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Midwinter Inspiration (Part II)

I’m back on Long Island now and completely unpacked – not that I had all that much to unpack. I’m still behind in my blog posts, but I hope to catch up soon.

I need to begin to connect the bits of information that we have from our trip to Keystone Heights (Brooklyn) Florida. My brother, his wife and I traveled there to see what information we could find on my father and grandmother – both of which were listed as being born in Brooklyn, Florida. We went to the town hall and were met with an abundance of hospitality. The Mayor of Keystone Heights even offered of information on a local resident who’s family had been in the area back when it was called “Brooklyn”.

The intermittent torrential rain kept us from venturing out of the car, but we did drive to where the mayor suggested we look and we found Lake Brooklyn, one of the many lakes in the town. It was so close to where I think our dad and grandmother were both born.

Brooklyn was developed into a carefree lakeside community and Keystone Heights, as it was renamed, as a resort community. Many wealthy folks vacationed there, some were even founding members of the community. James C. Penny (yes, of J.C. Penny fame) was a developer in the area back in the early 1900’s. There are still references to that name in the area.

Midwinter Inspiration

A couple days ago I left Long Island for a much anticipated visit in Florida with my brother and his wife. Not only was I looking forward to spending time with them, my nephew and his family also live very close by.

I tend to book early flights when I leave Long Island. I do that for work and for personal trips. The view from my window seat this trip was worth getting up at 3 am to finish packing and get to the airport.

Sunrise Flight — Sunrise over Long Island

After the storm.

Nearly 18 inches fell at my home on Long Island. That certainly was not a record. Nassau County received nearly 30 inches. I’ve not looked at the confirmed numbers but after 12 inches – who’s counting.

The Great Snowstorm of 2016!

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow! I annoyed my coworkers all day last Friday in anticipation of the predicted snow fall. I dolled out recommendations from making sure cell phones were charged in case the island lost power to putting a bag of kitty litter in car trunks to help with both weight to help the car hold the road and to use for traction for tires. One coworker equated my joy to a child waiting for Christmas – he was right.

I left work on Friday knowing that I’d be awake and looking out the window to see the snow start. After all, that’s what the weather folks said would happen and guess what – they were right. Not that I’m surprised. They have so many cool weather tools now a days, they are amazingly accurate and much better than “back in the day”.

I awoke just after 2 AM, without an alarm, looked out and it had just started to snow. A light dusting was on the cars and I went back to bed with a huge smile on my face. I think I actually skipped down the hall. It was as if I had seen Santa in my living room. Truth be told, I do still believe in Santa Claus too.

I spent Saturday morning admiring the blanket of snow and respecting the blizzard winds. My husband and I each took a turn walking our dog outside. He went first. For the second trip, the winds whipped and forced our dog to focus on his goal and not to sniff every rock, leaf, and acorn he passed. Ten inches of snow took care of all those usual distractions. We made it back inside and warmed up by a roaring fire. Hot chocolate helped also.

Usually, I take a lot of pictures, but that will have to wait till tomorrow when the winds die down. I managed to snap one shot which made me think of some of the folks that didn’t believe the forecast.

head in the snow — There are three (3) Flamingos here, see the lump in the middle?

These flamingos are over 65 years old and are NOT plastic. My parents got them in Florida in the 50’s and they have seen a lot of Long Island weather over the years. I reinforced the concrete and painted them this past summer. I felt they were strong enough to withstand a winter season again. So there they stand, knee deep in snow. You can’t see the third flamingo which is completely covered.

Annual rituals

Thanksgiving is over and you can feel the anticipation leading into Christmas. Three days ago I was sitting around the table with my family, thankful for being together and for having our health. Exhausted from the day, did I mention that I was up cooking at 6:00 AM. We ate around 3:00 PM with a halftime out until we went in for dessert. I turned in early but apparently I had way too much full caffeinated coffee throughout the day and didn’t sleep particularly well.

As a family, we are never ones to follow the crowd. No shopping malls for us. We spent Black Friday doing some yard clean up and taking a leisurely ride out to Montauk Point. My husband drove while my son and I got to be tourists for a bit. It was surprisingly quite on the roads. Not that there were any malls or shopping destinations that far away from Riverhead.

Montauk Point 2 Thanksgiving 2015 — Montauk Point Lighthouse

We always took rides on Sunday afternoons when I was a child. As it happens, my husbands family did the same. I guess back before cable TV, video games and all the technology that we can’t live without now our parents just wanted to get us out of the house. It is still one of my favorite things!

Our son took some amazing photos. Check them out.

Sunset in Sag Harbor 2 Thanksgiving 2015 — Sunset at Sag Harbor

Montauk bluffs Thanksgivng 2015 — Montauk bluff

Keeping on track

The calendar reminder I set for myself worked, at least this first month. Here is my post.

I’ve agonized for two weeks over a short fictional piece for a children’s magazine. I’ve never put myself through so many revisions and second guesses. I’m just happy that I finally hit the “submit” button this afternoon. Death by revision is a slow, painful, horrible death that kills both the manuscript and the author. I’ll spend the next couple of weeks checking email for responses. Good bad or indifferent – its out there. That’s where my words should be. That’s where I want them to be. Now, I’ll hope that a publisher wants the same.

Now that this piece is “off my desk” I’ll move on to the next project. That’s the fun thing about writing. There is always another project. Either commissioned and paid for, or on spec and in search of pay – one is no different from the other to me. Well written manuscripts take time, patience and hard work. What am I doing on this blog…

Back to work.

Routine is coming to a desk near me…

I’ve just set calendar reminders for posting on this blog. Sounds silly, but we ALL know how life gets in the way and prevents many good intentions from being realized.

Creativity

Update –

I’m still not at all used to this blogging thing. Mainly, I’m finding that getting the time to write anything is my challenge. My picture book manuscripts and revisions are priority, but even those can be kicked to the curb when life knocks at the door.

My decision to publish one of my picture book manuscripts as a book app has moved to the back burner, but not totally. I’m in research mode on the whole process. Still learning…

More to follow.

Reflection

It’s that time of year for me when I have to think of renewing memberships, registering for conferences and seminars all while maintaining my writing schedule. As a “pre-published” author, I feel comfortable working at my own pace but I also feel stress that my pace may not be good enough. I want to sign up for anything and everything that could help propel me forward as a published author. All of them valuable events, but no conference or seminar will do me any good unless I continue to get words on a page.

After resisting maintaining a blog for years, first because I had no idea of how to go about setting one up, secondly because I thought maintaining it would keep me away from my writing. After launching the blog in 2014, I find that the need to update this blog regularly requires me to have new ideas. Those ideas come from my concentration on my manuscripts, either physically writing them – or doing research.

From the Suffolk County Historical Society Exhibit

I was out and about doing a bit of research at the Suffolk County Historical Society yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day and in the long snowy, subzero winter that we are having the day was a welcome invitation to get out of the house. The Antique doll collection on exhibit included African American dolls. The entire collection was impressive to see, but when I saw the African American dolls I truly felt that I was looking back in history. My own memory as well as recollections of the stories my mother used to share about her childhood in rural Georgia in the 1920’s and 30’s suddenly felt like they happened last month. I could see the remnants of struggles for freedom and equality represented in those dolls. Dolls that reflect the times from which they were created. Dolls intended to provide comfort to young children in times when comfort was not a luxury. They were simple handmade cloth dolls, some with porcelain faces and yarn for hair and eyes. They were not all that different than the white dolls in the exhibit. They represent childhood and innocence and they represent me. It’s interesting when research for a picture book story brings things so close to home. It creates a need for reflection.

President’s Day, February 16, 2015

Snow, snow – bring on the snow. I love winter, but the extreme cold is just about going to do me in this week. I love the snow. Not the cold. At least that is not the extreme cold. My fingers lose feeling even with the heaviest of gloves.

This winter seems to be having a huge effect on most of the country. As I watch weather forecasts from around the country, the grass is always greener may not apply to this winter. I looked at the weather map and began to count my blessings.

My town of Ridge, NY is hovering at 9 degrees with a wind chill of -12 degrees this morning. Upstate New York is registering -11 and is expected to get to a high of 0 degrees by 2pm this afternoon. By that time in Ridge, we should be up to 18 degrees.

I’m not a beach person, but if I were – I’d not be dieting to get into bikini shape this winter, I’d be on a warm sunny beach no matter what shape I was in. Bundle up, more snow is in the forecast this week.

Taking advantage of the day off from my day job I’m working on several projects but the one I’m most focused on this morning is a Children’s Picture Book App and ironically it is about winter. I’m not sure how that happened, but it is certainly easier to relate to the subject when I’m in the thick of it. The text is completed (I think) and I’m working with a wonderful illustrator on preliminary images. I thought about a tradition book format for this manuscript, but it is a concept book that seems to be calling out to be an App. Exciting for me, a whole new publishing area to explore.