AN EMBARRASING MOMENT

 By Caroline Clemmons

For me, today is when Fall begins. No doubt about it, this is a holdover from my school days. I loved school, especially English and history. Over my thirteen years (counting kindergarten), I had many amazing teachers and a few incidents I remember with pleasure.

 

One of my most embarrassing moments came when I was a junior in high school. My best friend, Iris, did everything she tried well. In spite of the fact she didn't cook or sew, she worked in the home economics office for one credit. Iris assured me this was a great way to get an easy A because there was little to do and I could get some of my homework done. 

This was a highly sought-after spot. With Iris’ recommendation to Mrs. Carter, lead teacher, I was approved. But Mrs. Carter eyed me with concern. She had taught me the year before in her cooking class, in which I did well. Probably, she wondered why a brainy girl like Iris would be friends with a dork like me. 

I signed up for the next semester, and was given the period just before lunch. You cannot imagine my horror when I learned that the slot I’d landed was feeding time for the lab rat.  Remember the scene in the book 1984 when Big Brother’s agents threatened the man with hungry rats on his face? That’s the image seared in my brain. And I was afraid of the small rodents even before I read the book. 

Okay, so it was only one rat, and he was in a cage. But to me he looked as if he were sizing me up for dinner’s main course. I managed to feed the beast through the first week without disaster. I had never had pets and had no rapport with animals—not because I disliked them, but because I didn’t identify with them as I do now. 

Feeling a bit more confident, I breezed into the tiny home ec office the second week. The rat was primed and waiting. The moment I unlatched his cage to add food, he leaped out and ran into an empty classroom. I was lucky he hadn’t chosen the opposite direction leading into  the high school hallway, but I didn't realize it at the time. All I knew was I was in big trouble. I chased him around the room and finally cornered the poor rat so I could grab him. 

Ohh, good gracious, I was holding a rat!

I’m not sure which of us was most frightened. I managed to get him back to the cage only to find Mrs. Carter waiting for me in the office, having witnessed the last part of my debacle. Actually, she was nice about the whole thing in a slightly severe way. We agree that I would feed the rat when she was in the office in the future until I “became more comfortable with that duty.”  

I feared my blunder would reflect badly on my friend Iris, but it didn't seem to do so. I suppose Mrs. Carter’s opinion of me as a dork or a scatterbrain or whatever explained everything. Needless to say, I did not seek to work in the home ec office the following semester.  Iris and I have remained good friends all these years.

Breaking the Block by Laura Hunsaker

Back to school time is in the air, and in my area we're on week 3. The past month of my life has been back to school everything, not just for my children, but also because I work in a school. Things are slowly settling down now, and as that happens, my off-time is becoming mine once again. 

Lately I've been dealing with writer's block; more than likely from the stress of work. But to combat it, I've been just writing anything. Stream of consciousness, journaling, or even a story I've been toying with. I do this to push past writer's block, because ignoring it doesn't help, and forcing the words never works. If I just write stuff without the pressure of anyone ever seeing it, that's what helps me.

I have a story right now that's been simmering for about a month. I'm beginning to think I might be able to do something with it. Maybe not the whole thing, but parts of it for sure. I have one scene that just doesn't want to leave my brain, so this one will definitely wind up in a story. 

I think writer's block is such a fascinating thing because not too many other jobs have that. Can you think of any? Maybe artists? Songwriters? 

I've been listening to a lot of new music as well, hoping to help push past this block, and so often lyrics will speak to me as the vibe to a scene I'm writing. If you follow me on Twitter/Threads/BlueSky, you'll see me posting a nightly writing playlist, with lyrics that stuck with me. I feel like this helps me a lot. It sets the scene for me, and gives me the whole feel for a scene.

So writers, how do you combat writer's block?

Readers, feel free to chime in with pushing past some form of burnout or block in your own jobs!

And if you want to read my latest, it's a short story about a wedding with so many mishaps and shenanigans, that you'd think something like that could never happen, except that it did! To me ;)

Dreams of the Future

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Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up…


Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. How can she pull off the wedding of their dreams when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess? There’s a lot to do, and so little time to do it. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.

Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to get back to the church…

Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding. This should be a happy event, yet It seems everything is going haywire. A caravan of wedding guests breaks down on their way to the venue, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the wedding has to be moved inside. Yet the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. While the striking brunette walking down the aisle ahead of him wants nothing to do with him, even she can’t deny the sparks that fly between them.

With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?

In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?

WHAT'S WATT?

                                 by Judy Ann Davis

Are you a collector? Are there material things than you like to buy, keep, and even display? People collect items due to a mix of motivations, including the excitement of the hunt, nostalgia for the past, pride in ownership and display, the pursuit of financial investment, the desire for social connection, and a deep emotional attachment to specific objects.

I collect Watt pottery that was started in Perry County, Ohio, in 1922.  It was started on the site of an old pottery factory, and remained in business from 1922 to 1965 when the factory was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt.   

At the beginning, they manufactured stoneware crocks, butter churns, preserve jars and jugs.  In the late forties, the pottery was focused on kitchenware glazed in solid colors. In 1949, Watt Pottery began hand decorating its wares.

These first hand-decorated patterns are called the Classic Patterns and were produced until about 1953. Vibrant colors against the deep cream clay gave Watt Pottery its unique country appeal. The pottery also resisted discoloration. The patterns are simple in nature, and were decorated with as few brush strokes as possible to allow low production costs. Teams of three decorators designed the various pieces.

I own pottery mugs, pitchers, and bowls decorated with the star flower, American red bud, and apple patterns. The star flowers were handed down from my aunt to my mother and lastly to me. The apple is considered a favorite by many, but the star flower is my favorite.

The pottery was sold in many locations and states such as Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, to name a few. But it was but also available in Kroger stores and across farming districts as well as from auction houses in New England. Produced relatively inexpensively, the pottery was suitable for businesses, including feed stores, to use as premiums or as advertising items. We were farming family, and my mother enjoyed the simple pottery for display purposes in her kitchen.  The pieces now sit in my dining room.

Do I still look for Watt Pottery?  Oh, yes. When I come across a piece, I have to stop and make the difficult choice of deciding whether I have enough room for one more piece. My display cabinet is getting pretty full.

So tell me, are you also a collector? And, what do you collect?

MY NEW BOOK - COMING SOON!

FINDING LOVE IN PINE VALLEY 

 

A Turn of Phrase ...

I wrote this in April of 2020 for the Word Wranglers blog. I had absolutely no idea I'd be feeling the same way over five years later! I'm sorry I do, to tell the truth, but I still like a good turn of phrase, and the stories I talked about here. - Liz

Because I want comfort right now, and things to laugh at, and no surprises, I've been reading books I've read before, usually a long time ago. I love them. It's not that I think writers then were necessarily better than they are now or even that the stories were better, but there was something about the way those writers spun the language that I don’t see in modern prose.

I read Betty MacDonald’s Onions in the Stew this week. She referred to Vashon Island as “plump and curvy” and to Mt. Rainier as a “magnificent, unbelievably shy mountain who parts her clouds and shows her exquisite face…” She writes that a “tiny white church up to its knees in non-ecclesiastical currant bushes holds a bony arm bearing a small cross high up toward the pale sky.” Yet another church, “large hipped…glares disapprovingly” at a movie theater. I can see those things, can’t you? I think I can feel them, too.

Do you remember when the needle grew “too heavy” for Beth March? I was nine years old when I first read it. All these shockingly many years later, my heart breaks yet again.

“I’m so glad,” said Anne of Green Gables, “I live in a world where there are Octobers.” Remember her of the new days with no mistakes in them yet? It became a mantra for me when it seemed as if I couldn’t go even a few hours without something going wrong.

Although I haven't yet, I have no doubt I will delve into some old Betty Neels books before this crisis ends. They are the mashed potatoes and gravy of comfort reads, and I can't wait. I know what's going to happen in each of her over 100 books, and I don't care--I'll read 'em again. Same with Rosamund Pilcher's The Shell Seekers. There's just something about the way they talk to me. 

I blogged once that something I always looked for and cherished in books I read (and wrote) was tenderness. (SPOILER ALERT) LaVyrle Spencer is one of my favorite writers, and Forgiving is possibly my favorite of her books. Much of the reason for this is that tenderness threads through the entire story like fingers unbraiding hair. The last line of the book was, “And they slept. Delivered.”

I love being a writer. I talk about retiring from it, but probably never will. I love being a reader, too, because of the richness reading gives to my life. Because of turns of phrase and just the right word in just the right place. Because of a breaking heart, a borrowed mantra, and the soft, sweet sigh of “Delivered.”

Share with us. What are some of your favorite place settings of words or your favorite writers who set those places?

Living on the Surface of the Sun by Bea Tifton

Texas is a beautiful state. It has every type of typography one would want, seashores, mountains, bayous, forests, plains, and desert. There’s so much history in quirky little towns and big cities.

But Texas is pure D hot. One summer I asked Mom why we lived here. She replied, “This is where the stagecoach broke down.” Texas usually goes from summer to winter. And with climate change, it’s hot from April to October. I read that many of the people who are streaming into Texas move back after experiencing one of our summers. (Still, so many more are pouring in and I can’t find a darn parking space anywhere. But that’s a different blog for a different day.) 

Big Bend, Texas

South Padre Island, Texas

   

       

Houston, Texas

Davis Mountains, Texas

Big Cypress Bayou, Texas

South Plains, Texas

I cannot take the heat. I went on one date with a man who knew everything. It was exhausting. He’s a runner, and when I explained that I cannot exercise in the heat he said smugly, “Everyone can exercise in the heat. You just need to hydrate.” Did you notice I said one date? But I have a friend who was an EMT. He confirmed that once someone has had heat exhaustion, they are much more prone to it from then on. And I’ve never been able to get hot; I pass out, which is quite embarrassing and inconvenient. So, I stay inside when it’s hot. Thank goodness that pretty much everywhere I go is air conditioned. The man who invented AC, Willis Carrier, should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize. Just sayin’.

Willis Carrier

It can be disappointing, though. Texas has so many fun festivals during the hot months, and I simply can’t go. And people don’t understand why I have to say no to invitations to hike, kayak, picnic, etc. Because, of course, all I'd have to do is hydrate.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a place that had four well defined seasons. Especially fall, my favorite. I love those photos of fall colors from other parts of the country. And we do have some color changes, despite what many people say. Still, no one is going to travel to Texas in the fall just to go leaf peeping. 

Lost Maples State Park, Texas

We’re in the hottest month of the year now. But I’m safely tucked up in my house with the air conditioning.  Just like Willis Carrier intended.

Photo Credits: 

Wikimedia Commons: "Texas Lone Star State"

Pexels.com: Genevieve Ma'yet  "Asphalt Road on Wasteland"

Pexels.com: Andrea Hinajosa "White and Gray Bird on Brown sand Near Body of Water"

Pexels.com: Jeswin Thomas "A Wooden Deck in a Forest"

Wikimedia Commons: Justin Cozart "Elephant Mountain"

Wikimedia Commons: "Big Cypress Bayou" 

Wikimedia Commons: "South Plains Texas Wind Turbines"

Wikimedia Commons: "Willis Carrier in 1915"

Wikimedia Commons: "The Lost Maples State Park Fall Colors in Texas" 

Pexels.com: Cottonbro Studio "A Woman Sitting on a Windowsill While Holding a Cup of Coffee and a                     Book"

My Month in Photos~Sherri Easley

I have been sick the last three weeks and well, if I can't say something positive, I won't say anything at all- but I will show you in a few pictures of my last week. 

My daughter and her family are squeezing in one last family excursion before school starts, so I am taking care of their "zoo". 

First let's talk about Skittles, the Conure Parakeet- I have learned from my daughter, that she is mad at me at this photo- I didn't know that by the photo- but the fact that she reached around the blueberry to bite me- so no shock there. 

I 

This very dark pick is two of the baby chicks that aren't quite ready for the general population, so they are in the guest bathroom. They are easy- they just stand around, peep, poop and eat all under a lamp in the Airconditioned house. 

Then there is the 8-year-old bunny- the last of three- She has not been feeling well, and I have been giving her meds every day disguised in a strawberry. I think she likes me. After a few days, she now is greedy when she pulls the berry from my fingers and eats the drug laced treat on her own. 

Next up, the rescue- the African Sucato, Krundle. He comes out every day to see what treats I have for him. 

If any of you are Sucato experts, know that the pyramiding on his shell was worse when my daughter adopted him and is an indication of malnutrition or abuse. He was living his best life as an escapee- for no one knows how long before someone found him. 

These are the ones that live to be 100 years old and can weigh over 100 pounds. 

He will have to be left in the will to someone.  

Here is the flock- I didn't count them, I just hope they are all there - There are three babies in there- Seems that three of the hens went broody a few weeks back, and they all claimed these babies, but they would not adopt the new babies.  In this batch, there is one very expensive chicken, Gucci, who has been sick, so I have to open her mouth to make sure that no food has gotten stuck in her mouth, and if there is stuck food, I have to pull it out.  eww gross

So far, I have gathered about 5 eggs a day- but there were 2 more brown eggs outside the mud. I am told they had been laying about 9 eggs per day, but I guess they are stressed without their normal keepers here- but this is my payment for my zoo duties.  I don't particularly like eggs most of the time, but I do like quiche occasionally. 

Lastly, there is this thing- an auto mopping sweeping floor cleaner. So far, it is the only thing I have managed to harm. I came in today to find it passed out, unresponsive due to a choking hazard. I did minor surgery, removed a couple of red legos - and hooked her back up - so we will see tomorrow if she survived. 

As, I mentioned in the beginning, I have been convalescing, so I haven't been writing, or cleaning, or even sewing. All I have been doing is sleeping and trying to stay cool. 

I hope you are all enjoying the end to Summer! I know some of you have school to get back to- and I wish you a great year! 

 

No Llama Drama by Bea Tifton

I am filling in for the lovely and talented Caroline Clemmons. 

Do you incorporate animals into your stories? Do your characters have pets? In real life and in books, I like people best when they love animals. And do your characters have some animal apart from their pets that they just love? I adore my cats and my dogs, but I also absolutely love llamas. 

One year for my birthday a good friend and I went to a llama ranch. The llamas are trained to interact with people and they are very well taken care of. There were several options for activities, but we chose the lecture and the meet and greet. The owner gave a llama lecture in the barn. Did you know llamas can run up to 35 miles an hour? They are often used as guard animals because they will chase off predators like coyotes. And like their cousins the camels, they spit when they are annoyed. If the ears go back, the lecturer warned, you go back. They have had enough and they are about to let 'er rip. 

After the lecture, we were allowed to play with the llamas and take selfies They all have funny names like Banana Llama and Dolly Llama. None of the llamas spit on anyone. It was one of the best birthday trips I've taken.

One year the daughter of one of my closest friends at the time got married. The wedding was held in a lovely outdoor venue in the middle of nowhere. I was considered family, so I stayed close to the mother of the bride and tried to keep her from having a nervous breakdown. We were standing there chatting when she yelled, "Oh my God, where are the llamas? We paid extra for the llamas." She was almost hysterical, so I assured her I would find out. I was circling the reception hall looking for someone who worked there when I spotted the manager. I was running after him (in my dress and very uncomfortable shoes) when he began running. In the distance, I could see a rogue llama jumping over a ditch. He led a merry chase, but the manager finally managed to grab him. Another male llama and a female llama briefly attended the wedding, moving among the guests before the ceremony started. Even for a llama lover like me, it was a bit surreal. Fun, but surreal. 

I live in one of the fastest growing cities in the country, and, while I have a decent sized yard, we're not zoned for llamas. I have fantasies of moving out to the country and getting a couple just to have them, but I know I won't actually do that. But it's fun to play with them whenever I see them. 

Do you have an animal that you particularly like?