NaNoWriMo and Other News

Happy Monday to All!

I love NaNoWriMo - my house is never this clean otherwise. I am the Queen of Procrastination. I've been mulling over some plot problems but in the meanwhile, absent from the computer seat, I have:

1. Begun Fall Housecleaning. Some people clean thoroughly in the spring. Not me. Fall is the time to get this done. One room a day from top to bottom. That includes washing glass fixtures, cleaning out drawers and closets and making everything sparkle. Not windows, outside though. Do the outside in the summer.

2. Washing my insulators. Yep. I collect telephone insulators and while my collection is small, they can get dusty. Now they sparkle and shine. An inspiration to my writing muse. Maybe.

3. Washing my collection of antique milk bottles. Same thing here as above. Since all these collections are in my office, I expect they will now have increased ability to inspire my writing.

4. Canned the rest of the apples. Got 14 pint jars of smooth and 14 jars of chunky applesauce, along with 18 quarts of apple pie filling. Stored them in the cupboards for the year.

5. Cleaned the office. Actually found some stuff I was looking for, except still can't find my local grocery store discount shopping card.

6. Made a hundred flash cards for German words.

And now, with no further excuses, I'm off to check on my favorite blogs and actually rack up some words on the wip.

Happy writing everyone and see you next Monday.

Apples and Autumn

Autumn, as I've probably mentioned before, is my favorite season. Perhaps it's because nights and early mornings are crisp and cold, so it's time for fires in the fireplace and wood stove. It's more than that, however. There's a sense of the need to finish outdoor projects before snow falls. We've already had the first dusting on the mountains around the valley and soon the snowline will reach the valley floor.

Days grow shorter and nights longer, and the season is a reminder of the fleeting, precious nature of life itself. The spectacle of red and yellow colors on the trees and the musty scent of leaves underfoot, crisp or sodden, mark this time as one of nature's most glorious.

This weekend we drove to our apple tree to gather a heaping boxful. The tree grows outside the fence of a farmhouse, abandoned long ago. The tree, planted many years ago, still bears a heavy load of fruit each fall. I can picture a family living here, children sent to pick the windfalls and the mother on a ladder reaching for the higher branches. The tree was smaller then. Now the highest branches are far above our heads. Armed with a cultivator to pull down a few of these branches, we fill the big box. Some apples have wormholes, some don't. It's not hard to cut out the damaged parts.

So far I've canned a load of chunky applesauce and a load of smooth. Today I'll do a load of apple pie filling. Should take the better part of the week to work through the box. The ruby red peels make jelly. The cut out parts and the cores go into the compost pile. Nothing gets wasted. The kitchen is full of the aroma of cooking apples, and I think that says autumn to me most of all.

And now, NaNoWriMo calls. Next post here will be Monday next. Happy week and happy writing to all.