Thinking Of You, My Passat

It was December of 1999. She was fresh from the factory. I fell in love right away.

We were so connected - I asked her to speed up and she did. So responsive and her timing was second to none. Whatever I asked, she made my wish come true.

She gave me over 100,000 miles of pure driving bliss. It has been a year since I let her go, and I still miss her.

Thinking of you, My Passat.

2000+ Words

Ran across a great quote this morning that gave me a whole new appreciation for my NaNoWriMo experience. Unfortunately I cannot find the quote but I remember it was something about "as a professional writer" and writing 1000 words a day. A quick Google search comes back with many results for 1000 words in a day. Many pinning it as a respectable number for any professional writer.

I have been writing about 2000 words a day since November 1 - give or take a day. I am far from professional writer but since November 1st I will refer to myself as a writer because, well, I am. What have I learned from writing 2000+ words in a day?

1. As I write my novel, the words fly out of my head and out through my fingers to the keyboard more rapidly than before I was writing 2000+ words each day. If you write every day it is easier for your Muse to do her magic.
2. Editing ANYTHING is a breeze.
3. Can I write my blog post now? Please? Please! Something I felt a bit of dread about in the past I cannot wait to do now. It entices me to write even more!
4. It seems that the creativity muscle has been flexed. I have ideas for and about everything, not just writing stories.
5. I love words.

As of right now, my word count is 34,031 and I have yet to add anything to the 41 pages. By the end of today I will have over 36,000 words. And today's 2000+ words will fly off my fingers and onto this computer screen I call a book like nobody's business. I cannot wait to see what happens next in this story in my head.

Ahead of the season

It is true. The ideas are flowing and many a decision has been made. This is a new record for me as it is only the sixteenth of November. I know there are lots of people out there who have their Thanksgiving menus planned, know what they are giving for holiday hostess gifts, and have already purchased and wrapped gifts for all their friends and family. While I have no gifts wrapped or even purchased for that matter, I am ahead of the season with a plethora of ideas and it feels great. Here are a few highlights:

Holiday Sanity List (short list)
1. Holiday cards purchased (see photo)
2. Gifts for far away friends, known
3. Thanksgiving baking, known
4. Menu for December get together, complete
5. Birthday gift for husband, researched and soon to be purchased
6. Reading goal for new year, intended
7. Gifts for the kids who already have everything, researched and some known
8. December family birthday gifts, known
9. House decorations, planned
10. Peaceful sleep in the month of December FOR SURE!

What is on your Holiday Sanity List?

The Finer Things

Embossed stationery IS one of the finer things in life. I love to receive it. Nothing sets my heart a flutter more than beautiful paper with beveled edges and letters and words that jump off the page. Receiving them is my inspiration for sending just these kinds of notes, accompanied with handwriting and plenty of thought. Someone wrote with a pen, a special note, just for me. It then shows up in my mailbox with a stamp. It may have been written days ago. When I hold this in my hand I see the writer sitting at a desk on a cool fall afternoon, wearing a sweater and drinking tea, gazing out the window between sentences, thinking. The pen moves easily as the words flow from its point. Priceless are these notes.

In this photo,
the last few pieces of this fine stationery,
I have had for years.
It is time to purchase new,
so I am able to write that special note,
just for you.

The Flying Pig

"Oh my, the pig is flying. Time to knit," I said as I looked up to the sky on Thursday night. So with my husband on the sofa next to me and Survivor on the television, this is what I created. Forget about a 2000 word daily goal for NaNoWriMo or anything else for that matter. The pig was in the air, the needles were in my hands. There is nothing like wooden needles and soft yarn to take the mind off everything. Counting and stitching is one of the best forms of meditation for me. I hope the pig stays in the air for a while - I'm just starting to get my knitting mojo back. I like it.

Thick Reading

I am behind on my reading. There are 5 library books piled on my nightstand. Some of them I waited months to receive. Others were ready for me to pick up 2 days after the request was made on the library website. Fiction is my genre of choice and being the open minded reader that I am, a couple of grammar books have risen to the ranks of "on the nightstand" fame. Fiction takes me away to another world. Finding myself lost in a story is the best place to be. Finding something to love about the characters is typically a joy and at times a challenge.

After starting The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (a shortlisted Man Booker Prize book - love those!) I decided that there is no way I could read this book and continue writing my book for NaNoWriMo. The Children's Book is thick with pages (675 to be exact) and thick with detail and thick with deep characters and even the words are thick. A great book to sink your literary mind and heart into in the wonderfully cold month of December when the sun sets early leaving lots of time to sit next to the fireplace with this book in your warm hands. I think for the rest of November I'll stick with writing and grammar books.

Blog Post Writer's Block

I decided that today is a great day to write a blog post. No problem I thought. I don't seem to have any problem pouring out thousands of words each day into my NaNoWriMo project. A blog post will be a piece of cake.

That is all I could come up with. Tune in tomorrow as I attempt to write another post.

I don't know why they call it ONE - revisited

I found this little gem I had written back in February of this year (wow, seems like forever-ago).


I Don't Know Why They Call It ONE
It is not my first choice! Actually, I do know why they call it ONE and it still is not my first choice. Ask me about Virabhadrasana II or Virabhadrasana III. I love both of those versions - strong and open and free! Virabhadrasana I has never felt like my pose in all of the years I have done it. There is something about that back leg, and there is something about that front leg. Oh yes, and there is something about the lower back and the extended arms. It doesn't feel strong and it doesn't feel balanced and it doesn't feel free. Does anyone else agree?

Maybe someday I'll learn to love it - just not today.

There were sure some strong feelings about Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I). I can tell you that I have not spent much time on this pose since I wrote this post that appeared on ...musasana... so many months ago. Today I'm bringing it out of the yoga closet and sharing it with the class I teach. I want to know what they really think of this pose and maybe I'll have some new feeling as well.

What do you think of it?

Viva WI!

Danielle LaPorte Says It Best

Found this little gem in my inbox this morning. All I can say is Wow and Thank You Danielle.

Yay!

It is a new day!

Almost...

I can smell it, feel it, hear it, and see it. The end of summer is almost here. Happy days! The cicadas are singing their end of summer song. Night time comes earlier, there is a coolness in the night air complete with dew on the grass in the morning.

Soon I will be tasting it too. Just waiting on the Honeycrisp apples.

Homekeeping Dreaming

I spent some time tonight paging through Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook. It is a book filled with information about ANYTHING you ever wanted to know about "keeping house". I have a fascination with "keeping house". When I was in the 8 to 5 world, I would daydream at my desk about organizing, cleaning and repairing whatever needed to be fixed in my house. Sometimes I would even come home at lunch time and clean out a drawer or organize a corner of the garage, pull weeds or clean a bathroom. I also talked to my co-workers about the joys of laundry and ironing and gave them helpful hints like not adding fabric softener while washing towels (the towels dry your body better that way).

As I was cleaning under and around the stove yesterday, I thought of Martha. I remembered I had this book and pulled it off the shelf.

Martha writes in the opening paragraph that she started to research and compile information many years ago when she realized that homekeeping, homemaking and housekeeping were her favorite subjects. Since leaving the 8 to 5 world I had forgotten that they are some of my favorite subjects as well. Thanks for reminding me. I didn't (and still don't) have a "routine cleaning" and "periodic maintenance" list as Martha does in the book. Hmmm - I think I want one.

Northern Minnesota

This is where I spent last week. Ever been to Northern Minnesota? I highly recommend it. The air is fresh and clean, the skies big and blue, the lakes are clear and clean and I promise you will sleep like a baby. And the best part, the call of the loon to wake you up each morning so you don't miss a minute of the best summer days you will ever experience.

Happy Blogoversary to Inspirasana

Hello Blog World. Yes, it has been a while. It was brought to my attention that today is Inspirasana's Blogoversary (Thank you Teena in Toronto). Yes, I have not posted on Inspirasana recently...it was more of a "contemplation break" rather than just neglecting it. I've been thinking about where I am and where I want to go in my life (and of course, there is that little distraction called Le Tour de France that I cannot get enough of each July).

I think I am ready to be back, spending some time here blogging about life. Life is great and anything can happen, why not write about it!

Pictures From My Week

Beware Of Ducks! They have found a new home in my in-law's pool. They made their appearance last week. They are very tame and Suzy (so named by my nephew) will eat right out of your hand - very cute and oh so sweet. However...they like to do their business in the pool - and other things that couples do :-) Unfortunately for them, my mother-in-law is working on the eviction notice.

I love little duck butts!