summer happenin's

ok. ok. it's been two months since i blogged last. i'm a disgrace to the writing community. but i have excuses. does that count?

first excuse is my garden. lili helped rick and me build the trellis before she moved to washington to help spence and manny with their new baby.

(Reminder - left click on each photo enlarges it so you can see details if you're interested.)

The garden's doing very well - especially considering the fact a huge hail storm tore through here a couple-three weeks ago and leveled my neighbors' corn patches but all of my garden was spared. I thank God every day.

Next project was the pondAll the plantings along the right side and front were done this spring and summer. They don't look like much yet but they're coming along. I also added the pond plants - and some fish.

I put in one 5-inch brown koi/goldfish cross, three 3-inch gold fish and two little 2-inch bristlenosed plecostomus.

Although they don't hold still long enough for me to be sure, I'd say the koi is nearly 10 inches long, the gold fish are between six and seven and there are at least 4 little brown fishes that are about 4 inches long. I doubt I've seen the plecos since they were put in there. Don't know if they even still exist, since I caught a water snake in my pond the day after we added the plecos and I haven't seen any signs of the algae being eaten on the sides of the pond. Where did these little brown guys come from? I haven't a clue. My guess is that the koi is responsible. Anyway, the gold fish get bored and chase them, occasionally. It's entertaining to watch.

I've looked at pictures of different types of koi and I think this one is part Asagi. It has the whitish head but the rest of its body is more a mottled brown than blue and it has absolutely no other color except for a silver streak down its back.

It's a very shy fish and the silver streak is generally the only way I can tell where it's hiding. I was just reading about koi and about training them to feed from your hand. THAT would be interesting to try. But I'll probably never have the time.

There've been three real highlights this summer - two happening the same week.

First, Mike and Tracy dropped in and spent a day with us. I invited Rich and Lori over for supper (Steve and Jen couldn't make it) and my three boys got together for some competition on the trampoline. It was fun to watch them - and so relaxing as we ate supper out on the patio that evening. Mike and Tracy have moved to Texas, now, and are running a little neighborhood cafe.

The second highlight was Rick's and my vacation. We flew to Spokane to get acquainted with our newest grandbaby, Sage. She was born June 1 and since Lili is playing nanny, we were able to visit her, too. I caught Rick and the girls sleeping one day. Sagie is a very fair-skinned baby, delicate and fine-boned. And generally very happy.Part of that, I suspect, is because her aunt, Lili, spends most of every day cuddling Missy Sage.

I'll post more photos of our vacation at another date.

The third highlight of our summer was last Saturday. We met with Steve's family to witness the baptism of Steve's oldest boy, Tyler. Just after the baptism, his youngest son, Isaac, was blessed. Isaac is only 6 weeks older than Sage but look at the difference in size, build and coloring!

Sagie is blue-eyed, fair and petite; Isaac is dark complected, dark-eyed and a CHUNK! I babysat him the night before we left on vacation and couldn't get over the difference between his solid heft and her dainty airiness. It'll be fun to see those two kids together when they get a little older.

I took photos of Steve with his entire family and Tyler, alone, after everything was over. Here you go.

During the baptismal service, Jordan sang a duet with her father, Steve. She has a lovely alto voice and sings very well for a 9-year-old. And isn't Tyler handsome in his first suit? (You can't tell I'm a proud grandma, can you?) Steve and Jen have done very well with parenting their little family. I know it hasn't been easy with Steve's work schedule but my hat goes off to them for the efforts they make and the successes they've seen with their kids.

Well, that's about enough for now. I have company coming , a house to clean, and more scraping and sanding to do on the eaves of the house so I can paint before bad weather hits this fall - so I'd better get busy.

Chat with you later,

Ciao.

Hey everyone. I got to visit mom and dad twice this last week. I thought I would share the pictures I took of Isaac, Steve and Jennifer's new baby. I think he is super cute, and one of his pictures looks just like Dad Jim at that age. Don't be mad, Steve, it is only my opinion.

Enjoy!

mah baby's done graduated

A major chapter of my life has closed. Since my baby graduated from high school yesterday, for the first time in thirty-three years I no longer have a child enrolled in either primary or secondary school.
No more frantic school shopping, trying to find the perfect clothes or shoes that fit or needed school supplies.
No more filling out medical forms, signing permit slips, or chaperoning field trips.
No more twice-daily trips to either a bus stop or a school building.
No more late nights trying to help a beloved child write a paper (that should have been written weeks ago) without actually doing it myself.
No more listening to kids whine when they’ve asked me to critique a paper and then don’t like my critique.
No more facing off with gym teachers who refuse to follow doctor’s written orders for my asthmatic child.
No more having a teacher physically or verbally abuse my child (mind, I haven’t a problem with a swat on the seat of the britches occasionally, and I don’t mind a teacher getting my kid’s attention with sharp words when necessary, but to literally drag my kid down the hall when the teacher wasn’t paying attention to her class in the first place, or to scream at my kindergartener for thinking he was supposed to be with me when I was visiting another teacher, is past what I consider appropriate).
Hey, and you know what?
Never again is a principal going to refuse to allow my kids to make up their work when I’ve kept them home on a stormy winter’s day...a winter’s day when the winds were clocked at 100 mph out by our house and one of the school buses was literally blown off the road.
And you know what else?
NO MORE PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES!!!
Ohmygoodness!!! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!
Anyhow, here are the pictures I took of my daughter on her big day.

1- loading up at home 2- with Dad at the E Center just before graduation

3- walking to the future 4- stepping out

5- happy day 7- the graduate

7- at a family dinner with steve's family 8- richie, too

9- and with Larry, his special friend,Cassie, and another friend, Nate

It's A Beautiful Day

It's such a lovely day today! Beautiful sunshine. Lovely blue skies. Days like this make a person glad to be alive.

I took a picture out back just to illustrate. We have such a beautiful view of the mountains from our patio - if you look through the Pacific Power poles.

Hmmm. I hear they're putting in fiber optics one of these first years. Then these poles will come down and I certainly won't cry. In the meantime I think I'm gonna plant trumpet vines at the base of each one. Doesn't that sound like a plan? It won't help much in the wintertime, though. Too bad.

On the home front, Lili finished off her last night in the play Monday evening. She actually did two shows Monday - one right after school (for the school faculty) and the other one Monday night for the general public. Rick, Steve, Jennifer and I went as guests Monday night.

Lili was glad when it was all over and so was I.

This is the first time I have been involved in any of Lili's school activities since I drew ballerinas in basic positions for a demonstration she did when she was in about second or third grade. I've always been so tied up with things Larry needed that there hasn't been a lot of time for Lili. I've never been convinced she really wanted my involvement, anyway.

This time I decided I was going to get involved because she'll soon be gone from home and I wanted her to have at least one memory of her mother doing something with and for her at school.

I'm glad I made that decision. I don't know if she really wanted me there or if she didn't, but I found out this is the last play the seniors will be in so if I'd waited, I wouldn't have had the chance. And who knows? Maybe some day she'll actually appreciate the fact I made the effort.

So there you go. Once in a while I might manage to get something right. ...Not too often but once in a while.

Apart from that, I have my book all printed out and ready to take to the publisher later this week - with the exception of the photo pages. I printed the book on my own printer but I'm taking the photo pages to be professionally done. My printer does NOT do well with photographs.

I would have had the photos printed out already but I was waiting for one that I didn't have. It came yesterday and I cropped what I wanted from it and added it to my photo section this morning.

Tell you what...don't ever let anyone try to tell you that writing a book is easy. I fight with Microsoft Word nearly every day - why in the world do publishers insist on using Word? Word Perfect is so much more user friendly!

I've searched for information and rechecked what I've received just to make sure it's correct.

I've written and re-written and re-written some more.

I've stood, for hours, before my printer hand-feeding paper through it because at the moment I can't afford the $50 it would cost me to have this printed off at Kinko's. (I'm making myself a promise that when I make my first million [yeah, I know - in my dreams] I'm gonna buy myself a fancy printer so I don't ever have to do this again.)

And I've re-read and edited all 300 pages until I'm absolutely sick of it.

It's time to quit. If it isn't good enough to go to a publisher now, I don't think it's ever gonna be.

So I'm hoping to take it to the publisher of my choice this coming week. I'm planning to attend a writer's conference in Provo, Utah and the publisher I've decided on is just 5 miles away. And I don't have to have an agent in order to submit to them. So...wish me well. I'm sure I'll need all the good wishes you can send.

In the meantime, I interviewed for a job this past week. I highly doubt I'll get it - they said they'd probably be hiring from in-house - but the interview went well and I think both sides were happy with it.

If I get the job, I'll be doing mortgages with the same company where Richie works. That would be nice. Good money and a good working environment. Probably an interesting job, too.

But if I don't get it, I won't cry. I have another book I want to write, anyhow.

So we'll see. I really don't know where my life is heading right now. I want to write. I want to make money as a writer.

And some people do.

Some don't.

I can't afford to spend the time I've spent on this first novel and only come out with a few thousand dollars as an advance. I've invested too much time and money into the research and writing.

I haven't minded this time. I had a lot to learn. But I'm not willing to invest equal amounts in another book without earning a good hourly rate. For this book, although I haven't kept track of the hours I've spent on it, I figure it's several thousand and at that rate I'd probably need an advance of at least fifty grand just to break $7.00/hour.

Maybe I haven't spent a full 7,150 hours on this book but it's been close. Many's the day I've spent between 12 and 18 hours working on it. And I first started it eleven years ago. True, I haven't worked on it all this time. I got it about halfway done and let it slide for several years while other things took precedence. . .such as running the ranch I was writing about. But, still, i've spent a lot of time and energy working on it.

And so we'll see if it was a worthwhile investment of my time or if it wasn't. Readers tell me the book is interesting. The question is whether a publisher will think it's going to sell. THAT is the $64,000,000 question now.
You can bet if it sells I'll be telling everyone on this blog! :)

Till Death Do Us Part

Murder and mayhem are rampant at Lili's school these days. Opposing Mafia families gun each other down one night while pirates rampage across the high seas the next. . .in the form of very popular dinner-theater plays.
Tonight I took photos of Lili's play - "Till Death Do Us Part" wherein the daughter of one mob family weds the son of an opposing family. Lili is mother of the bride while a good friend of hers, Brooke, is mother of the groom.
Murder is committed and the audience (as guests at the wedding reception) gets to try to figure out 'who dun it'.
Cast members for the pirate play were waiters tonight. Lili's group will wait tables tomorrow.

I mentioned, in my last blog, that Lili had chosen a dress I wasn't thrilled about. Fortunately her drama teacher shared my opinion. She and I took Lili and the other 'mother' shopping and the end result was superb. The girls got identical dresses and did a lot of ad-libbing about it that kept the audience in stitches.

This has been difficult for Lili. She's been fighting a kidney infection for the past 9 days--has missed several days of school. But she hasn't missed the play. She didn't have an understudy and hers was a vital role. I'm sure she'll be happy when the whole thing is over Monday night but it's been a great experience for her. Her teacher is very good and all the kids have done a superb job.

And now..... here are photos I thought you would enjoy. Is it right or left click you do to enlarge them? Who knows?

My very tired, half-sick daughter before leaving for the play tonight.

Lili (Amelia Bordoni) and 'daughter Nina' (the bride) getting ready in the dressing room.

Lili in the middle of hair and makeup session.

We're a little farther along, now.

The two 'mothers' before Brooke put her 'Rosa' wig on.

'Rosa' (left) and 'Amelia' (right).

The 'wedding line'. Rosa Cabrini (Brooke) is on the right, Amelia Bardoni (Lili) in the middle.

As each of the kids was introduced at the end, he or she was supposed to do something - his or her choice. Lili, as Amelia, chose to pretend to throttle Rosa.

So...there you have 'Till Death Do We Part". Tomorrow night I'll be photographing the pirate play. I understand it's just as fun. - And I have no intentions of telling you who 'dun' what for either one. Sorry. If you want to know, ask Amelia. She knows. But I signed a blood oath that I wouldn't tell. If I do, my oldest son becomes slave to the drama teacher. :)

good news, pics, and more...

Good news! Buzzy's little boy, Brandon, is now off his anti-seizure meds and his latest eeg was clean. He may start seizing again at some future date but for the moment, he's doing well. That is wonderful news to all of us.

photos - today we got copies of the photos taken of lili for her drama class. I love the black and white they blew up and sent home with her but the color pics aren't bad either. I'll enclude a couple-three of them here. Let's get a vote going...which do you think is best?

Although I like them all, I think I'd vote for either three or four. Four is better on her eyes but three is more Lili...more of her fun personality coming through.

I went down to the school, today, to work on costumes for the upcoming dinner-theater the kids are doing. After watching them rehearse, I'm looking forward to going to the production. Lili's group is doing a Clue-type who-dun-it about two opposing mafia groups where the son of one and daughter of the other get married. Lili's the mother of the bride.

Lili was chosen for her character because she already does an Italian accent fairly well. - She and Larry do different accents between each other all the time...limey, southern, aussie, italian or whatever. It's a lot of fun to listen to them.

A bridal shop from across town had some dresses they wanted to get rid of and donated them to the school drama dept. so I took Lili and four of the other girls from the play down so they could choose costumes for the production. That was interesting. Those kids had more fun trying on formal dresses.

Now I'm making alterations. I'm gonna have to do some major reconstruction on Lili's costume because it's excessively revealing. She actually brought two dresses home - planning to probably use the other one but the teacher didn't like the color. I don't like the fact this one is jersey and it's tighter than her own skin but I guess I'll just do the best I can do and we'll go with whatever I can come up with. And I have absolutely no intention of taking her father to the production. He'd have a fit, no matter what I do to the costume.

He got all uptight when he found out one of the girls was supposed to dress as a slut. If he were to see his daughter's dress he'd be all sorts of upset.

And speaking of Rick, we got the results back on his colonoscopy today. The polyp they removed was benign. That was good news. He became really ill about ten days ago. Chills. Fever of 102.6. I was about frantic. But he was over it in one day and his chest xray was clear so there you go. Blessings to be counted.

I've finished my seasonal job but next week I'll be starting a permanent job as office manager for a new multi-level company that's going in downtown. This should be interesting, to say the least. Challenging, too.

And I'll only get to see Rick on weekends since he works swing and I won't be home before he leaves for work. Ah well. One does what one has to do. The job pays really well, I can pretty much set my own hours - at least at first - and, for the most part, I'll be my own boss. What more could I ask? At my age I'm just grateful to have a job. - We'll see how this goes.

Also, in my news, I've done enough rewrites on my book that I'm about sick to death of it. But I think it's just about ready to be sent off. I've sent it out to a couple of readers and I'm waiting to hear back on their opinions - and I've gotta say I hope they don't suggest a bunch of changes because if they do it's probably going to be another six months before I even want to look at the thing. It's to the point where I think I've about memorized it.

Oh well. It's well written - I know that already. Even the parts that needed the most rewrites were interesting enough my readers have wanted to read more. Since this last self-editing go-round it's much tighter. I think I've pretty well conquered the problems that plagued me before. So ... I'm hopeful that it's about finished, now, and ready for production.

And on that note - I think I'd better go finish supper and then hem the costume I brought home tonight. Be sure and send your votes on Lili's pics, please.

thanks and ciao

October at Eden

A week ago I attended a writing conference in Eden, Utah. It was different from the writing conference I attended last March; different format, different atmosphere, different setting. Still, it was very educational and informative.
While March’s conference stressed the craft of writing, this conference was focused almost totally on the business side of writing. I learned a great deal from the conference last spring - information that I tried to incorporate into my book to make it more interesting, more correct, and with better prose. But I was ready, by the time the Eden Conference rolled around, for the business aspects of my chosen profession. Does ‘chosen profession’ sound odd to those of you who have known me in other roles? –As a mother, a teacher, a genealogist, a gardener, a caregiver, a conservator/guardian, a landlord, or any of the other myriad hats I’ve worn throughout the years?
I’ll admit, I’ve done many things in my life. But underlying everything else has been the dream I’ve had since I was a child-to be a writer. However, as the Preacher said, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, so it is with me. My season of child bearing is long since over. With six of my eight children married, the seventh in his twenties and the eighth a senior in high school, my days of child rearing are nearly at an end, also. Since those two seasons are practically past, there is a lot more time to devote to what I’ve wanted to do for many, many years.
It’s not that I haven’t done anything in the writing field during those years. I sold the only story I ever submitted for publication. I won first place with another in a Chicagoland writing contest. I’ve written poetry occasionally, but it’s been very sporadic - more for my own entertainment than anything else although I’ll have to plead guilty to occasionally writing satirical poetry when I’ve been really disgusted about something. I’ve written road shows, songs (music and lyrics), an Easter anthem (again, music and lyrics) and letters. Myriads of letters. Long letters. Detailed letters. Letters that delighted some and sent others to their computers begging me to not send such long letters. (Sorry Charlie - I send form letters. . .as in one generic letter tailored to you after I write it. . .and if you want me to write something different just for you, s.o.l. Don’t have time.)
Attitude? Yes, I definitely have one. Busy woman? Yes, again definitely. Have time to meet the demands of persnickety readers? Not recently. End of discussion.
And so it goes. These past two months have been devoted, almost exclusively, to finishing and polishing my book. Writing is not easy. In fact, it’s just plain hard work. Work that has nothing to do with physical labor. Work that is almost entirely mental. Work that is, nevertheless, very exhausting at times. Frequently I feel completely wrung out, drained both physically and mentally.
I want to thank Chris and Sue and Nancy for their help and support. Last spring Sue sent one chapter back with the comment, "Mother, this sounds like a history text. You need to rewrite it." Her comment sent me on a lovely vacation with Dad where I personally visited the places I had written about, videoing and taking copious notes about the terrain. I don’t believe that chapter sounds like a history text any longer. :)
Chris is now reading--and re- reading for me. He has pointed out portions where my descriptions sound like a woman’s writing. Since my book is written in first person from a male point of view, comments from Chris are very welcomed. Yes, I can see that he is totally correct. I so wanted to share the experience that I tended to get a tad flowery. Gotta watch that. I also rely on Chris for critical critiquing. He’s a very intelligent - and critical - reader with whom I’ve had many enjoyable discussions on various writer’s skills and techniques.
Nancy has been a steady support. Her familiarity with the ranch I wrote about as well as the general area involved has made her enjoyment of my work a thing of encouragement to me. Any writer feels discouraged at times. Nancy, Chris and Sue telling me my book is a good read, an interesting story, has helped so much.
Now that the rewrites are almost over, it’s time to draft a query letter and start searching for an agent. Am I excited? Not even! It’s so much easier to write a good story than it is to write a query letter or a synopsis. I know how to write stories. I know how to write clear, easily understood prose that paints such a picture that the reader feels he’s there. But this query business. . . . . . . how in the world do you condense the essence of a book into one paragraph? OHMIGOSH! Tomorrow is gonna be a loooooooooooooooong, looooooooooooooooong day.
Before I close this blog, however, I do want to include a few photos. Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? So I post photos and don’t have to write so much. . . . Or something like that.
These are a couple of photos I snapped on the way home from Eden. Eden is a little valley high up in the Wasatch mountains northeast of Ogden. It's a ski resort in the winter. Heaven only knows what those folks do in the summer. But the town boasts a good writer's group - some of them very talented, from my point of view.
The lodge where we stayed was rustic. The counter in my bath was about five inches thick - cut from a log with the bark still attached. Highly polished and very beautiful. The roof in the foyer is held up by a tree trunk that's a good three feet through and some twenty feet high - all the branches cut off within 3 or 4 inches of the trunk. And it was beautiful. Expensive? Not too bad. My room was $89 for two queen sized beds.
Anyhow, I enjoyed myself, learned a lot, and snapped these photos of the canyon on my way back to Ogden. (Remember, double left click and they're monitor sized.)Note the storm rolling in. I hit snow on I-15 and I mean SNOW! Very thick, very wet, and accompanied by a STRONG wind. First snow storm of the season. I can't wait for winter! (Actually, I can't wait for spring. Forget winter. I've had my one snowstorm for the season. Now I'm ready for tulips and daffodils. Anybody got any suggestions of how I'm going to indulge that fantasy?)