: Back to the Narrows
“Walkers have walked to gain a sense of place, to improve well-being, to harness attention, to cultivate awareness, to gain new experiences, to explore new territories, to march for freedom, and to express care and devotion for others.” –Bonnie Smith Whitehouse
Robin, at Breezes at Dawn, is hosting Walktober, where you take a walk or a bike ride or a paddle and then share your journey. I borrowed the beginning quotation from Robin because I thought it beautifully expressed the many roles that one simple activity—walking—can provide. Symbolic, practical, protest, curiosity, devotion, exercise— all from walking. No fancy equipment necessary. Just a pair of sneakers and willing feet.
As I have mentioned in a previous post, not long ago walking was painful because of my weight and my arthritic knees. After having lost thirty pounds, walking is no longer as painful, which means I can go short distances and actually enjoy it. (Looking forward to losing more weight and going for longer winter hikes.)
One of my favorite walks is to the Narrows Ponds, about one-quarter of a mile from my house. There is lots of water in Winthrop, but surely the Narrows are among the prettiest.
Yesterday, was one of those October days that makes a person glad to be alive. All the humidity was gone, the air was crisp, and the sky was a piercing blue.
Leaving our driveway, Clif and I turned left, down the long hill to the Narrows. See? I am not exaggerating one bit when I refer to our home “in the woods.”
On the way we saw a yellow fern glowing in the sun,
a chipmunk on a rock,
and walls made long ago when the trees were chopped down and fields stretched all the way to the Narrows. Hard to imagine our road looking like this and comforting to think about how forests can make a comeback.
At the bottom of the hill, we saw a glimmer of deep blue—sky and water—through the bright lace of leaves.
Then a sign reminding us how important this water is to Winthrop.
A short ways later, the Lower Narrows glittered to our right,
and the Upper Narrows to our left.
There’s not much color this year with the changing leaves. Perhaps it’s because of the drought. Or maybe it’s the many storms we’ve recently had, bringing relief to the drought but blowing the bright leaves off the trees. No matter. It’s a place of beauty, with or without colorful foliage.
After gazing at the water and taking pictures, we headed back up the hill, where we saw mushrooms by the side of the road,
as well as our neighbor’s chickens pecking and looking for tidbits.
Finally, our own snug home tucked in the trees.
Once inside, I made cup of cranberry-orange tea, given to me by a friend, and wrote this post, a record of a short but oh so lovely walk in October 2020,
Friday Favorites: Scrummy’s Chocolates, A New Mug, Wood
On a national level, just when you think things can’t get any crazier, they do. And by crazy I mean over-the-top-eye-rollingly bad. The mad king at the White House gets ever madder. The historian Heather Cox Richardson writes, “[Yesterday] he… called for the imprisonment of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, as well as his own predecessor, President Barack Obama, and called Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris a ‘monster’ and a ‘communist.'”
The imperturbable vice president “who was supposed to go to Indiana to vote tomorrow, after campaigning in Arizona…cancelled his scheduled events and…headed back to Washington, D. C.” Can you blame him?
And as if this weren’t enough, a right-wing group planned to storm the capital to kidnap and perhaps murder the Michigan governor. Fortunately they were foiled by an informant and the FBI. In The Guardian, there is a concise, chilling account. What, exactly, was the right-wing group’s beef? The governor’s Covid-19 lock-down measures.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 rages on here, there, and everywhere.
So bring on the small pleasures! We need them, and we need them right now.
This week, there were chocolates from Scrummy After’s Candy Shoppe.
Even though Scrummy’s lovely little shop in Hallowell is closed, local folks who are in desperate need of incredibly good chocolate can order online and pick up the delicacies at Scrummy’s commercial kitchen in Augusta on 26 Eastern Avenue. Scrummy’s also ships.
Just in time for tea to go with the chocolates came this sweet mug, designed by The Tiny Potager, one of my blogging friends. She has a wonderful online shop filled with treasures she has designed. This mug makes me smile every time I look at it.
My last small pleasure is not quite as sweet or as charming as the two listed above. However prosaic this last one might seem, it sure fills me with joy. This is enough wood to heat our home for at least a half month, maybe more, and there is nothing as cozy as wood heat.
To add to the pleasure, the wood came from our very own backyard. Readers might recall how lucky we were that not much damage was done by the falling tree.
Need to read about more small pleasures to bolster your spirit? Check out Thistles and Kiwis. Also Purple Pumpernickel.
Here’s wishing you many small pleasures in the upcoming week.
Summer’s End
In which Instructions Are Provided for Using Dear Old Classic Editor so that the Terror of Block Editor May Be Avoided
It is unusual for me to post two pieces in the same day, but I came upon such brilliant advice from the blog The Belmont Rooster, that I decided to break with precedent. As the title of this post suggests, the advice involves instructions for continuing with Classic Editor, which is clean and easy to use.
From reading other blogs, I know there has been much consternation with the new Block Editor. I understand. I, too, hate the new system, which I find ugly and clunky. (Some bloggers do like it. After all, it takes all kinds to make the world go round.)
For those, like me, who would rather use Classic Editor, click on the link I provided above with The Belmont Rooster, and you will receive step-by-step instructions.
Here they are in short:
“Scroll down to “Posts” and click or click on “All Posts”… DO NOT CLICK ON “ADD NEW” OR IT WILL TAKE YOU THE NEW EDITOR.
“After clicking you will see “Add New” with an arrow next to it.
“When you click on the arrow you are given the choice to click on “Block Editor” or “Classic Editor”.
“There it is… The Classic Editor. Without having to upgrade to the business plan.”
And, dear blogging friends, by following those instructions, I was able to do this post in Classic Editor.
Easy peasy.
Hot dog!
