Friday, May 17, 2013

Monday, May 13, 2013

Gratitude Monday -- I Think

I think, and I am grateful for it.

I don't always think and that has bitten me more times than I like to think about.  But most of the time I mull stuff over before saying anything or I research a topic before having an opinion.
Generally speaking I think before I speak. This makes people fearful. They don't know what to do with someone who isn't talking over their words.
It's the silence which gets to them most, I think.
So many conversations these days are more opinion contests than anything else. There's no room in them for the person who likes to consider what was said.

Also, I am quiet by nature.
This also scares people.

The down side of this is I say what I think. If I'm not saying anything then one may logically conclude I am not thinking anything either.

That's fine with me.

It gives me more time to think, and for that, and the desire and ability to do it in the first place,  I am grateful.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Photo-Finish Friday --A Moody Look at the Rockies

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Peaks along the Icefields Parkway.
I found the blue sky most striking.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Gratitude Monday -- A Beautiful Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day.
It was warm, it was bright, and there was nothing unusual about it beyond the unseasonably high temperature.
I got some yard work done.
My husband fixed the roof over the deck.
It was just a day like another day in long line of days where nothing extraordinary happens.
Extraordinary has its place. I am all for it. It livens things up and brings perspective, but ordinary is good and hardly ever gets its due.
It was a sunny, warm, ordinary day yesterday and for it I am grateful.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Photo-Finish Friday -- Pileated Woodpeckers




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A Pileated Woodpecker couple on a branch in Edmonton's river valley last weekend.


Pileated Woodpeckers


Here's the couple cropped and enlarged for a better,  if fuzzy,  look.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Gratitude Monday - Kind and Helpful Rejection

I've received two personalized rejections from publishers lately and I am grateful.
This is not so common.
They each contained suggestions for the work. One pointed out structural difficulties while the other noted some missing words, some awkward sentence structure, and suggested the work needed reworking.
This is wonderful.
The editor who sent the first rejection wished me luck and noted she was intrigued by my concept.
This is good for the ego. It means I've piqued interest.
The second rejection came from the publisher's desk and invited me to resubmit if I rewrite it.
This is great.
The feedback I have received helps me.
I'm running off a hard copy even as I write this as a third publishing house contacted me over the weekend asking to see the full manuscript.
It is my job to ensure what I send is clean and sensible.
I'm on it, and I am grateful.


Friday, April 26, 2013

Photo-Finish Friday -- Evening In Egypt

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Above is the entrance to the Temple of Kom Ombo. It's the only temple in Egypt devoted to two gods: Horus the Elder on one side and Sobek, the Crocodile-headed god on the other.

Most of our sight seeing was done either early in the morning before it got too terribly hot or in the evenings when the lights of the temples added to the sensory experience.