Your time is valuable so thank you for spending it with me. As promised I will share 3 things: an idiom, a recommendation, and an under 2 minute tale.
- “Something to crow about” means you’ve got exciting news to share. It comes from a loud rooster in the morning announcing the day or any old time, asserting his dominance. (My neighbor has a beautiful vocal one).
- My recommendation for the week is the show Gilmore Girls. It’s mother-daughter witty banter in cozy Stars Hollow. Throw back. Comforting. In case you missed it growing up, I suggest you check it out. Perfect for fall weather!
- A Brief Tale:
Once upon a time a girl married a boy. They dreamed of one day owning a farm house with barn animals and green pastures lined by split-rail fencing. Thirty-eight years and twelve houses later, their farm dreams came true. Horses, chickens, goats, dogs and cats filled the nest that had been emptied by their four adult children.
There was much to learn in this new life: mucking stalls, cleaning water buckets, grooming the animals, and taking care of the land. She read everything there was to read about horse care and peppered the farrier with questions. They built a chicken coop and brought home 16 baby chicks. She read a book on how to speak chicken. Then came the Nigerian dwarf goats. They couldn’t just have the original three, so they went back for four more. The seven were named after the Peaky Blinders (Thomas Shelby, Finn, John, Arthur, Lizzie, Polly and Ada). Everyone got along.
One day, the woman told her farmer husband she wanted to learn to operate the Bad Boy Zero turn ride-on lawn tractor. She’d watched him go back and forth, back and forth, cutting the tall grass in the pastures. Not too complicated, but needing demonstration and directions. Make sure the blades are lifted, pull out the choke, turn the ignition, throttle up to the rabbit icon or down to the turtle icon. Easy peasy.
If you master a chore, it is likely to be added to your list. So every week, she hopped on the Bad Boy, put on headphones to listen to music and protect her ears from the loud motor, and she cut the grass. One afternoon she got to thinking how the expansive field was like a blank canvas. She turned the Bad Boy, veering away from the back and forth lines, and followed what was in her heart. The neighbors thought she was crazy. The pilots of small aircraft went out of their way to fly over the giant heart. Her son filmed her from a drone while she mowed at the rabbit icon speed and listened to 80’s love songs in her ears.
Six years later she sits at her writing desk, looks out through the window and sees the heart pasture. Whether it is she who is atop the tractor or the boy she married, the tall grass is always shaped with love on the brain on their dream farm.
Thank you for spending a few minutes with me. If you think someone would like a new view, please share this newsletter. What is out your window? Hit reply and let me know.
Happy reading, writing & taking in a different view!
Carolyn Freudenthal
*IF this reads like a NEWSLETTER that is because it is. While I am good at mowing, mucking and thinking up new ideas, I continue to be tech-challenged. Bear with me! If you receive this a second time, sorry! Enjoy it again.
*You may also see that I have TWO websites. One is the Grizzlybearma Blog that you have followed, and the new one is my author platform. While I am continuing to write, revise, query agents, and dream, I also am trying to grow my list of readers. Please share with friends or family! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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