Category: writing

Day Three of the Here: 5 Things Fall 2023

The prompt for today is to list five things about the mornings:

1. Contacts, hair, and meds
2. Choosing the tea blend and mug for my morning cuppa
3. NYT Crossword puzzle
4. Devotions and prayer
5. The view from the living room window
6. Cereal and yogurt for breakfast

Okay, that’s six things. I am an English teacher, retired. There is a reason I didn’t teach math!

This practice of listing five things each day is a way of making me mindful of the present.

In addition to the list of five morning things, I made a list of some of the songs and artists I listened to while driving to pick up my groceries. Here are some of today’s playlist from Amazon Music:

• “Travelin’ Soldier” by Home Free

• “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by Pentatonix
• “Seven Bridges Road” by Home Free
• “Circle of Life”

• “Down on the Corner” by Street Corner Symphony
• “The Fox” by Peter Hollens
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Pentatonix
• “I’m Home/Somewhere over the Rainbow” by Straight No Chaser
• “Misty Mountains” by Peter Hollens

There were some songs by BYU Vocal Point as well, but I didn’t get those put in my notepad app while I waited for the folks at WalMart to bring out my groceries. I love the fact that I order my groceries and schedule a pickup time for the next morning. It cuts down on my impulse buying.

Did I say I was writing a novel? My novel, tentatively titled Letters from a Travelin’ Soldier, is inspired in part by the song “Travelin’ Soldier.” I imagined what it would be like for a couple to be separated by war and to exchange letters. At first, it was going to be entirely set in the Regency period in Great Britain because, well, because I am addicted to Regency historical novels. As I was beginning the novel, I started thinking about parallel couples, one from the Regency period and one from the present time. So I came up with a modern protagonist who falls in love with a soldier. She has a four or five-times great grandmother, who is her namesake, who also loves a British officer fighting Napoleon on the Peninsula.

The power for music and songs and stories. . . . . More on the novel later.

Liz Lamereaux offers a class several times a year called “Here: Five Things.” I did the summer 2023 class in June, and now I’ve signed up for the Fall round, which began yesterday. For 31 days, Liz will offer prompts for making lists of five things. This is my time to be mindful and creative, although sometimes the “creative” part just isn’t there.

Yesterday’s prompt was “Five Things to Say Yes to”. How often do I give myself permission to say yes to things? Seriously! I say yes to doing the laundry, preparing meals, grocery shopping, picking up the house. . . . but none of those things are saying yes to self-care and my own wellness and growth. Oh, I do indulge in my beloved Regency historicals and other books. But sometimes, I neglect the things that would feed my soul and spirit.

So, Here are my “five things to say “YES” to:

1. Being a REAL writer. I have written 3/4 of my first novel.
2. Giving myself grace in my imperfection. Some people adhere to the “birth order” theories of personality development, and like many first-born children, I have a fear of not being perfect in everything I do. I am a bit of an overachiever and a people pleaser, and so I will beat myself up when I am not perfect. This month, I will say “yes” to not being perfect all the time.
3. Being a learner. I am always learning new things: writing, making jewelry, photography. I am curious.
4. Forgiveness. Why is it so hard to forgive myself (see #2 above) and others? To let go of hard feelings and resentment? “Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive others.” It’s part of the Lord’s Prayer we recite every Sunday (and other times in between). Yet it is hard to do. This month, I will work on that forgiveness.
5. Adventures, even if I have to go by myself. One of the items on my bucket list is to visit the 46 South Carolina State Parks. I don’t have a traveling companion–yet. So I may just have to go by myself. One place I’ve always wanted to go is Huntington Beach and Atalaya. As the weather cools, this may be one of my first excursions.

And catching up to Day 2: Five Things I’m Watching

1. Signs of autumn: falling leaves, red, gold, and brown leaves, the last roses of summer, goldenrod, falling outdoor temperatures
2. Clouds changing shape and mood
3. Old Westerns on TV
4. Notices of new books to read
5. Grandson Sully growing up (he will two years old in seventeen days!)

In a way, this idea of listing five things is like keeping a gratitude list or a list 1000 things (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts). The idea is to be mindful of the “here and now”–the beauty and sometimes the ugly of the everyday, to be fully present to the life around us.

I am keeping my lists in a “hybrid” bullet journal. Some days it looks like a bullet journal; other days the pages are filled with bits and bobs of the day–photos I like, poems I’ve printed, doodles, momentos, ephemera collected, the occasional candy wrapper (Dove chocolates have some neat quotes), fortunes from fortune cookies, etc. I am not worried about the creative part. Part of giving myself grace to be imperfect is resisting the temptation to look at other people’s bullet journals and judging my efforts as completely inadequate. (I see so many by moms with children, and I wonder if they have hired nannies to care for their children while they produce such creative products. I didn’t have the time or energy when my boys were little!)

So, here’s to a list of some 155 things to notice this month.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a “Currently” page in my planner(s) and here in this space. Sometimes, it’s good to take stock of where I am and what I’m doing. Today, currently in September. . . .

I’m READING lots of Regency historical novels and some books by William Kent. I joined the Book of the Month Club since I’ve retired, and I’m reading hardback books. I don’t get a book every month. I still have one of my July selections and both of my September books to read. And I have a stack of books my daughter-in-law gave me.

I’m WATCHING shows on the History and Discovery Channel: Ancient Aliens, History’s Greatest Mysteries, Expedition Unknown and Expedition X, both with Josh Gates. I’m waiting for the new season of The Curse of Oak Island. When Grady gets home, we watch some old Westerns: The Texan and The Tales of Wells Fargo.

I’m LISTENING to music by Home Free, Loreena McKennett, Celtic Thunder, the Chicks, and others. I’ve discovered a new artist (to me, anyway, —Payton Parrish, who does a fantastic cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.” I love my Echo Dot, too.

I’m PLANNING a fall trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in October during “leaf season” (and praying the weather will be cooperative for “sightseeing”). My friend Carla has graciously given us her points to stay in a resort/condo/timeshare, the Great Smoky Lodge.

I’m DREAMING NOT of a white Christmas, I can tell you that! I am dreaming of the day I publish my first novel, of taking another cruise (I’ll know what to do next time!, and other trips I’d like to take.

I’m CREATING my first novel. To date, I’ve drafted fourteen chapters and published ten of them to my writing group. I’m creating photographs of patterns, structures, and textures and making prints and collages of those photographs. The inspiration I get from the groups with Girls with Cameras has been helpful. I’m crocheting and knitting, and making jewelry.

I’m LEARNING who I am at this new stage in my life. I am retired. I’m learning to live slowly, to be in today’s moment (as well as look to the future) and to enjoy what is today. (Maybe tomorrow, I will resume the Thankful Thursday posts.) I’m learning more about photography techniques, not just the technical aspects, but some artistic ways of photographing as well. I’m learning to use Lightroom as a photo editor rather than just as an organizational tool. As I work on finishing my novel, I will be learning about the publishing business.

And, lastly, I’m LOVING being retired, my grandson Sullivan Floyd (he’s such a cutie!), and this beautiful end of the summer weather as the temperatures moderate, the sun feels less intense, and the leaves are beginning their subtle change from green to the golds, reds, and browns.

Currently, life is good! In spite of some grief and losing my cousin Virginia, there is much to celebrate.

My beautiful cousin, Virginia.

And I have to include a photo of my handsome boy, Aaron, doing what he loves. Sherry said when he joined the Parker District Fire Department that Aaron has a servant heart. He has wanted to be in the fire service since he was a teen, and that dream came true a little over five years ago. (I wish he would lose the Spenser Stryder mustache, but he (and Sherry) like it.

Have you heard of the Mighty Network “Girls with Cameras”? I’m not sure how I found it earlier this summer, but it has helped me kickstart my love for photography. I’m working on getting back into a photography “habit” since I have gone into retirement.

This month the theme in the Creativity Group is Patterns, Textures, and Structures. We are exploring the idea of seeing patterns and textures in the world. I’ve been doing this for a while, actually, and one of the things I enjoy as subjects is the texture of things–peeled paint, tree rings, veins in leaves, flower petals. If there is a texture or a pattern, I’ll try to photograph it! I went exploring last week in the “back forty”–i.e. around the ponds and the backyard. We have had a fair amount of rain in the last week, and mushrooms and toadstools are popping up everywhere! The wood pile is growing as well, and the pines are loaded with cones. There are patterns and textures all over the place. I even tried to photograph the pattern of pond scum, but it didn’t turn out so well.

The other part of the challenge in the group is to find a pattern in the images and create a collage of images that either repeats the pattern or creates a pattern, such as a pattern of shapes, colors, subjects, and the like. I found some mushrooms in the side yard and the logs in the wood pile. When I went through my images, I noticed the pattern of colors and shapes. I created this triptych:

The colors are so similar. In fact, there are some other images that have the same color that I could use to create another collage. Yet, the more I look at the last image in the triptych, the more I’m wondering if it really fits. That’s the beauty of creating, though. . . . it opens up so many ways of seeing. Photography does that for me as well: it opens me up to seeing what is around me. Sometimes, it is the expected, but then sometimes, I find the unexpected. I didn’t get to take the photo, but a snake scooted across my path while I was out walking on Thursday. If I had just been walking, I’m not sure I would have seen the critter!

Another challenge I’m doing this week is Kim Klassen’s See the Sun challenge. The idea behind the class is to get out with the camera during the Golden Hours of sunrise and sunset (either/or or both) and capture the magical light of that time of day. Today was not ideal. It rained all morning, but cleared up for a while in the afternoon. I went for a walk about an hour or so before sunset. As I returned to the car to go to Sonic for supper, the sun was going down behind the clouds. I caught some of the reflections on the water of the lake.

I suppose you can also say that there are patterns of ripples in the water, especially in the foreground of the second sunset picture.

My third “challenge” in photography is the Photography and Self-Discovery class. I haven’t started the photos for that one yet. I’m still mulling over the lessons and prompts. One of the prompts is to take an absence portrait, one in which I am not a figure in it, but that still reveals who I am. That is taking some thought! I’m going to work on that this week. To tell the truth, I do not like to take selfies. I really don’t care to have my picture taken.

I’m going to share one last photo. I didn’t take it. It is of my grandmother, who passed away eighteen years ago, and I miss her still. She was 98 years old. This photo was taken when she was a girl in the 1920s. I think I might look a little like her! When she was a girl before she married my granddaddy and moved from Rincon, Georgia, to Chapin, South Carolina, she would drive for her elderly pastor and his wife when they went to Savannah. I think my grandmother was rather progressive for her time!

My mother says this was my father’s favorite picture of Grandma. Actually, I think my mother looks a lot like Grandma now.

I took the camera out for a walk yesterday. It was hot when I went out, but it wasn’t as humid as it could have been. It is July in the South, though, and heat and humidity are things we deal with–along with mosquitoes and gnats and other creepy-crawly things. . . . Fortunately, I did not have any of those things to deal with.

I’m signed up for too many online photo workshops and communities, but I have to admit that I do like the Girls with Cameras network. I’m finding inspiration there, though, and I’m experimenting with things. I tend to photograph nature subjects–flowers, plants, and the like, as well as landscapes, and scenic “vistas”–you get the picture (no pun intended, but well, it’s there).

An exercise in one of the workshops is to create a Pinterest gallery of images that I like–80 to 100 images. The next step is to pare that gallery to 10 to 20. This is the beginning to define my photographic style. My problem–I like a lot of different styles of photographs, but I don’t necessarily create photographs like the ones I have in the gallery. For example, I have lots of images of “portals”–doors and windows–with chipped or cracked and weathered paint. There aren’t too many places I go that have those kinds of doors and windows. I have pictures of interesting door knobs and latches. . . . I have pictures of flowers and other plants. There are pictures of architectural details. . . .

My other problem–if I see something else that I like, I keep adding to the gallery. I finally whittled down my initial 114 images to 23. I even went so far as create categories (this is SO not me–I am a global, big-picture girl, not someone who puts things in categories!) and then pulled out of each category the images I liked.

So what has this to do with my walk around the pond? I thought about the images that I collected, and the images that I made. Although I didn’t create a Pinterest gallery of my images, I tried to think about how my photos would fit into my gallery. I am far away from defining my style, but I am just beginning the process.