Friday, January 28, 2022

Aloha!

Okay, time to get back in my blogging routine again.
I am feeling so much better! 
Hawaii is working its magic, and so is my medication.

I've been taking random shots of things that have caught my eye.
Here are some recent photos:

My Favorite Subject ~ Terry  
West Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  
All Rights Reserved





Bougainvillea
Waikiki, Hawaii, USA
January 20, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  
All Rights Reserved






A Regal Pigeon
Waikiki, Hawaii, USA
January 20, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  
All Rights Reserved






Wave Breaking Near the Queen's Walkway into the Ocean
Waikiki, Hawaii, USA
January 20, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  
All Rights Reserved





Surfer on a Wave by Robert Pashby
Queens Beach Near Waikiki, Hawaii, USA
January 20, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Surfer Searching for a Wave
Queens Beach Near Waikiki, Hawaii, USA
January 20, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Hula Dancer
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
January 25, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





I Wouldn't Know This Was My Shadow
if I Didn't Take the Photo
Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Don't Forget Your Furry Friends!
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved







Our Plane Comes in for a Landing at Kahului International Airport 
Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





The Pavillion at Queens Beach
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
January 20, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Spores in Ferns
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
January 25, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Kids Playing
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
January 25, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved




Kahoʻolawe from Maui
Wailea, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Waiting for Our Landlord
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
January 9, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved






Work in Progress on Front Street
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Boardwalk by Resorts at Ka'anapali Beach 
Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





West Maui from Wailea on the Southern Leeward Coast
Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved








Hula Dancers   
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, USA
January 26, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved






Sunset at Waikiki
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
January 9, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


Next week I will be posting on Wednesday, January 2,
for the Insecure Writer's Support Group's monthly get-together.
I'm still catching up with my blogging friends. 
Stay happy and safe!




Till next time ~
Fundy Blue



On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved









 

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

IWSG: Wednesday, January 5, 2022 ~ Writing Regrets

 





It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.






To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are Erika BeebeOlga Godim, Sandra CoxSarah Foster, and, Chemist Ken! 

I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.
This month's featured question is: 
What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy New Year Everyone!
Here's hoping 2022 is a good one for each of you!

I'm keeping this short because I'm still dealing with 
a raging thyroid and worsening eyesight.
I now weigh what I weighed when I was eleven!
As of today, my endocrinologist is treating me more aggressively with drugs,
and I see an ophthalmologist who specializes in Graves eye disease on Thursday.
Feeling better, seeing better, is getting closer.

So is Hawaii!  
Yes, fingers crossed, Terry and I are flying to Honolulu on Sunday.

Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
March 10, 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



My biggest writing regret?
I wish as a university student I had seen writing as a career option.
But it was drilled into me throughout my young life 
that I must have a career,
that I must be able to stand on my own two feet,
and I must not depend on a husband.
Generations of tragedy on both sides of my family fueled these imperatives.

My parents sacrificed everything for their son, 
and their four daughters, to graduate from university,
so I never considered writing as an option.
I needed a solid and secure career that came with good pay and benefits.

I regret not having decades and decades of writing 
what I wanted to write behind me now.

But if I had followed that path,
I would have missed the wonder of rocks and geology,
the thrill of searching and drilling for oil in the Oil Patch,
and my rewarding teaching career with all those amazing kiddos.

Driller Jack Taylor and I in the Doghouse
DNB Rig, Western Kansas Oil Patch, USA
February 1982
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



I never did anything halfway.
I was always called an overachiever ~ How I hate that label!
I was not an overachiever!
I was passionate, 
and I poured my heart and energy into my different careers.
I had nothing left over to write the books inside me.
I wrote constantly connected to my work, 
but it was not what I wanted to write.

I think we all must wonder about the roads not taken.
I took a different road from that of a professional writer, 
but my chosen road was a rich and fulfilling one.
Regret is a powerful emotion.  Maybe I feel more of a what if.
My life is what it is, and now I can write.

I'm greedy for life, and I'm greedy for time to write.
I've smacked into a giant pile of downed trees obstructing my path,
but I'm sawing through them,
and soon I'll be back to writing as I want to.

This past month I've been beaten down physically.
I had a wonderful visit with some of my family in Calgary
and a lovely Christmas Eve with Terry's family,
but most of the time I've felt rotten and exhausted.

My brother Roy, me, Terry, and my sister-in-law Susan
My best day in December (10th)
Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



I haven't looked at my blog or opened my email in a month.
I'm posting today because I care so much about the IWSG.
I can't promise that I'll get around much to visit today.
I have three medical/ophthamalogist appointments in the next two days,
and I have to pack.

I cannot wait to see the ocean, palm trees, and Diamond Head.
Our apartment on Waikiki has good wifi,
and my stronger and new meds should kick in soon.
So, I will get around to all my blogging buddies and IWSG visitors very soon.
My manuscript is traveling with me.
And, even if I have to crawl, I'm getting to the top of Diamond Head.

Our Great Niece Ella Grace MacBeath
An Independent Young Woman at Four
December 10, 2021
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



I hope each of you has fun visiting around today.
Happy writing to each of you in January!





Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com