Just started reading Gate of Souls, A Familiar’s Tale, Book One by Verna McKinnon.  This is published by small-publisher HD-Image.com.  HD-image also publishes the e-zine Aberrant Dreams.  (One of my short stories is scheduled to appear in Aberrant Dreams later this year or early next.)   I’ve been asked a couple of times recently to read and review books by small presses.  I have no problem with that, although there was an interesting discussion over on Tia’s Blog about whether small presses put out as high a quality book as large presses (Tia also discusses self-pubbed books, which I place in an entirely different category and do not review.)

In my experience, small or large publishers–overall the quality has been the same.  That is to say that some books by small presses are every bit as thrilling, well-written and good as those published by larger houses (Dead Woman’s Shoes
by Kaye C. Hill is published by small press Creme de la Crime and it was my favorite mystery  read last year–by a mile!  It’s just a fabulous read.)

Then there are those books that are…not well-edited, have huge plot holes and make you wonder if anyone, anywhere ever read the book before printing it.  Last, there are those that are just books; nothing wrong with them in particular, nothing special about them either.  Maybe there’s a few typos, maybe the plot is on the thin side, but there are redeeming qualities as well.

I guess for me–I can’t say that I’ve seen a huge difference overall between small and large publishers.  The quality coming out of both large and small publishers varies.  Sometimes large publishers don’t seem to put any effort into a cover.  Same with small publishers.  Then there are those small publishers that put a great deal of effort into every single cover and it shows.  Same with the actual stories.  Rating a tale is subjective–extremely so.

All that said, the cover work for Gate of Souls is obviously top-notch.  It’s orignal art-work and it’s gorgeous. (It was done by Henning Ludvigsen and Natasha Roeoesli.  As for the story, the premise is very interesting–a fantasy adventure–told from the POV of the familiar rather than the human.  The story itself so far is fluctuating–there’s good action scenes, but there’s some fairly long stretches of scene setting.

Is it just me, or are e-zines going under at an alarming rate?   Of course, print newspapers are definitely going under at an alarming rate.  So are banks.  Fourteen failures have been taken over by the FDIC already this year.  And that doesn’t count this week’s failures, if any, that will be announced tonight.  That compares to 25 for last year, which was a very high number.

On the book/reading front, John Levitt (author of Dog Days (Ace Fantasy Book) and New Tricks) participated in a round robin podcast panel of authors.  The archive of the podcast (writers on writing) can be found here sometime this afternoon:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheBeyond

The archive is up.  The first half is slow; the second half much better (it’s an hour long; you should be able to skip around the podcast.)  In the second half the authors are a bit more passionate–they talk about writer’s block, a bit on finances and the love of writing.  First half is plot versus character, how each writes (outline versus by seat of pants) and general intro material.  I liked the podcast, but it would have had more impact had there been fewer authors (there were 5–it was hard to keep track of which book went with which author).  I think I could have followed three authors easily (not that anyone asked me).  Would have been great to see covers of the book with the author’s name, maybe a website–I was only familiar with two of the authors so I would have liked to see the covers of at least one title to give me some sort of “image” while the podcast was going–something to associate an author with so that their work stuck with me.   I realize most people just listen and may not have any image in front of them at all, but I was on my computer. And if I hadn’t already decided to listen, an image of covers might have enticed me to listen if the books  looked interesting!  All in all, though, it was a good podcast; well moderated and the authors all had some interesting things to say.

Garden:

It may get close to freezing this weekend.  Bummer.  That means I’ll be out there covering plants like mad tomorrow.  It happens.

I still have cucumbers and melons of all varieties in the house.  They will be staying here, I guess, until Monday when the threat of the current freeze is over.  This good news is that the experimental watermelon did come up and is looking quite perky.

Junior:

Junior has never been happier.  He is finding a schedule that he likes.  This schedule, unfortunately includes waking me at 4 or 5 a.m. just to see if I might be ready to get up yet. “No.”  The answer is always no, but this does not stop him from bouncing up at 4, eating some dry food, and then popping back up near the head of the bed, just to check.  Little bugger is going to be expelled from the bedroom if he keeps this up…after we are up and he has been given his “treat” of some wet food, he heads outside to play.  He plays hard until 9 or 10, depending on the weather.  Then he pops back inside and hides until 1 or 2.  Plays from then on until 9 or so at night.  This cat plays a LOT.   Scamp has finally taken to coming into the yard during the scheduled play times so that she can have some fun too. They chase each other, have little spats, climb trees and generally run about.  We’re seeing more of Scamp, and she is edging closer to us.  She doesn’t say much, and she is still extremely aloof, but she is getting braver and feeling safer.  She is quiet amazed at Junior’s boldness–he comes right up to us and puts his nose in our hand!  She  just stares, wondering how her little kitten could do such a thing!

Misc:
One more minor detail.  When a website says that it “ships immediately” if there are no perishables, wouldn’t you assume that meant…that day or the next?  Surely under a week’s time?  And when you email to inquire as to when it might ship (since it obviously hasn’t) wouldn’t you think that you’d get a better answer than, “Can’t say for sure when it will go out.” ????

Evil customer service…!

Got all the tomato plants out there, a cuc and a cantaloupe.   Boy, was it a lot of work.  Despite prepping the soil a few weeks ago, I had to do it again.  Mainly because a certain cat moves the dirt all over the place.  You may think it wouldn’t be possible for a small cat to move a lot of dirt, but Junior REALLY likes digging.   What used to look like rows, looked like it had been hit by a small meteor, splashing dirt all over and creating craters.  The bad news is that I’ll have to keep a close eye on him or he’ll dig the plants back up.   I do create fake mulch piles for him to play in–those work about half the time.   I also use a lot of leaf mulch and he has declared several of those piles his own.  This is fine because I don’t care if he digs in those.  They’re mainly to keep weeds down.   He likes to go running into them, just like a kid, only he skids a lot further.

At any rate, I was able to do a decent job of transplanting this year.  With plants grown from seeds, the roots are not as thick and hardy–because the plants haven’t been in small pots for fifteen years (or 20 weeks, which is probably closer to the real number!)   This means that roots tend to break off easier.  I have to be very careful getting those large potted plants into the ground.   Although truthfully, broken roots in tomato plants don’t hurt much.  They will grow back and it takes about a week after being transplanted for them to settle and start new leaves anyway.

Broken roots in melons are a completely different story–they will stunt or kill the plant.  But I don’t let the plants get bigger than three leaves before transplanting so they are small and easy to handle.   The only risk here is that a big ole worm can eat the  transplants in about 4 bites!  I did use BT worm killer on them so hopefully they will sprout more leaves before getting eaten!!

I’m now ready for tomatoes.  GROW already!!!!

Very interesting article about all the assumptions of investing for the long term–something we’ve been taught since opening a 401k.  (I’m a fairly active investor and I am not currently in the market–nor do I subscribe to the buy and hope hold theory.  Buy and hold  works very well in a bull market.  We are not in a bull market.)

Anyway, I don’t often post about financial stuff–that’s over at BMHusband’s blog:  www.BearMountainBull.com — where the article in question has been excerpted.  BMB covers the discussion on European countries.  Later in the article (1/3 down) there’s a discussion on the US market–Look for the bold, Back to the Basics for a starting point.

For the whole article go here:

http://www.safehaven.com/article-12656.htm

Even if you’re bullish on the market overall, it never hurts to read about various viewpoints. Never hurts to consider a few what-ifs.   When this market turns around, there will be plenty of time to get in.  I happen to think we’re quite a ways from the next bull market.  There may be rallies, but that’s a far cry from a bull right now.   As BMHusband says, “Never lose big.”  He’s also quite fond of, “Nothing wrong with sitting in cash and not playing the market.”   Remember, there’s no rule that says you always have to be in (or all in or all out). Every 401k out there has a cash (money market or other) option for investing.  You can move money around within your 401k without “cashing” out–and still be in “Cash in the 401k.”    Don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially now.  The names of mutual funds and cash accounts can be confusing (and fancier than they need to be.)

Nobody cares more about your money than you do.  Trust me on this.

As you all know, I love to garden.  Mainly I grow food.  I found a couple of articles about gardening that are interesting.  The first claims that food grown today is less nutritious than it used to be.  This may be due to planting higher yielding plants and fertilizing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090219/hl_time/08599188014500

I’m not totally organic–I do fertilize.  But I also mulch out the ying-yang and I’m constantly rotating and tilling.

The second article is a neat project that turns front lawns into productive gardens.  I will say that my garden looks *nothing* like the landscaped beauty in the picture.  I am a hodgepodge gardener.  It goes in where it fits.  It gets crowded in there (very crowded).  Things get moved, picked…and not trimmed often enough.  I’ve always resented having to waste water on the front lawn.  It never looks that great anyway–in Texas it is simply too hot to have a lush yard.   In order to have a lawn, the grass has to be more like crabgrass–able to survive heat, droughts and foot traffic.  This is not the lawn of the picture books that you get to roll on.  Roll on a Texas lawn and you’re likely to get bruised–and eaten by fire ants.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1816764,00.html

Does anyone want to hear about my cucumber plants sprouting?  No?  Come on!  You know you want to plant something!

(I was going to post a picture of my blueberry bush.  It’s blooming.  The problem is that it only has blossoms and no leaves.  In the sunshine blue type, the flowers for the fruit show up before the leaves.  This results in pretty flowers on what appears to be a dead bush…)

Everyone loves a good pancake!  My favorite mix is Pioneer Buttermilk Mix–altered slightly to make it tastier and maybe even healthier.  Here’s the recipe I use:

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

3/4 cup Pioneer Buttermilk Biscuit and Baking Mix

1/4 cup ground oatmeal (put regular oatmeal in a food processor and grind to flour)

Mix everything and then make pancakes as usual.  You can use 1/2 cup Pioneer and 1/2 cup oatmeal if you want to get even healthier.  The oats add a touch of old fashioned character.  Serve with real maple syrup.  Yum!

I’m always trolling around checking out new magazines.  Lately, there seem to be a growing number of podcasts.   I’m all for new trends.  Here is a mix of some e-zines and podcasts that I’ve been checking out.  Some of them may interest you, many are free to read/listen to, some are available for a small fee for a PDF file.

E-zine:

Andromeda Spaceways – This isn’t a new magazine by any means–it’s one that I’d classify as oldie, but goodie. :>)  I like it because its focus is on fantasy/sci-fi of the humorous kind!  And you gotta love that title–Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine is the whole title–can’t you just picture it?  A space travel magazine in the pocket of the seat flap in front of you… It’s a fun magazine from Down Under (Australia) available as a PDF download for a small fee or an actual PRINT magazine if you want to hold it in your hands!

Big Pulp – This is new to me and I think pretty new.  The interesting thing about Big Pulp is that they publish all kinds of genre fiction–mystery, horror, fantasy, sci/fi, humor.  It’s a real buffet–something for everyone.  I’ve read a few of the selections and they were well-done.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies -  Check out the artwork on this e-zine.  Wow.  It’s a free read, but stays open via donations.

Podcast:

Well Told Tales – I like the looks of this one–pulp horror, sci-fi and hardboiled.  What a combo!  The website is well-done too–just the right colors and look of pulp.

SFZine.org – Waiting for this one.  Supposed to start podcasting at the end of this month.  It’s pretty much an open book–could be good, could be…smarmy!

Old Favorites:

I still love The Town Drunk – they’ve really done a great job keeping the focus on humor.  I keep trying to talk the editor into taking humor of all kinds (mystery, pithy, every-day) but haven’t convinced them!  It’s still a regular stop for me every month.

Dunesteef.com and Clonepod.org have both continued to put out reliable podcasts–I think both have improved the quality of the recordings also.

Oh–one other tidbit.  It sounds like Realms of Fantasy is trying to stay alive. From what I read, it was profitable, just not profitable enough for the current owners to keep taking a chance.  At the moment, it’s possible that there are one or more buyers interested in taking it over.  That would be good news!

I could tell you that I planted cucumbers and other melons indoors today (and for those wanting tomato updates, see the front page) but I know that it’s really all about Junior. Just ask him! This week, we captured Junior at some of his favorite games–Playing door (there are fence versions of this game that he plays with his mom and other versions he plays with us in which he lies in wait under a footstool or behind a different door) and Junior the explorer climbing trees.

Enjoy!

I know you’re all eagerly awaiting the list of just what type of tomatoes I’ll be growing this year. Well, the plants have all pretty much either sprouted or refused to sprout so here they are:

Roma – A plain variety so that I have a comparison with some of the specialty romas I’ve been trying.

Viva Italia – A specialty roma variety. I want to compare to last year’s olpaka–which was a long-lasting variety. Opalka and Viva Italia are both supposed to have very good taste. I tried to grow both last year, but the Viva’s didn’t viva.

Ultimate Opener This is an early tomato. It’s very large, beautiful shape. The taste is a bit average if you ask me (still, waaaay better than a store-bought tomato), but they come in early and very strong. I do this one for its early tomatoes and also to give away because it produces enough that I generally have extras!

Celebrity – I plant these every year. They rock. They taste awesome, they do okay in the heat and they are disease and bug resistant. They do crack a bit, but they last through summer and have a decent fall season as well. Production is medium of medium to large-sized fruits.

Juliet – Wonderful, large grape tomato. Not as sweet as the smaller variety, but this thing produces out the ying-yang and the fruits keep extremely well.

Wisconsin – This is an indulgence. The plant didn’t produce a lot last year, it wasn’t particularly bug-resistant, it didn’t produce again in the fall…but the tomatoes were early and the taste was awesome! I plan on getting my early tomatoes and then pulling the plant when the heat sets in.

Siberian I grew this one indoors starting in early November, planning on having tomatoes through the winter. Well, there is one on the plant, but it has sat there. Green. This is the only heirloom I grow. The tomatoes are medium-sized, very good taste, especially in the spring and the plant does well overall. Next year I’ll try planting it in October.

As for cucumbers, I always do the bush, eating type. That’s worked out very well. This year I may try a sprite melon in addition to the mini-cantaloupes.

The two blueberry bushes from last year never took off. In fact, they languished and got worse as the weather warmed, never looking better than half-dead. I took one of them back (Thank you, Lowes!) and exchanged it with a new one. The other one still sort of looked alive, but I dug it up and put it in another spot. I replaced that one with a potted one from Walmart. We’ll see how they do. The new ones are high-bush varieties (I really prefer smaller bushes, but what can you do??)

I put one tomato plant outdoors and the rest are ready to go. The weather seems to be holding up. I’ll probably put at least two more outside this weekend. I planted another cucumber inside as well. It’s not the cold, it’s the bugs. When it is this warm I think the nasty worms eat the sprouts before I even see them. Since I’m hoping for at least three cucumber plants this year, I plan on getting them to sprout one way or the other!!!

The lettuce can be picked at any time. There’s two heads ready and more on the way. The snap peas still aren’t producing nearly as much as I expected, but we should have enough to eat another batch next week.

I have been doing some ancestor research for my dad. I don’t mind since I’m interested in that sort of thing. The problem is that dad wants to know things like, “Who was the child kidnapped back in the late 1800s? What was her name and who did she marry?”

Um, census records aren’t really that good with details about kidnappings, murders or who took whose horse. They aren’t even good at hangings for the horse theft. They rarely get the names spelled correctly unless the name is common. The census takers could read and write, but the people giving their names often couldn’t. So how do you spell Gorge anyway? Is it Jorge? Or just George? Or Gorge? I’ve seen all those versions as well as “Glove.”

Then there is the problem of people transcribing what they think the census says. “Cordora. Cordova. Cardora. Cardova.” These are all variations that are likely supposed to be “Cordova.” But I’ve also seen Cardosa guessed as Cordova, yet I knew some Cardosa’s growing up, so I think that one is probably meant to be Cardosa. When you initiate a search, if the name was transcribed other than you know it to be today…you can be out of luck.

Another problem is ages. People weren’t so keen on admitting their age back in the 1800s. Some of us aren’t all that keen on talking about our age today. Thank God the census doesn’t ask for our weight! The census would be full of lies, more lies and skinny people!

Back in the 1800s it was quite possible you didn’t even know your real birth date. You might know the year; you might not. You might know the month, but almost no one tracked the actual day. It wasn’t very important. People often died young. Sometimes the parents died or because of economics, cousins lived with cousins or a kid moved in with an aunt or uncle or grandma. The information about the year they were actually born was easily lost or forgotten.

You can see the problem of age/birthdays reflected in the 10 year gaps in the census. One relative went from 15 to 20 in ten years. Another went from what could be 40 to 35. Hmm. Several were off by a year or two each census. Then as the person gets older, the age starts to remain on track. It’s as though the person finally settled on what year they were born–or what year they were going to declare they were born. I have a great-great grandfather listed in a census as 120 years old. Three years later, his gravestone declares his death year and lists him as…120 years old. Pretty amazing any way you dice that one up.

It’s also amazing to me that there was someone in government somewhere that cared enough to be doing a census in 1850. New Mexico wasn’t even a state at that time. It was a territory comprised of Arizona, most or all of Colorado and present-day New Mexico. How reliable did anyone really think it was going to be to send a guy out on horseback going door to door across vast, difficult to travel land, hoping to find every dwelling? Who thought all these people were going to tell the truth about when they arrived in the territory (if they didn’t track their ages, did they really track when they arrived?)

The early censuses don’t bother to ask too many questions. It’s like a teaser. There’s a partial name. There’s no address, just a township or a county. But don’t count on both. Don’t count on the townships being the same as they are today either.

All in all, it’s an interesting puzzle. But there are a lot of holes that can never be filled in.

I interrupt your regular program to announce that it Rained last night!!! It’s months since it rained. This will provide a great time to plant any seeds because there is nothing like a good rain to get them going. Of course, mine went in the ground two or three days ago. If the rain doesn’t get them up, I’ll be sure and put a few more seeds in the ground tomorrow!!!

Dare I hope that spring is on the way? Shhh. Don’t want to jinx it.

Update: Okay, the day is clearing. It’s warm. It’s going to be a beautiful, sunny afternoon. Do I take the chance and plant one or two of the tomato plants OUTSIDE? It could get cold again. Freezing cold. It usually does, late in the month, just to torture me. There’s a plant or two that is ready….what do you think???

I know, it’s past time for an update on the critters in this family!  They are both doing fine.  Junior still fights diarrhea, but we figure that we’ll eventually get a handle on it.  Luckily he’s spending more time outside now so some of the rather goopy messes do not require anything by us humans.  The best news is that he is happy.  He doesn’t seem to notice that he goes to the litterbox 5 times a day on those days he’s having a problem.  He eats plenty, drinks plenty and plays like a maniac.   Scamp actually comes and waits for him to come out and play.  Oh sure, she still hisses at him and acts like she is boss lady, but they play chase and fence and pounce.   Mostly she pounces on him of course, and it does seem that she is the chaser more often than not.  Junior doesn’t mind.  He likes to climb trees and run about.  He taunts her by sitting inside the house, daring her to come inside.  She’s been in once or twice, but only about a foot or three.

Junior’s favorite game is “fence” or “door” during which he waits on one side and tries to grab hands or feet underneath.  If you’re standing next to a door, don’t be surprised if a paw slides under and grabs at you!!!   He never tires of this game.

Scamp is a little friendlier with us, but really, she’s probably just waiting for Junior.  The play does her good.  She has been putting on a little more weight than necessary now that she doesn’t spend time hunting for food.  Running around the yard will keep her healthy.

Junior is truly a people cat.  He loves to be near us–at our feet, under our chairs, right next to us.   If BMHusband goes to the back room (office) Junior will wait a minute or two, and then go check on him.  He likes to know where we are.   Even when out playing, he periodically comes back inside, just to make sure we’re around.  I wonder if he might outgrow this tendency as he gains confidence in his environment.  Who knows?

We’re glad that he and Scamp seem to be getting along better.  It’s good for both of them.  Scamp spends more time in the yard too, which is safer for her.

All in all, the last two weeks of cats has been easier than the last two months. 

You’ll note that Scamp refused to pose for a picture this morning.  She tends to come early when the light isn’t good.  She was here playing, but not near the house.   It’s also cloudy, so there wasn’t a good opportunity.   Junior wasn’t particularly helpful this morning either.  I wanted him to climb a tree–something he’s been doing a lot lately.  A helpful bird even showed up, but all he did was go into alert mode…he’s also trying to learn to open doors wider so that he can get through.  The problem is that he gets pushing and pulling confused because every door is different.  Mostly he tries to grab the door and hang on.  Weirdly, this usually works as his weight tends to move the door.  Then, when it opens enough, he lets go and scampers along his way.

This week I planted the cucumbers and melons.  Yes, it’s early, but we’re having several days in the 70s.  If the soil is warm enough, that means they will sprout.  I could start the plants inside, but the window is full of tomato plants, at least half of which are large enough to go outside.  I’m waiting until Feb 15 to see what the forecast says.  If the week after the 15th looks warm, I’ll start putting the tomatoes out there.  If another freeze threatens, they’ll get another week inside.   I don’t want to take any chances with them this year because I didn’t do backup plants.  I simply didn’t have the room.

Trina reminded me that it’s also probably time to throw some basil seeds about.  Basil grows readily here, but it freezes very easily.  It also reseeds itself some years so I might actually start seeing some plants come up.  I’ll then just move them to a preferred location for the summer.  We’ll see.  I saw several sprouts during the fall, but they all froze.  If I don’t see any come up with this warm spell, I’ll throw some out there next week.

I’m really starting to look forward to spring!  I have one tomato on the “winter” plant.  Stubbornly, the tomato hasn’t gotten any bigger and neither has the plant.  It’s probably because I transplanted it into a bigger pot and plants always grow roots into the new area before putting on new leaves.  I just know these plants are ready to go out and give me great big tomatoes!!!!  I can’t wait.

Yes, I know this is old news, but I just had to talk about it from a writer’s perspective (and probably bore you all to tears, but there you go.)  Realms was always one of those markets that was on my “someday I’d like to appear here…”   It’s one of those “aspirations.”  It always disturbed me that they never took electronic subs and that they never had an online venue.  Why?  Because I saw the print magazine less and less in stores.  I wondered if maybe they were becoming less popular, less viable.

From what I understand it was more an advertising loss than a subscription loss; it’s damned hard to make it as a magazine in good times.  In these leaner economic times, there’s going to be carnage.

Realms is one of those few magazines that was around a while.  I liked it because it was more geared to fantasy than hard sci/fi or even what I think of as noir fantasy.  That said, while it was a writerly goal, I didn’t read the magazine often.  In fact, I haven’t read it in years.  Why?  Part of it is cost, but part of it is accessibility.  It wasn’t online, and I do almost all my short story reading online these days–there’s plenty of it and the stories are available instantly, often for free.   Baen is a pay-for magazine, but I can still get the issue instantly online.  I tend to read magazines that are accessible and that I am submitting to.  I want to know what they are currently publishing, so I read an issue once or twice a year.

There are still other magazines–Asimov’s, Analog, BlackGate, and Fantasy and Science Fiction.  Of those, I’ve  submitted to Fantasy and Science Fiction and BlackGate.   F&SF is online at Fictionwise.  BlackGate is just now flirting with an online version.  F&SF is a very responsive market for writers. Gordon Van Gelder  is an old-timer, and it shows in his taste of stories.  I think he must be an elf, tinkering away in his office, looking for the old magic in new stories, possibly smoking a pipe (even though I’ve never known an elf to smoke tobacco of any kind.)  His fingers are ink-stained and every room in his house is filled with paper, books and magazines.   He putters about trying to make sure his magazine stays viable.

I haven’t submitted to F&SF in a while, nor have I read recent issues.  Most of the stories I read there were too dark for me.  They tended toward thought-provoking rather than escapist adventure, which is what I like to read and write. In some cases, I’d even classify them as horror, a genre that I don’t like to read much.  I wish that Gordon would find a way to sell the stories individually online–as part of the release of the magazine rather than selling the whole issue on Fictionwise.  I think all magazines should do this–have an online issue for sale and possibly a story or two for sale to try out.  I’d like to see such individual stories categorized (as Baen does a bit–a sci/fi section, a fantasy section, a non-fiction section.)   The more a story is categorized, the more it helps me.  Help me find fantasy, adventure, fun.

BlackGate is definitely adventure and escapist in nature.  I’d submit there except that they have been closed to subs for a long, long time.  I hope that they are able to open subs back up and continue to be viable.  I’m glad to see they are venturing towards online because someday, or at least during hard economic times, it may only be possible to sell the thing online.  Print is wonderful.  I love taking a magazine along with me–but I’d rather see them online than not at all.

Long and short of it, I guess Realms is going to me a missed goal for me.  There will be other magazines, but I suspect that most of them are going to be online versions.   For as hard as it is for writers to see less publications, I bet it isn’t fun sitting at the editor’s desk either.

Last night, I was still a little tired out from my trip.  Okay, a lot tired out.  I wanted something quick and easy for dinner, but that can be hard to come by especially since I wanted comfort food.  I finally settled on grilled chicken with alfredo sauce/pasta.  Not exactly easy, but filling and good food.  Of course, I wanted a salad to go with it.  Since BMHusband had been home the whole week running the show, there was no lettuce to be found in the house.

There was, however, a small head just ready enough in the garden.

Yeah, I spend too much money watering and buying special this and that for the garden.  I replant and have to cover plants in the dead of winter. I lose plants to bugs.  But this was payoff time.  I didn’t have to get in the car to go to the grocery.  I didn’t have to do without the salad.  I walked outside and picked the lettuce.    Caesar Salad–priceless. 

The graveyard was in the middle of a forest, incredibly peaceful.  The dirt road leading to it was in surprisingly good shape.   Any cars/campers using the ten or so mile dirt road crossing from the mountain valley in the Mimbres to the Santa Rita area probably go right past the cemetery without even knowing it is there.  The ponderosa pine and juniper tress watch over the graves, silently dropping needles now and then, adding a layer every year.   The soil is a deep rich black, a combination of the pine needs, bark and minerals.  Most of the graves aren’t marked.  Many of the graves are just an oblong circle of stones in the shape of a coffin with no headstone or marker of any kind.  Many of the graves are very, very old.

We went there because dad had learned that his grandmother was buried there.   Her headstone was combined with two others; likely a son and daughter, the last of which was buried in 1943.  Had she not been buried there, the headstones might not have existed at all–or might have been unreadable.  Whoever had buried her had taken the time to make a new gravestone, a granite carved one like you might see in a modern cemetery. A very old stone, probably for the brother, was still standing on the plot, although his name had also been added to the new stone.  We spent at least a half hour trying to read the original stone–and stone it was, just an oblong rock that someone had erected and carved by hand, perhaps with a nail or other sharp object.  The name was clear, but dates were questionable, as were the attempts to spell, “Fallecio” (Died or passed in Spanish) and “Arbal,” which was probably meant to be the Spanish for April.  His age will always be a mystery as it did not match with possible birth and death dates on that stone or the one that was redone.

We found an old stone much like it at another grave–only it was lying face down, slowly sinking into the ground.  We righted it.  The only carving still legible was a large cross across the top.

Dad’s grandfather from his mom’s side was also buried there. We found the grave and a very good metal marker.  The words were clear, as were the dates.  He was in the army so perhaps there was money to make the proper marker.

The cemetery wasn’t what I’d call unkempt; it was more like it was being kept by mother nature.   Metal gates were rusted, parts were missing.  Stones were ever so slowly eroding, smoothing out.   There were one or two graves with plastic flowers, but the petals were gently dusted, as though mother nature had acknowledged their addition with a light caress.

It was a soothing place.  Quiet.  Time was just out of reach, spinning both backwards and forwards. You could see the names, but from the corner of your eye, there to the right, was a stone where the name was slowly eroding.  Bit by bit, the carving would erase, just like the scattered memories left of the person who had died so many years before.