Author: Amy

I love words. And animals. Photography and fedoras. Welcome. And stay awhile.
Work In Progress
daily prompt

Work In Progress

Amy29 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.
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I’m writing. I hadn’t done that in many years and I forced myself to purchase a domain to keep at it. But that’s not really a positive change, that’s a revisit of something I enjoy.

I finally got blonde hair again. But that’s not really a positive change. That’s just a superficial renovation of the exterior. 

I’m a work in progress. I try to change aspects of myself that I feel could be different, but I tend to fall back into bad habits: thinking I should’ve made better choices, feeling bad about not making better choices, and, well, trying to get through this thing called life.

I suppose one positive change is realizing that I’m not making positive changes all the time.

Old traumas resurface and old behavior patterns come along with them. I’m not sure I’m ever going to get it right, but I’m going to try.

Have a good day, everyone.

Dandelion
Flowers · Nature · Nature photography · Photography · Rafael Nadal · spring

Dandelion

Amy11 Comments
I couldn’t resist this capture today. I often walk around my front yard with my phone camera ready and waiting.

Dandelions feed the first bees and also the bunnies. I know people consider them weeds, but they’re not. They are food for creatures that are hungry after winter. They are bright, joyful indicators of spring, and I’ve heard you can make delicious wine from the flowers. The greens are very healthy to eat, as they cleanse the liver.

When the dandelion petals turn to fuzz and their seeds can be dispersed easily, this is where most people have a problem with them in their yard, but I’ve always liked to make a wish and blow the seeds wherever they may go. I’m hoping one day my wishes come true.

I’m not the only one.

One must always take advantage of dandelion fuzzies, even if you’re doing your job at the time. Wishes must never be wasted.
It’s almost perfectly round. The imperfection on the top left makes it more interesting. There are a lot of wishes waiting to happen.
Only One?
chick lit · daily prompt · favorite author · fiction · Humor · Jane Austen · Love · prose · Women’s literature · Writing · Zora Neale Hurston

Only One?

Amy26 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What book could you read over and over again?
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It isn’t possible for me to answer this question with just one book, so I’m going to list them all. There may be a few that I have forgotten, but these are the ones I have in my bookcase.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. This is my favorite novel. Ever. It was required reading in American literature class, and I’m so pleased to have been introduced to this amazing wordsmith Ms. Hurston.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

Any and all titles by Bill Bryson.

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club by Jessica Morrison. This is a fantastic novel. I’m not sure if it’s still in print, and I don’t believe the author ever published another novel, which upsets me to this day.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles.

The General’s Mistress by Jo Graham.

The next three novels are a series by author Diana Norman. Sadly, she has passed away and there will be no more novels in the series. The first book is A Catch of Consequence, followed by Taking Liberties, and last but not least is The Sparks Fly Upward. This author also wrote under the pen name Ariana Franklin. I was today years old when I found that out, so I am excited and will try to get my hands on the novels she wrote under that name.

The next one is the first book in the “Undead” series by Mary Janice Davidson. I thought the first book was the best: “Undead and Unwed.”

Next up is author Katie McAllister (a pen name), with Men in Kilts and Improper English being my favorite titles from her.

Jane Austen – the whole catalogue.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

Villette by Charlotte Brontë.

Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence.

Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George.

Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor (this is a particular favorite of mine, though it is rather sordid, especially for the time period in which it was written.)

And the last one is Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner. Just kidding. I despise this book. I had to write a paper on it and I hated every second of it. I don’t particularly like Faulkner nor his writing style, and that’s being polite. Faulkner perfected the run-on sentence, and that’s being polite.

That’s my list. What are some novels that you can’t get enough of and read over and over again? Let me know in the comments!

Claire from Outlander
fantasy · fashion · fiction · French Fashion

Claire from Outlander

Featured Amy35 Comments
Daily writing prompt
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
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From the book and from the TV series. Why? If you have to ask me why, you don’t know Claire.

Claire is smart, stubborn, tough, headstrong and she travels through centuries. She gets to wear Parisian fashion in the 1700s. Shout out to the costume designers and all of the seamstresses that have worked on all of the seasons, and especially Season Two. Your work is amazing, and I want to be you when I grow up.

* weeps in 1700s French fashion*
Still weeping
😭
I’ve dried my tears of admiration so I can truly view this marvelous, dusty blue creation

Ah hem – pardon the fashion geek moment, I just had to indulge.

Back to Claire:

She has two husbands, which, if I’m being honest, is not something that I would want. (She’s not a polygamist, because the husbands are not in the same century, so it’s OK. They do get jealous of one another however, which I find comical.) Anyway, she’s an herbalist and a healer in the 1700s, and she’s a nurse who becomes a surgeon in the 1900s. She’s a tough broad. She gets herself and her husband Jamie into a fair amount of trouble by bringing her 1900s ideals back to the 1700s. An English woman ordering Scottish Highlanders around, cursing at them to the point they become silent and a wee bit frightened? Priceless.

Claire isn’t simply a tough broad, she’s also loving and kind. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind, though, whether it’s words filled with vinegar or words dripping with honey. Claire speaks the language of sarcasm, so sometimes the vinegar and honey is mixed, and we end up with a vinaigrette.

A friend of mine once told me I reminded her of Claire and vice versa. That’s probably one of the best compliments I’ve ever received in my life.

Speaking of my life, I occasionally live it vicariously through Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser, my favorite heroine.

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