Just back from town. And I *remember* why I hate going to town on Saturdays: everyone else goes. Instead of parking next to the door at the grocery store, it's up the hill. Every item you want has a cart with a kid in it in front, and a mama down the aisle. &c.
Drive was gorgeous however. We're long past peak, so the occasional tree still in flame really stands out. Seed heads are the interest: plumes and trails and shooting stars -- just lovely.
Sixty degrees and sunny. Had the car window wide open all the way home, hair blowin' in the wind.
Wore my new *pink* boots. Think about it: grannies in pink Uggs knockoffs, lol!
Oh, this one is going so well! I have the melody in and now am just tweaking note values here and there. Having a song that goes smoothly and fast is such a relief! I guess it's sort of how the muse rewards and bribes you.
Maybe she'll come back unexpectedly too. They're capricious creatures. Like I said on FB, I thought mine had moved out permanently. Don't give up hope. Besides, you do so many creative things like cooking and working in your garden. All that must be priming the pump. And you notice things. You actually see the world around you. What's more, you take pleasure in it and articulate it. I don't think you should worry, if you are. Your muse is probably just dozing.
Anyway, didn't you say just a few days ago that you'd written a new poem?
BTW if my (unintentionally) flaunting my current creative streak bothers anybody, y'all know just to tell me to buzz off, right?
My day was rather not what I hoped, but here I am on the other end of it at last.
Didn't sleep well last night, for no particular reason. But, got up to another sunny day and made plans to proof three chapters, then go for a long walk and do a little yard work before proofing the next three chapters. I was particularly happy when I realised that I was getting PAID to be home working on the book, since I took today as a paid vacation day.
Well, I got through two chapters, and even let a call from one of my best friends ring through...so discipline was I! But just at 1:00pm I got a call from the Library. My coworker's new puppy had taken ill and she needed me to come in after all and pinch hit. Arrrgghhhh!! So I buzzed over to the Library (almost forgot to change my jeans to dress pants first! Ha!). On the way back I decided to stop and rent Ladies in Lavender (Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, need I say more?) as a reward for getting through what lay ahead.
I checked the mail and found the beautiful "Save the Date" card from son and his sweetie, for their wedding. :-) So then I took a nice long walk in the woods. You will be amazed at some of the photos I garnered, once I have time to download them and so on. Next I put the last of the gardens to bed, and thankfully that took only about a half hour. It was now 4:30pm. Having left the mail in the mailbox during my walk, I fetched it and brought it inside. The phone was flashing, so I checked the message and it was someone calling to place a greeting card order and would I call her back? I decided to wait a day or two to call back, since I can't fill her order before Monday anyway. All good.
I did take a moment to look at the website son and his sweetie have created for the wedding. That's how I found out that they are planning to have a "Rehearsal Dinner" which is a cookout and which they have already invited ALL the guests who will be in town the night before the wedding!! Since we had done so for each of his brothers before this, we assumed it was the responsibility of the groom's parents to plan and offer the rehearsal dinner for the wedding party, immediate family and significant others. In the past we have hosted 20-30 people at a restaurant and just let everybody order off the menu. Suddenly it will be closer to 50-70 people and no one has considered what the contingency is if it pours rain that evening (and it's already been announced!!). And, yes, they assumed we'd be paying for it. I am a strong advocate for the bride and groom having their wedding their way, but I have to tell you that, in having all the cost without any of the input, for a little while I felt a lot like chopped liver. Hubby did too.
But then, son called. I told him how much I love the Save the Date card and magnet, and ventured to gently discuss the situation. They somehow had missed the wedding etiquette aspect, and did not realise that we'd want to plan it as a gift. (Our modern culture has lost some things, as there is a real place for traditions that everyone comprehends together. It just makes things easier.) Anyway, we worked it out. It will be a cookout as long as the house it's being held at can nicely accommodate the guests indoors in event of rain. It will be renamed something other than Rehearsal Dinner to ensure that (a) ALL the guests in town don't show up at the rehearsal, (b) folks not expecting to be at the rehearsal won't feel sheepish about attending the cookout, (c) it won't be expected that the groom's parents designed the event. I'm good with that. We still get to pay, but I'll feel less tension around it if it's not on my head if it's a bust. We might be allowed to make their dream of flowers for the wedding work out. I would enjoy that project, since the other is already taken.
So! At long last I got back to my book making!! Whoo! I got another 3 chapters proofed (5 in all today). I have 6 more to go tomorrow, and one of them is 46 pages long! So I'll have my work cut out for me.
Presently, though, I am going to call my Sweet Baboo for a long conversation, then make popcorn and watch Ladies in Lavender, then crash for the night.
I hope so, listener. I didn't get to sleep till sometime after daybreak today myself, so fully sympathize. You did magnificently today IMO. Enjoy your movie.
Thanks, Cat. It helps to know I sounded good. It can be hard to negotiate wedding stuff. We're trying to keep our sense of humour. It's just temporary small stuff, unlike the vows.
Listener, I used to throw seasonal parties (one per season, lol!). I generally just invited everyone I saw or thought about, and got very mixed bags, to say the least: the smallest was 7 and the largest was 90 ( I encourage peeps to bring friends along). I always cooked for about 70, though it stretched nicely for the 90. And if it was smaller, I just froze stuff. Over the years it devolved to: One giant spinach salad, one giant fruit salad, one meat dish (oops). Prolly the best of the meat dishes were the ribs, which I just put in a giant stainless steel breadpan in the over, poured honey, garlic salt, and pepper over. And let them cook and flavor themselves all afternoon at about 250 degrees. Did almost exactly the same with chicken wings, too. Dishes, plates, flatware were all plastic so cleanup was easy. The only thing I asked was they bring a bottle of cheap wine for the punch. It took about a week to shop for, a morning to clean for, and an afternoon to cook for. And all 90 fit into my tiny two bedroom apartment. . . . The company is what's important.
Glad you got straight with the kiddles, and I'm sure you'll do just fine, whatever you plan.
A full-blown formal wedding is a major undertaking, certainly. I'm not aware that anyone in my family has had one, but I only know about three generations back. Things still worked out well...
Now that things have quieted down for the evening I will resume composing a letter to the author of the book I just read. I don't do that often, but this was a rare treat; I was moved to make notes as I read, and I am sure I will read it again.
Howard is first this good morning!
ReplyDeleteA little foggy here this morning, which means a clear day. Definitely Autumn.
ReplyDeleteHe is. And sunshine is first too.
ReplyDeleteMan, the muse is riding me hard! Here's another, hot off the press.
ReplyDeleteTell me it’s over.
Say you don’t care any more.
Tell me it’s over
And now you’re free like before.
Say that the moon up above is only the moon again.
Say that the song that you sang has a silly refrain.
Tell me it’s over,
That the love light you saw doesn’t shine.
Please tell me it’s over with her and that you’ll be mine.
Just back from town. And I *remember* why I hate going to town on Saturdays: everyone else goes. Instead of parking next to the door at the grocery store, it's up the hill. Every item you want has a cart with a kid in it in front, and a mama down the aisle. &c.
ReplyDeleteDrive was gorgeous however. We're long past peak, so the occasional tree still in flame really stands out. Seed heads are the interest: plumes and trails and shooting stars -- just lovely.
Sixty degrees and sunny. Had the car window wide open all the way home, hair blowin' in the wind.
Wore my new *pink* boots. Think about it: grannies in pink Uggs knockoffs, lol!
Ah, Puddle. Sometimes life is good, n'est pas?
ReplyDeleteAB SO FREAKIN LOOT LEE!!
ReplyDelete~grin~
ReplyDeleteYeah, I liked the idear when I cottoned onto it.
ReplyDeleteOh, this one is going so well! I have the melody in and now am just tweaking note values here and there. Having a song that goes smoothly and fast is such a relief! I guess it's sort of how the muse rewards and bribes you.
True. And at least you've got a muse in working order. I last saw mine months and months and months ago. . . .
ReplyDeleteThat would make an awesome Valentine's card! :-)
ReplyDeleteLOL! :-D
ReplyDeleteMaybe she'll come back unexpectedly too. They're capricious creatures. Like I said on FB, I thought mine had moved out permanently. Don't give up hope. Besides, you do so many creative things like cooking and working in your garden. All that must be priming the pump. And you notice things. You actually see the world around you. What's more, you take pleasure in it and articulate it. I don't think you should worry, if you are. Your muse is probably just dozing.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, didn't you say just a few days ago that you'd written a new poem?
BTW if my (unintentionally) flaunting my current creative streak bothers anybody, y'all know just to tell me to buzz off, right?
The lyric? Hm. That's an interesting idear. How would you illustrate it? What kind of picture would you put on the front of the card?
ReplyDeleteMy day was rather not what I hoped, but here I am on the other end of it at last.
ReplyDeleteDidn't sleep well last night, for no particular reason. But, got up to another sunny day and made plans to proof three chapters, then go for a long walk and do a little yard work before proofing the next three chapters. I was particularly happy when I realised that I was getting PAID to be home working on the book, since I took today as a paid vacation day.
Well, I got through two chapters, and even let a call from one of my best friends ring through...so discipline was I! But just at 1:00pm I got a call from the Library. My coworker's new puppy had taken ill and she needed me to come in after all and pinch hit. Arrrgghhhh!! So I buzzed over to the Library (almost forgot to change my jeans to dress pants first! Ha!). On the way back I decided to stop and rent Ladies in Lavender (Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, need I say more?) as a reward for getting through what lay ahead.
(continued...)
I checked the mail and found the beautiful "Save the Date" card from son and his sweetie, for their wedding. :-) So then I took a nice long walk in the woods. You will be amazed at some of the photos I garnered, once I have time to download them and so on. Next I put the last of the gardens to bed, and thankfully that took only about a half hour. It was now 4:30pm. Having left the mail in the mailbox during my walk, I fetched it and brought it inside. The phone was flashing, so I checked the message and it was someone calling to place a greeting card order and would I call her back? I decided to wait a day or two to call back, since I can't fill her order before Monday anyway. All good.
ReplyDeleteI did take a moment to look at the website son and his sweetie have created for the wedding. That's how I found out that they are planning to have a "Rehearsal Dinner" which is a cookout and which they have already invited ALL the guests who will be in town the night before the wedding!! Since we had done so for each of his brothers before this, we assumed it was the responsibility of the groom's parents to plan and offer the rehearsal dinner for the wedding party, immediate family and significant others. In the past we have hosted 20-30 people at a restaurant and just let everybody order off the menu. Suddenly it will be closer to 50-70 people and no one has considered what the contingency is if it pours rain that evening (and it's already been announced!!). And, yes, they assumed we'd be paying for it. I am a strong advocate for the bride and groom having their wedding their way, but I have to tell you that, in having all the cost without any of the input, for a little while I felt a lot like chopped liver. Hubby did too.
(...last installment)
ReplyDeleteBut then, son called. I told him how much I love the Save the Date card and magnet, and ventured to gently discuss the situation. They somehow had missed the wedding etiquette aspect, and did not realise that we'd want to plan it as a gift. (Our modern culture has lost some things, as there is a real place for traditions that everyone comprehends together. It just makes things easier.) Anyway, we worked it out. It will be a cookout as long as the house it's being held at can nicely accommodate the guests indoors in event of rain. It will be renamed something other than Rehearsal Dinner to ensure that (a) ALL the guests in town don't show up at the rehearsal, (b) folks not expecting to be at the rehearsal won't feel sheepish about attending the cookout, (c) it won't be expected that the groom's parents designed the event. I'm good with that. We still get to pay, but I'll feel less tension around it if it's not on my head if it's a bust. We might be allowed to make their dream of flowers for the wedding work out. I would enjoy that project, since the other is already taken.
So! At long last I got back to my book making!! Whoo! I got another 3 chapters proofed (5 in all today). I have 6 more to go tomorrow, and one of them is 46 pages long! So I'll have my work cut out for me.
Presently, though, I am going to call my Sweet Baboo for a long conversation, then make popcorn and watch Ladies in Lavender, then crash for the night.
I sure hope I sleep great tonight! XOXOXXX
I hope so, listener. I didn't get to sleep till sometime after daybreak today myself, so fully sympathize. You did magnificently today IMO. Enjoy your movie.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cat. It helps to know I sounded good. It can be hard to negotiate wedding stuff.
ReplyDeleteWe're trying to keep our sense of humour. It's just temporary small stuff, unlike the vows.
Listener, I used to throw seasonal parties (one per season, lol!). I generally just invited everyone I saw or thought about, and got very mixed bags, to say the least: the smallest was 7 and the largest was 90 ( I encourage peeps to bring friends along). I always cooked for about 70, though it stretched nicely for the 90. And if it was smaller, I just froze stuff. Over the years it devolved to: One giant spinach salad, one giant fruit salad, one meat dish (oops). Prolly the best of the meat dishes were the ribs, which I just put in a giant stainless steel breadpan in the over, poured honey, garlic salt, and pepper over. And let them cook and flavor themselves all afternoon at about 250 degrees. Did almost exactly the same with chicken wings, too. Dishes, plates, flatware were all plastic so cleanup was easy. The only thing I asked was they bring a bottle of cheap wine for the punch. It took about a week to shop for, a morning to clean for, and an afternoon to cook for. And all 90 fit into my tiny two bedroom apartment. . . . The company is what's important.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got straight with the kiddles, and I'm sure you'll do just fine, whatever you plan.
Cat, that was some very lovely stuff you said to me, above. Thank you, sweet thing. ♥
ReplyDeleteA full-blown formal wedding is a major undertaking, certainly. I'm not aware that anyone in my family has had one, but I only know about three generations back. Things still worked out well...
ReplyDeleteNow that things have quieted down for the evening I will resume composing a letter to the author of the book I just read. I don't do that often, but this was a rare treat; I was moved to make notes as I read, and I am sure I will read it again.
TTFN