Tag Archives: Celebrate

Celebrate May 30, 2014



It is time to celebrate again (wonderful how celebrations come on each others’ heels, isn’t it!).  This lovely Blog Hop is the idea of Vikki at VikLit.  The hop is still open if you want to join, and there are lovely people involved in posting, remembering, celebrating and being just generally awesome – rather like yourself, don’t you think?

The information on the hop is below.  Why don’t you join?  Or, at least, visit the various posts and smile.

Today I am celebrating the fact that the weekend is coming, thatI may actually get some writing done, and I can sleep in tomorrow.

I am at that frustrating and yet delicious stage in a manuscript where I am, as I say, ‘filling in holes’ and also polishing.

The story is set, the plot twists, which seem to come of their own accord, are in place, and I can start pruning my notes to myself, which I have in situ to remind me where things are going and items I need to remember, such as the fact that the character in the scene met the deceased during a riot where she found him injured and nursed him back to health.

Now I’m adjusting the flow, muttering to myself, and wondering if my editor will mind if I send him a ‘rough-finished draft’ and deciding that since I’m paying him (and her and her), they shouldn’t.

My story is set in Paris, and remembering the time I spent there is something to celebrate.  I went during a time of uncertainty, where my job was going away and I didn’t have another lined up.  But it was research for this story that I am finishing (part of a trilogy) and I decided that I was, for once, going to go with my heart.

Peach Rose

It was a wonderful trip. I went alone, took scads of photos, walked all over the place, had an encounter with Michael the Archangel (hint: he’s the patron saint of Police officers – I’ll post about the experience this weekend), and among other things encountered two beautiful roses in the flower market near Notre Dame.

I went there most mornings, and brought back flowers for my hotel room.  These were the loveliest:

A New Rose (for me)

I had never seen a peach rose.  The edges of the petals were lacy, and there was such a sweet, rich scent, too.  It perfumed my hotel room for days.

I had never seen a rose like this one.  Deep, velvety red on the inner part of each petal, almost pure white outside.  And unlike most roses of this shape, it, too, had a wonderful scent.  I did not see another like it for years.

We’ll always have Notre Dame…

Going there by myself, doing my research, staring in awe at the inside of La Sainte Chappelle, strolling through les Jardins des Tuileries, biting off a swear word as the hotel’s toaster hurled my toast through the air and onto the floor – all were the foundations of a wonderful trove of memories that I can savor as I write about Paris in my WIP that will (God willing!) come out in December.

It’s all worth celebrating.

So what are you celebrating?  (I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s this evening…)

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Celebrating a Revelation…


Friday is celebration day thanks to VikLit’s delicious blog.  Every Friday we sit back and notice something that has happened that is worth celebrating.  A nice cup of tea?  A vacation?  an accomplishment at home or work?  Anything that makes you smile and count your blessings.

Today I am celebrating the fruits of yesterday’s revelation.  I had been feeling under a great deal of pressure for a number of reasons – my father’s impending funeral in December, a book I’m finishing up, another book I’m getting closer to finishing, the fact that I really need to organize my house…

It all came to a head (almost literally) yesterday when I stood, left my desk at work, strode out the door and took a twenty-minute walk through the parking lot.  People walk there a lot.  It is beautiful, as I had noticed driving in there, but I had never done it.  However, I needed to blow off some steam, it was ten minutes to eleven in the morning, and I needed to get out.

Crisp breezes were rattling the dry leaves on the trees.  The sun was sparkling – it was splendid and beautiful, and I will jot the description in one or another of my notebooks.  I was, however, striding along, gritting my teeth and thinking aloud.

…and it struck me, suddenly, that while there was a lot of stress at that moment, much of it was my own doing.

Dad’s funeral would go off in December at Arlington Cemetery with the caisson and the flag and the band and the buglers, and I would actually enjoy it, as would Dad.

And the books I was working on were publicly scheduled to be produced in 2014.

There was no reason for me to be spinning around like my cat chasing her tail.  I didn’t have to finish them tomorrow.  In fact, I didn’t have to burn myself out at all.

…The wind caught a gulley full of dry, red leaves and whirled them toward me with the sound of a stampeding herd.  I watched, transfixed.  It was splendid.

So…my being stressed out was my own silly doing.  I could set the projects down and work on my NaNoWriMo project, which promised to be fun  And I could spend twenty minutes a day decluttering.  (And maybe I should start with my mind?)

Twenty minutes later I was back at my desk, sipping a cup of hot coffee and smiling.  I put away my two WIP manuscripts.  I’ll fiddle with them in December.

And last night I designed the (projected) cover for my NaNo effort (It’s a fantasy/fable)  It needs work, such as making it apparent that we are looking at a crocodile and not a rock, but this is OK for now:

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Small Celebrations, October 18, 2013


It is Friday again, and a time to stop and take stock of the small things we celebrate, often unknowingly.  Thanks to VikLit, who had the idea for this delicious bl0g hop, we can remind ourselves of the beautiful things in life that make our days just that much more lovely.

I enjoy pausing to remember, and I love reading of the things that touch others.  You would, too – why not sign up?  Details are at the end of this post.

Today, I’m celebrating the fact that I have enjoyed one of the great sensual pleasures of life: lavender.














Some day I will visit Provence.  I had a calendar of photographs taken there, with one that touched me especially.  It depicted lavender fields.

Today, since I could not stroll, myself, through those intoxicatingly scented fields, I indulged in a lavender-scented shower courtesy of the British soap and toiletries-maker, Asquith & Somerset:

Warm-to-hot water cascading off my shoulders, a scrub brush loaded with this deliciously-scented soap in a pretty bottle – just wonderful! 

…if I raise my wrist to my nose, I can catch the faint, lovely scent.

And now I am ready to start the day!  (Which, incidentally, is a Friday!)

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Small Celebrations, October 4, 2013


Today is Friday, time to celebrate the small things or, if you like, to invite others to join us in celebrating our small things.  There’s a linky list at the bottom of this post: why don’t you look around, enjoy the celebrations and – maybe?  – sign up yourself. VikLit is a wonderful hostess and we have lots of fun.

I am currently enjoying and celebrating a nice, hot cup of tea with milk, my morning drink of choice.  It truly helps get the day going, and I like it strong:


Today I’m celebrating my favorite season – Autumn – and the various views I enjoy driving to work or just walking through my neighborhood.

 

On a more mundane front, I’m celebrating my new book cover (the old one was somewhat lacking) and the fact that I’m working on a story I’ve loved for years but had on the shelf for a long time:

Old cover:

New Cover: 

 

…And it’s a weekend, or will be, and I’ll be visiting my mother and helping her to shop for cars.  Something else to celebrate: she is a ladylike Holy Terror to car salesmen who think they can take advantage of elderly widows!

 


http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Celebrations, September 13, 2013


This is a simple blog hop started by Viklit.  Every Friday we stop and take note of the things we sometimes overlook, which make our lives so enjoyable.

Today I am celebrating the first honest to goodness vacation I have taken since before my father died in August of last year.  The past year has been filled with a number of things and involved a great deal of travel and worry and fatigue.  

Today, however, I am celebrating the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend, at which time I will insert myself into my (rental) car, check the level of gasoline in the tank, grin at my sister, who is coming with me (it was her idea, actually, and head up north to the pretty harbor of Boothbay, Maine.


Boothbay Harbor at Sunset













This is the sun-filled piece of heaven with which I fell in love back in 1999.

Over the next three days we will be driving around, visiting yarn shops, I’ll be taking photos, and we may even go on a whale watch cruise.  Whether we see a whale or not, we will certainly be seeing the sea, the rocky coast, feel the breeze in our faces.

And who knows?  We may very well see a whale!


How about yourselves?  Come join this blog hop and share the little things that make you celebrate!  Or just hop about and see what everyone’s celebrating – and thank VikLit for starting it!

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Celebrating: a potpourri of things.


I’m celebrating mundane things today, but I suspect everyone understands.

1.  The end of the work week.  I’ll be seeing friends this weekend and should be enjoying myself.

2.  The near-kitten (age 10 months but as big as my 6 year old) has stopped shouting the house down and is now creeping about and hissing at my Labrador Retriever, the first dog he has ever seen.  He (the kitten) is a sable Burmese and the Lab is a chocolate.  I suspect poor Jimi – the kitten – thinks he has run into the largest Burmese in the world.  Jess – the dog – is happily chomping a bone.  He’s twelve years old.  He hoisted an eyebrow at the kitten and continued chomping.



Not the blog logo-
But she’s certainly festive!

3.  After a truly miserable heat wave, it is cool and I was able to sleep through the night without wondering if I had awakened in the middle of the Khamsin, is it?  Or the Scirocco?  The hot, nasty wind.

4.  I get to wear jeans to the office.  This is supposed to be a fabulous concession on the part of the management.  In my case, it means that I can throw on clothes and tear out of here.

6.   Oh – and I had an idea for a children’s book and will be fiddling with it this weekend.

How about yourselves?  Come join this blog hop and share the little things that make you celebrate!  Or just hop about and see what everyone’s celebrating – and thank VikLit for starting it!

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Celebrating – Half-days and works in progress


I am posting this early because I will be traveling tomorrow and won’t have time to do things properly.

Today I am celebrating taking a  half day’s vacation and driving down to visit my mother. My father died this past summer and Monday would have been their 63rd anniversary.  I thought she would like company (we try to be with her as much as we can).  But aside from that, she’s a lot of fun and has been a wonderful mother who, though I love and respect her as my mother, has turned into a friend I enjoy ‘hanging with’, as the American slang goes. 

So I have taken a half day and will be driving down through the New York and New Jersey countryside (stopping at stands that sell beautiful ‘Beefsteak’ tomatoes and fresh corn), and then on to Mom’s house.  I’ll be setting up her computer (she actually got one!) and showing her some good things on it – like Facebook, where her grandchildren are posting.

She’s very bright (I’d say brilliant) and is a quick learner with a devastating, subtle wit.  It should be fun.



Kadesh – wretched cover!

I’m also celebrating my WIP, called ‘Kadesh‘.  That is the name of a famous battle that led to the first international treaty in recorded history.  The story is about four brothers who go to war with their father – but while there is the battle itself, it isn’t a war story.  Rather, it is about the family itself.  There are several (historical) female characters who are engaging.  It’s the sequel to my recent one,  Mourningtide, taking up fifteen years after.

My new cover for Kadesh!  A Wrap!

The reason I’m celebrating is that I haven’t touched the thing since November.  I’ve been going through, reading the chapters, adjusting the timeline, and thinking, “Actually, this is pretty good!”

I wrote it during the 2012 NaNoWriMo and made the requisite words, then got busy.  It’s good, but it needs a lot of work, both in composing and in editing.  I’m having fun.  Now if I could just come up with a better cover…  Perhaps this one?  It does capture the personality and attitude of one of the major characters, the Crown Prince.




This blog hop is the brainchild of VikLit, who thought it a good and enjoyable (and beneficial!) thing to pause regularly and not only count our blessings, but celebrate them.  Why not join?
http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Celebrating… You!




Today I’m raising a glass / smiling while contemplating / cheering for / quietly appreciating something truly worth celebrating.  For me, anyhow:



       You. 






I started blogging a while back just for something to do.  It was enjoyable – and then I started meeting other people who had blogs about all sorts of things – families, crocheting, collections of inspiring snippets, whether about the Chelsea Flower Show or travel.  Writers who do other things than shout about buying their books.  Helpful people, enjoyable people, people I would probably invite to my home for dinner.  Once it was cleaned to my satisfaction.


People celebrating, people sharing, people just being…people.

You’re worth celebrating, folks!







This blog hop is the brainchild of the delightful VikLit, whose blog is well worth visiting whether or not it’s Friday and you are celebrating.  Every week that participants can, they stop, take stock, recognize that life is full of small celebrations that go unnoticed, and they celebrate.  The participants are on the list – look around – celebrate!  And maybe join?  You’d be welcome!http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Surviving – A Celebration


Today I am celebrating surviving.

It has been a difficult, wheel-spinning, feeling tired, wondering why I have been put on the earth, doubting my abilities, living in a messy room and wanting to gas up my car and drive to Montana weeks (two, in fact).

I haven’t been to my blog, I’ve written maybe 1200 words in the past two weeks, I’ve cast an eye over the lovely posts and really nice comments and done…  nothing.

I’m working on a love story and I have a scene waiting to be written.  The heroine has come back to her home after being months away caring for a kinswoman with a new baby.  She arrives late, and she awakens in the night to the quiet sound of music.  Someone is sitting outside, softly playing a harp (it’s earlier times than now).  It’s lovely to listen to and she wonders who the musician is.

She is going to go out in search of the player and find the love of her life.  It will be a nice scene…  But I haven’t written it.  It has just been one of those difficult stretches of time that come for no particular reason.

Weather?  The raveled ends of old griefs?  (They say the first year after a bereavement is the worst).  I don’t know, but it has been a difficult week.

So what am I celebrating?

My friends, (whose comments I will answer this weekend, whose posts I will visit) I am here to tell you that the mood, ennui, exhaustion – whatever – is passing and I know I will be back to my usual form.  That  is something to celebrate, the knowledge that comes over time that moods do pass, energy does return, the world moves on and you move with it.

Maybe that isn’t exactly a small celebration.  It is, in fact, a lesson we learn after a long time.  What the heck!  I’m celebrating it anyhow.

And tonight…maybe…I’ll have her pause at the entry to the small courtyard, watching the harpist’s fingers move softly over the strings, and have her meet his gaze – and watch his face, somber in repose, warm into a sudden smile.

– – – – – –
This is a blog hop thought of by delightful, funny, enjoyable and very nice Viklit.  It is, for me, a way to remember how happy and fortunate I am, and how I am surrounded by good people.  (Thoreau said, “I have never gotten over my surprise at having been born in the most estimable part of the world – yes, and in the very nick of time”)

Why don’t you join?  It will certainly make you smile once a week! http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014

Celebrating…Summer!


It is Friday again, a week has passed quickly and I am once again, courtesy of VikLit’s thoughtfulness and that of the others on this blog hop, thinking of reasons to count my blessings and smile.



I’m grateful for memories of:
colorful floats
flip-flops
sand all over my feet
squabbling in the car
riding with my head out the window
catching waves as they come in
watching my baby brother toddle to the edge of the wave and plunk himself down, diaper and all
swimming all day
having suntan lotion smeared over my back
listening to the seagulls

All the sounds that, to me, signified Saturday in the summer.  Since my family was living in Hawaii at the time I am remembering, the ocean is the color of an opal…

Ah….

We all need to count our blessings and celebrate our achievements or joys – why don’t you join us?  Here’s the linky – sign on!http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014