The end.

No, really, I do apologize.  I came to the same conclusion that many others who blog eventually come to.  That is, why am I spilling myself over the pages here, and really, who cares?  Aside from my mom, my friend Carol and occasionally friends from here and there.  Really.

So, instead of the typing sort of blogging, I am going to try and at least post a photograph.  Which is a bit of a touchy subject for me, and has become increasingly so really.  I have Rheumatoid arthritis.  I now have shaky hands.  I don’t know if it is age shaky hands, or R/A shaky hands.  It can’t be coffee related, because I really only drink a bit in the morning.  Yeah it is high octane, but I don’t shake then.  In the afternoon, yes.  I don’t drink, so it isn’t that.  Point being that photography is not fun like it has always been.  I did some digging around online and there are some Kodak cameras like mine that do have a program to compensate for shakiness.  Down the line I can tell you I will be purchasing one.

Who knows once again.

Anyway, here is a photo for you all.  The colors of the sky here in far northeastern California is so different than the Los Angeles area.  Or central California.  The sky goes on forever, and if you can catch it just right, you will know you will never see a sunrise or sunset quite like it.

This was the morning of my mom’s birthday, Tuesday January 24th.

A brilliant sunrise over the lake

and now I am going to take dinner to mom’s house. My son is there already, so I better get moving. Have a nice evening all!

I was without my computer for nearly 3 weeks, which made blogging something that I could not keep up with.  Admittedly I have not been keeping up with it WITH access to the computer, but that is beside the point – because I say so

I checked into three blogs that I faithfully follow.  None had been updated in that timeframe either, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

Enjoy the family and friends today   Only a bit of snow left today.

Lilacs 2011

Well, I will try this again.  WordPress, the hosting company for this blog has been wonky lately.  Like type a whole blog, saving it along the way.  Automatic saves too thanks to WordPress.  Click “preview” and there is only the title.  No blog.  Switch back to the edit page, and it shows ZERO word count.  Aghhh!

Their support is out until today.  I checked the forums and since no one else noted this particular glitch, guess it’s me.  Or rather the electricity in a box that sits here by my feet.  So, cache cleaning, cookie ejecting, you name it.  Now I am typing and I have no idea if it will save to publish or not.  Maybe I will just bypass the preview stage.  Yeah, that is a good idea (so I hope)  We shall see.

So, lilacs to start the day, have a good one all!

The second seat of my Chevy

We had fun.  I mean really fun with this!  Two cushions for my son’s tent.  One for my beloved iron chair that I sit in next to the lilac trees-yes the one I have been hoping to have.  One for the garden bench.  One for the wood bench I bought for ten dollars and have repainted several times.  It has always needed a cushion.  Now it has one!  Plus some matching very soft puffy pillows.  A bench cushion for mom’s swing.  We made quite a haul!  Several hundred dollars of cushions/pillows for under $20 bucks.  YAY!!!  All because our WalMart is making room for Christmas.  Here in the remote reaches of northeastern California, I have discovered several things.  One, is that the day after a holiday, when all the GOOD chocolate candy is 50% off, you can buy it that day and the next few weeks because we always have extra at the stores.    Also, Christmas decorations appear in October, and are in the garden shop until at least April.  Pretty silly, but fun anyways.  I know I have been living where there are no department stores for a long time because of the following.  I am actually excited to see what decoration/motif will be on the microfiber throws that WalMart will sell for Christmas.  I love these things.  I bought one two season ago, a bright Chevy red with good-looking reindeer in white.  It is thick and just lovely.  It usually is on my bed all winter.  I admit I did get it out and put it on the bed a few weeks ago.  While it has been lovely not to have to put on all sorts of  gear because of the weather, I do miss being snuggled down and comfy.  Summer just isn’t it for me.  I love fall, and have had a good time recently taking photographs.  Ahhh.

Maple - fall 2011

Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes.  It has been a good day!

My friend Carol posted a blog on that topic.  What do YOU want to accomplish before you pass to that next stage, from this world to the next stop?  Whatever it is, however you believe doesn’t matter.  What do you want to get done in the here and now of this life?

I saw a quote recently, and I am sorry to say I don’t remember where.  It said “there are no luggage racks on a hearse”  How true!  We can’t take any of the accumulated “stuff” or $$ with us once we are done breathing.  So, what do you want to get done while you are here?

That is a big question for me actually.  A terribly difficult one really.  I don’t do well thinking of what I want.  I find things for other people.  I take care of others, people, animals.  I just said goodbye to a night hawk bird.  It lived here for maybe 7 weeks and finally was strong enough to fly away.  Most amazing.  The coolest bird I have EVER seen.  I didn’t even know what it was when I got it.  Now I know lots! I seem to have lost the ability to really care about material things.  Not that there isn’t a lot of stuff around, but what really matters? Truly matters?  **Sigh**

But back to the bucket list thing.  From the second I could drive away, when I got my driver’s license I was GONE!  Off I went in my 1961 VW bus.  Off to the racetrack I went, working at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar.  Ah those were the days.  I could move what little I owned in my bus.  I could LIVE in my bus for that matter, and would have if I had needed to.  My bus and I had many adventures, and we lived to tell about it.  Great fun.  Hmm. Maybe I did all my bucket list stuff before I got to be this age.

I was just responsible for me back then.  I worked where I wanted, I supported myself.  I happily worked for some of the best trainers in the US.  Then I got sidetracked, by my first love reappearing in my life.  We had a son.  I discovered a sad truth, about my husband, while I was pregnant that I didn’t know what an alcoholic was.  Until then.  I likely should have cut and run and never looked back.  But I didn’t.  So, for the last 20+ years I have tended to other people.  Took care of Pop, took care of my husband until he passed away.  I should note he died sober.  Liver failure, caused by being accidentally poisoned by a copper wood preservative product.  Amazing, only his luck as he would say. Anyway,  Mom has had a number of health issues.  I have my own issues, doesn’t everyone?  But putting myself first has not been one of those issues for many many years.

It was difficult to even say that I was writing.  To tell anyone. Now that I have, I have met some absolutely wonderful, supportive people.  No, I am not published yet, but I will be.  No doubt.  It is the craft I need to refine.  I need to learn proper punctuation.  I know that.  It is like having two different colored socks on, hidden by your slacks.  You know it is there, just out-of-order, but not many people point it out.  YET.  I have got to get that resolved.

As far as a bucket list, that is still elusive.

I, like Carol, wish to live a good life.  To care for those who are important to me.

I would like to sell my photographs, perhaps as art, perhaps as calendars. Or cards.

I will be published, and I will be successful.  So there

A tree by the courthouse in town

Something that has been bugging me a bit is this.  My cell phone, when plugged into the wall, charges in a short period of time.  Then when I use the USB cable to charge it, it can take hours.  Charging with the USB cable never makes the phone become hot.  Wall charge? Hot? Yes! That is why I do not use that way of charging any longer.  Car charger? HOT!  Quick charge, but I would never leave it plugged in, too scary.  So, I charge via the computer now.

A few days ago, I won two tickets to two nights of the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) World Finals.  The question to answer had to do with what Ring of Honor member of the PBR trained a Kentucky Derby winner.  That of course was Carl Nafzger.  I found the tweet a minute after it was posted with the opportunity.  I was first to respond, and shockingly I won.  I love contests and I have won some really memorable things.  The unfortunate thing about the tickets was  that I am over 500 miles from there.  I have obligations here and with finances what they are…well you get the picture.  So, I wrote back that I was thrilled to win, but give them to the next person with my compliments.  Oh well.  One day I will get to a live PBR event.  Someday!

I entered a contest with a short version of my current work in progress.  The original deadline was the end of September.  They extended it until today at 5 pm eastern time.  The editors will choose 3 finalists then the grand prize winner will be chosen by November 15.  Exciting times here in the desert!  It is a step, and I learned a lot doing it.  Following what I learned in the Michael Hauge workshop in NYC.   Now to really finish my current work and get it sent out.  I can do it and I am confident in my work.  It is just a matter of time.  Isn’t it always?

Enjoy your day, still Indian Summer here.  Soon the snow will fly and we will get tucked in for the winter.  I should be racing around getting stuff put up for the season, but we shall see.

The Milky way, Northern lights and a meteor. Tommy Eliassen Caters News Agency

What am amazing shot this is.  For those who missed seeing it on MSNBC.com’s front page today.  Magical, mystical and almost unbelievable.  This fellow, Tommy Eliassen regularly shoots this area of Ifjord, Finnmark, Norway.  That night, the clouds moved out leaving a bit of a clear sky window for the opportunity.  Eliassen made the photo on Sept. 25 using a Nikon D700 with a wide angle lens and long exposures between 25 and 30 seconds.  He got 7 shots before the clouds came back.  A possible once in a lifetime occurrence for a photographer.  Great job!

In other news…………first my little flat screen Polaroid television quit working. That was really a bummer, as it wasn’t even two years old.  Then I was using an old regular TV from someone’s kitchen (mine, mom’s, forgot where it came from) Then IT went all fritzy and it would start an amazingly loud screeching noise with white lines at the top of the picture. So I would have to leap and shut it off manually (the remote quit communicating w/the TV and yes I tried new batteries, I tried everything!) So, I gave up yesterday, went into town and bought a used TV at the thrift store.  For Five (yes, $5)  dollars and yes it has a remote. Best of all? IT WORKS! Yay, thank you Nu2You, what a great store! Funny how we get used to our creature comforts

Have a good day all!  Sunny and warm here, Indian Summer?

The moon on August 21 in 2008

So many different things life is comprised of.  I prefer to focus on the good, the beauty of things.  My lilac trees are thinking about beginning to turn colors.   Soon they will drop their leaves.  They don’t change into one color, but a variegated  mass of pretty color and random patterns.

Enjoy the day all.  Stay warm.  Remember to tell those that matter to you how much!

Yep, we live in the country

Somehow September zipped right on past me.  Not a blog to be seen that month.  Well, I will try to be better about it.  I have been writing. Using every bit of time I can find to do just that.  Write.  In my time off the blog, I put to use the amazingly needed information I gathered in the workshops that Michael Hauge did at the RWA convention in NY.  I came home and totally deconstructed what I had, and when I was just starting to put it back together, I found out about a contest.  So, I did a 23,600 word version and sent it in.  Let me tell you, that hitting send on that entry was scary.  And thrilling.  And so very filled with relief.  I have a hint of what it is going to be like when I type “the end” on my WIP.  I have learned SO much the past two years.   People come into our lives, sometimes for a day, a week, a month or years.  We never know what the impact they will have on our lives might be.  Through an admired writer friend of ours,  I met a wonderful woman who is now one of my best friends.  She is strong. Brilliant.  Busy wife, mom, business woman.  Amazing caregiver. Fellow writer.  Jaguar lover   Gifted photographer of sunsets and interesting doors amongst other things.  We exchanged emails and she has become my strongest ally.  God blessed us when we met.  We have attended several writing conventions, a writers weekend on Whidbey Island.  Because of her and the support she has given to me, I am going forward.  Armed with information and confidence.  Plus the inner strength to know that I not only can do it, but AM doing it – “it”  meaning me finishing the WIP and sending it out when it is vetted thoroughly.  Thank you Carol, what you have done for me there aren’t words for.

The docks in Richmond British Columbia October 2009

We went to the SIWC in Surrey BC in October of 2009.  Beautiful British Columbia.  Gorgeous Canada.  The photo above was taken with my little cell phone camera.   Last year it was the writers weekend that Bob Mayer teaches.  That was on Whidbey Island WA.  I love the islands there.   Just lovely.  Aside from Bob’s voice (still) echoing in my mind “WHY should we care about this character?”  it was another amazing learning experience.  June this year we were in New York City!  Loved it.  The RWA conference.  Michael Hauge.  What an experience and an honor to have attended.  Learned so much – I really can’t emphasize that enough

Have a lovely weekend all, looks like it may be the last of the decent weather here in the desert where it snows.

Winter 2010 - snowflakes on my truck

For me, nature is a huge part of my outlook on things.  We live in a very rural setting.  Our ranch has been home to many different types of critters.  Retired Thoroughbred racehorses.  Rescued horses from feedlots.  Dairy goats. Miniature goats.  Pygora goats.  Chickens, both standard breeds and my favorite, the tiny Serema chicken.  Doves.  A geriatric Pheasant. The neighbor across the street moved and couldn’t take his ducks and chickens. Since he was the one who alerted us to impending disaster last winter (our chimney was having a flue fire)…I felt I owed him and agreed to adopt his birds.  Search “flue fire” on my blog if you want to read that blog post

Anyway, nature and the weather rules a lot of my daily activities.  Recently it has been too hot to do much outdoors unless it is early morning.  I haven’t been shooting as many photographs lately either.  Partly due to the weather, partly due to the shaky hands.  Another gift from the Aspartame (artificial sweetener) toxicity I suffered.   It is approaching 4 years since I stopped drinking diet Coke.  Poison people.  Pure poison.  I used to jokingly say “when I start to glow in the dark, I will quit drinking it”.  OMG!  I didn’t glow folks, it sapped every bit of strength out of me.  If you are interested in more gory details, Google “Aspartame poisoning”.  It took me 2 days to do three hours of chores.  It was literally killing me.  So, moral of the story, eat or drink NOTHING that didn’t exist a hundred years ago.  That is how I do it now.

Tweety the magnificent

One of our favorite birds.  Tweety was brought to me as a “rooster” (HA!)  She is very tame and follows me around everywhere.  One day, several months after she took up residence here, she squawked.  I looked down and she walked away….from an egg! She sat down and laid an egg right by my foot.  What a chicken

I better get busy, enjoy the day all!