collage

In my workshop this weekend we ended with some hands-on using clay and collage materials. It's been a long time since I have done a collage, but for years of my life it was a very soothing, freeing exercise.

I think it's the cutting and pasting, and clearly the visual aspect of it appeals to me as well.

It was the perfect way to end a journey in the sandplay of men in midlife, rendered with the backdrop of the story of Gilgamesh.

the rafer johnson report

(photo credit to son)

The vet came by today and did radiographs of Rafer Johnson's leg, right through the cast. The bone is fused about halfway across, and you can clearly see that the rest is fusing.

We decided to leave the cast on for one more week, and next Thursday he'll be getting this cast removed and a new, hopefully slightly smaller one, put on.

The vet will saw this one in half and save it so that we can possibly reuse it as a bivalve cast in the last stretch.

There was a small pressure sore, more like a calloused area, just inside the current cast, so we applied some Neosporin while he was still groggy and now he is back munching hay!

The vet was very pleased with the progress and the fact that Rafer is getting around so well on the cast and is feeling so spirited. Rafer showed the vet he could not only buck but rear up on his hind legs, cast and all! He did not really want the sedative injection today but he settled down and did a great job.

Salina was in the back field whinnying and I think that got him a bit excited.

Anyway, we are very happy with the healing we're seeing - the vet said what you see on the radiograph is actually a conservative view of the healing that has occurred. And if you think of this as a 4-month process, we're only in week 5 of a 20-week time frame. (well, duh - no one corrected my math error - it's actually 16 weeks total!)

Whew! We're on the road to recovery. Not done yet, but it's good to see the progress.

Way to go, Rafer Johnson!

costume prep

Matthew mentioned the rich texture of life on November Hill, and the above is one of the things that makes my days richer.

My daughter gets a lot of "air time" on here because she does so much horsey stuff with me, but my son (also a horseman, but on hiatus for the past year) does so many things that add to the creative pot in our home. He has an eye for detail and the skill to make things with his hands. I often wonder if he might end up doing prop and costume and set design for some award-winning TV shows and films.

I walked past the dining room table this morning and had to smile. He is preparing to be a WWII soldier, and this is one piece of his costume - the supply kit. He found the bag at an army surplus store, and the rest of the materials he bought and is using to make up the packets you see here.

He also found the cross for his sister's costume (one of them - she has two going at the moment) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Last week he made her a wooden stake, and she used her allowance to buy a black leather jacket at the local vintage clothing shop.

It is going to be a really fun Halloween!

the writing life

I finally got brave and unplugged the white Apple mouse I've been using for the past few days - and plugged in the funky black upright mouse I had insisted I needed. When it arrived, along with the keyboard, it looked so weird and felt so weird beneath my hand, I chose not to try it out.

But I kept feeling tension in my right forearm using the regular mouse, and yesterday I made the change.

I complained about it for five minutes, then it started to get easier. Today, it's like I've been using it forever. And the arm stays totally neutral and relaxed. My set-up is clunky looking, with cords and boxes and all the other stuff on this desk. Nothing matches anymore. I'm sitting with my feet up on a cardboard box recycled from the last UPS delivery. But suddenly I'm truly comfortable.

In addition to the new chair, keyboard, wrist rests, gel mouse pad, upright mouse, fancy foot rest (not!) and elevated screen, I'm now set up at the desk in the living room. I'm not sure why I no longer want to write in my garret, but I suspect it has something to do with ease of access. This way I can write while cooking. I can dash out to the barn and settle right back in to the pages without disappearing upstairs. It might not be permanent, but for now, I have a new office.


The newfound comfort has translated into writing/editing in several one-hour blocks both yesterday and today. Even better, it has resulted in many aha! moments with regards to book issues. In the bathtub yesterday, in the car today. I love when the book is right beneath the surface of my regular routine, bubbling up whenever there's a lull.

Today I actually went online and commented on LitPark, a wonderful site I haven't visited in several months. Head on over - there's a fascinating discussion about literary fiction and thrillers.

It's good to be back. I've been missing the writing life.

busy but good

Typing to you from the new keyboard, wrists resting on cool gel pads, mouse skating along on the gel mouse pad too, and screen raised to nearly eye level.

I still need the foot rest but the set-up is close enough and comfortable enough that I worked on the book for an hour this morning. A good thing - now the top of my head won't be blowing off.

The week is busy and I think my getting the cold, which is nearly gone now, was an in-advance response to all the things on my schedule.

We have trailer cleaning, fence repairing, shower head replacing, riding lessons, costume shopping, haircuts, acupuncture, cast check, clients, and I have a 3-day workshop this weekend, called For Whom Have I Journeyed? Spiritual Initiation in the Sandplay of Midlife Men.

I'm excited. This is the kind of workshop that does double duty: it's continuing education for my work, but it also feeds the writing.

Around the farm, we have a new barn cat in training. Mystic has decided that his calling is to join Dickens E. Wickens in the cowboy life. He is out there constantly, helping with stall mucking, learning how to drink from horse buckets and troughs, and lying in the pasture with the horses while they graze. I had a feeling he was destined to be a cowboy.


(photo credits to daughter)

A cowboy named Mystic. I think I might have a new book character forming.