This was the sunrise a few days ago coming home from the gym. And below was the opposite direction. Lovely morning!
It was a busy week. The vet came to the house to check on Sadie’s foot and found a bleeding tumor. He will remove it here in his traveling clinic next week. I am so happy to be on his limited list of mobile animal care clinic customers. It is near impossible shoving the poor girls in crates and then hearing them cry all the way to the vet. And he is such a kind man.
And on Monday my wrench sign appeared on the dash board. I looked it up and it was a throttle problem…not getting gas. The manual said to take it to dealer quickly. So I did with one of the men coming to pick me up at the dealership to go back and have coffee. When I left it, I was told it might take a couple of days, but as soon as I got my coffee, they called to say they pushed it in early and I could pick it up after lunch because they had the part in stock. And my builder gave me a lift back to the dealership. I do live in a very considerate town. Such kindness.
I went to the poetry meeting here at the library and read another of my short but frank pieces that brought some laughter and very few, if any, suggestions on how to better write those thoughts down in poetry form. I did finally understand what a prose poem is and think that form will be good for a piece I am working on, titled, The Woods – a love story.
A children’s poet, Diana, from the poetry group followed me home to look at the finished story of Burke and Wills along with the placement of illustrations. We made very few adjustments to get the necessary “bounce” needed for children’s poetry and I consider the hard part finished! I also wanted Diana to read The Stoat Story to see if I should publish it. She found it a compelling page turner and loved the magic of it. She likened it to folktales. So next I pulled out The Fairy Book and the one with all the animals, bugs, and birds done in watercolor among the leaves in a book I bought from a contact printer in Australia. She thinks all of them should be published to reach a larger audience.
So went on Amazon and the KDP Publishing I used before. There is no way I can use the concertina form with them or other publishers. So that leaves turning separate pages. Plus KDP will only hardcover 75 pages or more. That forces me into soft cover children’s book formats that have to be 8″ square at the smallest since all the above mentioned books are much less than 75 pages. So now I know why so many children’s books look the same and are hard to distinguish from each other. I had wanted Burke and Wills in a 5 x 7 or 8 inch hardcover like the early children’s books from England…like Peter Rabbit.
I may have to resort to a Blurb print on demand that will be more expensive to buy but at least come close to what I have in my head. More eye numbing research is necessary.
All I need for Burke and Wills is a cover illustration…and that is the very best part of the project. They are so fun to draw!
And to finish off the week, I met a friend down in Georgia to look at an art exhibit and have lunch. The work was all collage work and I was pleasantly surprised how well thought out the images were. Of course my favorites had some actual drawing among the bits and pieces. So much “artwork” today has the appearance of an online course that results in such similar techniques and materials that it is hard to tell whose work is whose. But this was very diverse in the approach to collage imagery.
And then lunch. Right off the bat we were “carded” for requesting a chardonnay…seriously! Even my companion could not pass for 18 at just one glance. But asking me was a shock. I look every bit of my 79 years and should have been offered a free drink for just showing up at their restaurant. And I am facing this as I ask for that chardonnay!
Nice bar there. “You must be kidding!” was my response but soon found out that if I wanted that drink I needed to show my driver’s license. I asked the waitress to give an old lady time to find her wallet, locate the pocket that held the drivers license, and then fumble it out for her approval. She was not amused. The food seemed over-priced for what it was, but I was in a bit of different country down there, so maybe taxes are higher and staff is getting a decent wage for putting up with old ladies. To finish it off we had coffee with cream, no sugar. And here is how that arrived at the table.
Two tiny bowls with crossed large tablespoons. God only knows how the sugar would have shown up if we requested that. But I liked the atmosphere and especially the company. Brought leftovers home and didn’t have to fix dinner.
I think today is a good day for writing since now all washing and ironing is done. Now I will unload the dishwasher and fix something for lunch.
Til later…