Doing homework, but easily distracted… so, updates
Got C2 enrolled in school today here in Victoria. As this is potentially a temporary situation, I didn’t push too hard for homeschooling. Already wondering if I should have, but if he does choose to go back to mom’s after the school year’s over, I will feel much more confident in the decision to have him in public school. So, we’ll see…
By the same token, we decided to enroll the twins in Pre-K at the elementary school, too. After being home for 6 months, and possibly being home a while more, I think it’s a great idea. It’s just 3 hours each day, and it gets them back into a structured environment. At the same time, I’ve got a bit of separation anxiety. These are my babies… do I really want them in school almost a year before they HAVE to go? 
OK, back to geography and the history of Somalia. 
I love being back in school… I really do. But some of these textbooks put me to sleep!!! I think I’ll do better when some of the classes that I will be teaching are in my schedule! Can’t wait to take Astronomy and Oceanography. But for now, it’s Social Sciences and after this, it’s Humanity… then we’ll see what else can be pulled into this semester.
Til next time…
Another Robert Frost… Fire and Ice
Here’s a short one… this one always resonates with me, too. Robert Frosts’s Fire and Ice:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Sourcing silver rings
We are starting a new venture… But need to find a source for silver rings. It’s a specific type of ring. Silver rectangular signet ring blanks. Hubby is going to carve the rings, personalized, hand crafted, very reasonable rates. We have everything else we need, but need a wholesale source for the blanks. Googling turns up nothing as yet… Hoping maybe someone will see this and know a wholesale source!! Thanks for looking and leave a comment with any ideas you may have… Thanks!!
Will post pics soon.
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
OK, so don’t laugh… but I actually first heard this poem on the 1980′s movie The Outsiders (still one of my all-time favorites). I memorized it through that movie…
So I saw a few people read The Road Not Taken the other day, and thought I would provide another one here today…
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
It’s a beautiful thing… the emotion this poem brings to my heart every time I read it, every time I recite it. My heart gets caught in my throat, it’s hard to speak… it somehow evokes dawn, new beginnings, and loss at the same time. It reminds me of the love I have for my aunt and my cousin (both lost in their 30′s… way too young). It’s bittersweet. But it’s there… it brings something out in me…
What does it mean to you?
Update – family stuff
I spent some time recently with my husband with no children around. I don’t think I’ll be letting it go that long in between again. I’ve finally learned that if I want this time with him, I will have to plan it and execute my plans myself… he’ll just be along for the ride…LOL. I love my husband, and he is so incredibly good at many things… planning is not one of them. Fortunately, planning fun stuff is something I am good at… 
So I’ll just have to take the reigns, so to speak, in this aspect, and make sure that we have time to recharge. With so many children, sometimes it’s been put on the back burner way to long.
Our youngest (the twin boys) are five today. What an age! They think they are SO BIG now… it’s adorable! Can’t wait to start school, and one of them insisted today that Daddy needed to take his training wheels off, “cause I’m FIVE now, and I don’t need ‘em anymore”. So Daddy raised & re-positioned them (not quite ready to remove them completely).
I may have already warned you, but just to be on the safe side, I’ll warn you again… my posts may be fewer and farther between for the duration of November. NaNoWriMo will hopefully be taking up much of my free time.
Wicca Novel Series
I studied Wicca some in high school, as well as wrote papers about it in college. I have great admiration for Wiccans. This year for NaNoWriMo, I have an idea for the first book in what I hope to be a series of 7 books. It’s based in a community devised, developed, and occupied by Wiccans, and will encompass many sustainable living and other nature-based features. Although the books are primarily romance/thrillers, I wish to be accurate in my portrayals of certain events and customs.
What I want to know is this:
1) Are there any real-life Wiccans out here reading my blog interested in being interviewed?
2) Are there any real-life Wiccans out here reading my blog that currently live in a community with other Wiccans?
I definitely will not portray this as cult-ish (in fact, that small-mindedness is something my character will be challenged with in this first novel), but more as a place for like minded individuals to feel free to worship their gods and goddesses without someone looking at them askance. Somewhere where one would not worry about the mainstream society looking at them “funny” for walking out of their home in robes or for gathering in a common area and celebrating Samhain or Beltane.
Also, at some point, I may need someone who would be willing to read excerpts (or the whole thing) for accuracy. If you’d like to volunteer for any of these things, please leave me a comment below. If you wish to provide more information than you’d like to leave on this page, please feel free to leave a quick comment letting me know that you’ll be emailing me, and then send an email to writing ‘at’ kimberlyearley dot com.
I’d also love to hear from people who would like to read a story like this… a fictional romance based on real wiccans.
Wicca Novel Series
I studied Wicca some in high school, as well as wrote papers about it in college. I have great admiration for Wiccans. This year for NaNoWriMo, I have an idea for the first book in what I hope to be a series of 7 books. It’s based in a community devised, developed, and occupied by Wiccans, and will encompass many sustainable living and other nature-based features. Although the books are primarily romance/thrillers, I wish to be accurate in my portrayals of certain events and customs.
What I want to know is this:
1) Are there any real-life Wiccans out here reading my blog interested in being interviewed?
2) Are there any real-life Wiccans out here reading my blog that currently live in a community with other Wiccans?
I definitely will not portray this as cult-ish (in fact, that small-mindedness is something my character will be challenged with in this first novel), but more as a place for like minded individuals to feel free to worship their gods and goddesses without someone looking at them askance. Somewhere where one would not worry about the mainstream society looking at them “funny” for walking out of their home in robes or for gathering in a common area and celebrating Samhain or Beltane.
Also, at some point, I may need someone who would be willing to read excerpts (or the whole thing) for accuracy. If you’d like to volunteer for any of these things, please leave me a comment below. If you wish to provide more information than you’d like to leave on this page, please feel free to leave a quick comment letting me know that you’ll be emailing me, and then send an email to writing ‘at’ kimberlyearley dot com.
I’d also love to hear from people who would like to read a story like this… a fictional romance based on real wiccans.
NaNoWriMo 2009… ready or not?
NaNoWriMo
So, I’ve been all worried that I didn’t get ahead of the game this year on NaNoWriMo… because I didn’t. I didn’t even know what I was going to write… no idea on the genre, my characters, or any inkling of a plot…
So, today, I just started playing… I was going to try to do 2-3 story outlines, a very general character sketch, and just go with whichever looked like it was the best.
I wound up with a pretty detailed character sketch of the main characters and 6 supporting characters, as well as a story that’s just leaping off the page. I want to get started now! I won’t, because I want to do this by the book… and I want to finish this year! But they’re dialogue is running in my head… I can almost see some of her mannerisms, and his reactions. I also have a fairly detailed full-page story outline, with plots and subplots. I have an idea for it being the first in a seven-book series. It’s going to be romance or erotic fiction (I guess it depends on how much of their sex lives they decide to tell).
I’m so excited!!!! I just hope that I don’t find that I dislike my characters after I’ve written half of their story, as I did last year…
I plan to post some of the chapters as I finish them… check back and see what you think.
New Photography Hosting Site
So I have a new photography hosting site… just getting it set up, and hopefully within a couple of weeks, I’ll have it “live” with my current stock photography, and a couple of events. I’m at http://www.kimearley.smugmug.com. Soon it will be linked directly from my site (www.kimberlyearley.com) but it will take a bit to get everything all set up, I’m sure. I’m excited to be posting my stock photography, as well as back-dating and posting my past event photography… which segues nicely into my next thought…
I have a new idea for a photography blog… I LOVE tattoos (even though I only have one, and that one was done with such wisdom (major self-effacing sarcasm there) when I was just days over 18 years old. But I digress… I LOVE body art. I especially love the non-cookie-cutter body art done by a professional and talented tattoo artist. So I believe that I am going to start a photography blog of tattoos… I’ve done a lot of research into tattoo artists, and I agree that the art form has been diluted by what I refer to as the “Spring Break” tattoo parlors… the widespread use of stencils and limited selection of tattoos. I’m not interested in promoting these places, but rather promoting and profiling the artists that remain true to their art. The true artists that can sketch you a design to cover an old tattoo that you don’t like anymore. The artist that can listen to you describe what you think you want, talk to you, sketch and tweak until you’re looking at a design that’s perfect for you. I’ve had the opportunity to see a few of these artists at work, and those are the people I wish to immortalize their work.
I’m trying to convince hubby to draw my next two tattoos… which, knowing me, may not happen for another 20 years or so…LOL… but I want one that’s a fairy (I love all things medieval and earlier, but especially fairies and dragons). Then I want another one that I know is going to be across the small of my back (which my daughter earlier this year informed me was known at school as a “Tramp Stamp”… where do they come up with these things?). I don’t want to be covered in tats myself… I don’t even like the sleeves, etc. for myself. They will be small-ish tats, as well as well spaced and well placed. I do want to clarify, though, that I LOVE seeing sleeves on other people… the separate tats that get tied into one cohesive masterpiece…
Anyways, hubby is an AMAZINGLY talented artist, and I keep trying to encourage him in it, because I hate to see talent wasted or ignored. So maybe I’ll be able to work with him on this new venture of body art, and if I can get him to design my tattoos and post for you to see. Then once I decide on a tattoo artist, you’ll see the original artwork, as well as the result of the art.
Anyone have suggested names for my blog? I’m currently considering the simple: Inked! or Scratched! (the industry term for the verb tattoo). Love to hear your thoughts!
Staying at Holiday Inn, St. Augustine Beach
So, we’ve got our one-night “holiday” at the beach in St. Augustine Beach. We went to dinner at a little hamburger place on the beach where we used to go a lot. Excellent hamburger on the deck, watching the twilight begin… Came back to the room, went for a short walk on the beach, talked about our engagement (we’re staying at the same hotel that we got engaged in… oh, 7 1/2 years ago…LOL).
We came back to the room, talked a bit more, and hubby promptly fell asleep.
I don’t really mind (mostly). I’m sitting here on the balcony, listening to the waves over the hum of the A/C. I keep telling myself that in a few minutes, I’ll turn the A/C off so I can hear the waves more clearly. But for now, I’m content… at peace… Missing my kiddos… and enjoying the solitude. As usual, I’m a mix of emotions, but mostly, I just can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right this very moment.
I took a few night photos, but I’m still familiarizing myself with my newer camera, and I can’t quite get the shots I want. So, I’ll re-charge the batteries and prepare for sunrise. I’m looking forward to my dawn photo-shoot. Here’s one that I’m pretty sure I’ll like, especially once I can punch it up in PaintshopPro or Photoshop Elements.
St Augustine beach night
Hubby’s awake now… not sure what we’re going to do… hang in the room? Don’t want to drive anywhere, so whatever it is, it’ll be here!
Guess I better get off of here and spend some time with him!
More later, maybe…
