June 25, 2006

NORTHERN NIGHTS

What do I love about our dark Canadian winters? The looooong days come summer! This was my run at 10 p.m. this evening. I guess I’d have to call it my Solstice Run, since from now on the days will only get shorter. But I love, love, love the way I can hear birds at 4.22 a.m. I love the way the temperature soars from five degrees Celcius to 35 in a matter of hours. And I love the way things are just busting out of the ground, out of seeds, out of nests … there is just SO much life. You can smell it, breathe it, feel it. And because it happens for just a few short months — I’m damned well determined to enjoy every minute of it

Writing Week Challenge is over, and I’m only one day short of my goal. My biorhythms, biochemistry, bio…everthing let me down yesterday — so I stalled. Big time. Write-off. But I’m back in the saddle and hope to hit my target tomorrow …

And don’t forget my Contest >>. Only three days left now …..

IN MEMORIAM - John Lawrence Oliver White

HAPPY memories of a winter spent at Cotton’s Cottage in Kwazulu-Natal in the very early 70s …. Me, my dad, my baby sister and brother. And yep, fish ;).

We lost our dad five years after this photo was taken. I still miss him.

Today is his birthday. And I feel him near.

June 23, 2006

EXCUSE ME?

Me? Move? You cannot be serious?

What is it about the orange boys? This one is BAD, I tell you. I found a chicken drum bone under the table this morning. Yesterday — olive pips. Day before — cluster of wet melon seeds. Day before that — green pepper. Lincoln has taught Brunswick how to open the garbage cupboard and NOW WE ARE DOOMED! We have a junkyard cat … and he’s not even one year old!

My Path: Rainbow, Meadow Park

My Distance: 45:47 mins — a tough one today.

My Music: I’m a Believer — Shrek 1. When I got my first request for a full manuscript from Silhouette, this was playing on the radio. I’d just come from the post office where we had a box, and I opened the letter in the car — hands trembling. Yes, really. It was December, and snowing heavily. I turned up the volume — loud – and drove home through thick swirling flakes with this track blaring and the biggest smile you can ever imagine on my face. Yeah, that day I was a believer — and I’ll never forget that memory capsule I still get a punch from that song.

(Was one my all-time favorite movies, too)

Contest >>

June 22, 2006

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY …

And so it looked from my deck early this morning. If the weather guy is right, we’re in for a string just like it :). Which is perfect since it’s now ‘officially’ summer.

I’m still a tad behind with my Writing Week Challenge goals, though. It was one of THOSE days …. the glass guys called, then they came to fix the skylights. DD called, she’d put her neck out and was in pain, could I fetch her from school …. you know THOSE days? But sometimes you’ve just got to roll with the little things … because, hey, it is a beautiful day.

My Path: Valley Trail, Rainbow, Lost Lake

My Distance: 1.5 hours

My Music: U2 — (you guessed it) It’s a Beautiful Day

Nice one for a wedding, too ….  Whistler is wedding central, and the season really kicks off from today, which means I will now be bumping into the occasional bride — along with the bears — on my daily runs And judging from this Aussie couple, it looks like Hummers are the new limo. (The Hummer driver in his tux was waiting patiently among mountain bikers in the parking lot.)

June 21, 2006

CHIPPING AWAY …

…at my work, just like a Pileated Woodpecker at his tree They are amazing creatures, about the size of a crow with little red feather Mohawks on their heads. Their rat-a-tat-tat gunfire resounds throughout the woods as they drill into the trees for insects they can hear scratching beneath the surface. And because their little brains are encased in spongy material in special hydraulically-designed skulls, they can pretty much bang away, day in and day out, without any kind of brain damage at all. And this is not within my ability. I feel pretty much brain-dead about now :).

But the comments on my last post did get me thinking (dangerous, I know, especially when brain-dead). It seems like going into the ‘woods’ strikes a resonance among many of us … and here’s a scary notion … maybe it’s partly because the woods are like an external manifestation of our own minds. Venturing into the dark coolness is like stepping into a Jungian headspace where little red riding hoods can meet big scary wolves, where fairies hide princesses until their sixteenth birthdays, where powerful knights hunt dragons of temptation, where leprechauns offer wishes, trolls hide under bridges, and a magnificent steer leads you down a secret path  …. and when you come out of those woods, and blink into harsh sunlight, the gold you’d collected turns mysteriously back to dry, crumbling leaves.

Okay … too obtuse. I really am tired :). And a tad behind on my Writing Challenge Goals for today. But I plan to catch up tomorrow …

See you then

The Contest entries are coming in steadily …. still a few days left to enter … 

 A pileated pecker in the snow.

June 20, 2006

WHISPERS

I came across this vignette along my run a few days ago. It made me stop and wonder  …. who had hiked all the way up into these woods and so carefully propped those now drying and faded yellow roses up with rocks? Who had sat on that bench and looked out over White Gold? Was it one person? Or two? Was it twilight, or dawn? What had they been thinking? Feeling?

I sat on the bench and tried to touch the whispers of memories in those woods. They felt sad. Very sad. And so strong they gave me a shiver. Then I wanted to laugh out loud at my folly — because so often my imagination weaves stories into sensations that just aren’t there. Still … I came across the roses again today … and still, I wonder …

And this is how stories start for me, because by the end of my run I had a real character in my mind, with very real emotions, and he’d sat on that bench, with the roses on his lap, and the rain had been a fine mist  …

Writing Week Challenge is going very well. I’m bang on schedule. YAY!! And if all goes according to plan, when I am done, I am going north to farmland with DD#2 where we will spend the day watching baby animals, avoiding irascible geese, and picking tons and tons of strawberries in the sun as a reward

And a special thank you to Bailey/Eve :). Guess what arrived in my mail box today? AUSSIE RULES!!! You rule, Eve. Thank you for the generous gift, friend.

My Path: Tin Pants, Lower Panorama

My Distance: 50:34 mins

My Beat: Falling in Love Again - Nina Simone (oh glorious, glorious, soulful voice)

Contest