Category: Reading

Animals, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Guitar, History, Learning, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Lost In the Bread Crumbs

1972italy

The promised wind from the past few days seems to have arrived today. Winnie the Pooh would refer to it as a “rather blustery day.” My relocated bird feeder is still holding strong wedged on the branch of the maple tree. The clouds are moving around swiftly so we’ll see how that affects the weather. The ponds are icing over.

There is so much that I want to read and research and learn. I’m not sure where to start so I peck at everything like a chicken. A little here and a little there. Usually not the same subject each peck. Which limits my learning because that peck might be a book but if I don’t finish reading the book and start another that has caught my attention…. which is what I tend to do. There are research books I bought a year ago that I still haven’t finished reading. I have beginner guitar music and lessons, learning Italian, keeping up with my French, all my varied history books and biographies…. all been read a little but never finished.

I am watching Moose and hoping he is dreaming. He has been my shadow since we went to bed last night. I don’t think he feels good. When he was outside eating some of the small bit of snow we got parts of his body started shaking. I thought he was cold but then I noticed that it was just random places he was shaking. Not all over like he was cold. He is doing it again now but I can possibly contribute it to dreaming. Right? Some of the muscle shakes do not coincide with his dreaming. I may be reading too much into this but there it is.

I feel scattered. So much I want to do, things that need to be done, things that should be done. All seemingly to be done now. What to do? How to chose? I try to calm my mind and pick one thing off the important list and try to do that. Then maybe something off the list just below that. Some days this works. Other days panic sets in and I give myself a stress headache and do nothing but berate myself because I’m getting nothing done.

I can say that the birds have found the feeder in it’s new spot. I am glad. When I find a replacement I will try to hang it from one of the branches of the maple trees. I got a few photos of birds at the feeder (just outside my window yay!). One is a woodpecker (red head) and the other is a chickadee (tiny one). A lot of chickadees but there is one little blue bird trying to defend from all comers. Let me see if I can get a picture… I got a few shots that I will share. I’m gonna need to get that other bird feeder asap with the battles that are going on out there. Sheesh!

I’m going to upload the photos and try to get one thing off my have-to-do list. I don’t work until 2pm so that will give me some time. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Books, Creativity, family, Learning, Life, Motorcycles, Nature, Reading, Riding, Thinking, Writing

A Day to Do???

1972italy

The day has dawned dark enough that I have the light on in my office to see. The wind has been pretty fierce the past few days too. Now that the colors are peaking around here the leaves are really falling off the trees. It’s gonna be a mess once I start riding the bike to work (please let him get my Jeep in this week). For those of you that don’t ride it is like taking the motorcycle on ice. You can (and usually do) slide all over. The side road I take home was just coated in leaves. Just sent a text to our mechanic to ask when I could drop the Jeep off.

Last night I had to fly solo in the deli. I gotta say that everyone went above and beyond to help. Two employees even came in on their time off to help me finish up. I was never made to feel guilty for calling in nor for saying I couldn’t come in to work the other day. It is so weird. It will take some getting used to. That is how toxic Younker’s was.

The sun is finally out enough for my little bobble heads to start working. When I started this post everyone was motionless. Classwork is caught up for the week. I am debating about starting the next lesson or not. I still need to get people to read my stories for class. I also need to stop in at work and ask for Tuesday night off for a meeting. The last of the month for me unless something else comes up. I can’t believe that we are halfway through the month already! I am finally ordering myself an Otter Box for my phone. I need something to protect it. I am getting this pretty purple. Actually it is quite a bold purple. I won’t get it until a week from today (hopefully Amazon will continue to surprise me and I will get it earlier… now that I ordered it I will be paranoid about damaging the phone before then).

I am excited to report that the garage is almost ready to use! Chris has been busting tail before work and on weekends to get all the fixes done so we can have a final inspection before the snow flies. This might be the winter we don’t have to clean off our cars before work!

I have too many books I want to read. I have many started that are scattered through my things so I can read on the go. Not to mention the various piles and bags (I put all my books related to the current novel in a bag of some kind that way it is all together). But then I clean or move something and find another book I forgot I had and I want to read or reread. It is very frustrating sometimes.

I guess I had better get it together and “go to class” since I atleast need to find a few people in my class to review my work. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for reading and stay safe!

P.S. The tomatoes are from the big plant in the house. I was able to fill the whole container!

Animals, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Holiday, Learning, Life, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Still Smiling

1972italy

Do you every get tired of pushing through? Of always being on top of things all the time? I do and today is that day. It’s cold and wet out (has been for days) and I don’t feel good. I just want to stay in bed and read. So I think I will. I have my shark bag filled with books and writing things so I can haul it wherever I need.

Yesterday’s shift really kicked my butt. Those extra two hours might not seem like much but They are. I did pretty well if I am to be honest. But the flip side of that is that I might get left on my own at one point. There is too much to da lately so I am hoping not.

Moose is snoring under a blanket on the couch. Stella is behind me on the love seat in a little ball (I just covered her up with the big comforter we use on the love seat). Essie is over in the man cave by the door sleeping. I brought the laptop out of my office and into the living room to work, It won’t be for long. I am going to finish this and then curl up and read. I think I might even put off my classwork today. I might get it written (we have to write a two page short story) but I don’t think I will have the energy to type it all in. I just wish I knew why I don’t feel good. It started at work last night.

I am hoping that if I lay low today I will feel better tomorrow. I need to since I think I am at work by 7am or some other ungodly hour (being up and writing at that hour at home is so much different than having to be functioning out in the real world with people). Granted I get out early but still.

I am happy to say that my Halloween cereals have come out! Everyone teases me (lovingly to be sure) because I am just a big kid when it comes to Halloween. I buy all kinds of stuff (they hoard the good stuff for the month of October) and I keep most of it up year round. And every year I seem to find some cool cheap stuff that makes me (and others) smile. Everyone likes my Day of the Dead sugar skull stress balls (I keep them in my pockets for when I need them). My Halloween socks are always a big hit too. Hmmmm… that reminds me I could be wearing some of my Halloween earrings to work. I might have to look into that. But not today.

I think I will post this and read for a bit. I hope everyone is well and staying safe. Thanks for reading!

Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Gardening, Holiday, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, the World, Thinking, Writing

Looking at Things

1972italy

The kids are all back asleep. The rain is coming and going beneath the chilly sky. So much is happening in the rest of the world, both good and bad. It can be hard to stay focused on one’s own goals with all that. I think that is why I read so much. I just need to step away from it all. No worries other than turning the page to see what happens next.

I had a meeting last night that was supposed to be a tour of the local parks via bicycles but because of the weather it ended up being on Zoom. I think everyone was disappointed. It would’ve been nice to get out and about to see what had been done to the different parks and what still needed to be done.

There are still questions as to what will happen to various events we have locally. Trick or Treating will be the latest one. Another big one will be the Christmas event that they have for the kids. I don’t know what they can do if that can’t happen. That is for the local families who might not otherwise have a Christmas. The kids get presents and meet Santa, everyone gets hot food and drink and there is spot where families can go to get cold weather wear if they don’t have any (Mom made a whole bunch of scarves last year).

I did get some photos taken yesterday. I uncovered the memorial garden to find open flowers and new buds ready to bloom! The tomato plant that is inside is starting to ripen it’s fruits but the one in the memorial garden is actually blooming flowers to turn into tomatoes! I will share some photos of that and the beautiful flowers that are blooming out there. ❤️

I am going to add some photos and then post this. Thanks for reading! Have a great day and stay safe!

Animals, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Gardening, Life, Nature, Reading, Thinking, Writing

A Quick Check In

1972italy

It is cool and raining her this morning. I want to still be in bed asleep but apparently the power blipped out at one point because Essie came and got me directly. So we are up. Or rather I am. The kids are all asleep in the living room. I am tired and sore from all the yard work I did. The weather makes me want to curl up with a book but I still have stuff that I need to get done. Like an article and my classwork. I desperately don’t want to do either.

My mind is blank this morning. I sit here and look around the room and listen to the rain not thinking about anything. I find myself drifting around mentally. And noticing that I have a headache coming on. I think it is due to the weather. Yesterday was beautiful. I am glad that I was able to be outside.

I suppose that I should try to get the writing done. This will be a very short blog entry for today. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, Books, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, family, History, Life, Love, Photography, Reading, the World, Thinking, Writing

A Day For Me

1972italy

The sun is out in earnest this morning. And it will have a time of it warming things up. It was almost cold enough for frost this morning. That being said it is supposed to warm up quite a bit for the next few days so I may uncover the plants in the memorial garden and pull out the ones I brought in. I am hoping the nights stay as warm as they say or warmer. I don’t want to bring them all in and out everyday.

Today is 9/11. It feels like a somber day for those of us that were alive when the 9/11 bombings happened here in the U.S. It seems as though we have gone from outside enemies to inside enemies since then. With no end in sight. I had to unfollow a fellow blogger this morning because of the posts they were writing. They were getting angrier and angrier. Anyone that did not do and think as that person did would incur the wrath of God because that person was right. I don’t need to see that on my feed. That type of thinking is part of the problem. It certainly is NOT part of the solution.

It feels weird not watching the clock to see how much time I have before I need to get ready to go. A good weird. I got a bunch of stuff done last night after I got home so that will be less I have to do today. I do need to see if I can get the mower going today. If not I may ask for help from our neighbors across the street.

I feel like I want to work on my writing today. I got inspired by a documentary on Amazon last night about the controversial Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark. I had all three books as well as the on based on the movie (thanks Mom!). I really love the art and the content. For those who have never read the books they are a collection of scary stories and folktales from all over. This type of book is what got my love for horror started. Just sitting around telling stories to each other in the dark (or with just a flashlight). I still have my first collection that I convinced my parents to buy me (they were still married so I had to be in the single digits with my age). It was at the local bookstore in Ferndale, Michigan called “Paperback Books Unlimited.” This place was a staple of my childhood. I snuck a peek at my first Fangoria Magazine there as well. My parents tried to take me there as often as they could. I just dug the book out of my shelves. It was printed in 1973 so I had to be around 5 or 6 years old. Some Things Strange and Sinister edited by Joan Kahn is the book.

I have always loved short stories because they are small bites that you can snack on if you aren’t in the mood for a full novel (or don’t have the time). It has been a long time since I last wrote a short story. The last one I sent out into the world was college and was a runner up in a contest. They were only going to print the winners but they liked mine so much they made and exception. I still have the copy of the magazine. I have a few done that I need to polish and get out there. But, again, I need to get myself a copy of WordPerfect. Everything is digital now. Very few places will accept hard copy sent through the mail. So I need a reliable program that I can edit and send my work on. That may be something I save up for. I need to make sure bills get paid and Moose has a vet appointment coming up.

Ok, I see that I have talked quite a bit. I will wrap this up and share a few photos. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Books, Creativity, Emotions, Life, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Trying Something New

1972italy

This morning I am a bit short for time as I have an interview in less than an hour.  I am trying to focus on this and my mind is all over the place so I apologize if this is erratic.  I finally talked to my writer friend about his translated book.  I explained about a few mistakes and he asked for more.  As it turns out his publishing company hired a translator and he was beyond angry when he heard about the mistakes.  He contacted his lawyer and they are talking with the publisher to get it sorted.  Meanwhile he has pulled that book off of Amazon and is going to look through his other books that they translated and published.  I’m glad I was able to help.

I got everything laid out for the interview last night.  I am going for clean casual.  If I go dressy it will be too much.  I will look like I am trying too hard.  So I went for plain but nice jeans and shirt.  I will wear my nice high tops as well.  It is a casual setting so I am hoping this works.  It will be an interesting interview at any rate.  No hand shakes.  Not sure if we will talk in a room or outside.

And there goes my thoughts….  I should have everything together.  I don’t know if Chris is happy I’m going back to work or not.  I have been keeping the house up pretty well.  But since work is close I don’t think it will be difficult to continue that.  I’ve written down the days and times for the meetings I cover for the paper.  I’m hoping that won’t be a problem.  I have no idea what job I would get as there seem to be a lot of openings.  I’m sure the whole back to school thing is going on.  I know colleges are opening but I’m not sure what they have decided for grade schools and high schools.

I see by the clock I need to wrap this up.  Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Learning, Life, Nature, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Busy to Keep Anxiety at Bay

1972italy

No rain yesterday but it was nice enough to work outside some.  I primarily took care of stuff around the house.  No word from the vet yet.  I will call the finish paying the bill and see if there is any word.  I rushed in and did my classwork. I thought I had a few more days but it was due at like 2:30 am yesterday so I got everything written and handed in.  I also got my peer reviews done.  I had intended to start the next class last night but I was just so tired that I was sure I wouldn’t retain any of the information.  I may try it this morning.  But I may not.  Essie keeps coming in to see me.  She wants me to follow her and I do but I don’t know what else she wants.  She hasn’t eaten again.  This is becoming a regular thing.  Just like before the surgery.

I am starting to feel overwhelmed again.  I am trying not to panic.  There is so much here that I should have done but don’t.  Things I said I would do but haven’t.  I tried book reviewing and it’s just not working for me.  I can’t seem to find the words or the words I fins aren’t good enough.  Aren’t sophisticated enough.

I have a meeting tonight via Zoom.  I have an alarm set to remind me.  With everything going on in my head I know I will forget.  Once Chris gets up I will go get groceries.  I wanted someone to be home so the house wasn’t shut up.  It is just too hot for that right now.

My mind is a total blank right now.  There is nothing.  I try to pick  topic to rite about and gone.  Like someone hit the delete button on everything.  Stella has come to be with us.  She is laying out in hallway just outside my office door so she can get the cool breeze coming through.  I’m going to wrap this up.  I can’t focus when I am this anxious.  Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Books, Creativity, Emotions, family, Friends, Life, Reading, Writing

Reading Leads to Writing

1972italy

I did get some writing done on one of my stories yesterday.  I am rereading a series that I have not read in many years, Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles.  I had forgotten how her words and stories flow carrying the reader from the past to present and back again effortlessly.  It gave me some more creative juice to use on my own work.  So for now during the day I will read Anne Rice and at night I seem to got to H.P. Lovecraft on my Kindle.  Both authors have a lot to teach with their writing.  Both can tell a good story (it may take Lovecraft more words to do it sometimes).  Rice paints her worlds and characters with a loving and lavish brush to make them come to life.  I can lose myself in either author’s stories.

Today’s goal is to be able to work more on one or both of my stories.  I have to say that I am having an easier time with the one that has horror in it.  I am not very adept at the straight fiction anymore.  It is easier to lose myself to the supernatural.  Which is evidenced by my library, lol.  I have limited straight fiction.  Looking at my book shelves I am tempted to reorganize them and have a section of the classics.  That would include such works as King Solomon’s Mines (one of my favorites), Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz (I am trying to get all the books) and other such gems from the past.  I have things divided into topics such as horror, mystery, research, children’s books, creativity and writing… you get the idea.  Other shelves are dedicated to specific authors like Anne Rice and Stephen King.  I do have to say that I love my library.  There are only a handful of books that I have not read in all of them.  Most of them have been read more than once.  Sometimes for pleasure, sometimes for examination and sometimes for a bit of both.  Right now the Vampire Chronicles are a bit of both.

I find myself drawn to different books and I am remembering when I received them.  I have the Chronicles of Narnia that Mom bought me when I was going on the road trip with my Grandma Morin for the summer.  She bought me the whole series to take with as well as a beach towel, a deck of cards (I still have those as well), sunscreen and a few other goodies.  I have A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L’Engle that Dad got me (with a loving note from him written on the inside) because I loved reading it in the school library.  There is a book of love letters that Chris got me for an anniversary present (the same on he had flowers delivered to my work and I cried my eyes out).  I even have Dad’s copy of the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe (Dad memorized The Raven while he was on a ship in the Navy and that was the first thing I learned to read… and I still have the children’s book we read it from).  Sooo many memories on these shelves!

Goodness I have gone on!  Sorry about that!  I will stop here because I could go on endlessly!  lol.  Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, Books, Dogs, family, Life, Reading, Travel

Tell Sleep I Miss It…

1972italy

I am so overwhelmingly tired right now.  Pretty sure I didn’t fall asleep before 2am.  Essie wanted to get up around 8am.  But of course I was awake and trying to go back to sleep since 6am again.  Moose was all about staying in bed.  Every time I tried to get up he draped his head across me to keep me laying down.

Chris and I did a little road trip and acquired two used AC units for the house.  One is still in the bed of the truck (I told Chris he can put it in his office as I prefer to keep my window open in mine) but the other is in the bedroom.  With the fan going it cools the room right down.  We need to lengthen the felt cover that is over the window.  Even with the blinds down it gets bright in there when the sun is out.

I got my latest reading material in the mail yesterday.  The debut novel The Bright Lands by John Fram.  It’s a mystery set in a small Texas town.  It reminds me of Christopher Rice and some of his early novels so I thought why not.  Even though I am still reading the other book I am going to start this one.

I got another box from Amazon yesterday.  Amazon UK to be exact.  It contained a 3-in-1 nail gun (it does nails, staples and little U shaped thingys) as well as cardboard letters.  What is this for? you might ask.  I know I did because I never ordered it.  I got ahold of someone from Amazon once we had gotten settled in (we were gone most of the day so the kids needed to be fed dinner, groceries needed to be unloaded and put away and the AC units switched out).  I was told that I could keep it. So I have a new tool in my arsenal.

I can’t keep my eyes open.  I’m going to wrap this up and then curl up with the book outside.  Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a great day!  Stay safe!