We live in a townhouse, and in these pictures you can see a white vinyl fence. That fence belongs to one of our neighbors and it runs the length of our yard on the left. The neighbors on the right also have a fence, not as tall and not white vinyl, that runs the length of our yard on the right. Therefore, for my first birthday, Mom and Dad bought some fence posts and coated wire fencing and closed in the back of our yard so that I could have a nice place to go out and play and run without having to be leashed.
So, Mom has been trying to get me to play ball with her out in the back yard. She takes a tennis ball out when we go out, and she stops halfway down the steps while I stop at the bottom of the steps and look up at her expectantly. Then she throws the ball and I run after it. In the above photo, I am approaching the ball.
In the photo above, you can see that I am sniffing around the ball.
In this last photo, I am walking away from the ball. We have stray cats in our neighborhood and I’d rather sniff for them than play ball with Mom. Mom has even come out into the yard, picked the ball up, and tried to get me to catch it when she throws it up in the air. If I do decide to pick the ball up, I don’t take it to Mom — not even for a treat, (and yes, she tried to get me to play ball by offering treats to me too). Instead, I play keep away. I take the ball and run away from Mom and drop the ball somewhere in the yard.
But I do play fetch in the house with my rubber balls and rubber bones. I run from the living room to the dining room and back and often leap onto the love seat like a super hero.
I don’t really know why I don’t want to play ball outside in the back yard. Maybe it’s just because I have the freedom to run a longer distance, and when mom acts like she’s going to chase me and encourages me to run, I will do that!
I love to drink tea, especially loose leaf tea. There are so many tasty kinds. In the photo above is one of my favorite mugs to drink my tea from. There are three reasons I love this mug: 1) it was handmade by a potter; 2) it holds 15 oz. of tea; and 3) the rabbit holding the sword, in the oval on the mug, is Picket Longtreader, a character from the Green Ember book series by S. D. Smith, which I am currently reading. Picket is one of my favorite characters in the series.
Reason #2 — it holds 15 oz. of tea is important because when I want to enjoy a good cup … uh, mug of tea, I like something that holds a lot of tea. Hence, why I often prefer a mug as opposed to a pretty, dainty teacup. I save my pretty, dainty teacups for tea parties and special occasions, or for when I just want to enjoy a pretty cup.
This particular mug also has a very nice, wide, easty-to-hold handle with plenty of room to get four fingers through.
But, remember, this is only one of my favorite teacups or mugs. I’ll share others in future posts.
Do you have a favorite teacup or mug? If so, what do you like about it? Feel free to share in the comments.
About a month ago, a friend’s pastor mentioned them from the pulpit and she ordered some. She started to hand them out and put them at different places, and when she took a trip, she made sure she had one in her car. She gave three to me. I kept one, gave one to my husband, and one to my mom.
The idea is, if you give one to someone and they ask why you’re giving it to them, you respond with, “Because everyone needs a little Jesus.” Of course, we believers know everyone needs a lot more Jesus than this little guy, but he is a cute reminder.
On Mother’s Day, we went to a popular small town restaurant in another town. We had lunch, then got ice cream. When I went to pay the woman at the cash register for the ice cream, I saw she had “a little Jesus” on a little shelf next to the register. When I commented on it, she told me that a group of Christian bikers, (motorcyclists), had been in and had given it to her.
A couple weeks ago, they started showing up at different places around the church I attend, and one Wednesday evening, one of the men came in and was showing one to people. Someone had given it to him, saying, “Because everyone needs a little Jesus.” Now he carries his “little Jesus” in his pocket as a reminder.
Believers shouldn’t need a reminder, but we all have bad days and hard times, so sometimes a little reminder like “little Jesus” figures can be just the thing to remind us we are not alone or to bring a smile to our face.
If you want to get some, you can find them on Amazon. Simply search for “little Jesus figures” and Amazon has them in bags of 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 300. They even have sets that have 75 figures with a book mark with John 3:16 written on it and they come with little white netted, organza bags to put a figure and book mark in to hand out.
As a writer, one of my favorite things to do is to meet other writers at the various cafes or independent small restaurants in our surrounding area. I took this photo Thursday, June 20th, at a small, independent restaurant called “Hayloft Ice Cream”. They have delicious ice cream, milk shakes, and soft pretzels, as well as quite a few tasty hot food items. The decor and atmosphere are clean, welcoming, and comfortable. The most unique thing about this establishment is that the workers are all “volunteers”. They do not get paid for their work. Hayloft Ice Cream gives all their proceeds to support a local year-round wilderness camp for troubled boys. That is another reason I choose to patronize this local business. It is a blessing and a ministry. To find out more, visit their website: https://www.haylofticecream.com/
I live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where there are many Mennonite and Amish people. Therefore, seeing horses pulling what we call “buggies”, which are small enclosed carriages, or open wagons like the one in the photo above are quite common.
You can’t see it clearly in this photo, but if you look under the front wagon, you’ll see the thing beside it only has two small wheels. It’s a sulky. Sulkies have become quite popular among the plain folk in our area over the past 5 years or so. They have two wheels and a single seat.
The thing I really want to draw your attention to in the above photo are the horses — especially the horse in the forefront. I took the photo because I noticed that particular horse. Looking at the photo, you can see that the horse next to him cannot be seen, except for its back end, which is farther back than the front horse’s. You cannot even see the ears of the other horse because the one in the forefront is so much taller than the other. Most of the horses we see around here are very similar in size, except for the large workhorses the local farmers use to work in their fields. Therefore, the size of this tall horse took me by surprise and captured my interest. Therefore, I took this photo.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post, which featured both a “place” and an “animal”.
Yes, I have decided to make another change to this blog. On Monday, a librarian contacted me about one of my posts in my “Thursday’s Thoughts, Questions, & Comments About Writing” category. Our communication prompted me to do two things:
1) On August 20, 2020, I had written a blog post entitled “Writing Resources” under the “Thursday’s Thoughts, Questions, & Comments About Writing” category. A librarian contacted me about that post. She also suggested another writing resource to add to my list. A fellow librarian, who does a lot of writing, suggested it. Therefore, I added the suggested resource, put that post under the new heading, and create a button for it, at the top of my website, so all writers and authors will be able to find it with ease.
2) This wasn’t the first time I’d been contacted about something I’d posted under that category, and since I’m still writing and am now an author, I decided it would be good to start writing and posting articles in that category again. Therefore, Thursdays are going back to “Thursday’s Thoughts, Questions, & Comments About Writing”, starting today.
If you enjoy the Places, Plants, & Animals posts, don’t worry, they’ll still be here, but I’m moving them to Fridays. That means I will do my best to post here Monday through Friday each week.
So my writing topic today is “the importance of critique partners and editors”. With the ease of independently publishing on Amazon, there are writers who believe they can write, revise, and edit their own book, then publish it without having to have anyone else go over it, especially since the majority of professional editors charge three or four cents per word.
If you write an average length book of 85,000 words, and your editor charges three cents per word, that’s $2,550. If your editor charges four cents per word, it’s $3,400. If you write an average fantasy book of 100,000 words, at four cents a word, that’s $4,000. Let’s face it, new writers can’t afford that, especially if you’re getting ready to publish your very first book. Most writers with a few books under their belt can’t afford that. I happen to know that a lot of writers can’t even afford to write as their full-time job. Many still work outside the home, taking what little time they have to write, when they’re not at their “real” job or doing family things. (And no, I’m not saying writing isn’t a “real” job. Believe me, I know how much work it takes to write and publish a novel.)
So, what can you do? Be sure to find at least three other writers and schedule a time to meet at least twice a month. Share your writing with one another, usually one chapter at a time. That way, each of your chapters is being read and critiqued by four pairs of eyes–yours, and the other three writers’. Doing it this way, the other three writers learn a little bit about who you are. They learn what you write and why you write it. They also learn your writing style and your writing voice. By doing it one chapter at a time from start to finish, they follow your story, making it easier to find continuity issues, as well as errors you repeat.
Most often, at least one person in the group will be good at finding the little errors — things like spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. All three should be able to tell you if they think your pacing is too fast or too slow, if your characters all sound the same, if you provide enough description to paint the scenes in your readers’ minds without overdoing it, if you have enough tension to grab and hold your readers’ attention, and all the other big things we want to master.
Listen carefully to what your critique partners say and don’t get defensive. If at least two of them are in agreement about something, you should really think about what they say, and seriously consider making their suggested changes. Of course, you should read over each chapter before giving it to your critique partners to catch as many of your own errors or problems as you can. Remember, the goal is to write a book that is written to the absolute best of your ability.
Another reason it’s so good to have critique partners reading and giving you feedback is because they’ll see the things you do consistently that you need to change, especially words you use too often, too close together. In my first manuscript, I had three words I used too often and/or too close together: looked, smiled, and turned. Because my critique partners pointed those out to me, I was able to change most of them to something stronger and more interesting, which made my novel better and stronger.
This post has gotten longer than I anticipated, so I’ll talk about the importance of a good editor, and how to find one that you can afford, in next week’s post.
Wow! Summer started out with some major heat here this year. All last week, temperatures were in the low to mid 90s! This week, Monday was awesome — temperature was in the mid 80s and there was a blustery breeze all day! Nice relief from last week. But then yesterday and today, we’re back in the 90s. We’re supposed to get rain and/or thunder showers today, which is supposed to put us back into the 80s.
No, this entire post isn’t going to be about the weather, but it is about how the weather affects my life. So, how do those hot days affect my life? Well, I only get two walks a day on those days. Mom takes me out in the morning before the sun is too high in the sky and heating things up, and then again in the evening when the sun has gone below our house roofs and tree lines and the pavements, roads, and driveways have cooled down enough so that they don’t burn my paws.
So, how do I do my potty the rest of the day? Well, Mom goes out and scans the entire backyard, shovel in hand, to clean up any dirt the stray cats leave in our yard. Thankfully, she usually only finds one pile. Then she pours bleach on that area and puts the lid to our fire pit over it so that I know not to get near it. Then she takes me out in the backyard. She takes me out in there once or twice while it’s really hot, and once again in the early evening, when most of our yard is in shade.
Mom hates this heat, and I don’t really like it either. I’m usually panting in no time, so even though I enjoy the freedom of running around the backyard without a leash, I like to get back into the air-conditioned house in a short amount of time. When we get inside, I go straight to my water bowl for a drink. But did you know if a dog is hot and panting and drinks too much water too quickly, it can cause them to vomit? Yeah, so Mom always makes sure she has ice cubes in the freezer during the summer months, and she’ll get one out and give it to me. I hold it in my mouth a few moments, then bite it into smaller pieces to eat. It’s a nice refreshing summertime treat!
Several years ago, we had the opportunity to visit the only tea plantation in the United States while on a family vacation. The photo above is a mug and spoon I purchased there. I purchased quite a few other items as well, but the biggest thing is how my tea buying and drinking has changed since that trip.
Why? Because while touring the Charleston Tea Plantation, we learned that all tea comes from the same plant, a bush called Camellia Sinensis. The thing that affects whether tea is white, Oolong, green (otherwise known as Pu-erh), or black is the length of time the leaves are oxidized. White tea is only oxidized for a very short time and black tea is oxidized for the longest time.
The Charleston Tea Plantation first produced their American Classic tea, while the plantation was owned by William Barclay Hall, who purchased the land in 1987. Hall was a professional tea taster, and during the 17 years that he worked to make the farm a commercial operation, his original “American Classic” tea became the first tea ever to be made with 100% tea grown in America.
Therefore, I learned that many of the so-called teas that we can purchase at the grocery store aren’t tea at all. For instance, Celestial Seasonings and other “herbal” teas aren’t really “teas”. They may be made from herbs and flowers and produce a tasty drink, but there’s no “real tea” in them. So, if you really want to drink tea, check the ingredients list and be sure you see: green or black tea listed. (Those are the most common. I have not seen White or Oolong in an ingredients list yet, but have found White or Oolong tea at the grocery stores.)
One more thing I’d like to point out is that when you purchase tea prepackaged in teabags, you’re getting mostly dust or ground tea. To get a better flavor tea, the best place to buy teas are at local tea shops where they sell “loose leaf” teas. When you buy loose leaf teas, you will actually see that these are tiny dried leaves and they will have a stronger, pleasing aroma.
Since visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation and learning about what tea really is, I drink much more loose leaf tea, and much less tea that comes packaged in tea bags in boxes at the grocery store or that is listed as “herbal”. Some say I have become a “tea snob”, but I still enjoy a cup of prepackaged herbal tea from time to time. One of my favorite teas that I get at local cafes consists of ground tea with lots of spices and a few other things — it’s a powder mix known as Chai. However, I do prefer the richer flavors of real loose leaf teas, and I buy and drink many different types of loose leaf Chai teas too — see photo below for an example of one of the loose leaf teas I purchase and drink.
This is a lovely Double Daffodil! What a beautiful, bright spring flower! I love flowers. There are so many different types, shapes, and colors of flowers. Some bloom in the early spring and are gone in just a few weeks. Others bloom later in the spring and last into the early days of summer while some last into mid summer, and some even bloom all summer. Then there are some that bloom in the fall, like the different colors of mums that are often displayed in front of houses, right next to pumpkins and corn shocks, in the area I live.
You might be surprised that there are even flowers that bloom in the winter! I know I was surprised to find that. I’ve never seen any in my area, although if we have a mild winter or several warm days near the end of winter, I have seen my crocuses bloom while there were still patches of snow on the ground. One year, my rosebush bloomed early and we had another snow after it bloomed, so there was a light layer of snow upon the petals of one of my roses.
Not only do flowers add beauty to our outdoor surroundings, but they add some wonderful fragrances as well. Be sure to take some time to enjoy the beauty of the flowers you see as you take a walk or a mountain hike, and breathe in their fragrances. The world may seem bleak and dark, but the beauty of God’s creation is still here to remind us that God is still present and in control. If we only seek Him, He will draw near to us.
Hello, it’s me, Harper. I come from a family with three boys. Well, I guess I should say men. Anyway, one of them no longer lives with the rest of us. He lives in an apartment building in another city, and he really misses having a dog. He hasn’t lived here, since I’ve been in this home. My family had two Labrador Retrievers before me, and he moved out while the second one was still living.
Mom and Dad have taken me to visit their oldest son a couple times, and I think they’re going to take me again sometime. This son had a birthday a little while ago. Mom felt bad that, based on certain circumstances, he decided not to get a dog yet. But, some days he misses having a dog more than others. Mom wanted to get him a stuffed Labrador Retriever. She thought it might help if he, at least, had a stuffed Labrador Retriever that looked like me. She thought he couldt hug it when he was really missing having a dog.
Mom searched three stores to no avail. However, she did find the Labrador Retriever in the picture below. She decided to settle for it, even though it wasn’t soft for hugging, because of the “Welcome” sign around its neck. She thought he could sit this dog inside the apartment near the entry door, so that he sees it anytime he comes home. She hoped seeing the dog “welcome” him, everytime he comes in, might help a little.
Well, he liked it, and he does have it sitting where he can see it when he comes home. Mom suggested he give it a name and talk to it, when he misses a dog too. After all, she talks to me all the time. I’m not sure a grown man would do this. I don’t even know if he gave it a name, but I do hope he gets some comfort from this little greeter.
The above picture is me, sitting on the arm of the loveseat. I can see out the window from there. There are also two other places I can go to look out the window. So, what do you think? Does the little “Welcome” Labrador Retriever look like me?
Kelly F Barr 