Through an Author's Eyes - Part 18

Good morning!

The sun is coming up in a cloudless sky! We haven't had sunshine since a little on Monday morning. It's so nice. It's been chilly and cloudy and rainy here this week. I'm ready for sunshine and warmth again. It's supposed to be in the low to mid 60s today which will be nice. Monday's high is supposed to be 79º! 

I think I mentioned last Friday that I had signed up for the Spring 100 challenge which is a challenge to walk 100 miles in the spring. So far I've walked 3.5 miles this week. Had it not been raining some of the days I probably would have walked more, but it's a good start. We'll see if I can get some walking in today. Seven of my nieces and nephews will be coming over mid afternoon and will be spending the night. They love going on walks, but we'll see what's going on. Anyway, if you have not signed up for the Spring 100 challenge and you want to, today is the last day to do it! Go HERE to sign up or learn more about it. 

This week's writing has been a bit slower. The story is still going forward, but not as rapidly. Right now I'm around 26k words into the book. Only 4k to reach 30k and then anything after that is good. Not sure I'll reach the 40k my sister wants me to, but we'll see. :)

Here's the next part of the story you have been enjoying so much.

 

Through an Author's Eyes

Part 18

 

    Heads nodded and gloves were pulled out of packs and put on. Annette wanted to put on her extra sweatshirt, but didn’t want to take the time nor did she want to take off her rain jacket at the moment. Perhaps when they stopped for a break she would for now she would just focus on moving forward. Her feet were tired, wet and cold, but she knew they didn’t have time to put on dry socks yet. Hopefully this trail would lead to the parking lot and the van.
    The pace wasn’t fast, but it was steady as Elijah led the way along the trail.
    By and by the trail narrowed leaving only room to walk single file. Annette began to wonder if this was even a real trail after all or if they had somehow stumbled into a deer path or at least a path made by the animals of the mountain forest. The flakes of snow were beginning to grow a little larger and easier to see, and still the trail wound its way though the trees, sometimes going uphill, and others going down, twisting and turning until no one was quite sure which direction they were headed.
    “Can’t we take a break soon?” Bethany asked. “I don’t think I can go much farther without something to eat and drink.”
    “Let’s stop now,” Elijah suggested. “There doesn’t seem to be any change in the trail after it narrowed. No sign of a split off or anything.”
    Eagerly the girls pulled their packs off and sank down, unzipping the pockets and pulling out granola bars and energy drinks. As they ate, Annette looked around her. Tall trees, dripping with water surrounded them while brush filled the lower regions of the woods. Suddenly her eyes caught sight of something. “Look! What’s that?”
    “What?” several voices asked at once.
    She pointed off into the woods. “Over there. Is that a building?”
    “Where?”
    “I don’t see anything.”
    “Oh, I do. It looks–” Gabe hesitated. “It looks old. Eli, can you see it better if you go farther on the trail? It looks like the path turns and goes closer.”
    Rising from his seat on a fallen branch, Elijah set off once more only to return moments later with news. “It’s an old log house of some kind. There’s no door, but from what I could see it looks sturdy. Want to check it out?”
    Levi and Judah exchanged glances and looked up toward the sky.
    “We need some kind of shelter, Levi,” Jaina said softly, trying to stop a shiver. “Even if it’s just for a little while as we eat and rest.”
    “Okay. Let’s check it out.” Picking up Jaina’s pack, he slung it over his shoulder and offered her a hand up. “I guess it’s worth trying.”
    Annette gathered her pack and water bottle, and stood up. Her feet were cold and damp in spite of wearing her waterproof hiking boots. Trudging down the trail, she saw Elijah, Vic, and Reuben already making their way through the unmarked brush to the cabin. Soon she was waiting with Jaina, Levi, Savanna and Bethany.
    “It looks sturdy,” Judah called back at last. “The roof is solid and doesn’t appear to be leaking. Once we brush some of the leaves and things out I think it’ll do.”
    It took some time for the guys to sweep out the leaves until Reuben found a pine tree and cut one of the lower branches to use as a broom. At last the hikers were all inside, and Annette looked around with interest. It was a log cabin by all appearances, the cracks between some logs were missing the chinking and cold air drifted in. The far wall was empty, no windows and no fireplace. Perhaps at one time skins had been stretched across it and a bed had been set against the wall. To the right was a wall with a small window like opening. No glass blocked the air now as it rushed in off the mountain, and Annette wondered if an oiled paper had once let in light but kept out the cold. To her left was the fireplace. Crude and rough, but built of stone, it looked as though it would remain long after the rest of the cabin had fallen down. The front of the cabin held only the open doorway.
    “If we have some tarps, we can sit on them,” Bethany said, eyeing the still dirty floor.
    “We have at least a couple of tarps,” Judah answered crouching down beside his backpack to find one.
    “The window needs covered up to keep out the cold,” Annette said. “Can we put a tarp over it?”
    Elijah and Levi crossed the room to examine the window. It wasn’t large. “If we had nails or something to put in the wall we might get something to stay,” Levi said at last after several attempts to make a tarp stay.
    “Oh, here.” Quickly digging in her backpack, Annette pulled out a small plastic container and opening it produced nails. “How many do you need? Can you find a rock or something to hammer them in with? I don’t carry a hammer with me.”
    “Why on earth do you carry nails with you?” Levi demanded, taking the nails from her and and raising an eyebrow.
    Annette shrugged. “Habit, I guess. Dad and I were hiking once and ended up needing nails. After that we both carried a few with us. I almost didn’t bring them this time as we’ve never had a use for them except when we didn’t have them.” 

 

Would you rather have a week of sunshine or clouds?

Have you joined the Spring 100?

Would you like to take shelter in an old cabin?

Healing

 Good morning!

It's still rather dark since the time change and it's cloudy. But there is a cardinal who is singing and singing. We have a squirrel making a nest in one of our trees. I hope she gets to have babies there. Spring is here. Daffodils are blooming and our purple crocuses are blooming. Yesterday it reached 82º F. So nice to have windows open and a warm breeze blowing in. Today it's supposed to be in the 50s and rainy. But the cold isn't supposed to stay around.

This week hasn't really been a good writing week. I wrote 2k on Monday, then 1k on Tuesday and only a few hundred words on Wednesday, followed by nothing yesterday. This story has slowed down. I have 19k words of it written, but now it's a bit slower. And yesterday I had an idea for the next little part of the story, but when I sat down to write the idea was gone completely. I have it again this morning and I jotted it down, so hopefully I can write.

Today I decided to just take a break from the long story and give you a short one instead. At least I'm not making you read the long story one part every two or three weeks. Right?

Anyway, here's the short story. Enjoy!

 

Healing

 

    With a sigh, Jenavieve sat down on the bench overlooking the placid waters of the lake below. Around the waters were the steep mountain sides sloping down to the water’s edge Everything seemed covered in dark pines but if one looked closely it appeared as though winding paths made their way among the pines but in reality they were nothing more than trees of a lighter green. Over head the sky was a rich blue while far away the horizon was blanketed by wispy clouds.
    The wind whispered through the tall pine near the bench stirring her honey blonde hair, and Jen blinked back a tear as she brushed away a gnat which had landed on her arm.
    “Jen,” the rich deep voice spoke her name tenderly. “Honey, I know this is hard.”
    Biting her lip, Jenavieve didn’t reply but kept her face averted and her eyes on the scene she didn’t see.
    The man moved around the bench and sat down beside her. His hair was dark except for the gray near his temples. After a moment of sitting in silence, he put his arm around the girl beside him. “How do you hang on to hope when death takes a loved one?”
    The question wasn’t directed to Jen and she knew it. Her arm slipped around the man’s back and she rested her head on his shoulder. “It will be okay, Daddy,” she whispered. “Hope might be shaken, but faith is not. We know we’ll see Mom and little Hope again, but . . .” her voice quivered and she drew a shaky breath. “It’s so hard at times!”
    “I know, JenJen, I know.” Dad hugged her tighter. “That’s why I thought this move would be good for us. We’d have a chance to move on. Ministering to kids from the inner city who have never experienced green trees and open sky like we have out here–” His voice died away.
    “I do think it will be good, Dad,” Jen answered. “It just may take me more time to . . . well, to find my spark again.”
    “That’s okay, Jen. God won’t leave. And He can still use you even with the pain and sorrow.”
    “Thanks, Daddy.”
    In silence the father and daughter sat on the polished wooden bench and soaked up the mountain air, the sunshine, and the warm breezes.
    “You know,” Jen said slowly, “we may need to talk to the Thompsons about getting someone else to help us here.”
    Dad looked down. “Oh? For what?”
    “Aquatics. Don’t you think these kids should get a chance to swim in a real lake that isn’t filled with chlorine and chemicals?”
    Chuckling, Dad said, “Does this person happen to have blond hair and go by the name of Dale?”
    Jenavieve laughed. It was the first real laugh she’d had in weeks. “Don’t you think he’d make a do aquatics teacher?”
    “No, but he’d make a good swimming teacher.”
    “Dad!” And Jen gave her dad a teasing push before hugging him. “I suppose the kids would know the word swimming better than aquatics, but aquatics is so much more fun to say.”
    “Well, teach it to ‘em for all I care. Now, what do you say we head back down and talk to the Thompsons about Dale?”
 

Do you have spring weather or winter still?

Did you enjoy this short story?

Would you prefer to say swimming or aquatics?

Through an Author's Eyes - Part 17

 Good morning, Faithful Friday Fiction Fans,

It's snowing. And the ground is covered. Daffodils are blooming, the forsythia is blooming, and it's snowing. I didn't want more snow. I mean I love snow during winter months, but it seems like we've had quite a bit of it this year and all in 2022. We didn't get any snow in November or December. And now we get it in January, February, and March.

Okay, let's forget about the weather now, shall we? What else has been going on this week?

Not a lot. I've had music to practice for two instrumental ensembles, and writing camp is going on, and I've been writing. I've already gotten 5,900 words written this week. And yes, I'm still working on the same story. I must say that it is really fun writing Don Wood and having it come together like this. I'm just hoping and praying it won't get off track and make me have to rewrite parts. Jim and Anna didn't. I had to do a little with Lake, but not too much. Phil was a mess. This book is different than all the others. I'll tell you one little thing. The MC doesn't like mysteries and has no interest in turning detective and solving any. That can be a problem when you are the MC of a mystery book. :)

Well, that's a quick update. Not sure what is going on today. We were supposed to have some friends over for lunch, but we'll see if they still want to come with the snow.

Through an Author's Eyes

Part 17

 

    Leaving the girls on the trail, the boys split up and started exploring.
    “Annette,” Jaina asked, “have you ever run into something like this in your hiking?”
    “No.” Annette stuffed her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt. The breeze had freshened and it felt a tad chillier. “Nothing quite like this, but Dad and I have had to wade across streams that weren’t supposed to be there, and climb over rock slides before.”
    “Are you any good at swimming?” Bethany asked.
    “In that? I don’t think so,” and Annette laughed. “It’s too murky and nasty. And,” she lowered her voice, “who knows what lurks in the darkness beneath the waves.”
    Jaina and Savanna shivered. The boys were returning and each one shook their head.
    “There’s not even a downed tree we could try to cross on,” Reuben said.
    “And we couldn’t see the end of the lake, so we can’t exactly go around it,” Gabe added.
    All eyes turned to Levi as he was the oldest. He was looking up at the sky, back up the trail they had come and frowning. “Well, where’s the map, Elijah?”
    This was pulled from Elijah’s pocket and several heads bent over it. Annette really wanted to see the map too, but felt uncomfortable crowding in.
    “I don’t think we have any other option but to retrace our steps and go back the way we came,” Levi said at last. “But we’re going to have to go as quickly as possible because I don’t like the clouds that have been moving in.”
    “Do you think it’ll rain?” Jaina asked, slipping her hand into his.
    “Possibly. Everyone has raincoats, right?”
    Annette nodded with the rest of them. This was turning into more of an adventure than she had thought. Perhaps she would need those energy bars she had made with her mom’s recipe. Turning around, the group, growing tired at the very thought of climbing the mountain one more time, began the task of retracing their steps. The wind had picked up, and they had to walk with heads bent for it came rushing down the side of the mountain with gusto. Soon a light rain began falling and everyone dug out their rain gear and put it on. For Annette, this was just another hike in the rain though she was discovering that these mountains were quite cold in the rain even in early summer.
    For some time the group hiked in silence, their lovely hike in the mountains had changed to an adventure that no one was really prepared for.
    “Um, guys,” Bethany called above the wind, “aren’t we supposed to be going up the mountain? And shouldn’t we be above the trees by now?”
    “Uh oh,” Vic groaned.
    Lifting her head, Annette turned her back to the wind and looked about them. They were still in the trees which offered some shelter. Right then she couldn’t imagine being up on top of the mountain if the wind even in the trees was this ruthless. Thankful that the rain wasn’t hard, she pushed back her waterproof hood a little and waited to see what would happen.
    “How can we be off the trail?” Judah demanded.
    “I don’t know.” And Elijah, who was in the lead, shook his head. “The only thing I can think of is that another trail merges with the one we were on and in the rain I didn’t notice. But the question remains, what are we to do now?”
    “Levi?”
    With a long sigh, Levi looked around. “Do you think we can find the right trail again? Or would it be better to just keep going and hope we reached a place where we can call for assistance?”
    “Oh, don’t let’s call now!” Annette bit her lip as soon as the words were out.
    “We can’t call here,” Gabe replied. “No reception.”
    Everyone had huddled together into a bunch, trying to stay warm as they debated what was best to do. A few suggested they try to find the other trail, some thought they should go on. At last, not being able to stand it any longer, Annette said, “Can I see the map, please?”
    Elijah pulled it out and handed it over. It would have been difficult to keep the rain off it, but thankfully the rain had ceased to fall though the wind was still blowing. “Where were we?” Elijah pointed to some places on the map. “So, if we lost the trail, we could be somewhere around here.” Her finger traced a circle on the map. “I don’t see any signs of trails on this part. Is this an old map?”
    Elijah hesitated. “It’s probably a year old or something like that. I don’t know if there’s a date on it or not. I got it from the box at the trailhead.”
    Quickly Annette’s eyes scanned the paper. Flipping it over she noticed the date. “This was printed five years ago. There could be many other trails by now. At least if it’s anything like other places I’ve hiked. Not everyone stays on the regular trails you know, even if they are supposed to.”
    “So, what does that mean?” Levi asked, looking with more respect at this cousin who knew so much about hiking.
    “It means that we might be on a trail that leads back to the parking lot, or we could be on a trail that goes in a big circle, or,” she added, “we could be on a trail that goes somewhere else.”
    “Do you think we should go back?”
    Before Annette could give her opinion, Savanna spoke up. “Um, I hate to mention this now, but I think it’s starting to snow.”
    “What! Snow?”
    Every head was tilted up and eyes scanned the air searching for the tiny white flakes which Savanna thought she had seen. Sure enough, there they were. Tiny, bitty, not much of snow, but there.
    “That settles it. We are not going back. I don’t want to be on top of the mountain if this weather gets any worse.” Levi put an arm around Jaina, his face serious. “We need to get to lower ground before the snow becomes steady and starts sticking.” 

 

Do you get snow in March?

Have you ever gotten lost while hiking?

Would you like to hike in the snow?

Through an Author's Eyes - Part 16

 Good morning and happy Friday!

The sun is coming up and while there are some clouds in the sky, it's supposed to be in the 70s again today. Yay! Spring! We have daffodils starting to bloom, and crocuses have bloomed. My mom and I got out and trimmed most of the plants so they are ready for spring. Now, since it's just the beginning of March, I'm not expecting this lovely weather to stay. Oh no, we've had snow in March before. But winter is moving out and spring is settling in.

On the writing front things are going well. Writing Camp is in full swing. We have over 100 people at camp from all over the world. This makes things interesting and there is almost always someone on to chat with or sprint with or to get feedback from. As far as my writing goes, I'm ready to announce that I've officially started Don Wood. I'm 7k words into it and am loving getting back to old friends and meeting new ones. This story takes place 12 years after the last one. This is a different kind of mystery. Anyway, I'm having fun.

Here's the next part of this story. I have a few short stories that I wrote last July and haven't shared that I can post, but then after this story is over, I have no idea what I'll post next.

 

Through an Author's Eyes

Part 16

 

    Going down was almost harder for Annette than going up had been. The rocks were loose in places and each step had to be taken with care. Everyone stayed together and the boys spaced themselves among the girls ready to offer a helping hand or a steady arm. As they passed the loose rocks, the faster hikers widened the gap and Annette once again found herself in the lead group only this time neither Bethany, Savanna nor Jaina were with her. She didn’t mind. Vic was there and Gabe and Elijah weren’t the tease that Reuben was.
    “Uh, Gabe, Vic, we might have a problem,” Elijah’s voice broke into Annette’s pleasant thoughts. She hurried forward with the others.
    A deep gully lay before them. It had no doubt been created by either a storm or the run off from melting snow. It was at least five or six feet deep and several yards wide. The bottom appeared muddy and the sides of loose rock and mud.
    “Could we make it down and then back up?” Vic asked?”
    “I don’t know. It looks rather wet at the bottom. What do you think? Should we try it?”
    “I’m game to try it.” And Gabe looked around.
    “What about the girls?” Elijah asked.
    “What about us?” questioned Annette. “That actually looks like fun. Something different than the usual.”
    At that Elijah grinned. “Okay. Try it out, Gabe. But be careful! We don’t want to have to deal with any broken bones or sprains either.”
    “Do either of you have a rope in case he should need it?” Annette asked, looking from Elijah to Vic.
    Elijah shook his head. “I don’t have one. Since we were going on the trails I didn’t think to get one.”
    When Vic also shook his head, Annette slid her pack off and unzipped a lower zipper. Pulling out a length of lightweight rope, she tossed it to her cousin. “Dad drilled it into me to always carry one when hiking.”
    There was no need of the rope for Gabe was able to slide down a slight wash and reached the bottom of the gully. “If you can find a few large rocks,” he called up from the bottom, “I think I can put them in the middle where it’s still really muddy as stepping stones.”
    Being on a rocky slope made finding the right sized ones easy and soon the boys were passing them down. “Okay,” Elijah said, once the stones were in place. “Vic, you want to go across so you can help the girls up?”
    “Sure.”
    Annette watched as he slid down, stepped on the rocks and crossed the muddy bottom. It took a little more effort to find a place where he could climb out the other side, but after going down the mountain a couple yards, he was able to scrambled up. “My turn?” Annette asked, looking at Elijah. At his nod, she scrambled down into the little ravine with only a little help from Gabe. She had crossed the mud when the voices of the rest of the party made her stop and look back. They were standing near the trail where the water had eroded it away.
    “Come on,” she called. “We can cross it here and make back to the trail.” Continuing on, she was grateful for Vic’s strong arm to help pull her up the other side for it was steeper and more muddy.
    It took quite a while to get everyone across. The girls were glad for the strong, helpful hands and arms of the guys for it wasn’t an easy crossing. But at last all ten of them stood on the other side of the gully, back again on the trail.
    “Maybe we should all try to stick together now,” Levi suggested. “We might be a little slow, but I don’t know what the rest of the trail looks like.”
    “I wouldn’t think it would be bad, Levi,” Savanna said, “or they would have closed the trail.”
    “Unless no one else has been on it,” Elijah said. “But this is probably the worst it’s going to be. Come on.”
    Annette listened to this exchange with mixed feelings. On the one hand the thought of further difficulties on the trail filled her with excitement for she and her dad had delighted in the unexpected adventures along the Appalachian trails. But, on the other hand, she wasn’t sure she had adequately prepared for many such adventures, and she was pretty sure the others hadn’t either. “Oh, well,” she breathed, “we’ll come up with something if the need arises.” Her thoughts drifted to her story as the group set off down the side of the mountain again. She could probably make that gully a little bigger and more dangerous if she needed to.
    “What are you thinking about?” Savanna asked, tapping Annette on the shoulder. “Your story?”
    Looking back over her shoulder, Annette smiled. “Yep. When we stop for another break, I might try writing a little bit.”

    The next break was unexpected. Rounding a curve in the trail shortly after returning to the tree line, Gabe and Vic, who were in the lead, stopped short. “Uh oh,” Gabe sighed.
    “What?”
    “What’s wrong?”
    The girls exchanged glances and hurried after the guys who had all pushed forward. “Oh, no! What are we going to do now?”
    Reaching Vic’s side, Annette stared. Before them was a lake. There was no bridge and no trail around it. From the looks of things, the runoff that had created the gully farther up, had pushed a lot of water down and it had become stuck. There was no telling how deep the water was for it was murky.
    “I think there used to be a little stream here,” Elijah said, pointing. “I remember a small foot bridge that we crossed on. It wasn’t more than a few planks of wood with slats nailed across, but it’s not here now.”
    “Is there any way to cross it some where else?” Judah asked, looking up stream and down at the water.

Do you have flowers blooming yet?

Are you excited for the next Woodbreak?

What sort of adventures would you enjoy while hiking?