A Carriage Driving Event (Photos)

Marathon day at the Sargents' CDE in Lodi

An obstacle

Shelly, Debbie, and the fabulous Alejandro
We were rooting form them.

Return trip: Settling in (Lots of photos)

We made it to Cali! There were a couple of days that I wasn't sure that was going to be possible... but we made it, safe and sound, to be greeted warmly by our friends.

I'm so grateful to be here. The apartment we're living in is spacious and quiet (most of the time) and largely unpacked now. We have art on the walls and I have an office! It's in the guest room, of course, but it's my own space from which to work and I like it so far.

Living Room

But I'm most happy to be in Davis because of the people. CA people are my kind of people... and we have some good friends here. Who could ask for more?

Our hammock lives at Leslie's now (down the street from
us). She's loving it.

We had a night of Melon Madness where we tasted as many
heirloom melon varieties as we could find.

There are plenty of great places to walk the pup. He's so
happy!

I took photos for the Brian Sabo clinic that Debbie and Leslie rode in the week after we got back. Here are a few of my shots.

Debbie on Quincy 

Winston's nose

Leslie and Winston

Michelle and Loki warming up for their lesson

Winston

Debbie on Grace. The only picture I caught of her with a
smile on her face.

Next post will hopefully have some pictures of a Carriage Driving Event in it. Right now I'm going to have breakfast and head to an open meditation session at the Davis Meditation Center. Time to clear my mind and get centered.

No Cicadas Here

It's weird to be disappointed about something like dodging the bullet of a cicada swarm outbreak, but Noah and I were really looking forward to the Brood II emergence this year.

Unfortunately, it never happened. In fact, we have yet to hear the whir of a cicada here at all. I think I remember that last year it was around this time in the summer before the cicadas made an appearance.

I'm from the South, so cicadas are a mark of summer, and to have to wait for them so late in an already short season  makes me feel like something is missing.

So instead we'll have to content ourselves with some images I captured over the past few months and haven't yet posted.

Oh, and tell me what you're reading now! I'm reading Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (thanks Margo, luv, for the recommendation of Shadow and Bone).

Buddha head-stand at Storm King Art Center

Noah contemplating Andy Goldsworthy's wall

Not quite spring when I took this

Lichtenstein's Mermaid

A turtle laying eggs in our back yard

Blue heron fishing on our pond

Gratuitous Puppy Post

I know I know... but my awesome dog, Tag, turns 4 today and I just can't believe he's grown up so much! If you can't tell, I love my dog. He's my child. He's amazing, smart, beautiful, and so well behaved.

We hike together, snuggle together, play ball and dance around the kitchen together. Seriously... I can't imagine a better pup for me.

So happy birthday, Tag. You'll get a big fat treat later and a present to shred into bits. I know you'll love it. I love you!

California dreams

I've been in Nor Cal for over a week now and it's wonderful. I miss it here so very much! I miss the sun and the birds and hanging out at the horse barn with my friends... it's enough to make a girl very homesick... which is a funny feeling when my husband and my beloved pets are all the way across the country. Sigh. One day I hope we get to move back here.

Things are just more... random and amazing out here. Like this for example:

I promise, window washing is random and amazing...

The other morning I was doing my NaNo writing at my father-in-law's house in San Francisco and I could hear opera... like... a really good baritone voice singing an Italian opera. I thought perhaps it was one of the neighbors. It's a classy neighborhood, after all. But no... no... it was this window washer!!! Seriously. Incredible.

Watson eating breakfast

I also have had three rides on Watson since I came to visit... and I kept myself together, no panicking or anxiety... just enjoyed the riding and relaxed. It's been a long time since I've done that. It felt nice to be back in the saddle until the next morning, of course. Wow was I sore! I really need to work on strength and flexibility more!! Sheesh!

Mallowmar the chatty kitty

Eva the beautiful

These are the two sweet kitties who sleep with me at night while I'm here and chat with me while I'm powering through my NaNo writing each day. I honestly thought I'd be so far behind on writing due to the trip. But thanks to some pre-planning and Write or Die, I am right on track! I even wrote extra on a couple of days so that I could take a day or two off in the middle. It's incredible and I'm actually excited about this NaNo lark of a novel. Things that I didn't expect have cropped up (like Clones!) and I'm just enjoying making it an outlandish story. 

I think one of my problems with writing is that I try to take myself too seriously. And I'm not really a serious person. Now that I'm just having fun with my novel, it's really become something I enjoy and I look forward to each day. I suppose it will be that way until it isn't one day... but I'm taking advantage of the good energy for now.

Aye me....

Preparing for the on-coming storm

First! Audible books and Neil Gaiman have partnered together to produce a free scary audio book. You should go download it for two reasons. #1) it's Neil Gaiman! He's amazing. #2) For every download of this FREE audio book, Audible will donate $1 to educational charities at Donorschoose.org. This whole event is in honor of All Hallow's Read... a new tradition NG started of giving scary (but not too scary) books to kids for Halloween. (Didn't I say he's amazing?)

Now... It seems to be a new tradition for this area of the country to get pounded by a huge storm on or around Halloween. When you add the frenzy of preparing for NaNo to the frenzy of preparing for an actual (possible) storm... life can feel a little more than hectic.

Last year, a crazy freak snowstorm hit on Halloween.

All the heavy wet snow on the trees last year

Our power was out for a week. I started my NaNo novel that year by hand in notebooks... and then I resolved to complete it that way, but I lost my resolve somewhere close to the end... I was already spending time re-writing/typing the handwritten stuff into the computer to help me visualize my word count... it was too much!

This year it looks like I may have to start out by hand again! I'm going to hope not. Good ol' hurricane Sandy is threatening, though... and it looks like whatever comes our way it's gonna be a whopper! **scrambles around for candles and that hand-crank radio**

I haven't prepared a whole lot in recent days for NaNo. I did some initial prep-work in August, mapping out scenes and briefly sketching characters. I'm afraid if I do too much I'll mess with the magic. Part of the fun for me is the not knowing. But, that said, I need to have a clear idea of where I'm going with it this year. The first half of November and a trip to California are threatening to provide some serious distraction.

How do you psych yourself up for NaNo?

Updates and rainy days

Today I'm cross posted over at CT Chapter - EFA, a blog run by the Connecticut chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association. My recent post on beats in dialogue is the newest post up there, which you've probably all read. I encourage you to check out the blog, though! There are some great posts from some talented people.

In daily life, fall continues to soldier on here in the Northeast. The days are chillier and darker. The cygnets have all gone, but one. I'm not sure what he's waiting for. Soon the great white winter will be upon us.

Do what you love

I spent the day editing today. I can't even tell you how good that feels. It's someone else's manuscript, of course. But oh, the absolute joy to be working on something that I enjoy and for someone who values my input and advice.

Seriously, y'all. If you can find a way to make a living doing what you love, do it! Let me rephrase. Find a way to do what you love for a living. It's worth scraping by for this. I promise.

I'm off to help N figure out what he loves to do now.

Acadia last month

Blue Moon rising

The blue moon peeked through the trees out back on Friday night before unfurling its luminescence, washing the landscape in its milky glow. We had a fire in the pit and spent some time basking in the moonlight. I am often surprised at the turn of the season, at how quickly it comes up... it's time for new things now. Hello September... Hello Fall.

Sea Turtles!

Hawaii is amazing... especially because you can be walking down the beach and see these guys just grazing along... we even swam with a few at a different beach! Incredible.