Category: #weekendcoffeeshare

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Challenges

Weekend Coffee Share #177

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#weekendcoffeeshare #177

September 6, 2024

This is #weekendcoffeeshare #177. Good morning and happy weekend! Come right in and share a cup of coffee or tea with me and we’ll catch up.

I hope you’ve all had a good week. In the U.S., it was a week starting with a Monday holiday. We celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September. Labor Day is to celebrate the hard-working middle class and union workers in the U.S.

If we were having coffee, I would share with you what we did for the Labor Day Holiday this past Monday. We went to my cousin’s home, deep in Appalachia. Actually just about 60 miles from where I live. Just a day trip. My cousin passed away back in the spring, but her husband is still living in her family home. He isn’t well and we went to visit. I don’t remember a time when he wasn’t in our family.

He is old now and my cousin’s death has made him older. They were together since they were children, then married. It’s quite a love story. He’s pretty lost without her. It was very good to visit with him.

My cousin’s home and our family’s home place

We took our German Shepherd dog, Sophie, with us. She absolutely love riding in the car and we try to get her out for a road trip as often as we can. Of course, she gets either ice cream or a hamburger along the way as her special treat. Sophie is an excellent traveler. When we make stops, she is gentle and kind to anyone she meets. People seem to gravitate to her.

Sophie got to meet some new people, go for a walk in a different area and visit the county vegetable market. By the time we got home, she was ready to lie down and sleep. She was so excited all day that she totally tired herself out! She is a delight to us, a constant bright spot in our days. As you get older, you need all the bright spots you can get!

The weather here in the Upper South of the U.S. was wonderful all week. September and October are two of our most gorgeous months. It was hot this week, but the humidity was not as bad as it had been in the earlier part of the summer.

I don’t vegetable garden because I live in the forest, but I do some flower gardening. I didn’t do much this year and it’s a good thing. My perennials really suffered in the constant 90 plus(F) degree temperatures. I’m not sure which will come back and which won’t. I may have to replace a lot of plants next summer.

I have so many projects going that I don’t know what to do first! Yes, one of them is a writing project. I don’t know yet if it is the beginning of a novel or a long short story. I’m at a spot where I’m sort of stuck regarding the plot, so I have to figure that out. I am enjoying writing this story and am anxious to see where it takes me.

I’m considering writing a cookbook with a friend. If we go ahead with it, it will be a compilation of recipes from the southern United States. The U.S. South has a special culture and its own food traditions. I think we can make it a delightful read if we can get an outline and get started.

Tell me about your week!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, nonfiction

weekendcoffeeshare #175

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

August 23, 2024

Hello everyone and welcome to my weekendcoffeeshare for the week beginning August 23, 2024! Please come right in and join me for a catchup and a cup of coffee or tea. Please help yourself to whatever you like.

If we were having coffee together today, I would tell you that I haven’t participated in the coffee share or in any of the challenges for about three weeks now. Why? Put simply, life got in the way! There have been lots of things, some good and some not so good, going on that has taken my focus (and time) away from writing. I’m getting back in the groove now.

My flower gardens are just about gone for this year. We have four distinct seasons here in my location in the U.S., Kentucky, Upper South. Summer is coming to an end. We’ve even had nights down in the 40s though the days are still mostly hot, even some in the 90s. We have had an awfully hot summer and some of the plants I have traditionally grown have not done so well this year. Others have fared very well. I think climate change will eventually change our growing zones and that is perhaps happening in my location even now.

Here are some of the plants that I’ve managed to grow this summer.

Clematis
Japanese Painted Fern
Rhododendron
Peonies
New Guinea Impatients

They have been nice and brightened up my yard, but the weather has been hard on them. These are not plants that do particularly well when the temperatures are in the 90s every day. Very unusual for my area.

My husband and I have both had some health issues pop up recently. He will have to have some eye surgery in the fall. As for me, it is going to take a specific and very restrictive diet. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, to eat on this diet. I’m already thin and I really don’t want to get any thinner, but I suspect that will happen! Getting older is not for sissies!

I’ve been fortunate to be able to talk to and see some friends and family recently. That always helps everything seem better. I had a small nuclear family, but I have a big extended family on both my mom’s and dad’s sides of the family. I also have good lifetime – and new – friends. We have had a lot of support over the past few weeks.

Sophie, the German Shepherd
Sophie at a nearby state park
Hazel, my little rescued Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Hazel again (enlarge)

These two (very spoiled) four-legged babies have been my salvation over the past few weeks. Sophie is big and protective, but a baby inside. Hazel is just now really coming around after being rescued last year. It’s been hard for her, but she has turned into a sweet, loyal puppy. They lift my spirits when times are tough.

I am redecorating the inside of my house and in the fall, we will paint the entire inside. Redecorating is really an overstatement. I am redoing some things, but not everything. Just decluttering and, in the process, figuring out how to modernize as I go along. So far, it has been a very big job. I worked such long hours for so many years and didn’t really pay much attention to my home. I’m paying for that now by having to put some long hours into my house!

All of this adds up to no writing for the past few weeks. I don’t want to get into that pattern, so I’m back to work on my blog and will be participating more. Not only do I enjoy writing, but it is therapeutic for me. I’m starting to freelance a little, mostly in the field in which I worked for so many years which is finance.

I’ve missed talking to all of you. Thank you for coming to my weekendcoffeeshare!

Thank you Natalie, the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, nonfiction

#weekendcoffeeshare #167

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare #167! Please join us and pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea. There are lots of varieties on the bar.

If we were having coffee, the first thing I would share with you is that I have revamped my contact page. If any of you would like to contact me, please feel free. Just click on the link!

It’s been a busy week, both on the blog and in other parts of my life! Summer has begun here in Kentucky, U.S.A! The temperatures are heating up and the vegetation here in Daniel Boone National Forest, where I live, is lush. We had so much rain in the spring that the forest responded and the vegetation is especially lush this year. It’s like living in the rain forest!

Early in the week, my husband was doing some yard work and came across a timber rattlesnake. He was far enough away from it so it couldn’t strike, but it tried. They are quite poisonous. He took care of that problem. Here is an image of a timber rattler in case you need to know.

Timber Rattlesnake

If you see one of these guys, be calm, back away slowly, and either leave it alone or end its life as this snake is very poisonous. It’s also very common in this part of the U.S.

This week, we also attended a Celebration of Life for a friend who just passed away. She was one of my best friends and it’s been a sad time. We met when we were 6 years old and have stayed close our entire lives. I will miss her always. The Celebration of her Life was so nice with a huge turnout. It was nice because I got to see a lot of friends who I seldom see. Carol would have enjoyed it.

The cupboard was bare here at the beginning of the week so we made a trip to a couple of places we shop for groceries. One place was the local vegetable market, only open in the warm months. They have wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit. Since we try to eat healthy, we frequent this old-fashioned market often.

Fannin’s Vegetable Market, West Liberty, KY, USA

We’ve had good and healthy food to eat this week!

I’ve spent a lot of time with my two dogs this week, engaging in some dog training. Sophie, my German Shepherd dog, is already trained in obedience and protection, so I spent some time teaching her to play fly ball, which she loves. The next task is to teach her to play frisbee! Sophie likes to play fly ball with her squeaky chicken!

Sophie and her squeaky chicken

Hazel, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, is my other dog. She will be two years old soon, but she got a rocky start in life. We rescued her and she has some health challenges, so she is a little behind the curve. We love her and have to protect her from too much activity. I’ve started taking her on short walks, getting a bit longer each day. She loves her walks!

Hazel

We went out to dinner this week which we don’t often do. There is a wonderful restaurant in a little town about 40 miles away that is right on the Ohio River. We had dinner with our friends there and we really enjoyed seeing them.


If we were having coffee today, I would very much enjoy seeing you and sharing my week!I look forward to reading your #weekendcoffeeshare.

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, creative writing, nonfiction, Uncategorized, weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare 165

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Welcome, everyone to my #weekendcoffeeshare 165! There are several types of coffee for your drinking pleasure along with tea. Green and black. Let’s catch up after you get the beverage of your choice.

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you about the creepiest thing that happened to me this week! This morning, my husband was doing some weed eating around the house. We have two evergreen trees close together in the yard and he went there to weed eat. What he saw rattled him….no pun intended. It was a timber rattlesnake, a juvenile, which probably means there is a nest nearby. Now I’m afraid to go out in my yard! I’m posting a picture so anyone who lives in or near the woods will know what they look like. Be careful!

Timber rattlesnake

On Monday of this week, we had a little get-together at my house for Memorial Day. The U.S. celebrates our veterans on that day and the tradition, at least in the south, is to decorate their graves. We did that earlier in the weekend. Then, on Monday, we had a cookout for just a few friends. We had a really nice time! If you aren’t familiar with the U.S. tradition of Memorial Day, here is an article I wrote about it.

I’ve talked to some cherished family and a few good friends this week which is always nice. Besides that, it’s been a normal week for us, made better by beautiful spring weather. The gardens aren’t doing well due to the wild swings in temperature here and too much rain. See you next week!

Rosemary

Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Horse Racing, Recipes, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare 164 – May 24, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Hello and welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare! I’m so glad you could all join me this morning. We have several kinds of coffee and tea, so grab a cup and let’s go catch up!

One highlight of my week was, once again, horse racing! I wrote about racing in a previous #weekendcoffeeshare; in fact, the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is just the first jewel in the races known as the Triple Crown. The second jewel is the Preakness Stakes, ran at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, USA. The Preakness started off this week for me.

The Preakness is a shorter race than the Derby. It is one mile and 3/16. The Derby is a mile and a quarter. Horse that fade at the end in the Derby often run in the Preakness. This year, just like in the Derby, a long shot won the day. A gray horse, Seize the Grey, came in first. There will be no Triple Crown winner this year.

The last race in the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes which happens a few weeks from now. It’s my time of year to enjoy horse racing as it is for many in the U.S. and specifically in Kentucky.

My flower garden. Gardening is disappointing this year. There has been so much rain, daily almost, that my flower blooms have been ruined. It is so disappointing. The weather people have said that my area is going to have the hottest summer on record. The thunderstorms and rain are going to have to stop before that can happen!

The only other thing I’ve been doing is some writing and some reading. Also a little cooking. Fresh produce is starting to arrive at the markets and I love it, so I cook fairly frequently. Sometime, I’ll have to fill you in on U.S. southern cooking. It’s different! If you’re interested in that sort of thing (or in eating!), you might want to take a peek at some of the recipes I’ve posted, particularly this one.

See you next weekend!

Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Non-fiction

#weekendcoffeeshare162

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Hello everyone! So nice to see you. Please join me for my #weekendcoffeeshare 162. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and let’s sit down and visit.

The highlight of the week for me was the Kentucky Derby. For those of you unfamiliar with the Kentucky Derby, it is known as the most exciting two minutes in sports. The Derby is a race for 3 year old colts held at Churchill Downs race track in Louisville, Kentucky. It draws not only Kentuckians but people from around the world. This year, horses were entered not just from Kentucky and the United States, but Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Many of my friends, family and I, and all Kentuckians, are into horse racing. I didn’t go to the Derby, but I studied it in advance, and its horses, and thought I had a pretty good idea who would win. WRONG! Mystick Dan, a 18-1 long shot won the race, which is the first leg of the Triple Crown. He is a bay three-year old colt with a fine pedigree. Derby winners and other great horses are in his ancestry including Affirmed, Northern Dancer, Seattle Slew, and Mr. Prospector. It was an exciting three-horse photo finish.

Mystick Dan is the horse nearest to the rail in the above photo.

We love the Kentucky Derby in this part of the world. I’ve visited American Pharoach (2015 Derby winner), a gorgeous, gentle thoroughbred. I also talk about my connection to the 2016 Derby winner. I have even written a piece about the downsides of horse racing (and there are many).

Here is a picture of this year’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs!

Do you enjoy horse racing? I’d love to hear your comments!

Until next weekend…..

Rosemary

Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare – April 13, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Good morning and come on in! Join me for #weekendcoffeeshare #160! I”m so glad to be blogging again. I really enjoy the writing, but I also enjoy my interactions with all of you. Grab a cup of coffee and please join me for a catch-up.

Wild weather in my part of the world again this week. Terrible thunderstorms and wind. It’s spring here and the weather is always unsettled, but never quite as unsettled as it is this year.

The week started with the solar eclipse! We did not get totality here. We got about 96%. It was quite cloudy that day, but most of us still got a pretty good glimpse at the eclipse. I was surprised because it did not turn as dark as we expected. Quite an event! The University here has a space science division and very nice facilities including a large telescope. They invited the public to come take a glimpse and that was fascinating!

I’ve done a lot of work this week. A lot of writing. What is your current WP? I’m looking at ideas for two books. I don’t know, for sure, if I will pursue these ideas or not, but I like them both. It’s not about me, however, it is about the potential audience for my work. I have to undertake some market research to find out if there is a potential audience. I feel like I’m out of touch with what the public is reading for pleasure since, until recently, I was writing on contract in my field.

What do you feel the public likes now? I’d love your opinions!

I have some pics of my garden although Mother Nature seems determined to make this gardening year difficult. Our last frost date isn’t until May 15, so there is plenty of time left for her to kill it! I used to grow vegetables, but not now. Living in the forest does not let you have access to enough sunlight. There is also a tree here, the black oak, that drips sap that is poisonous to veggies. So, now it’s flowers for me!

Speaking of flowers, allow me to show you the progress of some of my favs in my flower garden! Here are the perennials just starting in my shade garden.

Siberian Bugloss (top) and fern (bottom)

Ajuga – a great shade groundcover

Coral Bells

Here are a few of my plants in another flower bed that get partial sun/partial shade.

From the front:

Hosta. Left of the hosta is a clematis. Immediately behind the hosta is two peonies. Behind the peonies and to the right, climbing, is another variety of clematis. Behind the peonies/clematis is an iris bed. The irises are slowly coming up. I have both Siberian Iris and Louisiana Iris.

Other flowering plants are in this bed that have not come up yet. It’s early spring here in the Kentucky mountains.

Thanks for having coffee with me and have a wonderful week!

Many thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare #159 – April 6, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Good morning and welcome to my April 6, 2024 #weekendcoffeeshare 159! Please come in a have a seat. I was hoping it would be warm this morning, but it isn’t, so we will be here in my kitchen.

If I were having coffee with you this morning, I would tell you that this has been one of those weeks. By the end of it, I didn’t know if I wanted to scream or if I wanted to climb back in bed and pull the covers up over my head!

The week started, last Sunday, with three and one-half or four full on bad weather

days. Here in the East Central U.S., we had flood warnings, tornado watches and warnings, severe thunderstorm watches and warnings,, and warnings about hail. In addition, we had warnings from the National Weather Service about high winds, perhaps hurricane force.

Where I live, we got all the weather, but we were spared any real damage. There was one evening where we had 70 mile per hour winds and a terrible thunderstorm, but they weren’t tornadic. The road flooded at the base of the mountain where I live and no one could get in or out.

After the stormy weather, it turns cold here. Really cold for April where I live in the US. I have two perennial gardens and all the plants had to be covered up – for four nights in a row. I think, today, the weather is finally back to something approaching normal and we can take the covers off.

Even in the cold, the perennial gardens are just starting to thrive.

The end of the week held an event I went to. One of my best friends lost her husband a month ago. She had a Celebration of Life for him instead of the traditional visitation and funeral. It was at a local bar where he worked off and on. Although we all paid our respects, it was really just a big party in celebration of Jeff’s life. It was nice to be able to see a lot of friends all at once. I was able to see some of my high school classmates which I always enjoy.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing for this blog. I’m gradually getting comfortable with it again and may start back to work on my book. I had been sort of blocked for a while, but seeing friends and writing with friends here has helped. Thanks to all of you!

I’m currently reading the book, “Commonwealth,” by Ann Patchett. I like her books sometimes, but not always. I’ve only just started this book and the jury is still out. Has anyone else read it?

Thank you for stopping by my #weekendcoffeeshare today! I’m off to read some of your’s. Will you watch the solar eclipse this week?

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare #158 – March 30, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
green tea on green background

Hello, everyone, and welcome to #weekendcoffeeshare #158. Help yourself to one of several brews or a cup of green or black tea. Grab your beverage, have a seat in my writing room, and we’ll catch up!

As Natalie points out, it’s the end of one entire quarter of 2024! I can’t believe three months of 2024 are already gone. The older you get, the faster time flies! If we were having coffee this morning, I would tell you that this last quarter has been one of the busiest I’ve had in a long time. I’ve had several projects that I’ve tackled but not necessarily finished.

The first quarter has been my time to break back into to blogging and I’ve surely enjoyed blogging with all of you. My fiction skills were rusty (or non-existent) and I’m trying to hone them a bit by writing for the excellent Challenges here on WordPress. I’ve also written a few non-fiction pieces on topics near and dear to my heart. My Appalachian series, for example. Stories here and there about other non-fiction topics, rescue dogs and hunting dogs. Politics. A little travel writing. These areas in which I write will continue on into second quarter 2024.

One project is a novella, perhaps an e-book, that I’m working on. The genre is fantasy which I’ve never written before. I find it fascinating and quite difficult. I have enjoyed the world building phase a great deal. I’ve found that fantasy is challenging. My novella is set in a particular time and I want the details of that time accurately depicted. It’s required a lot of research and I’m still not quite there yet, but I’m gaining on it! This WIP will extend into the second quarter of 2024 and probably beyond. What’s your latest WIP that will go on for some time this year?

On a personal note, busy is an understatement. It’s just barely the beginning of spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. That means outside work like cleaning up the yard and flower beds. I love in the forest so no vegetable beds, I’m afraid. We get our spring, summer, and fall vegetables from local farmers’ markets. We are starting, but just starting, to see signs of spring here. We’ve had warm weather early and I’m afraid my plants will be killed back by frost. Our last frost date isn’t until May 15.

These crocuses and ferns will be fine if it frosts, but I have peonies, iris, clematis, and hostas that may not be fine.

On another subject, my husband has spent the last six months dealing with medical challenges. We hope that he is now stable and maybe even getting some better. We’re had a lot of medical paperwork and doctor’s appointments to attend to.

Another activity I will be involved in during the second quarter of 2024 is dog training. Our German Shepherd, Sophie, is both obedience and protection trained. She just needs some brushing up on her skills. If our Corgi, Hazel, can stay well, she needs obedience training. Hazel doesn’t understand (yet) the concept of obedience since she has been sick. She seems to be getting better!

The only travel we have planned, to date, is short trips to Kentucky State Parks. We take Sophie with us and she has a blast. She always gets a hamburger on the way home.

What is everyone reading? I am reading the new novel by Kristen Hannah, The Women. It is about a girl in her early 20s, back in the 1960’s, who is a nurse and volunteers in the Army to be an Army surgical nurse in South Vietnam. Believe me, it is worth a read. If you weren’t around during the Vietnam War, you’ll learn a lot. If you were, you will remember a lot.

Thank you so much for coming to my #weekendcoffeeshare #158 this weekend!

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare – #156 – March 15, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Good morning and welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare #156! So glad to see so many of you. I have several kinds of brews waiting on you, so just help yourself. I am a tea drinker and don’t drink coffee, so there are a couple of nice teas as well. Grab a mug and have a seat and let’s catch up.

As many of you know, I am mostly retired. I find myself, just about every day, wondering how I ever found time to actually work. Even retired, it seems that almost every hour of the day is filled up with something. Most of it good. Some not as good and I’d rather not deal with that! Do any of you who are retired feel the same? That there isn’t enough time? There is so much left that I still want to do.

I have a lot of writing to do as well as reading. I’m trying to read all the classics along with some of the newer stuff. Some traveling, though not a lot, is on my mind too. There are still a few places I’d like to see, a little traveling that I have left to do. I would love to visit New Zealand. There are also only two European countries I haven’t seen. One is Switzerland and the other is Scotland. I especially want to go to the Scottish Highlands since one half of my DNA comes straight from there., Another fourth of my DNA comes from the Hebrides Islands off the west coast of Scotland. The last fourth is from Sweden and I have traveled there several times. I still have cousins in both Scotland and Sweden who I would love to meet in person. I don’t know if I’ll be able to travel to any of these places in the coming years, but I certainly hope so. Where would you like to go on your travels?

Scottish Highlands

Stockholm, Sweden

Isle of Lewis, Scotland

My ancestors came from each of these places.

A funny story. Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s mother emigrated from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland to America.

Do any of you engage in genealogical research when you aren’t writing? I have worked on my genealogy off and on since I was 18 years old. I’m interested in exploring so many of my family lines. I’ve developed family trees for my paternal grandfather’s line (Sweden) and my maternal grandfather’s line (Scotland). My maternal grandfather’s ancestors were in America before the Revolutionary War that split the U.S. from Great Britain.

My paternal grandfather’s family were new immigrants in the early 20th century, immigrating from Sweden to the state of Michigan in the U.S.; northern Michigan to be precise.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park in the Upper Peninsula of MIchigan, US.

Other than dreaming about traveling and writing, my week has been pretty quiet. Unfortunately, I’m dealing with some illness in my family and am consumed with concern and involvement with that. It’s one of the disturbing things about getting older. Family and friends start to get sick.

If you are ever curious about the state of Kentucky in the U.S., I have a book for you. One of the things Kentucky is known for is thoroughbred horse breeding and racing. We are only a few miles from the Bluegrass region of Kentucky where the limestone in the ground turns the grass blue in the spring. It is particularly good for horses. The horse industry has thrived here since the 1700s. I am reading a wonderful book depicting the history of the horse industry in Kentucky set in a wonderful story. The book is called “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks. I highly recommend it. What are you reading?

Thank you for joining my #weekendcoffeeshare. It’s been wonderful to see and spend time with all of you. Have a great upcoming week!

Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!