New Camera Fun~

I recently took the plunge and bought a "fancy" camera: a Canon EOS 80D. Not the most expensive out there, but probably the best I've ever owned. I spent all summer learning how to use my Canon Powershot and now I have to learn this one. It's is a whole different animal!

I'm not sure when or how I decided I'd like to see Mount Borah. I just thought it would be neat to photograph after the snow storm that was forecast on Saturday. I didn't realize how many other gorgeous mountains there are along the way! Borah is the tallest mountain in Idaho, located between the towns of Challis and Mackay, Idaho, and only about a 2 hour drive from my house. So I got up early and boy, was it worth it.

I made the panorama above from two or three photos, taken just east of Mackay Reservoir. I think this one is Mt. Brietenbach – fifth highest in Idaho at 12,140 ft. – fourth highest in the Lost River Range according to Wikipedia. I just know it's astounding. 

But I should back up a moment. Here's the first peak I photographed: Mt. McCaleb. I thought at first it must be White Knob, but I was mistaken. Look at the tiny little ranch at the base. This peak is a monster and it sits just east of Mackay, Idaho.

A little further up the highway, you come to Mt. Brietenbach and Leatherman Peak. Leatherman is second highest in Idaho at 12,228ft. It was the only mountain here with a roadside sign, as far as I can tell.

After Leatherman comes Borah, the granddaddy of them all at 12,662 ft. It's not the most stunning shaped peak, but it's massive.

I'll have to go back another day to get pictures of the very top. It was socked in most of the day. Along the base of Borah is the Chilly Slough wetland, managed by the Nature Conservancy. I definitely want to spend some time birding there when the temperatures are warmer.

This old cabin was right along the highway, but I'm sure there are many more tucked away around the valley. I'm already scheming to go back next summer and spend more time exploring this part of Idaho. Maybe I'll hit Stanley and Challis and then swing back through Trail Creek toward Sun Valley. I especially want to get some sunrise and sunset pics, which is hard to do in only a day trip. Anybody want to join me?

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....

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~

Letting Go

It’s been quiet on the blog here, mainly because I needed a break, but also because my family has moved to a new house. There’s been no time for blogging.  It’s a lovely home and will be good for us, but the whole process of moving has been very stressful for me. I guess when you’ve been in a place for sixteen years, you tend to put down roots that resist coming up easy. You also accumulate a lot of dust.  You save stuff you think you might use one day, only to realize five years have passed and you’ve never even looked at it. You never really needed it and it’s time to let it go. Some things are easy to give up. Letting go is much harder when it comes to artwork your child made when they were two and just discovering paint. (Don’t worry; I didn’t put it all in the trash.)

 

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a clutter bug, but it’s nothing compared to the rest of my family, all of whom have serious pack rat issues. I think we’re getting there though. Just so long as they look the other way while I’m tossing out their old school papers and expired Easter candy.

 

On a positive note, I think this cleansing process is probably long overdue. Sitting too long in our own comfy marinade probably doesn’t push us to do new things enough, to shake off the old, and get on with the new. At the very least, I’ve learned that moving the furniture around now and then is probably a good idea. You never know what might fall under there!

 

As good as all this change is, I find myself eager to get back to old routines, like reading and writing. I’m making slow progress on editing a rough draft for submission this year and I’ve just started reading “The Asylum” with the Gothic Book Club on Goodreads. It’s a good stretch for me. I’ve even been thinking maybe I could write a gothic-style novel some day. Hmm J

 

How about you? Is there any aspect of your life that needs decluttered? Maybe it’s time for a good spring cleaning!

 

 

TGIF October 18 ~

Whew!  I have been all over the internet this week!  There's been so much going on, I haven't had enough blog time to tell you about all of it.

If you missed it, I was over at Debbie's website for Teen Read Week. There's a giveaway drawing for a free e-copy of each of my books, so you might want to enter, but you better hurry. I think the rafflecopter ends today.

I was also over at Mindy's web page doing another author interview.  If you aren't already sick of hearing about me or my book (I know, right?) you might want to check that out.

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day for me. It's my first real book signing in Twin Falls, Idaho, at the Barnes and Noble.  Never really done one before, so I'll let you know how it goes. I'm signing copies of Hush Puppy, but secretly I'll be promoting the Storyteller series too. The third book is nearly edited and ready for formatting. I'll let you know when it's published, hopefully by Thanksgiving. (I'm handing out bookmarks with my URL.)

Also on Saturday is the start of the 13 Stories til Halloween event. Me and a dozen other writers wrote spooky stories to celebrate All Hallow's Eve. Starting Saturday, they'll publish one each day until Halloween.  Don't worry. I'll post you a link so you can check it out.

On Sunday, I think I'll sleep all day. Take care peeps~

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~

October 5~ Goodbye Summer

 
 
 
 

My son and I took a little trip to a local pumpkin patch today. It was a crisp fall day. As much as I hate to admit it, it's time to say goodbye to summer. I'll miss my morning glories. They're pretty much gone now, but I have my pictures.




At the pumpkin patch, we loaded up on pumpkins and squash, big and little. And I found some yummy jam there made with strawberries and honey.  I'm a sucker for anything that says "honey" on it.




Of course, Ryan had to slide down the straw slide face first and shoot the corn cannon multiple times. The cannon was pretty impressive, a real launcher.



I couldn't convince Ryan it was actually chilly out and he shouldn't wear shorts.  To compensate, or maybe just to make me feel better, he wore three shirts and a vest. Moms are stupid, duh.  I guess he's not ready to say goodbye to summer either.





I hope you are enjoying fall~

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.

Elias

“Drink up!” he said. “Salude!” My temple was aching slightly from the two glasses of tangy, red Spanish wine I had drank prior to this one. I took one small swallow, but not all of it.
     “Salude! Finish it,” Elias encouraged me. Not wanting to disappoint him, I swigged the last of it finally. Elias smiled as he took my glass.
“You just became Basque!”
     That’s how I’ll always remember Elias Corbitarte. I only met him a few times, but he treated me like a long lost friend. Maybe it was because he was Basque or maybe it was because he was a special person; I think it was both. I regret that I didn’t get to know him better. I am thankful I had the opportunity to meet him. Our brief friendship reminds me to appreciate each person I know. So often, we take each other for granted. I guess we have to operate that way. If we truly tried to live each day as if it were our last, we’d drive ourselves and everyone around us nuts. Perhaps the lesson is to live your best life, every day you can. I’m pretty sure Elias did that.

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!

No child left indoors

Today, I went on a hike with about fifty second graders in Little City of Rocks and I remembered, just for a moment, what it’s like to see through the eyes of a child. When you’re seven, everything is new and interesting to you – a mouse burrow, an animal track in soft mud, the sparkly grains of quartz in a rock. Boulders look like bears and giant turtles and camels, even faces. The world is a magical place. How could I forget?

howdy from the high desert

So I've got this great theme here that looks absolutely nothing like central Idaho where I'm sitting.  Spring is very, very slow to open us and show us the love this year.  Maybe when I get the hang of this thing, I'll figure a way to get Idaho pictures on here.  For now, just know I'm an aspiring children's writer, plodding away at my craft in the FREEZING high desert.  Send blankets!!!