Andrew's View of the Week

Wednesday Woodworking – of cats and contractors

Posted on 06/03/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

I haven’t been in the workshop much as I’ve been doing extra writing this last week, but we did ‘outsource’ some work around the house. These aren’t the best pictures of the project as my backyard isn’t deep enough to get it all in one photo, but here are two photos of the sun room/cat room the contractor is building for us.

Two of the three windows. There is another to the right that I couldn’t get in frame.

It’s a long narrow room, 18 feet long by 6 feet wide. Yes, that’s a cat door built into the wall, just under the window.

Originally this was going to be Heather’s art studio, but after the kitty invasion we’ve adjusted plans. Heather’s art studio is being moved to the guest room and when completed this will be the kitten’s new apartment. It will feature a private entrance, custom cat furniture, three litter boxes, and it’s very own exhaust fan for the more odorous events.

If you need me – I’ll be in the shop

Andrew

Posted in General | Tagged cat room, cats, remodeling, remodeling project | 17 Comments

New Adventures

Posted on 05/31/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

A couple of weeks ago I announced my plan to get 50 rejections by the end of the year. As of today, I have four rejections with three pieces still under consideration. I know that’s not a blindingly fast start to my plans, but I have an excuse.

Or rather an opportunity has come up, that I’ve decided to take. It’s so nice that I’ve decide I’ll risk not making it to 50, to pursue it.

I’ve been in conversation or rather an email exchange with the good folks over at Today’s Author and they’ve kindly asked me to join their group of writers. They are dedicated to helping encourage writers to keep writing. They offer writing prompts, a support forum, and posts from the writing team offering insight and encouragement.

Today they posted my bio page here and soon my introductory post will be published. I’ll let you know when it’s up. If you’re interested in improving your writing or just need some encouragement to keep writing, stop by Today’s Author and see what’s going on over there.

This is something new for me and gives me an outlet for a bunch of blog posts that don’t really fit into what I do here on Andrew’s view of the Week. I’ll be maintaining my posting schedule here, and of course I’ll let you know when Today’s Author publish my words.

I am excited about joining the crew and hope they’ll find my little writings useful. What I like about this opportunity is the fact that it is a way for me to practice a couple of useful skills: meeting a deadline and writing for a specific audience. There are times on this blog where I can get lazy and just skip a post; and sometimes picking a topic to write about can be a challenge. When the whole world is open to me to write about, I find I can waste a lot of time exploring options rather than writing.

More importantly though, I hope this will be a way to give a little back to the writing community and possibly help someone else out there on their journey.

Community is the word and one of the many reasons I’ve continued writing here. Over the few years I’ve been posting, I’ve gathered a few blog followers and follow a few blogs myself. It’s hard to describe the good feeling I get when a blog friend clicks the like button on something I’ve posted.

I am thankful to all of you who keep coming back to look at this blog and I always look forward to reading the bloggers I follow.

Till next week,
Andrew

Posted in General, Writing | Tagged blogging, Today's Author, writing | 33 Comments

Friday’s Music – Kimber’s Men

Posted on 05/29/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

It’s no secret, I have a non-standard taste in music. Another of my favorite groups to listen to on YouTube is the British group, Kimber’s Men. Someday I hope to make it to one of their shows, but the travel time has been a little difficult to arrange.

Instead I’ll just offer a small sample of what they do:

I am off to do some heavy lifting and loud singing,

Andrew

Posted in General | Tagged Bamfield's John Vanden, Kimber's Men, sea shanty | 18 Comments

A Memorial Day Poem

Posted on 05/25/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

I’ve been to Arlington National Cemetery three times in my life. The first time was on a cold mid-December day. While on a break from a conference, I boarded a Tourmobile. There were three of us on that bus, the driver, the tour guide and me. I told the guide that I wanted to see the Tomb of the Unknown. She looked at her watch and said I could just make the next changing of the guard.

There were four of us at the Tomb, the guard on duty, the relief guard, the officer of the guard and me in the stands with my camera. As they started the solemn ritual, but my raised camera felt wrong and I lowered it. Remaining standing, I watched as the guard was changed with a gentle snow falling, and a cold breeze starting.

I remained with the new guard as he walked his post for a few minutes before I retreated to the Tourmobile stop.

I wrote the following poem about that afternoon and it remains my only memory of Arlington as my camera remained in its case until I crossed the bridge back to the mall.

Twenty-one Guns

The tour bus rumbles past
the quiet monuments to the fallen.
Shutters click as the tour guide
speaks the litany of the shrine,
that once was the Lee estate.
Now it is that hallowed ground
where solders come for that long rest.

The Quick rumble passed the carved stones
of the Dead, that once placed
boots of war on their feet.
Their soles now silent.
Now day-trippers take aim and fire.
Cameras, not rifles.
Pictures, not prisoners taken.

The bus stops. The microphone is silent.
To the left a horse pulls a caisson carrying a flag-draped box
That contains a name who once walked.
The warrior sent at our command.
The sightseer sees and falls silent
And hears the echo of guns.
Three volleys and then the mournful notes.

Boys became men
And men became names
And names became graves
Gone is the sun,
Day is done.
God is Nigh.