Last day of May

Well, that went quickly.

My favorite month of the year.

Such a lovely month

• So nice to not have to bundle up for my walk every morning.
• Fun to be able to ride our bikes again.
• Even fun to push the lawn mower…  I don’t know what to do with the “no-mow May” idea.  I kinda’ love mowing at this time of year - and I’m not tired of it yet.   It feels like part of my world looking so lovely.  But I am trying to be open to change. To learn better ways to treat our amazing planet and its inhabitants.

A neighborhood month 

• I participated in neighborhood clean-up - both at an organized event and on my daily walk.
• I joined neighbors in welcoming the Flint City Bucks for another summer.  The event was held at the soon-to-be-open wine and cheese shop a couple blocks away.   
• Lots of visiting with neighbors at porches and flower gardens.
• I attended my first Bucks game. Most of the 5800 fans drive in from the surrounding area so the parking lot was filled to overflowing.  This country girl is enamored by the fact that I get to walk right over there from my house and grateful for neighbors that invited me to tag along.   
• What a great month to live in Carriage Town.

A writing month - though not evident on this page  

• My local writing group hosted our first annual writing retreat.  I was honored to be a panel member discussing the publication process.
• The first draft of my second book has been in the hands of Alpha readers.  It has also been printed as a proof copy* and I am now in the middle of the first major edit.
• I have brainstormed big ideas about revitalizing this blog.  I hope to write more about writing and maybe crank out several posts for a series - and then another.  I have tried numerous times to write even a single post.  
• I’m learning things about myself as a writer.  Apparently there are times when my brain is so focused on a major writing project that there’s no band-width to write other things.  
• I did however make a deal with myself a long time ago that I would post something here at least once a month.  So here's my measly single offering for May.

My recent ponderings rather remind me of similar thoughts and feelings when we lived on the road.  At that time I wrote about how travel days mess with the travel writing.

 

“I often feel like these places are slipping by my window and I just can't capture them all. Certainly the best time to write about a place is while I'm living there, but I just can't seem to get 'er done. So then I fear that I will lose it. Lose the memory, lose the moment, lose the beauty of the setting or the fun of the story. And then I feel sad.”

Yep, it sounds like real life.  Good times and places slip by my calendar and I just can’t capture them all. And that’s okay.  Sometimes I just need to pause and not fret about writing everything down.  Sometimes it is better just to live and breathe in the moment.  

I’ve done lots of breathing this month.

Inhaling the moments.

Thinking the thoughts.

Feeling the feels.

And yes, it has been a good month. 

____

* The proof print cover of my new book.  Thank you, photographer Bob Sims!