I used to be on Instagram, Tik-Tok, Facebook, and Twitter/X. Now I am on none of those. I decided that my short time in this life was better spent reading a good book, listening to music, or taking a walk. Am I happier now? You bet, I am! I think the best part of the abandonment was to get rid of the negativity. People like the "OMG stories," and exaggerate them to garner more attention. And now I have more "me time." I've even taken up a new hobby, though I don't know if I'll stick with it. But I will until I no longer enjoy it. It is knot-tying! Every few days I learn a new one and then test myself until I'm sure its in my memory bank. Today's is the Midshipman's Knot. Look it up. It is fun and useful. It is like a little noose that doesn't tighten unless you take pressure off it to slide-adjust it. 

I realize that other people surely know most of the words I post here that are new to me. Well, here's another: numinous—"having a spiritual or religious quality; suggestive of a presence of divinity". I could have used this word when I wrote about an experience after my father's death in the middle of a December. I had just come home from his funeral, where I'd told the story of his saving a lizard someone had callously thrown in the trash. I went upstairs to assuage my grief by holding the pillow on which he'd died. I had placed it in a bag in the guest bedroom closet. Upon opening the closet, there was a lizard on the pillow. I urgently called for my husband, who came and we stood in awe, just absorbing the moment. A numinous moment.

My short is the 10-minute-long film I'm planning to shoot in April. The script is based on a short story "The Foursome" in my latest book, Moments. So far, I have recruited a producer, one of the four actors, and the sound designer. But that is doing organizing business. On the artistic side, the really fun side, I am also making progress, having almost finished a shot list. That is a spreadsheet that lists every shot to be taken in the film, including the angle, movement, subject, and purpose. Basically, it is a run-through of the film in your head. The exercise is not only to make it easier to convey the director's objectives to the cast and crew, but also to help make lists of the equipment and set to make the scenes envisioned become reality. I am preparing the shot list on Google Sheets so that it can be shared with all who'll need it.

Last year, I bought a nuc of bees for a wooden hive . Watching them buzz around my flower beds was a sort of zen process that was so relaxing and refreshing. When the heat of summer got to them, they gathered outside the hive and fanned their little wings to cool off (photo below). Then tragedy struck yesterday. Bees from elsewhere descended on my hive and there was a horrible war, which my smaller group of bees lost. At first I put on my beekeeper suit and tried to nudge the attackers away, but they were relentless as they isolated each defending bee and killed him. With the battle won, now the intruders are stealing the stores of honey. I find myself remarkably emotional about this and am wondering how I could possibly hate one group of bees over another. But I do. I am trying to come up with a positive thought: maybe the honey from my bees will help the other hive thrive in the coming January cold.