For starters, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Summer Solstice! I hope you have plans to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and summer weather. This really is a beautiful day. The only little catch in all of my current happiness is that we here in Houston have just named our first tropical storm for the season. His name is Alberto. Also, there are other weather-related spots moving up on both the Gulf Coast and over by Florida. We may have more tropical storms next week. Usually we don’t see this much activity until August or September, but that was before the days of global warming. Fortunately with this first storm, it struck southwest of us, but was big enough to give a good soaking. I hope our luck holds out for the duration of Hurricane Season. I really don’t think I’m in the mood for a hurricane this year and I hope Mother Nature agrees with my request.
In between tropical storms, there are days like today. Sunny and warm. It may be too hot to exercise outside, but you can still have a nice time walking to your favorite pool or gym. Keep in mind that no matter how hot the weather is this year, it will only get hotter next year. There’s a pleasant thought that should keep you up at night. Still feeling cheerful? In the meantime, enjoy all of the beautiful flowers that cover our landscape this time of year. If you get up early enough, you might be able to walk a little bit before the heat of the day and risking heat stroke. Or maybe a friend can drive around with you to admire the colorful nature blossoms through the window of an air conditioned car. The flowers with their beauty are literally all around us.
Now, here is the most important factor about Summer Solstice and it does not involve flowers or Stonehenge or anything like that. Rather it is now time that we can start an official count down to Halloween. The days now begin to get shorter and shorter. At some point, hopefully before the spookiest day, temperatures will cool down. I don’t mind allowing approximately three months for hot weather; however, in September I start getting very antsy for my collection of witches, skeletons, grim reapers, bats, and other mysterious creatures that scream out “Boo!” In truth I have already started planning my Halloween decorations that will go outside my house. As you can see in this picture, some of my skeleton friends are helping me. I don’t have to worry about decorating the inside of my home, because that remains decorated and haunted all year long.
Bwahaha!
Until next time.….…..
“cool kids”. Most of the classes took place in the Boulder Book Store which means I returned home with more books than I started out with. And since this was before the pandemic, I could run around the bookstore with wild abandon looking at as many examples of the printed word as possible. It was a great trip. Since that summer, I have continued to attend Max Regan’s Exciting Summer Writing Intensives. Zoom is not as exciting as streaking around a bookstore in person, but it works. This summer I will be joining again via computer technology. The good part is that there are other writers here in the Houston area and we plan on meeting together for zoom classes and writing sessions. Don’t worry, if we need a bookstore fix, there is always Brazos Bookstore just a mile or two down the road.
One of the things that makes a book stand out is receiving awards. Competition is fierce, especially in the award programs that are the most prestigious. So when I woke up to an email declaring United Vidden the winner of the Science Fiction category in the Independent Author’s Awards by Literary Global I was over-the-moon happy.
Now, this is not the first award that United Vidden has won. My debut novel has won a couple silver medals, several five-star reviews from professional reviewers, and an endorsement from the Dr. Who official franchise site. But this is the first time it is the number one winner in its category.
Mostly though, this just makes me happy.
The Houston Writers Guild will be hosting our Authorpalooza conference the weekend of October 4–6. 2024 at Rice University’s Student Center. We are excited at the line up that is coalescing for this year’s event. It is one of the best parts of my job as head of the Guild.
Another writer who has been busy is Barbara Carle. She has published books of poetry in the past, but this month she, along with Inklings Publishing, has launched “Evening At Tony’s”. I couldn’t wait to get my own copy. If you’ve ever had dinner in a crowded restaurant and wondered what stories lay behind all of the other diners sitting at their own tables, then you will enjoy this book. As is said, I laughed, I cried, I couldn’t put it down. You can get your own copy at either Inklings Publishing or Amazon. I am always so impressed at the amount of writing Barbara gets done every year. I think her next book is scheduled for this coming fall. I’ll be sure to tell you about that launch when it happens.
As far as Mother Nature is concerned, in addition to some strong storms that have moved through the area and across the country, I have made several observations in my day-to-day life. For starters, I went for a walk at the Houston Arboretum the other morning. Not only were flowers blooming and birds singing while I was there. I also saw lots and lots of caterpillars! Apparently these little critters come in different colors. This picture shows a fuzzy black caterpillar. Supposedly they shed their skin about six times and get lighter in color each time. These cuties are harmless to humans, but they love to eat leaves of plants. They only live for about six months and then they go through their magical (or scientific) process to become butterflies. I am guessing there are going to be lots of butterflies at the Arboretum later this summer, because there were so many caterpillars that it was challenging not to step on them.
Closer to home I have noticed a lot of magnolias blooming. Where I live now there are many of these trees, which makes for lovely walks around the neighborhood. This picture really doesn’t do these beautiful flowers justice. I hope you get to see some up close and personal for yourself.
For many years, Nanowrimo has been an integral part of my writing year. The camaraderie and the goal setting aspects of the program have helped me shape my writing journey. But things are not as they should be in the Nano World, and I must step away from the organization.
During the month of April, I am going to use both of these to see which one I like best at this time. I may use different sites next month to compare. Once I find a site I like and that meets my needs, I will let y’all know all about it here and on the Facebook page that used to be our Houston Nanowrimo group. We now call it Write-in Central. There, myself and the other former MLs will continue to encourage writers and offer opportunities to gather both via zoom and in person for group writing time.
April 8th! Come one, come all! Call the neighbors and wake the kids! April 8th is the date for the Solar Eclipse here in Texas. Oh sure, you can also see it in Mexico, Missouri or Nova Scotia. However, Texas is where I will be along with a couple million of my closest friends to see the most exciting Solar eclipse for many years. In order to prepare for this miraculous event, a friend and I are taking a class at Rice University as part of their Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. I have listened to many speakers who know much more about this kind of stuff than I ever will. Yet, they are masterful at making it very interesting for rookies like myself. They also show the class a lot of cool pictures and we even went on a field trip to the planetarium at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. What Fun!!!!
Where you are in relation to the path of the eclipse will determine how much you see of this miraculous event. Just on the west side of Austin, one will see what is called “Totality”. That means that one will see the sun completely covered by the moon as in these pictures. Here in Houston we will see a measly 94% coverage which still promises to be one heck of a solar phenomenon. Viewing times in Houston will run from 12:20 p.m. until 3:01 p.m. with max coverage at 1:40 p.m. Compare that to Bandera County, Texas which will have totality coverage of the sun at 1:31 p.m. to 1:35 p.m.
It is important to note that no one can look directly at a Solar Eclipse without damaging their eyesight permanently. To keep us safe, places like the Museum of Natural Science and the store Land, Sea and Sky, Houston Camera Exchange and other places are selling what is known as Solar Viewing Cards and Glasses. This is a most important point!!!!! You do not want to damage your eyes while looking at this most magnificent and historical of events.
Finally, while I have been learning all about eclipses, the class lecturers have also talked about the sun. I have been learning all about something called Space Weather. This involves the sun’s magnetic field and how it interacts with the solar plasma. You can also look at pictures like this to see sun spots and solar flares. Apparently there is a lot going on up there that we mere earth mortals rarely think about.
I am taking the literary license to change the topic of the blog that I had originally written for today. As you can tell by my most recent skeleton picture, my first topic involved the Rodeo. That’s always big news here in Houston this time of year. I guess I can call this picture “Rodeo Barbie”. You might notice that I have placed a clip on her shoulder which is securing her to the chair. Either she was getting up at night and partying with the other skeletons, ghosts and otherworldly beings or the wind blew her out of her chair and cowgirl hat three times. I hope the truth is that she was partying and having fun.