My Outdoor Oasis

Where did this week go? It really feels like Monday was yesterday. I didn't get any writing done, but it was still a very productive week. For one thing, I made a four-minute movie. That involved editing the video footage, editing a separate audio track and then synchronizing the two; adding some sound effects; adding a few minor visual effects; and creating a background music track. All while learning two software applications.

Meanwhile, I also did some PR work for FenCon and seem to have secured a spot in the newspaper's weekend Guide for the relevant weekend. Then there was choir stuff, including a lesson plan for the kindergarten choir and learning my part for a quintet. Yesterday, errands and flu vaccine. No wonder the week went quickly.

Next week will be even more insane. It starts tomorrow with the final FenCon meeting and some of the technical set-up. I'm singing at two church services Sunday, as well as leading the preschool/kindergarten Sunday school music time. I have baking to do for the convention, more set-up, and then the convention itself starting Friday.

Today I may try to do a little fine-tuning on the video so I can show it to the committee tomorrow, then I want to rewrite a scene in the book I've been neglecting. It will be a knitting and television evening before an early(ish) bedtime so I won't be crabby for Saturday's meeting. I'm kind of allergic to meetings to begin with, and if I'm tired or hungry, there's a high risk of homicide.

In the meantime, to soothe us all, some garden-type photos. I often talk about my patio, so here's a picture. I need to trim the Evil Alien Vine that is making inroads on the patio, and one of my plans is to get better chairs that aren't badly stained (at this point, I've given up on keeping them clean enough to sit in and just throw a beach towel over them). It's my own little outdoor oasis.

The vine on the trellis behind the table is this summer's gardening triumph, my moonflower vine, grown from seeds. This photo was taken at a different time because it blooms at night. I caught this just as the blossoms were starting to open.

And here's a more fully open blossom. They smell lovely. I hope to have a window of opportunity when it's still blooming but after it's not too hot to sit out on the patio in the evenings when the vine is blooming.