Lessons in Grief ~ Part 7

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 3 Comments

My last blog post was May 23, 2023. By then, we’d already lost our darling girl cat, Raina.

On June 16, her brother, Watson, passed away. He had my heart like no other animal except the beagle I grew up with, Blaze. For eighteen years, Watson alternately charmed us and wreaked havoc around the house. He could be a total pill one minute and cuddle in my arms the next. I miss him every day.

There are people who won’t understand the bond some of us make with our animals. But I’m here to tell you that opening yourself to a furry little creature creates a vulnerability that rivals any other kind of love. And it hurts just as deeply, or maybe even more, when death cuts it short. I did a quick IG post but couldn’t bring myself to write a blog entry when he passed. It’s still difficult to think about; I teared up just writing the previous paragraph.

Continue reading “Lessons in Grief ~ Part 7” →

A Reward for Me!

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 4 Comments

I didn’t think it would take me this long to make my little announcement but life got complicated… 

On April 30, I completed the first draft of my first full length novel!  I struggled for nearly a month with the last chapter (it’s a little emotional) but I finally got most of the words I really wanted down on the page and called it DONE.  Yeah, I cried a little, both because of the final scene and because ~ OMG! ~ I’d just written a 64,000+ word book!!

That night, The Husband and I celebrated with dinner and a shared chocolate and caramel sundae at Woody’s Diner.  Immediate gratification was required.  But what I really wanted to do was a quick day trip to Balboa Island, near Newport Beach (CA).   Which we finally got to do yesterday.

Continue reading “A Reward for Me!” →

May is Reading for The Mom Month

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 1 Comment

The Mom’s birthday was always within days after Mother’s Day (in the US).  There was a time when I would get her a nice Mother’s Day present, a nice birthday present and then a goofy little present for every day in between. 

I think last year, I was still in shock in May.  She’d only passed away 2 months before and it was still unbelievable to me that she was gone.  I’d found the surrogate grave in the local cemetery (Lessons in Grief, Part 2), so I had that comfort of being able to have a special place to visit.  This year, I’ve been avoiding Mother’s Day reminders because they were making me verklempt when I’d see cards in Target or the inevitable Mother’s Day sales on TV.  I get a double whammy, too, because her birthday is always so close.

Continue reading “May is Reading for The Mom Month” →

Lessons in Grief – Part 6 Raina

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 2 Comments

One day in early 2005, The Husband came home from work at Knott’s Berry Farm and said there’d been a litter of kittens born in the stable and they were having trouble finding homes for them.  Could we take the female when they were weaned?  At that time, we had Gizmo, a female in her mid-teens.  A kitten might be a good companion…  Then he came home another day, begging to take one of her brothers because a forever home had fallen through.  Technically, we were only supposed to have 2 animals at that time, but who was going to know?? 

They were born around the holidays and we got to bring them home around Valentine’s Day.  We set the carrier in the living room, opened the door and waited for them to come out and explore.  The little gray girl came out first, followed eventually by her jet-black brother.  The Husband suggested naming her after a bold woman in literature and we settled on Irene (pronounced Irena), for Irene Adler, the only person who ever bested Sherlock Holmes.  We shortened it to Raina.  To stay with the great detective’s theme, we named her more timid brother Watson. 

Continue reading “Lessons in Grief – Part 6 Raina” →

Catching Up

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been concentrating on getting the first draft of my mystery novel finished – just one more chapter! – so my blog has been a bit neglected.

Here are a few things I’ve managed to do lately:

The 100 Day Project – Turns out I’m not as consistent as I thought I’d be in making a pair of earrings every day.  I’m constantly catching up but really glad my skills have been retained.  Since there are no hard and fast rules for this project, I’m happy to just be getting it done, whatever way works!

Continue reading “Catching Up” →

An Anniversary Letter to My Mother

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 1 Comment

Hey Ma—

How you doing up there?  Hard to believe it’s been a year since you were freed from the body that you were so frustrated with.

You’d been preparing me for a while, telling me how much you were losing; your sight, your mobility.  And how so many of your friends were already gone.  I’d call and you’d say you’d fallen asleep listening to a book again and I could hear the defeat in your voice.

When you told me from the hospital that you didn’t want dialysis, you said you were sorry.  I told you there was nothing to be sorry for.  We both knew your body was failing and I knew you were ready to go.  You’d been ready for a long time.  I’d never be ready but that didn’t matter.

Continue reading “An Anniversary Letter to My Mother” →

Resistance is Futile

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 2 Comments

The last week or so, the writing of my novel has come to a bumpy stretch worthy of California surface streets after this rainy winter we’ve had.  I thought it might be the fact that I’m wrestling with the business side of indie authoring.  Yes, I will admit that I’ve been consciously avoiding that quagmire, while also coming up with a name for my indie publishing business and budgeting in my head.  This has been a very Jekyll/Hyde process.

But this morning, I caught sight of Steven Pressfield’s book, Do The Work, buried under a bunch of other books in one of the many piles around the bedroom.  So, I carefully pulled it out and opened it up.  And right there, in front of my face, was the truth. 

Continue reading “Resistance is Futile” →

The 100 Day Project

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 2 Comments

So, I’ve been sorta missing jewelry making lately.  Bear Chick Originals, the handmade jewelry company I started in 2001, is long defunct but I still have drawers and boxes of beads and findings and other sparkly things.  They’ve been calling to me, like the square-wheeled train on the Island of Unwanted Toys.  They want to become things of beauty, useful and loved.

Jewelry making, whether stringing beads, bending and shaping wire or creating patterns with jump rings, always made me feel like an artist.  I especially loved combining colors and working with wire.  But since I retired, writing has dominated my creative hours and the jewelry bug just never got a reboot.  (Although, I have been thinking about making themed jewelry as contest giveaways for marketing my books when they’re published…)

Continue reading “The 100 Day Project” →

Houdini at Muzeo Anaheim

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 1 Comment

Today, The Husband and I spent a few hours at Muzeo in Anaheim, California, one of our favorite museums.  It’s a small exhibition space with the flexibility to be set up individually for each show.   Previous shows have included selections of Cheech Marin’s Latino artwork, Napoleon’s hat, Russian religious icons and costumes from Downton Abbey, just to name a few.  The current exhibition, continuing until January 22, is Houdini Unchained: The Legacy of Harry Houdini.

Here are some highlights:

One of the more lurid posters.

Continue reading “Houdini at Muzeo Anaheim” →

My Word of the Year 2023 – Compose

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 1 Comment

Happy New Year, Everybody!!

Can you believe it’s 2023?!  Whether you’re a young whippersnapper or a young-at-heart boomer, time flies. Whether we’re having fun or not.  So I hope you’re making the most of it!

Do you pick a word of the year to focus your intentions?  It’s a January thing and usually falls by the wayside by February but here goes anyway! 

My word for 2023 is:

COMPOSE

Continue reading “My Word of the Year 2023 – Compose” →