Image credit
From my WIP, Seeking Odessa, I picture this tree along the bayou in Odessa’s back yard outside the kitchen door. The way the branches create a network, very much like the different paths and subplots of the story. Here’s an example–can you smell it, see it, hear it, feel it, and more important, would you like to visit? I’d love to know what you think!
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From the shrub at the bottom of the steps the scent of gardenia wafted around Odessa.
Oo-oo-waoh, oo-oo-waoh oo-oo-waoh.
Mourning doves pecked at the ground under the live oak. She scooped a cup of seed from the bucket by the door. They took flight into lower branches when she stepped out to toss the seed, but soon settled again on the ground. Countless mornings, countless generations of doves had been lovingly fed under this giant tree.
From a branch of the oak hung a wooden bench swing. She strolled over, gave it a shove and watched it sway, stilled it and laid down. With bare feet braced against the cool chain she pushed with first one foot and then the other to make the swing twist. Above her, in the Spanish moss-draped branches were three pairs of eyes peering back.
Raccoons have lived in moss nests in the upper fork of the oak for as long as she could remember and probably for far longer. They journeyed up and down the tree, walking the branches growing down and sprawling along the ground.
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Ramblin' Annee 
Glorious photo, Annee! And I love the new design!
Thanks! It’s coming along. Reading how to’s on WP and watching some WP how to video’s on Lydia.com. I was going to link Lydia.com, but the site is down for maintenance. How inconvenient. Hey Write-A-Thin, day after tomorrow. I’m trying to figure out how to drop the badge on my site with a link to WFWA. So far it’s still over my head.
Hi! I’m heading down to Louisiana in April for my niece’s wedding and plan to take a swamp tour while I’m there. Taking pictures to use for posting snippets of Seeking Odessa is at the top of my to do list.
The tree, the birds, the swing – when can I come over? 🙂
Lovely–wish I could visit that tree in person! 🙂
It is an awesome tree, isn’t it? That’s just one of the things I miss about living in south Louisiana.
I noticed the blog posts were going to my personal FB page. I figured out how to redirect to my author page. Do you know if there’s a way to post Inspiration to my author page now that it’s already been posted once? Maybe repost and then remove it from my personal page?