2023 in Review

It was one of those years where just getting to 2024 was an accomplishment, so I haven’t thought about to-do lists yet.

General thoughts:

• write more
• do more art
• get more exercise (maybe volunteer as a shelter dog walker?)
• be kinder
• work to get out the vote.

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adventures in genealogy

Yesterday I was in central Massachusetts with a few hours to kill, so I went to Conway MA, which is where Mom’s grandfather was from. Mom’s aunt researched that side of the family years ago so she could join the DAR, so I had basic information. I was going to have a look around and take pictures of the family tombstones, maybe walk around downtown and look at the historic buildings.

I found Conway without problem–it’s a pretty little former mill town strung out along the South River. And I knew from my great-aunt’s research that our family (Maynard) was buried in the Conway cemetery.

Or rather, cemeteries. There are at least four. Fortunately Find A Grave had information about which one I wanted–Pine Grove, not Howland. Unfortunately because Conway is so spread out, I couldn’t just go out one street and turn left. It was out this street, turn onto another street, turn on another that heads back towards town, then turn into the hills again. I stumbled across Howland Cemetery by accident, but the only Maynard there is not on of our Maynards.

But Howland isn’t too far from Pine Grove, so I took a couple of pictures and moved on. Did I mention there was very little cell service back in the trees and deep little valleys? I wound up back in the center of town.

So I tried again, and this time I found the cemetery. The road appeared to end at a horse farm where an older gentleman had just finished loading some horses into a trailer. I asked him about the cemetery, he said I was on the right road and wished me luck.

Another mile down a gravel road, I finally found the cemetery.

Find a Grave had told me that treat-great-however-many-greats grandfather Daniel’s grave was “at the back in the third row from the fountain,” so I changed into my walking shoes and headed back. I figured a fountain would be pretty easy to find–except it doesn’t appear to be there any more. Just a small manmade hill with a blank area at the top where the fountain probably used to be. But Daniel Maynard is there in the third row where he was supposed to be.

Photo of headstone of Daniel H. Maynard, who is not my great-great-great-grandfather.

 

As you can see, the carving is barely legible beneath the lichen, but from what I can make out it’s not for the right Daniel Maynard. The dates don’t match.

And then the joke on me: when I got home and looked at my notes, I had scrambled a couple of names. Our Daniel Maynard is buried in my home town :p I wanted Timothy Maynard, who is in fact buried in…Howland Cemetery.

Lesson learned: this genealogy stuff is harder than it looks.

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random blog post

I’m surviving the shutdown so far.

A bit distressed about the direction the country seems to be heading and all the random and not-so-random hate being thrown around, but also encouraged by all the good and helpful and caring people doing wonderful things. Like the neighbor who brought us eggs from her hens the first week, when we were in just-in-case isolation and the store was stripped of nearly everything. (Thanks Theresa!)

I’m even getting some writing done, though not a lot. And no art. I feel like I want to draw or paint, but when I pick up a colored pencil, it’s too much effort to use it. Getting out acrylics would take all the energy in the world right now.

How is everybody else doing?

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by the way

I’m hanging on by a thread right now.

Apologies to all the people I owe readings, crits, replies, or whatever.

It will pass. It always does. But meanwhile, well, I guess I’ll go out for a walk in the fall colors and remember how to breathe…

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Been debating this for a while

Just for the record:

It’s a mistake to assume that simply because someone is in a long-term committed heterosexual relationship, that means they are comfortably heterosexual or even cis. They may well be, but they may also have come to some sort of accommodation between different and conflicting aspects of their personality and biology.

They may feel that if they lived their life ten times over, in the nine other times they would have chosen a different path. Maybe they even sometimes wonder whether they should have followed a different path. What kind of example is being set? The personal is the political, but the personal is also merely personal.

For “they,” substitute “I”.

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Art class: first portrait in a long time

Our instructor had us start this term working on portraits. I used to do pencil portraits, but I’ve only attempted one previous painting. So I’m pretty pleased with this version of daughter.

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2016 wrapup

It’s been kind of a difficult year for me, for no particular reason. Just sometimes life is harder to handle, y’know? Kind of like a common cold of the psyche, I suppose. There are family stresses that I could blame it on, but that’s not really the cause. I just haven’t been coping as well. Maybe more on that later.

I’ve managed to keep going. Art class, lots of music events, golf league, training for and then going on a week-long wilderness canoe trip in Canada, cruise vacation through Alaska, Japan, Korea, and China, Christmas with family here and in Germany, and lots of other fun stuff. My weight continues down, I’m fitter than I’ve been for a long time, and my blood sugar remains stable. The kids are all doing fine. Problems with my big toes, but compared to the stuff many of my friends are going through with hips and knees and backs, it’s nothing.

But when I sit down to write, it’s just–well, truthfully, I don’t usually sit down, or if I do, I read or crochet or play video games. There are words and ideas waiting. I just don’t want to write them down. I’ve had constipation of the creative process before, and this isn’t it. I thought maybe the family stress had drained me more than I thought, and gave myself the summer off, but I’m no closer to writing now than I was in May. The peer pressure and support of National Novel Writing Month let me push through most of a new draft, but since then, not much.

Truthfully, I’m scared, and that’s not something that has happened to me very often. I’ve had specific projects I’ve been afraid to tackle due to the emotional difficulty of the story itself (Michael’s unfinished story comes to mind), but most of the time, words have been my refuge and comfort. But now they’re a threat.

I don’t know what the threat is. I don’t know what I’m afraid of.

I know, I know. Sit down and write anyway. No other way around. Draft will be finished!

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food porn

Last night’s supper was a resounding success–salmon with braised greens and citrus vinaigrette, with steamed rice (mixed blend, predominantly japonica).

It was also amazingly simple. The hardest part was browning the cut-up bacon before braising the greens. And did I mention healthy?

Salmon with braised greens and citrus vinaigrette

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End of March wrapup

The first part of the year has been less productive than I had hoped, mainly due to serious family drama (middle son and wife splitting up) which really hasn’t taken that much time since they’re in California and we’re in New England. But there’s been a lot of time in conversation, and a lot of time lost to just pondering.

Possibly as a result of having so many churning emotions that are hard to articulate, I put a lot of emphasis on my art classes. I’m quite pleased with the progress I’ve made there.

Got one shiny new idea and worked on it for March Madness. Will keep poking at it and the teenage vampires story; hopefully one of them will be ready to go for November, if I decide to NaNo it.

I’ve made it about halfway through the Crows draft. I’m working on it for Camp NaNoWriMo this month, with the goal of having a solid though not polished manuscript by the end of the month.

May will be primarily a reading-and-crocheting month, with a scaled back Story-A-Day.

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2016 goals and strategy

I don’t really have writing “goals” for 2016. My goal is to finish something. And if there’s year left, I’ll finish something else. That’s all.

My strategy for getting there is based on last year’s generally successful work pattern. Last year, my life accidentally fell into a pattern where Real Life took up alternate months, leaving the other months for writing. I tend to be a binge writer, so writing in binges instead of “Omigod, I’m not writing every day!” was a productive change. And it let me free to really enjoy my family and personal stuff, because I didn’t have the constant feeling that I “should” be writing.

So I’m planning to use the same strategy this year. It looks like our plans aren’t going to fall into such neat month-by-month categories this year, so this rough plan will have to be tweaked as the year goes on. But generally speaking, it looks like family/personal breaks in late February, May, August, October, and December.

Scheduled writing events that I’d like to do: Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July, scaled down Story a Day in May, and if there’s time in October, Nightmare Fuel. I’m thinking not NaNoWriMo this year.

First up: Start working on the final stages of Crows, with the goal of being able to submit by the end of March or early April. The first task is to reread the draft and note what has to be done. After that I’ll have a better idea how long finishing will really take.

After Crows? I’m not sure yet. Maybe Sal and Troy. I’m also considering setting up Nicky’s story (Not Forgetting) to publish as a serial novel. Way back when I started it, I had grand ideas of setting it up as a web page with mock videos and even some of the band’s songs, but lack of talent and money makes that unlikely. Maybe eventually…

But that’s the year ahead. I plan to re-evaluate every two or three months.

I also have personal and health goals, but I mostly don’t plan to discuss those in public 😀

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