A Contemplative Life

The title says it all. Yes I have shingles, but it's a very mild case and I'm on an anti viral. My knee is achy unless I take ibuprofen. Mandolin blocks are designed, and I left out the fabrics, (pictured above) also used for the Myrtle quilt, which needs four blocks arranged, which I'll sort later today. But not everything makes it onto this blog; in a week I'm supposed to join my eldest daughter's family on holiday. Flight is involved, travel out of our home state. Suddenly my participation is in doubt, especially for how wonky my knee feels this morning. Shingles isn't the issue, or it's not at this moment, lol. More is how feasible is loads of walking when one's meniscus is dodgy. How difficult is life when delightful plans are thrown askew by ailments (and I won't mention an abysmal government); it's not a crisis of MASSIVE proportions, yet I am stymied by what to do, or more rightly I am (not so) patiently waiting until Monday to make a dec...

My last flag? Time will tell.... I dreamed last night I could squat. Not that I could do them, like an exercise, although subsequently in the dream I did do them repeatedly, but initially it was that I merely COULD do one. One squat turned into maybe ten? And I was so surprised/thrilled/curious. How in the world did my measly daily stretches allow for SQUATS? (And what exactly does this have to do with the step count?) [And the more pertinent question: Why am I pulling the plug, perhaps only temporarily, on my seemingly thorough dedication to raising as much joyful hell as possible?] I've been sleeping poorly, until last night. This past night I got nearly NINE HOURS of slumber, badly needed and gratefully received. Why did I rest so decently, other than eventually sleep wins? Maybe because last night I made the executive decision to unplug from Bluesky during Lent. Actually, I'm going to begin that Lenten fast a little early; I'll be done tomorrow after posting the last Bl...

Cards I made this morning. More breadcrumbs fer shure! The perfect way to describe my novels. Seriously lol. Having taken off a few days from revisions (not writing, because in all honestly I am NOT WRITING anything at the moment), this morning I opened Splitting the Sky in manuscript form and began making corrections from the version on my phone. Where I had noted to rework this section , I merely inserted that directive onto the document, hah, then moved on with the next notation. I'll rework those sections after I clear all the tabs in the ebook, because it's still a holiday-sort of time, no need to get crazy with editing. Also that in the big picture, my books are digital breadcrumbs in the corporeal sky. Don't misconstrue; I take my writing (or revising, whatever!) seriously. My novels are the best of what I can produce right now, and I'm pleased (and a bit proud) of the themes pursued, prose created, characters blossoming whether I had them initially in mind or n...

Sunset on Mum's last day, June 2018 Around the northern hemisphere summer solstice, I get a little introspective. My mum died six years ago at this time of year, and even now I still miss her, maybe I always will. Better that one's parents go first certainly, but she wasn't even seventy, shite! Recently the band Camera Obscura released an album, their first since 2013 and the first since their keyboardist Carey Lander died of osteosarcoma in 2015. My husband put the digital files on my computer and yesterday I listened to some of the.... It's not a record, like in vinyl, but Look to the East, Look to the West is an album, and on it is "Sugar Almond", the tenth of eleven songs, a tune Tracyanne Campbell wrote for Lander. I'm listening to it now, Campbell's melancholy vocals enhanced only by a piano, probably played by Donna Maciocia who was brought into the band for a gig alongside Belle and Sebastian in their Boaty Weekender cruise. Maciocia became Ca...

  The spoils of yesterday's efforts; the two lower stacks of diamonds aren't fussy cut, just some Karen Nyberg prints I love. Being it was Mother's Day in America yesterday, I spent much of Sunday afternoon in the office, cutting fabric. Fussy-cutting fabric if I'm being precise, and with fussy cutting, precise is paramount. Not sure why I felt so enabled, perhaps in talking to my aunt, who called to wish me a lovely day. Aunt Jay was a couple of years younger than my mum, but now she's older than Mum ever reached, a wonderful link to a past for which I'm grateful, especially at a time when wishing Mum a beautiful day no longer occurs. Yet life continues, and there I was, cutting fabrics for another Myrtle block, when the impetus struck to pull out other shapes and templates. Rummaging through my stash, I recovered a gorgeous stack of Tilda prints, then set about searching for just the right element to capture within the acrylic template, thankful that those I r...

While visiting my daughter, a social media site informed us that back in Humboldt County a respectable pie establishment was featuring several new items for April. I salivated over the mention of mocha pie, and as they were closed on Monday, Tuesday was the first opportunity for me to taste it. And I did. Delicious! I told my husband we'd need to get back to A Slice of Humboldt Pie before the end of the month, and he agreed. He had the chocolate silk, it's also marvelous. Aside from that, cows returned to our homestead this morning; they had traipsed along a pathway that leads to our property last week while I was away, proffering my hubby plenty of photo ops as well as smiles. Their owner herded them home, but apparently today they decided to make another break for freedom. I grew up around Hereford cattle, so it was a sweet memory to find them munching grass as though they had adopted us. Helping my hubby keep the yard tidy I proffer these amusements in part that the pie tru...

Looking at this again, I may overhaul the entire thing. Lol. Isn't that often the way, in quilts or novels; the end appears on the horizon, a joyful swell of anticipation and relief that said project is ALMOST DONE. Almost is a word fraught with uncertainty, because until something IS DONE, it's not finished. This is what I thought days ago after completing the forty-second block of my quilt. Number forty-three is nearly wrapped up, and here's its little tale. I had laid out the blocks, as pictured above, but one was missing. Literally moments before snapping that shot I had four spots left and four blocks in my hand. Then suddenly one had slipped away! Frantically we looked around, and for twenty minutes I was convinced another block would need to be stitched. Fortunately I had eight extra squares, an idea for the inner petals, and the assuredness something appropriate would turn up for the center octagon. Picking up all forty-one blocks, I stacked them in order of rows, d...

Our western view a couple of evenings ago. A month ago I started taking an online course on how to sew angles. I knew that I wasn't going to just dive right into this new element of stitching, filing away each course after a quick read-through of that week's topic. Quickly I realized this course would be something I'd give proper consideration to much further ahead, perhaps early in 2024, what with the end of 2023 zipping right along as though each day signified the end of the world as we know it. I mean, here it is, the fourth of October! Where have the last nine months gone, truly I ask, without delving into the deeper query of what about the last five years, eight years, two freaking decades??? Ahem, okay, calm down Present Me, and focus on the post at hand. Today's post is about accepting how suddenly, a mere month into this course about angles, I really have no aching desire to sew triangles or diamonds or parallelograms unless they are English paper pieced. I don...

Another pretty Cornflower block; might be the last one until the hand-quilting is done, lol. I sat with my novel yesterday morning, reading through chapters four and five. But the necessary motivation to start chapter six was elusive, and after a few moments I saved, then closed the document. Despite so much wanting to write, I didn't have the energy or impetus. And I'm smart enough to not push it. Instead I basted the Halloween quilt, which was necessary, also soothing, in I wasn't required to think much. The weekend was full of conversation and joy, and when guests leave, I'm deflated. And tired. And the washer repair person was due to arrive, so writing really wasn't gonna happen, no matter how much I wished otherwise. Usually I'm good at being aware that what is supposed to occur bests what I want to happen. Or I'm adept at adapting on the fly, lol. Yesterday I was out of sorts, but grateful that basting was mindless. I prepped my sewing machine, then it...

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...

I just LOVE these hues! Not completely rainbow, but multicoloured and just gorgeous. My hubby and I just got back after spending a few days with our son. It's lovely visiting with family, yet always a treat to return to one's own domicile. I admired the results of a very wet winter; green flora flourished EVERYWHERE! I deeply considered my novel-in-progress, making notes not in longhand but on my phone. I did a little hand-sewing and a dab of crocheting, completing a blanket proper and starting the ruffle. Okay, maybe saying I 'completed a blanket' doesn't ring true until the border is finished, but it felt like a win regardless. (Unlike how I managed to center this paragraph inadvertently, quite a fail....) The above picture is one of the treasures. The truths came about like drops of scattered rain, concerning my writing mostly, but not merely the WIP. I pondered why I only publish novels as ebooks, accepting my place as a simple storyteller who takes full advanta...

Another rainbow quilt in the making, more or less. After a rather giddy ten days of writing, I have hit not a stumbling block, just peering ahead at the final bend in the road. Suspense has built for the big payoff, about which I have mulled over EXTENSIVELY in my mind, ahem. It's not that I don't know what comes next, only that having approached it, mild trepidation has emerged. Once I write the next chapter, basically it's done, and then.... Then comes a few days of perhaps an immediate read-through or I merely set it aside, breathe deeply, then jump right into the next book in the series, which already sits at sixty-six K, but needs plenty of reworking and another twenty-thirty thousand words added. I wrote it first, the book that had been going well until it came to a grinding HALT , then a dorky final chapter was slapped upon it, but that nonsensical conclusion opened the door to what has turned into a series, at least within my own mind. LOL. Gotta have a sense of hum...

My bestie snapping pics of the sunset. Previously I was a socks on first then shoes kind of person. Lately I've been a one sock and one shoe on then the other sock and shoe type of gal. I don't exactly know what that means long term, but it seemed full of meaning when I was considering how to start this post. If I had my way, I'd be in the thick of hand sewing an Alexandria quilt. Instead I'm full of machine-piecy notions. I didn't plan 2023 to meander along this road, but other things have occurred that weren't on my list of To Do's, definitely a let go and let God kind of year. And if that isn't your scene, how about the title of today's installment; navigating the gusts of change. Either way, I'm feeling blown off my preferred choice of course, but better to make hay or quilts or write books while the sun shines or the machine sews or the prose emerges than not. My BFF spent the weekend with us, perhaps that's why I'm in this introspec...

Hexie basted earlier today. Today's title isn't a typo, but how my eldest responded on a family text thread this morning. You could also say it's apropos of how all in my clan are grappling with last week's disturbance in the force. Heads-up: this post may be littered with random well known and intimate familial sayings. Risks take rake omg could well become shorthand for various WTF acronyms. Feel free to adopt any and all that fit your situation. Today's forecast is for continued shivers and the occasional tremble, especially when photos of the recently deceased pop up on one's screensaver. There aren't enough words or pregnant pauses to adequately describe what my crew is attempting to digest, and that doesn't include my sister-in-law, suddenly a widow. I can't fathom her heartache, she can't really either. Says she's not thinking about it much, except when it steals over her. Or I assume that's a drop in the bucket, the writer in me. ...

Made for my mom when she entered hospice, this quilt graces our sofa. Our beloved has passed, a beautiful moment of affection, grace, and letting go. I was privileged to be among those seeing off this man to a new plane, my heart aching for the tears of his widow yet grateful for his presence in all the lives so blessed to have known him. This title was from a week ago when I was going to write about having visited my youngest daughter and her crew, but there was no time as I then caught a flight east to be with another branch of my family. The quilt pictured above was from when my mom died. A different one was made for my brother-in-law last summer, and it was in use all week to keep him warm. Roads home take us from east to west, back east and beyond. They flow over mountain ranges and vast swathes of our nation. They amble alongside rushing rivers muddy brown from violent storms or soar high over quiet snow-laden acreage. They are pleasant and pensive, poignant and painful. Sometime...

Rare are the times I begin writing a book, then close up the document, not proffering a satisfying conclusion. But last night after going to bed, I realized that I needed to take a break from A Rose Blissful , from National Novel Writing Month, from something that most times brings me great pleasure but over the last couple of weeks has felt like a.... Not a burden or a big fat drag, yet not an activity enticing or soul- soothing. Yes I'm disappointed, I don't like leaving things unfinished. But better to walk away now than kick myself later for not following my heart. I honesty don't know what will happen to this story; a dear friend is reading the six chapters I have managed, and depending on her assessment, I will choose either to file it under unfinished manuscripts or.... I will give myself this break, then see what happens in December. I have two other novels requiring revising, one of which will be released next month and needs to be formatted.  Edits and formatting...

The Pacific at Trinidad, California, November 2021. Taking a day off from noveling; it's my beloved's birthday, hehehe. A year ago today we went to Trinidad Head, just wandering around the beach. I'd been busy writing That Which Can Be Remembered , sewing Honeycomb Stars quilts for my grandsons. Funny how twelve months later it could be said not much has changed. Yet a lot goes on behind the scenes, as in any life, what I choose to set here, what remains tucked away. Memories, tragedies, small sorrows; all intermingle despite where they fall in the timeline. I used the Moonlight collection by Wishwell for this Honeycomb Stars quilt; November 2021. Yet it's so easy to scroll through a photo app, bringing up this day last year, two years past, three, four.... What ages ago took pulling down photo albums or flipping through boxes of snapshots is no more than asking one's device for shots from this or that day. I can peruse my published novels by merely tapping on a boo...

Displayed on the old laundry line makes for a visual quilty treat! So I have finished what might be the last Honeycomb Stars Quilt I ever make. Never say never (and more about that very soon!), but boy getting through the end of this was.... Not quite a slog, certainly contemplative, and ultimately not that enjoyable. Not due to any fault of the pattern's creator; Rachel Hauser's delightful and informative write-up was clear, concise and if one is inclined to quilting beyond a beginner's level very do-able. Yet I am not the most precise cutter, nor am I super-fussy about scant quarter-inch and full quarter-inch seams. In matching the dog ears when attaching rows together, often I encountered the smallest but meaningful excess fabric and after the first three or four rows I grew tired of adjusting the ears just so. As I completed the final rows yesterday afternoon, I had to admit that while this pattern produces a beautiful result, I am not the quilter best suited to using i...

The beginnings of a Myrtle block from Jodi Godfrey's Seedlings Quilt book. Probably two months ago I cut fabrics for an EPP block, the prints from Karen Nyberg's gorgeous Earth Views collection. Those cuts and their coordinating paper pieces sat in a sandwich bag, along with a nearly finished bobbin of thread for basting, all tucked away in my hexie box, what I call my portable sewing makeshift Tupperware. I'd forgotten all about them until recently, then made that my focus when we went traveling last weekend. Upon reflection however, I need to alter the initial design, outer colours too similar to the blue squares seen above. Similarly I'm having a little trouble deciding what to write next, which isn't an altogether bad situation. But too many choices, and a current WIP to revise, kept me from going back to sleep at 3.49 AM today. Okay.... I will note that by getting up early I enjoyed seeing some bright stars that really are planets in the not too cloudy sky, whi...

Baby coleus I started from seed and over which I am greatly pleased! I'm watching the French Open final between Rafael Nadal and Caspar Ruud. A tennis fan since Boris Becker won his first Wimbledon, I have a fondness for Grand Slam events, especially when one of the finalists is newly thirty-six years old and coming back from injury. Nadal took initial set, has just broken Ruud's serve to bring this second set back to even. A long morning sits in front of me as I savor amazingly played points, typing here and there, muting commercials then peering back at the TV as history is made. Yet within the enormity of worldwide sport, there is the intimacy of right now. It rained much of yesterday, but all my potted plants are in the ground along with five hills of various pumpkins. Three woeful spider plants and a pot of four nasturtiums got me outside before the storm hit, and I didn't even water them after getting them planted, aware the rain would take that task for me. Right now...