Monday, Monday

Every other day, every other day

Every other day of the week is fine, yeah

But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes

A-you can find me crying all of the time

When I was girl I used to sit by the stereo with a hairbrush nestled close by my mouth bellowing out Karen Carpenter songs at the top of my lungs. The albums (remember those? the large black disks that you could actually watch turn and you could play backwards?) were my father's but we were allowed to play them as long as we were careful to keep fingertips off of the vinyl and never, never, never, let them drop onto the floor (oh, there was pain of DEATH if we let the albums drop onto the floor!!!).

These weren't the only songs I remember from childhood- it's just that she has the famous 'Rainy days and Mondays' song that most people remember when they think of Karen Carpenter. And I sound quite a lot like her (I was a music major in college and I was a singer for most of my adult life). But The Mamas and The Papa's 'Monday, Monday' is another classic from my childhood which I love so I thought I'd make that the theme today. Little depressing but Monday seems to get a bad rap that way. It's hard to find an upbeat Monday song (in fact is there one? I mean a GOOD one.) 

 Mondays aren't so bad for me. I am off every other Monday and on the other week I work a 5 hour day. That's because on Tuesday I will work a 10 or 11 hour day and we at the library will be working our asses (excuse my English!) off because the people in the neighborhood will be jonesing for computers and the holds they put on over the weekend. So I'll take Monday... somebody write me a bluesy Tuesday song!  

So theoretically I try to get some writing done on Monday. Theoretically. But there is also housework to be done, a son to pick up from school, errands to be run and blogposts to post. So we'll see if I get any writing done today. I hope to. 

 But this was Saturday in the Rocky Mountains on our way up Mount Evans (although we didn't go to the top. We'd had to park further down than we'd thought because of hunting season).

We were in the mountains to view the changing of the guard. It happens at the equinox... The god of darkness, Tanist, (in Celtic mythology) defeats the god of light, Lugh. It must be a fantastic battle because things change dramatically. In other words, Autumn comes and soon thereafter Samhain- which is when Tanist will take his throne as Dark King. (Makes me shiver just thinking about it!)

 Fall is a bittersweet time for me. I love the beauty of fall, the crisp scent of drying leaves... sap eking out of the bark. But the change of season is difficult for me (I have suffered from seasonal depression for many years) and I know what cometh... lurking around  the corner like Lugh's dark spirit!

 Nevertheless, how can anyone not appreciate this heart stopping beauty? 

What did you do over the weekend? Get any writing done? Or did you put it off because Mother Nature beckoned like I did? 

Ch-ch-ch-changes and why DO I blog????

So we went to the mountains yesterday and my new banner (do you like???) is just a taste of what we saw (I'll be posting them in the next day or so).  I am still not ready for fall but I am ready to accept that we are heading toward winter and I fully appreciated the beauty of the day. I was also deeply grateful for the long warm fall we having again but... 

Folks, if the significant changes in the weather patterns don't convince you that there is something deeply wrong then nothing will. Here in Colorado, I think we have been fortunate that we have experienced mostly good weather. Where it was really dry before, we have had extra rain, our warm weather has lengthened and the cold weather is not nearly as cold before (I am not sure the ski resorts would be as excited as I am about this!) but that's good news to a warm weather baby like me. I dread the cold! (though I love Christmas as you shall see and be tortured with!!!) But not everyone has been so lucky! In the last year alone the US has had $35 billion in damages from the extreme weather conditions and the government is now in the process of making sure we won't have the money to help communities who have been flooded or destroyed by tornadoes. Could be rough times ahead! 

 

At any rate, I thought I would take a stab at the prompt for yesterday... briefly. 

I began blogging because of NaBloWriMo. Amy Kalinchu of Craft-E Revolution suggested I start a blog and join NaBlo. Why would I want to do that? Because you're a writer and it's a good way to get good writing habits started of writing every day. It seemed logical so I did. That's how this blog started. I wasn't writing for anyone but myself and I didn't really comment on anyone else's blog. I didn't know the proper etiquette and was a little taken aback when I got comments. I ranted a bit and did some real writing on my fiction work here.  It was a real work in progress. I started making some connections though and saw the benefits of blogging. The blogging community is a fine one! 

Last year after NaBlo, I did a Blogfest and connected with more writers and I quickly made a whole bunch of friends. The community has been a warm one! I enjoy all my friends immensely.

I now have my blog as more of a display for my pictures, as you will see. I do comment on the world around me occasionally and I do sometimes insert some of my writing, but since writing is a passion that takes time which I hope to be paid for some day I don't want to offer it up for someone to steal. And since putting hot topics up for the public to view could wind up in the hands of my bosses at work, I try not to be too intense publicly. I save that for twitter actually! lol. So on this blog, you will generally find the expression of my eye, perhaps if I had had the passion of an artist with the paint brush. So I hope you enjoy and stop by now and then to comment! 

A final look back at spring!

 

Day ONE of NABLOWRIMO annnnnd....

Happy Blogiversary to me! 

Happy Blogiversary to me! 

Happy Blogiversary to meeee! 

Happy Blogiversary to me! 

(Oh yeah it's a video of fireworks! Nothing but the best!!!)
So... it's my blogiversary and I have been racking my brains on what I should do to celebrate. You might tell me it's too late but... not so! I have the entire month to celebrate my blogiversary! Why is that? Because I began blogging on October 1, 2008 (Three years! OMG!!!) for National Blog Writer's Month (NABLOWRIMO!) and since it's an entire month of blogging I think I can easily say, I can celebrate my Blogiversary for the entire month! So, there. And since I am a mere 2 followers away from having 200 followers there is plenty to celebrate!!! SO WOOHOOO!!! Lots of exciting things happenin' round here. (now I just need to come up with prizes and... fun things! um, I'll keep thinking.

Shew! Where is my champagne! Oh, yeah, right here. Take a glass! It's a celebration)  And here we are kicking off NaBloWriMo and guess what? I am cheating and prepping this post on the night before because I am somewhere in the Rocky Mountains (you know pictures will follow!), enjoying Colorado blue skies, the red & golden tints of fall and fresh mountain air. (Ahhhh!!! Come on, breathe in! Can you smell the fresh pine???)

At any rate, I'll be checking in with you later but obviously I wanted to kick off the day right with an early post to this big event started.

A final shot of some of what you are missing because you are there and
I am here...

See you soon!

NabloWriMo

I am not going to post much today, just a reminder that Saturday is the start of NaBloWriMo!!! That is National Blog Writer's Month in case you weren't aware of this national celebratory event. Sometimes all it entails is: "Hi lovelies! I'm not going to be able to blog much today, hope your all having a lovely day!!!" but the point is to participate, have fun and meet new bloggers. Some are writers, some crafters, mommies, in fact there's a range of people that sign up for this bloggy event. So click on the link and email the hostess that you want to sign up and then plan on posting each day (and if you don't, nobody is going to hunt you down!!!)-- it's just that easy!!!  
Have a lovely day!!!