Tag: weekendcoffeeshare

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Challenges

Weekend Coffee Share #177

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#weekendcoffeeshare #177

September 6, 2024

This is #weekendcoffeeshare #177. Good morning and happy weekend! Come right in and share a cup of coffee or tea with me and we’ll catch up.

I hope you’ve all had a good week. In the U.S., it was a week starting with a Monday holiday. We celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September. Labor Day is to celebrate the hard-working middle class and union workers in the U.S.

If we were having coffee, I would share with you what we did for the Labor Day Holiday this past Monday. We went to my cousin’s home, deep in Appalachia. Actually just about 60 miles from where I live. Just a day trip. My cousin passed away back in the spring, but her husband is still living in her family home. He isn’t well and we went to visit. I don’t remember a time when he wasn’t in our family.

He is old now and my cousin’s death has made him older. They were together since they were children, then married. It’s quite a love story. He’s pretty lost without her. It was very good to visit with him.

My cousin’s home and our family’s home place

We took our German Shepherd dog, Sophie, with us. She absolutely love riding in the car and we try to get her out for a road trip as often as we can. Of course, she gets either ice cream or a hamburger along the way as her special treat. Sophie is an excellent traveler. When we make stops, she is gentle and kind to anyone she meets. People seem to gravitate to her.

Sophie got to meet some new people, go for a walk in a different area and visit the county vegetable market. By the time we got home, she was ready to lie down and sleep. She was so excited all day that she totally tired herself out! She is a delight to us, a constant bright spot in our days. As you get older, you need all the bright spots you can get!

The weather here in the Upper South of the U.S. was wonderful all week. September and October are two of our most gorgeous months. It was hot this week, but the humidity was not as bad as it had been in the earlier part of the summer.

I don’t vegetable garden because I live in the forest, but I do some flower gardening. I didn’t do much this year and it’s a good thing. My perennials really suffered in the constant 90 plus(F) degree temperatures. I’m not sure which will come back and which won’t. I may have to replace a lot of plants next summer.

I have so many projects going that I don’t know what to do first! Yes, one of them is a writing project. I don’t know yet if it is the beginning of a novel or a long short story. I’m at a spot where I’m sort of stuck regarding the plot, so I have to figure that out. I am enjoying writing this story and am anxious to see where it takes me.

I’m considering writing a cookbook with a friend. If we go ahead with it, it will be a compilation of recipes from the southern United States. The U.S. South has a special culture and its own food traditions. I think we can make it a delightful read if we can get an outline and get started.

Tell me about your week!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, nonfiction

weekendcoffeeshare #175

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

August 23, 2024

Hello everyone and welcome to my weekendcoffeeshare for the week beginning August 23, 2024! Please come right in and join me for a catchup and a cup of coffee or tea. Please help yourself to whatever you like.

If we were having coffee together today, I would tell you that I haven’t participated in the coffee share or in any of the challenges for about three weeks now. Why? Put simply, life got in the way! There have been lots of things, some good and some not so good, going on that has taken my focus (and time) away from writing. I’m getting back in the groove now.

My flower gardens are just about gone for this year. We have four distinct seasons here in my location in the U.S., Kentucky, Upper South. Summer is coming to an end. We’ve even had nights down in the 40s though the days are still mostly hot, even some in the 90s. We have had an awfully hot summer and some of the plants I have traditionally grown have not done so well this year. Others have fared very well. I think climate change will eventually change our growing zones and that is perhaps happening in my location even now.

Here are some of the plants that I’ve managed to grow this summer.

Clematis
Japanese Painted Fern
Rhododendron
Peonies
New Guinea Impatients

They have been nice and brightened up my yard, but the weather has been hard on them. These are not plants that do particularly well when the temperatures are in the 90s every day. Very unusual for my area.

My husband and I have both had some health issues pop up recently. He will have to have some eye surgery in the fall. As for me, it is going to take a specific and very restrictive diet. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, to eat on this diet. I’m already thin and I really don’t want to get any thinner, but I suspect that will happen! Getting older is not for sissies!

I’ve been fortunate to be able to talk to and see some friends and family recently. That always helps everything seem better. I had a small nuclear family, but I have a big extended family on both my mom’s and dad’s sides of the family. I also have good lifetime – and new – friends. We have had a lot of support over the past few weeks.

Sophie, the German Shepherd
Sophie at a nearby state park
Hazel, my little rescued Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Hazel again (enlarge)

These two (very spoiled) four-legged babies have been my salvation over the past few weeks. Sophie is big and protective, but a baby inside. Hazel is just now really coming around after being rescued last year. It’s been hard for her, but she has turned into a sweet, loyal puppy. They lift my spirits when times are tough.

I am redecorating the inside of my house and in the fall, we will paint the entire inside. Redecorating is really an overstatement. I am redoing some things, but not everything. Just decluttering and, in the process, figuring out how to modernize as I go along. So far, it has been a very big job. I worked such long hours for so many years and didn’t really pay much attention to my home. I’m paying for that now by having to put some long hours into my house!

All of this adds up to no writing for the past few weeks. I don’t want to get into that pattern, so I’m back to work on my blog and will be participating more. Not only do I enjoy writing, but it is therapeutic for me. I’m starting to freelance a little, mostly in the field in which I worked for so many years which is finance.

I’ve missed talking to all of you. Thank you for coming to my weekendcoffeeshare!

Thank you Natalie, the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, nonfiction

#weekendcoffeeshare #167

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare #167! Please join us and pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea. There are lots of varieties on the bar.

If we were having coffee, the first thing I would share with you is that I have revamped my contact page. If any of you would like to contact me, please feel free. Just click on the link!

It’s been a busy week, both on the blog and in other parts of my life! Summer has begun here in Kentucky, U.S.A! The temperatures are heating up and the vegetation here in Daniel Boone National Forest, where I live, is lush. We had so much rain in the spring that the forest responded and the vegetation is especially lush this year. It’s like living in the rain forest!

Early in the week, my husband was doing some yard work and came across a timber rattlesnake. He was far enough away from it so it couldn’t strike, but it tried. They are quite poisonous. He took care of that problem. Here is an image of a timber rattler in case you need to know.

Timber Rattlesnake

If you see one of these guys, be calm, back away slowly, and either leave it alone or end its life as this snake is very poisonous. It’s also very common in this part of the U.S.

This week, we also attended a Celebration of Life for a friend who just passed away. She was one of my best friends and it’s been a sad time. We met when we were 6 years old and have stayed close our entire lives. I will miss her always. The Celebration of her Life was so nice with a huge turnout. It was nice because I got to see a lot of friends who I seldom see. Carol would have enjoyed it.

The cupboard was bare here at the beginning of the week so we made a trip to a couple of places we shop for groceries. One place was the local vegetable market, only open in the warm months. They have wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit. Since we try to eat healthy, we frequent this old-fashioned market often.

Fannin’s Vegetable Market, West Liberty, KY, USA

We’ve had good and healthy food to eat this week!

I’ve spent a lot of time with my two dogs this week, engaging in some dog training. Sophie, my German Shepherd dog, is already trained in obedience and protection, so I spent some time teaching her to play fly ball, which she loves. The next task is to teach her to play frisbee! Sophie likes to play fly ball with her squeaky chicken!

Sophie and her squeaky chicken

Hazel, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, is my other dog. She will be two years old soon, but she got a rocky start in life. We rescued her and she has some health challenges, so she is a little behind the curve. We love her and have to protect her from too much activity. I’ve started taking her on short walks, getting a bit longer each day. She loves her walks!

Hazel

We went out to dinner this week which we don’t often do. There is a wonderful restaurant in a little town about 40 miles away that is right on the Ohio River. We had dinner with our friends there and we really enjoyed seeing them.


If we were having coffee today, I would very much enjoy seeing you and sharing my week!I look forward to reading your #weekendcoffeeshare.

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Horse Racing, Recipes, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare 164 – May 24, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Hello and welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare! I’m so glad you could all join me this morning. We have several kinds of coffee and tea, so grab a cup and let’s go catch up!

One highlight of my week was, once again, horse racing! I wrote about racing in a previous #weekendcoffeeshare; in fact, the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is just the first jewel in the races known as the Triple Crown. The second jewel is the Preakness Stakes, ran at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, USA. The Preakness started off this week for me.

The Preakness is a shorter race than the Derby. It is one mile and 3/16. The Derby is a mile and a quarter. Horse that fade at the end in the Derby often run in the Preakness. This year, just like in the Derby, a long shot won the day. A gray horse, Seize the Grey, came in first. There will be no Triple Crown winner this year.

The last race in the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes which happens a few weeks from now. It’s my time of year to enjoy horse racing as it is for many in the U.S. and specifically in Kentucky.

My flower garden. Gardening is disappointing this year. There has been so much rain, daily almost, that my flower blooms have been ruined. It is so disappointing. The weather people have said that my area is going to have the hottest summer on record. The thunderstorms and rain are going to have to stop before that can happen!

The only other thing I’ve been doing is some writing and some reading. Also a little cooking. Fresh produce is starting to arrive at the markets and I love it, so I cook fairly frequently. Sometime, I’ll have to fill you in on U.S. southern cooking. It’s different! If you’re interested in that sort of thing (or in eating!), you might want to take a peek at some of the recipes I’ve posted, particularly this one.

See you next weekend!

Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare #158 – March 30, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
green tea on green background

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!

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Flash Fiction

#weekendcoffeeshare – Labor Day 2020

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#weekendcoffeeshare

Good morning! I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to invite all of you for coffee until today, the last day of Labor Day weekend, 2020. I’m so glad you could stop by. Grab a cup of Blue Mountain coffee or a cup of tea and I will fill you in on the past week.

Life is so busy in semi-retirement! I find myself wondering how in the world I ever had time to work. My career as a college professor was long and required long hours of work doing research and preparing materials for teaching, not to mention the time I had to devote to committee meetings. Life isn’t that busy now, but I still work part-time. This second career is that of a professional writer. I’ve been lucky that I have been able to find freelance, paying gigs for over 20 years now.

At this time, I’m trying to slow my life down a bit. I’m working freelance and part-time. A lot of my writing is for a company I’ve been associated with for over 12 years. Isn’t it funny that life seems so busy and complicated? Sometimes, I think the advances in technology have made life more difficult and complex instead of simpler.

It’s a beautiful fall here in Kentucky in the U.S. Cool nights, but hot days with bright blue skies. It will start cooling off here soon, although September and even October can be hot during the day. I find myself looking forward to fall. Summer is not my favorite season. I prefer cooler temperatures and rainy days!

The pandemic, despite all the deaths and illness, has forced my husband and I to take life a bit easier. We have been hiding at home, for the most part. We live in the country, or what used to be the country. Civilization is encroaching. My neighbors, even though we are all an acre apart, seem too close. When I moved here 22 years ago, mine was the only house on this road. Now, there are a number of homes on my road and I’m not particularly happy about that, even though we have good neighbors.

I spent this past week on a number of varied things. I’m putting together a book of flash fiction to independently publish on Amazon. I have several books that I’m working on, both fiction and non-fiction. I try to write 4 – 6 hours per day. Of course, I also have my job and I have three articles due soon. 

Besides writing, I spend a good amount of time on food preparation, particularly since the start of the pandemic. We try to buy local, so I go to various vegetable markets and country stores to get the freshest food. We buy meat from a local farm and chicken from the Amish. I buy seafood and fish from a company on the west coast. Almost everything we eat, I make from scratch. All of this takes time, thought, and preparation. We’ve had a lot of wonderful fresh vegetables this summer.

I don’t have tales of travel this summer due to the pandemic.We have been homebodies, but in two weeks we’re taking a week long RV trip to a lake that isn’t too far away. It seems that RV travel is the way to go this summer since you don’t have to be around people because you are self-sufficient. I’ll be sure and report in during and after the trip.

Can you name on thing you particularly enjoyed during the past week? I’ll start. I heard from two old friends, both live far away. I hadn’t talked to either of them in many years, so I enjoyed our conversations a great deal. It’s interesting. The pandemic has made me appreciate the simple things in life. 

Thanks for coming! See you next week.

Rosemary

Posted in Non-fiction

#weekendcoffeeshare – 5/5/18

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I want to welcome all of you to #weekendcoffeeshare! If you were having coffee with me, I would ask you to please pull up a chair. I have a selection of coffees for you, from a traditional breakfast mix to more exotic coffees. Try my hot cinnamon spice tea or just plain black or green tea if you wish. I’m very glad you’re here!

If you were having coffee with me, I would ask how your week has been? Has your weather been as crazy as ours here in the Ohio Valley in the U.S.? It seems like we went from the dead of winter to July within the space of a few days! We had a freeze one night and within a couple of days, it was 88 degrees. There were no green leaves on the trees and everything burst out in buds and leaves all at once. I’m sure the plants don’t quite know what’s going on. One of my tasks for today, in between rain showers, is to take a look at my flower bed and see what made it through our very long, cold, and snowy winter. It snowed more here than in the city less than 100 miles west of us.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that today is the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race of them all. Those of us here in Kentucky really enjoy it and I usually keep up with the horses. This year, life has gotten in the way and I’m not as schooled on the horses as usual. I will still enjoy the race and hope to get up-to-date before the race begins in the late afternoon.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that I have started writing on my novel again after a long break and I’m really enjoying it. I gained some perspective about it during my break after doing some reading and thinking. I’m changing some things, improving other things, and I’m more satisfied with the direction it’s taking now. I hope your writing is going well.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that my exciting news is that I’m waiting on my new puppy. I won’t yet have he/she when I write the next #weekendcoffeeshare, but two weeks from now, he/she should be home with me and will be about 10 or 11 weeks old. I’m very excited!

Thanks for having coffee with me and I look forward to seeing you next weekend!

Posted in nonfiction, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare – 04/29/2018

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Please, grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit with me. I have been out of things for awhile and I only just learned that eclecticali has taken over #weekendcoffeeshare and I want to say a big thank you! I’ve always enjoyed writing and reading these posts and have missed it!

If we were having coffee, I would try to catch you up on my writing and my life while asking about you. I feel that I’ve gotten to know so many of you and this is the forum where we could always share and catch up with each other. As for me, it has been a tough winter here in the Ohio Valley in the U.S. A long winter that started in November and hasn’t ended yet since it frosted last night. Very cold, snowy. Spring is trying to come, but it’s a very late spring since in two days, it will be May!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I took a rather long writing break during the winter. I was in the middle of my novel and for those of you who have written a book, you know that the middle is the hardest part. I put it down and have just now picked it back up again. I feel like I’ve now gotten some perspective on it and can continue to write. Sometimes, you have to get some distance. The distance helped me and I think, now, I can write with a vengeance.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I have been without a dog for over nine months now. That’s the longest I’ve ever been without a canine companion in my life. I had a dog during this time, but she was a fear biter so that didn’t work out. I’m waiting on a puppy! I’m excited about that and hope that this works out. Anything can happen with puppies, so right now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed.  I should know in about two weeks about the puppy, so be hopeful for me!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I don’t do well without a dog in my life. I’ve always had a special relationship with them.

If we were having coffee, I would share with you that my husband is waiting to see a neurosurgeon. He has a back issue that is painful and somewhat disabling. We are both worried and hope that he can try physical therapy first. We don’t intend to jump into surgery.

If we were having coffee, I would ask you to tell me how you have been and what is going on with your writing and your life. I’ve missed hearing your stories! I’d also like to know if there is a badge or image that we should put on our #weekendcoffeeshare posts? Thanks!

Thanks to electicali for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare

Posted in Non-fiction

#weekendcoffeeshare 09/30/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

IMG_0701

It’s been a long time, months, I think, since I’ve welcomed everyone for a #weekendcoffeeshare. I’m glad to welcome you now, into our coffee shop. The owner has a nice setup for us. Several kinds of coffee and tea this morning. Danish and other pastries. Please pick your pleasure and join us. I’m so glad to see all of you!

If we were having coffee, my only excuse for not being here recently is that I’ve spent the summer writing. Writing a novel and recently starting another long-form fiction piece that, I think, is going to be a novella. There is a growing market for novellas now. I’m excited about them both.

Other things have been going on as well. The last time we spoke, I think I had lost my dog, a wonderful companion. A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Betsy. I lost her, at only four years old, to a terrible genetic illness afflicting only a few breeds. Since I don’t “do” life very well without a dog, I picked out a puppy soon after Betsy’s death. I still mourn her and always will. Now I have Hanna, who is the wildest, craziest puppy I’ve ever had. She was 3.5 months old when I got her and had spent much of her life in a crate. She is now 6.5 months old and is terribly well-adjusted for the most part. Hanna is a “designer” dog or a dog bred like a Goldendoodle, a mix of two breeds. She is half Havanese and half Lowchen and it seems to be a good mix. She’s beautiful, funny, smart, and healthy. If I can live through her puppyhood (a challenge), she will make a wonderful companion. Here is just a head shot and I’m sure you can see what I mean:

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We are currently working hard on obedience training!

My summer has been completely filled with training and raising Hanna and writing up to 12 hours per day.

Now that October is almost here, I am getting ready to go to my little home in Florida for the winter. No idea yet when I will go. Hurricane Irma devastated Florida and did a lot of damage to the island where I live. I had some damage at my own home. Hurricane season doesn’t end in the U.S. until November 30, but usually hurricanes subside during November. This year, the Atlantic Ocean temperatures are still very warm. I won’t go to Florida until the ocean temperatures cool and until I’m sure that the infrastructure has been restored on my island. It makes it hard to know when to hire a housesitter! I hope to spend Thanksgiving there, but who knows? Everything is uncertain this year. The hurricane damage to Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys is unbelievably awful.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that’s all that’s been going on with me. I’d love to hear what’s been going on with all of you!

Posted in Challenges, Uncategorized

#SoCS – 9/9/2017 – Motive

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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What a bad time for me to write a stream of consciousness blog post! There is only one thing streaming through my consciousness and that is the situation in Florida and the Caribbean islands due to #HurricaneIrma. I suppose my motive for writing this post at all is a bit of catharsis. You see, the hurricane is about to come roaring up through the Florida peninsula, clinging to the Gulf Coast, and I own property on a barrier island off the Gulf Coast. Chances are, nothing will be left after being touched by a Category 5 hurricane.

My own property isn’t my only motive in writing this blog post. I also want to call attention to the 5.6 million people who have had to be evacuated out of Florida. That is a huge number of evacuees for me to wrap my mind around. There is going to be massive property damage in Florida and many of these people may not be able to go home for a while. Just like the people of the U.S. have helped the people of Houston after Hurricane Harvey, please help the displaced people of Florida who are victims of Hurricane Irma.

Now to continue to sit, wait, and watch the Weather Channel (and the weather online). It’s a bit like watching a train wreck and not being able to look away.