from the novel front...

I started a month-long "marathon" yesterday along with a number of other writers on Backspace, a similar thing to the Nanowrimo that happens in November, except a number of us on the forum wanted to keep that group energy going all year round.

I'm not trying to get a certain word count or the draft of a new novel during April, but I DO want to get through a fairly deep revision of my second novel. I've been doing some research on a subplot for a couple of months and now it's time to weave that into the existing storyline.

So, I started yesterday. I cleared my work areas in the garret, and barely avoided getting sucked into a major spring cleaning, but caught myself - more important to give that energy to the book right now. I printed out pages 1-38, read through my research notes in the Moleskine, and got to work. This morning I typed all the edits and new material into my novel's word doc and then printed out pages 38-76, which I've worked on today.

My plan is to go right through the novel like this, and hopefully have some time at the end of the month to go back and read the entire ms in one sitting so I can get a sense of the whole flow.

So far it's going really well. I had written some scenes in the midst of doing research that slid perfectly into place yesterday and again today, which makes me think I'm onto something with this subplot.

If anyone wants to join with me in this "April showers bring May showers" effort, please speak up!

showers and flowers

Another rainy day, but it's the wonderful, warm, soft-falling rain of spring. I marched the wheelbarrow down the hill this morning in it, and the horses were on the back hill grazing in it. Rafer Johnson is quite enamoured of the copse of trees in back that has stumps and a pile of red clay dirt, and he was climbing around in his own little playground as I passed by.

Stalls are mucked, horses are fed, and the front porch is quite the contrast to the gray skies.

(more) close encounters of the bird kind

ADDENDUM: I completely forgot that there was a very interesting bird encounter earlier on Saturday, when my husband and I went to the grocery store. We stopped by a pet store that happened to be right by the grocery, and were both dismayed to find that it is one of the older style pet stores, with puppies, kittens, and many birds in tiny plexiglass cages.

I hadn't seen a store like that in a long time, and I was walking around getting more and more agitated, looking for the brand of cat food we use and thinking that even if I found it I wouldn't likely buy it. I no longer support that kind of pet store. Near the back of the store I stopped at the end of an aisle and saw a huge parrot on a perch. Immediately I thought "oh, you poor thing, if I could buy you and get you out of here I would."

The moment I thought that the parrot said "hello???" - just as if it were answering me. I had to get out of there fast. My heart was breaking.

Hopefully M. will post a link to some of Rupert Sheldrake's work on telepathy with animals in a comment.


*******

Yesterday on the way to buy cat food, my husband and I had a bird encounter together. We had been talking about wild turkeys - he'd seen a gorgeous male on his way home from work last week - and had been trying to nail down between us where exactly he'd seen it. Yesterday, just as we came to the place I'd described to him earlier (but not where he'd seen the turkey last week) we rounded a curve and there he was!



We pulled off the road and managed to get a photo, since my photographer husband always travels with a well-charged camera.

Shared blessings and harvest, spirituality and the honoring of the Earth.

Further along on our little journey we saw a flock of black vultures on the side of the highway and noted them. We talked about black vultures versus turkey vultures and how we both think they're quite regal. We got off the highway and decided to follow a side road to check out a 693-acre parcel of land for sale, calculating how much it might cost and what we'd do with it if we could buy it. At the end of the side road we came full face with the same black vultures, who flew up and into a tree when we stopped.



The vulture was viewed by the Greeks as a descendant of the griffin, a symbol of heaven and earth. The vulture is seen as a guardian of the mysteries of life and death. In alchemy, the vulture was a symbol of sublimation.

It was quite fun to see more birds after this week's bounty.

On the way home we stopped by the local indie bookstore and I noticed a sign for an upcoming author appearance. Joe Camp will be coming in May to read from and sign his new book out April 29th called The Soul of a Horse.

When we got home I checked out his website, Naked Horsemanship, and was excited to find that his journey learning about living with horses in many ways parallels my own. I'm eager to read his book and I highly recommend his website as a wealth of information and resources for living "naked" with horses.

wind and rain

The wind is blowing in cooler temps and what looks like a couple days of rain. The rain hasn't arrived yet, but we've got total cloud cover and temps 30 degrees cooler than yesterday.

We went out this morning geared up to get all the barn chores done early, right after breakfast. I had to call them in, which is rare, but everyone ate and then went back out while we cleaned water troughs, mucked, scrubbed feed and water buckets/tubs, and got things set up for them in case they need to be brought in early today.

Rafer Johnson got a sudden and very wild hair. He was running circles in the back field at top speed, getting the geldings riled up and Salina brought herself to the safety of the paddock. He ran and bucked and leaped and jumped and doubled back. It was hilarious. Once he'd gotten that wild hair out he helped himself to a nice long drink and then went to the salt lick.

The fun was NOT over however.

Once Rafer settled down the geldings started up. Running, bucking, rearing, striking. They tried to run their usual races in the paddock but one look from Salina sent them back out to the field. We watched until they settled down. As usual, Keil Bay stopped first, then Apache. Cody kept going, trying to get any one of them to rev back up with him, but he was out of luck.

I'm glad they all got some exercise before it gets wet and muddy and slippery. There will be no riding today!

We got the shavings pile covered, checked the hinges on all the stall doors to make sure they're secure, and came in to enjoy some more Saturday morning.

partying down on November Hill

I so wish my camera battery wasn't dead and that I could find the power cord, which has been found (for me) and misplaced (by me) twice this week already.

Horses were in the back field with fresh hay around 4:15. Around 5 I happened to walk by the bedroom window and noticed Salina was in the FRONT field. The front field is off limits until the end of April so it can rest and so the grass can mature. It looks quite lovely with the spring grass coming in.

I couldn't imagine why she was out there, but I ran out to check. They had busted right through the gate and were having a big old party. Keil Bay had redbud blossoms all over his back. Rafer Johnson was running and bucking with pure mischief in his eye.

They were not happy about being marched out one by one. Rafer was simply herded out as he was too excited to be caught.

I suppose I started this whole thing this morning when I sang Happy Birthday to Salina and told the geldings to make sure she had a good day.

Happy 25th, Miss Salina Girl - your herd gave you a nice happy hour!