Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, March 5, 2024, or: Another Birthday (My 61st!)…New England Weather Woes…A Novelist’s Progress…and Log-In Issues on Facebook

Late Morning, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone. It’s another chilly and gray early spring morning here in Eidelweiss, the section of Madison, New Hampshire that I now call home.  Currently, the temperature is 35°F (2°C) under cloudy conditions. With humidity at 93% and the wind blowing from the north-northwest at 1 MPH (2 KMH), the feels-like temperature is 52°F (11°C), Today’s forecast calls for rain and snow to fall in our area. The high will be 42°F (5°C). Tonight, rain and snow will continue to affect Carroll County. The low will be 34°F (1°C).

This, of course, isn’t the kind of weather that I’d have liked to usher on my 61^st birthday, but this is New England, and even though it’s meteorological spring now (astronomical spring starts in two weeks), winter conditions don’t just go away with the changes of the calendar.

Thoughts on Turning 61

Today is my 61^st birthday. Since this is the first time the occasion falls at a time when I am not living in my home state of Florida since 1972, and the eighth since my mom died in the summer of 2015, I have mixed feelings about this particular recurrence.

On the positive side, I am 61 years old and alive to tell the tale. I’m also – apparently – in relatively good health, all things considered. I have a roof over my head, food in the fridge and pantry, and I have at least two friends in New Hampshire – three, if you count Stuart, the guy who rents the third room of the house – and I am making good progress with my novel, Reunion: Coda.

On the other hand, the weather…while it’s no longer surprising to me that it snows and rains here – it’s New England, after all, and snow showers are to be expected this far north – I was hoping the weather would be…nicer today. Not that I have any social engagement today…it’s been a few years, at least, since anyone made a big deal over my birthday, and I have long since gotten used to that. All I ask for is a day when I can walk outside, get fresh air and sunshine…and…I’m not getting that today.

Oh well. That’s the way it goes. Now all I ask for, on my 61st birthday, is that Calliope answers my invocations and sends me some inspiration for my novel-writing portion of this second day of my workweek.

Anyway, I’ve already received quite a few birthday greetings on my Facebook timeline, all of which I am thankful for. It’s nice to be remembered by friends and family!

On Writing & Storytelling: Chapter 13’s Scene Six Moves (Slowly) Forward

I am happy to report that despite a later-than-desired start time to my work period, I was able to add almost 850 new words to Reunion: Coda’s 13^th chapter (Goodbye, Farewell, and Adios). Needless to say, I neither reached my desired goal of either writing 1,000 words (849 was close, though!) or finishing Scene Six, but…I did make some progress on both counts.

I hope my Muse, Calliope, graces me again with inspiration when I return to work after my daily midday lunch-and-rest break. The trouble with Muses, though, is that they are often capricious entities; sometimes they will help you willingly, and other times you have to coax them into giving you a morsel of inspiration or creative energy. Let’s see what Ms. Muse of Epic Poetry does later. Maybe she’ll even remember that it is my birthday, after all.

Facebook: Failure to Connect…..

Currently, I’m in a bit of a snit because not only is the weather sort of dark, cold, and wet, but now I can’t log into my Facebook account. Ugh.

Oh, well. Maybe it’s for the best, and not having Facebook as a distraction will let me focus on my writing today. The downside is that social media is the only way I have of feeling less isolated out here in rural New Hampshire. Being locked out of my account…on my birthday….sucks big time.

That’s all the news that I have to share today, so I’ll close this post here. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.