In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Not that I'm planning to live till I'm one hundred twenty years old. Only that for however long I reside on this planet, it's as though I'm starting over.... My birthday has come and gone, but my goodness it was wonderful! Shared with a variety of beloveds, the weather cooperated, and we celebrated in myriad ways, with an old episode of Great British Bake Off enjoyed by all. That series is one my grandkids all love, and we watched with glee as Martha recovered from an awful tart in the signature challenge in taking first place in the technical by baking poached pears wrapped in pastry. Kate was that week's star baker, but we said goodbye to Norman in a season made perhaps before my eldest grandchildren were even born. Lego flowers I received for my birthday; I completed bags 1-4 (out of ten) last night, might finish this ensemble later today! Hence is the basics of aging; we can watch reruns on TV via any method, but time keeps marching, and I came up with the end ...

The Yorkshire Dales, autumn 2019 although I thought this was from spring, lol. (England matters in a post about writing because it was in the UK where I began my first novel!) Reading over Chapter 11 of The Possibility of What If ; my life as a fifty-something is nearly done. Not sure why I felt compelled to read over that random chapter, but I was. I'm posting it below, but first here's a little snippet of what else is happening.... I'll be sixty VERY SOON. LOL. No ahems, no visits from Future or Past Me. Simply this last days in my fifties me, which won't be that different than who I'll be after I turn sixty, God willing. I trimmed my fringe this morning, that's bangs to you Yanks. I'll get a proper haircut next month once shingles are DONE. They're close, but.... Last night I dreamed they had gotten worse. Thankfully that isn't the case. I've been reading through Home and Far Away and this morning I figured out how that section of On Being Br...

From a couple of days ago, snapped not far from the coop. Camilla to the left, Owl in center front, nearly all the rest in the background; oh my sweet chickens! Not a 4-H club, but certainly a 3-H association. Gigi has abandoned her broody ways, THANK YOU JESUS! Ruthie, also starting to be known as Buttercup, remains a mostly cheery sort. The rest are enjoying a slightly wet day, and I am grateful they are as low-key as chickens could be. Broody duo notwithstanding, ahem. I guess this is a chicken post. Ah chickens.... They had a marvelous weekend putzing around mainly in the sun, though yesterday mid-afternoon the clouds thickened up, signaling the storm now drizzling water on our North Coast corner of the world. Two nights ago my husband found Gigi in a nesting box, but to our amazement she plopped out of it of her own accord, then slowly wandered toward the steps of the roost, hopping up to the wall, finding a space for sleep. Last night she didn't even enter a nesting box, cont...

Rainbow side first, sunny and crinkly! Whew, finally wrapped up the last of this cozy! And I'm SO PLEASED with it, I wish it was mine, LOL. Instead it's going to not the original recipient, but someone else much beloved. Still, I do wish it was staying at my house. Next is autumn in shade. Most of these prints are from Stephanie Sliwinski's Foraged, Found, & Hand Me Down collection by Moda.  What does that mean, aching to gift a quilt while desiring its presence close? I guess it means I really like it, both for the fabrics and weight, for the size and stitches inserted, for all it has meant to me since early this year. It's meant: Throw fabrics on the design wall because blank space is boring, then fall in love with what you see, super-excited to hand-sew it together. Use it to make a tutorial, then find the extra layer of batting, consisting of a worn-out flannel sheet, actually makes the hand-quilting a little on the tricky side, but you persevere despite a tired...

My most recent novel , available at many online book sites. Kind of a serious post about self-publishing from this author who has never had to pay to release novels. All my ebooks are free, unless purchased on Amazon which charges a nominal .99 cents. That won't change as long as I can help it. But yesterday I received an email from Draft2Digital noting a new policy concerning maintenance fees. For new accounts, a one-time charge of twenty dollars will ensue, and unless one earns more than one hundred dollars a year, an annual fee of twelve bucks will be required. I read this with a slight smirk on my face; the merger between Smashwords and Draft2Digital has been an ongoing process; my account was integrated only last summer. For nearly fifteen years I have published ebooks without paying money to a company; did I expect that to last forever? As it stands, it's a dollar per month to maintain my novels within D2D's system, because it's going to be a LONG TIME before I ea...

Maybe indicative of the old quilt Trevor places over Jamey. From February 2024, sort of when this novel takes place. Sometimes I truly realize how it's not me writing these novels, but God. Because sometimes I take a break in the middle of a first draft, that of a few days perhaps, but not ten days. And actually now it's been twelve days since I last wrote. And below is the chapter that emerged this morning. And I like it. It's an answer to the cliffhanger of Chapter Nineteen, ending with a cliffhanger all its own. It's indicative of how we here in Humboldt County occasionally view our special little corner of the planet, and indicative of how I see my life lived as a child of God. And, well, here it is....   Chapter 20   After the CHP inspection, what was left of Trevor’s truck had been hauled to Harbaugh Automotive , merely as a way for those closest to Trevor to begin to grasp what seemed more than a miracle. It was miraculous that he was alive, all accepted, also ...