Tag: #dogs

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Food

#weekendcoffeeshare 74 – Week of 6/18/22

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Good morning, everyone. Come right through the house and back to the deck. It’s such a wonderful weather day that I thought we would enjoying sharing our hot beverages on our deck. The weather couldn’t be better after a horrendous heat wave this week and a big storm last night. Thankfully, we sustained no damage. Grab a coffee or tea. There is a real selection today including French press, Jamaican, and more along with some fabulous green tea. But, first, a picture of my rose begonias in full bloom. These are annuals where I live.

@rosemarycarlson

If we were having coffee today, I would ask those of you who have chosen green tea some questions. One of my interests, and I’ve even done some writing about this, is using diet and nutrition to stay healthy and using diet to treat/cure illnesses. I’m currently writing a spec article on the health benefits of common foods/ingredients, so I want to pick your brains a bit. Even though I prefer black tea, I always drink a cup of green tea daily. How do you like the variety of green tea I’m serving today? Green tea is recommended for many special diets that are used to mitigate illness and it is also recommended for us to just stay generally healthy.

Another interesting food that I’m researching is the lemon. Water with slices of lemon in it is particularly healthy. I’ve found that if you have certain types of liver disease, lemon water is one of the primary beverages you should drink as it makes your liver expel toxins. Myself and a number of friends try to get in several glasses of lemon water daily. It serves as a natural diuretic.

Clearly, my writing task this week is to research some healthy foods and put together a short article. I still often write and sell freelance articles on spec.

Whenever I write, I have my little dog at my feet. Her name is Clarabella and she is a very old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Someday, I’ll tell you Clara’s story. Her background and her recovery here with me is interesting reading. She’s my constant companion.

Do you use diet/nutrition to stay healthy? What are some of your favorites? Do you have a little pet who keeps you company when you work? I’d love to get your comments! Have a wonderful upcoming week and I hope to see you at next week’s #weekendcoffeeshare!

Thanks for stopping by!

For Natalie’s #weekendcoffeeshare

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

WeekendCoffeeShare #71- Come on In!

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
#weekendcoffeeshare

If we were having coffee this weekend, I would ask you to please come in, sit and make yourself comfortable, and before you sit down, please choose the beverage of your choice off my coffee bar. There are several types of coffee, cocoa and my favorite, a wonderful cinnamon tea.

I’d like to wish everyone hello and good wishes and thank you for joining my weekly coffee share this week. I’ve been away and haven’t participated in the weeklycoffeeshare for a long time now, but I’m glad to be back. I see many familiar faces here and some new ones. I’m looking forward to getting re-acquainted and reading everyone’s contribution this week!

Since I was last here, I took a job(s) writing freelance (and contract) for several firms including The New York Times, DotDash Meredith and Smart Asset. That was several years ago now and I had a wonderful freelance writing career. It was really an encore career since I had been a college professor for 27 years and had retired. All good things must come to an end, however, and I retired permanently in March 2022, However, just because I retired from writing commercially, doesn’t mean that I don’t want to write, so here I am back at my roots, blogging on WordPress. I’m so happy to be back and happy to see all of you!

My next venture may be a book or two. Something I have in my head that’s fiction and another non-fiction book on the area in the U.S. in which I live, Appalachia. You’ll probably hear a lot about Appalachia from me. I’m not ready to reveal all the details yet, but perhaps soon! I found out yesterday that I may have a health challenge to contend with that joins another health challenge that I’ve dealt with for years. Aren’t the Golden Years wonderful!?

I hope to spend a lot of time in the flower gardens here at my home in Kentucky, USA this summer. It was an oddly cool spring and even at the end of May, we’re having some cool weather. I’m ready for some heat and humidity! Well, maybe just heat! Summer is welcome this year after a long fall and winter of COVID-19 and the isolation that comes with it. I hope all of you have done well during the pandemic.

I also want to spend as much time with my little dog, Clara, as possible. Clara, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, is an attention hog so I’m trying to oblige her this summer. She’s 10 years old which is a pretty long life for a Cavalier.

Thank you so much for stopping by my weeklycoffeeshare today. I’ll share more and more with you as time goes on including pictures! For those of you who celebrate it, Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Posted in Non-fiction

Hanna – My Havanese/Lowchen Dog

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Hanna is a Havanese/Lowchen dog. She is a mix of the two breeds. She is almost nine months old in these pictures and is enchanting!

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Posted in Non-fiction

The Reluctant Traveler

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The housesitter has been employed. Everything is packed. It’s time to leave. I have a little reluctant traveler on my hands. Hanna, my seven-month old puppy who has owned me since mid-July. She is, in equal parts, adorable, stubborn, sensitive, and special. She is also unhappy in the car to the point that she is car sick, like a child.  She is so sweet and innocent and so incredibly attached to her home that I can hardly bear to make her travel for 1200 miles in the car.

She tries to enjoy it. She really does. Last time she was in the car, she tried to look out the windows, enjoy the view, but then it happened. She started drooling heavily and was car sick. We tried every medication known to man and vet. So tomorrow, we resort to the last resort and try a heavy tranquilizer, hoping Hanna will just sleep through it. I’ve added a day to the trip hoping she will adjust. Tomorrow will be a short day. We’ll only go about 200 miles and stop for the night, and we will gradually extended the length of the driving days. I hope it will help her get used to it, but I fear it won’t.

You see, when it was prime time to socialize Hanna, the breeder didn’t bother. So I bought her at almost four months old and she hated travel, she hated other people, and she hated other dogs. My trip to Florida is partly  about Hanna. She will meet people and other dogs. I will help her learn that people and other dogs will not hurt her. By the time we get home, she will be over a year old and all grown up.

I will spend the month of November doing NaNoWriMo, which for me this year, is writing a mystery novella. 50,000 words, but I will write a little less since I’m writing a novella. My goal isn’t to win, just to finish my WIP.

So wish us luck. I will write part of the day and the other part of the day, I will show her the birds, wildlife, and scenery of South Florida on long walks. She will see the ocean and the beach. I will gradually introduce her to people and other dogs. Then, I will give her time to process it all.

Off and on, I’ll post here. A blog post entitled “The Reluctant Traveler.” Stop by and read about Hanna’s progress and about my progress on the novella. If you are doing NaNoWriMo and need a buddy, seek me out! I’ll blog some, but not as much as usual, especially during November since I have to write 1,667 words per day.

After November and NaNoWriMo, I’m back to work on my novel, but I hope to spend long hours enjoying and drawing inspiration from my island and I want to take a number of side trips. Some ecotours, a trip to Epcot, trips to the most outer barrier islands, a trip to the Tortugas, and much more, getting photos as I go. I’d like to go to Miami and spend a little personal nostalgia time at South Beach, getting some good photos while I’m there. I hope Hanna can go with me, wherever she is allowed. All good material for books and blogs.

Off to see the wizard!