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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina

@lizzybeeapex.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1.7K following 424 posts

Grantwriter, volunteer, gardener, bus rider, pedestrian. Introvert, eccentric, insomniac, vegan, frugal, book reader. Retiring after long career with Habitat for Humanity. Lived in California, Massachusetts, Texas, North Carolina.

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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Three feral kittens rescued from a wild patch near my backyard shed. Fortunately, a neighbor has extensive knowledge about cat trapping and kitten fostering. The mother was spayed and released.
Three solid-black kitten siblings curled together in a cardboard box.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
The mornings are cold enough now here in the Raleigh area of North Carolina, that my gardening routine gets interrupted. Revisiting photos from other seasons. Here is the takeover by squash and strawberries. #gardening
Foliage of yellow squash and strawberry plants, spreading in backyard.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
From my metaphoric language collection, , which has been compiled for three decades: Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, 2023. Very long waiting list at the library for the big 645-page book. The author does a good job capturing the intensity, jealousy, and tension in teen friendships. #BookSky
“All she had to do was laugh at their jokes and look interested and be ready for the moment when they would lean in to kiss her, at which point she would sidestep like a matador, a single graceful movement that hardly seemed a movement at all and left everybody’s pride intact.” -- Paul Murray. The Bee Sting. 2023.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
I was so happy to spend an hour gazing at this little raccoon. His head popped out of an opening in the backyard neighbor's shed. We bonded across the fence line. (Older photo, but a favorite memory.)
Sweet face of a raccoon peering out of a shed opening. From downtown Apex, North Carolina.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Grantwriting beginners often have unrealistic expectations about the likelihood of receiving large grant awards for small start-up nonprofits. Carefully researching the funder, pitching a well-defined project, and customizing each section of proposal text improves the odds. #writing
The success rate for proposals submitted to private foundations is between 1% and 5%. The Cheney Foundation only funds 2% of applications, but the success ratio increases to 50% for those proposals that exactly match guidelines.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Densely-planted backyard. Evening Primrose, Black Eyed Susan, and Rose Campion have spread beautifully.
Garden scene featuring Evening Primrose, Black Eyed Susan, and Rose Campion. Apex, North Carolina.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Ancestor! Great-grandfather William Dupree Cox, Senior, through the lineage of my birth father William "Jerry" Howell. Wish I knew the story of these well-dressed affectionate men and their guitar. Probably lived in Louisiana, maybe near the small town of Arcadia. 1882-1936.
Historic photo of great-grandfather William Dupree Cox, Senior (1882-1936) and George McMullen, holding a guitar and touching each other's shoulders.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Beloved author Charlotte Armstrong: The Seventeen Widows of Sans Souci. 1959. A middle-aged woman moves to an apartment house for widows and becomes embroiled with the eccentric personalities, despite her initial effort to stay aloof. Loved the commentary on creating a meaningful life as we age.
First edition book cover of 1959's The Seventeen Widows of Sans Souci. Photo of author Charlotte Armstrong.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
From my metaphoric language collection: “Miss Myrtle’s grasshopper mind never dwelt long on one subject.” -- short story “The Girl Who Went Right” by Edna Ferber, 1913 www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/10/the-... #BookSky
Screenshot of the Saturday Evening Post layout of the Edna Ferber short story.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
More grants received: $80,000 to rebuild a flood damaged ReStore (like a thrift store for building supplies) for a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Western North Carolina. $52,000 to hire a construction site supervisor for a disaster recovery repair program. Some freelance availability! #writer
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Beloved dog Albert investigating the pea shoots. The upside-down laundry baskets from the Dollar Tree store are protecting the plants from the naughty squirrels.
Dog sniffing at container plants growing inside protective covers.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
John Updike on the ideal audience for #writers: “You don’t write for the critics. And you don’t write for the public. You don’t write for the people who can buy hardback books. You write for a ten-year old kid in a public library somewhere in the middle west a hundred years from now.”
John Updike quotation about writing for a kid in a library in the future. Purple theme with viola photograph in background.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
“True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care -- with no one there to see or cheer.” -- David Foster Wallace
Quotation by David Foster Wallace, formatted in red text on yellow background with floral border.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain." -- Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau quote about nature.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Technically, the cats were not allowed on the kitchen counter. But this level of gorgeousness enhances any room.
Black & white cat and smaller grey cat on kitchen counter.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
My two vintage sewing machines have been repaired. Time to start making banners again.
Handmade banner with the word "vegan" in bring yellow on maroon background plus chicken illustrations.Banners and armbands. Slogans like "Pray for Peace" and "Celebrate Sisterhood."
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Best part of my November garden: pale pink asters attracting pollinators and dominating the front yard. They spread nicely so I transplant them everywhere and give away pots to anyone with compliments.
Cluster of pale pink asters with yellow centers, plus a bumblebee.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Cooler version of me with sunglasses, flip flops, and a leashed cat at the park in 1968. I still wear dresses like that with lace trim and a flare to the sleeve.
Vintage photo of two young sisters at a park with their pet cat on a leash.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Book recommendation: Ariel Lawhon's "The Frozen River." In 1789 Maine, a midwife investigates the murder of a man accused of rape. Based partly on the historic diaries of a real midwife. Wonderful profile of family bonds and tender relationships. [Warning: contains violent scenes.]
Book cover for Ariel Lawhon's historic crime novel "The Frozen River."
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Periodically amuse myself by wandering through Apex, North Carolina, in animal mask and costume. This was Easter weekend.
Very silly middle-aged woman in Bunny Princess costume poses with the neighbors.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Doing my part for the bumblebees and other pollinators. The garden is swarming. The messier this overgrown jungle becomes -- the more the wildlife stakes their claim.
Bee on yellow flower stalk.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
One-woman protest against gentrification in Apex, North Carolina. This banner is strategically placed in my backyard for maximum visibility from the windows of three McMansions that loom over this vintage neighborhood of 1950s brick homes. Trees gone from those properties! Heart broken!
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Collage of favorite photos: flowers and animals! Highlights of my daily introverted life as a remote freelance grant writer.
Colorful photos. Close up of fifteen flowers in bloom. Faces of three black dogs and two lovely cats.
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Elizabeth "Lizzy Bee" living in North Carolina @lizzybeeapex.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Brand new to Bluesky! Here are my little friends. A bonded pair rescued when their elderly owner passed away. Affectionate and adorable.
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