If you find fantasy books the next best thing to horses, this series may gallop away with your imagination as you follow the adventures of Rog, the Horse Stalker. Track Rog as he seeks the great spotted stallion in The Root of Glory, the first of Robert Digitale’s rousing new series. Find a sample chapter here: http://www.horsestalker.com/horsestalker/home.html
Here I am on Gracie on our first ride together. This is why I've been breaking all the "good blogging" rules and not posting on thecomputer. We've been playing hooky from the electronics life. Sorry, Facebook& blogging. You'll have to wait.
For Father’s Day I’m going to tell you a bit about Kevin.
Kevin, a long time firefighter and now a fire marshal, has been interested in and working with windmills for about fourteen years now. Never one to sit around on the couch and watch T.V., he’s always had to have something to do on his days off. Not only that, he has to know how and why things work. After he built our home on our small ranch, he then said, “Now I’ve got to have a windmill to make this place complete.” After the first
went up, a Dempster, he started coming across more windmills and parts, and towers,
and yet more parts.
Before we knew it, the number of windmills around the home spread started to compete with the number of horses we owned. I gave him an ultimatum, “The number of windmills can’t exceed the number of horses.” He looked at me funny as I continued, “And I don’t intend to support any more horses.” At the time, we had five horses and were working on six, with a mare due to foal. Well, I lost out on that. The number of windmills far exceeds the horses. We’re down to just two horses now, as the old girls passed on to greener pastures.
One thing about windmills, he tends to find them new green pastures, as he expanded into selling them to other admirers of this bit of Americana. Some have been pressed into service pumping water as they did and still do on many farms and ranches. Other people have wanted them for aerating ponds, and still others just want them up spinning on their property so they can look at them. Others have found them useful for signboards, in areas where signs are not allowed, by having the tails custom painted with their ranch names or logos.
He has since donated a complete windmill and tower to the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA. where he trained the interns on how to install a windmill. With this donation, he hoped to inform many people that alternative, free methods of pumping water still exist, as it has for well over 100 years. He has worked with several different brands of windmills including Flint & Walling, Dempster and Aermotor, just to name a few. He’s still looking for just the right parts for his special baby, a rare Gem windmill. He also donates a week of his vacation time each year, to go help restore and maintain antique windmills at the Shattuck Windmill Museum in Oklahoma.
What else can I say? He’s one busy guy and a good Dad to boot. Both of our kids make us proud. Our daughter has graduated with her Masters Degree in Speech Pathology and is now a full time speech teacher for a school district. Our son is studying Accounting and Business Management fulltime in college. And, they’re certainly not afraid to bring their friends home to look at the windmills.
I’m in love again. And, yes, Kevin is partly responsible for this new love. Here she is:
Meet Lynnie, (or maybe Gracie)
Over the last six weeks I’d been looking for a second horse to ride. Annette and Sandy were traveling around with me while we looked at horses in Northern California. (Sandy is still in the market for a new horse.) My goals were to find a solid, well broke, very dependable 2nd horse–not too old, nor too young– that my sister Melissa, or friend Annette could come ride with me. Or maybe Suzanne, Linda or Sue would ride. I’m tired of riding Willa alone. There’s only so much conversation Willa and I can carry on without boring each other.
So what did I end up with? A two year old grulla AQHA filly who’s had 30 days of riding. Whoa! How far off my goals could I get? Here’s a photo that helped me decide on Lynnie/Gracie:
Okay, it’s time to admit I’ve been stalled in my writing. I wouldn’t call it a writer’s block, because I can manage to write for the Redwood Writers newsletter, news articles, on other people’s blogs, FaceBook, Twitter, etc. It’s my own stories that I’m stalled on.
Willa and I have both been “stalled”, as the term goes. Although, remember she’s the horse who hates being in the barn, so she’s free to roam the pasture. I received news from the veterinarian this week that Willa essentially needs to be retired from her present job of being my trail riding partner. The bummer thing is, she’s only nine years old. (Unfortunately, she was born with bad legs.)
Going out to ride has most often been the spiritual lift I need to get my inner self back on the positive trail of life. I’ve been doing some soul-searching lately while waiting for the spring weather to clear.
I love to read too, besides writing and riding. When I’m in this kind of a stalled mood with my personal spirit, I can’t read the thriller, mysteries, or other intense books. I need comedy, self help and fun reads. So I experienced my first vicarious thrill of downloading a book that I wanted to read RIGHT NOW. I downloaded The Diva Doctrine by Patricia V. Davis, and started reading it immediately. It’s going to be my kick-in-the-pants, fun look at myself that will help me get back to working on my stories, even if I can’t get back in my saddle right now.
I’ll give you a report when I’m done. Happy trails and tales.
Hope you enjoy this photo of Kathy and Willa in the pasture.
Arletta and I posed at the back of the Grist Mill building where Jack London wrote in his upstairs office. It is said this building has a ghost. If it does, I like to think it is Jack London's ghost working on another story!
Our Tuesday morning writers critique group met on April 26th at the Grist Mill building in Glen Ellen, California. There
we had our weekly meeting out on the deck of the grist mill with the office of
the famous American author Jack London looming over our shoulders. It is said the building now has a ghost. Does it? If it does, I like to think it is Jack London working away on another story in his beloved Glen Ellen.
Memories of Jack London, author of such notable novels as Call of The Wild, a top rated Y.A. story in its time, and White Fang, abound when one visits the area around Glen Ellen. A California State Park is established there in Jack London’s name, with land from his original Beauty Ranch included in the park. Hiking and horseback riding trails wend through the spectacular settings on the slopes of Sonoma Mtn. I have enjoyed riding my horse on those trails a number of times and viewed ponds and Beauty Ranch projects designed to benefit the ranch and the land. London was an environmental steward of his land–perhaps ahead of his time.
In the town of Glen Ellen is a group of buildings known as Jack London Village. There the original grist mill building still features the water wheel which powered the mill. London maintained a writing office upstairs with views of the two creeks next to the grist mill. This was his office away from his home.
Our Tuesday morning writers group met and had lunch at Jack London's Grist Mill building where he maintained his writing office upstairs. Maybe some of his great writing will rub off on us! (L-R.:) Shane McGarrett, Arletta Dawdy, Kent Sorensen, Sharon Hamilton, Ron Davys and Robin Moore.
It is heartening to know that writers and others may dine and enjoy the peaceful setting next to the creeks, along which the grist mill operated. While we dined on the deck of the Grist Mill, next door is the well known Yeti Restaurant owned and operated by Narayan Somname and his family. They serve delicious Indian and Nepalese food. That was a first for me to enjoy their tasty Nepalese lunch. In mid May they will open the Grist Mill Bar and Grill next door offering American and international dishes. The timber framed opening around the fireplace in the grist mill building makes one think back to the times of Jack London when he was writing upstairs.
Doesn’t it pique your interest to know that Jack London penned some of his famous stories overlooking that wooden wheel which was turned by the force of water to power the grist mill? I know it teases my writing muse.
Here we are in the upstairs office where Jack London did his writing at the Grist Mill in Glen Ellen, CA.
We were treated to views from the upstairs office where Jack London wrote when at Glen Ellen. That room will soon become a banquet room with seating for up to 20-25 people. While we enjoyed seeing the lofty space, the beamed ceilings and the picture windows overlooking the creek I wondered–What might he have written about our Tuesday morning gatherings? I know that Sharon, Kent, Shane, Arletta and Ron are among some of my treasured friends and writing advisors, along with Sandy and Jeanne from the Tuesday afternoon writing group. They are such a help to me!
Enjoying the deck at the Grist Mill in Glen Ellen. L-R: Ron, Shane, Arletta, restaurant owner Narayan Somname, Sharon, Robin and Kent.
Jack London was one of the founders of the California Writers Club over 100 years ago which was established to benefit writers and poets. Along with London were other CWC founding members, including the writers and poets George Sterling, John Muir, Joaquin Miller, and the first California poet laureate, Ina Coolbrith. From their earliest meetings as the California Press Club they set up the foundation of the California Writers Club, a thriving non-profit organization for writers and poets today.
Thank you author Kent Sorensen for introducing us to this inspirational setting and these two restaurants. I look forward to our Tuesday writing groups meeting again in the shadows of Jack London’s office there in Glen Ellen. Perhaps next time we’ll enjoy delicious American food served by Narayan and his family when they open the Grist Mill Bar and Grill. Might it be London’s shadow or his ghost observing as we help each other with our writing?
Robin of Rockridge's Blog 