gardening

Snapshot #131 | 10 Things for 14 July 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. eating… all the strawberries.
2. noticing… that I’ve broken a few bad habits, completely unintentionally. An unexpected benefit of that cold, apparently. (Don’t worry: I’ve still got plenty of bad habits. Glad to be rid of those ones, though.)
3. finishing… the office coffee station. I finally found a tray I like! (This is the kind of thing I get excited about.)
4. tackling… that chore that I’ve been putting off since… last summer. Really. But it’s done and I can move forward with the big photo project, and I’m thrilled! (The bus ride wasn’t quite as tedious as expected, but it was close.)
5. hoping… that the new sunscreen I picked up will solve all my (sunscreen-related) problems.
6. looking… for good baked doughnut recipes. I finally broke down and got a pan, and I can’t wait to try it. Just as soon as the humidity breaks and I’m willing to turn on an oven again.
7. troubleshooting… an annoying computer problem. Not sure if I’ve solved it yet. Fingers crossed.
8. taking… care of the balcony plants. Finally. If they die now, it’s because of the oak trees, not my neglect.
9. cleaning… up the files on the ancient MacBook Pro, in the hopes that maybe it can be repaired and used again for less than the cost of a new laptop. I’m not optimistic, but it’d be nice to have something in between the desktop and tablet. (And, yeah: a lot of computer stuff going on lately.)
10. trying… those ruby cocoa KitKat bars. The chocolate is really interesting—I’d love to see it show up in a form that I can experiment with (chips or plain bars, something). I feel like it’d make a really good ice cream.

Snapshot #130 | 10 Things for 30 June 2019

Personal

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a wash, and I’m genuinely struggling to think of things I’ve actually done. But let’s try anyway.

Currently…

1. craving… ice cream. I haven’t made a single batch yet this year.
2. wondering… if the new coffee beans I got for the office are really this bitter, or if it’s just the way I’m tasting things right now. (Stupid cold.)
3. worrying… about the balcony plants. The building-supply place around the corner closed last summer (they’re building a hideous corporate HQ in its place, which infuriates me for so many reasons), and buying plants has been difficult enough without a nearby garden centre, but now I have to try to get potting soil before the herbs die.
4. avoiding… the rain. Barely.
5. starting… to wean myself off Pinterest, or at least change the way I use it. (If anyone can recommend something that works better as a digital ‘swipe file,’ let me know. I use Evernote for a lot, but sometimes a grid view helps spark ideas better than a list.)
6. reorganizing… the archives.
7. recognizing… some missing skills in my writing life, and taking steps to build them.
8. finishing… the stack of books at my bedside. I’ve still got at least a dozen ebooks to read, but it’s something.
9. trying… not to let my anxiety get the better of me.
10. looking… forward to things getting back to normal.

Snapshot #127 | 10 Things for 19 May 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. starting… to pick up supplies for the balcony garden. It’s always a challenge (between the light and the nearby oak trees that try to murder the competition, nothing seems to want to grow out there), but I live in hope.
2. moving… forward with my big scary photo project. Small steps, but in the right direction.
3. thinking… about my creative process, and the things I want to make—in both writing and photography. Exciting things are coming. (Eventually. These things take time.)
4. getting… ready to update my inspiration board.
5. deciding… that I hate the little rubber backs that come on enamel pins now. They’re too easy to lose. (At least I noticed before I lost the pin, too.)
6. accepting… that it’s time to make some updates to the site design around here. I’ve been dancing around the idea for a while, mostly wondering if I was just procrastinating on other things, but… yeah. It’s time. I’m still deciding if it’s a full revamp, or just a refresh.
7. chipping… away at the podcast backlog. Again. (Always.)
8. looking… for a good baby-name site, with historical and demographic data and a good recommendation engine. (For naming characters. Not babies.) I used Nymbler for years, but I kind of hate how it works since the redesign.
9. setting… deadlines.
10. making… a new running playlist. The old one just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Snapshot #82 | 10 Things for 30 July 2017

Personal

Currently…

1. falling… in love with even more kittens.
2. catching… up on my Project 365 posts! Finally! (The big roundup will be here later today.)
3. taking… care of the balcony plants. It’s really late, but they’re finally officially planted.
4. thinking… about my game plan for this year’s NaNoWriMo.
5. working… on my painting.
6. debating… whether or not I should buy a new camera bag. (I don’t really need one, but the ones I have don’t meet my requirements, at all. And the one I’ve got my eye on is on sale, and… ugh.)
7. watching… Iron Fist (meh), Riverdale (so much fun!) and Orphan Black (so good!).
8. getting… ready to maybe eventually make a few very minor changes around here. Or maybe some big changes? I don’t know. I just feel like it’s time for a change.
9. making… my favourite coffee ice cream. (Recipe in the Big Gay Ice Cream cookbook.)
10. hating… the humidity. Always.

Snapshot #80 | 10 Things for 2 July 2017

Personal

Currently…

1. finding… some inexpensive pens that might meet my admittedly-specific criteria.
2. falling… behind on my 365 photo project. 😬 I’m trying to catch up (promise!). (It was around this time last year that my weekly photo project fell apart, wasn’t it? Apparently, I just lose all photographic motivation in the summer. Which seems weird.)
3. hoping… that the balcony plants survive. Building maintenance means I haven’t been able to plant them properly yet… it’s so annoying.
4. putting… my plans in place for the next few months, and generally taking some time to get myself back on track.
5. watching… all the shows that I missed during the actual TV season.
6. wishing… that this weekend was a little better, weather-wise. I’d hoped to get out for some of the Canada Day stuff, but the idea of standing around in the rain/drizzle/etc. doesn’t really appeal.
7. thinking… that I really need to start doing something real with this blog again, don’t I?
8. reevaluating… my various creative projects. (I suppose this is technically part of #4. I’ve been thinking about my work process and the work itself. There are changes on the way.)
9. wondering… why one particular ice cream recipe doesn’t seem to work for me. (I’ve used other—nearly identical—recipes from the same source with no trouble, but I’ve tried this one twice and it just doesn’t work. Still tastes good, at least.)
10. unsubscribing… from the email newsletters and blog feeds that don’t inspire me.

Snapshot #79 | 10 Things for 18 June 2017

Personal

Currently…

1. going… to see Wonder Woman. Twice. (It’s so good! I assume at some point I’ll stop tearing up at the end of the No Man’s Land scene? Eventually?)
2. feeling… lazy and unmotivated. It’s time for a reboot.
3. planning… my first batch of ice cream for the year. I don’t care if it’s rainy and gloomy and not particularly warm. It was stupidly hot earlier in the week, and I have made up my mind. (The base is mixed, and ready for freezing later today. I can’t wait.)
4. watching… the Black Panther teaser trailer. Maybe more than twice.
5. starting… to do some planting, but now the rest of it is on hold (for very stupid reasons).
6. having… a really busy week. I’m not sure what I was thinking.
7. remembering… how to format a screenplay. It took a day or so to find the rhythm, but then I fell back in love with the form.
8. making… it through two whole weeks without having to adjust my C25K schedule because of rain. This is A Big Deal.
9. thinking… about which comics I want to start next.
10. buying… pens.

Snapshot #53 | 10 Things for 19 June 2016

Personal

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After the rain…

A post shared by Reghan Skerry (@reghanskerry) on

Currently…

1. getting… the flowers and herbs planted. I was starting to worry about how late it was getting.
2. hoping… that it’ll be warm enough soon to justify iced coffee.
3. making… muffins and bread and other things that don’t really say “summer.”
4. solving… some big problems with my NaNoWriMo outline. Things are starting to make sense, finally.
5. fine-tuning… my to-do lists and time-tracking systems. Seriously. This is what I do for fun.
6. trying… to watch more movies.
7. having… one of those weeks where everything is kind of awful. Feeling frustrated, uninspired, and just… ugh. Anyway. It’ll pass.
8. thinking… about how to get back on track this week. I know I just said “it’ll pass,” but I don’t want to wait that long.
9. starting… to feel like my efforts to learn French are finally starting to pay off.
10. daydreaming… about travel, mostly. My list keeps getting longer.

2016 Weekly Photo Challenge: "23. Documentary #1" | Reghan Skerry

Weekly Photo Challenge 2016 | Week #23: ‘Documentary’

Photography

I suppose it kind of makes sense to go back to the photo diary style photos for a prompt like “Documentary.”

This was harder to do than I expected. First, I didn’t really have too much going on this week that was worth documenting (at least not in photos), and the weather hasn’t really inspired me to go out and find something. But I did eventually manage one day that was dry enough to get some gardening done (finally!) and find some inspiration.

The second problem was trying to get the gardening done and take photos at the same time.

I might revisit this prompt in the future.

2016 Weekly Photo Challenge:

Snapshot #51 | 10 Things for 22 May 2016

Personal

Currently…

1. getting… to last week’s photo post. The photo is taken, and waiting in the camera. But this is a busy weekend (mostly busy taking more photos), so it’s going to take a couple more days to get the picture out of the camera and onto the site.
2. feeling… relieved. The thing that was causing me so much stress? Cancelled.
3. buying… the supplies to reupholster my desk chair. The office is slowly coming together.
4. trying… to decide between growing my hair out some more and chopping it all off again. (I go through this every few months.)
5. painting… the balcony furniture. I didn’t quite beat the storm of pollen, but close enough. (Also, just generally starting to get the balcony in order.)
6. solving… spam problems. Awesome.
7. making… progress on my NaNoWriMo plans.
8. starting… to think about ice cream. I’m not quite ready to start making it yet (I’m still waiting for it to get a bit warmer), but it’s time to start looking at recipes.
9. running… out of things to say. I’m a little sleepy right now, and drawing a blank.
10. putting… together new playlists.

Snapshot #38 | 10 Things for 22 November 2015

Personal

Currently…

1. realizing… how close we are to the end of the year. Eek.
2. watching… (or listening to…) new Bowie! ♥ ★
3. committing… small acts of bravery.
4. making… the chocolate-chip cookies I’ve been thinking about since September.
5. thinking… about making some changes to the site. (In addition to the redesign that is absolutely coming before the end of the year.)
6. wondering… if I’m going to get the balcony cleaned up before winter kicks in.
7. cutting… my hair. Finally.
8. feeling… baffled. People are weird.
9. trying… to use my time well. Not sure I’m succeeding.
10. finishing… just under the wire…