Gardening and The Help

Just in time to start my garden, tornadoes blew through rather close and brought winter weather the next day.  So I didn't start my garden, but I did convince my husband to go out and buy the few things I needed - mostly more dirt.  I'm a lazy efficient gardener and have raised beds.  Building the beds was hard work - but maintaining them is really easy.  I just add a bag of Miracle Grow organic garden soil made for vegetable gardening on top of the soil from last year.  So far, it's worked really well, and I haven't had to do any other fertilizing. 

Instead of writing children's stories this weekend or working on my WIP, I read The Help.  I couldn't put it down.  I love the way the author uses multiple points of view and does it in a way that doesn't make you work hard as a reader.

I've had a hard time deciding on the genre for the stories I've written so far.  It seems that what I'm writing is Women's Literature, but not Chick Lit.  Once I wrote that scene about a woman giving birth, I accepted the fact I had just kicked the male readers to the side. 

Women's Literature and Chick Lit genres don't seem to be very tightly defined - I like black and white, clear definitions.  I haven't found a clear definition of these genres, but it seems like Chick Lit is more superficial than women's literature, or maybe simply has the purpose to entertain, to be a fast and enjoyable read with a theme relevant to women.  From what I've read, Chick Lit is the equivalent of buying fun, costume jewelry instead of the pricey stuff.  The purpose of Women's Literature is to make a point (a point relevant to women) while entertaining.  Does that sound right?  It seems to be very subjective.

So I'm making my way through a list of high-quality Women's Literature.  Personally, I think The Help is damned entertaining and would be enjoyable for men too.  I bow down to Kathryn Stockett - she definitely did it well.

I Want a Snow Day!

I generally don't like snow.  I have asthma, so extremely cold air rushing into my lungs is the worst feeling I can imagine...well, drowning or being caught on fire would definitely be worse, kidney stones, broken bones, lots of other maladies are worse for sure, but being rendered unable to breathe by a rush of cold air is not pleasant. 

When it snows, I stay inside as much as possible.  I look out the window and admire how pretty it is, but I don't usually venture out. 

This is the aftermath of a really lame ice storm we had a week ago. 
Can you even tell there's ice on the branches? 
The blue sky is an anomaly for sure.

It's the end of January.  Almost February.  And it's raining again.  We've had nearly constant cold but not quite freezing rain every day this week.  This is definitely worse than snow.

We had one moment earlier in the month when snowflakes the size of cotton balls fell from the sky for an hour and melted as quickly. 

I hate snow, but I'm disappointed.  I count on at least one snow day in January, a morning where my kids and I scream, "Yay!!" and have a day-long pajama party. 

Rain, Rain

We cancelled our beach vacation because my back is hurting too much for a long drive.  We decided to make the most of it and do things around here. 

But it's raining.  More rain.  How much more can it rain?

I began planting my vegetable garden in early April just before the rain started.  It's been raining since with only a handful of days I can remember that were rain-free.  I have watered my garden only three times.  It's been raining that much.

Luckily, the drainage in my raised veggie gardens is apparently perfection.  The new roof is holding up just fine.   And the basement is dry.  But the world outside my window is very soggy. 

And I can't stand a car ride long enough to drive away from it. 

It may be a week of going to movie theatres and indoor museums while the rain carries on.