Woke up early, around…

Woke up early, around 3:30, which I'd be annoyed about, but I feel reasonably rested -- must be the steroids. Well, and the going to sleep at 8:30. Started day in bed reading the end of T. Kingfisher's (Ursula Vernon's) Seventh Bride, which along with her Nine Goblins and Byrony and Roses made for a nice trilogy of light fantasy reading. Well, light in the sense of a quick and pleasurable read, but Seventh Bride is really quite gory, and I can see why even though it has a fifteen-year-old protagonist, her publisher didn't think it was a children's book. It's in the Grimm tradition, let us say. But I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway, even as it spooked me.

Then lay in bed a bit longer, thinking about the novel, and figured out how to solve a problem with the next few scenes, yay. I'd been a bit stuck, but all is well now. That motivated me to actually get up, eat breakfast, drink tea, and then I was going to write -- but remembered that it's going to be hot and muggy today. Adam, the college student we hire to do our heavier yard work, came yesterday and put in some plants for me -- along with the replacement hanging baskets, I finally picked up a Rose of Sharon, which I've been wanting for YEARS, along with three more Lavender Mist meadow rue (to balance the other side of the yard), three toad lilies (to fill in the hellstrip), and three tiny pinks (to bright a bare spot that used to be full of weeds).

So before it got too hot, I pulled out some of the weeds around the Rose of Sharon. Sadly, just filling one wee basket of weeds makes my chest pound right now (also the steroids), so I am limiting myself to one basket (about 15 min) at a time -- I did the whole hellstrip yesterday, which took about an hour, and that was maybe a mistake, because it really made my chest pound the whole time. I ignored it because I had gotten a bit obsessive about finishing, but I am trying to be wiser today.

Now I'm ensconced on my porch, wishing we had a ceiling fan, because at almost 6 a.m., it's pleasant but already getting muggy, and a fan would make it perfect. Maybe I'll drag out a standing fan, because it is nice being outside. Plan is to write for an hour, then start getting the kids reading for breakfast / camp / preschool. More writing starting @ 9, hopefully.