Wednesday, August 01, 2007

What Day Is It?

Hold a true friend with both your hands. ~Nigerian Proverb

DH was home Monday, which messed up my sense of what day of the week we were on. Then, I had a friend over to visit yesterday -- she lived out here, but now resides in Minnesota. She and her husband and son are out here for a 200 mile bike race (!) to raise money for cancer research. It was wonderful to see them, and her son and my DD were the best of friends when they lived here (just down the road a bit). It's been a few years since they'd seen each other, but it didn't take long for them to reacquaint themselves and just play 'til they were exhausted.

She and I gabbed and gabbed... I got up at one point to see if I should start dinner and it was 7:00! P.M.! How did that happen? Poor DH pulled up around that time... and made himself hot dogs and beans (blech) for dinner.

It was good, but I was beat.

Today, hopefully life will be back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as it gets here!

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Pillar Place: Monarch is in an interesting place -- yesterday, about 75% of the pillars climbed to the side of their containers. This is what they do when they're about to shed their skin and go through a growth spurt. What this says to me (and gives me heart palpitations) is that 75% of my pillars are on the same schedule. I'm trying to picture 7 or 8 Monarch butterflies coming out of their chrysalis's all at the same time. That'll be quite a picture!

Speaking of pictures, I know I promised you one of Phil -- but I haven't had a chance to download my pix. Sorry -- the software is on my desktop, and I'm on my laptop. I'll do it later today. Promise. Interestingly enough, though, he pretty much looks just like Moe.

Otto is inside the butterfly box. He's eating like a pig. He did climb on the side yesterday -- spooked me into thinking he was going to make his chrysalis, but he must have just needed to shed his skin because this morning, he's in his little pie pan scarfing down on milkweed. The funniest thing was, this morning because it was so quiet, I could actually hear him eating it.

I'm easily amused.

I also discovered the COOLEST caterpillar ever yesterday. No, I didn't bring him home... but it was close. I (previously) thought Monarchs were the only pillar to eat milkweed. Milkweed is, after all, poisonous. Yesterday, while gathering leaves to feed the pillars (and accidentally adding one newly hatched pillar to the crew -- give a hearty welcome to Clarisse who has joined pillar place), DD found this fluffy, VERY hairy, black and brown pillar chowing down. I had no idea what it was.

Turns out, it was a Milkweed Tussock Moth pillar. How cool are they??

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Nothing new on the writing front. I've been working so hard on building a website that I haven't had a chance to write anything new. I have been working on some edits -- I've gotten them for "Don't Fence Me In", and have ideas for some new stories, but haven't gotten anything down on paper. Soon, I hope.

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Stolen shamelessly from Charity:







Which Author's Fiction are You?




Flannery O'Connor wrote your book. Not much escapes your notice.
Take this quiz!









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Is it awful of me to say, I have no idea who Flannery O'Connor is? I looked her up on Wikipedia, and it still didn't help. I don't even recognize her books. I feel as though I should be ashamed.

Who wrote your book?

9 comments:

Ceri Hebert said...

Flannery O'Connor too. I believe she writes fantasy (?)

What a busy little piller place you have! Its going to be quite a thing when they all emerge as beautiful butterflies.

I didn't get much writing done yesterday either, had to haul everyone to a doctor's appt for oldest DD then out for some shopping. I'm writing this morning, on my last scene and determined to finish it before I leave the house this morning!!

Judy said...

Flannery O'Connor as well. Southern writer, girls :-) Very dark humor.

Elle Fredrix said...

What a gang. Flannery O'Connor as well!

Dark humour, eh? I think I need to check her out.

Jen said...

Very, very dark humor. Her signature story is "A Good Man is Hard to Find". Be afraid... be very afraid, lol.

I was Flannery, too, and I'm very jealous of Charity's being Jane Austen. ;-)

Those milkweed caterpillars are amazing!!!

Brandy said...

I, too, recieved Flannery O'Connor.

Sounds as though 'Pillar Place will be a busy place before too much longer!

Hope your week feels back on track soon. Have a pleasant day!

Melissa McClone said...

I received Jane Austen. Even with the cutting edge microbrew drink! Neat quiz. Thanks Marianne!

And I hear you on what day of the week it is. I had a class on Sunday and am all screwed up now.

Anonymous said...

Just to buck the Flannery O'Connor trend, I got Anne Rice. Guess it was that blond haired, blue eyed devil of a vampire I chose. *g*

Dru said...

another Flannery O'Connor here.

Allie Boniface said...

Flannery O'Connor does indeed write dark (very dark) Southern fiction, mostly short stories and always with a searing message about Christainity and salvation and the need to be saved. "Good Country People" and "Parker's Back" are a couple of her stories that I teach my students every year, along with "A Good Man is Hard to Find."

Don't read if you like happy endings.