Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

What a Week! #weekendcoffeeshare – March 2, 2024

Welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare for March 2, 2024! Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee. I also have tea if that’s your preference and I’ll share with you what’s been going on this week! Good to see all of you.

It’s been a wild weather week in northeastern Kentucky, U.S.! One day it would be almost warm (around 60 degrees F.) and the next day, the temperature dropped more than 20 degrees and there were flooding rains. I live on a hill and the creek at the bottom of the hill ran right out of its banks onto the road. Now it’s cold today, but we are supposed to have a very warm week for this time of year this coming week. 55 – 70 degrees F. Should be nice.

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged here, so I decided to redesign my site to update it. That’s been some serious work this week. Please consider the site under construction, although I am using it, and bear with me while I get all the kinks worked out.

The week started out with my little dog, Hazel, and her illness. Hazel is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, only a year and a half old, and she has quite a serious condition. The vet and I have worked out a regimen for her and so far so good. Hazel did not have a good start in life at her breeder’s facility which is largely why she’s ill now. Hopefully, we can pull her out of it. Here is Hazel a few weeks ago. She has the sweetest temperament. We have another dog as well, Sophie, but I’ll introduce Sophie to you at another time.

After we got Hazel settled, my husband, Roger, had to enter the hospital for a night for a sleep study. He’s a pretty funny guy and kept the technicians laughing. He fell asleep before they got him hooked up for the sleep study and they had to wake him. Then he had really restless sleep and finally, ripped off some of the sensors that were monitoring his sleep. At that point, the technicians told him to please leave and that they had all the data they needed. Still waiting on results here.

My biggest frustration at this time of year, the beginning of meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere, is probably shared by some of you. I can’t find decent food to eat. The spring produce has not began to arrive. Since I live in a small town, it is particularly bad so we spend at least one day a week in a nearby city shopping. It takes looking far and wide to eat healthy. That will get a bit better as spring and summer arrive and local vegetable markets pop up.

The only writing I’ve done this week is on this blog. I’m not quite ready to jump into a big writing project yet, but I can feel the urge catching up to me. This time it will be a book or maybe even a serialized novel. My greatest interest, right now, lies in writing non-fiction on topics that interest me.

Speaking of topics that interest me, you cannot turn on the television, the computer, or even walk down the street without U.S. politics smacking you in the face. This is the first election year that I have actively avoided reading or watching the news. Our political situation is insane right now and has been for some time. The citizens of the U.S. are deeply polarized. It’s so bad it has destroyed friendships and families. I have no idea what will happen and am avoiding thinking about it. I’m too old for the stress.

I am a voracious reader as I’m sure many of you are. I read to relax and, of course, get ideas for writing. I just read the best two novels that are in a series of two. I want to recommend you take a look at them. I don’t normally read much fantasy, but these novels were fantasy in which the author did a fabulous job of making them feel real. Such an interesting read. They are Fourth Wing, Book 1, and Iron Flame, Book 2, by Rebecca Yarros. You’ll be knocked off your feet!

I think I’ll work on this blog, relax and watch sports the rest of the weekend! I hope you’ve enjoyed my coffee share and that I will see you again in two weeks when we resume. Have a great couple of weeks!

Northeastern Kentucky, USA. Dreary weather on the first day of meteorological spring!

Posted in Non-fiction

A Christmas Story

4AF476D6-05CF-49FE-B84F-AAD59A88D322

Roseanne didn’t like Christmas. Many years ago, her dad had died near Christmas and was buried on Christmas Eve. She had avoided celebrating Christmas ever since. This year, for the first time in a number of years, she would be spending Christmas alone. She was looking forward to it. She could celebrate in her own way instead of pretending as she had to do almost every Christmas.

Roseanne smiled as she thought back to Christmas in the past, when she was growing up. Her dad was the original Santa Claus, in her opinion. Not only that, but the religious meaning of Christmas was very special to him and he never let her forget that part of Christmas in her excitement over Santa. He had an operatic voice and would sing his favorite Christmas song, “O Holy Night,” to her on Christmas Eve. She could hear it as if it were yesterday. He had been gone for 34 years now.

Roseanne let herself descend into a dreamlike state and thought of one Christmas in particular. She was in the third grade. Her dad had left that year in January, supposedly to find work. He had spent the year working in Wisconsin and Northern Michigan. She didn’t know until she was an adult that he and her mother were actually separated that year. She had missed him so terribly that she could hardly do her school work. She had cried when her mother suggested getting a Christmas tree, but she finally agreed to a small one. It didn’t feel right with her daddy.

When her Daddy was home on Christmas Eve, she always got up really early and he met her in the living room to see her “Santa Claus” gifts. When Christmas Eve came, she knew it would never be the same without her daddy. She woke up early anyway and went downstairs, thinking she would just sit and look at the tree until her mother awakened. She climbed up in his big easy chair and sat there and cried for him.

Suddenly, she heard someone at the back door, using what sounded like a key. She froze in the chair. The person walked in, making a lot of noise. Could it be Santa, she wondered? But a miracle happened! Her Daddy walked into the living room with a bag of presents. She flew into his arms.

After not seeing him for almost a year, she and her daddy sat under the tree and had Christmas. It was 3 a.m., so they didn’t wake her mother who wasn’t well. Then, she fell asleep in his arms in the big easy chair. That’s how her mother found them the next morning.

Roseanne roused herself from her dream state both smiling and crying. She still missed him so much.

She walked over to her recording system and found “O Holy Night.” As she listened to it, she grew more calm. Her future was uncertain, but a good and wise friend had given her good advice. He had advised her to let it come to her and have some faith. For the first time in her life, she was going to try to follow that advice. She would always hold her dad and that very special Christmas close to her heart. It would help her have faith.