It’s been a long time, months, I think, since I’ve welcomed everyone for a #weekendcoffeeshare. I’m glad to welcome you now, into our coffee shop. The owner has a nice setup for us. Several kinds of coffee and tea this morning. Danish and other pastries. Please pick your pleasure and join us. I’m so glad to see all of you!
If we were having coffee, my only excuse for not being here recently is that I’ve spent the summer writing. Writing a novel and recently starting another long-form fiction piece that, I think, is going to be a novella. There is a growing market for novellas now. I’m excited about them both.
Other things have been going on as well. The last time we spoke, I think I had lost my dog, a wonderful companion. A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Betsy. I lost her, at only four years old, to a terrible genetic illness afflicting only a few breeds. Since I don’t “do” life very well without a dog, I picked out a puppy soon after Betsy’s death. I still mourn her and always will. Now I have Hanna, who is the wildest, craziest puppy I’ve ever had. She was 3.5 months old when I got her and had spent much of her life in a crate. She is now 6.5 months old and is terribly well-adjusted for the most part. Hanna is a “designer” dog or a dog bred like a Goldendoodle, a mix of two breeds. She is half Havanese and half Lowchen and it seems to be a good mix. She’s beautiful, funny, smart, and healthy. If I can live through her puppyhood (a challenge), she will make a wonderful companion. Here is just a head shot and I’m sure you can see what I mean:
We are currently working hard on obedience training!
My summer has been completely filled with training and raising Hanna and writing up to 12 hours per day.
Now that October is almost here, I am getting ready to go to my little home in Florida for the winter. No idea yet when I will go. Hurricane Irma devastated Florida and did a lot of damage to the island where I live. I had some damage at my own home. Hurricane season doesn’t end in the U.S. until November 30, but usually hurricanes subside during November. This year, the Atlantic Ocean temperatures are still very warm. I won’t go to Florida until the ocean temperatures cool and until I’m sure that the infrastructure has been restored on my island. It makes it hard to know when to hire a housesitter! I hope to spend Thanksgiving there, but who knows? Everything is uncertain this year. The hurricane damage to Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys is unbelievably awful.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that’s all that’s been going on with me. I’d love to hear what’s been going on with all of you!
The Write Scribe 
Hanna is a real beauty. What island do you go to in Florida? I used to spend lots of time in the state, and feel really bad about all the devastation. Good luck with the restoration. Thanks for coffee.
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Pine Island. Going north, you have Marco, Sanibel, Pine. It is not commercialized and is more “old Florida” or WAS before the hurricane. There are tourists as it is a draw for outdoorsy people. Very beautiful. It’s damaged, but the residents there are determined to put it back together. They will and the snowbirds like me will help. Thank you!
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Hanna is such a beautiful dog! Love the colors (and the long hair). Our dogs need so much more training than we’ve provided, I feel guilty, sometimes. So nice to know that your Hanna is quick to catch onto things.
Writing a book would be absorbing enough to neglect the coffee blog. I have been taking a short course (4 weeks, only 1 week left to go) on poetry, and when I get involved in writing, all else is achieved on a random basis.
Happy to have come across your web site and the Weekend Coffee Share post! I hope to be back.
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Thank you so much! About my Hanna and the website! Hanna is a handful! Any dog is a challenge to train and a full-time job to do it right. I just want to train Hanna “enough.” Whatever enough is! 🙂 Yes, writing a book, two actually, is incredibly absorbing. Exciting and exhausting all at once. Nice to virtually meet you and I hope you’ll be back.
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Yes! I am pleased to meet you, also! I confess to not being a writer of books. My true literary love is writing poems of twenty lines or less. I am the oddball. My mother wrote two genealogy books and a memoir, and my sister writes SF/Fantasy novels. ::sigh:: I truly admire people who tackle the longer projects. 🙂
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You are not the oddball! I love poetry! I am not a poet, but I really admire people who can write poetry. I takes great depth and imagination.
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Your new fur baby is just PRECIOUS!! I’m sure she will bring you much joy.. I’m sorry to hear you had damage in FL and hope it wasn’t too major. Thanks for the coffee, I hope to keep in touch with our coffee share buds as I’m not sure what happened to the link up. Have a great week!
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Thanks, Kathleen! What DID happen to the linkup? Does it not exist anymore? Do you know?
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I don’t know for sure, I can’t even access her site, it’s been made private. She mentioned on Twitter having a hard time writing lately, so I hope she’s OK. Tara from Daisy Smiley Face is starting up a new similar linkup on 10/13, so check it out if you are interested. 🙂
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Thanks, Kathleen. I will keep an eye out for the new linkup. I, too, want to keep in touch with everyone!
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Thanks for coffee. Good to see you back and with such an adorable addition to the family. I have a spoodle (which I think in the States is called a cockerpoo). I agree – getting through puppyhood is a trial – now at two mine is a great companion although she still has a bit of a naughty streak.
Well done on your writing. I understand your absence. Have a good week.
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