Thanksgiving Season

So, Fiorella, what have you been up to recently? Aha---acknowledging everyone who has contributed to the rock edging around your long, long driveway. And hey--that timber is five feet long!

Purely Fiorella

Fiorella grabbed a nice handful of servietas at Starbucks as she was heading out of la puerta, y ellas came in handy. El dia was blazing caliente and su automovil had been sitting en el sol por dos horas so her car seat and steering wheel were burning. Thinking fast, Fio stuck a servieta under each pierne and grasped una servieta in each mano before she pulled out of her parking space and headed a su casa.
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Yesterday was up and down. Way up and way down. Fio was ecstatic when Richard at Mazda called to tell her that baby car was all healed and ready to go home early--and that the bill turned out to be $500 less than expected. But her day started going downhill when she stopped by the post office on the way home and left her purse and keys in the car, then locked the door. A nice passerby let her use his cell phone and Fio called Husband, who arrived with Sonia dog in the back seat. About two hours later, the locksmith arrived. And to think, Fiorella thought she would get a lot of writing done because her lista amarilla was so lightweightfor the day.
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Fiorella has discovered a wonderful new rock bed (cama de rocas) behind the chainlink fence separating her back yard from the jungle beyond, and she's already pulled several of them up and tossed them over the fence, where she'll pack them into her little red wagon to tow up to the driveway to reinforce su mura pequena, but that's the only mura she'll ever contribute to

Rocks in Her Head

Fio must have been a rock in a previous life because she LOVES rocks. She's always loved them, ever since she was a child in Ohio and sat on the huge glacier rock on the edge of the backyard. When her family moved to Texas, she explored the driveway for pretty pebbles, which her mother did not appreciate. In college, she delineated a boundary between her side of the desk and her roommate's side of the desk with rocks she and her boyfriend had gathered while out driving in the country. When she and Husband moved to Georgetown, she gathered stones from their long, long country driveway--pretty stones, sparkling stones, weird stones, flint--all of which are stored on the back porch in plastic boxes. Now, of course, she's in her glory building a rock retainer around the drveway, and when that's finished, there's the brick curb around the lawn that needs to be reinforced with rocks.

There is something wrong wth Fiorella, but you knew that all along.

Jeanell Buida Bolton

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Jeanell Buida Bolton
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Fio has always loved rocks, as you can see in this picture of her perched on a glacial rock on the edge of her back yard in Ohio.(It's a glacial rock, if you're interested.) Then, when her family moved to Texas, she explored the driveway for pretty pebbles, which her mother did not appreciate. In college, she delineated a boundary between her side of the desk and her roommate's side of the desk with rocks she and her boyfriend had gathered while out driving in the country. Wh...
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Catch-up Time

Fiorella has tres (three) goals hoy (today): to work on el espanol (the Spanish), el novela (the novel), y el estacionamiento (and the driveway). She'd sorta let it all drop over the holidays and the Trump ascendancy, but last night she started papering the house with etiquetas (labels) to get her espanol going again . And after rereading a Shiloh Walker favorite of hers, she's revved up in regard to her work-in-progress. And, having finally finished the south side of her stacked-rock mura del estacionamiento (wall of the driveway), she's ready to start work on the north side.

And, of course, she'll be on Facebook, following everything that's happening and cheering everyone on. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT.

Eskimo Energy

Fiorella must have Eskimo genes somewhere along the line because she loves cold weather. It was 36 degrees outside yesterday afternoon when she put on her jacket and wound her way through the south woods down to the semi-dry creek to pull rocks (rocas) out from around a tree which she and Husband call, appropriately enough, the rock tree. She loaded the rocks into the garden cart, pulled it several yards uphill, and laid the rocks alongside the driveway (estacionamiento) to prevent washouts. Then she took the cart back down to the creek again and started pulling out more rocks, hurling them up toward the cart for this afternoon's pick up.

Reviewing the day, Fio is thinking (1) that she must have been a laborer in her past life because she LOVES tossing rocks, and (2) that if it were summer, there is no way in the world she could have been dragged out of the house.

Stoned

Fiorella and Husband stopped by the side of the road yesterday and picked up rocks from their dry creek, then deposited them along the north side of the driveway. Your Fio started the--uh--stoning about five years ago, Husband joined her, and Austin Son made a nice contribution. The aim is driveway definition and erosion control, but it's a nice family project too.

Yard at the Crossoads

This is the part of the yard where the two driveways meet and go up to the house. Fiorella thinks it is beautiful.

She went outside and took a lot of photos today, both to make sure she remembered how to transport  them out of her cell phone into her blog and to make memories for when she and Husband ultimately downsize and move on.

THE FIREWOOD ACROSS THE DRIVEWAY

Fiorella put this photo on the blog ALL BY HERSELF!  

It shows the firewood across the driveway that she and Husband are storing up for winter, and it's all from their own land.  Unfortunately, due to the continual drought, there are still a couple more dead trees to go. 

And no, she doesn't know why her blog is centering itself but it probably has something to do with writing above the centered photo.  Next time, she'll write first, then insert the photo.

To Do or Not to DO

Good Angel:
Do not look down, Fiorella.  Do not look down at the driveway as you take your morning stroll.  Do not pick up yet another sparkly rock, Fiorella.  You already have nineteen boxes of them on the back porch, and Husband is complaining that the driveway had been denuded.

Bad Angel:
Cool it, babe! There's always room for another stone or two.  After all, the boxes aren't taking up much room because you have them neatly stacked.  Besides, the rocks are all so pretty--the ones that look like they're covered by white frosting, the ones that sparkle in the morning sunshine, the ones that look like frozen root beer, the ones with stripes of carmine red in them . . . ,

Fiorella:
Go away, Bad Angel!  I will not pick up any more--ooh, look at that one!


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Golden Rain

The south driveway, awash in cedar elm leaves, looks like the road to Oz.  And when Fio and Husband walk Sonia Dog, the leaves shower down upon them like golden rain. Fiorella loves autumn.

And you can bet every bit of it will be in her next book.

Landscape Plans

Has Fiorella told you her plan for the west yard inside the U-shaped driveway?  She wants to clear as many rocks as possible from it, then use them to line the drive. She also wants to clear out the broken branches and debris.  And to trim the low-hanging trees. And to cut down the tall weeds next to the driveway.  Also to use some sort of yard vacuum to take up the fallen leaves.

In short, she wants the area to become a park.  Any volunteers?

Landscaping

It's been hard labor time around Fiorella's household lately.  She and Husband have been traipsing outside in the mornings to collect rocks from the area within their U-shaped driveway and using them to shore up the sides of the drive against washes.  Fio started this project a couple of years ago, Husband joined in, and then Austin son added to it.

Give her a little more time, and Fiorella will shape up the world.

Walking Sonia

The walk started out well.  Fiorella escorted Sonia Dog up the south driveway, requesting that she "sit" at various times as cars went by.  They walked the road and down the north driveway without incident, then began to retrace their steps by going up the south drive again. Fiorella basked in the morning sunshine and the obedience of her sweet dog.

Until, heading down the north driveway again, Sonia caught sight of a deer dumb enough to leap through the cedar thicket.  Doggie, of course, tore after her, her red leash flying behind her.  After cris-crossing the thicket a couple of times, Sonia returned to the driveway, but instead of coming to Mommy, she galloped to the front porch and waited to be let in.

Needless to say, Sonia did NOT get a treat.

Worthiness

Fiorella, as you know by now, is a wienie.  She apologizes to table legs and chair arms when she runs into them.  And she feels guilty about tossing rocks back into the driveway that aren't pretty enough to take back to the house and store in her stack of plastic boxes on the back porch.  Then she worries that the rejects will feel . . . rejected.

And shouldn't common rocks be just as valued as sparkly ones?

Desensitization

Sonia has advanced another step in her dog training.  Yesterday morning a golf cart with a dog attached passed us on the road while we were about four yards down the driveway.  Sonia immediately lunged forward, teeth bared, hackles on high alert.  At the same time Fiorella screamed "No!  Leave it!" at the top of her lungs. And Sonia let Fiorella control her, to pull her back.

Kudos, Sonia.

Rock Hound

In accord with her somewhat childish mentality, Fiorella loves glitter stones, the ones that twinkle at her in the morning sun as she walks up driveway,  In fact, she fills her pockets with them and takes them back to the house to wash off and join her other prizes on a drying towel, then on the window sill behind the sink, then in one of the plastic shoe boxes in which she stores her treasures.

Fio's told you that when she was in the third grade , she stood in a class line-up on the back steps of North Waco Elementary, looked around, decided eight was a good age, and that she would stay there.  And, in many ways, she has.

Ol' Weirdo Fiorella

Fiorella personifies everything.  She even feels pangs of guilt about tossing rocks back into the driveway that just aren't quite pretty enough to add to her collection. She regards old, too-large clothes as long-time friends and cannot bring herself to winnow them from her wardrobe.  She apologizes to table legs for bumping into them.  She eats every kernel of popcorn because so it won't die unappreciated. 

Maybe she hung around her friends from India too long.  Or maybe its just ol' weird Fio.

Getting Personal

Today will be a good day for Fiorella if she doesn't second-guess tomorrow.
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Friend Katie doesn't think anything of it when she swims 100 laps.  Fio considers herself an Olympian if she takes the dog twice around the driveway.
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Fio's still waiting for her surgeon to call her in for post-facelift photos. Could it be that he is not as thrilled with the results of the procedure as she is?
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Oh, Deer!

Grab the Neosporin--Fiorella had an adventure.

She was walking around the driveway, accompanied, as always, by the faithful Sonia. Fio is proud to say that Doggie has become inured to the sounds of riding mowers and neighborhood construction, and even tolerates passing cars and the yammering of next-door dogs.  In fact, Fiorella was promising Sonia a second lap around the driveway when a spotted fawn leaped up beside them and rocketed away.

Sonia was on it in a flash, jerking the leash around Fiorella's wrist so strongly and suddenly that all Fio had time to do as she slammed down into the grass off the driveway was think "uh-oh."  Luckily she fell on her left hip, not the replacement one, but she did have to lie on the ground. breathing hard, for a few minutes before getting up.  Injuries were slight--a few cuts and abrasions and an angry prickling that made her wonder if she'd landed in an ant bed.

Sonia soon came  bounding back, full of the joy of the chase, looked up at Mommy, and smiled.  Mommy did not smile back, and Sonia did not get her second loop around the driveway.

Hip Hooray!

Fiorella, in preparation for the RWA national conference is taking walks around her 190-linear yard driveway not just once a day, but three times a day, and she's doing just fine.  Of course, she'll be stopped at the airport security gate because of the metal in her hip, but that's a small price to pay for being able to walk with ease.  At the New York RWA conference two years ago, she was in constant pain, and three months before the surgery, she couldn't even walk 80 yards up to the mailbox on the road.

Hip replacements work.