Category: Check-in

This way to the cat tour

My sister was visiting this week, and we decided—as one does—to attend the Wedge Live Cat Tour in Uptown Minneapolis.

Yes, a cat tour, with cats and kittens, some in houses, some in strollers, some on shoulders.

It was amazing. The crowd was diverse and chill, and, of course, we were all there for the cats. As I overheard one person say:

I’ve never said ‘so cute’ so many times in my entire life.

So cute was the phrase of the evening.

Some pictures:

Orange cat in stroller
White metal gazebo with purple salvia
Line in front of a house to see the cats
Posters of two cats, Zane and Opal
Gray cat and black cat buddies napping in blue stroller
Retaining wall with chalk drawings of cats and the word meow.

Yes! People did stand in line to pet/see the cats. Also, that gazebo? #goals

In actual check-in/writing news, the new opening seems to be coming along. Maybe the third time’s a charm? We’ll see.

Mini-garden project

I’ve had my eye on a spot in the front yard that gets a fair amount of sun, enough that I was tempted to try planting some sun-loving perennials. Most of our yard is far too shady for those (although we try; we still try).

Also, I thought the clump of hostas looked lonely.

Garden bed staked out
Garden bed with sheet mulch
Garden bed with fresh compost
Flower bed planted with perennials.

And one week later:

Garden bed with blooming purple and pink flowers

Once upon a time, those lonely hostas weren’t so lonely. The hosta beds lined the entire driveway on the left-hand side. Over the years, the soil compacted and wear and tear took their toll.

For my next project, I’m thinking of using the sheet-mulch method to line the area between this clump of hostas and the ones in the front of the house. The local garden center has some lovely spotted dead-nettle that might work nicely in that in-between space. It’s shady enough under the trees for it to be happy and sunny enough in the yard that it shouldn’t take over the entire space.

We’ll see how much energy I have for that.

In writing news, I completed what I wanted to on Rose’s portion for The Rose Rebellion, and now I’m moving on to The Marigold Miracle. I had one of those shower epiphanies this week on how to revise the opening, and I’m excited to dive in.

Well, hello there

Look who made a grand appearance this year:

Yellow and purple iris surrounded by purple flowers

Our iris has finally decided to bloom. After … three years, two? I can’t remember when we planted it.

The last two days have been incredible for gardening: high 50s and low 60s in the morning, with partly cloudy skies. I took it into my head to create another sheet-mulch mini-garden, which is what I’ve been doing for the last several hours.

I took some before-and-after photos that I hope to share later this week.

In related news, did you know that the best time to shop at Menards is around seven in the morning? Well, it is. The aisles are clear, mulch and compost stacked at the perfect height, and there’s no waiting in line. Also, everyone there is clearly in scheming mode and making grand plans.

This early-morning trek to Menards could become a (possibly bad) habit.

This and that

Garden this and that, in no particular order:

  • A buck has been skulking down by the pond, aggravating the dogs every time we go outside.
  • Relatedly, someone with hooves investigated the herb garden last night. They devoured one of the volunteer lettuces.
  • They left the herbs and marigolds alone. Since I don’t like lettuce, this is fine.
  • They also nibbled on the phlox and decided, like last year, it doesn’t taste all that great.
  • They left the newly planted blackberry bush alone.

Writing this and that:

15,000 words in Rose’s POV for The Rose Rebellion. I’m glad I listened to my intuition and didn’t dive into editing The Marigold Miracle. Several things came up this week that I need for that. So, for now, the printout of The Marigold Miracle will continue to sit on my desk, waiting patiently. 

Some garden pics:

Cottage garden in early spring

Current state of the cottage garden. Try to ignore the recycling bins and the Boler that needs a power wash.

Two white and pink peonies

The peonies, back for an encore.

Workshop weather

We had the perfect weather for an author workshop/online conference last week. Cool, cloudy, rain on and off. I had to turn the heat on at one point.

Mama duck and ducklings in the wetlands
Mama duck and her ducklings, braving the chilly weather

If you’re a writer, you can get a great overview of the workshop on Becca Syme’s Patreon. This post here sums it up nicely.

Granted, we went way more in-depth over the three days of the workshop. I’m still processing all the information.

I’m also looking at the weather report. The sun is making a grand reappearance. The heat is headed our way. I must head off and procure more compost and mulch (I live a glamorous life) and stomp around in the garden for a bit.

Sun on the wetlands
Here comes the sun

Sunshine and Shakespeare

Look at what we found in the yard. A Fivespot! A volunteer fivespot since we have no idea where it came from, and we haven’t been scattering wildflower seeds yet.

Volunteer Fivespot in the yard

Fivespots are annuals in Minnesota. Perhaps this little one self-seeded and somehow survived the brutal winter. If so, it’s resilient.

In any case, it was a nice surprise.

This week, I managed to combine my Shakespeare class and gardening. Part of the course includes studying an adaptation of one of the plays. This week, it’s The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson, a retelling of The Winter’s Tale.

The library has the audio version, so I’ve been spending hours working in the garden while someone reads to me. It has been lovely.

In writing-related things, I’ve been doing some preliminary work on book three, The Rose Rebellion. There are things I need to know before I tackle revising The Marigold Miracle. Rose has presented her story to me as a series of sent and unsent letters.

Yes. Because I can’t make anything easy on myself. But I’m having so much fun writing these letters, and I’m hoping that I can (fingers crossed) make them work in the overall narrative.

Next week looks busy, what with an author workshop, but I’m hoping for more Shakespeare and sunshine nevertheless.

The quiet contentment of writing longhand

I spent this last week quietly working through all the notes I have for not only The Marigold Miracle, but also The Rose Rebellion (book 3), The Dahlia Dilemma (possibly book 3.5), and a manuscript to be named later (but maybe The Florence Fiasco).

Yes, I love me some alliteration.

I refined the old notes (things change as I write) and made new ones. As you can see:

Stack of notebooks
Blurry view of notebook interior.

Actually, that’s not all the notes I’ve made while writing this series, just the most recent ones.

There are all sorts of studies about the hand-to-brain connection. I love writing longhand. The main problem I have is searching for the information I’ve written down. Clearly, my handwriting is nowhere near good enough to scan into a digital file (if only).

So, I’ve further refined my notetaking technique by adding plot points and characters in the margins. That way, I can page through and quickly find what I need.

The other thing I’m doing is double-checking my world-building. I really don’t want to end up needing to retcon (retroactive continuity) something.

I’ve really enjoyed this process, and I plan to keep at it for this coming week. Not interacting with any kind of digital technology for several hours in the morning has been unbelievably refreshing.

Book-packing event

I was going to write a bit more about libraries, along with how I’m approaching this current revision. However, I attended a book-packing event yesterday at the Little Free Library headquarters in St. Paul.

It was so much fun. Between packing books for shipment across the country and taking some for our own libraries, I think we cleared out the two big bins of donated books. I was able to restock my own library, which has been looking a little thin lately. Someone has already snagged the really cool dinosaur book I brought back.  

But now? Well, now. I. Am. Tired.

So I’ll save my musings for next week, but leave you with these beautiful murals on the building’s exterior. I especially love the optical illusion with the butterflies.

Reader mural
Butterfly mural

Snow and Shakespeare

As I stepped outside this morning, the tiniest snowflakes were falling from the sky. It’s clear now, but cold. Not sure I’m going to make it into the garden today. It’s just a little too chilly for comfort at the moment, but we’ll see.

The cold reminded me that last year at this time, I was traipsing around Italy (and Florence in particular), so I scanned my photos and found this view of the Duomo from the Boboli Gardens:

Which is a great view for a Sunday.

When I did second-quarter planning, I thought I’d spend some time on the short stories I didn’t write during the first quarter of the year.

This is not happening. This is probably a surprise to no one but me.

My head is in King’s End completely, and I suspect it will remain there until the entire series is drafted. So be it. It’s not a bad place to be.

I’ve made it through my first Shakespeare lesson. This week, I’m looking forward to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and the Hamnet watch party. Whew. It’s going to be a BIG Shakespeare week.