A Contemplative Life

Written over the span of two days. Grandsons visiting. 'Nuff said.... Part One: While waiting revisions from beloveds on The Deadfern Miracles , I'm living vicariously through my eldest, currently on holiday in our former stomping grounds of England. My husband and our family lived in the UK for almost eleven years, and while hubby and I have visited twice in the last seven years, this is the first trip for any of our kids. So far it's a total WIN, despite the heat, both in London and further north. The grandgirls are finding their mama's childhood home quite the thrill, and my daughter and her hubby are happy, if not at times hot. Temps should cool down this weekend, but the British Museum was affected by the heatwave, several exhibit halls closed, and some exhibits removed. Of course, over five thousand people have died in Europe due to the heat wave, and I don't mean to diminish that. My granddaughters have found it odd how infrastructure exists for keeping peopl...

If we give everything away, we have nothing to lose. My BFF left early this morning, a few days of World Cup games, card games (gin rummy, which I'm hoping to teach to my eldest grandson), MUCH CONVERSATION amid football and gin rummy, and sharing last night's fireworks seated in the closed-off parking lot nearest to the Fisherman's Statue at the Woodley Island Marina in Eureka. We'd never taken her there, and she wandered over to the Fisherman, who honors those lost at sea. Meanwhile I snuggled under my Quilt of Grace as it was a marine layer evening that became a misty, breezy night as we waited for darkness to fall. Fireworks began before the ten p.m. announced start time, and were quite impressive! Only a few headed into the clouds, slightly lessening their brightness, but all in all it was a marvelous show, and we headed home grateful for the outing, and for forty-five years of friendship shared. Cropped from a landscape shot, but a decent example of how large is t...

Gigi Chicken, quite contemplative. May 2026; photo courtesy of my husband. I remember fifty years ago as the bicentennial approached; I was very excited to celebrate something so seemingly momentous! Bicentennial quarters were the rage, lol, as well as the sense of being aware of a part of history I would recall throughout my lifetime. Fifty years later, I'm not planning to celebrate America's independence day other than perhaps going to some local fireworks with my bestie, visiting for the weekend. More on my mind are things far less temporal, corporeal. The kinds of notions one ponders as age imparts. For certainly, I'm not ten years old any more, LOL. Clouds from May 2026. Yesterday my bestie noted that in where we live, amid nature and its marvelous spoils, a quiet life removed from even a medium town's bustle has altered my husband and me, to which I heartily agreed. This was spoken as we watched one of the three World Cup games, she LOVES football and tournaments....

My husband at Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, in October 2019. This doesn't have much to do with the post, but was the photo on my screensaver when I sat down to write this post.  Deep Space Nine and character development mattering more than plot. As well as a way to process what seems like a plethora of extended family illnesses. 'Nuff said.... So I'm writing about Suze and family in Jumpville . This is the second of four short stories/novellas in what will be Book Five of The Enran Chronicles . I had some plot ideas, but what seems to be foremost is character development. And that matters, as I've moved their timeline up twenty-eight years, ahem. But what else I've found is something I heard while watching the DS9 documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . The writers were discussing a particular episode, and I tend to associate it with "In Purgatory's Shadow" , as well as its conclusion "By Inferno's Light...

Embracing what I have and not lamenting what isn't.... Ironically I have always been a morning person, lol, yet as a kid, sunrises weren't my jam. I more appreciated sunsets, and I still adore them. However, where we live not only are sunsets hard to wrangle, what with that pesky marine layer, but the western treeline of our property obscures them. Ahem. Seedlings Quilt, February 2020. Well, o-kay.... So instead I've glammed onto, as much as I possibly can, the notion of grabbing the sunrise when it's available. Today was one such morning, as I slept poorly, finally ambling out of bed around four a.m. hoping not to disturb my husband, which I didn't which is a WIN! Reaching the kitchen, immediately I turned on the kettle, because it was going to be ONE of those kinds of CAFFEINATED mornings, lol! Yet as I stepped from the kitchen, I yawned. I was SO TIRED. I really WANTED TO FALL ONTO THE COUCH and GO BACK TO SLEEP. But (BUT!) I peered out the window to find starry ...

Twelve months ago yesterday we bought ten baby chicks. Two died days later. Eight have muscled their adorable poultry lives into our hearts and daily existences. Currently one is missing her tailfeathers from molting. Another is opting out of the broody stage except at bedtime. The rest are being their little henny-penny selves and here I am, writing a post about them. Because a year ago, I was overwhelmed in becoming a new chicken mama, also wondering what the hey we'd done. Lol.... It's not like I ponder, "Oh, what would we do without them???" Though, I do wonder for how long our lives will include them, especially since early this morning I again saw the gray fox trotting around, then slinking into the underbrush. Whatever! I've let go and let God concerning these hens, which for the most part are very healthy and seemingly happy. And honestly, what more could I seek? Suspicious of scratch in a pan.... All photos courtesy of my husband. Becoming chicken owners ...