Category Archives: weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare -7/18/2018

Posted on by
4

 

Good morning! Welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare! Grab a cup of coffee or tea off the kitchen island. I believe there is also decaf of both there and some green tea. Help yourself to whatever your pleasure is and join me in my study.

I hope all of you are well and happy and getting along well with your writing projects. I’m proceeding with my novella and have had time to do some writing this week. I am working on the characters right now, fleshing them out, making them interesting. Do you use Scrivener? I am using it for my character studies as it seems really convenient for that, but I use Microsoft Word for my actual manuscript. This is the first time I’ve used Scrivener, so I’ll let you know how that goes. Do any of you have experience with that program?

I’ve also spent the week following the story about the environmental devastation in Florida. If you’re in the U.S., I’m sure you’ve heard about it. If you’re not, you may not. In short, the Gulf Coast of the Florida peninsula is being devastated by chemical runoff from the sugar cane operation around Lake Okachoobee. There was already a red tide on the Gulf Coast. Now, the runoff has caused a blue-green algae bloom that has caused a massive fish kill. Hundreds of sea turtles have been killed, which breaks my heart. Thousands of fish. This will impact the people of the Gulf Coast and their jobs for years to come.

We have a small place in Florida right in the middle of this runoff. We don’t think we can even go back except to get our belongings. Even then, it will be dangerous to our health. Tourism will be dead in Florida this coming winter which will destroy their economy. It’s very sad and unnecessary. I’m a bit of a political activist, so I’ve been involved in this during the week. A picture of the blue-green algae slime that is so toxic is below this post.

I’m also involved in trying to tame my wild puppy, Tucker! He’s so sweet, but completely out of hand at 5.5 months old. I’ve had five corgis in my life, but never a corgi with his temperament. I told my husband that his needs are above my pay grade! Together with his breeder, we’re trying to find a professional trainer for him. Not only will that be good for me, it will be good for Tucker. I have to be trained as well. I have to learn the secrets to controlling him and he has to learn to control himself. Herding dogs, like Tucker, are alphas by nature. After he’s trained, I want to involve him in something fun for him. I’m going to enter him in herding trials and let him do what comes naturally to him.

Environmental issues and character studies for my novella have been at the top of my list this week, along with dog training, of course. What have you been doing this week?

*Thanks to eclecticali for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

709E8C7F-2273-41A4-AACA-057B2818F905

#weekendcoffeeshare – 7/11/2018

Posted on by
1

Hello everyone! I’d like to invite you to have coffee with me after dinner tonight. I’m running late this weekend, but after dinner coffee might be fun for a change. I appreciate all of you attending my #weekendcoffeeshare tonight! There is a selection of coffee on the bar. There is also tea such as Earl Grey and Paris. Please help yourself.

if we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’ve had a difficult week, so please forgive me if I’m not my usual self. One of my former classmates and forever friends passed away and his visitation and services were this week. He was a special, unique man and he will be greatly missed by many. I had known him since we started kindergarten together at four years old and we then went through twelve years of school together. I’m sad tonight.

I’m having some behavioral issues with my five-month old puppy. It is disturbing and upsetting, having never dealt with such issues before with a puppy. I’m hoping, as he gets older, they will resolve themselves, but I’m working with him a great deal now.

I have embarked on a huge job. I am going through all my photos and the photos from my mother. I’m going to try to get the photos of other family members back to them and the photos of my own family in some semblance of order. I know, I know. It’s a big job, but it’s time to do it. It won’t be done overnight, I assure you!

I’ve done a good bit of writing this week. Sometimes, when life gets hard, I escape into my writing. That’s the story of this week.

A brief line from one of my favorite poems. I wish I could live like this:

”I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief”

—from “The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

I’d love to hear about your week!

 

Thanks to eclecticali for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare.

 

#weekendcoffeeshare – 7/28/2018

Posted on by
4

1EC11478-E322-4892-883A-072FE5A30EA2

Good morning to all! Thank you for joining me, virtually today, for our #weekendcoffeeshare. I raise my teacup to you and hope you are enjoying a good strong cup of coffee or tea right along with me. I’m waking up at a remote location. I feel like I’m sitting at the top of the world, but I’m not. I am in the Great Smoky Mountains at a place, dear to all Tennessee lovers, called Rocky Top. Had you driven up here in an RV, pulling a car, with a 4.5 month old puppy looking out the windows crying, you would know why I feel like I’m at the top of the world this morning!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that to get to the RV campground here requires climbing up a mountain around a series of hairpen curves, no small feat for the RV that is towing. I wasn’t driving. Nope, not me. No way. It was scary as hell anyway. Just ask my puppy, whose eyes were as big as saucers. This campground is at Norris, Tennessee where Norris Dam and Lake are. My husband came here to fish. I joined him to try to socialize Tucker, the puppy, because I knew there would be plenty of people and dogs at the campground. What I forgot about were the bears. Yes, the black bear is prevalent in the park and I have just what they are looking for – a puppy. Going outdoors after dark is a bit perilous.

Other than being scared to death of the roads and the bear, it’s been a great trip so far. Lunch today in a fab little cafe in the town of Norris. The dam, which is awesome, was built back in the 1930’s and the Tennessee Valley Authority, who built the dam, provided housing in the form of an actual little town for its workers. Norris is one of only two such towns left. It is quaint and beautiful.

So far, Tucker has been walked to death. He has had a crash course in leash training, other dogs, and strange people. He has received an A+ in people skills, a C in leash training, and a failing grade in other dogs. That should tell you about the last two days of my life. He rides in the car like a champ. A pouting champ, but a champ nonetheless. The RV is too much for him and he hides in his crate. We’re expecting a lot of a puppy not yet five months old.

We’re here a few more days before we head home which is only a few short hours away.

Needless to say, making time for writing has suffered this past week. I have gotten a little work done on my novella and very little blogging done.

Before I close, I have to mention sports for a moment. I want to apologize to all my fellow UK Wildcats fans! Why? Because we are at ROCKY TOP. They will understand.

I’d love to hear about all of you! Wish me luck in the wilds of the Smoky Mountains!

 

*Photo Credit to Wikipedia

#weekendcoffeeshare – 7/21/2018

Posted on by
3

Oh, please come in, grab a beverage, and find a seat! I’m so sorry we had to meet in the coffee shop today instead of at my house! I’m having company today and tonight.

Thank you so much for dropping by my #weekendcoffeeshare today. Wasn’t that storm we had last night terrible? We didn’t get the worst of it here. About 70 miles to the west, in the city where many of my friends live, they got hit pretty hard. Lots of downed trees, power lines down, people trapped in cars. Several of my friends were without power or any services for many hours. At least the storm brought a cold front in with it and the weather is so much more pleasant today. The humidity is lower and so is the temperature.

I’m very proud of my 4.5 month old puppy, Tucker. He was a real trooper during the storm. There was big thunder and lightning. Tucker did lay close to me, but he was not fearful. When he first came to live with me, I played ball with him during storms. It seems to have helped him cope now.

Now for Tucker update for the week. His newest accomplishment is that he learned to be comfortable in his harness and his seat belt harness in the car. You can see him in the picture above. He is started to look around, look out the windows, just be comfortable in the car in general. I’m proud of him! Now if he’d only stop chewing on my hands and being a holy terror in my house! One step at a time, I guess! 🙂

My writing is going slowly right now. After all, it’s summer. I have a puppy to train and we are about to take a little vacation. In fact, next Saturday, I’ll write my weekendcoffeeshare from on the road in our RV! I’ll keep you in suspense until then. I have gotten some work done on my historical World War II novella this week, but not as much as I’d like.

Some sad news. I think I’ve mentioned before that I went to an unusual high school. It was located on a college campus and was a private, teacher training school. I went lock-step through twelve grades with the same 28 kids, give or take. Most of us are still close. We grew up much like siblings. One of the boys in our class is quite ill and may not make it. One of the other people in the class, a girlfriend, is driving here today to visit him. She is my company for the evening.

That’s all from northeastern Kentucky today. Thanks for joining me for coffee! I hope all of you are meeting your writing goals, but that you’re also having fun this summer!

 

Thanks to eclecticali for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

weekendcoffeeshare – 7/12/2018

Posted on by
15

IMG_0701

Hello! Come on in and share coffee with me! I have both iced coffee and regular coffee for you since it’s so hot here. I also have tea, which is what I drink. Just help yourself. It’s on the kitchen island.

So glad you could all join me today for #weekendcoffeeshare! It’s been a busy week for me and I’m sure it has been for all of you too. I’ve had a lot of non-writing things I’ve had to do at home. Hubby and I have done some work on our home. I recently got a new puppy. I’ve mentioned him before in another weekendcoffeeshare post. Tucker is now 4.5 months old. He’s a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and big for his age. Twenty pounds already! He’s a wild and crazy guy and since he’s a member of the herding group of dogs, he thinks I’m a cow or a sheep, I think. He nips at my heels to keep me in line and he thinks my arms are chew toys. I have the scars to prove it!

Tucker and I are in training mode. He can now walk on his leash although he doesn’t like it much yet. We’ve started obedience commands. He learns quickly, but he thinks it’s stupid when I go over and over them. He is learning to ride in the car, outside his crate, and ride quietly in his car harness. So there have been some victories! He’s a rascal! You can see his latest picture below.

I’m in a transition period with my writing. I’m in the middle of one book and have started a novella. I’m also working on a memoir and have done some outlining for a non-fiction book. I have plenty to keep me busy. It may sound like I’m spread too thin, but I don’t think I am. I hope to have the novel and the novella done by year’s end. The memoir and non-fiction book are in the beginning stages.

When I say I’m in a transition period with writing, I mean that I’m finding myself interested in new genres and different topics. I’m thinking about serializing a novella or novel. As far as genres go, I’m still pondering.

Hubby, Tucker, and I are taking a short trip in a couple of weeks. I call it “Tucker’s trip” because we decided it would be good for him for the purpose of socialization. He needs to be around more people and dogs than he has access to when he is just with me on top of this mountain. We will only be gone for a week.

Tell me what you have been doing and your plans for the weekend and upcoming week!

Thanks to eclectic ali for the prompt!

DSCN0174

 

#weekendcoffeeshare – 5/12/18

Posted on by
11

B5104CCF-8006-4FA7-AAB0-0021863E4FF7

Good morning! Please pull up a chair here on my patio for #weekendcoffeeshare. I’m so glad to see all of you. On the bar, you’ll find a selection of coffees and teas. I hope one of them will strike your fancy this morning. The guy from the local bakery delivered two dozen scones since he knew I was having guests. Please help yourself!

First, I’m anxious to read your #weekendcoffeeshare posts. I’d love to know what all of you are doing and how your week has been. How is your writing coming along? Life in general?

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’ve spent the weekend doing many things. I’ve used this week to try to wrap up some writing projects. I’ve been pretty successful with completing them. I knew that, beginning yesterday, my time would be taken up by other things.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you about those “other things.” I have been wanting and looking for a Cardigan Welsh Corgi puppy for 10 months now. I wanted one from a specific breeder, or at least one that had her blood lines. Finally, the little fellow came home with me yesterday! His name is Tucker and you can see his picture above. It’s hard to take a picture of a nine-month old puppy because they are constantly on the move. For his young age, he is doing amazingly well when you consider that he was just taken from his littermates and mother. This is such a good breed for a family dog that I’m just overwhelmed that I have the privilege of having this young fellow. He will be such a wonderful companion. At this age, a lot of training is required, so I’ll be busy!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you about our very strange weather. Two weeks ago, it still felt like the dead of winter here in the Ohio Valley. I live on a mountain only forty miles south of the river. We had about three days of spring and now it is full-blown summer. Yesterday was 90F degrees here!

Thanks so much for having coffee with me this morning. I have to get back to the puppy!

 

Thanks to  electricali. for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

#weekendcoffeeshare – 08/05/2017

Posted on by
5

IMG_0701

I’m sitting in the coffee shop where we’ve been having our #weekendcoffeeshare, with my friend, Jenn, going over today’s menu with the owner. We’re early so we can get the menu worked out for our colleagues. I’m reflecting back on the week.

“Here they come,” Jenn said.

I could tell she was excited. So am I..

Our blogging friends, and friends of theirs, came in,

“Come on in,” I said. “The owner of the shop has prepared the best cinnamon rolls for us. There is hot tea – green, black, and herbal. The specialty coffee today is chicory. Have a seat anywhere.”

I’m so glad to see all of you today! I hope you’ve been well and that you’ve been prolific in your writing. This has been the busiest and most frustrating week for me. I guess we all have them.

The first order of business each day is training my new puppy, Hanna. She will be five months old in just a few days. She’s smart and trainable, but I don’t want to put too much on her all at once. Slowly, but surely, she is responding to her name, housebreaking, and a plethora of words and commands. She went through a period of trying to be the “alpha” around the house. I stopped that quickly! I bathed and groomed her for the first time this week. Hannah is having a lot of “firsts.”

I fear my writing has suffered this week. I haven’t written as much as usual. I love blogging here on WordPress, but I’ve had to work on my novel, which is not on this platform. I’ve gotten some done on my novel. I’m rewriting some material, which is hard. But, I think changing my style and doing some rewrites was definitely in order. However, I haven’t been very prolific. Some weeks are better than others, I guess.  How has your writing gone this week? Very well, I hope.

How many of you have made a career in freelance or staff writing? I have, but in the past. During my time teaching, for a time, I had too careers. Professor and freelance writer. I wrote for online and offline magazines and websites. I’m thinking of launching that career again. Freelance writing is different now with more competition, but that doesn’t bother me. The only thing that does bother me is that it would be a huge time commitment. I would enjoy the extra income at this point in my life. Living on a fixed income in retirement doesn’t really suit me. If I do this, I’ll be blogging here on WordPress, writing a novel, and freelancing. Even to me, that sounds exhausting, but fun! What say you? I’d love your comments.

I just got back from our local farmer’s market. This is the prime time of the year for good vegetables where I live in Kentucky, USA. People line up to buy them. My haul included green beans, more tomatoes than I can possibly eat, corn, and green peppers.

I am suspicious that fall is coming early to my part of Kentucky. Even the fall flowers, like the black-eyed susans are just about finished blooming. The summer flowers are completely done. Things are starting to look fall-like. I’ve noticed the sharp shadows at the end of the day where the angle of the sun has changed.

It’s been great to be here this morning. I’d love to hear from all of you!

 

 

#weekendcoffeeshare – 07/29/2017

Posted on by
10

IMG_0701

Good morning, everyone! Thanks so much for meeting Jenn and I at our local coffee shop. I think it is so much nicer, since it’s summer, to sit outside here on the patio than it would be to sit inside my house! There is room for all of us here. The proprietor has prepared hot cross buns for us today, along with other pastries. They are to die for! Choose your drink. You can choose from a wide selection of coffees and teas.

Come sit! I’m glad to see all of you. I haven’t been able to be with you for a couple of weeks. I have been terribly busy.

Good friends are a wonderful thing. Yes, this is related to how busy I’ve been. Most of you know that I’m writing a novel. One of my best friends, and a colleague when I went through the doctoral program, is reading my novel. Right now, he is only reading it for content, though he will probably do the first edit on it. After reading the entire first part of my novel, he was able to give me a completely new perspective on the content. After thinking about it, I decided to take his suggestions and I am doing a significant rewrite. As I write, it is sounding better and better all the time. I am grateful for my friend! This means it will take me a little longer to write the book, but I feel like it will be a better book.

Then there is Hanna, the new puppy. She is absolutely delightful. The sweetest, most affectionate puppy. She’s now 4.5 months old. Hanna is in training to be a dog. 🙂 We are currently working on housebreaking and leash training. At some point, we will move up to crate training and I will try to desensitize her to riding in the car. Every time she gets in the car, she get sick. Very sick. We have to work very hard on this!

Hanna and I had company for two nights this week. My cousin’s little dog stayed with us since my cousin had some business to attend to. Max is a breed about the size of Hanna’s breeds. They got along famously and loved to run together in the backyard. Hanna was a little jealous though! Max is now back home.

My morning glories are finally blooming! I’m waiting on the moonflowers, planted in the same spot. The insects, those darn Japanese beetles, have been hard on them this year.

The weather here has not been particularly good for growing anything. It has been so wet, So much rain the forest looks like a jungle. Not much humdity at times. Intense humidity at other times. Cool days followed by really hot periods. Unusual for my area.

I would love to share a cup with each of you. Please tell me what’s up with you in the comments! See you next weekend!

 

#weekendcoffeeshare is sponsored by Parttimemonsterblog where you can join the linkup. Join us on Twitter at #weekendcoffeeshare.

#weekendcoffeeshare 7/15/2017

Posted on by
6

IMG_0701

Good morning, my friends! Thanks for meeting Jenn and I in our favorite coffee shop again this morning. The owner agreed to supply us with his raspberry scones again, but offered to add bread pudding with caramel sauce for us. I don’t know about you, but bread pudding may be my favorite thing in the world! There is also a selection of hot teas, chai latte, expresso, cappuccino, and just about any kind of coffee you desire. Grab something and join me!

If we were having coffee this morning, I guess I would tell you that this is a good news/bad news day for me. Some of you may recall that my precious pup, Betsy, was ill with a genetic illness the last time we talked. We tried and tried, but Betsy passed away from that illness, breaking our hearts in the process. I don’t want to relive it, so I won’t get into the details but I miss her so much.

Since I’ve always needed a dog in my life and I knew my precious Betsy was going to leave me, I had been researching dog breeds. I happened on a breeder of Havanese and Lowchen dogs. Small dogs with big hearts, playful, affectionate, just what I needed. There had been an accidental breeding between a Havanese male and a Lowchen female and two female puppies had resulted. Turns out, they were beautiful.  I bought Hanna (pronounced Hannah) and she has been home with me for two days now. I’ve posted her picture at the bottom of this weekend coffee share. She’s beautiful, four months old, and we’re trying to deal with her severe separation anxiety. If anyone has any tips, I’m surely open for suggestions!

Also, last time we talked, I told you I would be taking a short trip to Tennessee to be with my friend, Marty, as she underwent a surgical procedure. She had surgery and is doing very well. She is feeling much like her old self and the effects of her illness seem to be subsiding. I’m so glad about that.

All of this has put a hold on my writing. I’ve written some for this blog, but my other writing goals have not been met. I have to rectify that this week.

I’d love to hear what’s up in your world! Please stay and enjoy coffee, tea, and these wonderful pastries. Good to see you all!

This is Hanna at four months old!

IMG_0718.JPG

 

#weekendcoffeeshare 7/8/2017

Posted on by
10

image

Good morning everyone! So sorry I am a little late. I am glad we decided to meet in the coffee shop for our #weekendcoffeeshare this morning today. I am busily getting ready for my trip. I can spend a short time with you. Then, when I leave, you can hang out here as long as you like. I see the owner did as I asked and prepared his special raspberry scones for all of you plus cold as well as hot beverages. Great!

Yes, I am taking a short trip to my friend’s house, Marty, who lives in Tennessee. She is having some surgery and I am going to help out and just spend some time with her. I am sure I will write some while I am there, but it will be sporadic.

I would be so interested to know how your writing is going? I am going to try something new when blogging. I have opened a new blogging site. It is hidden from the public for now, but I will open it up at some point. It is going to be only fiction and consist of short stories, novellas, and something new for me, serialized novels. These are works I am going to try to sell. When I open it to the public, I will be very interested in your comments! The only works I won’t be selling are short stories that are characterizations of figures in my novel. They are simply to stimulate interest in my novel. So watch this space! Tell me what you think!

I hope writing and life are going well for all of you! I must go for now. Enjoy the beverages and scones and I will look forward to your comments and hope to see you again next weekend for our #weekendcoffeeshare.