Showing posts with label living land. Show all posts
Showing posts with label living land. Show all posts

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Typical start to the day

 
June 12, 2021

June is a month of transition from spring into summer. The weather in western Maryland is always unpredictable day-to-day, and June does a fine job of showcasing its temperament. 

I rolled out of bed this morning with big plans. BIG plans. HUGE! The day dawned overcast and the weather prognosticators didn't give the day much hope of sunshine. My foolish heart said, "perfect day to write!".  

Well, blogging does count as writing. Not the writing train I planned to hop on and drive into the sunset, but writing nonetheless. 

My first mistake was stopping at my garden corral when I took Deuce out to take care of his morning outside activities. One of the pepper plants has blooms on it so of course, I communed with all the little green plants. Next, I needed to update my calendar with a rescheduled dentist appointment for my fall cleaning. That seemed safe enough but it was, in fact, another little tangent. But wait... I decided I needed a picture of the pepper bloom for over at Holly Tree Manor. 

It's never a good idea for this writer to hop over to one of the blogs. Down the rabbit hole again. 

All is not lost. As I write this, it's still early in the day. The July Heat manuscript is open on the right-hand screen while I type this blog entry on the left screen. Having a dual-screen setup is, IMHO, the only way to go. 

If you've read this far, thank you! If your days start off like mine, going helter-skelter until you get a few small things out of the way before moving on to the actual plan for the day, I get it. 

As for the original plan to debut the July Heat cover today, well, that might come tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day on which to blog.

Enjoy your Saturday! I know I'll enjoy mine. 


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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys



Thursday, February 11, 2021

Another three inches

 

February 11, 2021

Don't go there.

Yes, I write romance with some, ahem, interesting love scenes, but that is not the "another" three inches to which I refer. I'm talking about snow. As in it is fucking snowing again. 

I'm so over this winter? Maybe not. 

In reality, this winter has been reminiscent of the winters we had when I was a girl. We actually had appreciable snow in December, and that pattern has carried through to at least today. 

Winter makes living on the side of a mountain very interesting - and beautiful. When it snows, the world becomes a quiet white cathedral. It's incredibly peaceful. The other side of that coin is one should not hop in a vehicle and expect to drive down the hill. One should prepare to slide down the hill. Better yet, one should plan ahead and stay home. In the case of the writer, she should stay home and write. 

That's the plan for today. As I work on this blog entry, it's predawn. To enjoy the snowfall, I've switched on the backyard floodlights and have a nice view out my window. The deer are moving along the top of the yard, close to the stone fence (I must tell the story of the stones someday). Quiet, graceful creatures, I wonder how they fare in this sort of weather but I dare not provide any food. My garden will be in enough jeopardy from them come summer. 

It's time for me to get to the manuscript, but I'm reluctant to miss any of the dawn. I've waited so many years to finally have that luxury and it feels like I'm cheating myself if I ignore it. There will be plenty of time to work on the manuscript today. And to enjoy the snow. One does not preclude the other. 

Sunday, February 7, 2021

A white cathedral

 

February 7, 2021

There are days when events align in magical ways. Today my grandfather would be one-hundred-eleven years old. Today, it's snowing, a wet, clingy snow that turned my woods into a white cathedral. 

My grandparents gave me the piece of ground I built my home on forty years ago. They loved the land and respected it as it provided so much for our family. Food, water, shelter, fuel, privacy, safety, and beauty. The land is a living thing. 

I was up before dawn this morning and settled at the computer. Like so many of us, I have remote controls for all sorts of gadgets and I switched on the backyard floodlights to watch the snow. Keeping an eye on the clock, as soon as I knew the sun, while still hidden by the thick cloud cover, would be above the mountain, Deuce and I went out to take pictures. 

Walking during a snowfall, it's easy to allow the white peacefulness to flow into your soul. The only sounds were those of Deuce's paws crunching through the snow and the calling of the young red-tailed hawk who fledged here last summer and never left. He's claimed my "territory" as his, but I'm sure we can peacefully coexist. If I thought he'd find it and eat it, I'd toss a raw chicken breast his way. Songbirds and squirrels are scarce during a snowfall and he may be in need of a snack. He also likes mice and moles, also scarce at the moment. 

That my grandfather loved this small part of the planet he cared for is not something I question. He did. I know it cost him to hand it over to me and is proof, to those who need such a thing, how well he loved me. Be it strange or not, I spoke to him on my walk through his white cathedral today. His response was all around me, keeping me warm on this cold, snowy morning.


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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Key