Colin and April will be here in just a few hours! I can hardly wait! We'll be getting up at 4:30 so we can pick up the kids at 6 am. The house is stocked with groceries, the fridge is full of Colin's favorite beer, the bedroom is spiffy and the bathroom is sparkling! They'll get some relief from the intense heat in California and enjoy the luscious green of our yard. Plus, they'll enjoy time with their friends and family.
I hit 18.8 miles today. It's a bit behind the last two years, but considering the frequency of rain and cold this summer, that's not bad. Last year, the pool was 90 degrees on this date. Today, it was 78 and the air was cool and breezy. It was a good day to finish weeding and mulching the stone wall garden. Now all that's left is about forty feet of the property line garden. It'll be done just in time for a garden party when the lilies peak in a few weeks. About ten different lilies are in bloom now. Time to get out my new camera lenses and practice.
Our poor Paddy took a trip to the vet on Monday to get massive mats of fur shaved off. He looked like he had wings, but now he's got a Mohawk haircut. He's been clinging to me ever since.
Today, I submitted all the captions for the photos and squeezed in a couple more pictures. That's a total of 32 photos in the book. After studying all my photos from the last ten years, I realized that I've been taking the same pictures every year of different people. I wanted to include more variety of scenes in the book, but I just don't have them. Nevertheless, I am delighted with the book. We're on the third mock up and I'm sure the editor will send me a new one tomorrow. The next task is a line by line examination of the entire book. I noticed a few small spacing issues and some titles that need caps. I've been working on ideas for the cover, but I know I'll need help with that cause that requires an expert.
Graduation was lovely as always. Most impressive were the musical performances. Jin played the clarinet, Will was on the saxophone and Matt, who is a tenor, sang without a microphone and filled up the entire concert hall. They gave me goosebumps. I was also very impressed with the guest speaker, Christine Bell, who is an international art dealer. She spoke about the importance of introspection, quiet time alone and putting down their phones to think! Since then we've gone to four graduation parties.
The Republicans have withdrawn their health care proposal because McConnell could not muster the votes. The CBO calculated that 22 million would lose their health insurance, with the greatest portion of them poor, handicapped and older. In fact, the proposal permitted insurance companies to charge folks in their fifties and early sixties up to five times as much as for younger customers. The far right Senators wanted more cuts, while the moderates in states where Medicaid had expanded, feared the cuts. No doubt they will not give up.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Day 1857: Father's Day 2017
Father's Day. Another of our least favorite days. The guys called Steve, but it was lonely without them. It's been a long time since we last saw them. We spent time with my sister and brother, though, and that was wonderful. Fortunately, Colin and April will be here in ten days!
On Friday, the publisher sent me the first full mock up of my book to review. Last week I made decisions about font size, book size and spacing and then he was able to format the entire text and photos. My initial reaction was delight and then I was gripped by anxiety about the next steps, how to promote it and how my life will change. Publishing a book is an opportunity for growth, which I embrace, but it's also scary.
When we reviewed the book at Penelope this morning, they helped me see a few areas to improve. First, the text boxes are too distracting visually because the border is too wide and the print is in bold. I hadn't even noticed. Then, we examined all the photos and questioned whether each photo would help teach a key point, move the story forward or illustrate our varied activities. We also discussed whether the photo was effective in black and white. In a few cases, the answer is no. Sara pointed out that I have too many photos where a group of people were all gathered together looking directly into the camera. That has to change. As Penny said, "More doing!" Those two are treasures! Both artists, they see elements that I overlook.
Tomorrow, I'll be hard at work reexamining thousands of photos looking for a different angles, more activity and high contrast. Fortunately, Evan helped me out this evening to gain some more operating memory. We're exporting my entire iMovie library to the upstairs computer via wifi. When I delete the library from my laptop, that will free up 64 GB to work with. Then, he suggested calling Netsync about their upstreaming service and perhaps upgrade to speed up the uploading of my photo library to the cloud. Look at me! Talking about tech like I fully understand it! Almost, but not completely.
It's been very hot this week and that warmed the pool to 89 degrees! Swimming for any amount of time was tough, but I endured and have now tallied 13.39 miles. For hours each day, I've also been helping my sister with her house. She works like a demon and has transformed that 1925 house into a little treasure.
The week was marred by several horrific events. First, a madman ambushed the Republican Congressional baseball team at an early morning practice and shot one Congressman. He is in grievous condition with a bullet that hit his hip, broke his pelvis and damaged internal organs. An aide, a lobbyist and one capital police woman were also shot. Several other people were injured in the process.
Then, a US destroyer and a cargo ship collided off the coast of Japan and seven sailors were killed. It took great effort to keep the ship from sinking. There are many questions about how those two huge ships could collide in daylight.
The upcoming week promises to be a bit cooler. I'll be able to better concentrate on the book and move it along to the finish line. There are other issues and tasks I would like to tackle, but the book must come first.
On Friday, the publisher sent me the first full mock up of my book to review. Last week I made decisions about font size, book size and spacing and then he was able to format the entire text and photos. My initial reaction was delight and then I was gripped by anxiety about the next steps, how to promote it and how my life will change. Publishing a book is an opportunity for growth, which I embrace, but it's also scary.
When we reviewed the book at Penelope this morning, they helped me see a few areas to improve. First, the text boxes are too distracting visually because the border is too wide and the print is in bold. I hadn't even noticed. Then, we examined all the photos and questioned whether each photo would help teach a key point, move the story forward or illustrate our varied activities. We also discussed whether the photo was effective in black and white. In a few cases, the answer is no. Sara pointed out that I have too many photos where a group of people were all gathered together looking directly into the camera. That has to change. As Penny said, "More doing!" Those two are treasures! Both artists, they see elements that I overlook.
Tomorrow, I'll be hard at work reexamining thousands of photos looking for a different angles, more activity and high contrast. Fortunately, Evan helped me out this evening to gain some more operating memory. We're exporting my entire iMovie library to the upstairs computer via wifi. When I delete the library from my laptop, that will free up 64 GB to work with. Then, he suggested calling Netsync about their upstreaming service and perhaps upgrade to speed up the uploading of my photo library to the cloud. Look at me! Talking about tech like I fully understand it! Almost, but not completely.
It's been very hot this week and that warmed the pool to 89 degrees! Swimming for any amount of time was tough, but I endured and have now tallied 13.39 miles. For hours each day, I've also been helping my sister with her house. She works like a demon and has transformed that 1925 house into a little treasure.
The week was marred by several horrific events. First, a madman ambushed the Republican Congressional baseball team at an early morning practice and shot one Congressman. He is in grievous condition with a bullet that hit his hip, broke his pelvis and damaged internal organs. An aide, a lobbyist and one capital police woman were also shot. Several other people were injured in the process.
Then, a US destroyer and a cargo ship collided off the coast of Japan and seven sailors were killed. It took great effort to keep the ship from sinking. There are many questions about how those two huge ships could collide in daylight.
The upcoming week promises to be a bit cooler. I'll be able to better concentrate on the book and move it along to the finish line. There are other issues and tasks I would like to tackle, but the book must come first.
The first and last poppy
The first lily! Thousands more to come very soon!
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Day 1856: Black and White
Who is lying?
I will put my money on DT, the incompetent fool, who simply can't keep his mouth shut.
But I am disappointed in Comey who did not have the guts to simply say NO! This is wrong. No one has ever told DT no in his life and that's part of his psychosis.
Perhaps I have idealized Harrison Ford who in Clear and Present Danger told the president who was pressuring him, "I don't dance." I read several perspectives written by women who had been sexually assaulted by their bosses and the behavior was very similar. Frequent flattery followed by subtle threats of loosing a job, a closed door, just a bit of pressure by the most powerful man in the world.
But, Comey is a schemer and his actions have put an interminable spotlight on the topic which is all good. It will take years to investigate and who knows what powerful people will be destroyed in the process. Jeff Sessions is up next and appears in great jeopardy.
Comey knows more than he offered in his public testimony and turned away 13 questions for the closed session. I want to know what he told the Senators. The public has the right to know.
Look at their histories. Who has lied about virtually everything?
I'm not a black and white person, preferring to operate in grays. I see the perspectives of others and very little is clear cut. Not this time! Hopefully, the investigative process will reveal the horrors.
On the personal side, the debate this week has been about black and white or color photos. The determining factor is the retail price of the book. My primary objective is to get the published book into people's hands. That means the book must be accessible so I want to keep the price of a print copy at $20.00. If I included color photos, the price would nearly double. Yes, my beautiful photos will suffer, but it's the stories and information that must take priority. Now I have resubmitted all the photos in black and white. There's no doubt color is better, but I can have more photos if they are B/W. Plus, folks can view the color pictures on the Facebook page.
The other debate is the book size. Should it be 6 by 9 inches or 7 by 10 inches? Eleven point text or twelve? The publisher did mock ups of a 6 by 9 in both 11 and 12 point. If I go with 12 point, the book will be 430 pages long. NOPE! Back to 11 point. Now, he's doing a mock up of a 7 by 10 in 12 point. That decision comes tomorrow and then he can finish formatting the book. Crazy!
Swam my first full mile today for a total of six miles since the season began!
So, will these work in B/W?
Packing up pretzels in cook class.
Standing in the rain on the 2017 two day hike.
It lacks clarity because of the rain!
A great shot of Bri from when Cody fell into her tent and destroyed the poles.
Note the socks on her hands.
Hard to see anyone at all!
The 2017 Expedition
Monday, June 5, 2017
Day 1855: Sunning Snakes
It's been a happy week of catching up with our civilian lives. I spent most of my time planting my container gardens and swimming. We didn't even go out to dinner because I didn't want to get dressed up and put on make up. Take out pizza, hot dogs and leftovers were just fine.
I may have overdone it a bit on the flowers, but I do not care. The pots are gorgeous. So far, I've created thirty fabulous pots.
Plus, I swam 3.25 miles! Starting with 50 lengths a week ago when the water was 74 degrees, the temp and the lengths increased steadily throughout the week up to 130 lengths in 80 degree water. It was lovely, but in my eagerness, I have overly strained my elbow so it's time to rest.
Lovely lupines in Molly's Garden
Laurie's new house
Dogwood blossoms at the college
We walked a lot during our recovery week and discovered the wonders of spring spread throughout this little village. Twice we spied this snake looped over this log in Canadaway Creek. Can't blame her for catching a few rays.
Sunning snake
Much like DT. Basking in the sunlight of his power, he makes it all about him. He pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accords, aligning the US with Syria and Nicaragua and abdicating US power to China. We just gave them the opportunity to lead the world in energy production. Fortunately, states, cities and companies across the US are banding together with Mexico and Canada to meet the standards set in the Paris Accords.
Now, he's in a twitter war with the Muslim mayor of London who was simply trying to defend his city during another terrorist attack. It is gruesome to watch. Comey testifies to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday and it should be extraordinary testimony. Never in history has a US president done so much damage in such a short time.
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