What's a Mess for One?

I miss my Momma. Oh, not in a bad way, really. No, this past week has just had so many reminders of her as a person…and I miss that person.

First, there was one of those “grief ambushes” that my friend LCM wrote me about. An EMGV friend at a recent training session we were both attending, excused herself to make her daily call to her mom who lives in Virginia. The thought “I wish I could call my Momma,” just popped into my head as she walked off, cell phone in hand. My throat closed up, and I had to dash to the bathroom to keep from making a spectacle of myself.


Cold Weather's A-Comin':
Getting the Garden Ready

And then, I worked in the garden all day on Thursday, getting it ready for the cold weather that was a’comin’. Snipped flowers that would be nipped in the frost.  Took more cuttings of coleus and geraniums (see the Electric Lime coleus in the photo to the left.)  Sheared the ferns.  Covered the tender lettuce and spinach with row covers; put straw on the peas and the strawberry plants (which are covered in flowers and berries, if you can believe that). Then, because I seem to have gotten an extraordinary germination rate on the 7-Top Turnip greens, I picked a bagful (left). A mess for me, so to speak. Only…I think I may have overestimated the amount needed for a pot of greens for one person. When I was standing at the sink, washing and picking through that mound of greens, I started to tear up: I’m the only one in the house that eats greens anymore. (Mr. T wouldn’t touch turnip greens…won’t even be in the house when I cook them…not even in the same state, as he says.) I had once made the comment to Momma about this very subject…and now the day has come to pass.  It's a mess for one.

Most importantly, there was the realization that Momma would have LOVED the 2011 World Series. Loved. It. Although she was a Braves fan through-and-through, she had a sweet spot for the Cardinals… especially since she spent almost 6 years as a “local” fan when we lived in Missouri. She thought the world of Albert Pujols, the first baseman extraordinaire, and she would have been proud of his performance. Ditto “Yaddi” Molina, as she called the catcher. But the fabulous David Freese would have struck a chord with her: hometown hero and MVP of the series. And that extra-inning Game 6 that lasted until way past midnight here? She would have been wide awake at the end of it, whooping with the rest of us. She might have slept through the middle, but she would have been there at the end. Woo hoo!

Now, It's a Greenhouse!
The screen porch is transformed...

Sigh. Life moves on.

In addition to getting the garden ready for cold weather, we got the “grow-light” shelf set up in the plasticized screen porch and brought in the herbs. Then we arranged…and rearranged…the plants we plan to overwinter on the floor of the porch, and we set up lights on timers to provide both light and warmth (see the photo to right). Somehow or other, we were able to pack ‘em all in!

I tried something new this year:  I put my geranium cuttings (dipped in rooting hormone; rooted into potting medium in small plastic plant containers) in the big pots, arranged around the trunk of the large plants (the corn plant, the lemon tree, etc.).  Hopefully this will keep everyone happy and moist, without wasting water (or having it puddle on the floor of the porch).  We'll see how it goes.

Treats for the Houndz:
Mr. T hands out carrots to
Elmo (l.), Gus (c), and Duche$$ (r)

It’s the end of October, and time for the treats…hopefully no tricks. Mr. T is getting practice handing out some carrot treats to the houndz in that photo (left). He seems to have their undivided attention!  He's home this week, so I won't be trying to keep the houndz at bay while trying to hand the treats to the kiddos through the storm door...always a trick for me to accomplish.

I had so many flowers that I snipped before the frost nipped the buds that I fixed a vase for the dining room (photo below)…and one to take to Momma’s our family’s BFF AW. She treated us back that very evening with a chicken pie from Deep River Friends Meeting’s Chicken Pie sale. Yummy!  With a salad from some garden lettuce, it made a perfect supper.

New Dining Room chairs...
and the last flowers of the year

 Speaking of the dining room, I took this picture (right) of the new chairs that we found on a recent trip to TJ Maxx’s. We have had this DR suite for 33 years (!), and I still love the warm pecan finish on the table along with the bow-front glass on the doors of the matching hutch. The table has two leaves and can expand to one HUGE piece of furniture.  Amazingly, it has survived 11 (or more) moves...and it still looks pretty good.  And, since it was made by Stanley, it has “come home,” so to speak…since the Stanley Furniture factory used to be in Lexington, NC (no more, sad to say). But, the ladderback chairs have been re-covered for their last time, I think. So I was thrilled when I spotted these upholstered Parsons chairs in a nutmeg color. Mr. T loaded them up into his Outlander (which he is trading in today...time for a new co. car!) and brought them home on Saturday.  We tested them out last night, when we dined on our chicken pie…and both said they are perfect! (As soon as those flowers are gone, I’ll get out the Thanksgiving decorations…:)

Here I go again...
Goal:  50k words in 30 days!

So, here comes November! And, what happens in November, dear readers? Well, it’s time for NaNoWriMo, of course. The National Novel Writing Month, when challengers attempt to write a 50K-word novel in 30 days, beginning at 12:01 tomorrow morning. Once again…I’m signing up for the challenge. And, once again, I have such high hopes as the month begins.  Will our heroine be able to vanquish the foe or will her life intervene with her best laid plans?

I can already see it happening, and I haven’t even written a word yet! I have three Speakers Bureau gigs over the next 8 days, so I’ve got to be extra vigilant with my time. If you do the math, you’ll see that you must write an average of 1,667 words EACH day in order to reach your goal. I wrote a 500-word (which I then had to edit down to 300...:) article for the North Carolina Master Gardener Volunteer Association state newsletter on Wednesday of last week, and that took me most of the day! I’ll have to be diligent at following the advice of veteran NaNoWriMo’s: DO NOT EDIT, just write!

Easier said than done.

It's a New Month

November 1st.  Really?  Can it be November already??

Before I go too far with this whole "where has the year gone?" theme, let me post a couple of photos I took as October wound down to a close.



Ghosts and Houndz on Halloween

 This one (left) is of our front door, with the 30+ year-old ghosts adorning the porch lights and the dogs behind the glass (see Gus and Duchess down at the bottom, looking out, with Elmo sneaking up behind them?).  Behind the glass, guys.  Stay!  Yea, like that was going to work with all those kids-in-costume coming up the steps...obviously here just to pet the houndz, right?  I had both door and dog duty on Sunday night...something I didn't think I'd be able to handle by myself.  But, I employed a system that worked surprisingly well.

I kept the fence up at the top of the steps.  Fence, you say?  If you've been to our house, you know we have about 6 or 7 steps leading up from the front walk to the front door.  At the top of the steps is a wide front porch that is about 8 x 25 feet.  Mr. T...inventive man that he be...came up with the idea to create a removable "fence" at the top of the steps, re-purposing (love that word...:) one of the "old" wire closet racks (remember...from the Master Disaster in our closet when we'd first moved into the house?), turned on its side and fitted into a rack-anchor attached to the bottom of the hand-rails on either side of the steps.  Clever, isn't it?!  Fence up:  dogs can go out the front door and see what's happening in their front yard, but can't get off the front porch...safe and sound.  Fence down:  people can come and go without ever knowing it was there...unless you notice the anchors and wonder what they are for.

So, with the fence up, I left the wooden front door open, with just the glass storm door shut.  That way, I could see the little ghosts and goblins as they approached the front steps, even from where I was sitting in the great room.  Then, before anyone could get past the fence and ring the doorbell (which just sets the dogs to barking without stop), I could go out the door, saying:  "Don't worry about the dogs; they just want to greet all of our guests."  The dogs were contained, but happy to be able to interact with everyone that came to see them.  And, almost all of our Trick or Treaters got excited to see the puppies.  One or two exceptions to every rule, of course.



Christmas UFO Being Blocked on Halloween

 Anyway, while I was working my system and waiting for the next visitor to come trooping up the steps, I was putting the finishing touches on one of my UFO's...that red vest I'm making for someone's Christmas gift (right).  It wasn't detailed work...or anything that required me to concentrate on a pattern or a complicated stitch...I'd done all that already.  Mainly stuff I could work on, put down quickly when someone came up the steps, and then pick up and return to where I left off.  Just K1, P1 ribbing; then some binding-off and weaving in of ends; and then finally a little steam-blocking.  Technically, it's still in the UnFinished Object column, since I haven't sewn on the buttons...haven't even purchased them yet.

I was flying solo this weekend because Mr. T had gone to Louisville last week to work for his company in a trade show.  Of course, since that's where Missy M happens to live, he was happy when they asked to work there.  Sure, no problem.  And, since he had already made the trip there, he might as well do a little DIY while in town, right?  Oh yeah...the Daddy Do list was both long and color-coded.  Am happy to report they got a lot of stuff checked off that list.

It was touch-and-go whether he would actually get to go.  On the eve of his departure (as well as my own planned business trip to Atlanta), my back locked up with one of the worst spasms I've had since my car wreck in late '05.  L-o-n-g story short, he went and I survived.  Better now, thank you.

So, back to that "It's November!"  I tried to get a lot of stuff out of the way (like catching up on emails, paying bills, etc.) today so that I could get started with the National Novel Writing Month:  NaNoWriMo.  Good news:  I did get started.  Better news:  I was able to write 2,336 words before the clock ticked over to a new day (which it has while I'm writing this post)!  Yee ha!!  Since the math says that to reach a goal of 50,000 words in 30 days (i.e., To Win), you must write 1,667 words a day, I'm thrilled at my count for the first day.  Plus, I got the file/document all set up in Word without saying too many of those words that I probably would be shame-faced to include in my novel!

I'll just say it here and now:  I'll probably neglect my blog over the coming days and weeks, because...although I treasure my time to write, I do occasionally require a bit of sleep.

Like now.  It's time to go recharge the batteries.  Too tired to spell-check or edit...hope this post makes some sense.  [Yawn.]

Let the Writing Begin!

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

Thursday marked the beginning of November, as well as the first day of the National Novel Writing Month: NaNoWriMo. What is NaNoWriMo? Well, here is the scoop straight from their website:

• National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
  
• Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
  
• Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
  
• In 2006, we had over 79,000 participants. Nearly 13,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

And, it's official...I'm participating this year. If you do the math, I have 30 days to write a 50K-word novel; that comes out to...let's see, 30 gozinta 50000...yikes! That's 1666.6666 words each and every day of the month of November. Or, look at it another way: 30 days to write a 175-page novel is "only" 5.83 pages each day. Since I have my Word document set to double-space, I guess I have to think 11.667 pages a day, huh?

So, how am I doing so far? Well, as of this evening (end of Day 2), my Word Count is (drum roll, please!): 3,054. That puts me within 279.33 words of goal! Whew.

And, you know what? I'm having fun with this! I've said for years that I wanted to write either a novel or a mystery or a biography...or possibly historical fiction. And, I'm one of those who can get bogged down in the "endless tweaking and editing" and forget to "just create." I need to be forced "to build without tearing down." So, here is a perfect opportunity for me to Just. Do. It.

Stay tuned...