A quote to end the weekend:
You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. – Dr. Seuss
Love and light to everyone. I hope you’ve all felt like that. Have a good week!
Rosemary
Horror Collaboration: The Dark Fairy
Chuck Wendig of the blogsite, Terrible Minds, sponsored a horror story collaboration as a writing challenge over the last three weeks. I wrote the first part of a story called The Dark Fairy and two other excellent writers wrote Parts 2 and 3. Here is the entire story for your reading enjoyment:
Enjoy!
Rosemary
Share this:
#weekendcoffeeshare 10/22/2016
If we were having coffee today, I would be so excited to see all of you! I would want to know what is happening in each and every one of your lives. I feel like I’m getting to know so many of you and I’m interested in what’s going on with you. We are quite a community, I think!
If we were having coffee, I would offer you regular coffee or decaf along with regular tea or decaf. You would have your choice of green tea, black tea, or oolong tea. Sometimes, I switch over to oolong as it is a nice change. I have an excellent green tea from China that some of you might enjoy. I have a strong Russian black tea that is serious business if you really need a jolt this morning.
I also have an excellent chicory coffee as I know some of my guests love chicory or you can choose from several blends of coffee including a maximum strength or a lighter breakfast strength.
I have added hot chocolate as it is getting cool here where I live. Please pour yourself whatever pleases you. We’re having our beverages in my dining room today. Please join me!
If we were having coffee today, I would tell you about the project of converting my sunroom to my writing room. It is almost finished and I am now in the decorating phase. My biggest challenge was heating and cooling but I was able to solve that problem. I still have the issue of window coverings. RIght now, I’m only using window shades, but I want something more insulating and decorative than that. Does anyone have any ideas? If you do, please let me know in your comments and I appreciate it!
I was able to fit a small bookcase in my new writing room. That’s where I will put all my dictionaries and other books on writing. Sometimes, I still like to consult hard copy books. I had to have another electrical circuit put into the room due to the high electrical usage in there. Not only will there be more than one computer operating at the same time, plus a lot of lights, but also a pretty powerful electric heater in the winter and a window air conditioning unit in the summer.
I’m concentrating on artwork for my writing room. I’m using some funky and odd things I’ve picked up. My friend gave me a beautiful shell coaster for my tea. I’m also using pictures I have edited myself, then had them printed and framed. Most of these pictures have been taken during my travels. I’m gradually looking for pictures I took in Europe during my visits there.
I’m thrilled that I’m actually going to be able to have some plants in my writing room. My house is dark since I live in the forest but the writing room is filled with natural light. I know I want a beautiful Boston fern hanging over a window. Any suggestions for more hanging plants or a nice plant to sit on top of my desk? The room gets morning sun. I would love it if you would give me suggestions in the comments.
That’s all that has been going on with me. I would love to hear what is going on with you. If you have suggestions about plants for my writing room or window coverings, please let me know in the comments. Thank you!
I’ve so enjoyed having you for coffee. Please come back next week! #weekendcoffeeshare #writing #amblogging #amwriting
This post is sponsored by Parttimemonsterblog.com
Thank you, Diana!
Share this:
#SoCS – Oct. 22/16 The Healing Power of the Ocean
Most of the time, stream of consciousness posts don’t have a subject as you simply write whatever comes to mind. My thoughts today are on one subject and that is the healing power of the ocean and how, this past week, that healing power helped me.
I spent some time this week at the Atlantic Ocean. My favorite ocean because it’s the rough one, the wild one, and probably because it’s the first one I ever saw. I felt an affinity with the sea from the first moment I saw it, heard it, smelled it, and this week, that bond came right back to me. Do you know how I first react when I see the ocean? I cry. Every single time.
When I went to visit the ocean this time, I went with some very specific thoughts on my mind. They are still there although the power of the ocean has helped me at least partially resolve these thoughts. I’ve been feeling anger and confusion. Hurt and grief. All that will take a long time to go away, particularly the hurt which I suspect I will carry with me the rest of my life. Research supports that the sound of crashing waves has a healing effect on our minds and bodies as it causes us to enter deep states of relaxation. For weeks now, relaxation has escaped me. While at the ocean, I kept my oceanfront balcony door open, even all night, so I could hear the crashing waves. Somehow, I knew that would help me. Even though the nights were very cool, I slept listening to the sound of a rather rough Atlantic’s waves hitting the shore. I felt better every day.
The philosopher, Plato, said, “The sea cures all ailments of man.”
As I sat on that beach in Virginia and looked at the horizon, I felt a very fundamental shift in my thinking. The anger and confusion I’ve felt for so many weeks started to drain away. I started to understand, not what had happened, but my own reaction to it. The grief I felt didn’t seem quite so deep and gut-wrenching.
As I walked barefoot on the sand and waded in the sea water, I remembered what I had read about the healing powers of the sea. Not only can the ocean produce calmness, but it can actually change our perception about our lives, restore harmony in our souls, and restore our hope and open-mindedness. It is grounding. Looking at the horizon, on the other hand, provides us with a view of our future. That it is endless and limitless. I needed to feel all of these things and the Atlantic didn’t let me down. By the time I left, I had a new perspective and new hope. Before I arrived, I didn’t feel like I would ever have any hope again.
I’ve only been back home a couple of days but the feelings I got from being by the big, beautiful Atlantic haven’t left me. Although the hurt from the events which caused me to need to seek the solace of the ocean will always be with me, now I feel I can move forward with my life in a positive manner.
Grief is a process that you move through in stages. Sometimes, it takes a long time. Other times, not so long. You are never quite the same after you grieve someone or something. Grief changes you in a fundamental way. Time does not help, unlike the old saying alleges. What does help is understanding your grief and coming to terms with it. You have to accept you’ll never be quite the same ever again and find ways to live your life to accommodate that. The deep hurt that accompanies grief is what, I think, makes us who we are as people. What we can’t do is let that hurt stop us from living our very best lives.#amwriting #amblogging #writing #grief #SoCS
Thanks, Linda!
Share this:
Update on The Dark Fairy
Chuck Wendig, published author, blog owner at Terribleminds.com, and sponsor of a flash fiction contest is having a collaborative storytelling event. I wrote the first third of The Dark Fairy. Another blogger wrote the second part of The Dark Fairy. We hope a third author will write the third and last part of the story next week (the week of Oct 24).
Follow the progress of The Dark Fairy at the second or third links above! Thanks and enjoy!
Rosemary
Share this:
The Spook
We are sitting across the street in the non-descript black sedan watching Frank’s house. The Agency has assigned us to the job of determining if Frank is circumspect enough to work for them, to be a spy. There are a lot of moving parts to check out.
Today, we’re charged with following Frank to make sure he isn’t hooking up with any other agencies.
“Here he comes,” says my sidekick, Margaret. “He’s got his dog with him, a black Lab it appears.”
“Probably going for their morning walk,” I reply. “Let’s see if there is any pattern to where he has gone for the past couple of weeks.”
“Look at this data,” Margaret says. “He has gone to the same Russian coffee shop every morning since he has lived here, taking his dog with him”
“What joker is trying to stick The Agency with a Russian spy?” I scoff.
*FFfAW sponsored by https://pricelessjoy.co/
Share this:
Appalachia: Recipe for Fall Apple Cake
Hi everyone! This is a very old Appalachian recipe, handed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother and finally to my precious Aunt Red, the lady I wrote about in the blog post, The Most Elegant Lady. It is so old that the writing is extremely faded on the paper I have. I have to get it typed up before it completely fades away! Since it is fall apple season, I thought it was time to share this with all of you!
Fall Apple Cake
*This cake was originally supposed to be made with Winesap apples. Winesap apples are very hard to find now. Granny Smith apples are the best substitute.
2 cups sugar
2 cups vegetable oil – Wesson oil or other oil
Mix sugar into vegetable oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsps cloves
1/2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsps salt
1 tsps baking soda
3 cups finely chopped apples (Winesap or Granny Smith)
Optional: 1 cup finely chopped nuts or 1 cup raisins
Mix everything together
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour
Let cool on a baking rack before cutting it
ENJOY!!
Share this:
Serendipity
I was thinking tonight about serendipity. Just simply deciding to do something on the spur of the moment and having it turn out to be a really desirable and fun thing to have done. In my life, I’ve found that the less you plan and the more you do things on the spur of the moment, the more fun you have. At my age, fun is important. In fact, at any age, fun is important! Just going with your gut and getting out in the world and doing something you want to do is what fun is all about.
It’s interesting. I know people who, as they age, seem to plan more and do serendipity less. I don’t know why. Perhaps they feel more of a need to control their lives, control their destiny. But, I think you lose some of the joy of youth when you forget about serendipity and plan every activity down to the last detail. Some seem to have to screen every thought they have about possible activities they might like to pursue. I guess I am youth-obsessed. As I age, I want to keep that joy that we feel when we are young, even the joy we have as children. Of course, I have also been accused of having the Peter Pan Syndrome, but I think that is a good thing. Doing serendipity allows me to keep that joy in my life.
I’ve had some interesting experiences by doing serendipity. Once, a friend and I were presenting a paper at a conference in Mesa, Arizona at Arizona State University. We had a free day so we took a drive (a long drive!) over and around the Grand Canyon. We went off the beaten path to the northern edge of the Grand Canyon. To give you some perspective, the tourist area is on the southern rim. The northern rim is pretty deserted.
As we drove toward the northern rim, we felt totally lost. We were hungry and needed gas in the car and there was nothing around. Suddenly, we ran upon a restaurant with gas pumps so we stopped there to eat. It was a restaurant that was run by the Native American tribe who lived in the area. The menu was interesting and we didn’t know what to order since we didn’t really recognize any of the food on the menu. We told the server just to bring us something good. I still don’t know what it was I ate.
We set out, after eating and getting gas, for the northern rim. We drove down this straight, long, lonesome road, assuming that the northern rim would be at the end of it. We were literally the only car on the road. Suddenly, I had to slam on the brakes as a huge heard of elk ran out of in front of us. They were crossing the road and it was a beautiful site. There had to be 50 or 60 of them. We drove on and soon, we saw a parking lot. We parked and walked a bit and there was the Grand Canyon, but it looked different than it does on the southern rim.
There are not even any guard rails around the northern rim. It is steeper and more raw. It’s absolutely beautiful but in a different way. We spent some time taking pictures and drinking in the beautiful sight.
It was a long way back to our hotel in Mesa so we started back. On the way back, we saw a herd of wild horses. Being a horse lover, I wanted to jump out of the car, but they aren’t exactly longing for a pat!
When we got back to our hotel, we talked about our day. Serendipity was good to us that day. We would never have had those experiences if we had meticulously planned something.
I hope I can keep my joy in experiencing new things on the spur of the moment for the rest of my life. #SoCS #amwriting #amblogging #writing #GrandCanyon
Share this:
#weekendcoffeeshare 10/15/2016
My friend, Jenn, is back from vacation and she is coming for coffee this Saturday morning. Since we are having coffee, I’d like to invite all of you to join us! It’s still warm in my part of the world (global warming) so we’ll have our coffee and tea on the deck. I see Jenn pulling in the driveway right now. Let’s all go out on the deck. I have all kinds of coffee and tea, including decaf, for you to choose from. I even have a new green tea some of you might enjoy.
“Hello, Jenn! It’s so good to see you. Help me carry out these trays! I hope you had a great vacation!”
“Hello,” Jenn says. “Yes, we saw Greece and Turkey. It was an awesome trip. Very romantic for my husband and I. When I have my pictures, I will tell you all about it. What’s been up with you?”
“It’s been a good week, Jenn. I’ll tell you about it.”
It’s always a good week when you get to spend time with friends. I was able to have lunch with a friend at a good restaurant in Lexington one day this week. They had the best food and it’s always so nice to see Pam. After lunch, Pam had things to do and I had shopping to do. I visited a couple of my favorite stores. I have to replace winter clothes and made a trip to the mall and some other spots. Even shopped for some girly stuff like makeup, perfume. I hadn’t done that in a long time since I usually shop online. Betsy, my little dog, was being groomed by my friend, Anne, while I shopped and she looks beautiful now.
The next day, Pam, Janet, and I went to Keeneland which is always so much fun. I wrote a blog post about that so I won’t repeat it all here. I could go to Keeneland every day and enjoy it!
The rest of the week, I have been getting ready to take a little trip this coming week. Just a short trip but I really need it! I’m going to Virginia Beach for a few days and will be leaving on Monday. I’ve been to a lot of the beaches up and down the East Coast of the US but I’ve never been to Virginia Beach. So, a friend and I decided, just on the spur of the moment, to take a few days off from life and drive to Virginia Beach while it is still warm.
I think we’re mostly going just to get away, walk on the beach, and sit and look at the waves and the horizon. We’ll probably do a little sightseeing but we haven’t decided exactly what we’ll see yet. We’ll just do serendipity and go and do whatever pleases us at the moment. We were lucky because we were able to get an oceanfront hotel room!
I have been amazed because we heard so much about how Hurricane Matthew damaged Florida and the Carolinas but we heard nothing about how Hurricane Nicole, which almost wiped out Bermuda, impacted Virginia! I’ve heard no news coverage of that at all. The concierge at our hotel told me that they had water in some of the guest rooms, a lot of wind, beach erosion, and even a road closed. The hurricane was hundreds of miles off the coast. Lucky for us, the hotel has been able to get everything repaired so we can go on with our visit. We’ll be back at the end of the week. I’m really looking forward to the trip!
I’m making excellent progress on getting my sunroom converted to a writing room. After I return from Virginia Beach, it will only take another week to get it ready to go, if that. We’re working on the heat and air conditioning. I have the furniture, some of the art work, some tapestries for an extra dose of warmth, and I’m still on the fence about window coverings. I want the windows as open as possible but I also need to be able to cover them when necessary with something insulating. If anyone out there has a suggestion, please send it along!
I’m really excited because I plan to spend the remainder of 2016 writing my book in my writing room. I hope to have it completed by the end of the year and off to the publisher.
I don’t usually do much for the holidays, so while everyone else is doing the holiday thing, I’m going to just write. The holidays have been a down time of year for me for years since I lost my parents at Christmas and don’t have much family left. Writing will bring me comfort this year. I usually just sort of suffer through it and pretend I’m in the holiday spirit even though I’m usually not. I’ve also had some other problems this year and I’m trying to deal with those. Problems make the holidays difficult so I’m hoping to avoid that.
That’s about all that’s been going on this week except I think everyone is worried about this crazy Presidential campaign that we have going on and what the outcome will be. The second debate was disturbing. Who knows about the third debate?
Maybe, Jenn, next weekend, we can share vacation pictures and I’ll tell you about Virginia Beach! I’ll hope to see you next Saturday, along with all my friends who read this blog! Have a great week, everyone! #amwriting #amblogging #writing #VirginiaBeach #Keeneland #travel
Brought to you by parttimemonsterblog.com
Share this:
The Woman Who Screamed
“Johnny, we have to get the tent set up before it rains. I can see lightning off in the distance,” Jill said to her boyfriend of two years, Johnny.
Jill and Johnny were students at a university deep in the Daniel Boone National Forest in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. After their Friday classes were over, they had decided to camp and hike for the weekend. The area is a popular hiking spot.
“How is the campfire coming along, Jill?” Johnny asked.
“Great,” Jill replied. “Almost ready to light it.”
“Now all we have left to do is hang the rope in the trees for the food and we’re finished setting up the campsite. Then we can go for a short hike before dark,” Johnny said. “Well, if it doesn’t rain. I see the lightning too but it is off in the distance. It just looks like heat lightning.
Jill and Johnny were hanging a rope for food in the trees because black bears lived in the area and that was one way to possibly keep them stealing their food. Other smaller animals would also make it a feast. Lots of other, smaller animals lived in the forest as well such as raccoons and opossum that would also steal food.
Jill and Johnny finished setting up their campsite. They each grabbed an apple for their hike. Johnny retrieved their fishing poles and bait as they left to hike, telling Jill they were going to catch their dinner in the little stream that ran near their camp. There was trout in that stream and Johnny could already taste it. It was delicious cooked over a campfire and they had brought all the fixins’ to go with the fish just in case they could catch a few.
All of a sudden they heard a scream. Johnny turned to Jill, who had stopped dead in her tracks with her mouth open. “That sounded like a woman,” he said. Jill started to run toward the sound of the scream and Johnny followed her. They looked around everywhere and saw nothing. No people. Not another scream. Nothing. There was a cliff on the right side of their trail. They tentatively looked over the side of the cliff but saw no signs that anyone had fallen.
Johnny and Jill walked slowly back to where they had dropped their tackle box and fishing poles. They decided to call 911 and let the police handle this because they didn’t know what to do next. They had no weapons on them, not even a bow and arrow.
The couple went on to the stream where they planned to catch their dinner. It had turned into a partly cloudy day, but night was approaching. They baited their fishing hooks and threw them in the water. Johnny and Jill sat there in companionable silence and suddenly, Johnny had a big bite. As he pulled the fish in, he saw it wasn’t a fish at all. It was a turtle! Neither were in the mood for a turtle for dinner.
As Johnny baited his hook to try again, Jill quietly said his name. Then she said it again. When he looked at her, she nodded her head to the side. Johnny looked up and there stood a woman, covered in mud and clutching herself around her middle, tears streaming down her face.
There was no fish for dinner that night, but Johnny and Jill were back at camp with the woman who had screamed and the police and paramedics. The police were out in the forest looking for the man who had pushed the woman off the cliff. The paramedics were tending to the woman. Her family, under the crescent moon, were profusely thanking the two college students for possibly saving her life. #blogpropellant #amwriting #amblogging #writing
Literary device – elephant
The Write Scribe 