Category: Moving

conventions, Magic of the Everyday, Moving, sale

More Sale News! And My First ReaderCon is Approaching!

M.E. Garber

I’m very happy to announce that I’ve sold my fourth story to The Journal Nature’s Futures segment. The contract was signed a few weeks ago, but in the mad rush of moving, I didn’t get to announce my happy dance until now. Trust me, the dance was very happy!

I don’t have a publication date yet, but again, you can be sure I’ll fill you in here once I know more, and I’ll link to the story when it’s published. One of the things I really love about Nature is the “Story Behind the Story” bit that they publish alongside the story itself. I’m sure I’m not alone in liking to read where the inspiration for stories first sparked, and seeing how the story came to life.

This particular story was, like so many of my flash stories, the creation of a Codex Writer’s Group contest called Weekend Warrior. I adore writing with the virtual company of hundreds of other writers, using the same prompts and later seeing all the varied and amazing ways they became unique stories. And I also love hearing about my contest-mates’ sales, too!

With the bank churning through the paperwork it needs to do in order for us to close on our new home, I’m in a “hurry up and wait” mode on the house purchase front. (whew!) This leaves me time to be excited about another opportunity moving to the Boston area has brought me: proximity to ReaderCon, a SFF convention held in Burlington, MA (a suburb of Boston very near to where I’m currently residing). I’ve never been to a ReaderCon before, so I’m really looking forward to meeting all the locals, and seeing some friends from more distant places, too! If you’ll be there, and if you see me, please do say hello!

Magic of the Everyday, Moving, Personal Life

Greetings from BOSTON, MA

M.E. Garber

Yes, we’ve landed in our temporary housing in a Boston suburb, and then threw ourselves into a whirlwind of house-hunting. House-camo is a tricky thing, as so much depends upon the setting–forest or field, suburban or more spread-out still, or perhaps even urban? But a net is absolutely necessary as the very last thing you want to do is fill your precious new home full of holes by using a gun!

Ahem, well. Yes. We hunted and haunted open houses and checked online and omg it was a lot. But we’ve been successful and will, with luck, close on our new home at the end of June. HURRAY! And once the offer was accepted and the wonderful “In Contract” email arrived confirming it, I simply crashed and slept for a full 12 hours. (Yay auto-immune crash, amiright?)

Gem the dog has been a true champ. She took to the new temp housing like a pro, and even the 2-day drive didn’t bother her too much. That second day she jumped into the car, looked around, and the expression on her face said, “Oh, more of this? sigh.” Then she stretched out and went back to sleep. I’m so very proud of her!

Writing has taken a nose-dive, as expected. Between the non-stop house-hunting, long hours walking a dog who suddenly has no backyard, and my own stress tanking my reserves, I’ve had nothing left for writing. That said, I’m looking forward to having my own office again soon, and to starting another wonderful book-length project, as well as diving head-first into some short fiction. It turns out that words are like air, and I can’t seem to go too long without either one!

Photo by Gene Samit on Pexels.com

A small tidbit about our new home area: we’ve been driving around various small towns while house-hunting and one day we wandered into Concord, and “discovered” that Walden Pond of Emerson fame is located there, in our backyard. It’s on our short-list of places to visit (but without the dog, it seems). Then we saw a historic site with a banner out declaring it open, so we stopped in to find the tavern that the country’s revolutionary founders met at while planning their revolt against the English king. The Wright Tavern bar has a deep dip where generations of bartenders stood, perhaps while serving beer (or cider) to Samuel Adams! History practically shivers in the air here. Pretty cool.

Well, time to get back to the “fun” of moving–updating addresses, finding new services, etc etc etc. And let me remind you that, if you’re NOT moving, please appreciate your stable home, and the comfort it offers. And if you are moving, good luck with the adventure!

Magic of the Everyday, Moving, the dog

Moving! Again? Yes, Again.

M.E. Garber

So it seems we’re moving again. Across the country, again. Soon.

Nope, this wasn’t the plan when we arrived here just over a year ago, but to paraphrase (and massacre the original phrase in the process), the first thing that fails is the plan, am I right?

Our house is already sold, by the way. Never even made it to the open market. We got extremely lucky with this, but at the same time, incredibly unlucky, too. See, we’d made a plan: list in mid or late May, husband travels to our new town for work at end of May, the dog and I follow after the house closes, likely in July or so. Except…our house sold last week.

Suddenly, we’re in a rush to get movers, look at houses in the new location, and, oh yeah, find a place to live in the interim that accepts dogs! Eeek. And, yanno…pack?

So I hope you’ll understand that I’ll be falling back into some radio silence here on Ye Olde Blogge for a bit, as all the moving parts get in motion. I’ll be back once things start falling into position and stabilizing again, and I’ll have plenty of wonderful updates and newsy bits and the like at the time. Including, of course, more details of the move and the new location and the dog in the new location, etc, etc.

Until then, I’ll be busy trying to do too many things at once and probably failing halfway at half of them. To tide us all over, here are a few wonderful pics of Gem being wonderful, and enjoying the snot outta her life here in this home (while we still own it!).

Brindle dog lying long in green, green grass on her belly, head tilted to one side and nose in the air, eyes squinted shut in pleasure as she basks in the sun while her back legs make a "sploot."
dark brindle dog lying stretched long on green grass, seen from above and behind, her back legs in perfect "lyre sploot"
brindle dog sleeping curled on a bed, nose tucked tight to legs, looking cozy and comfy

Oh, and as a final bit, for tomorrow: May the Fourth Be With You.

Magic of the Everyday, Moving, Nature, the dog

Springtime, Weather Whiplash

M.E. Garber

Yes, it’s that time of year when you spend one afternoon blissing out in the sunshine, eyes closed as you simply exist and soak up the warmth, and the next you’re wrapped up in a heavy coat that somehow still can’t keep out the chill, which shivers down your spine and into your very soul. The way spring does.

It’s also the time of year when outdoor projects get stranded half-undone as the weather shifts, and the gorgeous magnolia blossoms finally begin bursting open only to be nipped by the cold, and those remaining yellow or brown, unopened. It’s a season of alternating delights and frustrations, isn’t it?

We’ve just come through a patch of delights, and are heading into another short (I hope) bit of frustration. Today the temperature is falling, and falling. And falling more once evening steals across the land, absconding with the little sun that managed to glare through the clouds! Yet I’m hoping for better weather over the weekend, when we get to welcome our first guest to the new home, and Gem gets to discover more people.

Before long, we’ll also be “welcoming” more deer into our yard. The four does who are pregnant are still around. This morning they discovered the pile of honeysuckle that I’d cut and stacked in the backyard, and happily clustered around it, browsing off the convenient leaves. A neighbor informs me that they often give birth in his fenced yard, and that they usually have twins. So four pregnant does means eight fawns…yikes! I’m glad our fencing is coming soon. It certainly won’t keep the adult deer out, but at least it may prevent the youngest fawns from venturing inside, where their Mama Deer would viciously protect them from our dog and from us! (Our vet even warned us about this, as he’s treated many deer-attacked dogs.) Here’s hoping that by the time they can leap the fence, the Mama Deer won’t be quite as likely to attack as to show their fawns how to leap to safety!

Pregnant doe easily leaping a 4 ft fence

I’m waiting until after the fence is in to even begin with the vegetable garden. Due to the particularly heavy clay soil, it’s got to be a series of raised beds, which disappoints me. But I’m no longer up to the task of double-digging in soil as heavy and thickly clay-ey as we now have, if I ever was (this is really heavy soil!). I’m sure the worms will soon find it, especially once we start amending with compost from the compost heaps we’ll also be creating. Yes, you’re right, that’s a lot of gardening, and we haven’t even begun with the “decorative” parts around the house yet (we have nearly none, so we’ll need to do that, too.). It’s going to be a lot of hard, joyful work!

Just now the wind is ramping up to a good dull roar, while Gem is curled up asleep on the chair here in my office, snoring softly. It’s nice. Peaceful and homey. A good time to get on with some writing, before the garden eats my life.

Magic of the Everyday, Moving, Writing

The Cross-Continental Moving Blues

M.E. Garber

Hey, hi! Instead of the Orlando, Florida area, I’m now coming to you from Cleveland, Ohio. Do you remember that huge-imongous snowstorm that swept across the midwest a few days back? The one with polar temps pushing it along? Yeah, that one. It delayed us, too. We sat in our car, packed to the gills with fragile orchids, cleaning fluids the movers wouldn’t move, and a lone betta fish in his multi-layered travel bowls to prevent spillage, and we wondered what travel god we’d pissed off so much.

In the end, we chose to spend another full day in the hotel outside of Savannah, Georgia. It was warm enough–barely–that the bagged and boxed orchids could remain in the tightly packed car under a draped thick frostcloth, I decided. And with nothing else to do, we headed into the old town of Savannah and took a trolley tour in the cool and misty rain.

Honestly it was lovely. After the stress and chaos of the previous weeks, a surprise day with nothing to do and nowhere to go as we found ourselves in a lovely small city was…relaxing and wonderful. Savannah wasn’t crowded, and we hopped off the trolley often to stroll and take in the sights. Highly recommended. The next morning, we were up early and on the road again….

And now we’re here. In an AirBnB awaiting the closing on our soon-to-be-purchased home (fingers crossed for Friday; they’ve messed up the “final” paperwork again). I have my laptop, and also my second monitor. And wifi that seems stable enough (again, fingers crossed that it stays that way). Yesterday I purchased a new connector for the monitor since the move has misplaced that, and today I’m up and running and feeling pretty good, actually. Like maybe I have this move under control, despite it now being completely out of my hands.

It’s an adjustment, moving from 85F to 18F (that was the temp when we arrived, but it went down from there). At least today it’s in the 40’s, and it looks like it’ll rain instead of snow (although the snow that first morning was gorgeous, especially since I was inside sipping hot tea). But I’m already dreaming of putting in a veggie garden, and puttering about in it growing carrots and kale and lettuce and such.

And today, I’m back to writing, and editing writing. It feels good to get back to the thing I love after this time away. To stretch those muscles and feel the sensations snap me back into place until I realize, “Yes, this is what I do, what I love to do. And I can do it!”

It may be awhile before I’m back to regular updates here, but I’ll get there again. I promise. I only hope it doesn’t take too long. Wish me good luck?

book review, Magic of the Everyday, Moving, orchids, Personal Life, publication

Publication Delay, and More

M.E. Garber

The latest issue of Inner Worlds has been delayed due to illness. It should be out no later than December 9th (assuming health has returned). When it arrives, I’ll let you know here, and provide a link to my story appearing within it.

In more fun news, I’m excited to announce that my first-ever paid book review is live, over at NewMyths. It’s on Adrian Tchaikovsky’s book, “City of Last Chances,” and it’s free to read here. In short, it’s a very different kind of book, but once you realize that, it’s a masterwork on shifting POV and the wondrous things a master like Tchaikovsky can accomplish with it. And it’s a lot of fun!

Back to this world: It’s definitely creeping up on the Solstice, Christmas, and then the new year, and Mother Nature seems intent on letting us know it! Even here in central Florida, the temps have been far cooler than normal, for longer than expected. We’ve had to close the windows and turn on the furnace, for crying out loud! And this is usually our super-duper pleasant time of year.

Because of this, all the orchids are crowded inside, hating the dryness of the air and the lack of sunshine and humidity that the inside brings. I keep reminding them that the alternative is outside and dying, but plants don’t really have ears to listen to how much worse it could be. They only let you know how unhappy or happy they are.

Speaking of happy, having the orchids indoors has meant that B nodosa “Little Stars” is now indoors while in full bloom. It’s a night-scented orchid, and wow is it really smelling wonderful every evening! To make matters better, since dividing the plant last year, I now have 2 of them, so it’s double-yummy. 🙂

This is B nodosa “Little Stars” blooming up a storm!
close-up of a single flower

And in more news, I can share now that we are moving! (Yes, again. It’s a common occurrence around here, lol) The spousal-unit has gotten a new job, which he’s already working. Due to several factors (including the holidays, and visitors), we’re not going to list our current home for sale until after the new year. And that pretty much guarantees that we won’t actually have a moving van delivering our things to another house until sometime closer to spring. Which is good, really good, because we’re moving to… Cleveland, Ohio!

Yes, again!

Photo by Artem Podrez on Pexels.com

There are reasons to be happy for the move, and reasons to be sad, too. I’ll probably delve into those a bit more later, but for now let me simply say that there is no use trying to hold back the tide that is time. Therefore, I’m embracing “what is” and what is coming, appreciating each for as long as I’m given.

And now, I’m returning you (and myself) to our regularly-scheduled pre-holiday madness! Before I go, let me gently remind you to take a moment to breathe, and to sip a cup of your favorite warming beverage (for me, tea!).

Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com
Magic of the Everyday, Moving, Personal Life, Writing

Whew!

M.E. Garber

Well, the transition is over. We are moved out of our previous home, and all our things–both those we stashed in a Pod for showing, and the stuff from the mover’s truck–are in our new house, albeit much still in boxes stacked haphazardly in various spaces. We’re updating the lighting and fans and such things even as we attempt to unpack and put things away, which means everything is going more slowly than we’d like. But it’s going, it’s getting done, and everything we’re updating is delighting us that much more.

And of course, let’s not forget that we have to find various types of doctors, a vet, a chiropractor (sooner rather than later after that Pod!), the good stores to shop at, banks, and two types of pharmacy, and also explore parks and dog parks, cook, clean, cut grass, figure out trash days–basically, live a normal life. Or, well, whatever passes for “normal” in this house, at least.

The Pod got delivered yesterday, and though my back is aching today, the whole thing is cleaned out, ready to be picked up again and carried away. Dasher the dog is in dog-heaven, because he just got a delivery of all the toys that went away before the showing. He’s been carrying around his lemon-head toy, leapt into the pool yesterday again and again for his favorite old frisbee, and fell asleep last night still holding his long squeaky snake toy, which he’d been dragging around like a true prize. All is well on the canine front!

And on the orchid front, as well. My oh my, who knew that just a wee bit south, the orchids just don’t need me to do anything–other than not thoroughly abuse them–in order to flourish. They are thriving on this new location, growing like literal weeds and looking lush and gorgeous. A few are newly in spike, and one that was spiking as we moved (and oh, didn’t that make me nervous, moving that big, spiked orchid; I was so afraid I’d break off that flower spike!) is about ready to burst open. I promise I’ll post pics soon, although they might hit Twitter first.

My new office is wonderful, and after the bedroom where we sleep, it was the first room set up. My novel is up on the wall, 3×5 cards showing the scenes left to write. And I’ve been writing here. It’s a perfect space, and I love it. Let’s hope my writing loves it, too!

And with that, I gotta run. More writing to be written, more packed things to unpack, and  yes, a vet appointment for Dasher to meet his new doctors.

Happy Summer!

Moving, Nature, Personal Life, the dog

Moving Blues

M.E. Garber

Oh my word! The stresses of trying to make your house look like a hotel where no one permanently lives, kept clean by an entire staff, while you actually live there and have no staff but yourself.  While also trying to manage a dog with seizures who is undergoing yet another medical procedure. And, oh yeah–write a book!

As you might have guessed, we’re moving. Again.

Southward, once more. To the Orlando area. I’m excited about some new opportunities, but I’ll be very sad to see the end of many things I’ve loved here. Not only the yard that I’ve transformed into a veritable paradise (to me, at least), filled with fruit and scent and bloom, but the neighbors we have here, and the places we’ve come to love, our beloved solar panels, and the wildlife in this area, too.

Just last evening, we discovered that the owlet on the esplanade is actually one of a pair of owlets! We heard, then saw, them both, cree-ing piteously as dusk settled in under the laurel and live oaks, bobbing their heads and craning their necks as they flapped vigorously, strengthening those wings for the glories of future flights. And the hummingbirds are returning in force to the feeders here, and starting to battle for the feeder territory.

We’re in contract on both ends–selling this home, and buying the new one. But oh my word! (yes, I’m repeating myself. but it deserves repetition; these last few days have been stressful!) Realtors, and unrealistic clauses, and inspections, and deadlines, and so very many phone calls, texts, emails, and voice-messages! It’s like a horror novel that never really took off, but merely devolved into a more ridiculous angsty dread with every passing moment, and no real plot to speak of because things move at both a snail’s pace and with ever-increasing speed at the same time.

All this is to say: well, don’t expect to see much of me around these parts until after June begins. At that time, I’ll be coming to you–with any luck and with the appropriate sacrifices to the various gods of moving, whomever they may be–from the Orlando area. Ensconced in a new office. And with a dog fully recovered from his latest batch of medical stuff.

Wish me luck!