I love my parents dearly, but I am looking forward to their week of vacation being over. Coming home and finding them both already here, wanting to do something, and then having the past two days off myself (as I am officially done at FL) has absolutely killed my word count. Not that we haven't had fun. Yesterday we went to McCormick's Creek State Park and Spring Mill State Park, with a quick 20-minute end-of-the-day wine tasting at Oliver's Winery. (And yes, I do feel bad that I've been this close to _lore twice in the past month or two, and still haven't, like, gone to lunch with her or something.) We had fun hiking and exploring a cave that made Dad say he was "in an episode of Supernatural" and stuff...but man, my NaNo is languishing from it.

Of course, it doesn't help that I've decided to drastically change a couple of key plot points, which basically means rewriting huge chunks. *grin* Oh, well, that's half the fun.

Anyway, including some widgets, just for kicks. Like my Progress Report, which is inaccurate of course, because the frelling NaNo site would barely load for me for the first three days, and then which I forgot to update on 11/5, which is the last time I actually added to my freaking word count.

I love my parents dearly, but I am looking forward to their week of vacation being over. Coming home and finding them both already here, wanting to do something, and then having the past two days off myself (as I am officially done at FL) has absolutely killed my word count. Not that we haven't had fun. Yesterday we went to McCormick's Creek State Park and Spring Mill State Park, with a quick 20-minute end-of-the-day wine tasting at Oliver's Winery. (And yes, I do feel bad that I've been this close to _lore twice in the past month or two, and still haven't, like, gone to lunch with her or something.) We had fun hiking and exploring a cave that made Dad say he was "in an episode of Supernatural" and stuff...but man, my NaNo is languishing from it.

Of course, it doesn't help that I've decided to drastically change a couple of key plot points, which basically means rewriting huge chunks. *grin* Oh, well, that's half the fun.

Anyway, including some widgets, just for kicks. Like my Progress Report, which is inaccurate of course, because the frelling NaNo site would barely load for me for the first three days, and then which I forgot to update on 11/5, which is the last time I actually added to my freaking word count.

I love my parents dearly, but I am looking forward to their week of vacation being over. Coming home and finding them both already here, wanting to do something, and then having the past two days off myself (as I am officially done at FL) has absolutely killed my word count. Not that we haven't had fun. Yesterday we went to McCormick's Creek State Park and Spring Mill State Park, with a quick 20-minute end-of-the-day wine tasting at Oliver's Winery. (And yes, I do feel bad that I've been this close to _lore twice in the past month or two, and still haven't, like, gone to lunch with her or something.) We had fun hiking and exploring a cave that made Dad say he was "in an episode of Supernatural" and stuff...but man, my NaNo is languishing from it.

Of course, it doesn't help that I've decided to drastically change a couple of key plot points, which basically means rewriting huge chunks. *grin* Oh, well, that's half the fun.

Anyway, including some widgets, just for kicks. Like my Progress Report, which is inaccurate of course, because the frelling NaNo site would barely load for me for the first three days, and then which I forgot to update on 11/5, which is the last time I actually added to my freaking word count.

The last time I was at Spring Mill, I was about 10 and we were camping there. We did a LOT of camping when I was younger. We only had one car, and Mom didn't work until I was in fifth grade, so a lot of times we would take Dad to work on Friday mornings, then spend the day getting ready and packing the car. Then we'd pick Dad up from work and head straight to Shades or Turkey Run or some other state park, and spend the weekend there. Of course, back then it was like $6 a night to tent camp in a state park. I think it's a little more now. Anyway, when I was about 10 we spent two weeks of Dad's vacation driving around the state, spending a day and a night at a different state park. The night we were at Spring Mill, a terrible storm came up--the sort that comes with winds so ferocious they kick up a lot of dirt into the atmosphere and cause red lightning. In fact I think Mom even took some pictures of red lightning during that storm. In any case, we felt it was prudent to sleep in the car rather than in the tent, because of the weather. Our car was a two-door Mazda hatchback, way before Mazda's were all zum-zum and cool. I was by far the most comfortable person, as I had the whole backseat to myself. Right at the height of the storm, a group of people on motorcycles drove into the campsite next to us and started frantically setting up tents. Poor guys.

We'd been looking forward to the caves, of course, but as you can see in the pictures, Donaldson Cave and the Twin Caves all have water running through them. When we got to the Twin Caves, the boats were docked, filled with several inches of water in the bottom. I specifically recall the naturalist telling us there had been six inches of rain, but I'm not sure if it was all during that single night, or if there had been some rain the day before. We went to Donaldson Cave, hoping that would be better, since there's a boardwalk and part of the cave is dry, but the boardwalk was under a couple of inches of water as well. The creek was positively roaring out of Donaldson Cave with incredible, awe-inspiring force. There are some rocks in the creekbed (my childhood memory was of them being car-sized, though yesterday's trip suggests they are probably more the size of...erm, shopping trolleys.) and when the water hit those rocks, it sprayed up into the air in huge white fountains. Trail Four goes along the creekside, and I remember we hiked along it, though we had some difficulties since the actual trail was underwater. I also vividly remember all the pawpaw trees along the creek, and I did see them yesterday. Finally we realized we couldn't follow the trail route any longer and still be safe, so we cut up the hillside (a very very steep hillside) to get up to the road.

Mom took lots of pictures that day, but we have an entire box of pictures that have gone missing, probably in one of the attics, though I'm not sure. (I did find one box of photos this summer, so instead of my entire childhood being missing, I now have before my birth through about age 8 or 9, but 9 through 16 is still, sadly, missing.) I've been yearning to look at those pictures, and after yesterday I definitely want to compare them to the ones I took. Dad told me that we went back to Spring Mill a couple of days later on our trip, and that we were able to take the boat ride in the Twin Caves that time, but I have no recollection of that--you can tell it was the first trip that really made an impression on me.

Then again, this was also the trip where we meant to end with a night at Brown County State Park...but we went to the nature center before getting our campsite, and there we saw a copperhead that had been caught in the campground that morning. I got to watch it eat a mouse, but because Dad is terrified of snakes, we ended up going home that night.


( Several pictures from Spring Mill )

The last time I was at Spring Mill, I was about 10 and we were camping there. We did a LOT of camping when I was younger. We only had one car, and Mom didn't work until I was in fifth grade, so a lot of times we would take Dad to work on Friday mornings, then spend the day getting ready and packing the car. Then we'd pick Dad up from work and head straight to Shades or Turkey Run or some other state park, and spend the weekend there. Of course, back then it was like $6 a night to tent camp in a state park. I think it's a little more now. Anyway, when I was about 10 we spent two weeks of Dad's vacation driving around the state, spending a day and a night at a different state park. The night we were at Spring Mill, a terrible storm came up--the sort that comes with winds so ferocious they kick up a lot of dirt into the atmosphere and cause red lightning. In fact I think Mom even took some pictures of red lightning during that storm. In any case, we felt it was prudent to sleep in the car rather than in the tent, because of the weather. Our car was a two-door Mazda hatchback, way before Mazda's were all zum-zum and cool. I was by far the most comfortable person, as I had the whole backseat to myself. Right at the height of the storm, a group of people on motorcycles drove into the campsite next to us and started frantically setting up tents. Poor guys.

We'd been looking forward to the caves, of course, but as you can see in the pictures, Donaldson Cave and the Twin Caves all have water running through them. When we got to the Twin Caves, the boats were docked, filled with several inches of water in the bottom. I specifically recall the naturalist telling us there had been six inches of rain, but I'm not sure if it was all during that single night, or if there had been some rain the day before. We went to Donaldson Cave, hoping that would be better, since there's a boardwalk and part of the cave is dry, but the boardwalk was under a couple of inches of water as well. The creek was positively roaring out of Donaldson Cave with incredible, awe-inspiring force. There are some rocks in the creekbed (my childhood memory was of them being car-sized, though yesterday's trip suggests they are probably more the size of...erm, shopping trolleys.) and when the water hit those rocks, it sprayed up into the air in huge white fountains. Trail Four goes along the creekside, and I remember we hiked along it, though we had some difficulties since the actual trail was underwater. I also vividly remember all the pawpaw trees along the creek, and I did see them yesterday. Finally we realized we couldn't follow the trail route any longer and still be safe, so we cut up the hillside (a very very steep hillside) to get up to the road.

Mom took lots of pictures that day, but we have an entire box of pictures that have gone missing, probably in one of the attics, though I'm not sure. (I did find one box of photos this summer, so instead of my entire childhood being missing, I now have before my birth through about age 8 or 9, but 9 through 16 is still, sadly, missing.) I've been yearning to look at those pictures, and after yesterday I definitely want to compare them to the ones I took. Dad told me that we went back to Spring Mill a couple of days later on our trip, and that we were able to take the boat ride in the Twin Caves that time, but I have no recollection of that--you can tell it was the first trip that really made an impression on me.

Then again, this was also the trip where we meant to end with a night at Brown County State Park...but we went to the nature center before getting our campsite, and there we saw a copperhead that had been caught in the campground that morning. I got to watch it eat a mouse, but because Dad is terrified of snakes, we ended up going home that night.


( Several pictures from Spring Mill )

Merlin-kitty isn't feeling good today. In fact it started very early this morning. ( Cut for TMI )

It came on pretty quickly, because yesterday morning he was very active, and we were having fun playing a game. *wibbles more*

Merlin-kitty isn't feeling good today. In fact it started very early this morning. ( Cut for TMI )

It came on pretty quickly, because yesterday morning he was very active, and we were having fun playing a game. *wibbles more*

18778 / 50000 words. 38% done!

At this point I really need someone whose read what I have to discuss this stuff with, and slightlyjillian doesn't seem to be home and astraea36 is probably not around since Ray is OMGhomeYAY!!! I have been lucky in that _lore is great for bouncing ideas off of, with Snupin fics...but the downside is, I've got used to having a plot sounding-board, and I don't have one for my novel at the moment!

In other news, I absolutely love Ceredwen, particularly their album O'r Mabinogi: Legends of the Celts. This song "Tir Gwastraff/Cwynfan Pryderi" ("The Wasteland/Pryderi's Lament") is my favourite, though "Porth Annwn" ("The Gates of Annwn") is a close second.

It is 44 F in Indiana, but for some reason that temperature always gets into my bones and makes me feel like I'm freezing to death. So I have my space heater going, and have opened a bottle of Oliver's Soft Red (for two reasons: 1) it makes me feel warmer, and 2) I always drink a bottle of wine during NaNoWriMo: Oliver's Soft Red for the past two years, and Martini & Rossi's Asti the two years before that.)

That reminds me. I mentioned that I went to Oliver Winery with the parents the other day. (And I have to say, it was by far the best time I've had doing a wine-tasting. I've done that half a dozen times over the past few years, and though I liked the people at Round Barn Winery in Michigan, Oliver still wins my highest approval rating. We arrived at 20 minutes till closing, not sure if we'd have time for a tasting, and they still did a full tasting and took time to find something all of us liked, even the non-drinking parents. And we still got out of there less than 10 minutes after their closing time, but didn't feel rushed at all.) I've wanted to try a riesling wine ever since gonzothegreat mentioned them. At that time I had just started taking a medication that I wasn't supposed to mix with alcohol. Four years later, I've mixed it several times with no ill effects and have started drinking more wine. So I tried Oliver's Riesling 2006. I liked it all right, so the guy doing our tasting told me to try their Traminette 2006. BINGO! I am in love. It's a fabulous wine, described by their website as "Floral, fruity and inviting, this grape loves our Indiana climate. A delicious match with baklava." He told me it also goes well with spicy foods. Unfortunately it's a tasting-room wine, which means you can only get it by going to the winery. I anticipate at least one more trip to Bloomington this year, _lore. I'd love to actually spend time with you and J the next time I'm down there. ^_^

Merlin seems to be feeling better. At least, he hasn't vomited for about five hours, though of course I've also only had him on water for the past 9 or so hours. He still growls if I snuggle him too much, but then again he always does that.

18778 / 50000 words. 38% done!

At this point I really need someone whose read what I have to discuss this stuff with, and slightlyjillian doesn't seem to be home and astraea36 is probably not around since Ray is OMGhomeYAY!!! I have been lucky in that _lore is great for bouncing ideas off of, with Snupin fics...but the downside is, I've got used to having a plot sounding-board, and I don't have one for my novel at the moment!

In other news, I absolutely love Ceredwen, particularly their album O'r Mabinogi: Legends of the Celts. This song "Tir Gwastraff/Cwynfan Pryderi" ("The Wasteland/Pryderi's Lament") is my favourite, though "Porth Annwn" ("The Gates of Annwn") is a close second.

It is 44 F in Indiana, but for some reason that temperature always gets into my bones and makes me feel like I'm freezing to death. So I have my space heater going, and have opened a bottle of Oliver's Soft Red (for two reasons: 1) it makes me feel warmer, and 2) I always drink a bottle of wine during NaNoWriMo: Oliver's Soft Red for the past two years, and Martini & Rossi's Asti the two years before that.)

That reminds me. I mentioned that I went to Oliver Winery with the parents the other day. (And I have to say, it was by far the best time I've had doing a wine-tasting. I've done that half a dozen times over the past few years, and though I liked the people at Round Barn Winery in Michigan, Oliver still wins my highest approval rating. We arrived at 20 minutes till closing, not sure if we'd have time for a tasting, and they still did a full tasting and took time to find something all of us liked, even the non-drinking parents. And we still got out of there less than 10 minutes after their closing time, but didn't feel rushed at all.) I've wanted to try a riesling wine ever since gonzothegreat mentioned them. At that time I had just started taking a medication that I wasn't supposed to mix with alcohol. Four years later, I've mixed it several times with no ill effects and have started drinking more wine. So I tried Oliver's Riesling 2006. I liked it all right, so the guy doing our tasting told me to try their Traminette 2006. BINGO! I am in love. It's a fabulous wine, described by their website as "Floral, fruity and inviting, this grape loves our Indiana climate. A delicious match with baklava." He told me it also goes well with spicy foods. Unfortunately it's a tasting-room wine, which means you can only get it by going to the winery. I anticipate at least one more trip to Bloomington this year, _lore. I'd love to actually spend time with you and J the next time I'm down there. ^_^

Merlin seems to be feeling better. At least, he hasn't vomited for about five hours, though of course I've also only had him on water for the past 9 or so hours. He still growls if I snuggle him too much, but then again he always does that.

18778 / 50000 words. 38% done!

At this point I really need someone whose read what I have to discuss this stuff with, and slightlyjillian doesn't seem to be home and astraea36 is probably not around since Ray is OMGhomeYAY!!! I have been lucky in that _lore is great for bouncing ideas off of, with Snupin fics...but the downside is, I've got used to having a plot sounding-board, and I don't have one for my novel at the moment!

In other news, I absolutely love Ceredwen, particularly their album O'r Mabinogi: Legends of the Celts. This song "Tir Gwastraff/Cwynfan Pryderi" ("The Wasteland/Pryderi's Lament") is my favourite, though "Porth Annwn" ("The Gates of Annwn") is a close second.

It is 44 F in Indiana, but for some reason that temperature always gets into my bones and makes me feel like I'm freezing to death. So I have my space heater going, and have opened a bottle of Oliver's Soft Red (for two reasons: 1) it makes me feel warmer, and 2) I always drink a bottle of wine during NaNoWriMo: Oliver's Soft Red for the past two years, and Martini & Rossi's Asti the two years before that.)

That reminds me. I mentioned that I went to Oliver Winery with the parents the other day. (And I have to say, it was by far the best time I've had doing a wine-tasting. I've done that half a dozen times over the past few years, and though I liked the people at Round Barn Winery in Michigan, Oliver still wins my highest approval rating. We arrived at 20 minutes till closing, not sure if we'd have time for a tasting, and they still did a full tasting and took time to find something all of us liked, even the non-drinking parents. And we still got out of there less than 10 minutes after their closing time, but didn't feel rushed at all.) I've wanted to try a riesling wine ever since gonzothegreat mentioned them. At that time I had just started taking a medication that I wasn't supposed to mix with alcohol. Four years later, I've mixed it several times with no ill effects and have started drinking more wine. So I tried Oliver's Riesling 2006. I liked it all right, so the guy doing our tasting told me to try their Traminette 2006. BINGO! I am in love. It's a fabulous wine, described by their website as "Floral, fruity and inviting, this grape loves our Indiana climate. A delicious match with baklava." He told me it also goes well with spicy foods. Unfortunately it's a tasting-room wine, which means you can only get it by going to the winery. I anticipate at least one more trip to Bloomington this year, _lore. I'd love to actually spend time with you and J the next time I'm down there. ^_^

Merlin seems to be feeling better. At least, he hasn't vomited for about five hours, though of course I've also only had him on water for the past 9 or so hours. He still growls if I snuggle him too much, but then again he always does that.

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
~Thomas Merton

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
~Thomas Merton

19358 / 50000 words. 39% done!

I can't concentrate anymore. I'm putting in The Two Towers extended edition DVD and going to bed.

19358 / 50000 words. 39% done!

I can't concentrate anymore. I'm putting in The Two Towers extended edition DVD and going to bed.