Today is Mother’s Day in Canada. It’s an annual holiday where our spouses and offspring are supposed to celebrate all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into being a mother. In the pictrue on the left, that’s me and my mother taken 66 years ago. How I hated what I referred to as my Elmer Fudd hat, but now, I realize it was better than the green feathered thing she wore. Maybe this is where my lifelong hatred of hats comes from. Mom loved them. Of course back then, women had to have their heads covered in church and we attended regularly. But now, I don’t have to wear a hat, I attend church most Sundays on my computer, something that started during the pandemic and continues although I do make a personal appearance for the big days. But not today.
This Mother’s day is different for me because I no longer have a mother to celebrate. She died in February. So, instead of visiting her and bringing her flowers or a plant, I’ll be dropping by the cemetery to say a quick hello. I’ll bring new flowers to decorate the faceplate on the niche in the columbarium, spend a few minutes staring at the name, maybe even shed a tear or two, and then I’ll tell her I love her, but she won’t respond with an “I love you too, Sue.” There won’t be any hugs or kisses, just a simple walking away and getting back in the car.
Then, I’ll spend the day recalling the good memories I have of her. She had the darkest brown eyes you’ve ever seen. They sparkled with humor at times, but when she was angry they were so stormy they were almost black. As the years crept closer to the end and her mind wandered, I could tell by looking at her eyes whether or not she was with me or in her fantasy world.
She was 96 when her body started to fail her and her grasp on reality got more tenuous and while our last vists together weren’t the greatest, she always knew me, and when our time together came to an end, I would say, “Love you, Mom.” and she would answer, “Love you too, Sue.” Those are the words I’ll miss today.
Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate. This was one of Mom’s favorite songs since it had a version of her name in it.
Good morning. Got my exercise this morning as you can see and now, after I recover, I’ll get to work doing more laundry and writing the final chapters of Listen to the Stones.
This week was a busy one for me. Tuesday, I spent the day at a track meet. I wore a hat but still managed to get sunburned ears. My grandkids all did very well in their events and will be moving up to the next level of competition. Wednesday, I had breakfast out with my sister–love the Mexican omelets at Stacks. Thursday morning, I got the final visit for a quote for my bathroom reno and then went to do groceries. We would be rich if we didn’t have to eat! In the afternoon, I audited an online course on how to write better blurbs. I’ll decide which book blurb to work on to test it out. Which brings me to today.
There are lots of things to blog about, but I enjoy picking out things that come across my feed and today’s choice is a bunch of random questions which I’ve commented on. If you have answers, feel free to share!
Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard when he lives in the jungle without a razor? Excellent point. He’s an Englishmen. They are usually quite capable of growing beards. Look at Robinson Crusoe.
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat? I do this, but don’t ask me why. Changing the batteries works much better.
Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough? Isn’t this a lot like trying to get blood from a stone?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets? To be able to hear instructions on when and where to immolate themselves. Why else?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet? Four billion is just a number, but you could be lying about the paint. It might’ve dried.
Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word ‘lisp’? Onomatopoeia of course!
What is the speed of darkness? According to Muhammad Ali, “I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.”
Why is it that people say they ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up every two hours? Not all babies wake up that often. Once they sleep through the night, it’s bliss.
If the temperature is zero outside today and it’s going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be? Probably below zero, but that’s a math question, and I suck at math.
Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer? Depends on whether or not the marriage is a happy one.
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? Women weren’t in charge of that department.
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground? I don’t look at the ground, I look at the skyline in the distance, but I’m weird that way.
Did you ever stop and wonder… I do but that’s usually when I forget why I came into the kitchen.
Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, ‘I think I’ll squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?’ I don’t know, but I’d rather meet that guy than the one who looked inside the oyster and said, ‘hey, that looks good to eat.‘
Who was the first person to say, ‘See that chicken there… I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s bum.’ For the sake of argument, I’ll assume he saw another animal eat it and figured that if it’s good enough for him, it can’t be that bad. What I’d like to know is who decided that coffee beans that pass through some monkey’s gut are better than those that don’t.
Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat? Hubby loves burned toast. The smell makes me think I’m having a seizure. I like my bread barely toasted at all.
Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer? One of life’s mysteries, but I can find the tub of ice cream in the dark.
Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is? Sign language! And as for looking for the bathroom, haven’t you seen those doing the pee-pee dance?
Why does your Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway? Needs to keep his or her eyes on the prize. LOL
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs! Better trainer! Goofy can talk, too.
If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests? The obvious answer is testicals.
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from? 98 % mineral oil and 2 % fragrance and meant to be used on babies to keep their skin soft, but old people use it too–and for a variety of things. They needed the fancier name since no one would pay more for the 2% fragrance, since you can buy mineral oil.
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons? Some of them think it does.
Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep have the same tune? Easier to remember and hum when the baby won’t got to sleep at 3:00 a.m.
Stop singing and read on…
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window? I don’t like it if the dog blows in my face–bad breath. At least the air outside the window is cool and fresh.
Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster? Of course. Isn’t that why we all do it?
Copied and pasted from someone who also copied and pasted
Welcome to May. Let’s hope Mother Nature is generous with her May flowers. A little consistent heat would be nice, too. It’s a bright sunny 64F today. I’ll take it.
Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. My word prompt today is BOIL. I’m continuing with Listen to the Stones. Enjoy!
He set his duffel bag on the Fraser tartan-covered bench at the foot of the bed. After placing his laptop bag on the desk, he opened his backpack, removed his toiletries, and carried them into the bathroom.
A modern bathtub and shower had replaced the clawfoot tub of old, with the rest of the fixtures having been changed as well. The room mirrored the décor of the bedsitting area and fluffy brown, ivory, and green towels hung from the bar. He would be very comfortable here until he could move into a croft or but and ben, especially when James was around. Being near the man strained his patience and good manners, furthering his sense of urgency, and making his blood boil—not in a good way. And while he wanted to move things along quickly, he felt that would be a mistake. If Marina was going to recall their connection, she needed to get to know him. Having James around was sure to interfere with his plans.
“One thing at a time, old boy. One thing at a time.”
After attending to his needs and washing his face and hands, he removed the shirt he’d worn all day and replaced it with a blue and white checked flannel one. He quickly unpacked the rest of the clothes he’d brought with him, and plugged in his cell phone charger and his computer.
Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, Jerome pressed the speed dial number for Nathan’s home.
The man answered on the second ring.
“Hello, Jerome. Are you still in Inverness? The weather was too deplorable today to even consider crossing The Minch.”
“Halo, Nathan. You know me. I hate changing my plans. The captain was determined to make the crossing, and while it wasn’t an easy one, we made it across in one piece, but we were considerably later than I’d hoped. I’m at Fraser Hall. Lady Fraser arrived on the island today, just as you said she would. I wanted to get to work befriending her as soon as I could, so I took a chance and came out to the Hall. She’s agreed to let me stay the extra two days.”
Nathan grunted. “Of course you did.” His words were filled with sarcasm. “Ye wouldn’t let something as minor as a major, life-threatening storm stop you.”
That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.
I had plans for today, plans that didn’t include rain. My first thought was ugh! So much for doing that. But then I decided to change my attitude.
It’s spring. it’s not freezing outside, it’s 55F or 13C where I live. It could be snowing. After all it is May, and May is an unpredictable month. I recall stating my summer job May 1, 1971, and having a snowfall. It does happen. If not snow, I could be living along the infamous American Tornado alley where this came up in my weather feed this morning:
It’s the heart of spring tornado season south of the border and Monday’s weather could prove dangerous for millions in the centre of the country.
The U.S. Storm Prediction Center (SPC) calls for widespread severe thunderstorms across the Plains and Midwestern states through the afternoon and nighttime hours on Monday.
For the sake of everyone living there, I hope this is one time that the meteorolagist is wrong!
So, attitude changed from ugh! to oh, well. I can do a yard and plant study tomorrow. The rain will help the tiny perrenials get stronger, provide the moisture the grass needs, and make it easier to do the weeding when the ground is softer. It’s too early to plant my annuals, so I’ll spend the day writing today. Tomorrow, I’ll be attending a track meet where three of my four grandchildren who live in my city will be competing. The fifth one is back at university in Norway after two weeks Vacation in Thailand.
While looking for a Monday saong I didn’t use last month, I found this. Enjoy your day.
When you get to be my age, I view the task of spring cleaning the same way I view climbing Mount Everest–unachievable, a disaster waiting to happen, but not this year. No, I haven’t miraculously gotten taller and grown muscles. What I have done is hire my sixteen-year-old granddaughter to do the job for me.
She’s saving for a car. So why pay someone else when I can contribute to her bank account? I admire kids with a goal, kids who don’t expect the expensive toys of life to drop into their laps.
To be fair, some people feel grandkids and kids should help without being paid, and she does with lots of things, but I believe children should learn that their labor has value. Teaching them life skills like cleaning and home maintenance is important and when they can do it as well as I can, why not let them do it and save my poor old body from pain?
So, what have we done so far? On Saturday, she dusted and mopped every section of the bedrooms, cleaned the screens and the windows, and rotated the mattresses–something I would never have been able to do. Kingsdown mattresses are supper comfortable, but they weigh a ton! She also cleaned out the bathroom cupboard and drawers, tossing items that I’ve had forever and will never use. I’m having my bathroom redone, so that had to be done as soon as it could be. Imagine how much fun she had looking at expiry dates on bath products– 2002 was the oldest. She also dusted behind the living room furniture and did the screens and the windows in that room and the dining room.
She also changed a few light bulbs and looked at a lamp that wasn’t working …. did I mention she wants to be an electrician?
Today, we’ll focus on the kitchen, emptying all the cupboards, getting rid of expired products. Then, we’ll moved to the family room and laundry room and finally the downstairs bathroom. Should be fun, but once it’s done, we’ll be good for another six months!
Let’s face it. You do one little internet search and for the next few months you’re inundated with ads for that one thing you searched. My bathroom will be renovaated long before I stop seeing ads for Step-in tubs for seniors.
Just sit with your phone on and talk about a vacation to some place and Bam! you have ads about it to your heart’s content. Mind you, we truly enjoyed celebrating out fiftieth anniversary about the Rockey Mountaineer. That the beauty of Big Brother listening. Sometimes, he pushes you in the right direction.
But then again, there are times when my feed is overwhelmed with ads for things I don’t want and videos of recipes I’ll never make in this lifetime–how many of us cook outdoors in mega steel pans? And giving me directions in Chinese, Spanish, or another language I don’t understand isn’t helpful either.
But I do get to keep up with friends, see their dogs, cats, children, grandchildren and vacation posts as well as read their good news and the sad news. Don’t get me started on the jerks who insinutate themselves into my posts or those of my friends, begging me to send them aa invitation because they’ve tried and it doesn’t workk from their end. Buddy, don’t hold your breath. It’s never happening.
But every now and then, I get a bonus.
If you followed my A to Z blog challenge this year, you know I posted a lot of YouTube videos of songs, most of them from my youth. So, this morning, what came across my feed? This video. I remember the Ed Sullivan show well, and it was always a treat to see my bands as guests. Look at the audience. When was the last time you got all dressed up like that? I do when I go on cruises. That could be one of the reasons I enjoy them. I miss dressing up. These days, when I go out, most of the time it’s in clean jeans and a good top. And the bands? They always looked sharp. Today? That color is probably the one I’ll use in my renovated bathroom. Well, I suppose today’s artists are just following the recent trend that clothes do not make the person. Too bad. I miss the good old days.
Well, that’s it for today. Let’s see what comes up tomorrow.
When I decided to try my hand at romantic comedy, sometimes called chick-lit, I struggled with what to write. I knew that I would be working in the first person, something I’d never done, and that I would have a narrow point of view for the plot. I also knew that I would be dealing with a strong, self-sufficient heroine, one who was still soft and insecure at times but did her best to hide it. And of course in keeping with the times, I might need more sex than I was used to adding to my books.
I was determined to try my hand at it when I returned from visiting family in Los Cabos, Mexico in January, 2020. We all know what happened three months later. The pandemic shut everything down, plunging us into terror at the deadliest virus of our age.
Stuck inside by the order to shelter in place and avoid crowds, even our own families and friends, I had lots of time to think about this new writing style. My best friend and fellow author suggested I needed to consider writing more than one book and linking them with some kind of common theme. That’s where the Cocktails for You series was born.
I decided to name each book in the series after a specific cocktail and include the recipe for that cocktail in the story. I did my April A to Z in 2021 on cocktails. By then, there were four books in the series.
But, let’s get back to numero uno. While I was looking through the pictures of that vacation that seemed years rather than a mere three months earlier, I saw the shots of the sunrise I’d taken one morning as I’d watched the sky turn form a vibrant purple to bright pink, peach, and yellow before the bright blue of the clear day chased all the clouds away. The pictures reminded me of a song. Can you guess which one?
The colors also reminded me of the drink I’d ordered the previous night. I’m not a fan of Margaritas since I find them either too salty, or like the ones my brother-in-law made, authentic ones not frozen like I was used to, too strong. This was mild, sweet, and pretty, with the grenadine settling at the base, and the orange juice and orange liqueur hit the spot.
Those three ideas gave me the title for my first Cocktails for You book, Tequila Sunrise. I decided to throw in a few of the things that had happened to me during the vacation, like the long flight delay and the deicing, described some of the places we’d visited down there, the condo where we’d stayed on the beach, and a humerous thing that had happened to my nephew a few years back. Just because something looks harmless doesn’t mean that it is, especailly when it comes to taco toppings.
Then, of course I needed a romance. Since it was my first attempt, I chose something simple, a combined second chance at love-office romance with the boss trope. Satisfied with the story, it was edited, reedited, and edited again. The story was short, a novella rather than the novel I usually wrote, but not bad for my first attempt at the genre. Then the start for the perfect cover. The first one in the pictures is the last and current one.
Cocktails for You
The first cover we chose was the one with the silhouette and the photograph I’d taken. It sold well when it was part of the box set but not so well on its own. My cover artist suggested something more in line with the genre. That was when we moved to the blonde in the hammock. Sadly, it still didn’t capture the attention we’d hoped. Was it because the model looked too sweet and innocent? After a few months, she suggested we try something sassier, thus cover number three with the model looking straight at the camera took its place. The book did a little better, but not well enough. Last year, my cover artist insisted the cover wasn’t right and that was hampering sales. She claimed that vector covers were all the rage for this genre of book and came up with the fourth and current cover. To be honest, I’m not sold on cartoon-style covers, but the book is selling a bit better. Increasing sales might come if I got a better handle on promotion, too. I really suck at that!
Here’s the blurb:
Tequila Sunrise: a romantic comedy about a career woman with a second chance at love (Cocktails For You)
She left him in stitches before pulling a Cinderella and disappearing. Ten years later, she wants a second chance.
Kelly Winters, an up-and-coming recreational facilities designer, is excited to be part of Conway Enterprises’ latest resort reconstruction in Mexico.
Discovering Liam Conway, a blast from the past and sexier than ever, will be her seatmate on the flight thrills her, especially when he’s willing to forget parts of their first encounter and start fresh.When Liam shows up at the Mexican restaurant where she and her coworkers are enjoying lunch, she can’t believe her luck. Sun, sand, and sex. Who could ask for more?
But when she realizes Liam is Conway’s CEO and her new boss, her hopes plummet. Can they make their renewed attraction work, or will it be another short-lived office romance?
We did it! We blogged our hearts out and touched the hearts of others –at least that’s how I feel about this year’s blog challenge. Going into my mail and finding the links to all the blogs I followed this year became as vital to my day as that cup of coffee, and responding to the comments a way of connecting more deeply with my new friends.
More than anything else, I had fun. It was uplifting to read the comments and share a bit of myself with others. I learned that people love music to start their day or midday or whenever they read the posts. It actually helped me set the tone for the day, so I may just keep posting my song of the day and why I chose it. Maybe not everyday, but I could handle once a week. Most of the songs I posted were old ones because those were the songs I loved from the best days of my life, even if I didn’t recognized that back then.
To everyone who read the blog, thank you. To those who followed me, thank you even more, and to anyone who chooses to purchase one of my books, you have my eternal gratitude, especially, if you leave a review on Amazon! You can find me here, or there. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Susanne-Matthews/author/B00DJCKRP4
May 1 question – How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?
Yes and no. It all depends on what I’m writing and when. If I am in the creative stage and am running along on a great plot or character development scene and the phone rings or my husband comes in to ask a question, then yes. The interruptions derail me and I have to take a few minutes to go back and reread what I have done to nudge the idea into existence once more. Sometimes it works; at others, the idea is gone. That usually tells me I wasn’t going down the right path anyway.
If I’m editing, it isn’t quite as bad since the creative thinking is over, and it’s just a matter of tying up loose ends and making sure that I haven’t left any plot points hanging. Then, I just pick up at the start of the paragraph and move on.
Want to know how others feel? Check out the other group members’ postings.
And just like that, it’s over. This post is the last one in this year’s challenge. There were times when getting the post written and posted on time was a bit of a struggle, but I managed and I have no regrets–well, maybe a couple since I couldn’t post comments on a few of the blogs, but where I could, I did. I learned a lot about the problems of getting old, a few I already knew, from https://loisroelofs.com/. I discovered a new word and learned a lot about DNA from https://everyonehasafamilystorytotell.wordpress.com/ I was blown away by facts about Australia from https://brizzymaysbooksandbruschettasite.wordpress.com/
As well, I followed two novellas written for the challenge and plan to do one myself next year. I read poems, got advice on a number of different topics, picked up a few different recipes, and some quotes to get me through the day.
The last letter is Z , and what struck me most was the zest and zeal my fellow bloggers demonstrated throughout the challenge.
It takes a lot of commitment to blog every day. It takes a lot of guts to bare your soul and talk about the things that make you you. It takes a great deal of commitment to write a short story in thirty days and I really hope to see the Adventures of Step, Tear, and Sad added to and published one day.
I hope that in some small way, my entries have entertained you and maybe even added to your own careers as readers or authors. I have zero regrets. This has been one of the best years ever.
I hope that you’ll follow my blog and see how things work out for me. Until next year’s challenge, stay safe. Here’s your last song.
Living the Dream 