Five Things - April 14, 2025

Welcome to my blog titled ‘Five Things’ where you can expect just that - five random musings or reflections from the previous week or so. I’ll also share a quote I find meaningful as a point of focus for the week. For a photo gallery of our life on the road, our pets, and miscellaneous things I find interesting, you can follow me on Instagram @tabithalord.

So here are this week’s five things, starting with the quote of the week…

1. “I’m not going to allow my inability to do everything undermine my ability to do something.” - Senator Cory Booker

2. Coachella, wow! I planned to go to this festival while we were here in the desert because it’s literally happening right down the street, and because it’s so iconic, and it did not disappoint! Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was expensive. Yes, it was super crowded, but the opportunity to experience it with my bestie, and two of my kids and their girlfriends, was truly worth it. Lady Gaga put on an amazing show, and Green Day was fab as usual. I also got to listen to so much great music that I otherwise wouldn’t have discovered on my own. All in all, it was a fantastic, memorable weekend. I am totally exhausted, and I’ll need a few days to recover, but it was worth it.

3. I’m taking another glass art class today. It’s only a one-off workshop, but I’m really excited. Old Town Artisan Studios is truly a little gem of an organization. The space is incredibly peaceful and their mission to bring art to an underserved population admirable. Doing an art that’s different from the type that’s become my career feels meditative and satisfying. It was something I promised myself I would do when I set my intentions for the New Year, and I’m proud that I’ve followed through.

4. I can’t believe this semester is almost over! We’re starting our final round of workshops for the school year tonight, and I’m really excited. We’ve been focused on the horror and western these last few weeks, so our stories will be written in one of these genres, or at least contain an element of one of the genres. Oddly enough, I’ve written another horror story even though I really wanted to try my hand at a space western. So many stories, so little time! Eventually maybe I’ll get to it…

5. Just a few more weeks here in the desert before we hit the road again. I will miss the beautiful sunshine in the middle of winter, the stark mountains against the bright blue sky, the adorable hummingbird population, the extra space in our outdoor living area, my lovely art studio, and the kind people we’ve met here. At the same time, I’m ready to continue our travel adventure. Onward!

Five Things - January 6, 2025

Welcome to my blog titled ‘Five Things’ where you can expect just that - five random musings or reflections from the previous week or so. I’ll also share a quote I find meaningful as a point of focus for the week. For a photo gallery of our life on the road, our pets, and miscellaneous things I find interesting, you can follow me on Instagram @tabithalord.

So here are this week’s five things, starting with the quote of the week…

1. “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, to all the people you can, in all the places you can, as long as ever you can.” - John Wesley

2. In keeping with my intentions for the New Year, I started an art class last week, and it was fabulous! I’ve mentioned before that when my art became my career, it lost a little of its shine. That's not to say I don’t love writing, and I am extremely grateful it’s now my profession, but I wanted to make some kind of art just for the sake of creating something, with no expectations attached to it. This class provides me that experience. It’s held in a beautiful artist co-op in Old Town with lovely art and lovely people all around. I’m so excited to see how my first project turned out!

3. Ray and I had what I now call an ‘adventure day’ last week at the Salton Sea. While not a National Park, it’s a really interesting place. There’s been a ‘sea’ in the Imperial Valley on and off for millions of years. This latest incarnation happened when flood waters broke through a canal gate, spilling water from the Colorado River into the basin for almost two years before a repair could be engineered. For scale, the Salton Sea is larger than Lake Tahoe.

4. This is my last week of school vacation, and I’m really excited to start classes again. The format will be the same, but instead of focusing on romance, mystery, and thriller, we’ll be studying science fiction, fantasy, horror, and westerns. The reading list is amazing! I’ve already ordered my pile of books, and I can’t wait to dig in.

5. It’s January here in the desert, and I must say, with the sun shining every day and the temperatures hovering at a perfect 75 degrees, I’ve made a pretty productive start to the New Year. While I don’t make resolutions, per se, I do create a list intentions, both personal and professional, on which I try to focus. Personally, I’ve committed to what I’m calling radical self-care, which includes more yoga, more art, more laughter, and more adventure! Professionally, I’m committed to completing all my lingering half-finished novels, submitting every piece of short fiction I write for school to publishers, participating fully in my classes, and figuring out my thesis project for next year. We’ll see how that all goes!