IF: " Savour"

Had to go to the dictionary for this one- cause all I could think about was food-

thanks to

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

savour US, savor [ˈseɪvə]n

1. the quality in a substance that is perceived by the sense of taste or smell

2. a specific taste or smell the savour of lime

3. a slight but distinctive quality or trace

4. the power to excite interest the -savour of wit has been lost

5. Archaic reputation

I picked #4- "the power to excite and interest -----" like this boy is watching the sky!"

IF: "Sneaky"

We shall Never Forget...

Toady we celebrate Veteran's day. The girls are both dressed up and they will be bused a few blocks from their school to  the community center to honor the Veteran's we have in our community.
The men in my family have always served their country.
The first thing James Burns did stepping off the boat from Ireland was to fight in the Civil War- how willingly as an immigrant he joined the conflict, I don't know.
My great Uncle Edward, fought in World War 2 and was captured by the Japanese, enduring the infamous Death March, he was in the belly of a prison ship the US bombed and though he could of been left behind, a Japanese soldier unlocked his cell and got him to the deck and on a raft. For that my uncle gave him his watch.
Right before my brother was  born, my uncle Donny, just out of high school, joined the Marines before he could be drafted, and went to Vietnam. Assigned to reconnaissance, he was sneaking back into camp and  was shot by another Marine who thought he was the enemy, killed by "friendly fire"- a stupid term.
I never met Donny, he was killed before I was born, but the stories my grandma and great aunt would tell of him, usually over a piece of pie or cake I know him.
I have honored the Veterans of this country my whole life, the flag draped over my uncles coffin now flying over the cemetery where he is buried.Every Memorial Day we take flowers to the graves, my family's plot is easy to find, his military stone so different from those around.
My family has always served, my father and brother as well, though not in a time of war. We are a family that has not always agreed with what our country has done, or agreed with each other.
The right to have an opinion, the right to speak it- isn't that the most important right in this country and isn't all our voices  part of the "check and balance" of our government.
We can disagree with our government, but we should never not support our troops, the men and women who come home or forget the ones who do not.
Here is to honoring all the Veteran's of this country.

It Snowed...correction...It's snowing!

Woke up this morning to white- just a dusting, but white. Jon said he saw the elk had moved down from the mountains to the rancher's fields next to us. They will stay there for the winter, the canyon a hidden throughfare for them to move as they feed off the left over dried alfalfa in the fields-taking it from the cattle also down from the mountains.
The cows and horses are extra fuzzy, who knows if in anticipation of another harsh winter. I hope not, I hope the winter will bring lots of snow and water, but the sun will shine as well.
It's a good time to stay home and wrtie and do art- I hope that I can!

IF: " Afterwards"

Do you ever plan out a very involved illustrations, sketch it out, start on the final, spend hours and hour on it and then only "Afterwards"- see the really big, perspective boo boo- that you should of seen in the sketch out! where is  the fence and side walk on the back side of the train- Chagall- known for his wild perspective would be agast at this!! Like the dad and kid- thank goodness you can crop things out now with Photoshop!

My NANO..MD

November is National Novel Writing Month- a fun "kick in the pants", with a lot of interaction from other NANO writers both locally and internationally, to just get that first draft down and fill the white pages- you can track your word count and if you get to 50,000 words in the month, the average of a novel, you can post an award on your site! I tried it last year- puttered out about half way through- this year- I was deep in outlining a YA, so am not participating- since NANO wants you to start with a fresh idea first of the month.I am doing NANOMD-  Get the ...NOTES and NOTES OFF MY DOOR month. You know that technique- plotting out your outline on note cards, laying them on the floor, so that you can move things around, get the bird's eye view of your novel.  Well I have a little problem keeping track of a bunch of little pieces of paper-wind drafts and big dog tails tend to make them go flutter...i.e. you tape them to the back of your door! Brilliant, except eventually the tape loses its grip and I have to go looking for where key plot points went fluttering to.
I recently had my own "kick in the pants" to finally get serious to writing this novel that has been swimming around in my head for a very,very long time. I was up in the Denver area to speak at the RMC SCBWI Fall Conference on a panel of First Published Writers and Illustrators with the fun Jean Reidy and Lindsay Eland, both writers and I was the illustrator, well the day before, I had a rock the size of a grapefruit go into the car' windshield going about 50 mph down the highway-

the force of the impact covered my mom and I with glass dust and blew out my entire back window- thank God -we and no one else around us was hurt. Well needless to say, I had a hard time going to sleep that night, God and I had a little conversation and you know- I felt pretty good about my life- being a mom, a wife, my service to Him, in the church, but what went to the front of my mind was this Novel! That I hadn't written it! That I hadn't put my all towards my art and my writing! Not saying the "World need me to write this novel" more it has become a blockage in my creative pipes- I'm constipated and need to blow this "Monstrosity" out of my head to be able to move forward!! Thus why my door is covered white- it is all there- it has been there for, well I don't want to admit how long this thing has been perfectly laid out in my head- getting it on the paper- that first draft- that first "crappy" draft- that is what my hope for November is- no matter how crappy it is! FYI- after all that- the YA is set in Utah during World War 2- centered around the young daughter of a Polygamist and about a little known fact that the Manhattan Project was secretly searching for Uranium for the Bombs in Utah.

Pie for Dinner?

There is a reason our grandparents could have dessert with every "high carb" meal  they ate- they worked really, really hard!
I spent a good part of the day, stripping and airing out linens, and "beating" the rug under our bed- and wipping down walls by hand, and sweeping out the corner of our wood floor- I  think I burned way more calories then a work out at the gym.
I have often heard those who do a lot of "treadmill" "exercise bikes" or " cardio" classes bemoan that it didn't seem to help when they found themselves  in "day to day" hard labor and I believe it- My grandma would talk of days starting at 5 am to milk the cows, feed the livestock, stack the wood, do the laundry and dishes manually, sweeping, mopping by hand, cleaning with rags, etc- but also their dinner tables were always covered in bread, gravies and desserts- humm?
Today we seem to frantically seek out ways to make our lives eaiser- better washers, dryers, diswashers, mops, dust devices, etc-  that also will eventually fill up the landfills or use more electricity- but that is another post- and then we go to the gym and work out- how about moving a wood pile, hanging our wet clothes out on an oldfashion clothes line, beating rugs or washing floors on hands and knees? Hey it is better for the environment, our houses are cleaner really and we can have our pie guilt free!