Around Minetta: About focus...
Hello! I'm happy to meet you and find your beautiful blog through Holly's BYW Boot Camp. Like you, I'm trying to define what my blog should focus on. It's hard when you're interested in and curious about many things. All good wishes to you--I look forward to reading more from you!
Lynn
www.lyncoulter.com
Blog friends, I'm moving--not from one house to another--but from one web address to another.
It's Jan. 12, and we're into day 3 of Atlanta's 2011 Deep Freeze. Three days of impassable roads, no mail delivery, cancelled airline flights, and stores running out of bread, milk, and bananas. (I cannot figure out why the stores ran out of bananas before the storm even hit. What was everybody planning on eating for the forecasted week-long chill? Peanut butter and banana sandwiches? Bananas in cereal? Banana bread, banana pudding, and just plain old bananas? I mean, you might expect a run on citrus during an ice and snow storm, but not this. I have this nagging feeling that there's some secret I haven't figured out yet, like bananas are good for wrinkles or quick weight loss.)
Anyway, I was organizing my digital images today and thought it was time to haul out a few summery, flowery pictures to get us through this cold weather. Hope you enjoy the ones below! (And I'm terribly sorry, but I don't even have any pictures of bananas.)
I bought a pot of greenhouse-grown hydrangeas at Publix years ago and planted them beside my porch. The picture above shows how they bloomed last summer. Just love the color. You can tinker with the pH of your soil, you know, to make your hydrangeas bloom pink or blue.
Nothing says "summer" to me like lots and lots of bright green ferns on the porch or deck. An added bonus: wrens have built nests in mine for several years in a row. I have to put out "do not disturb" signs for any UPS or FedEx deliveries until the eggs hatch, but I don't mind, because I've gotten to see some of the babies make their first flights. Little birds seem to like making nests in plants that have long, arching, woody branches, so they can dart in and out as they feed their young.
Here's another porch-pot, this one filled with begonias. I like the heart-shaped leaves and pale pink flowers. They did well in part sun/part shade, and weren't bothered at all by pests or diseases. Wish I could say the same for the roses I keep trying to cultivate. They're plagued by black spot, which is a fungal disease that's tough to control in our humid, hot summers. I've finally given up on most modern rose varieties in favor of the so-called antique roses, which are just as beautiful and not nearly so demanding to grow.
This is a container I planted with "hot colors," which are really bold and bright, but I like them. The purples are petunias and the orange flowers are calibrachoa, which are also known as "million bells," because they bloom prolifically. They look li
Come closer.
That's it. Don't be afraid. Get a teeny bit closer to your computer screen, so I can see you better. Or sniff you, I should say.
You see, doggies use their noses more than you human-types do. We can smell bones buried in the back yard, cookie crumbs dropped under the kitchen table, and the socks somebody lost behind the hamper in the laundry room. Ah, the power of the nose.
Today, I'm using my nose to check out all the snow that's fallen in the lady-writer's yard. We must have four or five inches here in the metro Atlanta area, enough to shut down some of the major highways and keep the grown-up humans indoors while the small humans run screaming out the door with boots and heavy gloves and trash can lids to use for sledding.
You people are so funny.
That's why we doggies love you.
Have a safe and fun snow day. I'll be on patrol in the neighborhood, digging a few holes through the ice and inhaling a nice, deep sniff every now and then. I'll let you know when I smell the thaw coming.
wags,
Miss Paws
I just realized I'd better add another resolution to my New Year's list: I've got to do something with all the beads I've been ordering lately.
If you're not into beading--well, you better stay away from Etsy.com, because there are so many talented beaders selling their wares there, that you may find yourself getting addicted to this hobby, too. The handmade beads are my favs, whether they're lampworked glass, or made from ceramics or other materials.
This is a new pendant that I just ordered from a talented lady named Tracee Dock. Her Etsy site is called The Classic Bead, and it's packed with handmade pendants, beads, and more.
This piece is a seed pod; see the golden seeds peeking out of the blossom? There's an opening at the top so you can insert a chain or silk chord and make a necklace, which is what I plan to do. It seems fitting to make a piece of jewelry with something seed-related, since "seeds" appears in two of my book titles, and like Tracee, I'm fascinated by how so much beauty and promise are packed into seeds, which are really tiny genetic packages, if you think about it.
I've ordered from Tracee before, and I have several of her lovely focal beads that I'm planning to make into necklaces this year. I'll do a giveaway with them in a month or so, a little closer to the release of my new book, Little Mercies, as promotional items, so watch this space!
Merry day-after-Christmas! I got a very special gift this year: a new friend.
We had a Golden Retriever for many years, and I've missed her terribly since she passed away. Somehow I kept waiting for just the right time to get another pet--and then I saw an animal rescue organization called Angels Among Us on Facebook. If you're in the Atlanta area, check them out. They do great work, saving unwanted pets from kill shelters and housing them in foster homes until the pets can find their "forever families."
We were drawn to a photo of a sad-looking little black-and-white girl named Yoshi and read that she'd be available for viewing through Angels Among Us the next weekend. We drove to Alpharetta, GA to meet her and fell in love. Now we've re-named her Dixie, and because I'm a nickname fanatic, she has quickly also become known as Dixie Dog, Moondoggie, and Miss Dix.
But today I've decided to give her just one more nickname. She is already showing signs of being the perfect office assistant for a working writer (that is, she sleeps on my feet while I'm at the computer and keeps my toes warm). 
So, gentle readers, I'm delighted to introduce you to my new assistant: Miss Paws!
Miss Paws is of mixed heritage, but we believe she is part Border Collie and part Corgi (the kind with tails). She's 25 pounds of sweetness, approximately 10 months to a year old, and full of energy. She's still doing some puppy-biting, but one of our Christmas gifts is a doggie training course that starts in January, so we hope to address that bitey-business soon.
Watch this blog for updates from her when I'm otherwise engaged or simply slipping off for a nap or other such important activity. She has promised to write a post from time to time, and if anyone out there would like to know more about the writing process, be sure to drop her a line here (that is, write a comment). Miss Paws will endeavor to answer your questions about writing, getting published, etc.
Trust me on this. Miss Paws will answer; she's a pretty fast typist. ;-)
Merry Christmas! I have a little gift for you, gentle readers: a story I wrote years ago for a magazine called First. I hope it shares a little of the spirit of the season.
Warm wishes for a blessed Christmas!
Lynn
(click on each image to enlarge for reading)
Okay...you're probably visiting my blog right now because you saw my post on Facebook earlier today. I posted that I had received, in the morning mail, not a handful of glittery, cheery, Christmas cards; not an early gift; not a box of yummy cookies--no, no.
I received--a giant head louse.
Yes.
'Louse,' if you're wondering, is the singular form of 'head lice', and of course the singular form is the only way any of us want to see these nasty, itchy pests.
And I'm not kidding. I really did get a head louse in the mail today. Take a look:
Yes, it's just a kid's toy, but how would you like to put your hand, unsuspecting, into a large manila envelope and pull out a giant bug? Its tag even describes it as "cuddly"--oh, please. Gentle readers, do any of you cuddle your head lice? Me neither.
I'm making jokes, but seriously, the stuffed louse came in a package along with a complimentary book for me to read and review. It's author Amy Stewart's newest, Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects (published by Algonquin Books, and available for purchase starting May 3, 2011).
Amy's new bug book is a follow-up to her New York Times bestseller, Wicked Plants, and both books are entertaining, informative, and just plain fun for gardeners (and if you're not a gardener, don't let that stop you. The chapter titles include "Zombies," "Bugs of War," and "She's Just Not That Into You." Aren't you itching, if you'll excuse the bed-bug pun, to know more?)
Amy's book is fascinating (even if it is making my skin crawl just a teeny bit). There are fine drawings to help you identify the bugs in your house or garden (you do know that insects outnumber us here on planet Earth, right?), along with fascinating facts and historical notes.
Did you know, for example, that "Over half a million English drivers have had a car accident caused by the distraction of a bug in the car"? Or that Germans believed American forces were dropping crop-destructive potato beetles into their fields during WWII?
You know, I'm beginning to warm up to my louse--the stuffed toy, I mean. He is kinda cute. And I'm learning a lot from Wicked Bugs. I'm just going to have to read it with the lights on, and with a big can of very strong bug spray by my bedside.
I love this quote from the Nov. 2010 issue of Country Living Magazine:
"Clutter is the poetry of our homes. It is an intimate view that is not always perfect--a few dishes in the sink, books piled next to the bed. Everything in its place may give a certain satisfaction but a lived-in room exudes comfort and warmth." - Mary Randolph Carter, author of A Perfectly Kept House Is the Sign of A Misspent Life.
I've been fortunate to meet some really nice people since I wrote my gardening book. Tina Wilson is one of them. She emailed me awhile back, inviting me to have an online chat with some of the fans of her Small Town Living blog who also love flowers and veggies.
We did the chat one evening and had a great time, and I enjoy staying in touch and reading her updates on Facebook.
At Small Town Living, Tina has drawn together a virtual community of artists, writers, photographers, small business owners and others who share wonderful stories about everything organic and wholesome and good, and they focus on self-sufficiency.
You might find a story one day about making your own "green" cleaning products, raising chickens, or even helping your hubby find the courage to tackle the baby on the changing table---and face whatever's in the diaper.
Lately Tina has been offering some cool books as giveaways. Check out the one shown above. It's about all the cute things you can make for Christmas with felt.
Now, don't you want this book? I do, so I left a comment on Tina's blog about my favorite holiday song. You can do the same, and she'll enter you in a drawing. Just click here.
I'm wishing you good luck---but not too much. ;-)
The heat wave here in Atlanta had to end sometime, and since we had our first killing frost last night, I think--I hope--it's safe to say that fall is really here. (Not that we're ever sure. The weather-guy is already calling for daytime temps back in the 70s later this week.)
When I left home this morning, all I saw in the little flower bed by my front door were shriveled, blackened stumps where marigolds and petunias had stood. But at lunchtime, I went out to the woods for a little break and saw masses of pink flowers--azaleas were blooming, apparently the Encore variety. Gorgeous and eyecatching, in the somber landscape.
Encores are cold hardy through USDA zone 6, I've read, and should survive the winter even if planted in containers. Lush and lovely as they are, and as much as I'd enjoy them in the spring, I just don't see them as fall flowers. I think it's the colors and frills. I'm crazy about pink, but it's just not an autumnal color, and to me, it clashes with the golds and browns and scarlets of the season. Then again, wouldn't these be fabulous if they bloomed really late in the winter/early in the spring, when we're hungry for some color when the trees are bare? Think I may try a couple of these shrubs after all.
Brrr! After weeks--literally, some 90+ days in a row--of temps over 90 degrees in the ATL, it's finally feeling like fall. The thermometer showed 32 degrees this morning, and it hasn't warmed up much, so I've been brewing hot tea all day. Until now.
I just found a recipe for pumpkin latte posted on artist's Susan Branch's site (that's www.SusanBranch.com). I'm about to try this, 'cause it looks yum!
Pumpkin Latte
2 heaping T. canned pumpkin
1 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
hot coffee, decaf or expresso
hot milk
Into a large mug, put first 4 ingredients. Till cup halfway with coffee and stir well. Fill rest of cup with hot milk and whisk. Top with whipped cream and dust with nutmeg.
The recipe doesn't give a calorie count, which is just as well, if you're topping it off with whipped cream! Enjoy!
p.s.--Thanks to Kathryn for suggesting that I post recipes from time to time. Sounds like a good plan to me.
The economy has hurt everyone lately, but non-profits and small charities are really suffering. My friend Monteen McCord, who lives in Georgia, is a Master Falconer, and holds state and federal licenses to rehabilitate wild birds like hawks, falcons, and eagles. She's seen a severe drop-off in giving. Take a look at this video clip, which ran on CBS-TV in Atlanta, and check out her website, at www.hawktalk.org. I'm crazy about the good work she does to help creatures of the wild!
This has been a great week for making new friends. On Sunday, I met a wonderful group from Providence United Methodist Church, who treated me to a delish Southern-style lunch: a buffet at the historic Green Manor Restaurant in Union City, GA.
The ladies had read and discussed my book, Mustard Seeds, and presented me with my very own potted mustard plant to take home! Thank you all again. Here's a photo--not of my plant, but of one that's very similar: 
And yes, to answer a question that comes up a lot, you really can grow mustard here in the South (and across the U.S.), and it can be both ornamental and edible. My new plant is an annual, but I'll enjoy it indoors, by a sunny window.
Mustard plants also come in red-purple varieties, which are great colors for a fall garden, and especially beautiful as the weather starts to turn. You can find seeds for sale at local nurseries and garden centers, or buy potted plants like mine.
I'm surprised how often people tell me that they've never eaten mustard, especially here in the South, where we eat a lot of garden greens. Then again, maybe mustard is an acquired taste, because it can be pungent. If you're willing to try it, toss the raw mustard leaves in your fresh salads. It's also good, if a big stronger-tasting, when cooked and seasoned as you'd do with any other kind of edible greens, like spinach or turnips.
Thank you again, new friends from Providence, for the gift of the plant, the lunch, and the wonderful conversation.
Thanks, too, to the Georgian Garden Club of Villa Rica. I visited last night and read a devotional from Mustard Seeds (which is a collection of essays about faith, not gardening, in case anybody is confused by now). I couldn't have had a warmer reception, and I enjoyed the delicious mango-passionfruit tea you served--can't wait to try it again!
Found this on YouTube and just had to share it. It's so cat-like!
Of all my faults, jealousy has never been a biggie. I'm genuinely happy to see other writers publish fine books that inspire and encourage.
But recently, I have to admit that my heart has turned just a bit green with envy. Shauna Niequist has released her second book, Bittersweet, from Zondervan, and it's wonderful.
The notion of bittersweetness, as Niequist says, is "the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a sliver of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak."
Such truth in that statement, and it's so beautifully expressed. Sigh. Even while I celebrate her wonderful book, I look at my own books and long to write even more deeply, more beautifully.
But enough about envy, that useless emotion. If you're looking for a book about finding God and grace even in the midst of sorrow and loss, Bittersweet will lift your spirits, and I highly recommend it.
Niequist writes of the disappointments she's faced in her young life; lost jobs; a beloved grandmother's death; and her miscarriages, lacing each essay in her book with evocative, sensory details, like her description of the peppery bite of arugula salad garnished with sweet blueberries. Her book is honest and open, and behind each event that she faces, the reader feels that Niequist keeps turning to God to restore and renew her faith.
My only criticism is the sense that Niequist lives a more priviledged life than many readers, as she discusses her trips and vacations, dinner parties, supportive family and friends, and yoga classes. Too much of this can be a roadblock, especially for older readers who have lost life-long jobs or even homes, to foreclosure, in today's economy. I see it over and over again at my church, and in the passers-by who come to our church doors asking for assistance or just a place to stay overnight. Today, many people lack the kinds of resources and helps that Niequist can turn to.
But Niequist reminds us that we do have God, and our faith, and like her, we can learn to reveal in life's bittersweet moments, celebrating the good things, and grateful for the grace from above that covers the rest.
Okay, this is getting serious; maybe I need an intervention.
I'm getting addicted to beading. If you haven't heard about "beading," it means that you make your own jewelry (or items that you sell to others), using semi-precious gemstones, pearls, or even cheap glass beads. You can use handmade beads of polymer clay, lampworked glass, and other materials, and add anything else to your creations, like tiny charms, stamped metal discs, vintage buttons, silk ribbons, chains, and so on.
I'm loving this hobby, but you really have to watch out, or you'll go head-over-heels for the expensive stuff. I've found lots of handmade beads on Etsy that I can hardly resist. At least anything goes, when it comes to designing a necklace or bracelet. Beaders mix mix rough-textured pieces with Swarovski crystals; sterling silver charms with marbled glass beads in swirly colors, and much more.
Yesterday I looked through a book about making lampwork beads, but then I caught myself. To make glass-type beads, you need lots of equipment, like a kind of blow torch--way beyond my skills and way, way beyond my budget.
For now, I'm sticking to reasonably-priced things I can order online (okay, the cheap stuff), and clipping coupons for Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I got a whole bag of seed beads, which are tiny, multi-colored glass bits, for a couple of dollars, and there are enough in one bag to make several pieces.
Here's a pix of one of my first attempts at a necklace. 
Granted, it's a hodge-podge of elements. I used a bronze-looking butterfly charm and a brass leaf pendant--and there are green glass beads mixed with crystals and seed beads in shades of amber, topaz, and brown--and I'm not sure it's pleasing to the eye when you mix THAT many kinds of materials AND have an asymmetrical design, too. But it so far I like it, 'cause it's sparkly and I love the colors.
I'm excited--my publisher just posted the cover for my new book, Little Mercies, which releases in March 2011. Check it out to "like" me on Facebook and/or post a comment. Thanks for stopping by!
Lynn
I got a sneak peek at the cover for my new book, Little Mercies, the other day, and I loved it (guess I can say that, since I had absolutely nothing to do with it. The covers are created by the talented art department at B&H Books, which publishes my work).
I'm not supposed to post the cover yet, but I can say that that it has gorgeous, earthy, garden-y colors, like a rich gold, green, and brown.
Speaking of color and gardens, the photo above is one I found earlier today that shows the swing in a sheltered spot in our backyard. This was taken in the springtime, so most of the flowers you see here have faded, and with the unbroken string of 90+ degree weather we've had lately, most of my summer flowers are looking rough. Rain's in the forecast--we can only hope.
Somehow I always seem to end up with stray animals, but this time, I've really outdone myself. We've had 2 feral cats hanging around in the woods behind our house, and --out of pity and, evidently, lack of smarts, I started feeding them.
You can guess what happened next. Not one, but both cats wound up having kittens (one litter appeared under an old canoe that's turned upside down in our backyard--very cute, to see all those little heads popping out to look around).
I love animals, but now I have the 2 mama cats and a total of six babies. Yesterday we noticed that two of the smallest kittens were sneezing and seemed to have eye infections. Sigh...I knew we were in for a whopping big vet bill, but I couldn't let them suffer, so we wound up catching one (that was all we could manage at the time) and heading off to the doc.
Fortunately the vet diagnosed problems that can be treated, and she gave us (well, sold us) enough meds for all the kittens, since she said they probably all had the same problems: an upper respiratory infection and conjunctivitis.
Since they're maybe just 5 to 6 weeks old, she said we could probably still catch them and it wouldn't be too late in their development to tame them enough to handle. And sure enough, we managed to round up all of them by last night and start treatments all around.
This morning, however, I was about as popular as a pit bull among the kittens when I reappeared with the next dose of all the eye ointments and oral medicines. I managed to get them all treated again, but I'm supposed to do this 2x a day for 7 days for all 5 kittens. Let's see, at 3 dosages of med per cat, that comes to about....210 treatments before we're through.
Lots of herding cats in my immediate future...
Okay, I know the image you're looking at looks a little strange, but bear with me. It comes from a really fun website that I just discovered called Spoonflower.
Spoonflower is an online shop that lets you upload your own fabric designs and turn them into fabric. Prices vary, depending on how much fabric you want to purchase, and what kind, but you can choose from 100% cotton (that's a low-end choice, at about $18 a yard) to silky-textured cotton lawn, to a combination linen-cotton canvas (for about $27/yard). There's an organic cottin interlock knit that would work well for soft baby clothes and t-shirts, and an upholstery-weight twill that you could turn into posters, banners, tote bags, draperies, and lots more.
If you're not feeling particularly artsy, you can customize a fabric with one of the many designs that other users have uploaded to sell. Sounds something like Etsy, in terms of buying and selling handicrafts.
I haven't tried Spoonflower yet, so I can't vouch for it personally, but I love the creative possibilities it offers!
http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome
This new movie from the C.S. Lewis books, The Chronicles of Narnia, looks great. It's called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and it debuts at Christmas.
Cute and funny
Miss Deb, you are so sweet to say so! A big sloppy dog-kiss to you,
Miss Paws
Cute!!! You are a quite talented.