So, nothing real exciting to write about this week, so I’ll tell you how I often surprise my Mommy with the level of my intelligence.
In the above photo, I’m sitting on the only piece of furniture I’m allowed on, just relaxing. That’s where I can be found while Mommy is working on her writing at the dining room table. When Mommy needs a break, or just needs to get up and move around a bit, she’ll often come into the living room and talk to me and pet me, and occasionally, she’ll sit down next to me for a couple minutes.
Well, last week one day, she came in, perched next to me, talked to me and petted me. One of the things she said to me was, “In two weeks, you have your checkup with Dr. Hockenberry, so I think you need a bath before that.” I don’t like to get baths, so my ears perked up and I thought, “Oh no! Not that.” Then I lifted my front paws, placed them on Mommy’s chest and gave her a push to let her know I wanted no parts of that.
Mommy looked at me and said, “Are you trying to tell me you don’t want a bath? I know you don’t like baths, but you have to have them sometimes. I can’t believe you pushed me away because I said you have to have a bath soon.”
I thought, “Yep, I’m smarter than you think I am.”
This past weekend, Mommy took me for a walk around our neighborhood. (She does that four or five times a day.) When we got to Kevin’s house, Mommy saw a pick-up truck parked in the grass. She recognized it as belonging to Kevin’s brother. Mommy is close friends with Kevin’s brother’s wife.
As we walked by, Kevin called out to Mommy, then her close friend stuck her head out the door. She shouted, “Can you bring Harper up? I haven’t seen her in a long time.”
So Mommy took me up to Kevin’s doorstep. Then Kevin’s brother came out and wanted to meet me, but I was nervous. The red step up to the stoop scared me because we don’t have one of those at our house. Our stoop isn’t as high as Kevin’s. Also, in the little flower bed next to the stoop, Kevin has one of those small banner/decorative flag things and there was a light wind that was blowing it, and that scared me too.
Well, Mommy told Kevin and her closest friend about her website, and that she lets me post here on Wednesdays. So Kevin said, “So this week’s post is going to be ‘A Visit to Kevin’s House’.”
Mommy said, “Only if we get a picture because every post includes a picture.”
So, the picture at the top of this post is me with Kevin, and this is my post about my visit to Kevin’s house.
Melisande took a seat at the table in the kitchen and Griffin sat across from her. She studied the plate before her. “This looks good. Where’d you learn to cook?”
“My mom taught me some stuff. She also taught me how to follow a recipe, so I’ve been able to expand my culinary skills.” He grinned at her as he picked up his fork.
“We need to pray first.”
Griffin put his fork down as his face reddened. “Oh right.” He bowed his head and folded his hands in front of him.
Melisande reached across the table and took his hands in hers, then bowed her head. “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this food we are about to receive. Thank you for Griffin and his ability to cook a good meal. Please guide and direct Griffin and I in our thoughts, words, actions, and decisions, and please bless Adora. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
She opened her eyes, picked up her fork, and her eyes collided with Griffin’s. She wasn’t sure what she saw there.
“That was nice.” Griffin picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of chicken.
Melisande followed suit, and for several minutes they ate without speaking.
Griffin was the first to break the silence. “Would you like to go into town tomorrow? Pick up some stuff that would be helpful to have for Adora. To make you more comfortable?”
That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. “What do you have in mind?”
“A playpen, highchair, and some more toys. You might be more comfortable with her in a playpen instead of on the floor with Finnegan around.”
“Cats jump.” Realizing she sounded harsh, she attempted to temper her next sentence. “I’m sure Finnegan could easily jump into the playpen with her, if he wanted to.”
Griffin met her gaze once again. “He could, but I doubt that he would. I don’t think he’d be interested in being in such enclosed surroundings when he’s used to having the run of the house.”
He’s trying, Melisande. Give him a chance. She finished chewing a bite of vegetables and swallowed. “That would be nice.” She gave him a small smile and watched his eyes light up.
“Great! After lunch, I’ll work until two o’clock, then call it a day. That way we can go buy what we need, maybe grab dinner in town, and still return before it’s too late so that we don’t tire Adora out.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” She watched the corners of his lips tip up as he nodded. She also noticed his shoulders lower a bit. He’d probably been tense–worried how she would respond. This wasn’t the conversation they needed to have, but maybe it was better to start out this way–being kind and both of them trying to, maybe, begin as friends instead of trying to begin where they had left off a year ago. Too much time had passed, too many feelings had been hurt, and each of them had experienced too many changes to be able to do that.
This past weekend was Easter weekend, and Mom and Dad planned for us to go up to Grandma’s house for Easter dinner after they attended Sunday School and church.
There are several children in our neighborhood who love me, and earlier in the week, Mom was walking me around our neighborhood one day, and Carter, a little boy in our neighborhood, stopped us to say “hi” to me and pet me. Then he told Mom she should have an “egg hunt” for me. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I do like eggs!
I didn’t get any eggs, but after all the people had enjoyed their dinner, Mom went outside for awhile. I was wondering what she was doing because she didn’t take me outside with her. After a while, she returned and put my prong collar and leash on me to take me outside. In the first picture at the top of the page, you can see a treat, just above my head in the picture. I caught a scent of it and soon after the photo was snapped, I gobbled that treat down.
Mom walked me all over Grandma’s deck, just below the deck, and in the front flower bed. She had hidden some of my treats all over that area and I sniffed them out and enjoyed eating them! In the second picture at the top of the page, I had found a treat on the edge of the driveway and those green weeds to the left of me and was eating it. And, in case you’re wondering if the two tan/brown things you see to the left of me in the photo and near the wooden railing are treats, they’re not. They’re dead leaves.
I sure enjoyed my Treat Hunt, and Grandma said it was fun to watch me have a treat hunt! Dad said it was another way for Mom to spoil me. That might be true, but maybe it was an idea for something for me to share here. 😀
Melisande laid Adora on a blanket on the living room floor, then pulled a small, stuffed green dinosaur out of the diaper bag and placed it on the blanket within Adora’s reach so that if the baby awakened, she could grab it. Finnegan came over and sniffed at Adora.
“Scat, cat!”
“Melisande, Finnegan won’t hurt Adora.”
Melisande eyed Griffin. “How do you know? You’ve never had a baby here with that cat before, have you?”
Griffin frowned. “No, but he’s a very gentle cat.”
“I’m not comfortable leaving Adora sleeping on the floor alone in a room with your cat. Maybe I should just take her upstairs.”
“If you and Adora are going to live here, you have to be able to trust Finnegan … and me.”
Melisande scowled at him. “Trust isn’t something people just give away. It has to be earned.”
Griffin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Melisande, if there’s any chance for this to work, we have to talk, and we need to give each other the benefit of the doubt. I know I haven’t been around to be a father to Adora, but, you have to believe me when I say, I wouldn’t place her in danger. I can promise you that Finnegan won’t hurt her.”
Melisande wrapped her arms around her middle and looked down at her sleeping baby, then she eyed Finnegan, who blinked up at her, meowed, then wove himself through her legs. She glared down at him. “You better prove yourself, cat.”
“His name is Finnegan.”
“Whatever.”
Griffin gritted his teeth and inhaled deeply, then let it out in a slow whistle between his teeth. If he was going to rebuild what he’d walked away from when he left Melisande, he had his work cut out for him. Every action … every word she spoke made it clear just how much he’d hurt her and how much that had affected her trust in him. And, apparently, anything connected with him, like Finnegan.
He reached for her hand. “Please, Melisande. Dinner’s getting cold. Let’s go eat and have a talk.”
She looked at his outstretched hand, then brushed past him and through the doorway to the kitchen.
Her rejection of his hand was like a knife to his heart and the backs of his eyes stung with threatening tears. God, please give me strength to handle things calmly and wisdom in every word that comes out of my mouth. Show me how to make things right between Melisande and me again. I know I messed up but I’m ready to fix things … to be the man you want me to be, and I believe that means being the responsible father, and, hopefully, husband, that I should’ve been from the start.
Marilyn K Blair is a new author and this is her first book. Watch this video to see more about it.
Then keep visiting here at my blog because I will post a review of Iris and Mo, as well as an author interview with Marilyn K Blair in the near future.
Like most dogs, I have to take heartworm and flea and tick medicines once a month. Well, Mom gave me the last doses she had in February, so last Thursday we went to my veterinarian’s office to get more. Mom called and told them how much she wanted before we left.
When we pulled into the parking lot, I got excited because I like to meet other dogs and I know I usually see several at the veterinarian’s office. Sure enough, when we walked in, there was a man sitting in a chair with a black Labrador Retriever sitting in front of him. I met the dog on our way to the desk.
When Mom told the lady at the desk what we were there for, the lady asked Mom her dog’s name. She said, “Harper.”
The lady looked at her and said, “Are you setting me up?”
Mom looked at the lady in confusion and turned to look at the man with the Labrador Retriever. He said, “This is Harper.”
Yes, his black Labrador Retriever’s name was Harper too!
So, anyway, the lady got my medicine and began ringing the purchase up for mom, when an older gentleman came into the office with a smaller black dog. It was obvious it was still a puppy, but not a real young pup. Anyway, he stopped with the lady at the first desk because he was there to drop off his puppy. Mom thinks it was to be spayed.
Okay, so here’s the shocker — Mom heard the man tell the lady his puppy’s name, but she couldn’t believe it. She looked at the gentleman with the black Labrador Retriever and he had a big grin on his face. Mom said, “Did he say…?” And the gentleman nodded.
So Mom says, “Harper! She’s another Harper? So, we have three Harpers here!”
The older gentleman then brought his puppy to meet me, then took her to meet the Labrador Retriever. Mom asked him what kind of dog his puppy was, and he said, “She’s 53% Boxer, 43% Pitbull, and the rest is a hodgepodge of several different things.”
After mom paid for my medicines and we turned to leave, she stopped to talk to the gentleman with the black Labrador Retriever. She said, “So, how did you decide on Harper for her?”
He said, “Well, my wife and I are Harper Lee fans.”
Mom said, “Me too!”
Then he said, “My wife already has a cat named Atticus. So we decided to call her Harper. And friends of ours have a dog named Scout.”
Mom said, “I was planning on getting a male and naming it Atticus, but a friend offered her to me, and I wasn’t going to turn down a free dog. That’s how she became ‘Harper’.”
Mom really wanted to ask the other man how he decided on Harper for his dog too, but he was too busy with the receptionist and getting his puppy taken care of.
The lady who waited on Mom at the check-out desk couldn’t believe it when the third Harper came in. She stood up so she could see over the desk, and she said, “And all three of them are black! This won’t happen again today.”
Hi Everyone! In the picture above, the yellowish-tan thing to the right under my face was one of my favorite chew toys. I say “was” because Mom had to take it and throw it away about a month ago because I had chewed it down so small, she was afraid I’d choke on it. It was made of bamboo and in the shape of a “T”.
Now you might be asking yourself what does that have to do with this post’s title. Well, I’m sure I’ve told you before that I love to chew things A LOT! Though Mom keeps me well-stocked in chew toys and chewy treats, I don’t always only chew the things Mom gives me for that purpose.
For instance, Monday is laundry day and I follow Mom up and down the stairs and watch as she throws clothing into the washer and dryer several times on that day. I stand very close so I can see everything and sniff some things, and I wait for an opportunity — an opportunity to snatch something and run off to play with it and chew it! My favorite things to grab are socks, and Mom chases me up the steps to retrieve a sock from me. Another thing I like to try to grab and run off with are the white fluffy balls she throws in the dryer. I don’t know why she puts them in the dryer and why she doesn’t want me to play with them. Balls are a great doggy toy! Do any of you put balls in your clothes dryers? If so, do you let your dog play with them or chew on them?
Tattered Banners is the second book in Karim Soliman’s “War of the Last Day” series. It is an Epic Fantasy novel. As a Book Reviewer, I received a free ebook copy of this book and this is my honest review.
Following the fall of Paril, the Cursed Army moves to invade the rest of Gorania. Tattered Banners begins with runaways from all six kingdoms trekking north through the Frozen Forest in an attempt to get to Karun’s Cave, the only place they believe they will be safe from the Cursed Army. However, to survive, they believe they need a special kind of suit, and these suits are in limited supply. The Goranians are ready to fight to the death for a place in Karun’s Cave.
The story follows Nardine and her mother, who believe there may still be a chance to end the Cursed Invasion. But the Skandivians stand in their way because the Skandivians believe the Bermanians are the biggest threat. Following the trouble with the Skandivians, Nardine becomes Queen, but is she ready for this position? Is she ready to be a leader?
Halgrim, another important character in the story, travels with a friend, hoping to catch up with his family as they flee north. They face danger and his friend needs to be taken to see “the Lady”, who is the only one who can save his friend’s life.
And Leila is stuck in the middle of a war she did not want. She has a unique ability that the leader of the seers take advantage of, and she is suddenly thrust into making a decision she is unsure of.
Tattered Banners is a story filled with action, adventure, danger, and suspense. This story includes good, evil, battles, and magic. It will keep you turning pages and hoping your favorite characters will survive. The one thing I didn’t care for was that some of the characters use some profane words, but thankfully, these words were used sporadically and not throughout the entire story.
Karim Soliman is a talented writer. He is skilled at world building and creating characters from so many places. He flawlessly connects the characters and engages the reader in their lives and in the detailed, complex story.
Griffin preheated the oven, cut up chicken tenders, sprinkled them with oil and seasonings and put them in the oven. Next he put rice to cook on the stove, then began cutting up broccoli and slicing carrots, all the while taking deep breaths to release his anger.
Why had Melisande felt the need to take Adora off his lap? Adora had seemed comfortable and content with him. She seemed to enjoy watching Finnegan. She hadn’t made any fuss or acted like she wanted to go to Melisande.
He enjoyed holding Adora on his lap. He hoped to be able to hold her, talk to her, and interact with her more, but Melisande seemed to want to keep Adora to herself.
Melisande sat in the living room holding Adora in her arms. For six months she had been Adora’s sole caretaker, except for the occasional times she let her mom help her out. Adora is her responsibility and she is bonded with her baby.
I know I probably hurt Griffin’s feelings. He seems genuinely interested in Adora. But what if things don’t work out? What if after a couple weeks or months he decides he really doesn’t want a family — doesn’t want us? I don’t want Adora to get attached to him just to have him kick us out. He said he left because he didn’t want to be tied down, and he sure traveled far to keep from being tied down. He hadn’t even been back to visit his parents. What if he really did prefer being alone?
Her head pounded and a wave of nausea washed through her at the thought that she shouldn’t have brought Adora here — should’ve just left things the way they were.
Griffin strode into the living room to announce dinner was ready, but before he could say a word the look on Melisande’s face stopped him. She appeared both frightened and ill as she sat clutching Adora to her chest. The baby had fallen asleep. He cleared his throat, then spoke in a low tone, “Melisande, are you okay?”
She flinched, then turned toward him, her eyes wide. After a moment, she shook her head and stood up. “I was just thinking it was a mistake for me to come here. To bring Adora.”
“What? Why?”
“Griffin, you seem to be perfectly happy living alone.” Finnegan walked into the room and meowed. Melisande sneered. “With your cat.”
Griffin took a step closer to her and brushed the backs of the fingers of one hand down her face. “Melisande, when I left you in Pennsylvania, I was a stupid eighteen-year-old boy. I didn’t realize how much I would miss you until I was here in Wyoming for a while, especially during the long, cold winter.”
She cocked her head and studied his face. “Didn’t you miss your parents either?”
Griffin blew out a long sigh. “I think about my parents and sure, I want to go visit them this year, but I needed to have time to myself to figure out what I was going to do with my life.”
Melisande lowered her brow. “And what have you decided?
Griffin ran a hand through his hair, his mouth in a tight, thin line. “Can we eat dinner before the food gets cold, then have this conversation?”
“As long as you’re not using dinner to avoid this topic. We need to have this conversation.”
Kelly F Barr 