Blog Archives
There’s still romance
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Thirty-seven years and there’s still romance in our marriage. Life has been hectic for both DH and me over the last several months…um, years even. We haven’t seemed to have much time to take a breath, relax, and simply enjoy each other. However, once in a while….
It had drizzled all day but around seven, the sky cleared. After weeding the gardens, I set the new hammock up since the weather reports have indicated several dry days heading our way. DH came out to see what I was doing.
The hammock is a huge rope one, almost as wide as I am tall and quite long. DH decided to try it out. He sprawled out in it and looked deliriously happy and comfortable.
“Move over,” I said and joined him.
“The pillow is too small to share.”
“That’s okay I’ll use you.” I rested my head on his shoulder.
He snuggled closer and we scanned the sky to catch the first star.
After a while I said, “I like this.”
“I’m glad you bought the hammock.” He kissed the top of my head. “I missed doing this.”
“Me too.”
We stayed there until all the stars looked down at us.
Posted in Misc, MS related, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Romance, Writer, Writing
Writers’ bait
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I promised to tell you what we used for writers’ bait. Although Jackie’s guesses were good, she didn’t come close.
Writers’ bait has been a running joke with a few of us for a couple of years. It started one year when we were sitting in another hotel lobby. I put something on the table in front of us. It wasn’t long before more and more people joined us. It seems I found a weakness.
What is it that few people can resist? What was in almost every basket at the Chinese auction?
Throughout the weekend, six bags of Dove Dark Chocolate and three bags of Hershey Dark Bliss candy disappeared. Not only did the night shift hotel staff enjoy the nightly treats I handed out, but all the writers who sat with us did too.
There’s magic in chocolate, my dears.
Posted in Food, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Food, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
Tomorrow I’ll do the bills
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Today was a perfect day to place my butt in the chair and write. I couldn’t go out and play in the garden because we had a constant drizzle of rain all day. DH had the dogs pretty well worn out when I got up. The only other thing that screamed for attention was to pay the bills.
Do the bills or write? Bills or write? No contest there. I poured some coffee, turned on the computer, pulled up three of my books and began my juggling act. A paragraph here, another one there, some dialogue in the third, I was humming along and then the phone rang.
The mother-in-law, DH had to run over to her house for another ‘only her son can take care of it’ situation. Here we go again. I knew he’d come home exhausted. While he was gone, I made sure the dogs went out, twice. I decided what to make for dinner—something that would take long enough for him to squeeze in a nap when he got home.
An hour and a half later, he dragged through the door. I sent him up for a nap and crated the dogs so they’d be quiet. Both dogs passed out, snores emanated from the crate within minutes. Oh, yeah he’d tired them out for sure. I set a timer to stop me when I needed to start dinner then went back to the computer to do more writing.
Posted in MS related, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
PW conference in the cheap seats
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It was cheaper to go out to dinner than to pay for the banquet at the conference. Don’t get me wrong, I often attend the banquets but this year I wasn’t sure how much money I would have so when I sent in my registration I skipped all the extras. I share the hotel room, which cuts that cost in half. Even at half price, it isn’t cheap to stay for four days.
The costume party was fun when I attended one two years ago, but I skipped that too, again it was the money.
A small group of us went to the conference on the cheap. We got our entertainment watching the boys and girls go into their prom. They were adorable. The gowns were lovely and the tuxedos looked a lot better than the ones I remember did back in the day. Some of the lads even wore tails. It brought back many memories of the three proms I’d attended. The best arrival was the couple that came in an antique car. For me, the only thing that could’ve topped that would’ve been a fancy horse drawn carriage.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
Who hid the Aleve?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I didn’t count how many plants I bought on Monday. I did count them today. My jaw dropped when I hit forty-four. Yikes! I planted all but six of them today. Am I an idiot? Yes, yes I am. Because not only did I did dig thirty eight holes and stuff thirty eight plants into the ground I also dug out three large Iris groups, a few coreopsis, a couple of moss roses, two sedums, and by the time I finished, I felt as if the partridge and pear tree had come along for the ride.
Why did I dig up so much of my flora? (It barely put a dent in the garden) Wednesday, I was telling G that I needed to split many of my perennials this year. I knew she couldn’t take them. G’s tiny yard is already jam packed with flowers. For a postage stamp yard, it is gorgeous. I made the comment about wishing I knew someone who’d like some flowers.
M walks her dog past our yard daily, we’ve only talked briefly, and that was about Patty who wanted to eat her dog. Patty’s greatest desire is to wipe all dogs (except her big brother Gavin) off the face of the earth. I was sure I was on this young woman’s list of people to avoid. However, she was within earshot and I saw her eyes light up. I asked her if she gardened. She grinned. G and I introduced ourselves M told us her name and that she lived on the other side of the cemetery. The three of us talked for quite a while and M and I arranged for her to come for flowers today.
Around five, the yard is shaded, the rest of the time most of the gardens are in full sun. M arrived with a shovel and bin. I gave her a list of all I had available to split. We didn’t even come close to one of each item when we had filled her car. M will be back.
I still have a ton of iris to split, bleeding hearts are running rampant among the beds, and many other flowers that have bivouacked where they don’t belong. Jackie, bring a shovel and expect to work for your flowers. I’ll supply the coffee.
I’m sore tonight—not getting any younger. Where the heck is the Aleve?
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Writer, writer burning bright
Posted by doggonedmysteries
One (or rather 4) of the best things about a Pennwriters conference is that our published authors are so approachable. The speakers beg you to ask questions. They make you work like crazy in the workshops. AND, for participating in his sessions Tim Esaias rewards you malt balls. I had two.
The conference kicks you into high gear for three days. You come home fired up and ready to write. People like Dave can plop their butts into their chairs and write like crazy. People like me have to go back to reality and unpack, feed the dogs, take them out, write checks for bills, take the dogs out, cook dinner for DH, eat, and then, hopefully, sit down to write. It didn’t happen that way. When I sat down to write, it was almost one in the morning because after dinner I fell asleep in my chair with Gavin. Remember, I was sleep deprived.
I turned on my computer and checked my E-mail. Dave had E-mailed twice, once that he’d already done some rewriting and the second time to show me even more changes. I wish I could be the hare with my writing like Dave. No such luck, I’m the tortoise.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
Masochist or avid gardener?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
You would think that after spending four days away from home, suffering from self-induced sleep deprivation, and having the dogs and DH miss me, that for a day or two at least I wouldn’t go anywhere. If you thought that, you would be wrong.
Before I left for the conference, my neighbor and I made plans to go to our favorite nursery and do some shopping for our gardens. When did we plan to go on this expedition? We planned it for noon on Monday. Yeah, I never said I was the brightest light in the harbor.
What a fool I am. Besides having to do a ton of writing, I now have extra gardening work to do this week. Can you say masochist? Truly, because I didn’t buy a few plants, I bought many plants. I’ll be digging holes and planting for two days.
However, I couldn’t resist buying two of the black bearded iris since the one I had died two years ago and I couldn’t find any afterwards. Then I saw two different variegated ones and two more in colors I couldn’t resist. Have I ever mentioned that I have a weakness for bearded iris?
I needed flowers to plant in the cement flower boxes on the front porch. I saw other flowers that I thought would look nice in the side garden—and those too went on the little garden wagon.
I was there for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants too and I found them. Then I saw the sugar baby watermelons and cantaloupe, not to mention acorn squash and patty pans. They were a tight fit but I got them on the wagon. I almost went to get another wagon but G mentioned that DH might kill me and that her hubby would make me ride home on the car roof if I overloaded their Suburban. It was close as it was. Between us, we filled the back and had to drop down and use half of the back seat. One more plant and I would’ve been on the roof.
Posted in hobbies, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
It gets better every year
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Ah, the conference. The joy of seeing my writer friends I haven’t seen for a year, or if they missed the Pittsburgh conference, two years. Then there’s the excitement of meeting new writers and making new friends. Nothing tops it and I look forward to it every year.
On Friday and Saturday there are two hours of sessions in the mornings, and after a mid day break, two hours of sessions in the afternoon, we had a choice of four sessions per hour. What to do? What to do? (You choose the one that you think best suits your needs.) If after sitting through a few minutes one finds it isn’t what one wants, he/she can leave and try another. No one is going to stop him/her or question where one is going. Arriving late to a session isn’t a sin either.
Believe me, there were sessions that ran at the same time that I was dying to attend, all of them. I did narrow it down to two but since I can’t split myself into two people, I had to resort to other ways to decide. For example, Ramona Defelice Long had a session on Elements of mystery writing and Loree Lough was presenting hers on Characters: why they do what they do at the same time. I had to flip a coin. Sorry Ramona but Loree won the coin toss.
Sunday morning there were more sessions. Four from 9:15 to 10:15 and three from 10:30 to 11:30.
In every session I attended, I took copious notes and made sure to have whatever handouts the speaker provided. All of which I will reread and use until they fall apart.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
I’m back even though my E-mail says I’m not
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s 1:30 in the morning on Monday as I write this. I fell asleep in my chair around six in the evening Sunday. I’d had about two hours of sleep Saturday night. I believe that from Thursday night to Sunday I managed to sleep about 6 hours in total.
Unable to sleep because I am a night person, the night shift desk clerks at the hotel are my new best friends. (I hope you are reading this, girls.) I gave them Dove dark chocolate or Hershey dark Bliss candy every night as I haunted the lobby and slipped outside for a few cigarettes. They love me.
I would go to bed, truly I would. I’d put on my New Yorker magazine dog PJs (go read my, ‘I sent myself a PajamaGram) and I’d crawl into bed around two. I couldn’t fall to sleep and rather than toss and turn for hours I’d get up again. Tiptoeing so as not to disturb my roommate, I’d feel around for my light jacket, put the jacket on, load the pockets with chocolate, grab my cigarettes, and slip out the door.
I’d drop some chocolate at the desk and go outside to the designated pariah corner. One of these days, I’ll find the will power to quit smoking again—I did it for an entire year once. However, it’s not easy to quit when DH chain-smokes and he’ll never quit. So please don’t deluge me with the standard you’re gonna die comments.
Now if only I can turn off the E-mail away message on my E-mail. It is refusing to go away.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
Wordless Wednesday
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Tomorrow I am off to the conference. Thought I leave you these pictures to enjoy in my absence. I’ll post Monday.
Posted in hobbies, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Another day closer
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s three days to the conference and two days until I leave for Lancaster. I daren’t bring one thing downstairs until Thursday morning. If I do, Gavin will know for sure that Mom is going away for a few days. He already senses something is up and is a bit more clingy than usual.
Thursday morning before I leave, I’ll backwash the pond filters and make sure everything is running smoothly. That only leaves one thing for DH to do there and that’s toss in some Koi food once a day. Even if he forgets to do that, the fish will be fine since there’s plenty of natural food.
I showed G where the watering can is and she has the keys to the yard gate and house. B has my car keys so he can work on the fuse problem.
All I have to do is close my suitcase, grab the bag of hanging stuff, bring them downstairs, and load the car when my conference roommate gets here.
After that, all I need to do is have a good time and learn more about this crazy business of writing.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Frost? Really?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
After the lovely warm weather we had Last week this week wasn’t so nice. We’ve had strong, damaging winds and chilly days. There’s even a frost warning tonight. Geez, I wish it would stay warm. So much for the iris that are in bloom right now. By morning, those blossoms will be mush. I do hope the ones that haven’t bloomed will be okay.
DH isn’t minding this cold spell since it doesn’t sap his energy as the heat does. He has his mobility cart up and running so the dogs are enjoying running walks around the yard with him. At least they’re getting their exercise.
Since it was too windy and cold to go out and garden I finished printing my cards for the conference. That project took forever since I can only print one page at a time. The ink is running low in the printer but I don’t think I’ll buy more. What I’ll do is shop around for another printer. Old faithful is dying a slow death.
With four days left, until I leave for the conference, I packed a little more tonight. By noon on Thursday we’ll be on the road to Lancaster.
Posted in My blog, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
Doggonedmysteries 