24 03, 2014

Signs of Spring

By judythemorgan|2019-03-23T10:11:21-05:00March 24th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Around here, life is stirring from its wintery slumber.

Walking the dogs today, I spotted the first sprigs of green popping up through the brown fields. Birds circled looking for our feeders.

The mountaintops of the San Juan Mountains are losing their white caps. Ice is sliding from our rooftop in great chunks. Once it’s all gone, the cycle of daytime melting, nighttime freezing will end.

Thanks to our grandson, who spent hours of his spring break with us chopping up the 12-15” of ice from the front walk, we have a safe path into the front yard. Our warm days will keep the thickness from returning. We’ll still have ice, but not the buildup that was so treacherous.

The mini-mountains of dirt from the garage addition excavation last year are turning back to brown. I think I preferred the snow cover. Unfortunately, until the ground itself thaws, the landscaper can’t move the dirt around and away.

Every day more and more of the snow covering the flowerbeds melts. Under the snow blanket, I hope the fifty daffodil and tulip bulbs I planted last fall are pushing up.

After thirty years in tropical Houston, I look forward to the smiling faces of daffodils and tulips in my garden and not in a store-bought pot. At least until the deer come to munch on them.

Our trees are budding, but barely. Soon nubs will fill the bare Aspen and Cottonwood branches.

The rich earthy smell of spring is just around the corner too. I can feel it in the air.

You know the scent of snow-cleansed soil and growing things. A perfume combination no amount of chemistry can reproduce.

How about you? Are signs of spring coming to your neck of the woods?

21 03, 2014

Broody Hens – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-03-21T06:00:41-05:00March 21st, 2014|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Periodically one or more of our hens goes broody. This means she sits on her eggs with the intent of hatching them.

Usually I just reach under her and grab the eggs, explaining that I feed them, they feed me. Their response is then to peck at my hand.

Rachel is a little harsher. She will pick the hens up and toss them out of the nest box then collects the eggs.

Currently, Rachel and Beekeeper Brian have decided we should let the hens sit on the eggs until they hatch. This is fine with me – less pecking on my hands.

Apparently this particular clutch of eggs requires more than one hen. Today there were three sitting on the eggs making it a group effort.

One of our bantam hens is sitting on eggs also.

Sometimes I find an egg that has been pushed out from under the hens. I’ve learned that frequently this is a bad egg Having cracked one open in the house, I discovered the unpleasant and lingering smell of rotten egg.

Now I crack the outcast eggs outside to see if it is a good or bad egg.

In other news, we are hoping to get a replacement rooster for Elliot. I’ll keep you posted.

19 03, 2014

Bye, Bye Winter Bye, Bye

By judythemorgan|2014-03-19T06:00:53-05:00March 19th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Tomorrow, March 20 spring arrives with the vernal equinox on at 12:57 P.M. EDT.

To say good-bye winter, I offer this fabulous Piano Guys video actually filmed on the ice in the snow.

Let It Go (Disney’s “Frozen”) Vivaldi’s Winter

I don’t know about you, but I’m very, very happy the snow and the ice will soon be gone.

I can’t wait to see the little daffodils popping out. How about you?

17 03, 2014

Being Irish on St. Patrick’s Day

By judythemorgan|2014-03-17T06:00:09-05:00March 17th, 2014|Holidays|0 Comments

It’s St. Patrick’s Day. We’re all Irish for today.

Personally, I count myself Irish for the other 364 days since my Irish heritage can be trace through both my mother and father’s parents.

I remember the day I felt those Irish genes for the first time. My blood truly began to tingle and my heart sang at the site of the green fields I saw from the airplane’s window. Then when I dipped my hand in the River Shannon, I knew I’d come home.

I’d tagged along on my husband’s business trip not really thinking about the family stories of Irish heritage…Mama Smith who was a Callahan or Oma Ulit whose family landed on Ellis Island in the days of the Potato Famine.

But an amazing thing happened while my husband conducted business throughout Ireland, Scotland and Britain.

I uncovered my Irish roots. So much so a brogue surfaced.

An Irish lilt that returns whenever we spend time on the Emerald Isle and at odd times when we don’t.

After nine more trips over ten years, those roots have solidified and my love of all things Irish has grown deep.

Today we celebrate Ireland’s patron saint, Patrick, who, as you may know, wasn’t even Irish but English.

Still, he’s credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland…and if you believe the Irish folklore, chased all the snakes away. Read all about the St. Patrick here.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

14 03, 2014

Rough Week on Miller Farm

By judythemorgan|2014-03-14T06:00:29-05:00March 14th, 2014|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Last Thursday in the middle of the day I made a grisly discovery—a half-eaten chicken in the chicken yard.

I quickly scanned the flock to see who was missing. All the named chickens were accounted for so I breathed a sigh of relief. It was sad nonetheless and a mystery.

What was bold enough to attack in broad day light? And would it return?????

I left town Friday morning for a weekend retreat and Rachel came home Friday afternoon for Spring Break. I talked to her Saturday and she told me that Crooked Neck had died. This was sad news indeed.

Crooked Neck was from one of the first set of eggs we hatched. We didn’t expect her to live very long since her neck was so misshapen but she survived several years.

Monday morning when I went to let the chickens out, I discovered that Elliot had died during the night. There was no evidence of foul play so I’m not sure what happened. It was almost more than I could bear.

Beekeeper Brian and Matt are in Colorado and when I told Brian about Elliot, he said “Well don’t throw him away. I want to use his feathers for tying flies.”

I must admit, Elliot did have wonderful feathers.

I took Catherine (our eldest) shopping while she was home to get a dress for her Junior Recital. She is an oboe performance major at Hardin Simmons University. At one store, they frequently feature books and accompanying stuffed animals. The proceeds from their sale go to support kids’ health and education initiatives.

This time the books were Dr. Seuss books including one of my favorites Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb — a very repetitive, rhythmic book that I use in my music class. It came with a stuffed monkey so, of course, I had to buy both.

I read the book to Catherine which she found extremely silly. Then I decided to name the monkey Elliot – in memory of our dear departed rooster. It has made our loss much more bearable.

This morning, all the chickens were alive and pecking. Maybe the roughness has ended.

13 03, 2014

Olympians desire to change the world?

By judythemorgan|2014-03-13T06:00:12-05:00March 13th, 2014|Company's Coming|2 Comments

A guest blog by Jody Payne

Tonight I crept out of my writer’s cave to hear an interview with an obvious non-athlete at the Olympian Games. He talked of the athlete’s desire to change the world.

Excuse me? Are you kidding?

I have worked with some extraordinary athletes in the horse ring. Don’t get me wrong. I am nowhere near their quality. I just happen to know them.

To my knowledge, the ones I know are not out to change the world.

These dedicated human beings don’t waste a lot of time thinking about the State of the Union, what the Dow is doing, or which way to the nearest photographer.

Do you honestly believe when a skier is standing at the top of an obscenely high mountain looking down and waiting for the signal to descend she is thinking about changing the world?

Get real. She is visualizing the perfect run. They know there has to be luck on any particular day, but they also know they are so incredibly good that today this run can prove they are the absolute best in the world.

That’s a horrible, exacting standard to live with. However, somehow, these particular athletes get up every morning and face it.

Let’s don’t strap them with changing the world too.

Here’s the takeaway for this particular tirade: If each of us put the effort into being the best we could possibly be, if every morning we rolled out of bed and did the absolute best we could at what we do, we might just change our own personal world.

Of course, that doesn’t always happen. Rolling out of bed is the most some of us can handle some days. Just showing up is a major victory.

Been there. Done that.

Tomorrow is another day. Do better.

It’s tough, this reaching for perfection. And now we expect our athletes to change the world?

No wonder ballplayers take drugs.

Before you start with the hate mail, I’m not condoning drugs. Far from it. Let’s just make a deal with them.

You do your best, without drugs, and we won’t expect you to change the world.

Does this sound like a fair deal to you?

I’m just saying…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jody Payne is

a writer (fiction and non-fiction),

a horse woman (dressage, no less),

an animal lover (just ask her two rescue dogs Annie and Janie or my two four-legged boys, Toby and Buster),

and most of all she’s southern through and through.

You can connect with her on FB: https://www.facebook.com/jodypaynesays

Her website: www.jodypayne.net

12 03, 2014

Solitude – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-03-12T06:00:52-05:00March 12th, 2014|one word Wednesday|1 Comment

Most of us have been held captive by winter’s hold for so long now. Too long.

We’ve been isolated. Stuck inside. Alone.

Consider Lord Byron’s take on solitude.

Thanks to Edie Melson of The Write Conversation for sharing her creative photo that so accurately portrays Byron’s words.

I believe Bryon suggests, rather than isolating, solitude stirs us to introspection, which in turn feeds our soul and nourishes our creativity.

Do you agree?

10 03, 2014

Liminal Space and Me

By judythemorgan|2014-03-10T06:00:27-05:00March 10th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|4 Comments

I recently learned about a concept called Liminal Space. I’d never heard the term before so off to Google I went.

Liminality is a transition period where normal limits to thought, self-understanding and behavior are relaxed – a situation that can lead to new perspectives.

Psychologists call liminal space, a place where boundaries dissolve a little and we stand there, on the threshold, getting ourselves ready to move across the limits of what we were into what we are to be.

There’s an Irish saying I think fits liminal space: Reality is that place between the sea and the foam. The sea is deep and dark and scary. The foam is shifty and uncertain, disappearing before our eyes. We linger in the in-between.

Interestingly, the word liminality comes from the Latin limen, meaning a threshold.

Remember adolescence? That’s the liminal space between childhood and adulthood.

So why is liminal space important?

Liminal space is where we can grow and change. The space between the closed door and the open window.

After a time of processing this concept, I see I’m in a liminal space on my writer’s journey.

Or maybe it’s simply that a writer’s journey is a constant state of liminality.

Doors close and windows open.

Everyone’s journey is filled with them.

The hiccup is that you can’t experience transformation unless you let go.

Richard Rohr says, “Few of us know how to inhabit liminal space. If we are security-needy by temperament, we will always run back to the old room that we have already constructed. If we are risk-taking by temperament, we will quickly run to a new room of our own making and liking. Hardly anyone wants to stay on the threshold without knowing the answers…”

I have to agree.

Straddling a threshold isn’t a comfortable place. Fear of the unknown has us holding tight to the familiar.

We must let go of the comfortable and familiar and move into the uncomfortable and the unfamiliar— seize the possibilities.

Not so easy to do. Scary even.

Unless we embrace change. Unless we stop trying to make our old journey fit the new destination.

“I’m going to show the courage not to retreat back to what was and I’m going to be patient not to jump into what I think ought to be, but I’m going to stand in liminal space. I am going to trust that as I stand on the threshold it is pregnant with the possibilities of God.” – David Jensen.

Richard Rohr says, “Nothing good or creative emerges from business as usual. This is why much of the work of God is to get people into liminal space, and to keep them there long enough so they can learn something essential. It is the ultimate teachable space…maybe the only one. … it is the only position that insures ongoing wisdom, broader perspective and ever-deeper compassion.”

What about you? Are you at a threshold in your life? Are you ready to let go and learn something essential—to claim the possibilities behind the open door?

Let’s go!

7 03, 2014

Guest Chickens – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-03-07T06:00:13-06:00March 7th, 2014|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Our soon-to-be neighbors stopped by last week to see if they could leave a child’s playhouse in the yard between our houses. They would have to temporarily take down the fence (the infamous privacy fence, that is) to move it into the back yard and planned to do that after they officially moved in.

That was no problem.

They also brought their chickens and wondered if we could keep them with our flock until they could build a chicken coop. This was also no problem.

They were already in a cage so we simply moved the cage into the back yard and planned to put the chickens into the coop after dark. We’ve discovered that chickens loose all their memories at night so when they woke up they would think they had always lived in our coop. The only drawback to this plan was the dachshunds. They were fascinated by the new chickens and while they could not actually get to them, their barking was very stressful for the birds.

So we moved the cage into the chicken yard behind the shed. It was much calmer for the chickens.

Now those of you with chicken experience may have noticed that the darker bird is actually a rooster. Our neighbor assured me it was a friendly rooster and indeed it was – until it came time to clip wings.

Wing clipping is an event at which I have only been the holder of the chicken. Rachel or Beekeeper Brian always wielded the scissors.

Since Rachel moved to college and Brian was at work, it was up to Chicken Wrangler Sara to expand her wing clipping experience and do the holding and the clipping.

It was harder than I expected.

I clipped the hen first and she pooped on me. Fortunately this was a day I did not have to go to work and had time to clean up properly.

The rooster, on the other hand, bit my arm. Actually, it was kind of a pinch since I’m not sure chicken have teeth.

In any event, it was somewhat painful, but I survived.

After the chicken scratch last week and the rooster bite this week, I’m going to ask for combat pay.

The next morning I discovered the hen roosting on the privacy fence. Obviously, I had not clipped enough off her wings.

That night, while she was roosting in a tree, the more experienced wing clipper Beekeeper Brian grabbed her and did a better job.

Now everyone, including the guests, go into the coop at night.

And stay.

6 03, 2014

Harnessing Your Writer’s Imagination

By judythemorgan|2014-03-06T06:00:46-06:00March 6th, 2014|Company's Coming|5 Comments

More company and I’m excited to welcome Jane Carver to the porch today. She’s talking about imagination. One of my favorite topics since my imagination tends to run full throttle.

Harnessing Your Writer’s Imagination

As a writer, my imagination creates whatever I want.

We writers fill notebooks with ideas, pages with storybook names, jot down dire circumstances then one day, we pull out an idea from here and a name from there and put it all together.

Once I’ve written something I want to share, it is time to edit, hone that manuscript until there is, no doubt, what I want the reader to experience.

I’m still working at my process. And always will. Any writer who says, “I’ve got this down pat,” is only fooling herself.

Writers are learners who constantly attend conferences, take classes, read and communicate with fellow writers as they hone their creativity.

There are no new plots–each has been told.

There are no rules to what an imagination comes up with, but there are guidelines to follow if you want that story to be the best it can.

The idea is to tell your story in a new way. The trick is to take what you learn and make it your own.

Write in a way that no one else does. Be fresh! Add tension, conflict, danger, doubt, suspense and maybe love if that’s your thing.

Polish and craft the words your creativity stirs up until you have a story that begs to be read and enjoyed.

Thanks, Janie for the encouragement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane Carver is a former schoolteacher, a quilter, an artist

an editor,

a dual personality author, writing adult fiction as Jane Carver and young adult fiction as Jane Grace

a blogger extraordinaire writing 4 blogs weekly…amazing!

Want to learn more about Jane or her other personality, Jane Grace? Visit her website for adult fiction and her website for young adult fiction

Or stop by one of her blogs:

http://janiecarver2011.wordpress.com

http://RomancesByJanie.wordpress.com

http://JaneGracePresents.wordpress.com

http://WritingImagination2013.wordpress.com

You can also pick up a copy of her latest releases by clicking on the covers:

Intense (Young Adult Fiction) Sensitive subject but more about the compassion and help received afterward that makes up the story. Nova Dean dreams of going to Nationals in Debate but to do that she must beat Adam Parks and his team. Their rival is intense but not as much as the help Adam gives Nova after she’s raped. Only with his help can she take one step at a time back to a life she can endure. Only with his help are the rapists caught.

Return with Honor (Adult Fiction)

The death of Jud Longtree’s best friend gives the local police chief reason enough to suspect him of murder. With the help of Lottie Amberville, they use both logic and creativity to find someone who may have murdered more than once.

Home

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

Let’s go!

Harnessing Your Writer’s Imagination