Some New Additions

First off, are the two sisters we added to our family. Rescued from a hoarder before they found a home where they lived happily with a family for a year before their Mama passed away from cancer, now the Griffon Fauve de Bretagne girls have found their forever home with us.

Chloe

Sophie

They are so good with Pippin, and we couldn't ask for sweeter, more well-behaved dogs. Sophie is unfortunately showing signs of a portosystemic shunt, so we're trying to get her health issues sorted out. But look at those eyes!

The other new addition is a project I've been working on since my birthday.  It's a literary signpost for the garden! You can click on the images to see them larger.

The signpost in its natural habitat

One side of the post

The other side of the post

Can you identify all the novels? We didn't try too hard to be obscure--they're books that I've loved since childhood and into adulthood (or as adult-y as I'm going to get). It was so much fun deciding which ones to include.

Also wanted to say, stay tuned for some news on an addition to the Crow's Rest book family at the end of this month!

RTW: I Need to Look at Something Besides This Blasted Monitor

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: When you need creative inspiration, where do you go?

I'm going to answer in a photo essay:

Are you noticing a pattern? Not the watermark on all the photos, but the water in them. Even the moon-in-tree photo is on the cliffs at Salt Point. The last one was taken in my garden, though, and it's always good for inspiration.


Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

Time for Another Peek into the Garden

I realized I haven't done any posts with pictures from my garden in a while, but the warm spring weather has made my shutter finger itchy. Here are a few I've taken over the last few days (hint: click on them to make them bigger in a slideshow):

Hope if you have good weather, you're out enjoying it today!

Pumpkins Gone Wild

If you remember from my post last year, when we'd just installed the beds, the garden is doing much better this year. Last year we had such wet, cold weather into June that I didn't even plant anything until July 4th weekend.

We had a similar weather pattern this year, but I decided to forge ahead with the planting anyway. I used Wall o'Waters on the peppers (next year I'll use homemade ones) and they also gave some radiant heat to the tomatoes planted next to them. So now my tomatoes and peppers are looking pretty good, even without the WOWs. You can tell it's transitioning from planting seasons, since the cabbages and chard are still going, and the sweet potatoes are just starting (those are the arrow-shaped leaves in the foreground).



And then there are my pumpkins gone wild! We had a mound of soil that didn't fit in the beds, so I decided to plant the pumpkin seeds right in it, and they're loving it.



And as a final pic for this post, let's check in with the pollywogs in the fountain:



No limbs yet, but some of them are getting more frog-shaped!

And now I need to retreat to my revision-cave once again--after I put the potatoes out in the solar cooker to roast for supper, that is.

Anybody else have some season-extending tips to share?

Dream Writing Spaces: Two Rooms of (Mostly) My Own

A week ago, Blogger friend Kate Hart did a post on Dream Writing Spaces, with pictures of fantastic little buildings in inspiring settings. It got me thinking of what my dream writing space would be, but I had to admit that I am spoiled to already have 2--no, 3--places that I love to write in.

I should say that I don't have kids and my husband works full time, so that means I have the house all to myself for long stretches. And the kinds of distractions that people often complain about when working at home are a bonus for me; I have a bad back, so getting up to hang laundry, check on dinner, and feed the cats (okay, that last one happens way too frequently throughout the day) is better for me than parking in front of the computer for hours straight.

Now, on to the photographs!



This first room is where I write when I don't need the computer: writing longhand, editing hardcopies, or just staring dreamily at the fire (there's a fireplace out of frame) or out the window while I compose in my head. I also do research here since this is where most of the nonfiction books are. BTW, that's just nonfiction--there are 4 bookcases of fiction in the dining room, 1 bookcase with YA/MG titles, and 1 more with cookbooks and miscellaneous stuff. Yes, we are recovering bookstore employees, why do you ask?



My office is a converted bedroom, and it is cozy enough that I can sit in the chair and touch my drafting table and the computer desk at the same time. I could have described it as small rather than cozy, but I really do like having everything within reach. I can do artwork on the drafting table, roll over to the computer and check email, and the copy machine and fax are ready and waiting for when I need them.

There are also fewer distractions in this room and, most importantly, a door that will close. I take advantage of this when the cats get too demanding (they would say it's not possible for a cat to be too demanding--the humans should be grateful for the attention bestowed upon them) or when my husband is home and has the TV on or something.



And the third writing space, I don't have a picture of, but it's a patio just to the right of this herb bed. When the weather's nice, I can turn on the fountain, and sit out at the table. I must admit that I don't get quite as much writing done out there, it's just too tempting to enjoy the birds and sunshine. But the ambiance does lend itself to writing poetry, so I tend to go out there when I'm feeling poetic.