This is for another art challenge. What makes us happy? Creating art, photography (the ostrich photo is mine), reading and writing books, the flower representing gardening, bird watching, animals, even stormy days. Of course there’s more, but this is what I managed to include.
Okay, I’m off to work like a snail again on edits. My characters need more depth. Off to give them some issues.
Hope your day is happy! And if it isn’t, as Star Trek’s Cpt. Picard would say, “Make it so.”
I finished You Had Me at Cougar! It’s turned over to my wonderful beta readers and I’m trying to come up with a story idea for the United Shifter Force Christmas novella first. I have a semi-idea for Red Wolf Christmas, the novel.
It always takes me a bit of thinking to figure out how to start it, what’s at stake, how they meet, etc. I also need to pull up the print version of Saving the White Cougar to make sure it’s ready for publication. One final proofing.
I have a long night tonight. My son-in-law is working really late and so I’m having dinner with them and helping with the baby while my daughter gets my granddaughter off to bed. The baby gets really super fussy about that time. That’s okay. Grandma walks him and exercises then. lol
When I’m photographing an animal, I forget that what they’re seeing is not me looking at them, but a camera looking at them. So no eyeball contact. But isn’t he/she cute? After she/he quit picking on the young giraffe.
I managed 3,000 words yesterday and to get my car inspected and to get some sunshine ligustrum to replace my skyrocket holly that have died. I figure if one thing doesn’t work, I’m not planting the same thing in its place, especially when everything else seems to do well in that area. I also picked up phlox. When I lived in Oklahoma, I had redbud trees and phlox and the flowers were the same beautiful magenta. So the trees would be covered in the flowers that matched the ground cover in the flowerbeds and it looked so pretty–like I’d actually planned it that way. lol
I haven’t tried them here, and redbud trees are notorious for having weak limbs, so I won’t be planting those here, but I think the phlox will be pretty and hopefully, they will cover some of the area where I fight with weeds. Or the weeds will just grow up in among them anyway. But I keep on trying no matter what. That’s the key. If one thing doesn’t work, try something else.
Some think I have a green thumb, but in actuality, I just keep trying things until something takes hold and voila! A beautiful garden.
Well, I’m off to write today and I have 9 plants to dig holes for and plant.
I finally got the first vaccination yesterday afternoon for COVID–Pfitzer and the next one is April 9th. It was a massive car drive up for the event and I was glad they’re doing that because we have so many people in Houston and the surrounding cities and 5 of the more virulent strains of COVID also. Luckily, despite them opening up the state 100%, I’ve been proud of the Texans who still wear masks and the businesses that are requiring it. We only have 10% of the population vaccinated and that’s not enough.
3 lanes of cars headed for verification of appointment at St Lukes, and then we finally went single file, then double and split off to various tents where they did the paperwork first, and then drove off to more tents where the cars split off into maybe 25 more tents and were given shots, and then we parked in lanes for a time while we were timed to ensure we didn’t have a reaction to the vaccine.
I was talking to a woman as I was loading my plants into the car at Home Depot who said she was so glad to see people wearing masks. She had an 82 year old mother who had breast cancer and a mastectomy last week, but was running around, wearing her mask, still not vaccinated. I told her about St. Lukes, and she needed to sign up. It took me a week to get the email and I had worked like the devil to get one at CVS, but it wasn’t scheduled until the next day, and this one meant I would take my 2nd shot 2 days earlier. With my daughter’s baby due soon, I wanted to be fully vaccinated before he got here and I started taking care of him too. So I cancelled on CVS to give someone else a chance to get the vaccine.
Anyway, it’s back to the book and writing and hopefully, I can get another 3,000 done today. In any event, I need to get 2,000 and then I’m going to start digging holes for breaks.
Have you ever seen an ostrich picking on a giraffe before? Pick on your own size, Ostrich! Maybe the ostrich was having a bad day. He/she chased two other ostriches around the enclosure, but also kept picking on a baby/juvenile giraffe. What was up with that?
There’s no call for bullying on the playground. Maybe it’s a natural thing for an ostrich to do. What do I know? But he/she would poke at the sandy soil, then lift her head and poke at the giraffe. And repeat, over and over again. The giraffe didn’t seem to mind at all. So maybe it wasn’t bullying really, but a strange friendship that I couldn’t decipher. It was odd. But then I have to wonder what the deeper motivation was. Did the ostrich just need attention? And the young giraffe was ignoring him?
This is a photo of the Ostrich pecking the young giraffe. Of course, I could make up another story. Ostrich is talking to Giraffe over some perceived slight and Giraffe doesn’t want to discuss it. So instead of tapping on Giraffe’s shoulder to get his attention with his wing, it’s much easier to get his attention using his beak. “Hey, pay attention, Giraffe!”
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, unless I think of a better one. Motivation, conflict, got to have it.
So the title for White Wolf Moon is going to be WHILE THE WOLF’S AWAY. It’ll come out in 2022.
