Tag Archive | sky pencil holly

Early, Late, or On Time?

Oct27

When I was in the army, I had a boss once who said he didn’t want us there to give a briefing early or late. He wanted us there on time. “You’re wasting the government’s time if you’re early. You’re wasting the general’s time if you’re late. So come on time.”

What are you normally? Always running late? Have to be there early? Never want to waste time and are right there on the button?

You know if you’re running late, nothing will go your way. You’ll get behind slower traffic, get a flat, run into every red light. If you’re early, all the lights will be green, no traffic to speak of, car’s running fine and you’re there even earlier than you had wanted to be. I know. Because I always try to be early anywhere I go. But the moment I’m running behind on time….

I turned in the changes to SEAL Wolf Undercover, caught up on my word count on Double Cougar Trouble, and finally figured out what I was going to do with White Wolf and sent in the materials I needed to–long synopsis, short synopsis, etc.

For a second, that means all I have to do is finish writing Cougar Trouble, unless I’m forgetting something. 🙂

blue-berries-on-plant-900-058I took my walk yesterday and came across these beautiful blue berries. Do you notice all the pretty things around you when you’re out and about?

And then the new sky pencil holly are already attracting birds. This chickadee was diving in and out of the spindly, newly planted shrubs.bird-on-new-holly-900-005

And then a blue jay came to explore. Just add a little plant life and the animals will find a home.

blue-jay-new-holly-900-006I forgot my excerpt yesterday, so will try to do that tomorrow. 🙂 Otherwise, it’s back to writing and walking and taking pictures.

wicked-witch-900-001Oh, and if there are any wicked witches in your life, turn them into yard decorations for Halloween. 🙂

Have a super great one!!

Terry Spear

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Sky Pencil Holly for Tiny Lots–Like Writing Shorter for Tiny Pubs or Focusing on Less in a Photo

Oct24

sky-pencil-holly-first-ones-900-001These holly only grow two feet wide and 10 feet tall. I wanted to put some along the fence on the side yards where it is too narrow for anything else. What I love about them is my fence is 6 foot, and these grow to about 10 feet, so hopefully, they will provide a little more privacy, a little bit of noise reduction, and most of all, I love the look of vegetation. It softens the look of the fence.

The two I have here are just accent plants alongside pentas flowers that are annuals, and the burford holly that are slow growing but as they grow, they will be about 5 foot tall. This shows one that is really shaded back at the old house. The big leafed plant around it is fig. It’s kind of a fun plant next to the tiny leafed sky pencil holly. This one is about 8 foot tall or taller. What I love about them is they’re fast growers and evergreen.

sky-pencil-holly-427x640

And here are the new ones I picked up. I wanted smaller pots of them, figuring they would be a lot easier to plant. And normally in about three years, they’ll be the same size. But all they had were 5 foot hollies and I wanted to get them started now that the weather is a little bit cooler.

sky-pencil-holly-900-new-5-foot-ones-004It was really nice out last night, and I kept thinking I just needed to plant them. At least one of them.

new-sky-pencil-holly-against-fence-900-001But it didn’t take any time at all, to my surprise, and I had all three planted. Maybe I’ll do more. But at least from my window while I work, I can see greenery and not just a blank fence. 🙂

Okay, I’m behind after walking 4 miles yesterday, going to a luncheon, shopping for plants and Halloween candy–don’t do like I did and buy stuff you figure you’ll eat if you don’t have enough trick-or-treaters–everyone at the luncheon said the same thing, they already ate the candy, so I got some I really won’t eat–and planting hollies.

Planting in tiny lots means really planning the landscape, not over planting, growing something that looks tiny in its one gallon pot and in three years, it’s 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall. Well, maybe it takes a little longer than that. But…you know what I mean. It’s the same with writing. When you write short–you have to plan, keep it simple, not overgrow the elements, and keep it tidy.

With photography, same thing! I saw the coolest picture where the scene was busy with people, but the photographer snapped one clear person moving among the chaos. It was really eye catching.

grasses-against-busy-grass-background-900-040These wild grasses had too busy a background. For three days I tried to capture a picture of them that looked more like these grasses.

wild-grasses-great-bokeh-900-041And I did it yesterday finally!

a-mode-f4-early-morning-grasses-bokeh-900-004The color is a little different from the original photo because I was shooting in earlier light. But what I was trying to do was showcase them off a background that has a lot more bokeh. I had the F-stop at 8 on the original picture. Same with the middle one, but it turned out beautifully. On the third one, I had it at F-4.

Okay time to get back to the book!

Have a lovely day!

Terry Spear

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear