done!

52,000 + words, and 2 days to spare.
It's ugly; it's unfinished; it's definitely a very, very, VERY ROUGH draft, but it's DONE!

Third time must be the charm.
And the saddest part?
I still don't have a title.

crazy, crazy chickens

Our little ones have started laying.
And they lay ALL OVER THE PLACE!
It's insane!

 So we sit IN the garage, on TOP of the brooder box, KNOCK OVER a feed bag, and then:

 lay the egg inside the bag.

 

Not crazy enough?

Then how about one in the middle of the yard?

Or behind the bagged tent in the corner of the garage?

Still not bizzrre enough?

Okay, we'll hide one between the food bins and a wooden board.

Sigh. Dear chickens, don't you know that's what the nesting boxes in your hen house is for?





awesome

We came out of church one Wednesday night as the sun was setting, and this was the view we met. The sky was darker than normal because of the incoming storms, but this one set of clouds was lit up in the same way the moon reflects the sun. And the crazy thing? The moon wasn't anywhere near it. The sun was in the opposite direction, so it wasn't the sunset lighting up the clouds. It was cool and creepy at the same time.

Job 5:8-10   New King James Version (NKJV)

⁸ “But as for me, I would seek God,
And to God I would commit my cause—
⁹ Who does great things, and unsearchable,
Marvelous things without number.
¹⁰ He gives rain on the earth,
And sends waters on the fields.

quilting lecture

A few weekends ago (Aug 18) I joined a friend (Charlotte Shaw) in heading to Loving Stitches quilt shop in Fayetteville, NC.  I've been to this shop several times during the Carolina Quilt Stash Dash (you buy a passport and get coupons to all the quilt stores within half a day's driving distance, and for every store that stamps your passport during that week, your name is entered in a drawing. If your passport is full, you turn it in and get entered in a grandprize drawing. It's a fun way to pull money out of quilt fanatics.) but had never been during a normal day.

I've always been impressed with this shop. It's practical, it's patriotic, the owners are Christians and make no bones about it, the store has a neat layout (though not fully accessible) and their class schedule always looks interesting.

They offered a Saturday lecture on the use of quilts in the Underground Railroad, given by Hattie Schmidt, who is recognized by the Smithsonian as a quilt historian. It was interesting and entertaining, but she talked more about African quilts and artwork and slavery than she did the topic matter. And for me that was a little disappointing.

 Some of the quilt blocks she used during her 30 minute Underground Presentation (out of a 3hr lecture). One thing I learned: In the log cabin blocks (the first 2), the color of the center square indicated what time a slave was to leave on the journey north (indigo for night, yellow for daytime, orange for sunset). I don't know what the third one was, but the last one, called a bow tie, symbolized a place where slaves could go to get clothes, as if they were in their slave garbs they would easily be recognized.

 And while I'm familiar with these blocks, she didn't tell what they represent. (Diamond, bear claw, wagon wheel an dI don't know the name of the last one)

 She grew up in Wilmington, NC and this was a really cool quilt that she made. The stripes of fabric and the colors are all very common in quilts made by African-American women, but she used photographs from segregated Wilmington. In the right of this photo, the top building is the first colored hospital, and the brick building directly under it was its replacement, where she was born. One of her relatives is in the nurse's uniform beside it, and she worked there.

 An African piece of fabric. This is not woven, but the dark color is actually made by placing mud on top of the fabric and leaving it to dry out in the sun for several days. The chemicals from the mud basically dye the fabric. Some of the group who know about printing fabrics were most intrigued by this piece of material.

 



And the above quilt is one of hers. The pattern is an Irish Chain, which is usually done two colors. I've always loved this pattern, and it was totally fascinating to see how making it with patchwork totally changed the look of the quilt. Making it even livelier was her applique in the centers of the white pieces. She used African symbols to go along with her African prints, and it truly looked like a new pattern. I found it very creative.

 



It was a good day, and I was thankful to have a friend ride along with me, even if the lecture strayed quite a bit from its topic!

break time

There have been SO many posts I've wanted to write this past week but simply haven't had the time. (I'm taking a 10 minute break).

This upcoming week is the last week for Camp NaNoWriMo.
A) I can't believe it. Where has this month gone?
B) I can't believe it. I think I'm actually going to make the 50,000 word deadline for the first time EVER!
C) I can't believe it. I may not be finished with the story when I hit 50,000 words. Who'd a thunk it?

I've really enjoyed/appreciated the ability to do this during the month of August. I've tried November twice, and never come close (7,000 words the first year and 2,500 the 2nd year), so when they opened up the challenge for the summer, I was pumped. August is not a crazy month for us, unlike the winter months, and I was very careful not to plan too much on my calendar.

I thought if I made it this far I would either be excited because I have a work in progress, or I would be devastated because I have a very sorry rough draft. I'm excited because I'm reaching the end, will make the mark, and at this point I honestly don't care (in a good way, not flippantly) whether or not I ever do anything else with the manuscript. I hope to work on it a little in September and October until I feel the storyline is not quite so rough, but after that I plan to stick it in an envelope, put it in a drawer, and leave it for quite some time. Maybe by that point I'll have a fresh and better perspective on the manuscript.

So when I finish the manuscript, or the end of this week, whichever comes first, I hope to share some of the following things:
a reminder of why I don't always like people
wildlife
heart stuff
dog stuff
quilt stuff
refreshing parenting observations
my September challenge

until then, Happy Writing!

a reminder

Some good things have been happening in my hometown lately:

• a news promotional piece highlighting the Auburn University students who have volunteered their summer, time and energy and made Cordova an engineering project. They've developed plans for downtown that incorporates flood plains, and they're also underwriting all the grant projects. 
• a manufacturer of playground equipment is donating some playground equipment similar to what they have at White Deer Park, since all their antique swingsets and broken down jungle gym was destroyed
• a group has taken on the Veteran's Memorial (which was only a few years old when the tornado hit it) and have raised about 1/4 of the money needed to replace it

So I guess all of these activities has me thinking a lot about the tornadoes and the horrible changes my hometown has faced this last year and a half. There are plans to re-open the grocery store in a new location. It's now a matter of when and not if.  Last week when had sevearl bad storms and some fairly fast-paced clouds moving, my mind instantly went back to childhood tornado drills and then my hometown.

And that's when I saw this:

This photo doesn't do it justice, but I needed this reminder, so very much. It made my heart sing. As that old spiritual our choir sometimes sings goes:

No, we are not alone.

We are not alone.

God is with us.

He is with us.

Forever and ever,

We are never alone.

No, not alone.



childhood friends

Occasionally I will be startled to open the garage or porch door at night and see something move.



As a child, I thought frogs were the cutest things in the whole wide world. I played with them. I made them mud (Alabama red clay) houses with multiple rooms. I tried my best to convince my mother to let me have one in an aquarium. Kids in books had them. But it was to no avail. She never once agreed, and somewhere along the way I began to find them squeemish and unpleasant to hold.

A friend of mine at Raindrops on Roses is doing a photography challenge. One of the items she was to photograph for the week was something outside. And the very night I read that I saw Mr. Froggy, and he didn't hop away. He even graciously waited for me to go inside and get the camera, photograph him a few times from the back, and then didn't move while I walked around Bobby's van to capture his front side. It's not often nature cooperates in such a wonderful way.

And for the curious soul: No, I didn't pick him up. I wasn't even tempted. I just let him hang out and continue feasting on pesky bugs.