Change of Seasons

This year, we didn't have many bright, sunny days when the leaves were changing, so I couldn't get those lovely yellow, gold and red reflections in the river. The leaves are down now, and we've had our first snow. 
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Happy Leap Day 2016

This is an old photo. I probably posted it four years ago as well.

A Walk through the Neighborhood

Today was the first snow of the season.

I might use one of these for my holiday card. Please feel free to vote for your favorite. 

The First Charlevoix Pictures

We went on vacation earlier this month, and I've been slow in posting pictures. Here are some. More will follow as will some posts on writing or creating or something. 

Probably everyone who goes to Charlevoix, takes a picture of the lighthouse.

Round Lake

a carp in Round Lake

dune flowers

forest flowers

Happy Valentine's Day!

The begonias are blooming - inside, of course.

Catch the light.

These plants came from a cutting my father-in-law gave me about twenty five years ago.

Turkeys Past

Today’s turkey is roasting, the pie is baked, and the cranberry sauce is chilling in the fridge. My mind wanders back to holidays past. One year, I was cooking a turkey at my mom’s house in California. It’s entirely possible that this was a Christmas turkey, but no matter. As always, I simmered the neck and giblets to make broth for the gravy. My brother came in the kitchen to help with the last-minute dinner preparations.

He thought that out of the goodness of my heart I’d cooked the giblets for his dog, Lady, who had also joined the festivities. My heart isn’t actually that good. At least it didn’t occur to me to prepare a treat for the dog. My brother dumped the broth down the sink and cut up the giblets for Lady. Boy, was I irritated!

In retrospect, the gravy was fine without giblet stock, my brother suspects I’m kinder than I actually am, and the dog was delighted. Maybe that’s what holidays are all about. 

Warm and Wonderful

Due to an ice storm, we lost power for three days. The electricity came back last night, and the house is now up to normal temperatures. I took pictures of the ice but haven't looked at them yet because I was conserving my laptop battery. For the same reason, I haven't yet responded to comments on blog posts.

I gained a lot of experience in pioneer living. Maybe my next project will be historical fiction.

I wish you a warm and wonderful holiday.

Postcard from Santa

First of all, thank you, Gina and Juliet, for featuring one of my pictures on City Muse Country Muse.

Yesterday’s mail included a postcard that read “That thing you are writing is awesome!” The return address was SANTA, handwritten in block letters. For a second, I thought one of my writing friends had sent some much-needed encouragement. Then I realized the postcard was an advertisement from a tutoring service in Ann Arbor. 

The experience made me realize two things. 

1. Everybody needs a boost. People (myself included) don’t acknowledge friends’ talents and accomplishments often enough.
2. Faint praise and vague criticism are not helpful. People (myself included) should be as specific as possible in both praise and writing critiques.  

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Okay, so I recycled last year's picture.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Packing the Car for Boston

seems like a long way from here
seems like a big city
seems like a demanding curriculum 
seems like he's ready to go

Writing Goals

2012 was a tough writing year. After being advised to scramble my work-in-progress, I ended up with such a mess that I stopped writing for several months. This was, admittedly, a cowardly approach, and since then, I’ve pulled up my socks.

Looking ahead to 2013, I could set several minor goals, like polishing the first 20 pages of my work-in-progress and writing a synopsis for a January 27 conference deadline, or bringing submissions to critique group more often, but I’m going to stick to the big ticket items.

Ann’s Writing Goals for 2013

1. Finish the first draft of the fantasy novel.
2. Continue to seek gainful employment.
3. Get back on the horse.

Happy New Year!

Santa's Helper

My mother spent many years confined to a wheelchair, living alone in a house that 17 stairs leading to the front door. For most of this time, she was helped by a wonderful woman named Maud. One Christmas, Maud was concerned that her granddaughters who lived with her would find their presents before Christmas morning, so Maud asked my mom if she could hide the presents at her house. What a gift that was! My mom got to see the toys, witness the wrapping, be a co-conspirator in the Santa scheming and imagine two little girls’ joy at opening their presents on Christmas morning.

What are your favorite Christmas memories?

Travels with Jeremy

Tomorrow Jeremy and I leave for Boston for his first audition. Fingers crossed! We’ll come home long enough to do homework and laundry, respectively, then then head to St. Paul for audition number two. These are exciting times. 

Blog posts may be sparse for the next couple weeks. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Jeremy received this work of art at a music lesson.

Tastes Like Home

Last summer when I accompanied my husband to a scientific meeting in Italy, one of the graduate students at our table took a bite of salmon and said, “Mmmm. Tastes like home.”

That phrase evokes strong images. For me, it is ripe strawberries. When I was little, before Southern Californian property values skyrocketed, Japanese immigrants had strawberry farms in an area known as Portuguese Bend. When my mom took us to her favorite stand, the elderly woman who worked there would pick two of her biggest strawberries and give them to my brother and me. Those fresh-picked berries, still warm from the sun, had a million times more flavor than the grocery store kind.

What tastes like home to you?

What tastes like home to your characters?  

Banquets, and Concerts, and Tournaments, Oh My

In a few weeks, Jeremy will graduate from high school. There are many evening events with dishes to pass, uniforms to collect and decorations to create. For Sam, it’s tournament season in Taekwondo. In a few weeks, I’ll probably spend much of my 28^th wedding anniversary running the electronic scoreboard for a sparring ring.

In between all this, I sent a few queries this week for my spy novel. I need to jump back into the fantasy novel that I put on hold while working on critique comments.   

None of my projects would have been possible without these distractions. My spy novel depends heavily on my first-hand knowledge of Taekwondo. My recently set aside tween novel could not have been written if we did not have a rock band that practices in our basement. Writing my fantasy novel requires that I know about contemporary high school life. It’s all grist for the mill.

Happy Leap Day

This picture of Sam was taken in 2008 at the Great Lakes Cup.

Holiday Links

Writing quotes (Susanne Gervay) 

Writing excuses (Kathy Cannon Wiechman of Swagger) 

Reading suggestions (Nancy Pearl and NPR) 

Inspirational animal rescue (Great Whale Conservancy) 

Are you ready for Christmas? (The Bearded Iris) 

Solstice song (James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma)

Happy Holidays

Our holiday officially started last night when we picked up Sam after his last final. For the next couple weeks, the house will be full of young rock stars, ninjas and mathematicians. Amazing amounts of food will be consumed. The Christmas tree will shine and Chanukah candles will blaze.

I also plan to finish my current draft, the one where I’m listening for Selena’s voice. I don’t imagine that I’ll nail it, but I hope to make progress. My next draft is also dedicated to Selena’s voice.

White Out

Tomorrow we start driving to Boston for Jeremy's audition. Let's hope this is all the snow we're going to see for a while.


I took this picture before the sun was all the way up to avoid glare.