My walk into town and back I pass this cherry tree.
And the close up of blooms.
Then the walk to and from tai chi I found the meadow full of dandelions.
Coming into Riverwalk where I live.
And the back yard after Eddie did some adjustments and replacements.
We are thinking that a nice curve of mulch, grasses and a red bud tree would be good going around to the left. It would connect to the side mulched area with new bushes that can withstand the sudden changes in weather.
And in the house I have added a twelve bottle wine cooler. My neighbor came over to unload it and place it in the house right where I wanted it and proceeded to plug it in, remove the tapes and say, “there you go.” She is seventy and super strong! I left a little bouquet of flowers on her porch this morning.
Another neighbor I took flowers to this morning gave me a lift to pick up my car from the repair shop. I thanked her profusely and her response was, “that’s what friends are for.” I am happy to say there are friends here in this neighborhood.
A fellow came over this week to show me an interesting root ball someone gave him to turn on his lathe. He wanted to know what I thought about how he could proceed. It was good to be asked about his project and we had a very good visit talking about wood working and teachers of the craft. He gave me this trivet that he turned.
It is a cloudy day so a good one for writing. The laundry is finished and put away. Grocery shopping done. Chocolate bunnies and black jelly beans have appeared in the mail. I received the first proof of Scrabble and decided the images were too dark, so I redid them and am now waiting to see the new proofs.
In less than two weeks I will be part of a panel discussing self-publishing. I can only convey my own experiences and why I chose the way I did to see some of my writings in print for others.
I received this a few days ago.
Dear Sandy,
As most of us treasure the hand-written word and postage now it is so rare I was tempted to bring out my fountain pen from hibernation. Why? because I have just re-read the entire canon of your recently published works and had to respond.
I keep the elegantly bound stash beside my bed in London and this morning just completed reading the last chapters again.
March this year has been wetter than usual and dark. February was awful and getting out of bed harder in the mornings. So I read and what pleasure your work gives me…….
Sandy, you have a great gift as a creator of stories, images, creations of delicate, earthy textures/colours. You describe the monotony of daily existence in these potentially moribund communities dependent on Church and gossip yet glimpsing joy and colour around the edges, always a humanity and compassion, never mean spirited.
Australia comes to life for me……Had I recognised your talent of observation I may have behaved myself better. YOU SEE EVERYTHING and can reproduce it accordingly.
Thank you so much for keeping my memories alive. I wish I had written this by hand but then you would discern my character as nothing is hidden from you.
Isn’t that a lovely letter to receive? She makes me want to keep my pen pushing along the page. She makes me feel that what I write matters. Other than positive input at the poetry meetings/critiques and one of the guys telling me he keeps a copy of my short stories in the guest bathroom, I get next to no comments on what I have written. But those wonderful friends in Australia continue to tell me how my writing is appreciated by them. And tonight at exactly six-thirty my time they will make their annual call to catch me up with show and tells of what they have made in workshops and the few days afterwards where we all worked on our own, in our own spaces, with materials and stories that needed telling in visual forms. I am so lucky to have them checking in throughout the year, but this is something really quite special. A nice Aussie red to celebrate with them.
And finally Sadie and Dilly…two who are quite happy to hear me read aloud.
Til later….
