I have a friend who is older than me. Almost, but not quite old enough to be my mother. She is a good friend and she is what I want to be like when I grow up.
She lets nothing stop her. She lives alone, takes care of everything and probably in better health than most people half her age.
Today we walked over to the supermarket, they were having a senior discount day and I needed a few things. We are there almost daily and know most of the workers. As we were leaving we ran into the manager. We stopped to talk to him for a few minutes. My friend mentioned she was enrolled in another stores senior discount plan. The manager asked her if she ever went to the store.
Her answer, “Only once, there were too many old people there that day.” I thought the manager, who looks to be in his thirties, would fall on the floor laughing.
Yes, I want to be just like her when I grow up.
Random Thoughts at Night.
It was one of those nights. You know the kind, the minute your head hits the pillow you are wide awake. With me this usually happens when I have to be up earlier then usual the next morning.
As I lay there listening to my husband snore I reach over and adjust the mask on his cpap machine. I hear the cat whimpering in her sleep. I am sure she is dreaming about the lizard I would not let her outside to catch earlier in the day.
I lay back and thoughts speed into the brain. How are my brothers doing, their wives, their kids and grandkids? My mothe in law, my sisters in law, their kids. One is graduating from high school this year, her older sister graduating from college. Where did time go?
Then the what if scenarios start. I remember something about the number of dead bodies found in the desert has decreased. What if a dead body is found?.
Stop thinking and try to sleep.Deep breath in, slowly out.
Was it an immigrant? A criminal? How did it get there? Why is it there?
That reminds me of another story of someone dumping coffins in the desert. An image pops into my mind, a body in the desert /
What’s that about ten feet away? Looks like, can it be, a coffin? Why is that there? Is it junk? . Is that it, or is there someone in the casket? Is it a vampire? Why the desert? Can’t be a vampire, they’d fry faster than most living breathing people.
Oh lord, I can’t stand it.
I grab my notebook and pen off the bedside table and wander to the living room to write this stuff down. I don’t want to wake my husband up. Sleep is overrated, I have to write this down before I forget it!
New Years Eve
New Years Eve. I’m sitting here with my husband watching CNN. Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin are fun. I am very happy right were I am. As far as I am concerned there is NOTHING worth standing in freezing cold with thousands of strangers. I can watch the ball drop while nice and warm in the house.
I gave up resolutions a long time ago. I never kept them anyway. I make goals. Last year one of my goals was to not fall, For those of you who don’t know I was diagnosed with a non cancerous tumor in my left ear. It has been destroyed with radiation but left me with total hearing loss in my left ear and balance issues.
My last fall was in November 2013 and I broke yet another pair of glasses. I decided to wear dollar store glasses until I had gone one year without a fall. Replacing eye glasses twice in one year is expensive. Even with insurance
So my first goal this year is to get new glasses. Then I can deal with my writing goals.. Somewhere in between I’ll get the house clean…maybe. 🙂
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thankful
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and there is so much to be thankful for.
The general things, Family, friends and health. So much more yo be thankful for this year.II
I’m thankful that we are surviving nanowrimo and still talking. True neither of us made the 50K words for the challenge but we’ve both made the 25K challenge of our RWA Chapter.
I’m thankful for FB because without it I would not be able to stay in touch with family and friends. I have a friend who does not want a computer but since I am friends with her daughter I can show her pictures of her granchildren that she posts on FB.
I’m thankful for my husband who married me in sickness and in health and is still here even though it’s been more sickness and health/
I’m thankful for my friends here in my complex, they keep an eye out for me and make my husbands work day a lot less worrisome.
I may not have a whole lot of money, I haven’t been able to work in about 4 years but I feel richer than Donald Trump. Because I have so very much to be thankful for.
Hope everyone has a wonderful and very Happy Thanksgiving!
Can this Marriage survive Nanowrimo
Unless you are new to this writing gig or have been hiding under a roc, you have heard about NaNoWrMo.. It is the month that you put your inner editor in the closet, of if you’re like me, you killed him. Strictly on pape,r not for real. More on that later.
We are a two writer family and we both decided to do Nanowrimo this year Thats 30 days of writing as much as you can every day the goal being to do 50 thousand words in one month.This should be interesting. I have lots of chocolate and coffee on hand This year we celebrated out 30th anniversary. Can a love that strong survive NanoWrimo. I think so but stay tuned.
now about that inner editor.. One of the exercise we did at our RWA chapter in preperation for Nano was to write a few lines about how we killed out inner editor. This is not an exact copy, I’m doing it from memory. To azy to go find it. Here it is..
The man came into the room where I was working, i did my best to ignore him. I was writing and nothing would stop me.
“You have to many comma’s, and you misspelled a few words there.” He said
I sighed and stood turning away from my desk. “I told you do not bother me. I don’t need you right now.”
He shook his head,, was that pity in his eyes? “You know I’ll maie it a better book.”
I walked over and poked his chest with my inger
I. Do. Not. Need. You. Go. Away. with each word I backed him further back until he stood against the wall,
The man had the audacity to smile at me. “You do, you know you do.”
I reached up to the bookcase next to him, took down one of the knifes from my collection and stabbed him where I thought his heart would be. He slid to the floor dead. I opened the closet door and dragged him in there. I’d get rid of the body later
After Nanowrimo.
Love, Bake, Write -Scavengers wanted
For those of you who like dealing with spooky, why not join us and do something kooky. From October 6th through the 23rd, over 30 authors are hosting a Halloween Scavenger Hunt. Participants visit each site to find a Halloween graphic. The more sites you visit, the more chances to win. There are over 60 prizes, multiple winners each day. On October 6th, visit Sloan McBride’s blog Sloan McBride where you get all the information, including links to the authors’ pages, and a link to a sheet to type all the answers. It should be wicked fun! See you there.
You can purchase a copy of Love, Bake Write on Amazon
There is also a Pinterest board here.
Old Age is Not for Sissies #longlivelongmire
Unless you are new on social media, you have probably heard that A&E has cancelled that most excellent of shows Longmire. This is one of the few shows my husband and I will sit down and watch together.
They claim that the viewers were in an “older” age range and did not spend money. That has started a conversation that may or may not be a good thing, time will tell. The first thing I thought of was an older book by Art Linkletter, OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES. If you do not know who Art Linkletter was check wikipedia.
I won’t go into all the statistics they are out there. For one hour starting at 8pm est or 5 pm pst get on your twitter or FB page and post and retweet other posts about this wonderful show. Remember to use the hashtag #Longlivelongmire. check out the Possee facebook page for further information
What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
I’ve seen this quote around for a while, in fact I have it on my Pinterest board. I tend to collect quotes that speak to me for one reason or another.
This reminds me that it can be good to step out of your comfort zone, occassionally. My first publisher asked me to participate in a project. It was a paranormal project about the descendents of witched and each book was to be based on a movie musicals. Since she had just bought another book of mine, I felt I at least owed her to consider the project.
When I looked at the bible, all my favorite musicals had been snapped up by other authors. Then I saw The Music Man and the premise read, a wizard comes to a small town and sells magic mirrors, or are they? I immediately saw in my mind a man standing outside a mirror and one inside. That became The Man in the Mirror. I still wrote romantic suspense but then ghosts started infiltrating them. It was definitly out of my comfort zone but I had learned when something keeps coming to you, the universe is trying to tell you something.
So now I now have two cozy series with ghosts or dead entities. The Pink Lady has a couple who were killed and now haunt a house ala “Topper”. ( If you’re to young to remember that movie, check out IMDB.)
The second one Dead Men Do tell Tales is set in a funeral home where one of the morticians can talk to dead people. Both series are fun to write and I’ve gotten positive feedback on them both.
I’ve also started another mystery that looks to be a cozy, without ghosts, at least so far.
A learning vacation NYC part 2
You can’t talk about NY without talking about the food. My mother in law is a fabulous cook and I lot of what I know i learned watching her in the kitchen, But there was more I got all my food needs meet. Nathans, which still make the best hot dogs and french fries. My favorite Polish restaurant in the neighborhood, Teresa’s. Of course Dimsum. There were two additional places filled this foodies soul as well as her stomach.
The day we went to the museum of math we also went to Mario Batali’s new place Eataly. Amazing. It’s part grocery store with restaurants in between. Sort of like a little Italian village. I purchased a jar of lemon marmalade to bring home. Thought I had wrapped it tightly in my clothes so it wouldn’t break open on the trip home. Unfortunately I could not hide it from the clutches of TSA. Never mind it was sealed shut, had not been opened. It was over 3 oz and was confiscated. I hope they enjoy it…not.
I had originally planned to stay in on Wednesday and rest my legs from the trekking around. Until my mother in law said the one thing guaranteed to change my mind. Debbie is bringing the girls. Debbie is my husbands youngest sister and I will not give up a chance to spend time with her daughters. Before we met them, we stopped at the famous Algonquin hotel. Home of the infamous round table, where Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchly and others once gathered. We did not get to see the round table. but I got some marvelous pictures in the lobby. To stand where so many famous writers had stood was inspiring.
We met Debbie and girls at a restaurant called BUTTER. It sounded familiar but I couldn’t think of why. When i entered the restaurant I found out. It is the restaurant of food network chef,and Chopped judge Alex Guarneschelli. The food was amazing, the service was impeccable. From my 70+ mother in law to my youngest niece, we were treated well. When the chef came out to talk to us I was starstruck and actually speechless. Doesn’t happen often.
The New York subway can be an exercise in futility.I don;t think I understand it any more now than I did when I first visited it over thirty years ago. However it is a writers treasure trove of characters The subway car was filled with lots of stories. Half the people were plugged into their devices. Some I was glad to see, were actually reading books. The rest either had their eye closed or were trying to watch their fellow passengers without seeming to do so.
So What did I learn on this trip
I learned I have to pace myself and know when to call it a day.
I learned that I’d rather have 105 and dry then 85 and humid , guess that means I really have become a dessert rat.
Now if I can just get rid of this lung infection that seems to have followed me home.
A learning vacation,Part 1
We just returned from a trip to New York City to visit my mother -in-law and family and friends. It was a busy week, but fun.
NYC is a fascinating place The energy there us amazing. Tiring, but amazing. A big difference than when we were there in December when i could barely walk after my last fall
We were taking to a classical music concert on a barge in the East River. Fun trying to maneuver a rocking barge with a cane. Luckily, I didn’t fall. St. Pa tricks Cathedral is undergoing renovation but still amazing, even for this “recovering” catholic. Across the street is Rockefeller Center, home of NBC and the famous Christmas tree. Right now there is a topiary there that I’m told is supposed to be a dog, Could have fooled me.:)
We went to my favorite museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My husband very patiently wheeled me around in a wheelchair as we went to two major exhibits. Charles James was a fashion exhibit that was amazing,, clothes from the 40’s and 50’s. Stunningly breathtaking it showed how the dress was designed. It gave me a new view of what goes into designing a gown. Especially some of the long intricate gowns you see in the movies from the 40’s and 50’s/
The other exhibit is Decoding Chinese Calligraphy which was fun. I love the intricacies of the form and as my husband speaks chinese he was able to add a new dimension to it. All in all a wonderful afternoon. Made more soo as our friend Rita was able to join us.
I have never been a big fan of modern art. Most of it I just don’t get. But I let my mother in law take us to the Museum of Modern Art.. One floor had paintings by Degas, Van Gogh and Picasso. I enjoyed those and could have spent hours in the room that had Monet s Water Lillie’s on all four walls. Some of the rest of the art in there went over me, except for Andy Warhol.Pleae Modern art lovers do not come after me, this is just my opinion.
We also went to the Museum of Mathematics. The look on my face told everyone what ithought of it and surprised to prove I was wrong. It was a very hands on interactive place that I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend to math geeks and non geeks alike,
See NYC part 2
It's Better Than You Think 