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On my walk to the river the other day.

And then going back to the dam in mid morning two days later.

And crossing over the bridge of the river at the dam that becomes the river from up above. Lovely to be back at both places putting one foot in front of the other. I collected sticks and mosses for my front entry.

Then Friday night was the chili contest on the square. We each get a sample from all the ones who entered and then vote for our favorite. One of the guys from the coffee group was there with his. Most of them were pretty good. Some just too hot for this old palette pf mine. Nice to see so many come out.

Friday lunch here with a few other artists was very good. So nice to have them to talk to. We won’t meet again until after the first of the year because of the busy holidays coming up.

Both of the proofs came for the books. I need to rework them color-wise and also the size for the Stoat Story.  The dyed leaf prints with graphite drawings throughout make it hard to reproduce. Later today friends come over to share red wines and I will ask their opinion on how to proceed with the layout, etc.

The white cover and cute font just aren’t what I was hoping for on the Burke and Wills book, so changed both. I also needed to adjust color on some of the images. So much time can be spent on getting what looks like it might work. I will get it sorted and then order two more proofs.

Better get going and prepare my charcuterie board…..

Til later….

Another beautiful morning on Monday. Then lunch with a friend and getting to a quilt show here in town. It is a traveling exhibition of quilters working during the shut down of Covid times. The work was much more serious in the inspiration of the makers. There were fewer quilts than the last time (2018) that this exhibition came to town. Not so many done with the idea of being pretty to look at. By putting in the code number on my Iphone I could hear in their own words about their inspiration and process. So here are some of the ones exhibited.  Inspirations being migration, peace, immigration, gun violence. It was good to see this much passion translated into cloth.

Melancholia by Linda Colsh

Fire Season detail by Dorothy Raymond

Blessed Are the Peacemakers detail by Susan Price

November 9th 1946 detail by Gabriele Ditota

Testimony of Yazmin Juarez by Ivy Sandz

Fifty-Eight by Lisa Jenni

These are only a few that caught my eye.  None were very big. I miss the large quilts that made you feel comforted by their size and yet confronted with their messages.

As  I was getting into my car in the rain, the color through the trees seemed very fall like.

And in my own yard, the dogwood was lovely in the morning sun.

Then I worked to a state of cross-eyed-ness on getting The Stoat Story in a size and format that fit the images and text. My proof for this one will be here on Sunday…which probably translates to next week.

This should do it for a while. I will let you know when they are officially published on Amazon.

Friday a few artists come over for lunch here and talk about what we are doing…hopefully what is mattering to each of us enough to put in a visual form.  It will be good to talk to people who hold brushes, mix paints, and maybe, just maybe, thread a needle.

Today I hacked up old shirts and pieced them with other shirts so they would be more interesting. Interesting and disguise spills of whatever did not make it to my mouth.

Dorinda, the new baker on the corner where we meet for coffee now has some of my recipes. She had to order golden syrup and barley malt to make The Second Best Malted Cookies I Ever Ate (she wanted the recipe for the best but I said I was sworn to secrecy and even my kids do not have that recipe), Anzac Cookies, savoury scones and cinnamon scones, which she is selling quite well. Today I brought home one of her latest quiches for lunch…delicious!

Time to take a walk. Yesterday I went to the river near here and it was wonderful. Brought home some sticks and moss.

Better get going.

Til later…

Just to keep things in order, here are some morning photos coming back from the gym. The first is a sliver of the moon with Venus off to the right and down a bit. Beautiful mornings.

And the bales of hay all rolled up between here and the gym. They smell so good when freshly packed in rounds.

I went to the local wine tasting with the builder and two of his building buddies this past Monday evening. It was fun and I am getting used to a room full of people. The best part was seeing the realtor who sold Lee and me our first piece of property back in 1988. We had a good chat and catch up of all those years since.

The tables are set up with the seating arranged and then the delicious small portions of a meal are brought forth with each wine sampling. Wines from Spain this time.

I only had time to photograph the first appetizer.

As for the rest of this week, I have been trying to get Burke and Wills in a 5″ x 8″ page format. There are twenty color illustrations and the cover image here.

I wanted a certain font that fit the story and then the laying out with illustrations in different sizes was also a challenge. But now the cover and 48 page manuscript is sent off to KDP Publishing with Amazon. The book will be priced $12 here in the states and vary in other countries. But first I need to see the proof and make sure I did not screw anything up. After a while of making corrections on a laptop, you begin to wonder where you are in the muddle.

The vet came to the house and removed Sadie’s small tumor. Now Dilly won’t talk to her because she has a hot punk bandage on her leg. And Sadie won’t talk to me because I keep trying to pin her down to take the bandage off. I will call a neighbor to help me get the job done.

Today I cleaned the porch, did laundry, finished editing the book, and made Anzac cookies. I will take some to the bike shop owner with another jar of Vegemite on Monday. I have given several recipes to the woman now baking in the shop where we meet up for coffee. Every morning she has a nice assortment to tempt the boys, MJ and me. Her quiches are excellent! And then there is her Apple Cider French toast with brioche! Not to mention the pumpkin/cream cheese muffins and assorted turnovers and fruit breads.

I do live in a very nice community.

Tomorrow windows will get washed first thing. That and laying out The Stoat Story for an Amazon release.

Better go and call that neighbor.

Til later….

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…