Catching Up

It's been several months since I've posted on my blog, but that doesn't really doesn't matter as I have no followers. That's cool. In a way it's sort of liberating, as my thoughts and words will be out there in the cosmos. I've read that when writing a piece, imagine that no one will ever read your work. Only then can you trully feel free to write your deepest thoughts and feelings. In short, if you can shut out the world during the writing process, you should be able to produce your best writing. I've found the technique liberating when writing about personal issues like my husband's illness or subsequent death.

If anyone is interesting in a good online writing site try www.scribophile.com. You can get your work critiqued by several writers in a contructive, helpful manner. You have to write a few critiques to earn enough karma points to do your first post. Being an English Literature major, I've discovered I actually enjoy doing the critiques. The one thing is that you have to be selective of the pieces you choose to read and crit. At first, I got overwhelmed with reading material that really didn't interest me. If you are a writer interested improving your craft and receiving constructive critism on your work, check the site out.

Well, Fall is here. Our garden has come and gone. Todd cleaned it off yesterday. I still have a couple of foxglove blooming and a hollyhock that should bloom any day, if they frost doesn't kill it first. I planted that row of plants from seeds. The ones I bought from QVC last year were monstrous. Two of the set of four died the first year, so they refunded my money. After the three feet of snow melted off the garden in early spring, their leaves where still green and looked like wilted lettuce. After about a week of sunshine, the leaves started to perk up. Before long, the plants were perky and starting to grow, and grow.

The pink one had about thirteen or fourteen stalks and topped out at about six and a half feet. The deep scarlet black one had seven stalks and was about seven and a half feet tall. Needless to say, these were your run of the mill hollyhocks. They are from the Biltmore Collection from Roberta's (I think) on QVC. They had bloom on them for almost two months. I saved all the seeds I could to share with my family and neighbors next spring. I have pictures that I will post at a later date of the hollyhocks and several other items in our garden this summer; however, I have to upload them again from my camera. My PC got a virus, so I lost the ones I had on the PC. Luckily, I don't trust technology, so I still have them on the memory cards.

Yarden

I just got back from a 5 day trip to Charleston. I had two doctor appts, then I spent time w/ my family. I spent 2 days at Esther's, then two days at Aunt Rose's. I went to Borders and Hot Topic w/ Jackie. She gave me an art lesson--I sketched my first Chibi. It's not bad, but hers is awesome.

I am worn out from the trip. We took Aunt Rose on our shopping trip to Gab's, then ate at Cracker Barrel. Next trip we are going to Ryan's. She will love it. It ended up that she got out of the house two days in a row, which is rare.

I bought some cucumber and tomato plants at the Capitol Flea Market. I planted them in the Yarden yesterday. (A yarden is a vegetable/flower garden in your frontyard). We also planted six foxglove and six hollyhocks too. I also planted some bulbs. I have several varieties of tomato plants that will arrive anyday. We're going to plant some cucumbers, early corn, potatoes, and three varieties of melon.

I watched the weather this evening and they are calling for frost Saturday night. (Hope not). I'm hoping for a good year for the apple trees. There's lots of bloom on the oak and beech trees. The game in the woods eat acorns, beech nuts, chestnuts, etc. The bounty (or lack thereof) is called "Mast" here in the mountains. If there's a frost, many people will feed the deer, turkeys and squirrels the next winter.

I've been checking out the website for the West Virginia Writers annual conference June 11-13, 2010. It will be difficult for me because of Joy's passing, but it's something I love. They are offering some interesting workshop's. Although I cut the amount of workshops I attended in half, I ended up walking too much. I was miserable for over two weeks. To make matters worse, I didn't have a current scrip for my pain medication. I ended up suffering alot after that conference, but it was worth it. It was my last Writer's with Joy. We had a ball.

I promise to post some of my kickass butterfly photos in the next few days. I bought a new photography book at Borders. It's one of those books I'll be keeping. I've already learned alot and I've just been skimming through the book...

Reconnecting...

It's been quite a while since I've posted, but I don't suppose that really matters since no one follows my blog. But I digress...

We've had an unusually hard winter here in the mountains of West Virginia. I've been longing for spring since the first big snow in December. I ordered several plants to plant in my yard this spring. I also ordered several tomato plants. I plan to can tomato juice, sauce, salsa, homemade catsup, etc. Hopefully, it will be a good year for apples (crossing my fingers here). If it is, I plan to make apple sauce and canned apples.

I plan to try and document the progress of my flower and vegegtable garden from planting to harvest--then the canning, freezing or drying of the produce. It's something all our parents and ancestors did in the Appalachian Mountains to survive the harsh winters. If you didn't grow your food, you didn't survive the harsh winters of the mountains. Contrary to the stereotypes perpetuated by the media, our ancestors didn't lay around with a jug of moonshine getting drunk. If they did, they would never have survived. In brutual winters of the mountains, only the strongest and smartest survived.

It's finally arrived and I'm really enjoying it. I try to spend a little time outside each day, especially when it's pretty weather. I have a canvas lounge chair on the porch, then another one I sit in over at the edge of the yard by my bushes. You have a beautiful view in any direction, plus you can watch the clouds and daydream.

I've been taking pictures of the butterflys visiting my flowering quinces and lilacs. Some turned out great. I got a few shots of them in flight and a few with two butterflys in the same shot. I love to take pictures. I will post some of them in the next day or two.

Haitians Observe One Month Anniversary of Quake

Raw footage of thousands of Haitians gathered to remember the one month anniversary of the huge earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince.

Facebook | Videos Posted by Marc Williams: The Palace [HQ]

Facebook Videos Posted by Marc Williams: The Palace [HQ]

The Haitian Spirit Survives

The next two posts are videos of a gathering of thousands of people in Port-au-Prince marking the one month anniversary of the powerful earthquake that devastated the country and killed over 200,000 people.

I will be traveling to Haiti the last of March with a medical team. I plan to take hundreds of pictures and video some interviews with the people living in the outlying villages. IMO is setting up a tent city at Boutin, the village where their main medical clinic is located. I plan to compile my photos and video clips into mini-documentaries for IMO to use at the annual conference. They have used several of my photos for PR for the organization.

I wrote a pamphlet for IMO to recruit medical teams and financial support for the medical clinics. On my last trip, I revised the prescription form used by the doctors in our clinics. It's faster and easier for both the doctors and the people filling the prescriptions.

Although I have major problems with back and leg pain, I can manage it with strategic use of pain meds and muscle relaxers, when necessary.

Pray for the people of Haiti. They had nothing, and now what little they had has been destroyed.