Valerean

I saw this online somewhere and took a screenshot. Beautiful.

We finally decided to cut down two huge camphor trees in the front yard. It wasn't a tough decision; they were both planted too close to the house by the original owners and grew unbelievably huge over the last fifteen years. The root systems were starting to threaten our foundation. Both trees are about seventy feet tall. If they fell over during a hurricane -- a stronger possibility every year, given their shallow root systems and top heaviness -- they would definitely wipe out most of the house. Also, the copious amount of berries falling from the trees keeps killing the grass, which annoys my guy to no end. I never like cutting down trees, but these two are actually invasive species in our region. Birds eat the berries and then spread them to other areas. So that along with the danger they present during storm season makes me happy to see them go.

Since Katherine no longer needs to use my sewing room I decided to get started on my first quilt for 2021. I wanted to begin with something easy, so I choose the purple top I pieced on election night last year. I backed it with a plain cream-colored soft muslin and batted it with three leftover scraps from other projects. Since it's slightly larger than my sewing table I pinned it all together on the floor in the front hall: I'm keeping it simple by using just a dark purple hand quilting thread: I didn't get much quilting done last night -- my fingers are really stiff after not hand-sewing anything for two and a half months -- but I'm not in a hurry. This one is just for fun.

"Sometimes it’s hard to be grateful for the basic things in life, like waking up in your own bed, having a roof over your head, and having a choice of what food to eat — but these things shouldn’t be taken for granted. With those things alone, you’re richer than 75% per cent of the world. Really take that in for a moment. Despite your struggle, and by nature of being able to read this article, you are in a better position than 75% of the world." -- Alex Heery I came across this in one of the articles that I've been reading for some character-building research. I'm trying to refine a protagonist who is in desperate straits and must make some very tough decisions. I haven't really related to her yet on an emotional level. Yet it was this quote from the article that reminded me of the time in my life when I was in my early twenties, struggling to get by, and definitely not in the 25%. I'm not going to depress you with details, but I know only too well ...

I need to get back to my happy place, and that means do things other than writing. So I have a new challenge for myself this week, and that's to read at least three new books. I'd shoot for a book every day, but I'm starting to write a new novel for work, which requires a lot of focus, and I'm also still working on NA #2. Three seems like a more attainable goal -- and here are the books I'll be reading: There is no particular reason I chose this trio; they were simply the next three books on my TBR pile. I'll probably read the Anne Gracie novel first, then the Sandra Brown, and finish up with the Galbraith. Because life is short and my patience even more so these days I can't promise to finish the entire book if any one of them happen to be dreadful; there's just so much abuse my brain can take. I also promise to write up a post on every book I read this week here on the blog with my honest opinions. Wish me luck. :) Image by S. Herm...

To thank my crew for putting up with me locking myself in the office for a week I took them out for lunch on Friday. There's a McAlister's about an hour away from us that has outdoor seating and isn't too busy during the week. We eat at home basically all the time now, and only get take-out from restaurants occasionally, so I thought it would be a nice treat to go out. Yes, well, you know about the road to hell being littered with good intentions. Although this place is located in the Villages, which is a huge retirement community, very few people there were social distancing or wearing masks. Some of them glared at us for wearing ours, like we were being offensive. I will never understand these anti-mask dimwits. Before we sat down I thoroughly cleaned the outside table with the antiseptic wipes I carry in my purse, and we kept our masks on until after we were served. We also used hand sanitizer after the meal and kept practicing our social distancing. It still ...

I finally got the latest novel for work finished, which stuttered a bit toward the end as my creative stress returned. This time I knew what to do that would help me power through it. I unplugged from the online hate-fest, balanced work with some reading or fun writing every night, and did the bulk of my work while my crew was sleeping. Not having those constant interruptions is key to maintaining my focus these days. My big reward for crossing this finish line is getting to watch the fourth season of The Expanse , which they finally put out on DVD. I bought it as soon as it was available for purchase, but they backordered it. It arrived the day before I finished the book. How's that for the Universe making sure I didn't cheat? Ha. I have been pretty much locked in the office for the last week, too, so I'm also giving myself some fun time off this weekend. I plan to do some for-me writing on the second NA novel, which is about half finished now. Since Katheri...