It was an old locksmith shop located in an ancient building in a small town. The windows were broken. The inside was filthy and filled with rats. Henri was determined to revitalize it. He was a locksmith by trade and felt like he could make a good living here.
Henri had seen all the special, butnecessary, services drain away from the town. Occupations like clockmakers,shoe repair, and locksmiths were gone as young people wanted to work in themore exciting field of technology. He dreamed of a large town square wherethere was an abundance of such services. Henri had hope since, just down the street, another space would house a clockmaker.
As the crews went to work on the locksmith shop, they found so much that had to be completely redone. Henri also found treasures. Equipment from over 75 years ago. He found antiques that, although he couldn’t use them, he could display them.
Henri’s friend, the clockmaker, also found treasures in his shop. As they talked, the thought of a small museum featuring the old treasures popped up.
One day, a young woman, happened along and spent some time talking with Henri. She was a painter and a former museum curator who was looking for a store front. She had the idea to share her space with the old treasures.
As time went on, Henri’s vision of a town square started to take shape. He and Anais, the painter, grew close and worked together on their projects, both for their work and their lives. Finding that old store front turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to Henri, Anais, the small town and even the clockmaker.
They found that dreams can come true with a lot of vision and a little luck.
Lily always took her morning walks along the banks of the canal. She loved to watch the graceful and elegant swans as they glided across the water glistening in the morning light.
Lily was nostalgic about her own life. She loved the old, dilapidated boat docked there and she could see its potential. The boatman who owned it seemed content to leave it as it was.
One morning, Lily was standing near the old boat on the canal dreaming of taking it to far away places. A big, white dog bounded up to her full of joy and love. She wondered where he belonged and when she looked up, she saw a man approaching, calling the dog. He was an older man and handsome in a distinguished sort of way.
She and John fell into a conversation about their mutual love for the canal. Over the next few hours, John regaled her with stories of the history of the canal and they set out to explore it together. Over the next few weeks, John filled her heart.
One morning, John told Lily that he had bought the old boat from the boatman. He then declared his love for her, and she fell into his arms.
A few months later, they started off on a magical journey in the old boat. As they left, the swans danced in joy.
One year later, Lily thought back to that day. She was glad they hadn’t known what would happen during the coming year.
Thank you to CE Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting #TheUnicornChallenge!
If you get to know me through my writing and these musings, there is one overriding thing you will discover about me. I’m always thinking and thinking deeply. I think they call it busy brain. It used to be that my brain was so busy I couldn’t sleep at night. But, I’ve learned to put myself in a state of Zen at bedtime and block out the roaring river of thoughts in my head.
What do I think about? I think about the minutiae of daily life and things going on around me in which I’m interested. I’m also a big picture kind of girl. I can see the big picture best when I think about global issues like world peace, poverty, homelessness, democracy, and the like. I’m not as good at seeing the big picture when it comes to my own life. We are not as objective about our own lives.
One thing I’ve discovered is that my generation (baby boomers) and younger generations (millennials, Gen X, etc.) have quite a different outlook on life. You would think I would have discovered this during the almost 30 years I spent as a college professor. But not so much. The generation immediately behind me was not so different from my own. Now, when I can look back more than one generation, I clearly see the differences and I think they are rooted in how our parents raised us. A second cause is probably technology.
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!
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!
The Write Scribe 