#weeklysmile 80

/ Rosemary Carlson / 4 Comments

Trent’s World, one of the blog’s I follow, runs a weekly challenge called the #weeklysmile which is……well…….just what it says! The participants talk about the moments during the week that make them smile. I could use a dose of that so here goes my first contribution. Here is my first #weeklysmile:

IMG_0718Her name is Hanna (pronounced Hannah) and she is four months old! She is definitely worth the #weeklysmile as she is one of the funniest dogs I’ve ever owned! Since I recently lost my dog, Hanna has been a dose of good cheer. She is a mixed breed but not very mixed. She is half Havanese and half Lowchen. She walks around on her back legs, seems miraculously housetrained, and is already living freely in the house. Hanna is smart! She can’t yet climb steps, which seems to be her only deficiency. She seems able to come down them, but she mostly falls down them.

Hanna is terrified of crates and I’ve always crate-trained my dogs, so I have no idea where she is going to sleep tonight. I fear it is in my bed and I only hope she really is housetrained. She is twelve pounds, will grow to about eighteen pounds, and I fear she is planning world domination.

I hope all of you have great weekly smiles as well.

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#weekendcoffeeshare 7/15/2017

/ Rosemary Carlson / 6 Comments

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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!

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#SoCS – 7/15/2017

/ Rosemary Carlson / 3 Comments

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The Art of Letter Writing

I have many books on my desk, most of them have to do with writing and novels. I do have one novel by Annie Proulx called Postcards. When I saw that novel’s title, I was reminded of a conversation a friend and I had some time ago. We discussed the lost art of letter writing. Baby boomers, like my friend and I, have written a lot of letters, on paper with a real pen, in our time, though perhaps not for a number of years. If you are a millennial, for example, you may have never written a letter except electronically. Maybe I’m doing you a disservice? Maybe you have written traditional letters? I would love for you to comment if you have!

Back to the subject. One of my first experiences with letter writing was when I was under ten years of age and had a pen pal. Francois lived in France and we wrote each other as soon as one received a letter from the other through high school. I often wonder what happened to her. As I grew up and went through undergraduate school, I wrote various cousins, boyfriends, and friends. By the time of graduate school, it was the early days of the Internet and everyone was fascinated by email. Letter writing for me was gone. It’s been gone ever since.

Life got busy. Electronic communication was quick and easy. In its defense, I would not have had time to keep up with many of the people I have without it.

I do, in some ways, miss letter writing. It’s a very personal way of communicating. You have to choose your stationery. Some people prefer to use a fountain pen, which you have to fill with ink. The person on the other end of the letter gets to see the person’s handwriting and feel their emotions more distinctly. New forms of electronic communication – email, messaging, texting, social media, chat rooms – aren’t nearly as personal. That, in fact, is why emoticons and stickers were developed. They try to convey the emotions that letter writing used to convey.

Reach out and touch someone by writing a letter. They will appreciate it!

#SoCSBookTitle

The White Light

/ Rosemary Carlson / 8 Comments

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“Is this all that’s left?” Grace wondered as she surveyed the contents of her late mother’s bedroom. After her mother died, her sisters had ransacked it before Grace had arrived. The closets and dresser drawers were open. Her mother’s jewelry box was even gone.

Grace walked over to the table where the jar her mother used for her crystals stood. Clear quartz crystals. Grace’s mother had believed in their healing powers. Her sisters hadn’t taken those because they laughed at that idea. Grace picked up the jar to take with her. There was an explosion of white light.

Photo credit @ Janet Webb

 

Jumping Into the Fire

/ Rosemary Carlson / 1 Comment

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“Kid, get out of the way,” Rafe yelled. “You’re going to be in the line of fire.”

The police department was chasing a criminal who had escaped from the medium security prison outside of town. This young kid had just climbed to the top of a wall the policeman feared the criminal would try jumping over. The police were stationed at strategic points below the wall.

“You’re chasing Ryder, right? I have something to tell you,” the kid cried out.

The police looked at each other, not knowing what to make of that. One of them asked the kid what he was talking about. The kid was only about 15 years old.

The police officer said, “What are you referring to?”

“He’s not the only one at fault. He’s my friend and I helped him rob those houses. Please don’t hurt him.”

As the kid climbed down the walls toward the officers, Ryder jumped over the wall and shots rang out.

 

Song Lyric Sunday – Black Magic Woman

/ Rosemary Carlson / 5 Comments

The theme for today’s Song Lyric Sunday is “magic” and what better song to illustrate the theme than Carlos Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” from 1970. What a song!

“Black Magic Woman”

Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman

I’ve got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I can’t see
That she’s a black magic woman
She’s tryin’ to make a devil out of me

Don’t turn your back on me, baby
Don’t turn your back on me, baby

Yes, don’t turn your back on me baby
Stop messin’ around with your tricks
Don’t turn your back on me baby
You just might pick up my magic sticks

Got your spell on me baby
Got your spell on me baby

Yes you got your spell on me baby
Turning my heart into stone
I need you so bad – magic woman
I can’t leave you alone

 

Song Lyric Sunday

 

 

 

#weekendcoffeeshare 7/8/2017

/ Rosemary Carlson / 10 Comments

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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.

 

 

#SoCS – 7/8/2017

/ Rosemary Carlson / 9 Comments

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Unconditional love is a thing I’m not sure we humans know. Maybe we do. I think we think we feel it more often than we actually do. There is a bond, as old as time, between a person and their dog and a person’s dog loves him/her unconditionally. No matter what we do. We can ignore our dog. Abusive people can even abuse their dog. The dog still loves their person unconditionally. I’ve always thought it was a miraculous thing. This unconditional love between a person and their dog.

Some of you may know that, recently, my dog has been sick for a while now. I’ve written about her in a couple of articles, “Tender Betsy” and An Update About Betsy.

On July 4, 2017, just three weeks after Betsy was diagnosed, she passed away.

I’ve had many special dogs in my life. They are all, indeed, special. They all give me a chance to know that I can love unconditionally. Betsy was at the top of that heap. I have been inconsolable.

In a few weeks, it will be time for me to decide whether or not to get another puppy. I’ve never been without a dog. I feel sure I eventually will. I will never forget the dog from the movie I saw so long ago, “Lady and the Tramp.” Betsy looked just like Lady. She was beautiful, inside and out. She made me laugh and later, cry. She comforted me. She was my constant companion. As the veterinarian put her to sleep, she went to sleep licking my face. Betsy was only four years old. I’ll never forget my little spaniel. She was a very loving trooper.

Upward Mobility

/ Rosemary Carlson / 10 Comments

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“Another stack of manuscripts,” Jenny thought to herself as she started opening envelopes.

As an editor, Jenny read and edited dozens of manuscripts each year. Debut novels mostly. Few would make it. Publishing was changing. She had always wanted to write herself, but her finances had never allowed it.

She started reading a manuscript that was an environmental thriller on climate change. This was the kind of thing she wanted to write. She knew how to do it for mobile applications.

“Why not!” she thought. She threw the jar of used staples across the room and walked out the door.

 

Photo credit @ Claire Sheldon