Monday Musings

Do you live in the city or country? Your location may also define your water source. If you’re a city dweller, you likely have city water, but if you live more remotely, you may depend on a well for water. And a well pump requires electricity to function.  Last week a bad weather front raced across the country with severe storms and tornados. At one point, our home was in the middle of three tornado warning vortexes. We are fortunate that we only saw high winds and did not lose power, but the lightning dancing around the mountains caused a power surge that shut down our well pump. The good news is that I could reset the charge controller; the bad news is that the controller has required frequent resets over the weekend with only short periods of water availability. The well company cannot service our well until Wednesday, at the earliest. In the interim, we have resorted to water conservation and water storage capabilities. You may not realize how much water you use when it flows f...

Just as the leaves emerge from dormant branches, so too, does my writing resume. After a brief hiatus of reading and online doom-scrolling, my book characters are adamantly complaining about being ignored. My brain is filled with intrigue and adventures. Heroines, heroes, and villains talk incessantly: you have to change my name, this plot line is boring, oops-the timeline’s wrong, and oh no-I guess you’ve got to kill me. The first draft is back from the beta readers and has laid fallow over winter. It’s time to break out the red ink, the copy/paste/delete/move functions, and complete the second draft. And as a gardener, I see an analogy to transplanting healthy seedlings into fertile soil, looking forward to strong growth. Wish me luck as I dig deep to improve my post-apocalyptic novel. You can follow the Author at her  Website  or on  Twitter .

Do you feel drowsy today? You’re sleep-deprived and tired because you “lost” an hour of sleep early Sunday, as we “sprung ahead” into Daylight Saving Time. William Anthony, Ph.D., a Boston University professor, and his wife Camille, created this pseudo “napping holiday” in 1999 to emphasize the importance of adequate sleep. Some cultures regularly take a restorative nap midday, for example, the Spanish and their siesta . Long ago, the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Arabia also partook in a napping habit. How long is the optimal nap? In our hectic modern lives, we rarely enjoy the luxury of a nap. Treat yourself today! Although I am giving advice not personally taken, as I spent the day tidying the gardens for spring planting.  PS. I must have been napping last Monday because I didn’t realize until Tuesday AM that I neglected to write my weekly blog. But here I am again, back in the writing saddle. LOL. You can follow the Author at her  Website  or on  Twitter .

This year, the first day of Spring is on Sunday, March 20th, just three weeks away. I’ve been getting garden fever: perusing seed catalogs and requisitioning supplies. FedEx and UPS have already made several trips up our long switchback mountain road with boxes of seed starting pots, seedling trays, and propagation domes [from  Johnny’s Selected Seeds ]. Last night I ordered a 2'x12' raised bed with an irrigation grid [from  Garden in Minutes ]. I’m adding another garden space, this one in an area with solely morning sun, for lettuce and spinach. Our southern sun has burnt out my greens in prior years. Tomorrow, I’ll make a pilgrimage to  Tractor Supply  for seed starting potting mix, and the components of my raised bed fill, compost, peat moss and vermiculite (recipe = 1/3 each): the first of several loads for my Jeep. Soon the dirt therapy will begin. Are you making your garden preparations? You can follow the Author at her  Website  or on  Twitter ....

A few hours ago, we euthanized our twelve-year-old calico cat, Psyche. Cause of death: end-stage renal failure, severe anemia, and 22% weight loss. Our sweet girl had a gradual decline over the past several months, but the last few days were drastic. Her once thick, gorgeous fur coat became a tangled mess of mats as she no longer groomed herself. Also missing was her full-throated motorboat purr, replaced by a weak cry. She had little interest in her morning wet food treat and completely declined her dry kibble. Our veterinarian was empathetic and wholeheartedly agreed with our decision. She dispatched our girl over the rainbow bridge with two quick injections. Psyche will join our 19-year-old black cat, Betty Anne, who died on Halloween, our Shi Tzu, Haiku, who passed from lymphoma, and Phoenix, our first Labradoodle, a victim of a thoughtless hit and run. I envision them happily running and playing. I reminisced about the tiny wild kitten, who on Christmas Day, jumped onto an end tab...

Pope Gelasius I, celebrated the first Valentine’s Day in 496 AD in honor of early martyrs named Valentine: there were several, each with their own mythology. Valentine’s Day replaced the Pagan festival of Lupercalia, a spring celebration, on February 15th, that paid homage to Faunus, the Roman God of Agriculture. A dog, the symbol for purity, and a goat, representing fertility, were sacrificed. The goat’s hide was torn into strips, dipped into their blood, and spattered across crops and women. Later, in the 1400’s, romance was associated with the day. Poems and handwritten letters declaring love became popular. Commercially produced cards appeared in the 1800’s, and gifts of candy and flowers became traditional, especially red roses. In today’s world, Valentine’s Day is inclusive not only of couples, but also family and friends. Much of this is spurred by companies pushing services and products for profit. If you currently don’t have a personal “Valentine”, whether by circumstance or c...

I neglected to write my blog last week. Did you miss me? A few readers reached out to inquire regarding my well-being. Thank you my friends, but never fear, I am among the living, simply a bit burnt out. 2021 was a productive year. I completed the first draft of my novel, crafted a chapter for an anthology, and wrote hundreds of poems-over 60 were published. Whew! As such, I’m taking a brief sabbatical from writing. I’m reading voraciously to refill my word bucket. And since I never do anything halfway, I’ve finished 20 books in the past six weeks. What do you do to recharge your life? You can follow the Author at her  Website  or on  Twitter . [And my brain is so fried, I neglected to mention that I also published my second poetry book, Family Treason s , in 2021.]