Writing and Colorado

Falling leaves, colder nights, chilly mornings fall is here to stay. How long will it be before winter shows its bleak and dreary head?

Surprisingly, I am still working on the first chapter of my second book and still editing my first book.

What have I been doing?  That is a very good question.

I guess  . . . bringing in my summer plants
to keep them alive until next spring, doing laundry (which I love), going to see my nieces and nephews that are seniors play volleyball and soccer. Getting care packages out to my nieces and nephews in college. Getting away for the weekend with my husband, going to see my dad (80 years old) perform in a musical show. Taking long walks with my husband on the weekends and shorter walks in the evenings. And then, of course, working during the days.  

Are those good excuses, no. .  . but again I resolve to find the time to work on that chapter. So by next post I will have great news. I will write I am working on Book 2 Chapter 2. . . . maybe

Colorado and Uncle Dee

Summer is almost over and fall is near. Winter looms around the corner. But ever since January, winter has set in. Of being frozen inside events and situations that I have no control over. I know that my writing has taken on a new hue also. I see things differently. I feel things that I've never felt before. 

I miss my great uncle. I miss his voice. I miss seeing him. I miss his interest in everything I did and of asking about everyone I know. I miss hearing about other relatives and I miss his smell. The other day I caught a whiff of that smell but it faded quickly. I know he is happier in heaven than he has ever been here, and still I can't stop missing him. 

The first two pictures are from Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the one on the right is in Glenwood Canyon. Colorado is a wonderful place to live. Full of so many beautiful sights. 

Today, my husband and I went for a boat ride. Cherry Creek Reservoir is a wonderful recreation spot right inside Denver. The sun was hot, the water cold. My husband fished and I read a book. Very relaxing.  

     

Colorado

In real life, unlike books, when faced with a major decision - it overtakes all your thoughts. 

In a book when the heroine faces the unknown, she comes up with plans. Usually faulty plans especially at the beginning of the book. By the end her plans come together much better after, of course, discovering something about herself and about a few other people within her close circle of friends.



The problem with life is that one doesn't know when one chapter is starting and the last chapter is finished. It is more of a liquid free-flowing thing than that displayed in the finite pages of the book. 



With the death of so many people that either I or my family are acquainted with, put together with friends that I've known for close to a decade have moving away -- puts me in the oddest mood. Not fearful, not anxious, sad or glad, just in a more reflective state of mind. For the most part, I am not able to change anything which helps. I react but even that seems unimportant. 

Summer is ebbing. Time waits for none of us. It moves on and we with it.  

The pictures above are from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on a boat tour of the canyon. The one to the right is Eldorado Canyon outside of Boulder. I'm a Colorado native and have never been to either canyon before. If you want to see breathtaking sights  The plains, farmland, rivers and mountains, then Colorado is the place to be. 

Life and Colorado

Today when I took the little girls I watch to school, it was chaotic. It was the 3rd day of the first full week of school and kids were crying everywhere. Kids were screaming "Noooo!" One boy was running. A little girl was  having a breakdown in her Mommy's arms. 

I realized as I stood in the throng of parents making sure their child was in the right line and were intermixed in those lines that life is a series of moments where we are resistant to change. Those around us try to rally us with support, well-wishes and prayers, but we actually have to do the standing in line and wait for the door to open alone. 

I feel like I've waited years for some doors to open and then only minutes for others. Sometimes especially when I was younger I was through the door and embarking on something new without even being aware of it.  

I loved getting married, I loved having kids. Both of those doors have changed me and continue to change me every day. They were good doors that I love.

I didn't really care for the door of being in multiple car accidents that continue to give me pain.

I have enjoyed doors of friendship that have opened and closed. I am sad when death has closed doors that no longer allow me to see good friends.
  
I loved the door my sister opened when she invited me to London last year. I loved walking through that door and I love looking at the pictures and being transported back there.  

I love the door that being born into my family and married into my husband's family that makes being with my parents and siblings feel like I'm home. 

The door so far to publishing my first book has been closed. Maybe forever and firmly or maybe just for a time. It's a hard door because I feel like I've worked so hard on something and it has been for nothing.  I say that but at the same time realize that I will continue to write even if no one but family ever reads my work. 

And so I start again wondering what doors will be opened or closed this week, this month, this year. I know I can trust God through these openings and closings, and so I start today refreshed and renewed amid the ever changing landscapes.