Love rocks

June 24, 2014Leave a comment

IMG_20140624_153931 We’ve been doing a lot of work on houses lately. Last weekend (not this past weekend, but the one before it, the weekend of Father’s Day) we painted our old house because our deal fell through and people who’d looked at it before thought it was too much work to fix (although what’s so hard about hiring someone to side it once you’ve bought it is beyond me).

Anyway, it’s a three-story house. We painted it in a single day.

Now you know why I’ve been so tired lately and so behind on so many things. I have a whole post (complete with pictures!) that I want to write on the topic, and maybe I’ll get it done in the next couple of days. But this isn’t about that.

This is actually about all the work we’ve been doing on our new house.

We haven’t done as much to the new place as we’d hoped to have done by now, primarily because we haven’t sold our old house yet. So far, we’ve connected to rural water (No more smelly well water! Yay!), we’ve replaced the water heater that crapped out on us at the end of April, we’ve installed a new washer and dryer, and Seymour has built a new bathroom down in our basement. It’s not quite functional yet, but we’ve been so busy that he hasn’t had time to finish working on it.

We also filled in an old well and two cisterns last fall, something we thought was a great idea. Now the kids can play in the yard without us worrying that they’ll fall through rotting boards and drown (seriously, that well was so deep that it took three full dump trucks full of sand to fill it up, and even then there was a dip in the yard that we had to fill with dirt).

There’s just one problem.

The death of Corn Carnival

June 22, 20148 Comments

Yes, this really exists, and yes, it appears every year.

Wait, what? No more Corn Carnival?

This must be a joke.

But no, the City ran out of money. For whatever reason, the businesses who call the Brook home decided not to donate time or money to make the annual celebration a success. The ladies who sponsor the quilt raffle have all passed on to that great quilting bee in the sky and, while their spirits may be sewing for eternity, that doesn’t put quilts up for raffle prizes here in the land of the living.

No more kettle corn. No more funnel cakes. No more mini donuts.

A look outside my window

June 11, 20143 Comments

IMG_20130718_134021 Today’s challenge was to go somewhere public and write a detailed report of what we see without using any adverbs. I’m not sure I succeeded on eliminating all my adverbs, but the following is what I can see through the front door of my office. It’s a pretty sight, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

As I sit at my desk, trying to avoid the mound of paperwork that needs filing, I can see a fraction of the courthouse square. Most of the parking spaces on the street sit empty as the day draws to a close; the courthouse has closed for business and its employees have all gone home, free from the shackles that still restrain me.

Brilliant sunshine gleams against a vivacious backdrop, blasting away the few clouds that litter the sky and casting charcoal shadows on the emerald grass. A woman down the block strolls the main drag, enjoying the warmth. Leaves flutter in the late spring breeze as it sends the flower baskets suspended from the streetlamps swinging.

A rusted-out delivery truck ambles past, searching for an address; the noise from its grumbling engine disturbs the stillness. A happy little bluebird sings a sweet song, but I can’t hear it over the engine’s roar; I only see its little beak open and close, open and close. But when the clock in the tower begins to chime the hour, the dings and dongs reach my tired ears, filling me with joy at the prospect of a quiet evening at home.

Transporter room, this is the captain speaking…

June 4, 20149 Comments

In case you missed it Monday, I’m participating in the Writing 101 challenge this month. Thanks to Thumper, who insists he’s big enough to dispense with daily naps (he’s two, so he’s not), I went from having an afternoon to catch up on some blog-related affairs to having about an hour to catch up on everything, and this is one of the things that was left undone when I finally collapsed into bed last night. Day two’s prompt asked where I would like to go if I could be transported anywhere, and I added the extra twist of anytime because I’m not sure that Europe would count for this (but in case it does, I want to start in the west and work my way east, exploring everything on the continent). So!

If I could be transported anywhere (and anytime), I’d stay right where I am, but 150 years in the past, when our farm was first homesteaded. Back in the 1860’s, Iowa was still covered in prairie grass and, compared to today, more sparsely settled. We’re talking Little House on the Prairie-type stuff here, and I LOVED that show…

Photo Friday again already?

May 30, 2014August 22, 20141 Comment

So…how did that happen? Wasn’t it just Monday yesterday? Not that I’m complaining, mind you, it’s just that I’m now left wondering what in the world happened to the month of May. It was just May Day last week, right?

Right? No? Okay, fine.

Well, today’s theme is movement. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know I’ve been spending quite a bit of time out in my yard taking pictures of all the pretty things sprouting up from the ground. We’ve had quite a lot of wind lately, too, so getting those great shots has been something of a challenge.

Yesterday, though, I headed out across the driveway and got down in the dirt to get a shot of the pretty green shoots coming up in the neighboring field. I’ve been wanting to do this for a week or so, but I just haven’t made the time for it. Until yesterday, that is, while the boys were occupied with the cat.

It’s the little things. 🙂

Of all the shots I took yesterday morning, this one is probably my favorite, and features tiny little corn stalks waving in the wind.

2014-05-29 11.38.49

Don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog – she’s got an amazing photo to share with you all today. 🙂 Happy Friday, everybody! Have a fantastic weekend!

Things I love about life on the farm

May 24, 2014July 2, 20146 Comments

farmboy I was initially a bit apprehensive about moving back to the country. I loved visiting my grandparents’ farm when I was a kid, but when I lived in the country with my first husband, it just wasn’t what I expected. I was happy to move back to town, where I lived but a few blocks from the major entertainments (library, theater, bowling alley). I liked walking places and stopping to chat with people along the way.

But as time wore on, I did less and less of that. So when Seymour pitched a move to the country after five years being miserable in town, I grudgingly decided to give it another shot. He assured me many times over that this time would be different, and boy, has it!

While most of the negatives of late have been due to Mother Nature (thanks a lot for all the water you dumped in my basement), there have been some notable positives as well:

• The peace and quiet.
Let’s face it, life in the country is just more peaceful. There are no neighbors out mowing their lawn at some ungodly hour of the morning or having parties in their driveways that last late into the night. There are no kids tromping through the yard on their way home from school. There are no yappy little neighbor dogs who start barking every time I open the fridge in my own kitchen.

At least, I hope there aren’t.

My writing process

May 19, 201414 Comments

Last week, my friend and fellow author Tricia Drammeh tagged me in the My Writing Process blog hop, so that’s what I’ll be talking about today. I’ll try not to bore you all to tears, but no promises.

I kid. I won’t bore you. I hope. 😀

What are you currently working on?

Lipei
Artwork by Hazel Butler

I’m currently in the midst of rewriting The Lokana Chronicles. I think this is Official Rewrite No. 3, but since I’ve been working on this series for the better part of a decade, it’s hard to tell – I’ve decided that keeping track of all the revisions this thing has undergone is impossible, and I gave up trying a long time ago. Once I finish revising the first book, I’ll be heading back to the query trenches with it, and this time, I hope I’ll have better luck. I feel like the story is much stronger now than it was the first time I queried, and I hope to find someone who agrees with me.

I also have a short story in the works called The Colony, which is about…

Photo Friday: Change is in the air!

May 16, 2014August 22, 20143 Comments

Today’s Photo Friday theme is change. What with moving and attempting to downsize, I’ve got plenty of change happening in my life at the moment, but I chose to ignore all of that today and instead focus on the changes happening around me. In the space of a month, the life-giving rain has taken us from scenes of death and decay to the blossoms of youth, and it’s a change I relish every year.

From death and decay…

…the life-giving rain has bestowed up on us…

…the blossoms of youth.

Don’t forget to stop by Charnele Henry’s blog and check out her wonderful photo post! Have a great weekend, everybody!

Howdy!

March 24, 20142 Comments

The weather’s been a bit wild lately.

So I’ve been away for a while (yes, I know, a week isn’t exactly an eternity, but since I usually try to pop in here every couple of days, it is a while). I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so I haven’t been overly active anywhere.

But! I can say that within the next week, I’ll have a couple of bookish-type posts going up, as I’m currently reading Snort and Wobbles by the talented Will Macmillan Jones. Tadpole and Bubbles will be helping me craft a review, which I’ll post here as soon as we’ve finished. Then on Monday, I’m hosting the lovely Joleene Naylor as part of a blog tour for her recently-released book Children of Shadows, the sixth offering in her Amaranthine series.

And as our weather has given us no end of crazy lately, I hope to be back to posting some more lousy haiku in the near future. It’s not the only thing that’s crazy around here, but hopefully I’ll be back to my old self in no time, now that I’ve been to my doctor (again). So, in the meantime, I hope you’re all lovely and that you have a fabulous week, and I’ll see you when I see you! 🙂