Tag: nature

Sunshine and Flowers

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

Saturday I spent an hour or so wandering around Olbrich Gardens in Madison.  It was a lovely experience being outside, watching the birds, looking at the trees, flowers, and water.  It reminded me how much I enjoy being in nature. 

Sunday Vicki grilled out.  I was supposed to be editing but I went on the deck and talked to her while she grilled.  I love our deck.  I love the weather where it’s warm but not smothering and sunny without blinding.  We had lunch on the deck and then sat around talking. 

The connection to the outdoors is vital for me.  It helps balance me out.  I love most weather – especially if I don’t have to drive in it.  I rarely complain about the weather and it annoys me when other people do. 

There’s something about spending even a short time outside which settles me.  Is it a throwback to my childhood on the family farm or something more primal?  I’m not sure the answer to that matters to me. 

Last night I finished the latest pass going through Wayfarer Resolve (#18).  I know I’ll be doing another paper edit on this one so will work on getting searches done and getting prepped for the edit.  Once I got through this pass, I opened up the five stories which have been pushing at me.  I worked on two of them.  By the time I was done it was 10:30 so I opted to stop writing and prep for bed.  I was reading a book and had four chapters left.  I finished that and started another book which I read two chapters. 

This sounds like typical stuff for me but I felt more energized while I did all of this because I’d had some time outside.  The time wandering the garden and sitting on the deck helped to clear my mind and fill up some reserve I needed. 

With my mobility issues, I’ve been feeling like I can’t do as much outside.  It feels limiting which is never easy to accept.  Going to the gardens and even the deck time reminded me there are alternatives to hiking through my favorite county or state park.  It reminded me I can still have the connection and the pleasure being outside brings to me.

Look Up… Look OUT!

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

Yesterday I came out of work and noticed (not for the first time) how most of the people walking around the campus were walking and staring at their phones.  Here it was a beautiful day – nice temps, green grass, and so on.  Lots of things to enjoy but all these people were doing was staring at their electronics.

It astounds me how oblivious people can be to their surroundings.  I watched as people streamed from one building to the next, most their heads bowed as though praying.  Unfortunately, they were praying to their electronics.  One after another oblivious to who was near them, where they walked, and what they were missing.

I’m not going to claim I’m not oblivious.  I can be and often am oblivious to all that isn’t going on inside my head or even in my immediate environment.  But watching these people be zombie like (yes I went there) as they walked around campus made me want to drop something LOUD to see if they would look up, stop, or be distracted from their phones.

I’ve only had a smart phone for a year.  I know I’m over involved in it.  I read books on it, take notes on it, play games on it, look at email on it, and a variety of other tasks.  I also pay too much attention to it.  However, if I ever get as bad as the people I saw yesterday, I hope someone smacks me hard on the head.

A Fresh New Day

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

My husband is a morning person.  This is wonderful in that by 10 am in the morning he accomplishes more than most people all day.  However, as a night person it means I’m often woken earlier than I want to be.  This was the case today.

Now that I’m up though, I’m noticing the beautiful day.  The temp is reasonable and the humidity low.  The house is opened up and the birds are singing.  If it weren’t for the traffic noise, I could almost go back to sleep just listening to the birds.

I’m up though and I have too much to do to waste time when I could be working.  I didn’t accomplish anything yesterday except to get rid of a nasty headache.  After work, I made a phone call about getting books in a chain bookstore.  I’m not holding my breath but it would be really nice.  Today I’m prepping my books to send to the chain for review.  That is top of my priority list.

Once I was done with that phone call and typing up the letter, I pretty much did nothing the rest of the afternoon and evening.  I’m watching Flashpoint on Netflix so I watched that and then crashed.  My head was hurting so no crocheting.

Today will be more productive I hope.  Prepping the books for mailing, organizing my poems for the next Moments in book, and fixing two spots in my fantasy novel.  I have to decide if one area needs more description or not and if the other section could do without a transitional paragraph.  After that it is one more read through and then I begin the production part.  For the poetry book, I have to make final cuts and arrange the poems before starting the production part.

My two crochet projects are calling to me so when my brain is about to explode from the writing stuff I will work on the afghan and the experiment.  Yes I am experimenting with a new stitch and yarn.  I like how it is working up so I just need to finish it.  I also want to try another pattern in this book before I review it because the one pattern I am working with had errors in it and I had to fix it.  Before I review it and add in that bit of information, I want to see if the error is consistent.

If I get to working on Vicki’s afghan, it will be a good time to have a couple of movies to watch.  Each row takes so long it is good to have a distraction while I work on it.  I was talking about Kevin Costner movies to someone so maybe I will see what Netflix has in the way of his movies and do a Costner weekend.

Moments in Nature

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Since the late 90s, I’ve been jotting poems down in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times.  Some of these have been published (see my credits page and my poetry page).  Poetry for me is something I get in a flash.  It is a word or phrase that sticks in my head and won’t go away until I write it down which of course leads to more words.  Poetry is experiencing some moment in my life whether in nature, life, or spiritual. 

After years of gathering these poems, I’ve decided to share these moments.  In looking at my two binders full of poetry, I picked out the nature ones first.  These are generally positive, uplifting, and descriptive.  They are about what I’ve seen or experienced while out in nature. 

Over time I plan to do more books of my poetry to make a series incorporating different aspects like spiritual moments, and moments in life.  Please go check out my latest publication. 

Moments in Nature is available:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/437602
Available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Moments-Nature-Eileen-Troemel-ebook/dp/B00KBFOWSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400077630&sr=8-1&keywords=moments+in+nature