#311 - Feedback Received

I can’t say I slept well last night.

I was awake until at least 5AM. But, also, kiddo #1, who is sleep on the floor directly above us claimed she couldn’t sleep last night as well because I was snoring too loud.

These two data points don’t line up, but I know for sure I was awake until the wee hours of the morning. I even checked my phone to see the time.

The only reason I can think that I couldn’t sleep is because of that big seafood meal we had after the late lunch tacos. As such, I stayed in bed to about eleven thirty listening to the sounds of the lake and a pair of loons calling to each other.

Robyn was up first, and when I joined her in the kitchen, she had already fried up a package of bacon, crisped up a croissant, and fried an egg for herself. I followed suit, but fried up a potato scone two fried eggs, and then made a sandwich with one of the eggs and the bacon. I added some shredded cheese and leftover guacamole to elevate the sandwich.

I washed it down with two glasses of orange juice and then later had an instant French vanilla sweet and creamy coffee.

Not a bad way to start off a Wednesday!

I received my feedback from my mentor about the latest story assignment, and the reviews were mostly great! I have a bad habit of not describing other characters well enough when we first encounter them. Some of this is due to my desire to keep the story going and the other is because of the deadline I pit myself under.

But she marked up my manuscript to show me what she meant, and I’ll do a deeper dive on that tomorrow. The best thing was that I got the setting down in an early period of my town. That was the real goal. The test to see if I could do that. What I am learning is that I know how to do most of this, but the feeling of needing to move on or the ticking clock of the deadline is making me miss these important moments in the story.

I know fatigue has played a large role in missing story elements as well. But these are all things that can be remedied with a little diligence and consistency on my part.

I’m excited to write the next assignment, which is a contemporary fantasy story once again set in my hometown. I am learning so much about the place I live these past weeks!

After breakfast I sat in the screened-n porch area and slowly sipped my coffee. There was nothing that needed to be rushed today. Everything for me was going to be calm and relaxed. I’ll get enough of that when I return to work on Monday.

We headed down to the dock and soaked in the cool water for a while. The sun was out and there was a nice gentle breeze blowing across the lake. It was a perfect day and we enjoyed being out on the water.

Afterwards, we headed up the path to the table, chairs and umbrella and hung out there. Robyn and I read our novels. The Sand Pebbles still holds up after all these years. Some of the language is a bit colourful and the way some of the American crew sees and treats the Chinese would defiantly be considered racist today. But it is likely a true representation of how people thought during the nineteen twenties, racism and all. The narraticve and the characters are all great and well carved out. The author, McKenna, has really made me feel like I was in the engine room with all the heat, steam, coal, oil and dirt. He even describes the character making boiler room coffee and now I want to taste it.

I imagine in real life it wouldn’t be that great. He describes how the characters would add salt to it so they could replenish some of the electrolytes they lost sweating in the heat all day.

While we were reading, Kiddo#2 gave Kiddo #1 a hair cut on the picnic table a few feet away. They had their music playing softly and the whole seen was heartwarming to see.

The owner of the cottage, Bill, came over to give us a one litre bottle of their own maple syrup that they make here on site. Really, it’s his wife’s company, but she’s been hospitalized recently at the age of 91. Bill will be 95 next year and he is still working around the property, albeit a little slower than last year. But by the sounds of it, they had a tough year.

The joy of receiving the maple syrup, (we thought we wouldn’t get one this year due to all their health issues), was soon replaced by grief when he came over to tell us that Anne had passed the other night after not eating or drinking for four days as the care facility. Her battle with Alzheimer’s was over.

She was a very sweet lady and was always so kind and generous to us. She always made a point of seeing us, even when her mobility was lessened, she would have Bill bring us over to their home a few hundred yards away.

Bill seemed to be taking it in stride, he has family here to help him through it all, but we both agreed that the grief hasn’t hit him yet

Anne Beattie will be missed by a great many I suspect.

Not long after, my friend John sent me his new song’s rough cut titled the Sands. Short for the sands of time it is a reflection on his life’s journey and learning what is important to him now versus when he was a young man. It seemed like an appropriate song to receive today given recent events.

The song was an acoustic track with multiple voice dubs to add some punch to where it was needed. I am looking forward to seeing how he finishes the song. It could be done just the way it is to be honest, but I know he likes to add in a nice guitar solo whenever possible. *Grin

Robyn and kiddo #2 left so the kiddo could get some driving experience and to pick up some flowers for Anne. Kiddo #1 and I stayed behind. I read my book, The Sand Pebbles, and the kiddo gave lying in the hammock a try. I am pretty sure she passed out right away.

After the other two returned, I took a forty-five-minute nap and then changed into a swimsuit. It was time to take the kayak on a longer tour of the lake. It was coming up on 5 pm and the sun was starting to dip. Even still, the sun felt hot on my face and neck. A strong breeze came from the direction I was heading in, making the paddling a little more taxing. The pumping of my arms felt good and I wanted there to be a little burning sensation in the muscles. I sure needed the exercise. I paddled to the point I reached yesterday and then cut across the lake to the other side, focusing on a large, exposed cliff as my guide.

The winds and waves increased as I got to the center of the lake, and my arms were really starting to feel the burn. Eventually, I made it across and turned left to make a loop back to our cottage. There was no shade on the other side of the lake, so it was tough going.

On the final stretch home, I really dig in with the paddle and tried to get lots of bow wake from my efforts. It felt good to be physical, but I was overheated by the time I reached our dock. Luckily, my skills at dismounting are still poor and I flipped myself ass first into the cold lake shallows.

My dismount wasn’t very elegant, but it was very refreshing and just what the doctor ordered after a vigorous kayak.

It seemed like a good time to grab a shower. Everyone in the cottage appeared to be occupied with other things.

I got changed into dry clothes and smelled something lovely being cooked in the kitchen. Robyn was baking some tandoori chicken in the oven. We all gathered around the table and ate as a family. That’s one of the other great things about being at the cottage. It’s almost always family time. And I think sharing a meal together is important. Important to families and important to human beings in general.

And it was a fun dinner, sharing jokes and bantering back and forth about this and that.

After dinner, we got a text from our friend Laura, who also works in the animation industry. She messaged us to say that she had been called in for an interview at a studio just around the corner from where we work. And since she has been off for awhile like so many others in our industry, it was great to hear she was getting some traction.

I grabbed something sweet to eat for dessert, a KitKat cookie from the local grocery store, as I have mentioned before, I like something sweet after eating spicy Indian food. And chocolate is always the best sweet thing to tame that beast.

I watched an episode of Star City, while Robyn read her book. My eyes were too tired to read anymore of the tiny script om my novel.

Later, when Robyn was done reading and I was about halfway through my Star City episode, we put on two episodes of Window’s Bay. Each episode got a little crazier than the last. It was fun and entertaining, but I didn’t enjoy the flashback episode to the island’s origins as much as the present-day story. The silliness didn’t translate as well to the historical setting. But still it was a fun episode.

I heard a Sting song in the record store while we were in town a day or two ago and I really liked it. I can’t seem to find what album its from, so I have been listening to iTunes previews to see if I could find it.

No luck so far.

Maybe I’ll listen to all Sting songs on Spotify when we get home on Robyn’s account through the downstairs TV.

It’s getting on to eleven thirty and I am hoping to get up earlier tomorrow and have a nice long day at the cottage, filled with all the things I enjoy. I will likely have to make some crepes for everyone for breakfast as kiddo #2 as asked when we are having them.

That’s all for now.

Until tomorrow.