ouch.

Wow. Somehow I didn’t realize it had been this long since I updated; I thought sure I had last updated sometime last summer. Apologies seem to be in order, although, granted, my life is anything but exciting, so y’all haven’t missed much. LOL

It’s sometimes hard, when I have other things going on, to make myself sit down and blog, when I don’t feel like I have much to say. Then by the time I do feel like I have something to say, I feel like I’m so far behind, it’s still hard to make myself do it. Does that make any sense at all?

At the start of the pandemic, I joked that I had the cheat codes for prolonged time alone at home, from those years spent caring for mom. It was frustrating though, that I was just relearning how to people when covid hit and threw everybody into some version of my boat. Now I’m trying once again, and weirdly, it’s almost harder now. I’m okay at home doing my thing, but I know I have got to force myself to get back out into the world. Maybe I’m the only one, although from what online friends have said, I don’t think so.

Because blogging has been a challenge for me, I’m letting go of the paid version of this. It looks like the only things that has changed is the dedicated website address, just so you know. Not that it matters that much, I understand that. I feel guilty when I let it go for too long, but then I remember everybody has their own plates full, so they aren't hanging on my every word, for sure. lol. When I think how hopeful I was that I’d figure out how to make money off blogging I don’t know whether to cry or laugh. Bit of both, most likely.

The first part of the year was, as I say, unremarkable. The most impactful thing that happened was probably that a great big tree in my back yard fell during a huge storm last spring.

Thankfully, I was directed to a lovely bunch of guys who came out and cut it up, chipped it, and hauled it off to use for mulch or walking paths or something. :D

My garden went well. I FINALLY got tomatoes to do something other than hang limply around my patio. This year I planted a couple of Sweet Millions cherry plants and they bore like crazy. I seriously did not buy a tomato from July through September. When fall frost approached and they were still full of little green fruits, I went a-googling and discovered how to pickle them, so now I have 3 jars of those tasty little suckers in my fridge!

I explored new frontiers in using my fig tree’s bounty this year too. When I took a bag of fresh ones to my cousin, he mused about trying to make hot sauce with some of them, and gave me the idea to try it too. I fermented the last of the crop in early fall with most of the cayenne peppers I’d grown, and got one full jar of the most amazing sweet-hot sauce. To paraphrase the old woman in the Frank’s Hot Sauce ad, I put that crap on everything. It’s SO good.

Another experiment is fermenting right now. I planted some seeds for fatalii peppers, a very hot and unusual variety, and got one plant to take hold. It grew well all summer, but by fall only had a couple of green fruits. Since I couldn’t bear to let it go, I dug that bad boy up and brought it inside. I got two nice peppers off it, and am currently making sauce with them and the last dried cayennes. Stay tuned, I guess?

The sale produce rack at the grocery did me good again, or at least I hope so. Remember last year when the butternut squash plants grown from a 99 cent sale squash took over my yard? :D I have since learned about honeynut squash, a super tasty hand-sized variant, and am saving seeds from those. Yes, we are going on the squash ride again next spring, I hope!

I did get out of the house, of course. Dragon Con was great, as usual. I actually did a semi-involved cosplay one day, a gender-flipped Steve from Stranger Things, complete with nail-studded baseball bat!

Also got to meet several writers I admire, including Delilah Dawson, who I think I have mentioned before on here—I was acquainted with her on a forum before she hit it big, but we hadn’t gotten to actually meet in RL until now. I made a doll of a character she created for Star Wars, and she seemed to like it! 😊

And Nnedi Okorafor, who has written many books I've loved. I highly recommend her Binti series, which starts with an African girl slipping away from home to attend school in space, until the ship she’s on has a run-in with some aliens and…ok, no more, don’t want to spoil it for you! Here she is with artist Tana Ford--they've done some striking comics together.

Later in the fall I went to the Southern Festival of Books downtown and got to meet & chat with GemmaRose Nethercott, author of a glorious book called Thistlefoot. I was privileged to read an advance copy of it this summer. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s why I thought sure I had blogged this summer, because I thought I had raved at y’all about it. oh well. I’ll rave now. It’s SO good. It’s about two estranged siblings, descendants of the legendary Slavic witch Baba Yaga, who inherit her chicken-legged hut, and end up on the run from a dark force seeking to possess it. GO READ IT.

She’s a puppeteer, as are the main characters of the book, so when she tours she brings puppets along and does creepy folk tales with them.

Sigh, kindly ignore the one on the right. I still make the most awful pictures. I swear, I don’t see all those chins in my mirror at home. ☹ one of my favorite things about wearing a mask is that mess doesn't show.

On the personal literary front, I have not heard from the publisher who wanted my novel, and I suspect between covid and his family issues, he’s probably not active anymore, so I’m about to email and ask for the rights back, as he offered when we last talked. Oh well.

Got two new cousins added to the family, so I have spent a lot of time crafting for them, and found myself getting into podcasts—good for listening while sewing/knitting/crocheting/whatever. Found some interesting true crime ones, but the best by far is the spooky one another BPAL friend co-created, Old Gods of Appalachia. Dark powers sleep beneath the mountains, their minions co-opt greedy humans to help their cause, and mountain witches and powers of the Green oppose them. It’s a terrific show, they’ve gotten nominated for a bunch of well-deserved awards, and in October they did some live shows. I drove over the Smokies to Asheville for one!

When Cam said I had a front row seat, she meant it. LOL. Yes, that's my toe propped up against the monitors!

Cam and me hanging out after the show.

While planning the drive down, I had noticed an exit off the interstate right at the Tennessee/North Carolina border that was noted on maps as having a crossing of the Appalachian Trail. On the way back, I pulled off just to see, and wound up walking a little ways up and back in both directions.

I was captivated. To begin with, I don’t think I’d ever been to the Smokies in fall. My family always went in late spring, warm enough to enjoy but avoiding the crowded seasons. Let me tell you, all the photos you have ever seen cannot compare to seeing the place for real. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

And somehow now, I’ve gotten bitten by the hiking bug! I got home, started reading up, and discovered there’s a small but well-kept trail with its head right at the end of my street! So I’ve been getting out and walking, and hope after winter to do more.

My life theme in recent months has become ‘do some things you have never done before’. Like last month, it suddenly occurred to me that in spite of living literally within walking distance of it (well, it’d be a long walk, but yeah, I totally could), I have never been to our local zoo! So one really nice day, I decided to pop over there. Figured I’d spend an hour or two and be home in time for lunch. HA, YOU THOUGHT. I spent most of the day and just loved it. So much so, in fact, that my aunt just bought me a year’s membership for Christmas.

How can you not love a place with monkeys in the ladies’ room? I mean really. (they aren’t IN the ladies’ room, exactly; it’s just a window on their enclosure, but still. Look at those judgy little faces. LOLOL)

That’s about it for right now. Hope everybody is having a great end of the year, and whatever holidays you may celebrate are cheery and bright. I promise to be back in touch after the first of the year once I know what shape this blog is going to be in. (yeah, right. I mean it this time though! No really, I do. hehe)