Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I spent a goodly portion of it outside battling the encroachment of the woods on my perimeter gardens, all the while singing to myself, "I fought the woods, and the woods won." I'm telling you, I have never seen a place where things grow like this. I grew up in California. Things grow well in California, but NOTHING like here. I can only guess that it has to do with the level of humidity.
In the early 1900's nearly all of New Hampshire was farmland -- clear cut and treeless. Now? Now you can't see fifteen feet in front of you for the jungle that exists everywhere.
Still, the good news is that stuff grows here. My peony's bloomed yesterday!
You knew I had to post pictures of my flowers, right?
We also feed the teeming wildlife out back. It makes for quite a rodent soap opera every evening when I put out the squirrel food. Our chipmunks all have names, of a sort. I managed to get pictures of two of them. Here's Rocky (aka "rock wall chipmunk"):
And this is GT (aka "gas tank chipmunk" - yes it lives in an old gas tank):
I was unable to get a picture of Rodeo (aka "Rhododendron chipmunk") and SS (aka "swing set chipmunk"). They're a lot of fun to watch. GT is a toughie and chased everyone away, including the red squirrels. Rocky gets preferential treatment and is fed a handful of food at his hole, so he doesn't have to fight as hard at the feeder. DD loves them all.
In writing news, I managed to add more words to my novel. I have a satisfactory query and synopsis (four pages -- how can one possibly write a one page synopsis?) and once the story has been edited for stupidity -- taking out the "that"'s and changing the "it"s to actual nouns and checking for over use of passive voice and gerunds, it'll be ready to go! Woo!
I also received what I hope are final edits on my Sweetheart Rose, "Magic". Fingers crossed, that one should be available soon. I (heart) my Sweetheart Rose editor, Leanne. She's awesome.
Once I get this novel submitted, I need to work on more short stuff. I haven't written anything new in quite some time and I miss it. Then, it's time to either finish my mystery (which is at 35,000 words) or edit another completed novel (I'm leaning toward "Playing House", for those of you in the know).
BTW, in regards to yesterday's post -- we got lots of review requests, but no volunteers for guest reviewers. C'mon... remember if you become a team member, you'll get free eBooks to review. What more could you want???
OH! I just remembered one last thing. Thursday of last week, during "Booking It", someone recommended the Enid Blyton series about the Faraway Tree. I found a copy of the second book in the series, "The Magic Faraway Tree" at the library and got it for my daughter. She devoured it, licked her lips and asked for more. I can't remember when she loved a book as much. I decided to buy her the series, but they were written in the thirties and forties and are long out of print (I think the last print run was in the seventies). I found three of them at AbeBooks, but can't locate "Up the Faraway Tree". That's very sad. If I lived in the UK I could still get them all...
Anyway -- I just want to thank whoever it was that recommended these books. They are incredible!! And, hey, if anyone has a copy of "Up the Faraway Tree" laying around that they don't want, I'll happily take it off your hands.
What book from your childhood is one you most want/wanted to share with your children? Mine was the series "The Prydain Chronicles" by Lloyd Alexander.
Have a great day!
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8 comments:
My mouth dropped open at your mention of the Faraway Tree books. We only had one copy "The Folk of the Faraway Tree". How I loved that book! It was the copy my mother had when she was little.
Your yard looks gorgeous! I wish ours was as nice. We get some interesting wild life down by the river. My favorite was an otter I saw on the other bank. But I've seen plenty of deer around and last week even saw a big black bear running across the road.
I love the trees. My brother, who's lived down in TX for years, says that they make him claustrophobic. Still thinking of moving to Nebraska though.
Its my blog day over at WCP Myspace. I have it done, just not posted.
Have a great day! And congrats on the progress on the novel! Q & S is a huge project in itself.
I can't wait to read The Westing Game with my daughter. That book is five kinds of awesome.
Of course, I'll have to wait awhile. She's only two.
I'm quite surprised I've never read Enid Blyton. I certainly thought I had, but none of her titles sounds remotely familiar. Weird.
I loved The Westing Game! In fact, I checked it out of the library to read myself not too long ago. :)
I loved Anne of Green Gables. My daughter, however, thinks it's drippy.
Gorgeous pictures! I loved the chipmunks!
Okay... I'm sold. I just requested The Westing Game from the library! Thanks!
And, Anno, I love the Anne books and so does the DD... what kind of books does m. like?
m. loves Edgar Allen Poe and Lois Lowry's The Giver; she also loved Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Anything shivery. Takes after her dad, I fear.
I grew up loving Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books. I can't wait until my daughter is a little bit older so I can share those with her.
The Westing Game is A#1 uper on my list!
Hey, I'm further north, but my peonies have been out for a couple of weeks now. They're SO gorgeous. I have some deep pink ones the size of dinner plates and then some more modest white and pale pink.
A garden of peonies would make a lovely, romantic setting if it weren't for the ants!
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