Garden, Rain and London

Went for a walk in the rain last night. It was wonderful. There is a peace that comes from simple things. 

This is a flower blooming in my front garden. I took it from my childhood home before my parents moved a few years ago. This is the first year it has bloomed. Hail and errant basketballs annihilated them in previous years.

Still missing Chip, and Libby is still listless. Poor dog misses her friend.  My back is getting better every day.
And vacation to the mountains of Colorado is only two weeks away. 

Working on the second chapter of my second book. I have set goals for the next 20 weeks -- one chapter a week. I have not been great about reaching them, but inspiration has struck and I'm excited to write something new.  Edits on my first book are slowly edging forward. My editor is going to a writing conference in August and will bring my book with her. We shall see. 

Can't post without  pictures from London. Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. The city is full of beautiful old architecture. The building with the clock is from 1832

   

Chip

 Amidst all of the things that life brings, this week we had to put down our dog, Chip. He was thirteen and had lived a full life. But that doesn't matter. We loved him and he was a part of our family. My husband brought him home when my youngest son was eight years old. He had hip displasia, so it was hard for him to walk but that never really stopped him. We started by calling him Chocolate Chip, and from there Chip, then on to Dip which became Dippers, to Skippers to Skip to Old man. He answered to all of them. In the evenings, as my kids pet him, they would sing to him about how great a dog he was. How can one ever replace that kind of love. It can't be done and in a way it shouldn't. Our German Short Hair, Libby is sad. She has napped the last two days and looks everywhere to see where Chip is.

Nothing is new with writing. I'm still re-reading A Series of Scandals. I enjoy it but have very little to report.

So I went through my pictures once again and have posted a few from Paris. The Seine River as we crossed the bridge.

The Palace of Justice. People were lined up to go in.

Marie Antoinette was imprisoned there and it was built in 1240 and then began reconstruction in 1857.


Then there is Notre Dame and once again the Seine River.

Snow and Sunshine

From Winter to Spring in less than three weeks. Snow in the backyard that had our tree break in half and land on our neighbors car to spending the day in the mountains at our favorite spot. 

Columbines, Indian Paintbrushes and Mountain Lupine cascaded on the hillsides. Colorado Mountains are spectacular.  But the area surrounding the campsite is still recovering from the Hayman fire that happened in 2002. According to the Denver Post article written by Johns Ingold "By the time firefighters gained control of the Hayman fire — more than one month after it began — it had charred 137,760 acres in Park, Teller, Jefferson and Douglas counties, a footprint nearly twice as large as Colorado's second-biggest fire. On one day alone, it ran 19 miles. It put up a smoke plume so massive that it created its own weather."

I can remember that summer where ash rained down on us, our clothes, homes and cars  in the suberbs of Denver. The orange looking sun was hidden behind the hazy skyline of smoke all summer long.

 Another hard week with my back still giving me trouble. But even moreso as my sister, the one I traveled through London with lost her mother-in-law. As her husband and two sons along with others escorted their mother/grandmother's casket out of the chapel, my heart broke as her teenage sons broke down in anguish of heart.

It was a sweet service. So beautiful that it hurt especially as white doves were released and then circled around the cemetery until the last bird was released. And then they altogether flew out of our sight. Just as Marlene had.

While we were at the cemetery, we went to visit my grandmas. The three ladies that were cousins to my grandpa that took over raising my dad when his mother passed away when he was a teenager.

And now onto writing, I'm starting to plot scenes in my mind. New ideas are coming again. So I have great hopes of starting the process again. It's hard to start anew when I'm still re-writing the first book. Still mining for the right words to set the scenes the way I want them to look instead of how they actually are.

I have left my greatest news for the last. I have wanted someone from the UK to look at my blog for the longest time. To follow my journey of writing and life. Just this morning my first UK viewer came online. I can only assume they arrived by mistake and quickly left but the numbers are the numbers and someone from the UK opened my blog. Yay!!!  

A Wedding, Four Graduates and a Funeral

The first night in London was magical. Everything was new and after we ate at a local pub, then explored the city. 

In January, it rained quite a bit. But we were on vacation. What did we care?

The bus below is one of the many 
double-decker buses that we rode on to see the sites. A great way to get around.



The snowflake decorations were still up in Soho and we truly enjoyed the atmosphere as we walked through this area.

Now to writing. I haven't. Isn't that terrible to say when I devote this blog to writing. My back is still out. I work the best that I can during the day and then at night exercise or lay flat on my back watching TV. The pain is less then. I tried to go for a walk a couple nights ago and told my husband after only a few houses away that I had had enough.  But day by day, I know it is getting better. By 8 weeks, I should be back to normal. I'm only on week 2. This week is going to be busy. A funeral on Saturday and a wedding the following Thursday. Two family college graduation parties on the 4th of July and two eighth grade graduation letters to write.  

39 Steps

On our first full day in London, we bought tickets to the play, 39 Steps. 

That evening we had high hopes to see the Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller. Four actors playing 130 roles in 100 minutes. It was wonderful.

We happened to meet a tour group from Alabama. Our seats were in the balcony. But it made no difference. The actors were amazing in their ability to be believable in each role they layed.sometimes even two at a time.

I've not been able to write anything new this week. I threw my back out again, so I've just been in pain. It is amazing that when you are in pain, it is hard to focus on anything else but just getting through the next moment. I know it will get better and yet in the back of my mind, I think, what if it doesn't. What if I am in pain like this for the rest of my life?  What if I never write again?  

Burlington House

Looking outside from within Burlington House's courtyard was surreal. It was after 9 p.m. and my sister and I had taken a walk when we stumbled upon this magnificent piece of architecture. Less than a block away from our hotel we entered the courtyard. The only standing square left in place. It now houses the Royal Society, the Linnean Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry as well as the Royal Academy.  

This is where I am re-writing my 5th novel to take place. After seeing this structure and loving everything Regency, I am plotting their every move based upon the location of this building and the areas surrounding it. Which sounds easy. But it's like being there. I have to check the map every time my characters go outside. Which direction do they take and what is there. Not only there but would have been there back in the early 1800's.  

Summer time or I guess we are still in spring, is a hard time to write. There is so much to do. My family and I went for a day trip to our favorite spot in the mountains on Saturday. We enjoyed a picnic, fishing, playing cards and then a downpour of rain. It always rains in the mountains, but Colorado this spring seems to be rainier than ever. I don't mind the rain so much now since the sun has decided to come out every day.

      

Views of London

The sun is shining, and as I scan the skies and see only white clouds I am refreshed. But it will take some time for me to warm up. A month of greyness and rain has taken its toll. However, it has caused the backyard lawn and my flowers to flourish. The snow and hail left marks, but the sunshine is repairing it all. Little leaves are beginning to form on my geraniums and I feel the same way. Little by little I am coming alive. Although it was not a harsh winter by any means, the greyness lasted longer than I can remember .

         

This view is from our hotel room. And the next one is the side view from outside the Cavendish Hotel. I wish I would have taken a picture of the front of the Cavendish. But going through my pictures found I must not have taken any of it.

Along the streets of London, one minute we were walking and enjoying the scenery and in the next we had  become ensconsed in a protest. Fighting our way to become free of the route the protest was taking, we emerged to take this picture of the tail end of the procession.  The last picture is another wonderful example of great architecture from days gone by.   

My editor/sister believes my regency novel is ready to send out to publishers. And so this week also brings optimism that perhaps all the work we have done on this book may have brought it to a level that others might enjoy reading. To enter the world we've created and for a few minutes in time be transported back to a time of romance, intrigue and murder. 

She assures me it is a long process, but I'm ever hopeful.