Monday Distractions

Yes, it’s Monday again, and yes, I’m late with today’s blog post, but I was distracted by three things this morning, and it’s all Jan Drexler‘s fault. (Of course, my short attention span might have had something to do with it, too.) First, was her Facebook post sharing an opportunity to query a particular publishing house.

Will it be survival of the fittest or of the most diligent seeker?

Nobody’s very happy about it. When a bear and her cub found their way into our back yard last week, I knew it was past time to put away the bird feeders for the summer. But you should see the looks I’ve been getting…         Sorry guys, but this lunch counter is closed for

Hanging in there on a Monday

It’s Monday again… and I imagine many of you went into it already counting down to Friday. I happen to like Mondays, but I’m probably an oddity. (Stop nodding your head and laughing!)  Living through the week while being focused on something else is a little like what our resident squirrel does. He took all winter

Procrastinating on Snow Days

We had a friend, Nel, who maintained February always had at least nine sunny days.  She wasn’t a meteorologist but relied on her memory to substantiate the claim. When we started paying attention, it seemed as if she was right. February might be too soon to plant or mow, but nice days often had us outside,

People Watching and Developing Fictional Characters

I spend more time than I should just staring out windows. It’s not that there’s a lot to see here, but you never know what you’ll miss if you don’t happen to be looking at the right moment. You can observe a lot by just watching. [Yogi Berra] You may get real tired watching me,

All God’s Creatures…

Do you remember that squirrel? The one who said he knew when to quit? Well, he didn’t. Hubby and I went for a wander down to our marsh one frosty morning recently. The air was fresh and still, the woods silent. There used to be beavers here but the beaver house seems to have been

The Squirrel Saga Continues (aka Knowing when to quit)

There are times in this life as a writer when I want to toss the manuscript into the trash and stomp away. But I don’t. Not literally, anyway. I’ve been well warned about those moments, so I dutifully ‘save’, ‘close’, ‘quit’, and then stomp away. You know those times, don’t you? Please tell me you

Squirrel! Squirrel!

I sometimes wonder at a squirrel’s mentality. Does he think at all, or simply react to survival needs? The Douglas squirrel is a regular around here… one or two of them come by periodically to investigate the state of our birdfeeder. Last spring the bears demolished the feeder that had attracted a good variety of

Lineup at the Non-existent Birdfeeder and Breakfast Bar

The first seconds after I waken from a deep sleep are always fuzzy, so Friday morning when the birdfeeder that hung a few inches outside my bedroom window began to rattle and zing, I muttered into my pillow about energetic Jays and their pre-dawn appetites. Not that I said anything quite that polite. It was

Is more and bigger necessarily better?

You know that sensation of being stared at? That if-I-don’t-look-maybe-it’s-not-there prickly feeling? On Friday, as I sat writing near the window in our family room, I was hit was that feeling. Slowly I looked up. “What the heck is that?” A little critter stood erect on the deck, peering in at me. Now “little” is