Is it time to change my peppers?

Let's create a haphazard, whimsical kind of blog entry, yes-no?

Change looms. Actually, no... Change is here. It sweeps in on tiny, delicate little winds, in tiny, delicate little ways that I want to believe won't give me a gratuitous smack across face and soul. But yes. They do. Smack away, change! Smack away.

For one thing, after several years of quality and reliability, my computer is being replaced. I expect the new-old one to show up today (it's not new). For almost the last week, I haven't been able to work on any writing. This may not be the computer's fault, not entirely.

Change is also coming in the form of spiritual direction and initiative. I am finally doing something about the uncatalogued mess that is my religious and spiritual efficiencies. My intention(!) is to study more druidism, and, related or not, pay more attention to energies and the moon.

Change is in the furtherance of my technological knowledge! I learned how to create MOBI and EPUB files! While it took me two and a half hours to get all the formatting the way it was supposed to be, my determination and curiosity saw me through! I consider this one of my grandest accomplishments of the last month.

Also, finished writing a book that I first started over two years ago! I'd abandoned it for almost a year, would write in it fitfully and unfaithfully, then finally took the last month to write 123,000 words and complete it! I hate the title, though. I keep hoping some grand title will come along. It is funny how titles are either there before you start writing a piece, or they struggle to unify with the piece even after it's complete. That might just be my psyche.

Cottage life has been pretty dull. It hasn't rained significantly since the start of August, but the eighth month of the year is always the most arid. Cottonwoods are beginning to drop leaves. Some finicky, early-blooming deciduous, like sugar maples and flowering ornamentals, are beginning to show more skin. Lots of the garden flowers look tired, like the red salvia. Strangely, my pansies, planted in April, continue to produce showy blooms. I've wished my strawberries would bloom again, produce another round of fruit, but I think this is a hopeless wish. I have a feeling that strawberries are very recalcitrant and stubborn flowers. This might be why I associate with them so well, of all the flowering fruits.

One more short story of mine is supposed to be coming out in October, in a paperback (I guess?) anthology, and I will relate more details to my numerous readers (ha) when I have them. Two rejections, one significantly more painful than the other and I cannot really figure out why... Usually I just shrug them off after a while, and move on with life. Four short stories released in six months, that's not so bad.

How about I finish up with a recipe? This is an easy, breezy meal good for Indian Summer evenings.

Pepper Pasta

1/2 - 3/4 c. julienne sliced green pepper and sweet red pepper
1/2 c. sliced sweet Vidalia onion
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbl. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. pasta, uncooked (or cooked and ready to go)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 tbl Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (parmesan, or Italian-blend cheese)
1/8 tsp. of dried Italian blend herbs, optional

Pour the 2 tbl of vegetable oil into large skillet. Cook over low-medium heat the peppers and onions until tender. Add garlic and chopped tomato. Make pasta (if necessary); drain. Add pasta to the skillet. Add basil, salt and ground pepper. Heat until hot. Add cheese when serving.

Protein options: Add 3/4 c. diced cooked chicken ... Or add 1/2 drained and rinsed garbanzo beans. Might also be good with tofu, but I've never tried it that way.

The Fairies' Crossing

Since I'm around, I should post that Lore has a new story up. This one is also on Hyacinth Noir, the emag for the LGBT Pagan/Wiccan. Yes, you know you want to look because it really is as interesting as it sounds....


Beltaine Literary Issue | The Fairies' Crossing by Lore Lippincott


Good for Lore!

No words yet on any of our outstanding submissions... So back to our gardening and eating and renaming of formerly finished manuscripts....

And some of this...

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This is probably not the best way to go about studying French...

Please note that the black thing at high right-center is Lore's leg. She snapped this mobilely with the cat on her lap, and books where the cat should be. If she'd sat at the desk, the image would've been almost the same, perhaps sans leg. Maybe. Also, the circular blob up-center is the kitty's bed, which she refuses to sleep in when there is a human about.

-x-

We're both having good and bad winters. Bad for personal reasons, and good for Lore! She has one short story up at the lovely Hyacinth Noir!

Hyacinth Noir | Imbolc Issue | The Willow and the Dove

Lore's been the busy one. She had four submissions, three of them already in and done with (and pending), and one of them she hasn't sent in yet. I've had only two submissions so far this year, and one rejection notice for one of the two submissions. Lore found it in our joint Inbox when she was sending out a new submission. ("Could that be one of the elusive definitions of irony?") One of my friends was like, "Wow, so proud of you, sending out something even though you got a rejection notice!" But I told her that rejections are just a part of my everyday (well, maybe not everyday) life. Then I cite all the famous authors who faced numerous rejections before anyone even glanced at their manuscripts...

I have one submission up and coming, due April 1. I spent many days and eleven thousand words working on a story that I suddenly deemed "too long" for the submission. It would've been 17,000 or so words before it was complete. It's now in the "pending expansion into a novel" pile (which I invented just now), and I started a new, shorter story that has a couple of the elements of the scrapped one. I have less than a week to get it finished, looked at by my reader, and sent in. No problem.... really.

Depending on how things go, I might take off the entire month of April. Not write anything. I'm not sure what Lore will work on, if applicable. We might just potter about the garden.

-x-

In addition to studying French, Lore's been reading Mary Hunter Austin. I read a little bit of it myself, and it's luscious and potent. It stings me. Lore likes wordsmiths who sculpt daggers. Anything she can learn from is good for her. I prefer more entertainment value, but that's me. I've been reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Haven't read any Holmes stories since I was about nine. I didn't know what half the words meant, but it was Sherlock Holmes and that was enough! Both of us were dismayed to discover the lack of Noel Coward plays in our local library system. We bought a couple volumes (put out by Methuem at Coward's birth centennial) and have been enjoying them when our brains need downtime — and that's often.

Musically, I am getting into Secret Garden and Green Sun. Lore discovered trance-rockin' Aussie Emma Hewitt. Can't say I blame her. It's nice to have something other than Adam Lambert's Tresspassing album to listen to while I'm fixing dinner. Not that there's anything wrong with that album, I love it, it's now in the top ten of my favorite albums of all time. But expanding horizons cannot be bad, especially when it comes to music. Lore's purchased Spirit of the Celtic Violin by Arlene Faith. She doesn't appear to have a website (good for her! wish I didn't feel pressured to have one), but here's a song of hers on You Tube.

= We're planning to wear red on March 26th. See why, though neither of us looks good in red. Unfortunately, it's a Tuesday, and I won't be doing much of anything Tuesday, especially if we're still snowed in.
= Cheers to Ohio Senator Robert Portman (R) for changing his mind about equal marriage.
= Things are looking better for our home state: Ohio Views of Marriage Shift. A big deal for a state that supported DOMA less than a decade before.