The Garden, A Zoom Call and a Mystery

I have no idea how the Samsung training went between Chickie and DH yesterday. He didn't say a thing about it when he got home, just looked at the garden, deciding it should wait for water until this morning. Was that the right decision? Hard to say. We've had some real problems with the garden this year and he's very unhappy with it. But, on the bright side, my raspberries are at the beginning of ripening, and one of my tomato plants has already given me my first ripe cherry tomato. Generally, he may not be happy with the ornamental part of the garden, but I'm quite happy with my edible parts so far. 

My determinate cherry tomato plant is starting 
to have the first ripening fruit of the four 
tomato plants I have this year. I can hardly wait 
to have fresh tomatoes for my nightly salads. 

I had an 11:00 am zoom call yesterday, and built my day around it (aside from the usual Wednesday grocery shopping and three loads of laundry). At 4:00 am I had my usual phone call with my good friend in California - Aearwen - who has come through her Covid scare pretty well. She's still getting really tired easily, but she sounds SO much better. What a relief. 

Yesterday's Zoom call was a live check-in call with 
the founder of WildFit, Eric Edmeades. He's a bit 
older than this photo now - the beard is totally grey, 
but he's still a power and force, believing in all of 
us with all his heart. He lives in the Dominican 
Republic, and his power was going on and off, so 
it was an "interesting" video call. But I'm glad I 
was able to "attend". 

I was doing a quick check on my DW and LJ boards last night and got a notification that a long-time friend just unfriended me. Out of the blue. I'm quite shocked and disappointed. I'm going to write her and try and discover why. I'm mystified. Completely in the dark on this one. I'm quite upset at this one. I've been unfriended in the past, and I've done it to a few people in my past as well, but it's always been a last resort and there usually has been some sort of kerfluffle that led to it. I can't think of a single thing I did that could have caused this one. But life goes on. Friends lost and friends gained. 

Usually when I've been unfriended in the past, it's because 
of a kerfluffle in a shared platform. I don't think I've been 
saying anything super controversial lately, unless this 
friend decided they were tired of my mundane viewpoints. 
I have no idea, so I'll write her and maybe get an answer. 

I'm swimming today, and if my weather app is correct, I'll be swimming during the one hour of today when we'll have rain. We only get chased out of the pool if there is lightning, and this should just be rain, so I'll be surrounded by water. It's always unusual but rather fun to swim in the rain. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, Slava Ukraini. 

A Diversity of Friends to Celebrate

I'm still barely hanging on with my B2MeM stories, writing and posting them on the date that they are due. Today's is in the works, but only a few paragraphs are written so far. I need a bit more on the page before I post, or I'll have to change my format and see if I can warp my ideas into a drabble instead. No time to waste though, because I have my income tax appointment tonight and still have a list of things to get gathered for it. Today's going to be a busy day!

What is it with guys hanging off cliffs? When I
went searching for a good photo for this image, I
couldn't believe the number of pictures out there
of guys doing this. It would totally FREAK me out! 

I had to unfriend someone yesterday and feel terrible about it. She had done nothing wrong, and I had followed her posts for many years. But her posts were extremely long and never used a cut, so there was no way to run through them quickly, and on some days there were as many as 15 of them. I'm fighting time right now - I want to write, I'm doing inventory at the shop, I'm cleaning because it's Spring (or Summer, or Fall, or Winter), and I needed to hone my in-basket down a bit. So, despite the guilt, I messaged her, apologized and told her that I needed to remove her from my active list, and did it later that day after she responded. It will, in the end, be a relief.

Sometimes hard decisions have to be made. I hate
to unfriend people, but paths do diverge and people
do change over time. 

Lots of people have unfriended me over the years. They didn't agree with what I wrote or what I said. I am unapologetic about my hippie views, and I sometimes do step boldly into the fray on other occasions. I've missed the interchange between those people and me, but in the long run, life does go on. So even though I still miss some friends years after the fact, other friends have taken their places. One nice thing is that I've branched out and now also have friends who are not Tolkien enthusiasts, or writers or ... or ... or. These newer friends who have such different interests are interesting, even fascinating, people from all over the world and all walks of life. Sometimes it's nice to know there are people out there who don't get involved in the minutiae of JRRT.

I enjoy my LJ friends, and love their diversity
and their passion. They are intelligent, versatile,
artistic and creative individuals who make
my life better by sharing theirs with me. 

But thank goodness for my Tolkien friends. They are my foundation and the friends I've had for the longest time. There is something satisfying about digging into a volume of HOME to research one little fact, or discussing a single line in "The Silmarillion" and knowing that the people you're discussing it with know the book as well, or better, than you do. I'll lift my coffee in a toast to all of you later this morning.

It's never easy to open up to others. The fact that we
not only do that, but create vibrant communities of
people who have never met, or rarely meet in real
life is nothing short of amazing! 

So here's to friends - old, new, and yet to come. Take a look around you. Who are your long-time and new friends? What are their interests? Choose one today and message them. Tell them that they are important to you and that you  really enjoy sharing the days with them. Happy Wednesday! Enjoy!

Thoughts About Friendship

I've lost friends before. I've lost in-person friends to accident, disease, and distance. I've lost on-line friends to opinion differences, cyber-arguments, and changes of interest. I've been friended by hundreds and unfriended by some. Usually when that happens I feel a sense of sorrow or guilt. I wonder if I might have handled things differently, if I might have walked a different moral road, or been more open to ideas or expression, but not this time. No.

Where's the guilt? Where's the angst? No ... not this time. 

Yesterday I was unfriended by Mikononyte (still not sure of the spelling) and, frankly, I'm not sorry about this one at all. I immediately unfriended her in return and made sure she wasn't on my DW friend list either. Frankly, anyone who posts crap like: Not to disparage your ancestry or your sympathies, but I will say this (as I always do when someone pulls the "Pity the Jews" card), pushes every one of my "NO" buttons. And when I criticized her politely and other friends of mine took exception to her words (but still well within the boundaries of polite), apparently she took offense. Well, win some, lose some and some are better off lost. (Thanks to those of my friends who spoke up against her comments. *Hugs* to each and every one of you.)

I can pull up my big girl pants and carry on...

It was not her first time posting something that angered my f-list. About two years ago she posted something very negative about blacks and I was appalled. I had several of my friends PM me and tell me they had friended her because she was a friend of mine, but that they were ending it now. I understood their view and shared it. But I allowed her to stay a friend because I hoped that she might learn a bit of softness and kindness by reading and commenting, and because I knew she was going through some personal issues that I felt might have influenced her statement.

Just as in everyday life, you can choose your friends. I'm much
happier today than I was on Monday. 

Apparently I was WRONG. So, friend today, unfriend tomorrow. She is no longer welcome to graze in my pasture. And even though there are other friends who have become estranged from me, who I would welcome back with open arms, the gates are barred and closed to her.

And because I can't resist leaving you without something beautiful to see,
enjoy my art deco gates. They are open to my friends, closed to others. 

Today is Wednesday, today is drowning guppy day. I have a new swimsuit that is better suited to swimming laps, and I hope I don't make too ridiculous a fish in a pond full of sleek swimmers. I have tons of errands to do, my old dryer is being removed today leaving me a clean laundry area once again, and I'll finally have a chance to speak with Aearwen! Have a great day!

Writing, Reading and NaNoWriMo

I try to write something every day. It can be as mundane as just cranking through my blog for the day or as elaborate as working on one of the two novels that I've been working on over the past year, but I do try to make sure something gets written every day. That said - I also know that when it comes to writing my blog, this is not earth-shaking literature, so I'm always surprised when a "friend" decides to "unfriend" me.

I'm not really sure why I got my most recent unfriend from an LJ friend, but
things happen, people change, and I've grown way beyond this. Still...curiosity...

Now, I fully understand that people change. I know that tastes alter, that fandoms are entered into and pulled back out of, and that writing styles either click with people or not. I don't expect commentary on my posts, although it is always welcomed and responded to. But I am still amazed that people unfriend without giving reasons. I might not like the reasons or agree with them, but reasons are nice to get before getting an unfriend. One person who unfriended me almost two years ago said that she didn't like my writing style. That's a good and valid reason for her actions. Of course my style has changed over the past 20 months and the reason may not hold water any more, but at least that reason made sense and I respect her for that. So, if you ever decide to unfriend someone, you might consider giving a reason - just to assuage their curiosity. Or not...

In any case, to return to the question of writing, reading, and NaNoWriMo, I am writing something every day. I also read constantly, but I have something sitting on my chair to go to work with me that I haven't read before - at least not quite like this. Last night I finished printing out a hardcopy of the first half of my historical novel.

I love the quotations in many of the day squares.

Normally I don't want to waste paper to read something I'm writing. I'm a great believer in saving trees. But NaNoWriMo starts November 1 and I want to write the second half of this novel for my 50,000 words. In order to do that I need to get back into the world I was creating and the lives of my characters. I am also planning on switching from WriteWord over to Scrivener for my software platform, and I needed to reformat the chapters to rtf to facilitate that move. So I printed out "A Face in the Window" up to this point and put it into a three-ring binder so that I can start re-reading it again while at work. Yes, I could put it onto my Nook, but I think I'd rather read this one in hard copy. Looking at the binder and scanning the pages, I have to say that I'm impressed with what I was able to accomplish with the help of my on-line friends and supporters last year.

I could never have succeeded at last year's NaNoWriMo
without the help and support of my cheerleaders. 

NaNoWriMo, as I said above, starts on November 1st and, as last year, my schedule will be all topsy-turvy again. I'll be posting my blog at nights and working on my word count each morning. I usually don't do other writing during the month (although an occasional drabble may sneak through since they are such fun for me). But the novel MUST come first. So to get my 1000-3000 words a day, I'll be waking up, putting on my headphones, and writing until I have my wordcount. Then I'll answer my emails, and finally I'll post my blog. From last year's experience, that usually pushes my blog ahead by more than 12 hours but I still post it almost every day as I have for year after year.

Scheduling is everything for a successful NaNoWriMo. Since I need
to have things complete before Thanksgiving Day, my month is even
shorter than most participants. This year I'll have 17 days to pull out
50,000 words. 

I'm actually looking forward to NaNoWriMo again. I am not really sure why, since it is a ton of work, but I think it is because I really love this novel and I want to see it happen. So over the next few days I'll be reading last year's first half to get myself into the mindset of this year's future. I'm happy - I'll be immersing myself once more in my beloved Colorado mountains and that's all GOOD.

This is a picture of Silverton, Colorado. A bit south of where my novel is set, but
a nice view. It's still a very active town set high in the mountains. Such a
beautiful area with lots of winter snow and very expensive property values. 

Happy Friday to all my friends...