Kavanah

I am finally beginning to feel the burn-out that dogged me all summer begin to fade away. This is officially a Good Thing. That balanced life of awareness, intention, hard work, and fun is on the horizon!

I am almost through the brainstorming draft of my new YA. This is the fast and dirty draft: very fast, very dirty. It’s about 35 pages long, with another 40 pages of notes in a different file. The actual writing of the first draft begins tomorrow morning. And that’s all I want to say about that.

I have now tagged all of my 2007 entries in my LiveJournal. I hope to get to 2006 and 2005 very soon. This will be useful for people who are looking for specific information (writing process, Twisted, Speak) or who just want to see all my pictures of Poland or snow. Do you use tags when looking for info?

BH and I ran in the Salmon River 5K last Saturday, despite the heat and humidity. Much to our surprise, we ran a decently fast race. (He could have run much faster, but he was a gentleman and ran with me the whole way.) Even more to our surprise, we each placed third in our age-groups and won a medal. That was very cool. Our knee trouble over the summer has prevented us from entering the half-marathon in Philly later this month, but we’ll be running in our hometown Mexico 5K Cider Run this Saturday. Come join us! You’ll support our local library and have a blast.

I had an Animal, Vegetable, Miracle moment (you must read that book) in the grocery store yesterday. I had this fancy-pants fish recipe I wanted to make that called for a salsa made for fresh oranges. The problem? Not only were the oranges four for three dollars, they had been imported from Peru. We have been making a real effort to reduce our carbon footprint and support local farmers. Oranges from Peru do not meet those goals. So I drove past an orchard on the way home, bought near ten pounds of peaches for nine dollars, and made peach salsa. And yes, I am feeling rather smug about this, thank you.

I have speeches to work on this afternoon, and thirty pounds of fresh green beans to blanche and freeze. And you don’t even want to know how many tomatoes are waiting in my kitchen. They snicker as I walk by. We’ll see who has the last laugh….

Happy Birthday, Penni! Happy Birthday, Alex!!!

Note to Danielle I’ll be emailing you within the next couple of days. Thank you so much for what you sent!

13 Replies to “Kavanah”

  1. I do search by tag, at least sometimes.

    Animal, Vegetable, Miracle sounds marvy.

    And, I met your lovely Stephanie the other evening on a panel at Moravian, and was impressed beyond words at her assurance and self-possession. No wonder you’re such a proud mommy.

  2. A 3.1 mile race. 5K is shorthand for 5 kilometers. The races tend to be relaxed and very friendly. There are always some incredibly fast people, but most bumble along at a moderate run like us, and some people prefer to walk the distance.

  3. Sorry we won’t see you down here in Philly, then, but congratulations on your run up there.

    We have been making a real effort to reduce our carbon footprint and support local farmers. Oranges from Peru do not meet those goals.

    They grow a lot of oranges in upstate New York, do they? (Sorry, couldn’t help it.)

  4. i can’t wait till your new YA is published! and salsa made with peaches sounds good. congrats on the salmon river 5k and good luck with the mexico 5k cider run. i’ll be rooting for you and your BH in spirit! miss you! =) ♥

  5. Burn out sucks. I got really burnt out first semester 2 years ago and like an idiot, instead of taking it easy the following semester, I tried to do even more. I’m still paying for it.

    I have a friend who got pretty burnt out last semester, and barely took a break this summer, and this semester is once again trying to do more than any one person should. Every time she gets sick it makes my stomach hurt because I’m sure she’ll end up working herself to death. But maybe I worry too much…

  6. Congrats on the 5k, and good luck on your upcoming one! That is exciting. (Knee problems have prevented me from entering my half marathon too; it must be the summer of bad knees.)

    I really admire your efforts to support local farmers, and peach salsa is sooooo good.

    Good luck on starting your first draft! Here’s to a productive, well-balanced fall.

    🙂 Sarah

  7. Congrats to your Dad!

    What a great article and picture of your Dad as the “featured person” in the “Neighbors” section of the Syracuse paper this morning(Thursday). What a character, hmmm, family & traits resemblance what????? ; } tq

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