Life in progress


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Why I write fiction

English: Icon for lists of science fiction authors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was sitting here trying to come up with a blog post when I realized it. There’s nothing going on in my real life that’s worth writing. Whenever I came up with something, it was either something I want or something I imagine.

For instance, I was out on my paper route today, looking as I always do for inspiration, and there was this woman walking her dog. From a distance it was an odd looking dog, mostly because it was black and gray and the gray parts of the dog blended in so well with the sidewalk that parts of it were invisible. So, of course, my imagination took over.

What if I woke up one day and no longer recognized things that I should… as though I’d woken up in a different dimension. And what if I saw this dog on my paper route and *gasp* it had four legs?!? Everyone knows that animals all have two or three legs – except birds who of course have four. But imagine that! An animal that resembled a dog except it had FOUR LEGS!

So that’s my life. Dogs with four legs. Exciting stuff, eh?


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Adventures on my Paper Route – Cats, Wine and Flowers

Seems one of the neighbourhood’s kitties has gone missing.

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Mmmm…reward….

Seriously, check out the reward.

Do you think I can pass off Thomas as their missing cat?

Thomas the feral cat

Thomas the feral cat

There’s a bottle of wine in it for me if I can pull it off.

In other news, I’m afraid to go into my front garden in case there is black and white cat hair littering the ground around my daffodil.

Speaking of flowers, we have some!

Pink2 Blossoms

Here’s to spring!

Cheers all!


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Adventures on my Paper Route – Phew, all is well

It seems the man-eating daffodil from last week didn’t eat the neighbourhood feral cat after all.

Thomas the feral cat

Thomas the feral cat

The kids call him Thomas. I don’t know if anyone has actually been close enough to pick him up to see if he rattles; maybe he’s more a Thomasina. Here s/he is picking through the remnants that the garbage man left on the side of the road. Many of the neighbours leave food and water out for him/her, but I guess old habits die hard.

Daffodil

The daffodils are doing well so it seems spring is, in fact, here.

Stalking daffodil

Stalking daffodil

You can see the dangerous daffodil in the background on the left in this picture. I still don’t trust it.


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Adventures on my Paper Route – Getting There!

So it’s not really ON my paper route – I took these pictures in my own front yard. But I was on my way home from my paper route, so I’ve decided this counts.

weeds

My perennial weeds

I just wanted documentation that spring is coming.  It is! And soon I’ll be able to leave my winter coat at home.

gotcha

Gotcha!

Doesn’t it look like this daffodil is about to attack? I haven’t seen the neighbourhood feral cat in a few days….


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Don’t you hate it when that happens?

I’d decided that I would stop refreshing my damned stats page, I’d stopped looking for new posts to read in my reader and I’d even gone as far as turning off the laptop.  And the other laptop. And the PC.  So I’m standing in the kitchen, making my coffee for the morning and it hits me. The perfect subject for a post. Before I know it I’ve lost count of how many scoops I’ve put in the coffeemaker (I only have to count to seven, but there you go) and I’m trying to decide whether to a) get out a pen and paper and jot down the idea or b) turn a computer back on and risk staying up yet another hour to write – and refresh – and read.

So I’m writing this now (it’s 6:46pm) but all this happened to me last night. I failed to do neither a) nor b) and now I can’t remember what my brilliant idea was. But I still got a post out of the experience, so it wasn’t a total waste. 😛


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Just for laughs

Old Lutheran Humor
Church Bulletin Bloopers

·For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

·Due to the Rector’s illness, Wednesday’s healing services will be discontinued until further notice.

·Evening massage – 6 p.m.

·The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

·Potluck supper: prayer and medication to follow.

·Don’t let worry kill you off – let the church help.

·The concert held in Fellowship Hall was a great success. Special thanks are due to the minister’s daughter, who labored the whole evening at the piano, which as usual fell upon her.

·Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

·The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church.

·Low Self-Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 to 8:30p.m. Please use the back door.

·Ushers will eat latecomers.

·The Rev. Merriwether spoke briefly, much to the delight of the audience.

·During the absence of our pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.

·Next Sunday Mrs. Vinson will be soloist for the morning service. The pastor will then speak on “It’s a Terrible Experience.”

·Stewardship Offertory: “Jesus Paid It All”

·Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

·Pastor is on vacation. Massages can be given to church secretary.

·22 members were present at the church meeting held at the home of Mrs. Marsha Crutchfield last evening. Mrs. Crutchfield and Mrs. Rankin sang a duet, The Lord Knows Why.

·The choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.

·Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

·The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Reverend and Mrs. Julius Belzer.

·This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south and north ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.

·Tuesday at 4PM there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early.

·Wednesday, the Ladies Liturgy Society will meet. Mrs. Jones will sing “Put Me In My Little Bed” accompanied by the pastor.

·Thursday at 5PM there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All wishing to become Little Mothers, please see the minister in his private study.

·This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mr. Vassilas to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.

·The service will close with “Little Drops Of Water”. One of the ladies will start (quietly) and the rest of the congregation will join in.

·Next Sunday, a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come forward and get a piece of paper.

·The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement Friday.

·A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

·At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What is Hell?”. Come early and listen to our choir practice.

·The 1991 Spring Council Retreat will be hell May 10 and 11.

·Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

·Mrs. Johnson will be entering the hospital this week for testes.

·Please join us as we show our support for Amy and Alan who is preparing for the girth of their first child.

·The Lutheran Men’s group will meet at 6 PM. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.

·The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: ” I Upped My Pledge-Up Yours.”


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Adventures on my Paper Route – Spring is … bent

Well, the good news is my laptop didn’t get stolen. Right, I should probably start at the beginning.

Upon stepping out my front door this morning with my papers I was pleasantly surprised. Not only has it warmed up a few degrees, the sun was coming out and … YAY! so are the flowers at the front of my house. I went back inside to get my sunglasses and my camera and, newspaper bag over my shoulder, set my glasses down absentmindedly to take a few shots of the new spring blossoms.

Spring

Lovely, yes?

So, both satisfied and happy with myself I stood up and reached into my pocket to find my sunglasses. Not there. Feeling a little sick I looked around my feet. Noth…. what’s that under my foot?  Oh look!

Ouch

Bent sunglasses!

So, cussing along my way, I finished off my paper route, but not without stopping by one of my customers – a dry cleaning business where the TV is always on – to find out that we’re to expect 15cm of snow Thursday and another 10cm on Friday.  That’s a total accumulation of 10″ for my friends who haven’t caught up to the rest of the planet. You know who you are 😉

And then, to top it all off, I arrived home, put the key in the keyhole and…. locked the door. In my giddy glee I forgot to lock the house up.

The good news is… yeah. I have something to blog with.


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Adventures on my Paper Route: Why did the hen cross the road?

Chicken’s eye view

So there I was, standing on the curb, waiting as I do every day to cross one of my town’s main thoroughfares. It’s not a particularly wide road, nor is the speed limit fast, but it’s busy enough that I have to wait most days. Today there was only one car coming, or so I thought. I was poised. I made the decision to cross.

Now, you know when your body is ready to move and suddenly you realise that maybe you shouldn’t let it? I didn’t see the other car. It wasn’t that close behind the one I did see, but it was close enough to make me hesitate. What it did was make me twitch. I had to make a split second choice. Stay or go. But my body was already in motion — so I ran!

Obviously I made it across the road — I’m here to talk about it. Had I been younger it would have been a little thrill. Since, however I’m at my age it was an adrenaline rush I’m still recovering from.

So why did the hen cross the road?

To feel like a spring chicken 🙂


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Adventures of my Paper Route

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The squirrels have been busy

It happens while we sleep. The squirrels — the most talented of them at least — sculpt likenesses of themselves around the neighbourhood.  Here are two kissing. They will be the skinny ones that have no time for nut gathering, just in case you’re wondering which ones to look out for.


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My Opinion

In the spirit of the weekend, and in honour of a very special friend (you know who you are) here is an opera-singing bunny.

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You’ll either love it or it will keep you away from my scotch.