Tag: adventure

Thursday, with puffin and marble

What went before:  Well, as a guy named Steve Miller once said to me, “Lady, we sure can waste some time.”

And he wasn’t wrong.

As planned, I betook myself to the Searsport side of Belfast and picked up puffin and marble. Returning to Belfast, I shopped at the co-op, including picking up a tuna fish sandwich on whole grain bread, which I took down to the public boat landing and had a picnic.

I wrestled with the question of going down to Ducktrap, and, as reported earlier, I lost. I count it a win that I didn’t continue down the coast. I credit the fact that I had food in the cooler for that (smol) bit of common sense.

After I had refreshed myself at Lincolnville Beach (which is in the Village of Ducktrap; it’s possible that this may not be something Universally Known), I turned back to Belfast, taking only a VERY minor detour through Saturday Cove and Bayside, picked up Route 1 again, returned to Belfast, and came home via Route 3 until I got in the vicinity of the Old Neighborhood, where I Deviated from the Route to take a couple corner-cutting back roads that I haven’t been on for years, by reason of no longer living in the Old Neighborhood, and so to home, where I put away my spoils, had a fourth of what I’m told is a single serving of Shaw’s carrot cake with a smear of ice cream as a coming home present, and now? I Address The Internets.

By the time I put the house back together — which I didn’t do before I left, and which includes putting the sheets back on the bed — it’ll be Coon Cat Happy Hour, so!

I’m taking the rest of the day off.

So…Friday? Friday. Sunny and cool. And that’s fine.

Rook and Tali are taking turns knocking each other over and practicing their T. Rex yells. I’m not sure T. Rex was that high on the scale, but who knows, really?

Breakfast was an anything bagel from yesterday’s foraging at the co-op, with cream cheese and a side of cherries. Trooper is expressing his disappointment with management, and Firefly is sleeping on the box on my desk.

This morning, I have an appointment with the chiropractor — who gave me an exercise to do because my shoulders are frozen. Does anybody here know “Wall Angels?” Ow. By which I mean to say, OW. Also, it’s humiliating not to be able to get my arms over my head. Getting old sucks.

My Grand Plan for the day is to clear the pile of RL stuff on my desk, and finish up a couple of other chores, including the Grand Changing Out of the Cat Boxes and attendant sweeping up of the basement, then go internet-lite tomorrow and Sunday to try to get some work done. I’d like to break +/-50,000 words, so we’ll put that as a Goal.

I also need to figure out a better schedule; the one I’m sorta keeping to was the schedule in force when Steve died, and it worked well for the necessities of the house at that time. I’m feeling like I’m scrambling to keep to outline, so to speak, which creates stress, which creates more work for the cats. And NOBODY wants the cats to work more than they already do, poor creatures.

It’s time to give Trooper his morning gooshy food, and see if I can take care of one or two of these silly pieces of paper on my desk before it’s time to go out.

How’s everybody else doing? Keeping to the schedule?

There were a few pictures from yesterday.  They may be viewed here

Glass Menagerie

What went before:  Rook made sure I had eaten a good, nutritious breakfast before I left on the day’s work:

Tuesday afternoon. Sunny and hot. So. Very. Hot.

I have had Adventures.

Firstly, on my way to Belfast, I had a right of way dispute with a turkey. In true turkey style, he burst from the weeds and charged into the road, I swerved, he swerved, I swore, the turkey went up over the windshield. I heard scrabbling on the roof, looked in the mirror, fearing, as one does, the worst — but there was no dead turkey behind me.

I pulled over and got out.

No dead turkey on the front grill (yes, I know I saw him go over the windshield; I looked anyway). No dead turkey on the back bumper. No dead turkey on the roof. I sighted back down the road. No turkeys of any description to be seen.

The best I can figure is that he rolled onto the roof of the car, got his feet under him, spread his wings — and flew away.

Sheesh, Turkey. Give a girl a heart attack, why not?

Despite the turkey, I was early in the environs of Belfast, so I stopped at the public boat landing. The breeze was blowing, and it was already warm, but I thought to myself, thought I, “Well. This won’t be so bad, if the breeze keeps up.”

SPOILER: The breeze did not keep up. By the time I returned with my party to the boat landing for lunch at Nautilus, the weather was certifiably unpleasant.

In between those two visits to the boat landing, I met my brother- and sister-in-law, my grandnephew, and his friend at Mainely Gallery, and we made glass. The first project was a puffin. I fear mine has Character. Which is *fine*. What wasn’t fine was that, while I was getting ready to grip my very hot glass critter with the tweezers in anticipation of freeing him from the glass rod from which he had been formed — my hand slipped and I burned my finger.

PRO TIP: Do not put your finger into live flame. It hurts.

The upside of this misadventure is that I am now a member of a new club: Glassworkers who have burned themselves while working.

Cold water was deployed, as was aloe and lidocaine. And bandaids. I took the bandaids off when I got home, and I don’t think the surgeons will have to take the finger (that’s what passes for humor).

Despite this mishap, there was enough time remaining in our session to make a second object. My sister- and brother-in-law, working as a team, made another puffin, to keep the first one company. My grandnephew had a Plan, but his glass popped — which was impressive. He declared himself satisfied and stood as assistant to his friend, who made a very pretty glass flower.  I made!

A marble.

Don’t laugh; it’s a lot harder than you might think to make a marble, especially when you’re using the soft glass, which starts melting almost before you bring it to the flame.

I very much look forward to picking up my puffin and my marble on Thursday afternoon.

Lunch at Nautilus was as usual good and plentiful, catching up happened, and we parted for our two separate portions of Maine around 2.

I’m now home, Trooper is on my lap, purring, and being an impediment to typing. My burned finger has been inspected by Firefly and by Rook, both of whom were obviously saying, “Well, SOMEbody was stoopid.”

I do believe I’ll be getting a dish of ice cream.

I don’t believe that I’ll be going out to embroidery tonight. Burned finger, you know.

What’s everybody been doing today?

 

Grandpa Trooper Health Report

What went before ONE: So, Trooper’s home, after having had many sorts of tests. Possibly there’s some very tiny bit of fluid in front of his heart. Maybe? Lungs clear; bloodwork magnificent; not dehydrated; not noticeably anxious at the vet’s; just quietly grumpy. He feasted on chicken baby food while he was there, and was given a long-term steroid shot (since I can’t get him to take prednisone from the plunger — he’s (still) big and strong and doesn’t care who he hurts, while management is down the second pair of hands that used to make this a non-issue).

The soft diagnosis is that he’s just sort of melting away from old cat to no cat. Possibly, we have some dementia, but, again, not acute. The steroid shot is because I observed him to be crying less when he was taking the prednisone, and it’s not impossible that he actually has some joint pain, which is making him fretful and weepy, given his age.

So, that’s the Trooper Health Update. I’ll be taking on some baby food when I’m out tomorrow.

What went before TWO: I got some work done today, but not as much as I wanted. However, I am not working late into the night, but knocking off now, as I am of the opinion that having a more or less regular schedule is, ahem, beneficial.

I will have from tomorrow afternoon through Monday afternoon to work, which is a lovely large wodge of time.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

Err — what?

Hmm. Facebook may have made an improvement that actually, yanno, Improves Something. They’ve inserted a step between Write and Post, which doesn’t seem convenient, but it looks like it will allow me to share, say, my Morning Check-Ins with All the Liaden Groups, which might be beneficial.

I’ll explore that further tomorrow, too.

G’nite.

#

Friday. Sunny and already as warm as it’s supposed to get on the day, with an Bonus! high wind advisory.

Rookie got locked in the closet this morning. I had no idea he had even been in the room when I opened the door to get my shoes.

Breakfast was cream cheese on rice cakes, with a side of cherries. Kettle’s on for second cup of tea. Lunch may be a salad. Or it may be fish and a side salad. Something like that.

Mid-morning appointment with the chiropractor, and a stop at the grocery before I get home to take on baby food for Grandpa Trooper.

I’ve been trying to figure out a whale/puffin watch expedition, which is of course an ocean voyage. This means you need to leave from the coast, about 50 miles ThatAWay from the Cat Farm. There’s a very well-regarded tour service — Cap’n Fish by name — based in Boothbay — which is your standard “about an hour” by car.

Cap’n Fish has an Extremely Tempting combined puffin/whale cruise which leaves at 1 in the afternoon and is +/- 4 hours on the water, which means we’re docking 5/5:30. It is summer and the light’s with me, so now I need to think about stamina (and my budget; let’s not forget that). Route 27 is a pretty easy drive, but it’ll be, at the earliest, July and God She knows what the Summer People will be getting up to. Assuming we have any Summer People, of course.

Well. Something to noodle on in-between story bits.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to next Tuesday. I have a date with visiting family to make glass in Belfast in the morning, when it is predicted to be — technical term — Stupid Hot. I’m hoping for a mediation of weather patterns over the weekend, but the ‘beans seem very certain of themselves on this one.

Other than All of That, I am planning a Writing Weekend, and hoping to move the book along in a forwarder direction.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Cat census:

E equals mc squared

Sunday. Sunny, breezy, warm in the sunshine.

Woke up at 7, just in time for Firefly, Trooper, and Rook to pile into bed with me, so we had a snuggle session until Tali jumped down from on top of the bookshelf by the bed, and everybody departed for the important business of having a snack.

Breakfast was the last half of the unfrozen blueberry muffins, cheese. Lunch will likely be chicken nugget stirfry.

I drank a mug of tea on the deck. This relaxation thing is hard to get a handle on, but — onward.

Today, I need to make up a bag for tomorrow’s boating excursion. I need a hat, sunscreen, rain jacket, sweatshirt? (yeah, probably; weather on the water is tricky), drinking water, snacks. I think that’s it. Pocket stuff will of course be in my pockets. Oh. I should pack a lunch to have before the boat leaves.

Other than that, the to-do includes one’s duty to the cats, a walk, and writing.

It occurs to me that I am just now recovering from my Mad Adventuring in the south and west, which is . . . information. Ten days away; fourteen days to recover.

Balticon, of course, was a huge outpouring of energy, even though I did the bare minimum expected of a GOH. I didn’t go to any parties, or even any panels that I wasn’t on, not out of disrespect or disdain, but because I wanted to credibly dispatch those duties I did have.

Corning, though delightful and stimulating . . . was probably not relaxing. And the incessant rains did nothing to make the drive, which ordinarily would have been at least familiar, restful.

NOTE: This does not mean I had a Terrible Time; I had a good time; there’s a certain energy that’s only gotten by rubbing minds with other people in person. Even Dedicated Old /C/u/r/m/u/d/g/e/o/n/s Introverts know this.

So, that.

How’s everybody doing today?

A wine glass saved is a dollar earned

What went before ONE: So, Monday will a Full Writer’s Day Off, with watercoloring in the morning and lighthouse touring in the mid-afternoon.

Adventures R Me

What went before TWO: My sister-in-law successfully defended her dissertation. Thanks for all the good energy on Scholar Net!

What went before THREE: So a nice young man with an arm full of glossy 8×10 books rang the doorbell. He was part of a “group of young people who were looking to make a difference,” he told me. His name was perhaps Jarrett — my ears weren’t fast enough and he was soft-voiced.

He handed me two books — one about “health” and one about “weathering storms.” I flipped open the one about storms, and got a page dripping with meticulously notated bible verses. The young man told me that this particular volume had helped him through depression a couple years ago.

I handed the books back.

Oh, he said, you’re not interested in the books. But maybe you’ll come to our Health Expo in Fairfield in a couple weeks, and he handed me a half-sheet flyer. I took the flyer, because easier than not, smiled, and wished him a good day.

He asked if we could pray together.

I told him no, smiled, and closed the door.

So! The flyer!

A New Start to your health, it says; HEALTH AND WELLNESS EXPO. There are watermark crosses on the paper — medical/Red Cross looking crosses. And over by itself on the right: Promoting physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual wellbeing.

The flyer lists the free activities on offer at the Expo, and states that its being sponsored by Maine Health & Wellness (tagline: Serving your needs. Right where you are.)

Instead of a website, there’s an email address: healthandwellness.maine@gmail.com

. . . and my goodness aren’t we being sneaky, seeking-to-do-good-young-people! It sounds just like it’s some sort of Actual State Agency, even to the DOTmaine in the email address.

Maybe I should have offered to trade books.

What went before FOUR: Knocking off for the day. Yeah, yeah — I’m late. The coon cats had happy hour, and I should get something to eat.

The WIP, still lacking a title, currently weighs in at +/-40,277 words, which is to say, we didn’t lose many words after all.

Ashley’s due in tomorrow, but will be arriving later than usual, so I don’t have to get up early, which, given that I’m only now seeking my supper and a glass of wine, a good thing.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

Um. Thursday. Sunny, warm.

Slept late with intermittent assistance from Trooper, Firefly, and Rook.

Breakfast was strawberry-and-lingonberry skyr; finishing up my tea now. Lunch will be this afternoon.

After I finish my tea, I’ll pick up the house for Ashley’s arrival, then perform my duty to the cats (and the dehumidifier), then start shifting chapters around.

Yes, yes. Too exciting by half.

For excitement — I got a catalog in the mail from Artful Home. In it were some pretty stemless wine glasses, so I went onto the website to find out how big they were. Sigh. I gotta tell y’all some folks out there are serious about their wine. Nobody needs a 10 ounce wine glass. Well, OK. I don’t need a 10 ounce wine glass. So! I already saved money this morning.

The windows are open in my office, and I? should really gather up the cat blankets and give them a nice wash.

What’re you doing today?

Adventuring for the faint of heart

Convention Business: The BaltiCon Program is now live. Word is that it’s still being tweaked. I was, for instance, double booked for Saturday evening, and have been moved from the panel discussion of how to make your characters relatable. Here’s the link. Note that you can search the schedule by day, and by person, and you can create your own list of things to do and see.

#

What went before: So, that’s 636 new words on the day, along with some retrofitting of old words. The WIP Entire now weighs in at +/-39,597 words.
For a book that has quite a large cast of characters, Salvage Right is amazingly tight, and I have to keep going back and refreshing myself on what happened when and to whom, as well as what was left over.

Also, prep for BaltiCon, including the travel details, and speeches, and reservations at Corning — not to mention the stupidity with the insurance company and! something else that landed on my desk today — is all kind of borking my concentration on the story. Well. Maybe I’ll have time to write at the con.

Yeah, who am I kidding?

The rain has stopped and the wind has come up. Word is that tomorrow will be sunny and beautiful.

We’ll see, she said darkly.

In the meantime, everybody stay safe.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Sunday In Two Parts

ONE
Oh, my gods and goddesses.

Rookie fell out of the bathroom window.

SPOILER: He’s OK; I’m — a little stressed, and so very VERY pleased that he didn’t run away, but just sat in the garden under the window and YELLED. Firefly and Tali came to get me, both looking very worried, and I had heard a cat calling, but thought it was Trooper singing the song of his people downstairs, as is his habit.

But Trooper was on the copilot’s chair. I ran to the bathroom; the screen was awry and I could hear a cat YELLING. I closed the bathroom door, ran outside — and there was Rook, staring up at the window and YELLING. I called him and he came to me, just like the spoiled kid he is, and I picked him up and told him how brave and smart he was, and brought him back into the house, where we both collapsed onto the couch. He’s only just gotten up to grab a snack.

I pushed the screen all the way out, closed and locked the window. I’ll figure out how to put it back in later.

Offerings to Bast are in order.

TWO
Sunday. Sunny and still a little chilly, though warm enough that I opened the bathroom window for the edification of coon cats.

Breakfast was … eggs scrambled with tomato and onion and rice. I guess I ate about half of it before Adventure overtook me. I hate cold eggs. I did finish my toast and jam. Lunch will be chicken tender and mashed potatoes out of a bag and, oh, peas, why not?

I have a letter to write, but mostly I want to write. I really hope that isn’t too much to ask.

I … am still a little shaky, and so glad that Firefly and Tali came to get me instead of following Rook out the window. I might’ve talked Firefly in, but Tali’d be halfway to the mall in Augusta by now. Fans of Trooper will be pleased to hear that he slept through the entire thing.

So! Who’s up for Adventure today?

Picture of Rook after the fall: