Month: June 2016

Early Summer Blog

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Everything is green. Our temps are in the eighties. There’s not a cloud in our bluebird sky as I type. The female deer have disappeared, preparing to have fawns that will dot my garden around July 4. (The little dude in the photo above is last year’s baby.) I’ve coated everything in DeerOff and am ready to launch a second offensive!

I’m still dealing with estate matters (which trigger emotions and memories best left behind) after the death of my mom a week before Christmas and dad in late April. But warm days and sweet, cool evening breezes ease every responsibility, making life a little less oppressive. I have a grip on eternity, but getting there was a battle.

The third manuscript is complete and edited; the fourth is in its last edit cycle. According to editors, daughter, and beta reader—tough critics, all—the third and fourth are the best yet: deeper character development, more accessible, clearly driven, engaging from the first page. And in the fall, when I’m fully back in the saddle after giving myself a beautiful summer to recuperate, I’ll begin to post teasers here.

It’s a bittersweet time—marching onward while trying not to trip over the past. And it’s Fathers Day. I refused to go to church to hear a sermon on King David—I don’t care what biblical scholars say, I’m over David and think he’s a complete loser.

0619161016 (1)Today I’ll garden. Work on my bike. (Guess which one is mine in the photo on the left.) Clean the golf clubs (Ping Eyes) I gave Dad thirty years ago and that returned to me when he couldn’t golf any more. I’ll breath hyssop. Hear the orioles’ (we have a nesting pair this year!) trilling song. Watch for the mountain lion in these parts.

And I’ll think of summer and Mom and Dad. And I’ll count my blessings—including you!

Keep calm and summer on!