Digging up Memories and Planning for New Ones

I have been working on ways to improve my blogs and website this past week. I have changed my website, www.glendacouncilbeall.com and I like the new colors which make it easier to read. I was thinking about hiring someone to update my pages, but upon looking around, I find I like what I have and it works for me.

I would like your opinion. If you think I could improve my blogs by making them more modern in appearance, please let me know.

I am thinking about opening my studio again but just for online classes. Now that I have found Zoom is so easy to use for most of us, I can hold virtual classes and host other writers who teach. 

The Zoom format would work well for me because I can hold those classes from home or from my sister's house or wherever I might be. 

I went down to my studio this afternoon and worked about four hours going through files, discarding papers I no longer need and surprising myself when I found little treasures that have been buried in that file cabinet for much too long. 

I began publishing poetry and short nonfiction in 1996 after taking classes with poet, Nancy Simpson, my mentor and my friend who is gone now. In my files are encouraging notes from her complimenting me on my poetry. I also kept her handouts and used them when teaching poetry to beginners. So many memories turn up when we delve into those folders where we tucked them away long ago.

As we age, we can not do all the things we once did. 

Like my friend who was a skydiver said on her blog, those days are gone now, but she has wonderful memories that will always be with her. 

This is a portrait of Pretty Thing done by my sister, Gay Moring

My memories of my horse, Pretty Thing, still linger in my mind and in my heart. A sorrel mare with a blaze, she was perfect for me. She came to our farm when she was a two-year-old.

I had her for twenty-eight years and she was a wonderful friend. I can't ride now. The last time I got on a horse and rode for an hour, I had to have help getting out of the saddle. Then I had to have help for a minute to make my knees work.

I am accepting the loss of those activities I loved when I was young and those activities I enjoyed here in my studio. But, with the new technology, I can continue with my Writers Circle Around the Table. Maybe this summer or fall will be a renewal for me and I can invite those excellent writers and poets who live in distant places to join me here in western North Carolina while they sit at their computer at their home. 

My friends, thank you for visiting me here. I hope you will subscribe to my blog and even though Google is going to stop sending you emails when I post, I will find a new way to keep you informed.

Have a great week.