In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

It's been a summer of chickens, of guests and revisions. And a summer of the marine layer. I nearly added marine layer to the previous post of things which you never dream . Lol. I certainly didn't anticipate a marine layer figuring so significantly in my life. Mostly due to not realizing that living along the California coast would occur, nor how some summers that heavy cloud bank claims said coast without thought to those who call the coastal area home. But yeah, the marine layer wins again this morning. It's just about time to feed the chickens, 6.20 a.m. currently. If the marine layer wasn't so pushy, I'd get up from the sofa, put on sweats and a hoodie, then collect their feeder, walking to the coop, admiring planets still visible; Venus and Jupiter have decorated the morning sky most of the month, Mercury appearing along the eastern edge, thrilling me completely. Today the marine layer barged in before I spotted the smallest planet in our solar system, blottin...

Some GORGEOUS Anna Maria Parry fabric that HAD to be included. How it fits is shown below, past the chicken photo. Hard to believe it's already the eighth day of the eighth month of the freakin' year! I don't mean to malign 2025, but dude it feels (at times) like a year from, well, some back and beyond era that I thought was over. And then there's chickens.... Thankfully they remembered me after a five-day absence while I hung out at my daughter's residence, keeping an eye on those grandsons. My husband had chick duty, but yes I came back to pullets who still respond to my chicken voice, admittedly not as cute as my youngest grandson's chicken voice, but certainly familiar enough that last night one jumped from half a hay bale onto my shoulder! And it was a chicken that doesn't even like being picked up, whoa! Chicks this morning in the run.  It was sunny here today, in the mid-seventies Fahrenheit in our neck of the North Coast, and I soaked up some of thos...

From 20 June, 2005; our village in England. This was snapped at 8.11 p.m! The impending summer solstice, a sick spouse, and other musings.... I love the lead up to the longest day of the year. Daylight-wise, the solstice is a magical moment that hasn't been diminished despite my mum passing on that day several years ago. Hard to believe she's been gone that long, hard to imagine what she'd make of life today. Long days are still long even if the marine layer muscles in, attempting to lessen the brightness of the rising, then risen sun. Last week when the granddaughters were here, sunshine beckoned without any clouds. For three or four days I watched the sun rise so far north on the horizon, or how it appeared. Even with the fog, the light can't be hidden. This is my favourite season of the year! (It was even more astonishing when we lived in Britain, as we were further north than I am today, but that's a memory for another post....) My husband's cold continues, ...

  House rules call for Free Parking to be more than a quiet resting place. Last week I visited my youngest daughter's family, helping out while her hubby was away on business. The weather in the Sacramento Valley was HOT for the first three days, and while later on we went to a park, splash pad, and pool, for the first few days we stayed inside and indulged in a different kind of entertainment: card and board games! Fortunately my grandsons love games, especially the eldest. Crazy 8's and Go Fish have been staples of his childhood, and his younger brother got in the act, learning the basics of Go Fish and how to deal, hehehe. Board game-wise we enjoyed Junior Scrabble, Life, Carcassonne Junior, Yahtzee, Battleship, and finally managed to squeeze in a game of Monopoly, National Parks version, pictured above. My youngest grandson wasn't a participant of all those games, but many, and I was so pleased he's taking an interest in card games. A deck of cards will never run ou...

Come to me my pretties, hehehe! Amid fires here up north and a tropical storm far to the south and east, my home state is feeling the brunt of nature's power. I'm feeling better thankfully; all it took was getting off my butt and spending two of the last three afternoons picking blackberries. And quilting, writing, and prayer of course. But to be honest, as soon as I wrote the previous post, then explored the horizon for blackberries, my mood shifted upward. In two days, an hour each afternoon, I gathered nearly five quarts, about sixteen cups' worth. I gently wash them, basically swirling about a cup and a half at a time in tepid water, then drain them, freezing them first on baking sheets lined with parchment paper for about four hours, then transferring them to plastic freezer bags. All those steps lifted my malaise, especially when combined with elements of my life that usually bring me the the most joy. Momentary lows beset everyone, the blues for whatever reason creep...

Container nasturtiums on the back steps that scratch my gardening itch. With forty pages left to read, I am over the moon with my series starter. Often after I step away from a manuscript, I wonder if during my absence, a sprite accesses the story, sprinkling magical dust throughout the novel. When I return to give it a read, I find the prose is snappier, characters are well-rounded, plot lines are taut. Did I actually compose these scenes, form these sentences, shape these protagonists? If it wasn't me, then definitely a pixie has infiltrated my computer. No guarantees the second installment will seem this pleasant, lol. Yet I can only deal with one book at a time, and right now I'm quite enjoying what I have tentatively titled A Love Story . Not the most singular name, I grant you, but each part of this series will also possess an overall moniker, reinforced with a numeral, then a secondary title. I don't mind giving away the secondary title, but will keep the main identi...

A shot from the air as I approached our local airport. Boy it is good to be home. It's lovely to travel, don't misconstrue me. But wow, I am glad to be back in my usual sphere. Having made that distinction, I'll be stepping away again in a few days, lol. Need to visit other members of the family closer to home. Planes are great, but old fashioned road trips have their charms. I didn't waste any time reclaiming my routine this morning; I sat with my most recent manuscript, plopped myself about two-thirds into it and read till I reached The End. My goodness I missed that aspect of my life, good to reacquaint myself with the writing in a very simple manner. Summer is an intriguing season, known for getaways and warm days. Breaks from expected activities, reunions with beloveds. Long days permit all kinds of thrills, temperate evenings allowing for excursions apart from one's typical expectations. In winter I hunker down. In summer.... I want to experience heat and ligh...

Sleep has been hard to manage on this trip to the Midwest, but waking early allows me time for back/hip exercises and copious solitary moments greatly enhanced by sitting in my sister-in-law's sunroom listening to the lake, which laps gently or voraciously against the shore. This morning is of the ferocious style, a clear day with a strong breeze, the waves not quite whitecaps. Large geese have been spotted, a dark gray heron too. Frogs attempt to get into where my granddaughters sleep, and we joke that those amphibians don't get to go inside because they don't pay rent. Other than missing my better half, who is keeping an eye on our place, I'm enjoying a marvelous getaway. Well, I did break my pinky left toe, ahem. Going down the loft stairs a little carelessly, I banged it hard, thought nothing of it until much later in the day. Now it's taped to the one beside it, and I'll avoid the loft where my granddaughters play with toys from a previous generation. Other...

Amid a marvelous wave of visitors, I have steadily continued the morning edits. The stitching together of Book 2 is now viewed with discerning eyes, in that finally it is being read on the heels of Book 1. Most of the loose ends have been neatly sewn in place, but a few ragged edges remain, which I'll get to...sometime. LOL. I'm feeling like the creature above, a newt that greeted me yesterday as I headed outside, remaining along the back steps when I returned indoors. Just hanging out, slightly concealed, but not running into the foliage for protection. I meant to show this picture to my grandson, hopefully I'll remember later today. His presence is an intriguing element to our lives here, in that he's garnered some insights to how grandparents manage their days, hedged in what would an eight-year-old find interesting. His family arrives tomorrow for a few days out of the heat and they all will return home hopefully with no newts in tow, but good memories as well as so...