a giveaway gift

I was lucky enough to win a wonderful giveaway from Sara, of Mama Craft.  It is a beautiful set of mounted rubber stamps with a Tree theme. I'm going to make something fun for my sister, whom we call Tree.  Also,  a stamp pad, and the most lovely set of Watercolor Pencils.  Really fun stuff; thank you so much, Sara!

tuesday morning

An apartment across the street has a  Christmas tree set up by the window. It's lit by early afternoon, into the evening.  I'll have to get a picture of it later on.  It's not even Halloween! I get disoriented every time I look out the window and see that oddly timed trimmed tree.

[hard to get a decent shot of this, but you get the gist]

A block away, along the bigger intersection, they've strung the Christmas lights already... traditionally they get lit on thanksgiving night or the night after. I hope they don't get crazy and light them up for Halloween... though that'd be spooky.

Last night me and ev played several games of Gomoku, and one game of Scrabble.  It's good to play games sometimes.
 

Gomoku

Lingering over a cup of coffee now.  The day is grey and rainy.  I have some medical testing today (and tomorrow) around noon, so I won't be doing much before that. 

The streetsweeper passes by; boy does that make a big sound.  Startled me.  Traffic is in full force.  I like the sound of it going over the wet pavement.

My contented cats sit nearby.  They've eaten their morning meal, and all is right in their world.

Mug Shots

(Little Guy & Morrison)

morning

Early morning wake up. I go to the store at dawn; sugar for my coffee, and a bagel for my stomach.

The world is already rushed at that time... people going to school and work... the subway steps streaming with people, and buses packing up. Heads down, cell phones abundant, as usual.

That intersection is a block away, and the block makes all the difference. The traffic here isn't light, but at least I don't have to listen to all those buses pulling in and out. I can hear and feel (even up here on the 6th floor) the train going by underground, but that's not disturbing to me at all.

gray skies

isomnia

Another bout of insomnia. No big deal. I amuse myself by drinking red wine and perusing writings on the net. Camomile tea and soft music might be the better alternative here, but oh well.
Little Guy walks around my legs, tickling me with his fur. Morrison is on the couch arm, and decides to jump down and check the kitchen for food. I hear him crunching on the hard food, which I always leave down for them.

I've been pondering over this novel-in-a-month venture...Nanowrimo... trying to plot out my story, and get a feel for the main characters. It's nerve wracking, because when I think about it, no words come to mind, and I wonder if I will be totally blocked for this endeavor. There's no time to think about it once it comes, though, and quantity seems to be of the first order. Truthfully, if I ended up with 50K words of anything I'd be happy. Well, that's not true; I can do without thousands of words of crap.
I have an idea of the beginning of my story, and a scene I would like at the end. The middle I don't have mapped out fully, except for certain ideas of characters meeting, and a turn-around in the main characters life... that'll have to be okay, because I don't think I'll be working on this plotting stuff much more this month.

Seems some heat came up, as the radiators were hissing. Now it's a little too warm, so I opened a window. Surely it's not quite time for heat just yet. It's 41°F/5°C. I guess a little heat won't hurt. The wine is warming me too, I suppose.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Hopefully sleep won't be far behind.

haiku

autumn falls overnight
brisk winds blow the scraping leaf
the people scurry

***

winter can't be far
songbirds are disappearing
the earth gets quiet

one year blogging

It has been one year since starting my blog. I think I've kept up with it pretty well (despite deep lulls, like lately).
The sky has been grey, and not yet the crystal blue and white October sky that I love so well.
The leaves are yet to turn, though a few have started. The green is fading from all of them. (photo from an earlier autumn, taken while driving upstate)

Halloween goodies

Today I got a wonderful Halloween package from Gail. I won a giveaway at her site, and here's the stuff I got. The witch is just too cute! Thank you, Gail!