February 2nd: Early Spring in Ground hog's sight!

Photo by  P. Tonery: Sun Dog,  Winter Morning

In an eyeblink of New Year, January came and went. Our weather  (Polar Vortex) has been cold to the bone. The Spring semester at St. John Fisher started three weeks ago, and The College at Brockport started this week. So far, all is well.

Today, the Ground Hog didn't see his shadow, so he predicts the promise of an early Spring-- make it so weather gods.

In 2018, I had the grand total of 106  acceptances (poetry, fiction, essays, reviews). 100 acceptance has been my annual   goal for several years , and I have been a bit short. I was so surprised that I actually did it this year.  I feel extremely fortunate to have my work appear in so many fine journals. Now I am working on  a new collection of poems and a collection of 100 100 word stories.  I began this work in December 2018, during those limbo holiday weeks, when everything is strangely quiet and time seems to move at a slower pace. Now I am not sure if I am on foot or horseback, and the beginning of every new semester is wild with do this--
no, do this-- and somehow, everything gets done.

Recent work published in December: 

Dime Show Review: (100 word Story)

https://www.dimeshowreview.com/another-time-by-m-j-iuppa/?fbclid=IwAR1mlkhNpaEK2jMgy0DbxuDUxpkRErB6moRi0mohpK5swDco7FyJLZKW1H4

 Poems in Ekphrastic Review.
http://www.ekphrastic.net/apps/search?q=iuppa


Poems in Burning House:
https://burninghousepress.com/2018/12/21/m-j-iuppa-2-poems/?fbclid=IwAR3QSAHQNaDZ3i3n-fmxVzBkm_GXUdIAiKDHAkYVFxjAOcbInKQQuAkmsLI

Consider sending your creative work to these fine journals.




 Quote for the Day:

“When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably you think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgment of the gift you have been given, which is life itself. And I think the world tends to forget that this is the ultimate significance of the body of work each artist produces. That work is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitude for the gift of life.”
                                                        ~ Stanley Kunitz

Happy Fourth of July!

A beautiful sunny day, what more could we ask for? Happy Fourth of July!

Later today, family will be coming over.  We're BBQ-ing a homegrown Turkey, making potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, fruit salad, pasta salad, preseco with cranberry and peach mocktails "Bellini"
and general good cheer!


Gardens

We have been slogging our way in the gardens.  Hoeing has been a challenging exercise, but we're getting it done.

A large pumpkin plant has suddenly emerged in the yard, near a spot where we fed our turkeys last year, and they ate a lot of squash, zucchini, pumpkin.  In  the North garden, a lot of goddess given squash family plants have sprung up, and  instead of planting them in East garden, I have made an 'Isle of Green,' arranging these squash, cucumber, zucchini varieties in a heart shape around the large pumpkin plant. It looks quite pretty, and so far, everything has adjusted to the move.

Writing

 June went too quickly, and here it is the beginning of July. I have been diligent in keeping my morning hours. Writing for a couple of solid hours every day, mostly 100 word stories, in hopes of finishing the collection this summer.  I have been  fortune to have many of these micro stories picked up for publication in Otoliths, 100 word story, Jellyfish Review, Dime Show Review, Eunoia Review, Scarlet Leaf Review, Synaeresis Arts +Poetry, and others.

This past weekend, I finish a 3230 word story called "She Was a Good Listener." 

I have been enjoying myself, occupying these different landscapes and social interactions and characters' mindsets. Why they do what they do seems to be my motivation.  My fiction  is beady-eyed, I think.  It takes a hard look at characters behaving badly; yet, there is room to have empathy for them and their lives and how they think day to day to come up with a solution.