Storyteller, writer, poet, photographer/photoartist, retired person. Free-lance photoartist, 2004-2015; freelance editor, academic style editor, technical writer/editor, and consultant, 1984-2014; computer programmer, operator, team lead, regional payroll coordinator, &c., previous.
B.A. in Philosophy and English with minor concentrations in mathematics and chemistry. Published poet/writer since 1967. Former VP, Interim Secretary, Website Coder, and Halloween Poetry Reading Page editor/curator, Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA); Lifetime Member. Rhysling Award Nominee, 2010. Registered Agent (former, N.D.), 2009-2020, Center on Conscience and War, Washington, DC.
If we were having coffee together, I would show you pictures of my changing flowerbeds and their inhabitants. Many of the normal insects from the back yard are scarce and scattered. But more are emerging as the season progresses. After the heat, rainstorms, and winds have modified, the days have been cooler with low temps at night, often in the 50s (F) and accompanied overnight by rain. Not much ragweed, yet.
Welcome! As the summer wanes and the allergy index climbs towards the upper echelons of discomfort, Toddy coffee and filtered water are the beverages of the day and evening. Gluten-free crackers, cheese, and mixed nuts are what’s left of the snacky things.
Welcome to my blog! If we were enjoying a morning cup of coffee together, this morning . . . I would not be writing with one finger. Our younger dog, Thadd, has fallen asleep on my left arm. And he snores, for which I ask your forgiveness.
At this moment the sunrise begins. In another hour or so, I can make kitchen noises and switch from water to hot Toddy coffee.
The pollen count is moderate, and so I hope to take some photos, this weekend, between rain showers. This afternoon, computer willing, I will attend Liz Danforth’s Zoom gathering. I have not yet found a computer to meet all my needs. I may need to majorly adjust the budget to accommodate.
This was/continues to be an unstructured week. I think I may read and sleep more, and continue sorting and tossing kitchen stuff we have not used over the past decade or more. There comes a time …
Hugs and best wishes, Lizl
Thank you to Natalie for hosting our Weekend Coffee Share!
Be welcome! Coffee or tea, hot or cold, gluten-free crackers and Jarlsberg cheese for an afternoon snack. The hard-boiled eggs are still hot.
Our weather has been changeable but pretty much typical at this time in the year. Al mowed the lawn before the rain began. It looks like the shade grass seed did take, and when we anticipate a rainy stretch, we can seed the bits that got missed.
I still am undecided on what features I need in my next laptop computer. Lenovo has so very many choices, but I have so many disparate activities and needs. I can get by for a time, as long as this (the Zoom capable) laptop can function as such. I have backed up all that is needful onto external hard drives.
The week provided cool nights for the most part, and I am looking forward to the rain that is supposed to show up over the weekend. I have been lolling around, poking at books that I am rereading for the fun of it. The mornings are cool enough (when I get up early enough) that I am trying to reestablish my practice of years past: using the exercise bike in the gazebo more consistently. The smoke from wildfires hasn’t spent much time in this part of North Dakota.
I have been watering the sweet clover, wood sorrel, and tender grasses that surround the gazebo (in the gravel around the building for drainage). The more diverse offerings are immediately available to the resident rabbit. Today, the rabbit sat at the entrance to her favorite hideaway and watched the Scampers trying to find her by scent near the gate. It’s fun to watch them.
I had fun with the Ronovan Writes Poetry prompts for Monday (haiku) and Wednesday, (sijo) this week. I can tell that I have been relaxing more, because I am sleeping through the night, again, and because the poems come so easily when I can let them just appear in response even to random thoughts or observations.
I had not thought about it for quite a while, now, but I really do love the normal, everyday sounds around me. But mostly the silence. No radios…my husband has headset for his television and his music collection is set up in the workshop.
Sometime before the end of August, I hope to spend some quality time with a former fellow employee, starting the summer of 1969. We were both “techies”. She got a promotion at some point, I don’t remember when, that involved relocating to the Twin Cities area. We’ve maintained very loose contact, but it’s always so wonderful when she drives back here, where she still had family. She’s pursuing some information concerning her family tree. And more background, I imagine.
Finding that I am getting lost in thought, again. There have been people who have affected my life in so very many ways. Sometimes, one realizes the extent of those encounters and it’s too late to say “Thank you!” to them. Too many to count.
Well…I am going to take a cup of coffee to the other room and lie down for a nap. Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you did. Let’s get together again!
Welcome! Early, yet, but I can warm up some black tea from last night. Or, would you like some hot Toddy coffee? This last batch is a bit more robust, but I can add a bit more water to the mix. This week seems cluttered and endless. I have gotten started on a lot of need now unfinished projects, but they are running into one another, which does not help.
My major concern right now is that my other laptop also has had a critical structural failure. At the moment, it still works (mostly), but the plastic housing comes loose when moved. I need to get some external hard drives to back up the data. Which I think I can cover with my next allowance. This is the second one in four months. That one fried the socket for the recharging cord; I was able to back up all the data before it ran out of juice. That laptop also was made with hard plastic. My old Lenovo desktop computer is more than 10 years old, which poses compatibility problems. I am currently using a Lenovo tablet with a detachable keyboard. Which works for the time being. I have had good experiences with Lenovo products over the decades. Will see what I can afford.
Otherwise, things are moving along. I have been enjoying the presence of the gatherings of crows along our street. They have so much fun mock fighting and playing catch and rolling on their backs in the grass in our front yard.
We are getting enough rain to keep the grass from drying out totally. Our temperatures have been in the 60s at night and mostly in the 80s during the day. I have seen a few more pollinators, but not enough. I am letting the asylums go wild for lack of other flowers that did not make it through the late spring frost and freezes.
I am running out of time, and so must cut this short. Best wishes for you during the week to come!
Welcome to the (filtered, cooled) kitchen. We have hot brew and cold brew coffee; also loose-leaf English breakfast tea and the sample teabag packets that Stash Tea sends out for free with each order. I drink English Breakfast Tea, which leaves a broad range of choices for my visitors.
Summer has come, with dry ground and higher temperatures, and I, who dislike the hot weather, find myself befuddled when it comes to conversing coherently. Hence the photography and photo art off and on until the first frost of autumn.
"Guessing Games"
without words . . .
Schrodinger's cat has my tongue
or does she?
I wonder if Schrodinger also had dogs, but was too timid to suggest any other-dimensional allusions to them.
Summer Morning
Summer Hollyhocks
Cascading Blooms
Wild Flax and Alyssum
Walking Stick.and White Campion
Sunbeams
My weekend is to be busy, here, with Zoom meetings (social meet-up and meeting for worship), and sibling and spouse visiting (on short notice) and possibly a short outing with them. I have 183 more photograph files from this week to go through, deleting the pictures I will not be using.
Making some headway with the breathing and allergy problems, including wearing a face mask whenever I am breathing the outside air, and taking a shower and changing clothes a couple times a day. Relaxed enough to take naps and enjoy leisure reading. (Still not back to Fukuyama! ::sigh:: ) Avoiding the news as though it were all old news. I am back to L.E. Modesitt, Jr. and his most recent book. Rereading it again in anticipation of book 2 of the series, which I think comes out in November of this year. I seem to remember his saying that book 3 in the series is also written and ready for publication early next year.
I have been writing little poems during the week. They just seem to pop up when I am working with my photo art. That is lots of fun. I did not have any problem coming up with poetry challenge prompts, this week. Quite pleased with what turned out; my RonovanWrites poems are, as usual, on my QuiltedPoetry WordPress blog.
Despite the frequent forecasts of rain showers, the grass has not retained moisture, but is turning brown wherever there is not shade from the sun during most of the day. Saturday is to be HOT, followed by promises for thunderstorms from Saturday night through Monday night. The thistles are doing well, and I hope to keep them growing to the flowering stage, when the flowers are fresh and delightful. Trick is to get rid of them, again, before they go to seed. I am already pulling up the smaller thistles around the gazebo. The gravel is deep, and I can easily pull them out, tap roots and all.
I had been worried about the absence of the spiders who spin the large webs in the grass along the bottom of the workshop’s base. Today, I at last discovered one spider in its customary spot, setting up a web. They are the ones, I think, that maintain large networks of sticky webs that catch all sorts of insects, but also dew on misty mornings and raindrops from nighttime rain. I love the dewy mesh and the shiny, metallic-looking drops as they catch the light.
Thank you for stopping by! Feels good to just sit down and chat about what’s been going through my mind, lately. Writing/talking/listening is the most relaxing part of my days and nights. Where do we live, after all, but in our minds, which convey to us realities as well as dreams?
Best wishes for the weekend and the coming weeks and years!
Welcome! This week has been alternately sleep filled and hurried. My Zoom meetings for this week were Fifth Day’s Meeting for Worship for Healing; a long, lovely gathering with Liz Danforth et al. after her return from a gaming convention in Poland and catching up with old friends and new; and today’s First Day Meeting for Worship and social time afterwards. The tea is hot, and the Toddy coffee is ready. We have stocked up on fresh-frozen fruit and plain Greek yogurt, as well as very dark chocolate.
The week has been mild, mostly. As of this (Friday) afternoon, the winds are to pick up speed (smaller branches are already falling from their trees), and there is a chance of rain to accompany the winds.
winds arise
broken branches fall
on parched grass
I woke up before the alarm clock, this morning, and was able to capture a few photos in the side garden before the breezes became wind gusts. Hoverflies were everywhere among the blue wild flax flowers. Some of the plants have no flowers, now, but seed pods hanging from their long limbs. I had left three of the six gazebo windows open overnight, not thinking wind or rain, but the sounds of stronger winds brought to mind that the windows needed closing, there being quilt and chairs and sundries that should not be in the rain. The air has been so dry, since the last spring showers, that the grass is drying out and the dirt has hardened in places into sharp lumps. I must remember to wear shoes when I go out in the hard. The coming week is expected to be cooler, with much less rain.
I am continuing to relax and confine myself to less than “must do” activities. I have written poems at my leisure, and gotten semi-caught up on kitchen tasks, holding them to be healthy exercise. My breathing problems at bedtime seem to stem from squatting and bending to give the Scamper pups their bedtime snacks. Changing my posture, holding my carriage straight instead of in a pretzel shape, I had no breathing problems at evening or during the night. Must remember that not all breathing problems are allergy related!
I am still reading Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books I’ve moved on to Take a Thief, which comes before (amid?) the Arrows of the Queen trilogy. Nice to go back and reread old favorites. A new book caught my eye (contemporary romance) that actually looked interesting. I have tucked it away for when I am full of Lackey magic again.
With Liz Danforth in Europe for some days and Poetry Heals online workshop on hiatus until September, my face-to-face interactions with people are limited. I did return the book sent to me in error from Barnes and Noble, but to the local bookstore, rather than trying to find shipping materials. Next week, I get to meet with my primary care provider at the clinic; I skipped the January appointment because I felt uneasy about going out. Also, I think I put it off because I was still bruised from my tumble down the basement stairs at the end of September, and I just didn’t want to be fussed at. Would have been a half-hour appointment wasted.
because I can still dream old dreams as well as new
I feel like I too am on hiatus. And it feels good. Writing what and when I care to. Not searching for things to photograph, but only when I spot something out of the ordinary. Spending much more time on both nonfiction and fiction reading. And of course I wonder occasionally why I maintain an account with Hulu (ad free) when I seldom watch anything, and never get through an episode of anything without losing interest or finding the beginnings of a poem/prose poem I want to jot down before I lose it.
Take the word “jot” lightly. I discovered that my hands have forgotten how to write. I still haven’t dug up a proper pen or paper, except for writing checks for monthly payments. Then, I print, which I was not wont to do when I was writing on paper regularly. I notice that doesn’t bother me enough, yet, to do anything about it.
I should get tucked in and make sure all is in order, having just gotten a “Severe Thunderstorm” warning for our area. Assuming we don’t lose electricity, as has been frequent, but spotty, our metropolitan area, I will enjoy visiting Weekend Coffee Share blog posts.
Best wishes for your weekend and the weeks to come! Lizl
P.S. Natalie the Explorer is the host for Weekend Coffee Share, and her post for this week can be found here: Toronto Music Garden in Spring along with the links to other participants’ blog posts. Close to the top of my reading list for the weekend!
Stray Coffee Breaks 