Well, this is Day 3 post-op, the one they tell me is the hardest. I’m sore, but it’s a very different type of pain, completely different from what I had before, and while it hurts as any surgical incision does, it isn’t the bone deep ache that I had before the surgery. Of course, I’m as weak as an infant. My sister-in-law has been a huge help. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.
An interesting fact, the hospital messages me every day and asks how I’m doing. It assesses my answers and gives me suggestions like take you meds on time. That does make a difference. So for the next few weeks. I’ll be in recovery mode. Take care and keep your kind thoughts coming.
April 26, 2025. We’re rapidly nearing the end of the month and the end of the alphabet. I’m assuming I survived Thursday’s surgery, and while I probably don’t feel great, the surgical pain will be different and of shorter duration than the arthritic pain has been. I’m curious to see if my knee will be less sore, too since sometimes knee pain is actually pain created in the hip. Either way, the deed is done, and it’s time to move into recovery mode, doing my physio three times a day, using my 4 point walker, and doing my best to remember not to bend over. It’s going to be an interesting six weeks.
But enough of that. Today’s letter is W. This morning, instead of talking about weird, wild, or weddings, I’m going to talk about words. When I was teaching senior English long ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth and no one had cell phones, one of the things I did was introduce my students to the two books they would need for the rest of their academic lives: the dictionary and the thesaurus. Words are important, but their importance lies in the way they are used. While I will admit that I’m addicted to the use of adjectives and adverbs in my writing as well as my everyday speech, I still make a point of using the most accurate words in my descriptions — at least I try to do so.
I came across this list of better words to use to replace common words used in everyday conversations. I can add a few more. For example, very annoying might be obnoxious, very stupid could be idiotic, and so on. When I write, I visualize the setting and the way my characters interact with it, then I select the words that best suit my image. If my character is reluctant to do something, he or she might move at a snail’s pace. The words themselves can draw the pictures. Occasionally, I will use a word that isn’t one used frequently but fits the situtation. A grumpy old man can be a curmudgeon, a bitchy woman can be a shrew, and a rundown cottage can be dilapidated.
Since it’s my constant companion these days, let’s have a closer look at the word pain. According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, there are more than 200 words that mean pain, ranging from those that describe an unpleasant sensation in a specific part of the body, such as an ache, a pang, or a sting, to the great level of emotional and physical distress caused by major trauma, such as torturous, excruciating, anguish. Pain can also mean a strict adherence and concentration on what one is doing, as in scrupilous, meticulous, watchful. It can also refer to the amount of energy expended to complete a task or do some kind of work, as in sweat, toil, or labor. Finally, it can mean annoying, like nuisance, tormenter, and pain in the neck. So what’s the take away here? When you use a thesaurus, make sure that the vocabulary word you use is the correct one for the context it’s in. If the pain in your neck was caused by a pain in the neck, then maybe pain isn’t the word you need.
And on that note, here’s today’s musical memory.
Come back tomorrow to see what I have to say for the Letter X. Here’s the MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z
April 25, 2025. Day 1 post-surgery. As I mentioned yesterday, these last seven posts have all been pre-written to allow me to finish the challenge this year. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has done this, but normally I would’ve written today’s post last night, instead of last week.
The smell of coffee tickles my nose as I sit at my desk this morning, contemplating what to write about, how to amuse, inform, and maybe reveal a little more about myself, my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations. I’m in my seventh decade. Just how much can I actually accomplish in my coming years–of course that presupposes that I made it through surgery. No gloomy thoughts, only positive ones allowed.
Today’s letter is the letter V. When I was younger, V meant vacation. At the end of June, that was always cause for celebration: no more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks. But by the end of August, I was bored and longed to get back to school. When I was a teacher, my reaction to June was almost the same, but when August rolled around, I wasn’t as keen to get back to work. The patina had worn off the joys of teaching, and as I appoached retirement age, my dreams for a different lifestyle grew. I would be on vacation 365 days a year! How great would that be?
The truth is that like my ten-year-old self, it didn’t take me long to get bored again. So, I did some supply teaching, had the cleanest house ever, but my husband was still working, and our ability to travel was limited by that, our finances, and the fact that our widowed daughter and her four children needed us. That’s when my life took a strange turn and I found the vacation life I’d always wanted. I could travel to exotic locations, through time and space, create myths and legends, see good triumph over eveil each time, and enjoy life to the fullest. I decided to do what I had always wanted to do. I decided to write.
Now, that may not sound like a vacation to you, but to me, with my vivid imagination, it was a place to dream. I’m happier now, sleep well, and if I prefer the situations I create to the ones that surround me, who has the right to say I’m wrong?
My first novel, Fire Angel was released on April 23, 2013. Since then, it has undergone some serious editing and rewriting as I took into account all of the comments made about the story. When I first published it, I was with a small press, Crimson Romance, and had to adhere to their rules for romance. Times changed, Crimson Romance was swallowed up by Simon and Schuster, who really didn’t care about the stabe of authors they’d acquired. Sales and pages read tanked, and we were offered the chance to take back our books, which I did. I went to work on the book, rewriting it to be far darker than the original had been, giving the villain his own voice and digging deeper into the mind of a pyromaniac, and learning all that I possibly could about arson and the way fire behaves. This wasn’t work; it was a life-long learning experience.
Since that first novel, I have penned 53 others. Like most vacationers, I shop around to see where I would like to go. I’ve written several more romance suspense novels, many of them more thriller than romance. I have created a line of romantic comedy novels called Cocktails for You. As a history major, I loved learning about the past, so I added historical romance to my portfolio. In addition, I played with low fantasy/paranormal novels. The Tigress is the first book in a series about paranormal detectives working in modern day New Orleans, keeping both the living and the undead safe. It’s one of the few books that I have in audio form available from audible.com as well as amazon.com. I also have Christmas books, regular romance novels, and even a YA suspense. Everything you could ever want to know about my books can be found on my website. https://mhsusannematthews.ca/
In short, while I do go on regular vacations, I always come away with a little something I can turn into a longterm vacation by writing about it. Here are the most recent products of vacation writing: A Case of Mistaken Identity, The Awakening, Atonement, Sea Breeze.
I love my writng vacations. I’m actually taken three of them simultaneously now! How much more exciting can that be?
Here we are again! Today is April 24, 2025. If everything has gone as planned it is also the day I get my new hip, so today’s blog and those that follow were written a few days ago. I know the spirit of the blog challenge is to actually write and post a blog item each day, but sometimes life gets in the way, and this is one of those times.
So, here I am anticipating going under the knife to have my right hip replaced. Am I nervous? Yes! Am I anxious? Of course, but more than anything else, I’m in a state of flux, because I am amazed at what medicine can do these days.
Today’s letter is U, and to me, at this moment in time it stands for undergo. I am about to undergo surgery to replace my hip joint.
They say knowledge is power. I’m going in with as much knowledge as I can get, aware of the dangers as well as what will be needed for my recovery. Here’s hoping everything goes well!
The song for today:
Seriously, sometimes humor is the best medicine! Come back tomorrow for the letter V. Here’s the MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z
April 23, 2025 Tomorrow is the big day. needless to say, I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights, hence the meme this morning. My posts are loaded to the site and ready to take you to the end of the month. I may pop in and change that, depending how I feel. We’ll see. My bag is packed for the hospital in case something does go wrong and I need a sleepover. My sister-in-law is arriving today to look after me for a few days. Did I mention that my husband is an accountant, knee deep in taxes and the deadline for most filers is April 30? Not the best time of the year for him, but when they gave me a date, I wasn’t going to ask for a do-over in a couple of months. With her help, we’ll manage.
Today’s letter is T and I suppose it makes sense to make it about teaching. Over the course of my teaching career, I wore many hats. I started off teaching French Immersion Kindergarten, and then did French Immersion Grade 1. Like all teachers back then, permanent jobs were few and far between, so I ended up on the Supply list filling in all over and at all levels.
I ended up with a long-term contract teaching English in Secondary school, and stayed there for the rest of my career, although I did teach other subjects including French as a Second Language, Careers, Science, Culinary Arts, and the Developmentally Disabled teens in our high school. For a while, I was relocated to an Adult Education school as the literacy specialist, and when that school changed and became the haven for students with Learning Disabilities, that’s where I finished my career and retired.
Education has changed substantially over the years, and to be honest, I enjoyed the earlier years far more than the latter ones, but I’m not going to preach about what went wrong and what went right. Teaching children is important to our survival as a society, but teachers
April 22, 2025. There may be sun today, but it probably won’t be warm enough to sit outside. Sad news yesterday that Pope Francis died. It wasn’t unexpected since he had been gravely ill, but it is a blow to the millions of Roman Catholics around the world. Even a Presbyterian like myself can appreciate the good the man did during his time as the head of the RC church. Now, the process begins to find a replacement. In the past, there was a lot of interest in watching for the white smoke. Will there be as much now?
I spent thirty years of my career as a teacher as an English teacher. My love for literature is a deep-seated one that started with reading Little Golden Books, and grew into the writing career I’ve created for myself since retiring. The two units that were may favorites included my poetry unit and my Shakespearian unit. I can see some of you cringing, but I loved Shakespeare, and I did everything I could to ensure my students loved it, or at least enjoyed the six weeks we spent there. Tomorrow is the Bard’s birthday.
Today’s letter is S, and I’m going to focus on Shakespeare. Back in the day, there would be memory work, acting out scenes, doing research on the period and of course, reading and studying the plays. Did I have my favorites? Yes. I loved the comedies, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew. While I taught them, the two I disliked the most were Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet–both men were spoiuled wimps. The tragedies that I preferred were King Lear and Macbeth, although the one who wore the pants in that relationship was definitely Lady Macbeth. I visited Cawdor Castle in Scotland and that was a thrill. Macbeth was the Thane of Cawdor and there is an exhibit dedicated to that inside.
Students used to complain that Shakespearian Engligh was hard to understand. Maybe, but he had the best insults. Here’s a list and a fun activity to create your own. Enjoy!
This song refers to Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and King Lear
Good day! For those who celebrate, I hope you all had a lovely Easter. This week, the Tuesday Tales authors are writing to the word prompt, STUNNING. I’m continuing with my romance/suspense novel, And Justice for All. Enjoy!
“Mona, it’s Harry Collins. Patch me through to Forensics in Ottawa.”
“Yes, sir.” The polite, helpful voice became serious.
The phone rang. It was picked up on the second ring.
“RCMP Forensics Unit, Tawney Gaines speaking.”
“Tawney, it’s me. I have a hell of a mess for you.” Without mincing his words, Harry told her what had happened and what he needed. “Be prepared to work in the dark and stay the night. Go to the marina next to Cornwall’s in Rockport. I’ll have an OPP officer waiting for you there. Now, before you start getting ready, I need you to contact Tom and tell him to bring the rig. We’ll be there for a few days. Have him call me a.s.a.p.”
“Understood. It’s 16:40 now. I’ll have my team there by 18:30 at the latest. Can we drive in to wherever we need to get?”
“Unlikely, but I won’t know for sure until I examine the area myself. You’ll be on Club Island, just west of Rockport. From what I know, you need a boat to access it. Call the Coast Guard base on Hill Island and ask for Wendy Lewis. Tell her you’re working for me and ask for assistance. You know what you’ll need better than I do.”
“Do you think this is another contract job?” Her voice was filled with concern and more than a touch of fear.
“I do, and I think we may finally have a break, but make sure all of those who come with you are armed and wearing their Kevlar vests. I’ll see you when you get there.”
He ended the call and made another.
“Call Chase Realty.”
“Calling Chase Realty,” the tinned voice replied.
Maggie sat up straighter. Chase Realty was one of Robbinsville’s top realty companies.
“Chase Realty.” The woman’s voice sounded eager to please as if every call could be a potential moneymaker.
“Yes, this is Harry Collins. I was supposed to meet James Brown at 340 Water Street West to look at a condo.”
Harry’s words made her gasp, stunning her once more. That was her address. In a day filled with the impossible, this was just another blow to the solar plexus. There were a couple of condos for sale in the building. The last thing she needed was for Harry and his family to move in there, too. Seeing him at work would be hard enough, but running into him and his new wife in the lobby picking up their mail would be beyond awkward.
April 21, 2025. Good morning. It’s another cool rainy day, but we did get some sunshine if not heat yesterday for the holiday celebration. I’m in countdown mode for my surgery. My pre-op went well. The EKG verified that I have a heart and that it’s working well, I have blood, and the X-rays showed that the hip is still there and in critical need of repair.
Based on all of the evidence at hand, I will be in and out on the same day–barring complications, although the nurse didn’t elaborate on what those might be. I’ll be frozen for the procedure–think epidural on steroids. Not sure how I feel about hearing everything going on, but I’m sure whatever I do hear will someday make it into a book.
Today’s letter is R and I’m thinking about rivers, specifically, the St. Lawrence River that runs along the edge of my city. The river is playing a critical role in my newest book, a romance suspense titled, And Justice for All. The river separates the city from the Mohawk reservation here, but farther along, it separates Canada from the United States. The following is taken from Wikipedia.
Long a transportation route to Indigenous peoples, the St. Lawrence River has played a key role in the history of Canada and in the development of cities such as Montreal and Quebec City. The river remains an important shipping route as the backbone of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a lock and canal system that enables world marine traffic to access the inland ports of the Great Lakes Waterway.
The river has always played a significant role in my life. I grew up eating perch, still enjoy it although it’s no longer as plentiful as it used to be. My sister lives beside the river, and we spend time there each summer, more so because my daughter’s significant other owns the cottage next to my sister’s home. Going boating on a sunny summer day is something we’ve always done. There’s something relaxing about being on the water. I think that’s why I enjoy cruises. I love being on the water.
Over the years, the river has had both positive and negative roles. It’s a transportation route into the Great Lakes, essential to trade for both Canada and the US. As well, in my area we have a hydro-electric dam that provides electricity to both our area of Ontario as well as new York State. Chevrolet and Alcan used to have plants on the American side, and for years the water was seriously polluted, but efforts were made to clean it up and that worked.
The river has also been a route by which smugglers have moved contraband from one country to another. During Prohibition, it was alcohol going from Canada into the US. In my lifetime that’s changed and alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, guns, and people have been smuggled from the US to Canada. Is there traffic the other way? Yes, but what’s ceased on our side is far more than what gets across form here. The RCMP and the OPP as well as Canadian Border Services do their best to stop the flow both ways, but criminals always seem to find a way.
Still, despite that, I love the time I spend by the river. What better song could I pick for today?
That’s it. Come back tomorrow for what I have to say about the letter S. See you tomorrow for Q. Here’s the MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z
April 19, 2025. Good morning. Today, I’m full of questions. Have you ever wondered what the perfect age might be? You don’t think about it much when your age is measured in single digits, until you hear things like, “You’re not a baby anymore. You’re a big boy or a big girl.” That’s when age becomes a reality. You can’t wait until you’re a teenager–13 is a big deal, then it’s 16 so that you can learn to drive, and the list of best ages moves up from there. I was 18 when I graduated high school, 21 when I got married and 22 when I finished my first university degree. Was one of those my best year? They were all amazing. On the way to my planned future, I took a slight pause and had three children, returning to university and graduating with my teaching degree at 31. Was that my best age? Or was it 41, 51, or 63 when I published my first novel?
Today’s letter is Q and to me it stands for all the crazy questions that constantly run through my mind, today one of them being when was my best age? It’s possible it hasn’t even arrived yet. The year I became a grandmother was pretty awesome. Maybe the year I become a great-grandmother will be, too. The year my son got his PhD was another fantastic one. It’s all relative. It all depends on what we use as a measuring stick. If bad things happen, do they negate the good factor, or do they just put an asterisk on its notation in our memories? Kids ask questions about everything, and some of the time, that may drive you crazy, but how else are they to learn? The fact that they ask you for answers shows that they somehow value your wisdom.
But so many questions have no answers. What will tomorrow bring? I don’t know. It could be rain, it could be sun, it could be war, it could be peace, it could be an end to tariffs, it could be more of them, and there’s nothing I can do to influence that. Mother Nature holds the key to some answers, and politicians hold the others. We just have to pray that whatever comes will be the best it can be.
My burning question right now, is what will I wear to go and vote today? Our federal election is on the 28th and since I will be post-op, I’m guessing I won’t make it to the polls that day, so I’m voting in the advanced one. Will my chosen candidate win? I don’t know, but I hope so. Who will be Canada’s Prime Minister? I know who I hope it’ll be, but I don’t know who the country will choose. Questions, questions, questions? Is it time for more coffee? Now, there’s a question I can answer. Yes! definitely, yes!
Here’s an old song about a very improtant question.
Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Come back Monday for the letter R. Here’s the MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z
