Cottage visit

Above: I took this photo early Saturday morning.

Jeff and I just got back from a two-week stay at the cottage. This past week, we spent time with my sister and her family, who were renting a cottage a short boat ride away from ours. Lots of swimming, fishing, sailing, marshmallow-roasting, canoeing and exploring. I was amazed at the change in overall temperature...last week, it was sweltering and over 30 degrees Celsius at eight in the morning. This past weekend, we had to change our plans for a canoe trip because the temperatures plummeted to just above freezing at night; some of us only had summer sleeping bags and warm weather clothing. We went for an 11 hour day trip instead, paddling across several lakes to our campsite, hanging out for several hours, then heading back again.

Here are a few pics...

One of my nieces carries some gear on a day trip:



My brother-in-law Kaarel with a canoe on a portage:



My sister sitting in the canoe in front of me (Kaarel sat behind), with Jeff and my nieces paddling another canoe to the right:



Photos of Jeff and me, by my 9-year-old niece:





I'm off to unpack and wash a huge pile of clothes, sort through e-mail and snailmail, catch up on work, and once again appreciate the luxuries of high-speed access and flush toilets.

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Will Write For Chocolate updated

(updated 4:58 pm with berry plant identification at bottom...thanks, R.A.!)

Happy birthday to my mom-in-law Ginny today!

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Column topic: "Follow-up: Writing Spaces."

Still working on a dial-up connection. This severely limits my Web browsing capabilities, particularly since Jeff and I often need to share bandwidth. Every time I chafe at the glacial download rate, I remind myself of when all we HAD was a dial-up connection, back in "the caveman days," as one of my nieces says :-D. I remember how THRILLED I was to pick up our 300 baud Hayes Smartmodem years ago. Then again, I also remember how thrilled I was the first time I saw Pong.

Geez, I feel old. :-)

Thanks to Jenn and Scott for pointing me to What's That Bug, in response to my spider question yesterday. Looks like a great site!

Thanks also to R.A. for identifying the berry plant as a Clintonia Borealis, or Blue Bead Lily, whose fruit is mildly poisonous to humans.

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Nature questions

To you spider experts out there... In the photo to the right, is the spherical bit beneath the spider PART of the spider, or (what we suspect) an egg sac? I've also included a photo of the spider from above, if that helps.

I've never really minded spiders, even the big ones, though I'm still not crazy about the idea of them crawling on me or sharing my bedspace. They're such fascinating creatures, and there are so many different types at the cottage.



And here's a photo and a question for you botanists:



We found the berry plants above mixed in with regular blueberry plants in northern Ontario. There are always exactly three of the berries, larger than regular blueberries, on each stalk. You can see the shape of the leaf in the background. Anyone out there know what kind they are? And if they're edible/poisonous?

Thanks in advance for any information. :-)

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Writing, illustrating, music and creative procrastination

Happy birthday to Andrea today!

The photos above and below were taken at the cottage yesterday morning, when I woke up before the morning mist had burned off the lake:



A massive thunderstorm earlier in the week knocked out the power for about a day and a half. The upside was that it also seemed to clear up much of the oppressive humidity. I spent much of the past week in the lake at the cottage, going swimming at least 2-3 times a day (once in the rain). Whenever the tendons in my arms tired, I'd turn over and float on my back for a few minutes, watching the clouds drift by.

I came back to find two cheques waiting for me (one for a writing job, the other for illustration). Cheques are good. Also received a Paypal payment for an illustration job yesterday, yay!

One of the cheques accompanied an issue of The Country Connection magazine containing an article I wrote a couple of years ago. My article was postponed an issue or two, then the magazine skipped an issue; I'd actually half-forgotten this piece was still waiting for publication until the editor called a couple weeks ago (before our phones went out) to confirm that I was still living at the same address. Hurray for astute editors!



Thanks for the feedback for the webzine question I posted in Livejournal a week or so ago in prep for my Writer's Digest article as well as in e-mail to specific people. I've finished a very rough draft of another novel (banged out in two weeks), but am going to let it "settle" while I work on another novel; I'm about two-thirds of the way through the first draft.



Finished an illustration job yesterday and got another one within a few hours. Remarkable timing, that. So far each of these jobs has been fun to work on; I've been pretty lucky. This latest involves designing a new header for a multi-author writers' blog that I was already enjoying reading.

I was also asked last week for the URL of my online illustration portfolio. Unfortunately I don't have an official online illustration portfolio yet, just my rather jumbled Flickr Sketchbook. Once we get regular high-speed access back, I have vowed that I am going to put one online that includes samples like the one to the left (recently completed for a client). I've been procrastinating for three reasons:

1. I've been getting enough illustration work without an online portfolio. In a way, Blatherings and Inkygirl already showcase my work. On the other hand, it would be handy to have one place which highlights my favourite pieces as well as work for past clients.

2. Putting together an online illustration portfolio forces me to also put together a proper freelance writing portfolio as well and therefore involves a greater investment of time, something I'm lacking these days.

3. I haven't decided where to put it. The logical place for a writing/illustration portfolio would be debbieohi.com, but I already have a comic strip there. I've been thinking about going ahead with this anyway, and having a link to the strip instead.

Hey, I'm up to Lesson 4 of my Garageband tutorial book! I've learned how to do multipass recording as well as add music to a video, record using software instruments, and do basic edits to a multi-track recording. I've also invested in the newest version of Finale since I'd like to do a music theory book as well as put together a second Urban Tapestry songbook. So now I'm happily poring over the user manuals and going through tutorials and exercises. I'm such a user manual addict....






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Snakes, phone woes, and Will Write For Chocolate

Above: A garter snake lounging near the deck this morning.

Jeff and I are having home phone problems these days, and it looks like the problem won't be able to be fixed for a couple of weeks. If you need to reach us, please use e-mail or (if urgent) Jeff's cellphone.

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated! Topic of this week's column: writing spaces. As in ideal writing conditions rather than how to inscribe blanks in text. Do you have any particular writing space quirks? Do you have a favourite chair? Music or no music? If music, any type preference? Do you prefer a private quiet space, or people all around? Please post your replies here.

I have limited online access right now with a dial-up connection, so please don't send me any big files right now, thanks.

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