Office du Jour - Thursday 5/18/2006

I had a very difficult day on Wednesday. I wrote for about 4 hours, struggling to keep my concentration and not always winning. Only got a few decent paragraphs, but it was some progress. Then I managed somehow to save an old version over everything I’d done and wiped out all of the day’s writing. Gave me a stomach ache.

So on Thursday I had my morning telephone chat with my mother, and then took myself off to Panera to write. Worked there for an hour and a half, then ran an errand, then had a wonderful Mexican lunch while reading a novel. Barnes and Noble was closed due to a power outtage, so I went to Starbucks, where I could actually plug in my laptop, whose battery was getting depleted. Worked there for another 2 hours.

Yes, on Day 6 of my 9 day vacation, I hit my stride. Had a good day of consolidating and moving things around. I have realized that when I get stuck in writing it’s often because I don’t know which choice to make for the characters or the plot. What I have to do is decide to chose one and move on it, and be willing to scrap it. Better to write something that you can’t use than not to write at all.

Please remind me of this the next time you see me gnashing my teeth in frustration.

So, after all that. This photo is of my office on Thursday. The Starbucks in Palmdale.

Full body shot - Bonus #3 5/17

Any birders out there? Can you confirm my call that this is a gnatcatcher??

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New Tenant - Bonus #2 5/17

What’s going on down there?

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New Tenant - Bonus 5/17/2006

When we bought this silly little log cabin bird house a few years ago and put it on the front porch, I never thought we’d actually get somebirdy to live in it. I suspected we had a tenant yesterday, because there’re sticks and stuff inside. Today: confirmation!

I think this is a gnatcatcher. She’’s very small and cute, and was enjoying picking the leftover ants off the trellis where the hummingbird feeder is. (She shares the same porch post with the trellis, a star jasmine, and the hummer feeder. Not a bad neighborhood.)

We seem to be having uncommonly good bird-luck this year.

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Hummingbird Feeder - Wednesday 5/17/2006

I hung this yesterday, but had to re-hang it today. The hummingbirds haven’t found it yet, but the ants did. They were climbing from a leaf onto the base of it! Ugh. Had to use the drill and everything to rehang it.

That’s the Granny Smith apple tree in the background. It’s blooming right now, and smells wonderful.

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Hacking at the yard - Tuesday 5/16/2006

In my defense, we don’t have a lawn mower. We have a pretty small yard. This was the last part I mowed with the weed whacker, and the brownish stripes where I’d cut too close began to develop by the time I got to show it off to D, who usually does this job. Ah, well. It looks trim from the road, anyway.

D built this wall and steps a few years ago on his vacation. Opens up the yard so much. Impressive work, I think.

Organic Weed Killing - Monday 5/15/2006

I read that you can kill weeds by pouring boiling water over them. Besides not liking to use pesticides in general, we feed birds in this area and it’s adjacent to my organic backdoor herb garden

I tried vinegar last week on part of the patio, but it’s a little smelly. It took 4 kettles full of water to cover the whole area. It’ll take a few days for them to die back, I think, and then I’ll easily dig ‘em out.

Sock Monkey Detail - Sunday 5/14/2006

Wearer’s eye view of my pajamas, which I stayed in until about the middle of the day. Aaaaah.

No plans except to call my mother and wish her a happy day. And let her know that I am thoughtfully extending her Mother’s Day celebration by not getting her gift in the mail. Ahem.

I did go out and about later in the day and bought a few much-needed items of clothing.

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Enjoying the View - Saturday 5/13/2006

A moment of calm before D and I set out for our busy but fun day. This is where Dodger and I sit to write and contemplate these days. My studio gets too hot in the summer.

Drove about 100 miles to have lunch out with D’s family, then a bit further south to hang around at their house until it was time to go to Pasadena for an evening birthday party. Dancing!

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Winning Hand - Thursday 5/11/2007

A pair of quail! On our deck. These two seem to have decided our place is a good hangout.

[What’s up with 43Things? Half the stuff I tried to post last Thursday and Friday went missing.]

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Vrrrroooom! - Friday 5/12/2006

D flew in a B-17!

I’d read a little article in the Los Angeles Times last weekend about Wings of Freedom being in Long Beach. They had a little notice that they’d be in Lancaster, just 20 miles from us, this week.

Well, the planes aren’t getting any younger, and the price of running them is rising as fast as gas prices, so I encouraged D to take the ride. We went out Friday afternoon and I was able to walk through it before it took off. A bit too pricey for both of us to do, but this was a dream come true for him, and I was happy to stay on the ground and take photos. The grin on his face when he deplaned was completely worth it!

The B-17 is the one on the right.

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