I’ve spent a great deal of my week weeding my garden. We grow a large vegetable garden. (I love fresh veggies and, during the winter, home frozen ones.) But it is a lot of work. Hoeing, hand picking and then harvesting and freezing.  As I tackle the job, I have to remind myself of the end result–the fresh vegetables.I’ve gone from this:

To this:

I’m having to do the same as I work on massive revisions this week. I know the story will be much stronger. I want to be happy with the end result so I must keep my eye on the goal.

I have to go from this:

To this:

To this:

I have to keep my eye on the prize but frankly:

In a story to be released later in 09, I have an infant that must be fed with a bottle. Because I wasn’t certain when bottles were invented nor how babies were fed before that (when no wet nurse was available) I set out to research the topic. Very interesting, it was. So in case you were wondering (I’m sure it was high on your list of things to consider) here is some of the information I found.

Much of the information came from the site:

http://www.babybottle-museum.co.uk/

The banjo shaped feeders of the late 1800′s was made popular because the Princess of Wales used it. Hence the name.

Elijah Pratt of New York patented the first rubber teat in 1845 which made bottles a lot easier to use. Early formulas consisted of (in 1867) wheat flour, cow milk, malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate. You have to wonder that any babies survived.

Charles M Windship of Roxbury, Massachusetts, patented the first United States nursing bottle in 1841. Many nursing bottles of the late 1800s were made to lay flat and a few types were embossed with reminders to ‘Feed the Baby.’

I don’t know. It seemed my babies reminded me themselves.

Eaton Catalogues (1915-1916)and other sources called the bottles NURSERS or sanitary feeders. Check out the prices on these. Some bottles  had nursery rhymes embossed on them. Seems a little more appropriate than reminders to feed the baby. The one on the purple background says, ‘See Saw Margie Daw’ and has a drawing of a boy and girl on a seesaw.

Sorry I’ve been absent this past week but not sorry for the reason. I took a little vacation-a time to recharge my creative batteries and laze around. I went to Hawaii with my sister and met my daughter and her family there. Nice.

Beautiful scenery and amazing flowers.

Lots of beach.

This is how I spent a lot of time.

Of course there are some other things to see and do. We visited the Arizona memorial. Very touching.

The Punch bowl memorial. More amazement. Over 33,000 markers of those who fought in the Pacific.

But for real amazement look at these guys out fishing in a surf that practically washed them off the rocks and a wind that they could barely stand in. I waited a while hoping to get a million dollar picture to sell to the tabloids when they got swept away but it didn’t happen.

I came back with a story worked out (nothing like a long boring airplane ride for thinking).