A dreary day

April 4, 2012

Today is the kind of day that deceives you. The thermometer says that the temperature is tolerable and speaks of spring awakening. It is ten degrees above freezing - not that one would notice. I am hunkered beneath a cozy throw, with the fireplace glowing and I’m about to pour a glass of wine and watch a soppy movie. That is what one does on a bone chilling day in Canada, or anywhere else for that matter. In deference to the dreary skies and the high winds and my poor arthritic bones, I’m about to waste the rest of my day. Now, mind you, I did earn this somewhat, I wasn’t a complete slacker today. I did my usual morning exercises and took a 20 minute brisk walk, vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom so I have no guilt feeling what-so-ever. As to choice of movie, I’m leaning toward An Affair to Remember, can’t get much soppier than that.

You see, I’m definitely a sunshine girl, my energy levels lift and fall as the sun shines or doesn’t. So when the promise of warm days lie ahead and sunsets are stretching into the evening hours, I bid farewell to seasonal programming and look longingly at the patch of earth waiting for me to be energized by long sunny days. Mind you, not all creatures find sunshine brings them to life. Check out our cats in the sun.

Spring continues

The pond is full of fish and I rescued a turtle from the dogs!

Can't win them all.

March 20, 2012

Ah well, we are all optimists and this early spring (of course it will last) just reinforces my high hopes. Last night, I slept with my four windows wide open and was wakened early by coyotes yipping as they moved through the woods. Today on my morning walk, two bunnies, still in their white winter coats, sat motionless on the cedar rail watching me puffing along. A cheery cardinal repeatedly answered my call and a Canada goose glided over head and settled in the field of a neighbour. The warmth of the sun felt wonderful on my old bones. It is so good to be walking briskly after a hiatus of seven months as I healed from that nasty fall.

As I turned into our driveway a glimpse of purple drew my attention and there were two brave little dwarf iris blooming away. So you see, I had every reason to be optimistic so when I opened my emails and saw that Amazon had posted the next round of their Breakthrough competition, I crossed my fingers and checked for my name. Ah well, it’s still a glorious day. Gonna grab my camera and catch the iris.

Begone Snow!

Feb. 29, 2012

I’m ready to come out of hibernation! Yesterday the sun shining in my garden room sent the temperature up to 19 degrees and I sucked up as much of the glorious rays as I could for an hour while sitting and reading Colleen McCullough. It was like a rebirth. Not Colleen McCullough, although she is one of my favourites, her subject matter is hardly rebirth stuff but I’ve managed to devour nearly everything she has published. Maybe Caesar oft times said “hurry sweet spring and cast away this nasty white stuff.”

While snuggled into my cozy corner this winter, I finished my novel and took the brave step of entering it into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. It operates a bit like American Idol. The contestants have to advance through stages. Stage one contestants advance strictly based on a sales pitch of 250 words. Stage two is based on a portion of the book then it is open to the general public for voting. Well, I made it into round two and I’m one happy puppy. It’s such an affirmation to sell one’s work and/or win a contest or, as in this case, advance to round two. Well winning it is not likely in the cards but I’m on the hunt for an agent and can now use my status in the competition as a selling point. One of my writing group in Sedona also made it (Peter Bernhardt) for his second time. You can see the results at www.amazon.com/abna.

So my wanderings this past few weeks has been mostly on the computer keys and, of course, I watched the Academy Awards.

Valentine's Day

Feb.14, 2012

One does not wander too far when the path is solid ice but the lure of blue water in the community pool is enough to have me inching carefully, keys in hand to the car. I’m into soft exercise, stretching etc. That would be because I hate sweating. Oh, yes, I’ve tried the classes where a svelte body with a grating voice yells as she’s announcing agonizing body movements to get the heart rate racing. Not only can I not keep in step, I have no connection between my ears, my brain and my feet. Yep, you guessed it. I was the only kid who did not advance in dancing class. Two left feet, no, just no connection feet to music. So that leaves me with swimming. But swimming in Canada in the dead of winter requires definite determination. It is all too easy to find excuses to avoid the effort. But not me, I fight my negative voice every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and head off to the pool. BTW, Happy Valentine’s day. I came down to the kitchen this morning to see my daughter serving her brood heart shaped pancakes. Now that’s love.

Frozen

January 29, 2012

            My wandering is pretty limited these days what with icy walkways and treacherous driving conditions. I did wander out on the veranda this morning to capture the rising sun reflecting on our ice-covered bushes.

            One of the great pleasures I have is sharing stories. This week I had the privilege to speak with a group of seniors at the wonderful new Kemptville library. Ottawa is hosting the National All Stars hockey tournament this weekend. Although I am not heading downtown for the festivities, I’m following it on television. How fortunate we are to live in such a vibrant community. Except for the weather, of course I am definitely not a cold weather person. Now there are folks that would counter by saying this is a mild winter. As far as I am concerned anything that remotely approaches the freezing point is intolerable. I often say that the only disservice my wonderful mother did to me was to have born me in a cold country.

            I finished the first edit of my novel-in-progress, well in order to get there, one does multi-edits targeting different aspects of the prose, but I can happily say, I think I covered them all - now to find the right publisher.

            Snow Business is sold out and I haven’t even launched it yet. This was totally unexpected and a delightful surprise. I expect to get copies by the end of February and do a launch at that time. In the meantime, I’ve returned to writing short stories and getting them off to anthologies and magazines. At least this weather does not inhibit writing, in fact, it likely encourages it because what else can one do? Watch the All Stars – that’s what.

New beginnings

January 10, 2012

Hey, I was so anxious to get rid of 2011 that I rang in the new year with Sidney Australia watching fireworks on TV at 8AM. Good riddance!

2012 is sure starting better, my physio sessions have made a vast improvement and I am walking almost limp free. I received a membership to the community pool for Christmas and spent yesterday morning lapping through the chlorine. I’m a little stiff today but that’s good – it means I used some lazy muscles.

Something that never lets me down is my Christmas cactus. I have two – one is from a cutting taken from my mother’s plant in 1962 (its 50 years old) and the other was taken from that old plant about 1978. Both old gals always burst into bloom for the Christmas season bringing me and mine much joy. Of course I grabbed my camera so I could show my readers.

The custom in our house – I have no idea where it originated, probably my old Polish grandma – but the new year is started by cleaning cupboards. I really enjoy this because I get to caress my collection of glass and reflect on how I acquired them. Now they sparkle and shine as I pass by – their way of saying thank you. Today, I tackle the pictures on the walls.

My resolution? Write, write, write. I have started well.

Happy New Year