Today is All Saints Day, aka, the Feast of the Saints, so I finally hung my picture of St. Lucy so I could see her every day, and then I put a plate of brownies in front of her as tribute. I ate the brownies later, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
What did you work on this week?
My favourite St Lucy pictures are the ones where she’s doing a TA-DAA reveal with a dish uncover, and the dish+eyes looks like Cookie Monster. I’d attach a picture but the spam filter might take offence, and quite right too.
I’m still cutting my 160k WIP down to 100k. It is not fun. I had a beer with my agent the other week and he reminded me he likes the book so that helped, a bit.
Oh, that makes me feel better! I’m only trying to cut my ms from 125k to 100k. Of course, I probably have a few more chapters to add still…
Saaaaame, the ending needs tweaking and now it’s like untangling knitting wool.
I love it that she’s giving those eyes on a stalk the side eye. She looks so fed up.
“This is not what I meant by two scoops, thankyouverymuch”
Same thing I work on every week, Jenny; trying to take over the wor… I mean, hydroponic gardening. Yeah, hydroponic farming, that’s the ticket. With… Morgan Fairchild, yeah, that’s the ticket.
I watched too much SNL when I was younger.
The hydroponic gardening continues to be real and my favorite retirement hobby. I am now growing Anaheim, poblano, jalapeño, and banana peppers, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, and three kinds of lettuce. I also eat what I grow, as I’ve mentioned all too often.
Gary, I bought some flower pods, thinking they would perk up my winter, but two of them just took over the space, and four of them did not come up. I requested and received replacement pods, but I’m thinking I might have the same problem with them. I guess I’ll go back to lettuce. It does very well in the AeroGarden, and I eat it, too. I potted the two plants that took over, and they have died. I think they were too acclimated to the hydroponic environment.
I didn’t have much luck with the AeroGarden seeds. Now I just plant my own. You might want to try that.
I have no complaints (this week) about AeroGarden seed pods. All my tomato and pepper plants are AG. Some of my lettuce is, also.
I have a plethora of sponges and seeds from other vendors. Lyko is a good source. The deal with using other seeds in a Harvest is the height limits. You have to make sure you’re buying the dwarf variety or you need the light bar extenders as shown in the pictures for my gardens.
I’ve tried to pass on plants to the dotter for outside and she complains that they all die. I’ve stopped trying that.
I had to trim the long roots so the plants would fit in the pots, which may not have helped. The little cage the roots are in is an impediment, as well.
There is a lot of help on the web with “How to transplant from hydroponics to soil.” It all seems too complicated to me, so I only plant edibles – and eat the results. That’s why I quit planting Red Fire Peppers and Purple Super-Hots. I can eat a jalapeño raw, though I prefer to stuff them with cream cheese and wrap them in bacon. The others I eat are all milder.
Braaaaain.
🙂
I am heading back to my day job after a glorious week of doing whatever I want. I got a lot done, culminating with a successful trick or treat last night. It wasn’t as good as last year. Several of my neighbors moved and my block was considerably darker this year. Still, everyone was lovely and I am happy to participate.
Now to try to keep my vacation mojo at work for as long as I can.
Lupe did you see Judy’s question on a prior post about good tentacle books?
No! In GBT? I will have to look.
Actually it was in State of the Collaboration. Search for tenticle.
A convert! A convert!
I was on a quilting retreat last weekend. It was probably the last glorious weekend of the year, with temperatures in the 70s. We were on a screened in porch over looking a pond, with lots of fall color all around. So, I was productive.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy9sA4txAgf/
I’d worked on some of the colorful points at a previous retreat. This time, I finished the rest and managed to get this quilt together. It’s pretty huge – but I love how it turned out.
I love that violet colour!
That’s gorgeous, and interesting, with the overlapping shapes.
I love it too! Can you share the pattern name?
Sure! It’s Goodnight Star, a Quiltworx pattern. I got a kit with the Tula Pink colorway because I just couldn’t take my eyes off the picture. It turned out to be a lot more fussy than I was expecting, so I had to keep my seam ripper handy.
Good to know!
I wish I could feel those quilts. I bet you can feel the shapes. I also bet they are all stunning.
So happy to hear you had a good time at the retreat!
Me and my familiars are recovering from a good shell-out last night. My husband was a hot dog but refused to participate in visual captures for purely historical purposes. Pics attached of ridiculously cute creatures in costumes for anyone who likes that sort of thing. Dogs may not look entirely…happy. But they were, I earnestly assure you.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m87srciMrCpoK0G78pRHZ2-yBEDVTDnn?usp=share_link
So cute! I did not know you could use Google to share on here. There’s a lot I don’t know about this stuff.
So cute! Thanks for sharing!
Adorable! I also love how adult costumes are becoming various designs of onesies. Fleece works well in Michigan in late October, where it snowed last night.
Technically it was a unicorn costume but yes…definitely chosen for maximum warmth factor.
The dogs do not look unhappy. They look like they’re thinking “Treats. They keep saying that word. Where are mine????”
It’s like you read their furry little minds, Mary Anne. They demanded treats during the shelling-out process the entire night.
you all look adorable!
Why Saint Lucy? And is she particularly attached to brownies?
I have been…working on day job but not enough, (I have gone down a bit of a rabbits hole), healing from gum surgery, proofreading my daughter’s thesis and figuring out whether to go see our son for Thanksgiving (we would not make him cook).
I need to plant about 150 new tulip bulbs and maybe 200 narcissus that I dug up this summer but I’m not supposed to go in the sunlight because of a medicine I’m using on my forehead . So I’m really hoping we don’t get a hard freeze until I am done with it and can go out in late afternoon with a hat and a lot of suntan lotion.
St. Lucy is the patron saint of writers–see the big quill in her hand?–and of eye problems, so she’s definitely my saint. And as horrible as her martyrdom was, I always think she looked like this portrait, just annoyed with the idiot men surrounding her.
Ah! She is apparently also the saint of pandemics (I trust really of protecting people from pandemics, not enabling the pandemic to flourish.) And Perugia, which makes good chocolates, so I’m sure she appreciated the brownies.
I was born on St Lucy’s day (13 December) and my second name is Lucy!
Before we switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar her feast day was celebrated as the winter solstice, hence the Donne poem A Nocturnal on St Lucy’s Day’. In this part of the world anyway, the evenings begin to lengthen from 13th December which always cheers me up (sun keeps rising later in the mornings for another couple of weeks) . That’s all of my St Lucy trivia.
I didn’t know she was the patron saint of writers. This is quite exciting!
On the food front I associate her more with saffron buns than brownies but I happily eat both on my birthday.
And THERE the second shoe dropped for me. St. Lucy = Saint Lucia. If she’s the saint of eye-problems (which would be very logical indeed), she’s definitely my saint as well.
Did you know we have a whole day/celebration dedicated to her in Sweden? It’s every December 13th, and one of my favourite days of the year. All candles and beautiful singing and sweet treats at the darkest part of winter. Swedish television broadcasts a celebration from somewhere in the country on that day, and I watch it every year. Kindergardens, schools, workplaces, old people’s homes, pretty much every place will organize a Lucia-procession or invite a group to perform for them. I always dreamt of being chosen as Lucia for the school celebration, but never was. I was selected to sing the solo-part of the opening song a few times though, which is almost as big an honour. 🙂
That sounds lovely, Shass. Until Jenny explained, I assumed she’d chosen St Lucy to light her through the dark winter months.
Until everybody chimed in here, I didn’t realize that Lucy and Lucia were the same saint.
I attended college in a very Swedish town, Lindsborg, Kansas, for two years, and one year I was chosen to be Saint Lucia, and wear a crown of candles to greet everyone in my dormitory. It was quite festive.
As I understand it, the saint/god takes the essence of your offering, leaving the material shell behind – so I’m sure she enjoyed the brownies.
I had the introductory meeting for local rights of way researchers, and feel we got off to a good start. I’ve set up a Google group for us, and everyone has chosen an area to focus on. Otherwise, I’ve been prepping for Not-NaNoWriMo. I’ve decided to use November as a discovery/play writing month. So far I’ve spent the morning circling round it, but I think I’ve actually found a place to start now, so should actually do some writing this afternoon. I’ve also asked Charlie at Urban Writers’ Retreat to re-send me the Writer’s Block Detox prompts, as back-up. (I did this in 2020, and really enjoyed it.)
I had eleven goblins at my door last night, which is pretty good, since the windchill was near freezing, and there are only six children on my long block, and one of those is a baby.
I usually put photos of my ancestors, and pets who have gone over the rainbow bridge, on my altar at this time. I will get to it, soon.
Before the freezes, I picked two quarts of cherry tomatoes, many of them a good size, and they are on a jelly roll pan, with hopes they will ripen.
A Sharp-Shinned Hawk was so desperate for food yesterday that it perched on the honeysuckle vine at the corner of my back patio, where the little birds land before flying to the bird feeder. There was a lot of chittering, but they all got away safely, this time. I was able to get some good photos, since it was so close.
More driving than I’d anticipated this week. Kid 2’s bus didn’t materialize on Monday, so drove him to school. Then my husband forgot a crucial part of his costume yesterday, so I drove it up to him at work. Today should be a stay-at-home day? My parents gave me a yard cleanup for my birthday, since I haven’t been keeping up due to a year of post-Covid nonsense, and the crew should be starting this morning. *swoons in delight* I think I just need to be on hand to answer questions. I’ll be working on the WIP while they labor in the yard. I suppose I might end up driving the dog to my parents’ house at some point, though, since she’s going to lose her mind at having strangers in the yard.
Jenny, now I’m feeling inspired to try to bake some carob brownies, if that’s a thing. I made surprisingly good carob fudge last week. I’ve always hated carob, but after 9+ months of no chocolate, I find I’m extremely open to chocolate substitutes.
Can you eat cocoa powder ? I discovered as part of my gum surgery recovery that frozen banana puréed with cocoa powder makes a surprisingly decent substitute for chocolate ice cream.
I can’t eat cocoa or bananas, sadly, but that sounds delish! I did make some nice blueberry basil “ice cream” awhile back—just blending frozen blueberries with a leaf of basil. Yummy, but you have to eat it right away. The texture is terrible if you try to save it.
Is it a migraine thing? My sister and i try to avoid for that reason. She’s much more prone to migraines than i am so she’s more committed but I’d love your carob recipes if you want to share.
Chocolate gives me migraines. 😫
It’s a histamine thing! I can’t tolerate foods with high (or any, really) histamine content anymore (thanks, Covid), which includes almost every yummy food you can think of. Migraines aren’t one of my symptoms, but a lot of people with histamine intolerance get them. I’ll find the carob links and post them. If you’re craving chocolate, though, you might be able to indulge if you don’t eat other high histamine foods at/around the same time, since the symptoms come on when your “histamine bucket” overflows. You can also try taking the enzyme DAO as a supplement with the chocolate. DAO is a major player in metabolizing histamine. If you’re only a little short in making your own DAO and/or your body isn’t constantly pumping out excessive amounts of its own histamine (hello, that’s me), the supplement can help (also often taken to help enjoy red wine or cheese, for example). Sadly, it doesn’t seem to make any difference for me.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk… 😉
This carob fudge is amazing! (Bearing in mind that my standards have changed quite a bit in the last year—I haven’t gotten the opinion of anyone who can eat chocolate. I *think* it’s objectively good, though.)
https://ohsheglows.com/2014/08/05/easy-carob-almond-freezer-fudge-frosty-recipe/
To make the fudge truly low-histamine, I subbed instant decaf coffee for the cocoa powder and vanilla powder for the vanilla extract.
I haven’t tried these yet, but they’re next on my list and sound delicious:
https://blackallergymama.com/fudgy-vegan-carob-zucchini-brownies-gluten-free/
I will have to sub almond butter for the sunflower butter, and vanilla powder for the extract, but otherwise they’re very low in histamine. (Oh, the powdered sugar can also be a trigger, but apparently you can grind up coconut sugar as a substitute—haven’t tried doing that yet.)
For some reason I can’t reply below but thanks for the recipes! I’ll have to try them with my own needed modifications hah. I totally understand not knowing if normal people will like your food!!
Yes! I discovered this long ago, just as a way to improve the puree from overripe bananas I’d had to freeze. I think of it more as pudding than ice cream, but whatever works. Pretty low-cal except for what is naturally in the bananas and the unsweetened baking cocoa. Too bad it won’t suit Christine.
We do frozen banana ‘ice cream’ too, sometimes with a splash of milk if they’re frozen too hard. Freeze dried raspberry powder is another nice addition
I had a long weekend and planned to do lots of work around the house, but got distracted by too much reading (if that’s ever a thing). I did pick the nicest jobs on my list including planting about 50 daffodil bulbs. It’s been so wet (i.e actually wetter than usual, which is quite wet) it was easy getting them into the ground, I just hope they don’t rot.
I’m happy with my writing productivity having just finished a key section of my WIP. It took a few weeks of 15-30 mins each evening, and i am very pleased to have completed it. I haven’t read it over yet, but for the moment anyway I am happy.
I’m working on house repair things (many of which were due to things not being done correctly the first time, so there has been some cursing).
And doing winter prep stuff. (30’s today and the first flurries). And dealing with a cat with allergies (poor boy pulls his fur out, and since he is probably part Maine Coon, that is a lot of fur).
And doing book promo, which always involves cursing.
I am hoping, this afternoon, to actual sit down and write for the first time in ages. Wish me luck.
Good luck. With all of that!
I have been trying to finish up projects that require both arms/hands prior to my rotator cuff surgery on Nov. 13th. I got 2 more quilts quilted for a customer and the last customer quilt is on the frame and started. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzHAqtMLowx/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I’ve also scheduled an appointment with a hospice vet to come and assess the quality of life our cat is currently experiencing. I’m a worse case scenario thinker, so I’m less hopeful than my husband. Our kitty hasn’t been eating more than a few licks of food for about a week. She’s 21.5 years old. Our conversations around her have been stressful and full of tears.
For work, I got my FMLA paperwork filed and approved so I’m set for up to 4 weeks off after surgery. I’m also trying to get things ready there for when I’m off.
I’m also searching for the cooler that is used to pump cold water over my shoulder. I had one from the last surgery but haven’t been able to find it. Grr.
Oh no! That cooler makes such a difference! I really hope you find it
Kelly – keep us posted about Sophie. We’re thinking of you.
Well, the good news is that Sophie isn’t showing signs of being in pain. She handled the exam quite well. The bad news is she likely has a tumor in her sinuses. Her regular vet had also suggested it. Antibiotics won’t help. She wants to eat but hasn’t for a week. With all that the hospice vet talked about with us, we’ve decided we need to let her go. That to try and keep her going is actually more selfish than loving. Her regular vet will be coming Monday, assuming she makes it until then, to put her down. We’ll do all we can to make her last few days with us be good ones, but I also am crying often.
I’m so sorry, Kelly. She’s had a great life, but that doesn’t make letting go of her any easier. She’s lucky to have had you.
I’m so, so sorry. We just had to say goodbye to our kitty a couple weeks ago—it’s awful.
I’m sorry for your loss as well!
A quick update on Sophie… she woke up in some distress this morning so we ended up contacting the hospice vet who came this morning and helped us provide Sophie with a very peaceful transfer to her next life. We hope she’s with her brother and has finally forgiven him for biting her on the butt more than a decade ago. We are very sad but also believe the timing was right. We’ll miss her. She’s been with us for nearly 22 years.
I am so sorry. It’s such a difficult decision to make. Hugs!
It’s so hard to make such a decision. Sometimes love is hard that way. 🙁 You’ve given her the best kind of life. Sending lots and lots of strength to all of you. <3
So sorry to hear about kitty not feeling well. What an amazing age she’s achieved! Sending you bunches of timed pocket-strength-hugs for when you need ’em!
Thank you! I will need every one of them!
I am sending a big batch as well. It is so hard to let them go, but it is definitely better than watching them waste away.
Thank you!
If you’d like to indulge in some cat pictures, Sophie was gorgeous! https://www.instagram.com/p/CzJo5NxL-sy/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Precious pics. Sorry for your loss.
Had to spend too much time on the day job so that I could take some days off: Nov 1st is a public holida,, so I’m out of office the redt of the week. Today we got on the train to Vienna. DH picked a great Airbnb, a loft with a view in direction of the Prater: the kids are ecstatic, yay!
Oh, I’ve always fancied visiting Vienna – paintings & sachertorte. Have fun.
This morning: (a) called Optum to get recommendations for a psychiatrist since Kaiser apparently won’t let me see one, (b) also to get recommendations for an ADHD evaluation in case the one with Kaiser doesn’t go well.
This afternoon I have to talk to my union guy. I don’t have high hopes on this one since I am utterly guilty of everything I’ve been accused of, but I dutifully sent every email of shame (112 of them since 2020) and every bad evaluation of myself for the last decade to him anyway. Unfortunately I can’t keep it secret at work because my boss wanted me to answer phones during that time and I had to say “I have an appointment,” which turned into a whole “medical appointments and sick time” thing, which it is not, but I can’t say that….grrrrrrr.
Thursday: therapist appointment in person for a change, followed by starting the ADHD evaluation process. I’m pretty nervous about it because I can’t really provide bad report cards for myself as a kid, I don’t want to let them talk to my mother (I don’t have anyone else who can testify to my behavior as a child) but probably have no choice on that, etc. I think I have a lot of symptoms but won’t be able to prove the “childhood” case worth a damn, so I’m probably screwed (also I don’t have time/procrastination/lateness issues, just everything else….) and I’m probably not as 100% disabled as I should be for this :/All of this fun will be followed up by checking on my friend whose husband is dying. It’ll be a fun “vacation” day!
Friday: appointment with new PCP, which I am also nervous about.
Everything else: it’s tech week for Oklahoma, a long show, which means late nights, not sleeping much, and being very tired. Hence why I had two vacation days scheduled after today, except then it’s all medical crap early in the morning. At least my in-office days are done for the week and my Halloween costume was dutifully liked by the office, so there’s that.
There are many learning disabilities besides ADHD that could be creating trouble at work. I hope your evaluation will look at all of them.
Also for ADHD you don’t need all the symptoms for a diagnosis—I think only 5 of them— and you wouldn’t be 100% disabled—the goal is to get you the work accommodations you need to be successful at work. Not to get you on disability benefits .
Oh dear, it sounds like a lot of stress is flashing around there. I know it’s tough, but try to give yourself some slack and breathe. At least they’re giving you an evaluation, so they’re taking you seriously, and they whether it is ADHD or perhaps something else, you’re now in a position where you might get the help you need. Keeping fingers crossed things will turn out in the best way for you. Hugs!
Jennifer, I’m very impressed that you have been actively contacting all these agencies and whatnot — especially because you sound pretty glum about the possibility of getting help. Or hope. Please keep us informed as stuff transpires. And, while Oklahoma is a long show, it has good tunes and a ballet bit that stands out in an American musical.
I’m never sure that I appreciate geezer jokes. I am sure that I need to pass the confusion on.
Number six is hilarious, and probably true.
I finally finished being a procrastinator for one project and put new sisal rope on the cat stand (double scratching posts to boot!). I had the rope but needed the u-shaped tacks (nails?) to attach the rope to the posts. I made myself go to Low3s and pick them up and then spent a while alternately removing the kitten from the work area, cursing because the rope wasn’t cooperating, and searching for one of the tacks that managed to land out of sight. It’s done now, and I am very proud of myself! 😊
I love reading what everybody is doing.
Did my first yoga class in nine weeks since the total knee replacement and the ensuing infection. I managed to do quite a lot of it. Today is Bill paying and praying that I may get the commercial that I am on avail for because that would mean a trip to Vancouver. I love Vancouver. I’m going to get myself a picture of St. Lucy. I too will maybe make her some brownies or fudge and then eat it.
I read a very good article on query letters in the SCBWI newsletter. I’m thinking of writing a quarry for Sunday, Kat. It’s a picture book about a cat that does nothing but snooze. Now that on TikTok, I am considered the queen of snooze may be, that would help. Worth a try happy November
I’m still having fun writing my secret short WIP, and I did some quilting (which may also be part of why I’m having fun writing, with the well re-filled), and then life kinda’ got in the way. My doctor thinks I may still have active Lyme Disease (I got the blood test by mistake, since it was ordered in July when I definitely had Lyme, and no one told me itw as ordered, so when I did a routine blood draw for other reasons, the Lyme test popped up, and was done, but of course they don’t tell you what tests are being run when they draw the blood, so I didn’t tell them not to do it, because I was already over it). So now I’m on antibiotics again, although I could’ve sworn that tests for a year or more are unreliable because the antibodies stick around, but better to be safe. And then I had to get my car looked at because of a weird sound, and it turned into a thousand dollars worth of brakes getting replaced. And I left my computer glasses in the car, having swapped them for my driving glasses, so now I can’t see the screen I’m typing on, so please excuse typos. Picking up the car in the next hour. I hope.
I knew someone whose daughter had serious long-term effects from Lyme long after the initial misdiagnosed symptoms had gone away. I don’t low how common that is (not very is my guess), and you did get antibiotics at the time, but I definitely think you’re doing well to play it safe.
P.S., No typos *at all* that I can see. If that’s blind typing, I’m *very* impressed. And I hope the car trouble is over.
And in contrast to Gin, I see that above I just managed to let autocorrect turn an attempt at “know” into “low.” Feh.
The autocorrect on this site is demonic!!!!
Jan, I agree! It gets me all the time.
I’ve got my glasses back! I can see again! And my car has working brakes again!
But yeah, long Lyme Disease is reported in med journals, and I definitely don’t want that. I have one ongoing joint symptom that COULD be Lyme, but could also be my underlying bone disease, so playing it safe is definitely the right thing to do. I also read that Lyme can trigger autoimmune thyroid disease, and my thyroid disease had been in remission and went hyperactive again a month ago, so maybe I do still have low-level Lyme? Or maybe my thyroids are just going to be chronically hyper. Either is possible, but again, getting rid of any possible remaining Lyme is best.
I’m not getting a lot done beyond basic chores and fairly undemanding online hobby-related stuff, for which I blame my lingering virus. I may venture out tomorrow, though. I did complete some background research about a Heinlein book up for discussion at an upcoming book-club meeting.
I also noted, consistent with what I said earlier about the sf community’s adoption of Georgette Heyer, that the sf news site File 770 has an item a few days ago about The Grand Sophy. Reportedly the Heyer estate has authorized a reprint with alterations to a moneylender who was originally an unfortunate stereotype of a Jew.
I’ve just realized why the moneylender has never bothered me. Something about the word “alterations” brought to the surface my unconscious assumption that he was playing to his audience–giving his clients the moneylender they expected.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/30/books/georgette-heyer-romance-novel-antisemitism.html?searchResultPosition=1
I’ve tried to work on the eating, but it’s going increasingly…not very good. My body is now starting to realize that there’s not much left to use for fuel, so last 2-3 days, I’ve felt shaky and out of breath with occasional vertigo spells. Have appointment with both dietitian and internist tomorrow. Dietitian feels pointless since all she can do is tell me to eat more, which I can’t. Internist will call about test results and possible gastroscopy planning. Boo. 🙁
Can’t handle the November loom-along pattern right now, so I’ve been very slowly knitting a child’s hat in blue velvet yarn over the last 3 or so days. The stitch is called “tiny heart” and supposedly looks like little hearts all over the place. I’m almost done. Hope I won’t screw up the bind-off.
I’ve now watched about 100 episodes of Swedish “Come Dine With Me”. 3 eps left. Dreading the end, for then I’ve run out of comfort-watching. 🙁 Why can’t all seasons be available to stream???
And… in the spirit of not letting scary things hold me back anymore: This is what I recorded for Sven’s and my 12th anniversary last Saturday. I have NEVER liked sharing my singing, because I can’t bear hearing myself, so why would other people? I mean, I would put it on Youtube, and then not tell anybody. But, I’m trying to learn to share, practicing on you. There should have been live video of me singing, but I screwed up the camera, so my (since this summer) Canadian brother Joey made a slideshow of pictures of me and Sven instead. I don’t much like singing a’capella, but I couldn’t find an instrumental version of this song without choir in Swedish, so this girl had to do what this girl had to do.
Yes. I do crack at the end there. But chose that recording anyway, because it was the most authentic one to how I felt. It was . . . an emotional adventure.
You have a beautiful voice. Never doubt it!
You sound great, Shass. I bet he loved it!
Oh Shass I’m so sorry to hear about your nutritional issues. Here are pocket hugs and I will be thinking of you. I hope it’s something easily and fully fixable.
Lovely!
It was amazing and beautiful!
I am so proud of you! The first time is always the hardest. When I was taking voice lessons from a teacher who had an annual recital of all her students, I had horrible nerves. But the year I sang 2 songs, it went much better. Since I had survived the first song, I relaxed enough to breathe on the second one. I just warned everyone I knew to ignore the first song.
Wow Shass, such a beautiful voice you have and such heartwarming emotion. Lovely to see your photos also – especially the one with you on the horse & holding hands with Sven :). Take good care & I hope they find the cause of your health issues quickly.
Thanks all of you for your kind words and pocket hugs and best wishes! I dared to share it because this is such a safe space. Thank you. 🥰💕
One would never think I’ve worked with singing at parties and weddings and funerals and whatnots for 20 years based on how difficult I think it is to share things I upload. Whew. Hope to be able to keep doing it, though.
Goosebumps! Well done.
OUTSTANDING!
Beautiful, Shass.
Finished all of my pre-election projects, appointments, errands, meetings and what-nots, I have six days of just the usual stuff so I’m relaxing.
Next up is raking leaves. And raking leaves. And raking leaves.
Over the weekend, made progress on turning backyard 2023 weedflower meadow into 2024 sunflower & poppy garden.
Also have done a ton of writer business: six more titles added to the wide launch, added a Shorts page to the blog, and updated novella and novel pages with my titles from JMS.
The novella-in-progress, meanwhile, is not precisely stalled but I’ve been too busy at work. At the end of the day my brain just wants to consume, not create.
We finally got a hard frost (and some snow), so my days at the flower farm are likely done for the season. Today we dug out dahlias and deadheaded the roses in the hoop house. I miss the farm terribly during the winter but am planning how I can keep myself busy over the next few months – yoga and crafting are on my list. I can also take on more hours with my indoor volunteer activity.
I finally balanced my checkbook for the first time in 3-4 months, which gives me hope for the winter. I may have made a bunch of errors, but at least for a few weeks I can believe that there is some light at the end of the financial tunnel. And I have sworn off of buying new books on Thrift Books. com, so I will no longer get confused by my orders constantly being accepted and then cancelled. If it doesn’t balance next month, I’ll have to dig deeper for the cause, but until then, I can live in fool’s paradise. And I’ll stick to ordering used books, which they have never oversold to me.