Be warned...Bugs!

I've always loved taking close up pictures of flowers, so I thought it would be fun to try a macro lens. It's a little tricky to get focused, but boy! is it worth the effort! Take a look at the beauty and the beasties in my garden~

A different creative pursuit~

Seems a little silly to write a blog to say I'm still not writing fiction. I wish that I could, but I'll have to be patient a bit longer. I've had dry spells longer than this one and I'm sure it will pass. Certain life changes have made writing seem less important than it was, like an innocence I once had that has been lost. My garden, flush with flowers early in the summer, has dried and been overtaken by weeds. There will be no tomatoes this year.


I have taken up a new creative hobby though- photography. It gets me out of the house and thinking creatively. I should probably post more photos here instead of Facebook, where folks are probably getting tired of seeing them all. I'm just teaching myself via Google and making things up as I go that look good to me. I'm looking for challenges. So far, I've done portraits, landscapes, birds, night sky, and waterfalls, with varying levels of success. I'd really like to try capturing lightning, but we just haven't had that much around here this summer. My camera isn't capable of the super long exposure times (25-30 seconds) for night sky stars, so I guess that will have to wait for a more expensive camera. It does great sunrises, sunsets, and full moons, but that's because it likes the light.

My favorite subject at the moment is birds. The fact that it's summer makes them relatively easy to find.

I've seen more birds than I've been able to catch, but it sure is fun trying. The ones that got away - a Belted kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron. Snapping a picture sure makes it easy to look up the bird later in the ID book.

The challenge giving me fits right now is waterfalls. I'm trying to learn the technique for making that soft, flowy looking water. I've only managed it once and it was kind of an accident.

The trick is you need low light and a long shutter speed. The long shutter speed lets in too much light if it's a sunny day and washes the whole thing out. I'm going to try a polarizing lens and see if that helps me get more consistent results. Luckily, there's lots of waterfalls around here to practice on. Peace~

This Writer's Goals for 2016~

Happy New Year!

Time to start anew. If last year was crappy, forget about it! You can always make the next one better. They say, and I believe it's true, writing down your goals makes them more achievable, so here it goes~

My goals for 2016 are as follows:

1) Read lots of books

Last year I read about 25 books, which is pretty good for me! I intend to keep it up. Join me over on Goodreads and set up your own reading goal.

2) Write lots of words

Between 50,000 and 100,000 words would be good. I'll probably take part in JuNoWriMo to get a good chunk of those. June works much better for me than other months. Summer in general works better for me than the school year. I'm in between projects right now with a rough draft to be edited. I'm sure I can have an outline ready by June though.







3) Travel

Going some place I've never been before always inspires me to write, so this is a definite "to do". Last year it was Hawaii. This year, who knows??


4) Exercise and eat healthy

I got a new Fitbit for Christmas and I think I love it already. All the incentive of tracking daily habits without the monthly fee of joining Weight Watchers. (I love you too, WW. Just not the fee.)

5) Publish

I have two novels I'm currently querying and a third rough draft that I'd like to get into shape for querying soon. With any luck, someone somewhere will want something of mine, right?

6) Grow a garden that survives

My garden was a dismal failure last year due to rabbits, voles, and a lack of effort. When I realized how much damage the varmits were causing, I kind of gave up. I still want a garden though. It's going to require raised bed - cages of some sort because there are still lots of rabbits around. I'll come up with something.


7) Save some money

I want to set up a seperate savings account that's never tapped into for normal bills and expenses so it can grow undisturbed. It's just a matter of setting it up and making an auto deposit. I have college savings accounts, so I know I can do it. I just have to make it happen.

8) Do some home improvements

This follows from the above obviously. I'd like to save some money to make some home improvements. I'd like to replace our gas range with an electric one so I don't set myself or the house on fire. I'm not a fan of open flames in cooking, at least not in my house. I'd also like to build a fireplace, but that's sort of a major undertaking. And a back yard patio and pergola would be nice. See? There's no end of reasons for Goal #7.

9) Meditate

My life gets pretty dang hectic starting in January through June, mostly due to my daughter's dance competition season. I get stressed out and cranky. I've meditated before and found it to be a nice respite from all my rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off. I plan to make time for it again this year.

10) Gratitude

Last but not least, I always want to remember to show my gratitude for the people I work with and the family I love, as well as all the blessings in my life. Life is fragile and it can be gone in a moment. 2015 taught me that once again. I don't want to waste a single minute of 2016 complaining or worrying,if that's possible.

What goals will you make for 2016?

Garden Dreaming and the New Year~

Here it is the dead of winter and I'm already dreaming about next summer's garden. If only this place weren't infested with rabbits. I feel like Elmer Fudd. If I want a garden, I've got to get serious about my rabbit problem.

Seems brutal, I know. But when you're driving down the driveway early in the morning and you see jackrabbits the size of small dogs running from your garden patch, you know sh*t just got real.  All I really want are some tomatoes and a couple of squash. Is that too much to ask?? I just gave up last summer, hoping the winter would kill them off, but it doesn't seem to be happening.

I've got the most amazing salsa recipe! And an Italian friend gave me an awesome pasta sauce recipe. I just want to grow the tomatoes. So here I am, trying to draw plans for a rabbit-proof garden, which I'm thinking is basically a rabbit-proof cage for vegetables.  If you've got ideas, I'm all ears!! And I have a few months to get it figured out.

Where's Wile E. Coyote when you need him?

Remember when I planted gladious?

They survived!  And bloomed. Aren't they gorgeous??









It just occurred to me that gardening is a little bit like writing. You plant the seeds (or bulbs in this case) and you water them, you nurture them, weed them, wait on them. You hope and wait and fertilize and finally, something beautiful emerges!

Come back tomorrow and see what emerges on the blog tomorrow ;)  Shhh...it's a secret....

a day of rememberance~

Memorial Day always reminds me of my grandmother, who was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II.  She grew the greatest gardens, so grandma...these are flowers in my garden for you.  Love you forever~

Grandma's Garden

I'm always outside trying to "garden" this time of year. It's April in Idaho again, which could mean sun, wind, rain, or snow. Today was blowing like a biscuit-eating basketball player! and I was planting gladiolus blubs. I bought them on a whim at the store because glads always remind me of my grandmother. 

Years ago, she had a huge flower bed in front of her house filled with roses and glads. Of course, she lived in North Carolina, so all she had to do was throw them in the ground.

I glanced at the package when I got ready to plant and I noticed hardiness is "Zone 8-10". Now, I'm lucky if I'm sitting in Zone 5 here. I'm probably closer to Zone 4, but I just don't care. I want glads so I planted them. Maybe they'll bloom this summer? Maybe a few will even make it through the winter.

They always say to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.  In Idaho, to plant a garden is to believe in miracles~

Spring Break arrives :)

Hey peeps!

Spring has arrived - hurrah!! I know it might not feel like it where you are. I know it's still falling well below freezing here, but it's only a matter of time now before we're all complaining about how hot it is, right?? If you need a little pick me up, go here~

I just want to make sure you come back tomorrow and check out the launch of Ty Drago's new book tour on the blog. It looks super awesome. My 8 year old son even said so. Don't miss it!

I feel like I've been busy, but I'm not sure how much I've accomplished. I've been reading a lot, most recently The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. I think she's my author-hero. :) I'm like 90% done with it and I'm sure I'll be writing a review for it. Just not sure what to say, but wow! We'll see.

I just know I have to finish it before I can get on with my own writing. It's too distracting to me to try to do both. I have a Goodreads goal to read 20 books this year, but it's a tough balance for me. Maybe you want to join me in my reading quest?

In the mean time, keep thinking Spring everybody!

October 12 ~ Rites of Fall

I've been quite today, I know. I'm trying to kick a nasty sinus cold that's stolen my voice.  I did finally get the last of my flower bulbs planted. With any luck, my flower beds will look like this next spring.

 

Just add a few weeds and quack grass, and you'll just about have it right. We grow industrial strength weeds in Idaho.

I did manage to finish a rough draft of my steampunk Christmas story.  It's marinating in the back of my hard drive right now. I have until October 28 to get it posted, so I'm letting it sit for a bit before I finalize it.  I'm semi-satisfied with it.  The 1,000 word limit required me to cut quite a bit of dialog and description that I liked, so I wasn't too pleased about that, but oh well.  Like many of my flash stories, it could actually be the premise for a longer story in the future.

My daughter went with a friend's family to the Haunted Mansions of Albion tonight. She was getting all worked up by watching shows on television about the country's worst haunted house attractions. Oh man.  I hope she's up for it. It looks pretty awful. Glad I'm not going!  Take care~

Blog #21 Homeward bound~

As much as I love to travel, I also love going home and it’s time. Dorothy said it best “There’s no place like home.” For me, it’s back to work and the heat of summer. I hope my tomato plants didn’t burn up in the greenhouse. L I guess I’ll know tonight.

I have a pile of manuscripts to critique for a group of people in Boise, due late August. I gotta get crackin’! I don’t have a regular critique group, for a variety of reasons, but I try to take every chance I can to get a critique. 

This last week has been a lot of critiquing for me, by several people. I met with an agent, a writer, or an editor every day of the week, to talk about my writing. Thank you, David Greenberg, for a great conference! I learned some new things and had some old things reinforced. And of course, I was able to meet with agents and editors I would normally never get the chance to meet. I’m always grateful for that opportunity. You are a perfectly delightful, gracious host beyond compare. :)

I’ve had my share of bumps and ego bruising in my years of critique, but they’re usually always pointing me toward something better. I do my best to take the critique in the spirit in which it was intended.  It sucks, but you have to take the experience and learn from it. You’ll know you’re improving when people are having a hard time finding anything negative to say about a piece.  If you keep at, it’ll come; I promise.

Blog #5 Loving Summer~

Egads! It’s been hot. I mean, yes, July is the hottest month of the year in Idaho on average, but this year has been like a furnace.  It’s been over 100 degrees inside my greenhouse for a week.  The tomatoes and squash are loving it. See?

 

 

 I even tried growing okra this year, but it’s still tiny. Maybe it will take off soon?  I should have morning glories any day now. J

Yes it's hot and stuffy and I'm prone to sunburn, but I love summer. I love growing flowers and eating the vegetables I grew from seed. I love the sunsets when the night cools off and lures you back outside. And I love being able to stand under the stars without a jacket on.

 

Hope you’re staying cool and loving summer too~

To Garden is to believe in tomorrow~

This is it, my empire of dirt, my garden. Every year around this time, I start dreaming of growing things- planting spuds, like any good Idahoan, and peas and lettuce and such. So I’m in my garden, assessing the scene of last year’s crime. In 2011, my garden was a disaster. I was away from home, working another job, and nothing was planted at the right time. No soil was tilled, no weeds pulled. As I sweated with my shovel yesterday, digging out crazy-huge weed carcasses, I realized I didn’t have much of a veggie garden last year, but I was growing something else instead. I’ve been growing myself. And the more I dug and thought, the more I realized I’ve grown more in the last year than I have in a long time, stretched myself in ways I didn’t imagine I would. What did I do?

I took a class.

I’ve blogged about this before, but I took a leadership class through work. The value of the class wasn’t the actual training, although it was excellent. The real value was that I met some incredible human beings who were and are on the same journey I’m on. To be able to share that experience with them was truly an honor. And though I’m not physically close to any of them now, we keep in touch and I know they’re thinking about me.

I self-published two books.

I’ve blogged about this too. I wrote a fairy story nobody in publishing wanted and I couldn’t let it lie in a drawer. I never expected it would be a best seller, but I wanted to share it with people, so I did. I overcame a fear to do it and I can’t help but feel proud of it.

I placed among the finalists in a writing contest.

As a result of that placement, I got a request for a full manuscript and threw myself into an unlikely writing project. I took the project to a novel revision retreat and met the indomitable Wildcats, another new tribe I had the privilege to join. The Wildcats are a group of ladies whose zest and enthusiasm for writing outshines my own, and it’s contagious. I let myself be critiqued and learned how to become a better writer for it. At least I hope I have. So I have worked hard at writing this year, giving up almost all TV in fact.

I started social networking in earnest.

I don’t social network to the degree that some do, but at my own pace. On Facebook, I reconnected with people I knew eons ago, who actually remember me and graciously allow me glimpses into their daily lives as if we never skipped a beat. And I connected with new friends too, with Wildcats and leaders and writers.

On Twitter, I’ve made friends truer than I ever would have thought possible. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 people now “follow” me (for some reason I cannot fathom). I can only assume they, too, are compatriots on the same journey I am, to reach out to others, to pay it forward, to share joys and sorrows with, to laugh and cry with. Twitter has been a wonderful reminder for me that there are kind, gentle souls on this planet like me. It’s restored my faith in humanity.

I traveled.

Because of the class I took and the retreat I attended, I was fortunate enough to visit Denver, Phoenix, Washington DC and Ashton, Idaho. I also went to Salt Lake City last fall and Albuquerque this spring. I’m convinced every American should see their capital at least once. For me, traveling meant not only new places and new sights, but new joys and more new friends.

I connected with my dad again.

I’ve talked to my dad more in the last four or five months than I probably have in the last four years. I’m not proud of that, but I’m thankful I have the opportunity to talk to him. Love you Dad.

I don’t tell you all of this to brag, but maybe just to encourage you to stretch, to move, to go somewhere you’ve never been, to friend someone you may never meet and to love life like crazy, to grow your garden.

I’m about to submit that manuscript. Maybe the agent will want to represent me. Maybe not, but that really doesn’t matter. What matters is I grew my garden and I blossomed. I hope you will too.
Peace,
Lisa

The Gardening Blues Part Dos

Holy cats!  If I wasn't sure before, now I know that gardening in Idaho has to be something akin to Sisyphus trying to roll that stone up hill.  This year, we've had frosts into late June, wind like you wouldn't believe, a population explosion of voles, which resemble large mice with chopped off tails, and now a plague of grasshoppers.  I've just about had it!  My bee balm is starting to look like a collection of sticks, my rose bushes like swiss cheese.  I can live with a few bugs here and there, but when the grasshoppers toppled my tallest hollyhock stalk that was just about to bloom by chewing through the base of it, I lost it.  I broke down and bought a can of "spray".  Tonight I went out to the flower bed and, even though the wind was blowing about 15 mph, I unloaded my frustrations on the bee balm, the catmint, the roses and the hollyhocks.  Then I stood around and gloated at the writhing bodies of my foes in their last gasps on my patio.  I suppose the sprinklers will wash off the spray later tonight, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing at least some of them feel my pain.

The Gardening Urge

This is the time of year when my thumbs get an itching to be green, but I have to make them wait because the wind is still blowing 25 miles per hour and the nights are still 38 degrees in Idaho. I can plant spinach, lettuce, peas and potatoes now, but what I really want to plant are squash and tomatoes. And flowers, lots and lots of flowers! Unfortunately, there aren’t really any flowers that can hack 38 degrees besides pansies, which I do have in flower boxes by my porch. What I really want are those giant zinnias and morning glory, sweet peas and nasturtiums. I did get some lovely tomato plants yesterday, but I’m trying to decide if I risk planting them in the ground yet, or if I want to keep them in containers all summer, which is risking that I’ll let the pot dry out. Hmmm…
As you can probably guess, growing a traditional garden in what qualifies as a desert is all about water. I don’t think it’s possible to over water anything in Idaho. These people practically invented “flood irrigation”, which if you don’t know, is the practice of periodically flooding a field to soak it. It was the only way to grow anything here before they got the big, industrial sprinklers. Makes you wonder who in their right mind ever got the idea this would be a good place to farm. We grow more rocks here than anything. Every spring, you can see the poor farm hands “picking rock” out of the fields, some big enough to be called boulders. They put them in piles near the fields. After 50 years, some of the piles are pretty huge.
Luckily, in my little garden spot, most of the big rocks are out. I managed to find a little patch a soil that’s fairly deep, but I’ve decided there’s something not quite right about it. Raspberries, which are supposedly indestructible, won’t grow in my garden more than a year. If they make it through the summer, they don’t come back the following year. Maybe the soil is so alkaline it burns them to a crisp? A friend who lives nearby told me a trick to try, so I’m doing it this year. She said to dig a deep trench, fill it with potting soil, and then plant the new raspberries in the potting soil. I figure it’s one thing I haven’t tried, so I’m sacrificing two more plants this year. They were looking pretty good, but the dang wind gave them a good whipping yesterday. Hopefully, they’ll recover.
My son grew a pumpkin seed in preschool this year. It’s a beautiful little plant, complete with flower buds already. I’m thinking we should plant it in potting soil too, but when do I dare set it outside??? They say to be a gardener is to believe in tomorrow. I think maybe being a gardener in Idaho is some form of insanity!