A Time of Reflection and Thanks

People often confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day, or assume they have the same meaning. They don’t.

Veterans day was originally called Armistice Day, established in 1919 by President Wilson. It was designed to celebrate the end of “The Great War”, World War I and mark the beginning of peace, good will, and understanding among nations. It later became a legal holiday (1938).

In 1954, after World War II (reportedly the biggest mobilization of service people) , and the Korean War the 83rd Congress amended the Act of 1938, changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day, with the intent to honor veterans of all wars.

Memorial Day is older. It began in 1868 when Maj. Gen. John A. Logan (of the Grand Army of the Republic) declared that Decoration Day would honor those fallen in the Civil War by decorating their graves with flowers. After WW I, it was broadened to include all those who died in American wars. In 1971, Congress declared it a national holiday.

Veteran’s Day honors all who served and sacrificed. Memorial Day honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

For many of us, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer season. We celebrate this beginning with picnics and barbecues and trips to the pool or beach. But during our fun, we cannot forget to honor those who died for our freedom and safety. As the saying goes, without them, there would likely be no us.

*Information retrieved from va.gov

LGBTQ Fantasy E-Book Fair!

I don’t know about you, but as an avid reader I’m always looking for new authors. Here’s an opportunity to check some out! Click the picture!

A giveaway for LGBTQ urban fantasy, science fiction, and fantasy books and short stories.

It's Hard to Not Worry

A friend of mine, who also happens to be one of the smartest people I know, is very worried about the increases in COVID cases in this country. He and I spent the entire year worried, but managed to make ourselves feel better once the rates in Connecticut began to decline and jumped for joy when the vaccine was rolled out in earnest. But things have started to reverse and he’s worried. So am I.

First, we noticed the cases in our state have started to climb. Earlier in March, we were at a low infection rate of 2.7% . Two days ago we were at 4.88%—the highest rate since early January. Second, cases around the country are on the rise, with a couple of hotbed states like New Jersey, New York, and Michigan. As states continue to roll back all restrictions, we’ll see more with that unfortunate distinction. Around the world, the data is sending the same message: The pandemic is not over.

Then we noticed that many people we know are resuming life as it was in The Before Times. They’re eating indoors at restaurants, going on vacations, and taking off their masks. Even people who previously were as cautious as we were are acting like a dose of vaccine is a magic potion.

Then my friend had an epiphany: If the people who, like us, effectively put themselves out of the path of transmission are now putting themselves back IN, there may very well be more people in the chain of transmission than there were pre-vaccine. Add to that dire thought the increased transmissibility, we are in a real life Petri dish.

What pushed me over the edge and back into worry, however, was the recent statement of the current head of the CDC: “I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom.” You have to admit, even if you don’t completely buy the science (which you should because, well, science), that’s an incredibly scary statement from the head of the Center for Disease Control.

It. Is. Not. Over. #wearyourmask #washyourhands #stayhome The sooner we all resume taking this advice, the sooner we actually can get back to normal.

365 Days

My love belongs to my beloved 365 days a year, 1440 minutes of every day. I work hard each of these days to show my love.

An unexpected cup of coffee.

Flowers for no reason.

A drive to nowhere.

A text from the next room.

And a myriad other moments.

Today is just a day where I shout it to the world. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Writing Through the Pain

I’ve just come through a very difficult period of writer’s block. I’ve not experienced anything like it before.

I was at a pivotal point in the story where my main character experiences something very painful. The kind of emotional agony that brings up every other anguish you’ve experienced in your life. Soul-wrenching. But something was in my way.

My writing process begins with me seeing the scene. I know this sounds weird, but my story comes to me like clips from a movie. No, I’m not saying that the story writes itself or that my characters are in charge or anything like that. But my imagination unfolds the story before my eyes, so to speak.

For this part of the story, the scene was blank, as if the reel of film had run out.

I tried to force the issue. Sitting at my computer for hours and hours, staring at the screen. Reading the thousands of words already written and then reading them again. I realized that I had to step away for a while, so I put it away for a few days.

Instead of coming straight back to it, I decided to plot it out. I opened up a rarely used program and I loaded it with pictures. Then I asked a few questions and wrote down the answers. What was the hero’s goal? What needed to happen and was it compatible with his goal? What was the conflict? The outcomes of the conflict and the reactions to it?

As I considered these questions, the story began to unfold. Suddenly, there they were, the plot point and the pain. As painful as this scene was to be for my character, I needed to find my connection to his pain. I cried as I wrote it. I cry every time I re-read it.

I excited to see what happens next.

Winter Snow is Coming? It's Already Here

I love snow. I’ve said that many times.  But the recent storm has outdone itself. It started Sunday evening.  I shoveled the steps and a walkway for the dogs

And went to bed.

Monday brought a surprising amount of snow.  I had put the garbage can out the night before and the snow was deep enough to cause a problem getting it back up the driveway. Snow was past the bottom of the doors and I spent much of Monday shoveling the steps and walkway for the dogs.  The snow was coming down so heavy that 30 minutes after I shoveled, the trench would be filled again. The dogs were not happy. Unless forced, they would not have left the steps.

To keep snow from getting too deep. We cleaned off the cars and shoveled snow throughout the day. We were proud of ourselves for staying ahead of the snowfall. We went to sleep expecting a fairly normal Tuesday.

But instead of the planned relaxing day of stretches, breakfast, and a day devoted to writing, we woke to snow deep enough to prevent opening the doors and snow literally up to our car’s doorhandles.

One of my favorite fantasies is curling up in front of a roaring fire, drinking hot chocolate, and napping or reading.  Just enjoying the snow. While I have seen a lot of snow and drank a lot of hot chocolate, I have never fulfilled the rest of this fantasy.  Today was not to be the day to live this dream.

Instead, we spent the day shoveling snow and brushing the snow off cars.  Lest you think this was easy, remember that the snow was up to the doorhandles.  And some genius decided to use a snow blower that threw THAT snow onto our car.

We didn’t shovel every moment, but my muscles would debate that.   We shoveled enough that coming inside and using ICE PACKS on our backs was necessary. We had scraped and shoveled the driveway to the street.  And driven over patches of snow to get our car near the end.

As evening fell. I went outside to survey our progress.  The city trucks had made a couple of passes and our driveway was blocked by a wall of snow and ice we could not possibly drive over. Snow had slid off the overhang and covered a good part of the area we had shoveled with 3-5 inches of snow.

At this point, I had the choice of crying or watching a few episodes of my current favorite TV show. To quote Scarlet O’Hara, “after all, tomorrow is another day.”

Oh, Look! Presents!

From time to time I have the opportunity to point my readers and followers to a few new authors and a few new books. In honor of the holidays, I have a slew of them!

Click on the pictures and ENJOY!

The books here represent a variety of genres.

Weathering the Weather

Wise County, Va.

Admittedly, I have a love/hate relationship with the weather. I cherish the scents and sounds of the ocean, so I appreciate the summer’s warm, sunny days at the beach—as long as it isn’t too warm. I love the smells and scenery of the fall, although the days are often dreary, especially when the leaves turn from colorful to brown. And the winter…Oh, it’s so frustrating.

I do love the snow. It’s so beautiful as it comes down and when it lands. I have an ongoing fantasy of sitting on the sofa with warm fuzzy socks and a cup of cocoa or coffee, holiday music on the stereo and my beloved snuggling next to me, watching the snow fall. Thankfully, I’ve been able to turn it into a reality from time to time. We also love putting on winter duds and sitting on a bench with a thermos of hot chocolate or taking slow walks down our street to take in the view.

Wise County, Va.

Unfortunately, my partner and I both spent years driving in winter weather, in deep snow and ice. I remember nights of white-knuckled fear trying to make my way home from work, seeing numerous cars spun off to the side of the road or in ditches. We’ve both also had too many close calls to count. Even glorious, rejuvenating winter has its downsides.

Then there is spring. Not too cold. Not too hot. Flowers in bloom. Sunny and enough warmth to enjoy the outdoors. Oh wait…It’s also allergy season. And when we’re fortunate, lots of rain.

I suppose the lesson is that I—all of us—have to appreciate both sides of the coin. After all, we don’t get flowers without rain and pollen. And we don’t get snow to enjoy without snow to drive in.

I have my hot chocolate ready. Bring it on.

Oops! I've Done It Again--NaNoWriMo

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I have embarked on that nearly impossible task of writing 50K words in one month.

This means 30 days (now 26) of quick and easy food, minimal cleaning, barely any laundry, and sleepless nights. (Not sleeping is the only way I can do this, as my full-time gig won’t give me the month off to write. Go figure.) Moreover, Thanksgiving falls right at Nano crunch time. If I’m ahead, I can maybe take a minute to cook a real turkey dinner. If I’m behind…

It’s only turkey.

NaNoWriMo is a huge challenge I give myself. Part creative, part stress, it’s right up my alley. What tough challenges do you take on?

Reach Out for Something New

Not too long ago, I was feeling sorry for myself. It all felt like too much, more than I could bear. Maybe some of you can relate. It occurred to me that there are three possible outcomes to the end of the pandemic. I will either come out of this exactly the same (in which case I will have wasted a year or more of my life), I can come out of this worse for wear (and who knows how bad “worse” can be), or I can emerge better than I was before.

I’m choosing the latter.

Vegetable Stew. Yummy.

To this end, I’ve recommitted to eating better. Considering current events, it seems prudent to eat less meat. I’m not ready to go full on vegan. I’m still going to eat dairy, for now.

I’ve been hunting for recipes that are filling but meatless. One meal I particularly like is Vegetarian Stew. It has corn and potatoes and zucchini and tomatoes, among other veggies. With a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, it was delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe.

I’ve also tried my hand at crocheting. I used to crochet—a long time ago. All I ever managed to create were scarves. But look! Fingerless gloves.

Before you start to critique my effort, I already know they’re full of flaws. But when I look at them, I see sheer perfection. I’ll get better with practice.

One thing I still need to add to my process of change is something calming. Peaceful. Reflective. I’m not sure what that will look like. I do need to read more. I love reading but it’s one of those things I don’t often make time to do. I’m not good at journaling. Maybe listening to music? Meditation? There is something appealing about both of those options. That being said, I’m open to suggestions.

I wonder if I will be successful.

In a song, Prince wrote, “It’s time to reach out for something new. That means you, too.” I think it’s my time to change. I’m going to give it my best shot.

One of Those Days

One thing I know for sure is that if one thing goes wrong in the morning, the rest of the day is in trouble.

First, I have to admit that I overslept, so getting out of the house was rushed.  As I was leaving, the phone rang and I saw it was the arborist who is supposed to check our tree.  This appointment has been delayed by a tropical storm a couple of weeks ago and then a storm with tornados last week.  The arborist was called to help with tree damage, so our poor tree was put on hold.  I knew he was calling to reschedule but there was no time to check calendars so I told the phone (and myself) that I would call him later.

Tuesday is errand day.  I have to be out for our farm shares pick up so run other errands. When I attached my phone in the car, I received the message that the phone was offline.  Now, this phone is about a week old and one sim card has already had to be replaced.  Here we go again I thought.  Followed by “I’ll have to call them later.”

Off I went and picked up the farm shares and decided not to do the other errands to save time. I arrived home, showered, and put everything away.  I grabbed last night’s leftover lasagna and heated that for lunch. 

During lunch a friend called needing to borrow something, medicine was delivered, and a friend kept texting complaints about his day. 

Actually, it was worse than this looks.

Finally, I headed to my office to get started on my workday, only to learn that the internet was down.  I did the usual magic, but nothing happened.  I spent the next 3 hours on the phone with the tech guy who told me one thing to do, then totally changed what he wanted me to do until I was completely turned around.  I checked for loose cables, traced the cable back to its entry to the house, but honestly I wouldn’t have recognized something wrong If I had seen it.  There were multiple wires going in every direction. Did we really have cable in six rooms?  Seems we do even though they are hooked to nothing.  Finally, the tech and I decided that a new modem should be sent.  Great.  How many days?

I also teach remotely, and guess what is needed for that? Yes, an internet connection.  Using the hot spot on my phone I was able to hold the class.  Miraculously when my class ended, the internet came online and then it was gone again.

So here I sit with blogs to post, email to send, and classes to get ready for tomorrow.  But I have no internet.  What’s a person to do? I think I will go to bed and make sure tomorrow starts on time.

Really? Pumpkin Lattes Already?

I'm feeling like this little guy. My partner and I went out today to grab a cup of coffee (we had a touch of cabin fever) and coffee shops are already selling Fall flavors. 

A bewildered owl. Courtesy Skitterphoto on Pexels

Fall? It's 90 degrees where I am. 

Granted, classes are starting up for the Fall semester, which is a marker of the next season. I've been buried in school prep, student advising, and orientations for a few weeks so I suppose I hadn't noticed that time was passing so quickly.  

Tell me, are you a person who years for Fall flavors? I like a few. Apples, caramel (which I consider Fall-ish) and some pumpkin flavors—although not in coffee. I’m a coffee purist.

If Fall flavors are your thing, I have a good recipe for a unique snack/dessert. The recipe is one that has been in my family for decades, although to be honest I have no idea where or with whom it originated.

Pumpkin dip:

2 cups powdered sugar

8oz cream cheese softened

15 ounces of pumpkin (canned or pureed)

2 teaspoons cinnamon (or to taste—I sometimes like a little less)

Makes approximately 4 cups. Recipe can be doubled easily.

Serve with ginger snaps for dipping! YUMMY!

If you try it, let me know what you think!