Thursday, July 26, 2007

Thursday 13: Summer Mish Mash

1. What could be more colorful than picking up and plotting out the annuals that will be planted in the yard? These made it to the ground more than a month ago, but it was so much fun to look at them all lined up, like our very own garden center.

2. Here's the front of the garden, with all its potential just beginning. This was taken more than a month ago also. Now it's fuller and messier.

3. Ms. Stella, relaxed, into cookies and chicken, and a pretty fine companion for all circumstances.

4. Do you recognize the artist? This gem is taken from Ces' painting of JB and me. Imagine the good fortune to have such a talented friend?

5. These are my grandparents. My father never knew his mother because she died when he was very young. I remember my grandfather, who lived next door, as a nice man with gruff hands. He was a mason and when I knew him he was making cement birdbaths for the whole neighborhood. (Anon: see, birds run in my family....)

6. I'm proud of this. This is the shade garden in the front of the house. I kept it simple and with little modesty I can say it came out great.

7. Columbine from the garden--a magical plant.

8. I have shifted from writing per se to marketing my writing per se. I am trying to be organized about it, each week holding myself to certain preparations and submissions. It's funny how my mind tells me not to expect much and my heart doesn't dare hope at all. Never-the-less, I am not going to let negative thinking or fear stop me. So until further notice I am submitting.

9. After two years of back and forth with my agent, I am for the first time on my own shopping my writing. I am used to setting up businesses and marketing but this is something else again. See # 8 for my current status.

10. Tonight I joined two of my friends at a horse fair. They prepared appetizers for a group of horse and carriage riders. Then we were able to drive into the fairgrounds where i saw the most stunning, handsome, musularly trim horses. I haven't ridden since I was a teenager, and I was always a scardy cat on a horse, but man, are they beautiful creatures. I'd like a relationship with a horse...

11. When JB is away for work for a night or two, I tend to be messier in the house. I wonder how I would keep my surroundings if I were alone? It's good to have another person for motivation in things like this.

12. I am spending my weekend with a six month old doll for the first time in 29 and 1/2 years. I don't quite know what to expect, but I think it will be all good.

13. In mid August, jb and I are having an art fair in our yard. We asked our friends and neighbors if they join in the fun of selling, buying, or just showing. So far we have someone making wooden birdhouses, knitted scarves, quilts, decoupaged watering cans (JB), art calendars (my good friend with the first initial of "C"), homemade soaps and jams, antique salt shakers with fresh flowers in them, oil paintings, kid's art, tarot card readings (yours truly), hair and nail design, instant carnival-type photos, and I'm sure other interesting offerings. Then we are throwing a backyard party into the night.

21 comments:

  1. OH you DO have birds in the family KJ! Beautiful garden(s) and good luck with marketing, art fair, weekend doll sitting and partying (you have the skills)!!!!

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  2. anon, the truth is i had a parakeet named crystal starlight (chris). he lived to an old age and when i would cover him at night i would say "chris, i don't ever want to uncover you and find you dead on the bottom of your cage".

    so guess what he did, anon? he died sitting up, leaning against his food tray.

    thanks for all the encouragement. i'll party in the yard with my weekend doll and maybe i'll market his scribblings....

    :)

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  3. Ohhhhh! I don't know whether to laugh or cry KJ! That's about Chris AND what you plan to do in your yard ... :)

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  4. you have to laugh, anon. i've already been admonished by ces not to make you cry.

    :)

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  5. The art fair really sounds like a good idea!
    Good luck with that.
    Love the shade garden as well!

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  6. Oh your garden's beautiful! I love the colorful flowers.

    Good luck spending the weekend with Mr. Ryan. Take lots of photos so we can see how it turned out. I think you're going to have such a great time.

    That art fair sounds like THE place to go to. :D

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  7. Your shadegarden and the assorted potplants are super, KJ. A great place to sell and buy the nice things you mentioned. If I lived a bit nearer...I certainly would come by to empty a full wallet :-)

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  8. "and I was always a scardy cat on a horse, but man, are they beautiful creatures. I'd like a relationship with a horse..."

    REALLY?

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  9. I really agree with #11. I wonder what my life would be like without Mike around. He's the motivation to keep the not-as-nice parts of myself in check.

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  10. pieterbie, nice to hear from you!

    menchie, yes, we will take pictures. i wonder how my son-in-law will feel aboutpink nail polish? (just kidding....)

    wieneke, the limits of the blogs, because i very much wish you could come to the art fair, full wallet and all. :)

    ces, haha. thanks for a big smile i readily welcomed!

    liz, i know i would make the bed every day. and empty the dishwasher. and have clean bathrooms. beyond that, i have to wonder...

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  11. Awww! Crystal Starlight was a sweet dear friend indeed! Wheres my box of kleenex...I cant remember the rest of my comment.....

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  12. Lovely color in your potted plants ... I love flowers!!

    Good luck on your marketing ... it's a numbers game so don't give up! I can't wait to see your name on the NYT list. ;-D

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  13. http://babelfish.altavista.com/

    will help you to understand my posts. It is a very literal translation and certainly not too reliable but it is the best I can find so far.
    All the best!!

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  14. The garden pictures are lovely! You were working on that wonderful shade garden when Jol & I drove up to your house! I am so glad you're putting good energy into marketing your writing - you have such a true voice and the things you write about reach the heart in a special way. Good luck taking care of Ryan - it will be an adventure and a treat, I'm sure. Relationship with a horse? As in Catherine the Great? No, no, no! And... we are soooo looking forward to the YART party!

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  15. What an awesome way to throw a party,You girls got it going on! And the setting is magazine perfect! Your gardens are glowing!

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  16. I'm back! After sequestering myself from blogs and half the media out there ... I was worried that I would accidentally hear about the end of HP. I finished last night ... what an amazing book, a stupendous series. These photos are lovely and I just love Miss Stella! :) You've done a superb job with your gardens and I'm proud of you for all the work you are doing with your books. Inspiring!

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  17. lavender, hahaha. you and i would cry together at movies. i can tell!

    bibi, thanks for the support. it means alot alot alot coming from you!

    wieneke, i use this translation all the time, but lately it has been stubbornly unhelpful. i don't know why. but i will figure it out.

    carla, we are examples of friends born from blogging. i'm glad. thank you also for your support of my writing. as for mr ryan, we are so smitten. as for the yart, it should be a blast. i wish andrea would be here too....

    singleton, the art fair was jb's idea. it looks to be awesome. it's turning out to be not just "art"--my twelve year old friend is baking cookies for it and another friend, a golfer, is going to teach whoever how to putt. as for me, i'll be reading the tarots for $ 5 a shot--money that i will use to shop at the art fair--the best kind of circular economy. wanna come?

    melissa, ah, you and i are writers.... :)

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  18. I hope the flowers will be in full bloom when I come to give Stella a big hug!

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  19. ces, my ego wants the flowers to be in full bloom. i'm not sure how things will look, i'm really not. but i can tell you this: stella is waiting for that hug. and she plans to lick you a kiss right on the lips. she told me so.

    :)

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  20. Just my kind of random post, filled with the kind of things that make life great. Thanks.

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  21. KJ, your garden is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! We can't easily grow flowers like that here. That's one thing I don't like about summer in Phoenix. Any flowers planted would get burned alive.

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