it's hard to think on the best of days, but when your head feels like it's stuffed with brillo pads and the booger monsters have invaded your sinus cavities, it's even worse.

*achoo* pardon me.

in addition to that, they are having maneuvers at the fort, meaning the booming is rattling my windows. it's a scary sound, the constant explosions, and i always think of the boys out there. the reason i am safe inside my little home is because men like them are standing guard. it makes it a little harder to take for granted when you see military in the grocery store, getting gas, kissing their wives and generally trying to have a life in the midst of war. no matter my feelings about iraq and president bush, i have the sincerest respect for our military. they are our backbone and i for one do not forget that. politics is one thing.... this is something different. over 500 soldiers have perished from units sent from kentucky. in the flurry of politics people forget these soldiers were someone's son, husband, wife, mother, father....and families are left behind bereft. and the soldiers who come back are not the same people who left. its not just sad, its tragic.

it's so taken for granted by most people, and i guess that's a compliment. if you feel that safe, then someone is doing their job and doing it well.

****

i'll be working on the quilt for tuffy today... until this stinkin cold knocks me out, anyway. i have to find a better way to market them, this is my last one that's been ordered and the flea market season is still a couple of months away. panic? not yet, but im getting there.

putting together a quilt is similiar to putting together a story.... you pick a pattern, cut things out and try to piece them where they fit the best. the difference is, a story will often take off on it's own, whereas a quilt is straightforward. put this here, put that there, stitch this together.... with a story, i have a general idea and then i start writing and it races away into a different direction, one i often dont recognize and didnt plan. sometimes im just as surprised as anyone else to end up at the end of the story.

"The Rose" i think is my most deliberately crafted story. even though when i sat down with a general idea, i actually thought about every word before i wrote it. i had to re-write a few times, but i was pleased enough with the result to send it out for consideration. i think the help of a writing community is essential for me. (*achoo* pardon me) i've known these people for two years now (on and off) and there's not a greater bunch anywhere. it's such a cutthroat business sometimes...

i gotta go blow my nose. *cough cough* pardon me.