Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
In addition, now and again I will provide some of my fiction to read, for free, on this newsletter. Everything is available to anyone who subscribes, but I am always pleased when someone shows their appreciation for the newsletter by upgrading to paid.
Daily Diary, Day 1494:
I got 1001 words written yesterday, but I have so many additional plot threads to tie up! I know that this first pass through the epilogue is going to be way too long, but I am trying to just put my head down, get the words out, and worry about the drastic edit it will need.
Yesterday I did two walks (thank goodness it stayed cooler), and a phone call. We are getting a lot of fog at night that is taking some time to burn off, so the super high temperatures for our area that had been predicted seem to have been revised downwards considerably. So, I shouldn’t have any trouble getting in both walks today. Also have a morning phone call scheduled, and the usual cleaning.
Continuing to watch episodes of Slow Horses and Bad Monkey on Apple (we waited to sign up until most of these two shows were complete, so we are binge watching everything we had been seeing showing up on Apple, so we can then cancel.)
A house finch ran into our living room window, I heard the thump, saw feathers, and when I looked outside, it was sitting on the front porch. Hoping it was just stunned I left it alone, although I did make sure my husband brought the dog right in after his walk before Leeza noticed it. This happens every year or so, most of the time they are ok. I kept peeking out, and it started to look more lively, and I was delighted when I left for my walk and it was gone.
Also, when waiting for phone call after walk, a woodpecker showed up at the olive tree out the window. Hadn’t seen one of those in months, so that cheered me considerably.
Here's a cheery ladybug on a beautiful zinnia that a neighbor shared with me to lift all of our spirits.
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Ladybugs cheer me up, too. Each fall we have a few days when they congregate in mass on the south wall of our white two story house. Usually there are a few with only one black spot on each wing and also a very few black ladybugs with red spots! Occasionally a few ladybugs manage to make it into the house. I have found if I turnoff all of the house lights when the sun is going down and open a window or door, the ladybugs will all fly outside where it is still slightly light with the sunset. This is a good thing to know!
I share your thoughts about the stunned bird! Love the lady bug 🐞!