Photo-Finish Friday - Sacred Area

Sacred Site

The  interpretive fire trail on the way to Landslide Lake goes through an area sacred to the local natives. Several such areas can be found throughout the west country and are marked by clothing attached to trees.
Forgive me, but I cannot remember the reason right now and I can't find it.*
It always gives me pause to find one of these areas. It makes the earth seem that much more alive.

*ETA: The fabric is an offering to the spirits.

Is It Just My Imagination?

Or does the leaf in yellow here look like the lips from




Halloween is coming.
Can you tell?

Two Sentence Tuesday -- The WIP Stopped Fighting

My current WIP was fighting every edit I offered it until the other day when something magical happened. It stopped fighting and started accepting. Mostly what happened is I've hit a section of the WIP that doesn't require as much work as the first few chapters.
This makes me happy. I needed a break. I was going through more chocolate than usual and stocks were reaching the critical refill mark.
Here's a sample:
" 'I understand,' " Shallal said. She was hand-feeding an old, horned hog. It grunted with contentment and licked her hands up to her wrists."
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Reading got shuffled aside for most of the last week. The reason falls in equal measure of editing and letting Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True seep into my poor, overtaxed mind. It's a lot to digest.
It was Sunday before I felt ready to read anything again.
I've started The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs (Ace, 2001) and was taken into the story right away. It's good to get away.
Here are two lines:
"My face hurt suddenly, and I saw Kith, his upright hand a few inches from my face. But the screams in my head continued unabated."
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Thanks for being here. I really appreciate the attention.
Two Sentence Tuesday exists because of the Women of Mystery.

Gratitude Monday - Somewhere Under The Rainbow

Rainbows are fine things.
I've always enjoyed them and been grateful for their promise of leprechauns and magic and maybe all the other special things we have in life but forget about because we've forgotten how to see.
What do you think about when you see a rainbow?
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This is from a recent trip out west. It's across the road from the Nordegg.
I played with it a wee bit.
Camera filters are fun and good for the creative side. They can bring out the stuff we've forgotten to see.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Pretty Purple Flower

From an orchid garden in Cuba.

I Don't Know Anything

Open your mind to a wealth of possibilities.

My philosophy of life is simple: I don't know anything.
Not literally, of course. I mean this in the sense that I don't know everything, I am not always right, and there is more than one way to look at things.
My point in looking at things this way is there is always something to learn. It might be a new way to view a problem, or an issue, or even a ripping good rumor. 
It by no stretch means I am opinionless. Just the opposite. But after nearly 20 years of reporting I am good at keeping my opinions to myself.
Rather than argue with a person who comes out with something outlandish I usually listen to what's offered.
Am I swayed?
No.
I rarely argue, but I also rarely encourage. 
I might hear something I didn't know from useful information to a  new twist on a conspiracy theory. To a writer the latter is useful information. You never knows what nugget will be perfect for a story.
The point is this, if you argue all the time because it is your belief that you are right and everyone else is wrong, then you will close your mind to a universe of possibilities and wonder.

Two Sentence Tuesday -- A Glorious Mess

Writing has gone slowly this past few weeks. I'm in the midst of rewriting. I've added a character. I'll probably excuse a few other characters from the story somewhere down the line. What was chapter two is now that plus 2A and 2B.
Currently it is a glorious mess. I think that's good because mess can be cleaned. But for now, I'm going to go along and make more mess and worry about cleaning it up later.
Here are two fresh efforts from the WIP:
"She harnessed her mind and put it toward complete relaxation, to melting into the ground and the tree and becoming the earth until she and it had neither beginning nor end.
The earth whispered in her heart and set an arm around her soul."
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I finished Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True  (Harper, 2009) yesterday. There's a lot to absorb.
Here are two:
"Six months before, that remark would have pissed me off. Would have put me right on the defensive."
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Thanks for being here.
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