Wishful Wednesday

I ‘wish’ it was wicked…but not too much luck with that today.  At least not yet.

Instead another long, looooong day in the car had me thinking of so many things I wish I could change around here. Wish David was still here…the kids miss him so much.  Wish I could buy him one more banana split at Dairy Grove…and watch the kids giggling over their own ice cream, and how much Dat loved his 😀

Wish I could find a job.  Now that at least can be more than a ‘wish’.  I can change that.  I will change that.

Wish I could find a better ‘home’ for the kids, and me.  Found a wonderful little run-down ‘shack’ of a home driving around last week, the paint long gone, but the porch strong and sturdy, the tin roof needing a good cleaning and mercy! does the whole place need landscaping…a girl can dream.  It would be such a joy to take an old abandoned house like that and bring it back to life.  Make it a ‘home’ once more.  No fancy renovations; just restore it and love it. Put an old wringer washer like Grandma had on the back porch, and a tire swing in the tree out front.

Get a wood burning stove (or gas if the city is picky) like the one we love at writer’s camp.

   My cast iron would be right at home.  

Add a porch swing and a joggling board…

I’d be happy to spend the rest of my life fixing the old place up and making it a little ‘more loved’ every year.

If wishes were horses….

Someday, I’ll gallop away.

 

another year over….

…and a new one just begun.

In this case, it is my birthday.  So another year begins in my life.

Now my birthdays are not something I am really excited about…. never was a big birthday girl.  Other people’s birthdays?  YES!  I love to plan parties, find the perfect gift, the perfect meal, and make their moment special.

This year was received with even less enthusiasm than usual, ha. I spent most of the day avoiding it, annoyed another year is gone and I have not accomplished the goals I set for myself. Now the ‘birthday’ is over, whew, and I am ready to tackle this next year head on.

First up…even more focus on my workouts.  Set some ‘markers’ so I have measurable proof of my progress, something I neglected this year.  I did well with my dietary changes…but I can do better.

Next up…make something happen with my writing. I can’t “not” write; and I want to share the places my flights of fantasy take my characters. I need readers.  I need to be good enough to deserve their trust that I can provide a story worth their time.

Meanwhile, on the more prosaic home-front… so many changes ahead.  AJ graduates high school with no actual plan, or even a clear idea of where he wants his future to lead. That could prove a challenge.

Other decisions re our family composition and just how many changes we can make in the coming year is yet to be decided.  A few weeks.  After these last few years, a few weeks doesn’t feel long at all.

For now… my Reesie got me the perfect bathroom accessories for my birthday.      Ian’t he ADORABLE?

And as a perfect bathroom companion:   I put a blue candle on it to go with my shower curtain.  It makes me smile.

Lorien and Judah gave me a perfect gift for the writer: a new journal with my little Squid on the cover and a wonderfully creative and encouraging note on the back cover: Like your writing, Cedric is waiting to awaken in this world tremors in all he touches, in all he meets. Wait until the day he reads your atemporal words.

That sure makes my heart sing.  Now to write something worthy of the hope that one day Cedric will read it.

 

 

 

Nothing remarkable

Nope…I can honestly say today was, by most standards, a rather unremarkable day.  The weather was neither gorgeous and warm, or stormy,  or unbearably cold.  Tepid. It was a tepid day.

Nothing exciting happened with the spawn (aka children) if we overlook (please do, I try to) the ride home from daughter’s job with her driving.  OMG!  But we survived; nothing really to be noted.

I went to the grocery store…actually three grocery stores, ha…because one is never enough with this brood 😀  It isn’t very remarkable; in point of fact, it is quite mundane, and yet I noticed, as I was scurrying about doing my unremarkable everyday things, there was always something to smile about.

A scarlet tanager brightened the bird feeder near the gate as I headed out to the store.

I drove by the very first house my hubby and I ever owned….and smiled at how much it looks the same, memories of those early days of marriage, how much it still needs landscaping, lol.

The sky blushed as I was driving over the bridge to pick my daughter up.

  The colors fill the soul.

Maybe I just like smiling.  Ad reveling in every moment. The joy of living.  One moment at a time.

Nope. Nothing remarkable there.

From the mouths of…princesses?

Today we took our 3 yr old “Disney Princess in training” to the park. An excellent plan for a warm, breezy Lowcountry October day. She ran, swang, turned the playhouses into her castles, and doctor clinic (she may be a princess…but she has plans for being a very helpful and busy princess), and of course…Moana’s outrigger, because she had lost Māui and as soon as we found his hook he’d be right back.

The simple joys of childlike wonder and imagination.

She went down to examine the pond…a green bit of marsh filled with the aquatic wonders of the south…fish, crawdads, turtles, and, of course, the occasional alligator.  She was certain, as Moana AND a Princess, she ‘needed’ to go right up to the edge and order Māui out of there. Removal of princess from the pond resulted in the obligatory,  very dramatic sobbing. When asked what she was crying about she looked up with wide eyes and explained: “I am heartbroken. YOU have…BROKEN…my heart.”

It was all I could do not to laugh. So serious.  THIS is a Princess growing before our very eyes into a world class Drama Queen.

Ah childhood…wouldn’t miss these moments for the world.

 

What now?

I wanted to begin back to blogging here the first of this New Year.

Frankly I was too depressed and worried to have anything encouraging to offer.  It wasn’t just the sudden terror of the new administration…although that certainly was more than enough.  There was a lot of turmoil on the home front too.  Culminating in a court decision we never ‘saw’ coming and broke our hearts but not our spirits.  We go on.  We fight on.

Some things… these kids… this country… are too important to yield to sorrow and despair

So here we are.  February.  January and February are, traditionally, ‘winter’ here in the Lowcountry.  Not so much this year.  The camellias are in bloom.  The azaleas are beginning to open. The sun shines and it has been low to mid 70s almost every day. Can’t really complain about a ‘winter’ where you can happily play at the beach without needing sweats.

Writing continues.

THIS was my Christmas gift from my amazing kids.  A printed hardcopy of my manuscript!

I cried, LOL!

Edits on that one are almost completed and there are others in the works.  Always a story waiting to be told. And in these days… that is a bright star on a dark night indeed.

 

New worlds to explore…

Leonard Nimoy passed away….the world is better for his having been here, less for his passing.  Mr Spock was my first crush…I never cared about tthe Beatles or any of the bands or teen crushes…. he met a geeky girl’s heart and gave us a brighter hope for a time when our geekiness would be appreciated, even necessary.

I hope Big Bang Theory does a proper tribute… they would be the ones to really do it in a way he would love.

New worlds to explore, sir… you shall be missed in this one

~~~

In other less than noteworthy moments… the weather was fair and mild today.  Walked the 14 yr old to the doctor for yet another stomach ailment.  He is on so many meds for that already that even though the doctor and I both suspect it may just be the current stomach bug she is referring him to gastro-enterology for a workup.  There has to be an underlying cause for all his tummy troubles and she suggested two in quick order:  food allergies (he is and always has been lactose intolerant) and/or GSE (gluten sensitive enteropathy)   Well, we sure know that one.

We walked back home, enjoying the pretty weather, pausing on the bridge to watch the tide going out and to discuss local oyster shoals we thought could be accessed on foot.  Stopped at the grocery store for yogurt  (doctor wants him to get extra probiotics),oj (just because we are out), and vegannaise.  A really lovely day.

My cellphone croaked this morning.  It has been gradually dying for a year.  I think it did well all things considered.  Daughter is checking her old phone stash for a workable one she can give me 🙂  Kids can be so handy this way.

Called social security office to change my automatic deposit… was on hold for 83 minutes and then they hung up on me.  Called back, waited an hour and15 minutes and they called me back and told me to go to the local office on Monday.  ARGH!  If I had a car to get to the local office would I have sat on hold for nearly an hour and a half!!!!

Speaking of cars… have a small plan in the making as to how I shall make up the amount needed to ‘get’ my little beater and not pillage my limited resources.  By next weekend I should know.  Then locate a suitable car, have someone who knows something ‘about’ cars check it out for me…and hallelujah!

Now on to the FUN that is FRIDAY!!!  Fantasy time!

Khyr’s story is coming along.  By the end of next week he and his companions should be on their way to the West Coast.  Mass quantities of research shall, again, be undertaken… as it was the first time I wrote these scenes.   In honor of that here is one of the places I picture for this section of the story.  Isn’t it amazing?

About dogs, crab dip, and other everyday things

Today my Reesie went back to Conway and her play.  It was a lovely visit…we accomplished everything we set out to get done and then some, had a lot of fun, and caught up on our lives.  We trimmed doggie toenails.  Made a new perch for the parrot (who has rejected it, as always, is now in the fits of attempting to ‘kill’ it, as always, and will eventually accept and love it)  We laughed at our total lack of icy weather, hauled potted plants and rabbit in and out of the house on a daily basis, did a ton of laundry, and discussed such obtuse things as whether or not to sell my beloved house, why she has never been called for jury duty (when she really wants to be), will she be able to give blood tomorrow when she has her appointment (she really wants to but has never weighed enough to do it), how I was ever going to save enough to get a little ‘beater’ car if I don’t get a job (and how I would get a job lacking a car to get me ‘to’ it), and the changes life holds for her and her oldest sister in the next few months/year.

Life is such an amazing adventure.

Now she has gone home.  No one to talk to for a few weeks (conversations with the14 yr old son tend to not lean toward anything very ‘deep’).  So I am working on my books, indulging in way too much crab dip and vegetable crackers and feeding crackers to the 1 yr old.  Snuggling her old lab, who always is blue for a few days when ‘her’ Reesie has to leave again.

I have made a fresh pot of sweet ice tea, and a big bowl of turkey salad for supper.

The day is cloudy and cool….the sunshine left about the same time this morning Reesie did…but not unpleasant.  It surely could be worse  (sorry Northerners)

Most of the house is picked up, dishes are done.  Post for my writer’s group is ready and I called AFLAC to change my automatic payments from the old account up north to one down here.  Back to what passes for normal.

So many changes.  So many more ahead.

Life is good.