The best thing that happened this week happened because of something awful several weeks ago.
Several weeks ago: My laptop died and took my latest rewrite of Anna with it.
This week: I had to write the ending again. It was the first time I’d written something from scratch, did a first draft of something, and it was wonderful to be doing that again. It felt like somebody had opened a window and the sun came streaming in.
So note to self: Never do nothing but rewriting and editing again for any length of time. Like maybe a new scene for something once a week, just to keep the Girls in the Basement from lying around, eating potato chips and losing strength.
So what good stuff happed to you this week?
48 Responses
Worked on a collage for the next group show at the local gallery, and arrived at an arrangement I’m happy with. Interrupted by a broken tooth, but got this sorted by a lovely new dentist, so another good thing. Spent my remaining birthday vouchers on new plants for the tables outside my two living-room windows, which will cheer me up through the winter – I’d lost most of the previous lot in the summer heatwaves.
We have the tub installed, drywall up, and the first coat of mud on (ceiling skim-coat, too) in a bathroom reno that started out as “let’s scrape the moldy popcorn ceiling off, Honey” and escalated into “i chipped the cracked and brittle tub-surround scraping silicone off, so we might as well replace that and the tub.”
I went to a new knitting group and learned how to count knitting rows.
Mom and I went to a symphony Chamber Social last night. It was lovely!
I got timesheets in from all the companies on Friday, which doesn’t sound like much, but there’s always one manager who is late.
My sister had knee replacement surgery last week, so it’s been a bit of a fire drill, with another sister and New-Knee sister’s son and daughter-out-law coming into town to help with aftercare.
I have the prologue written for my vampire mystery and I’m working on laying out the list of suspects.
My husband, kids and I enjoyed a lovely al fresco meal together last night.
We arrived home after 3 weeks of travel (to learn we have no hot water until Tuesday but turns out cold showers can be managed). As much as travel is nice, being home again is great. Also now I can get back to my PT and exercise routine which feels great. Watching mom be more and more physically limited has really made me committed not just to walking but to various strength building exercises.
One fun thing about our travels was the airport hotel at Gotenburg which has a really nice art collection and a good restaurant with traditional foods.
The breakfast buffet included liver pate, excellent lox, four kinds of herring, carrot marmalade, three homemade jams, three yogurts including rhubarb yogurt, chia pudding, three cheeses, Nutella, and crusty breads. All of which were excellent. Plus stuff I can’t recall.
On a side table there was anemic scrambled eggs and sausage and other elements of a traditional British breakfast, which they clearly did perfunctorily.
So this is my reminder to you, when in Scandinavia eat breakfast like the Scandinavians.
Myself, I had hot water when I had water at all, but it was off without warning for the better part of the business day one day, and with warning on another to do repairs elsewhere in the complex. I always keep a reserve of water for drinking and hand-washing, but had to postpone flushing and running dishwasher on the first day. Once I had warning, I filled some buckets for flushing.
Being no fan of fish, I would have made out worse than you at the Gotenburg buffet, although I could have managed with the other traditional offerings. The Europeans do seem to be fond of Nutella, an Italian invention which I had never heard of before Germany. It does seem to have picked up an American following since then, despite being about as healthy as grape jelly.
I looked it up again. Less healthy than grape jelly, since besides sugar it includes tons of palm oil.
I too have been motivated by my parents declining.
Carrot marmalade got my attention that and the rhubarb yogurt although with the yogurt I would fold in some strawberry yogurt to blend in with my taste buds.
The carrot marmelade might be carrot and apricots. I make this old Danish recipe:
1/2 pound dried apricots soaked 24 h in 2 pints of water before minced (save the water to boil the marmelade).
1 pound carrots peeled before grated or minced.
Zest and juice of a small lemon.
3/4 pound sugar.
1 teaspoon vanilla paste.
Simmer at low heat for 10-20 min. Skim off any impurities, and set with gelatine for marmelade. In Sweden it might have been cardemon rather than vanilla.
It was really good. I don’t think it had apricots. I can believe it had lemon and cardamom. I thought it might have a tad of ginger.
With ginger and no apricots it would probably be this one:
1 pound peeled and grated carrots.
1 inch water in the bottom of the pan.
Boil for about 10 min until almost tender and add:
1/2 pound sugar.
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger.
Zest and juice of 1 lemon or orange.
Let this simmer 15-20 min while stirring, until the carrots are tender and the marmelade thickens.
This need to be kept in the refrigerator.
Sunshine marmelades from carrots, apricots or pineapples are very popular in Scandinavia during the winter. 🙂
It turns out that our dishwasher is only connected to the hot water which means that we are handwashing dishes until the hot water is repaired. I wish I had known that before planning tonight’s dinner, mostly because we don’t have that much drying rack space.
Debbie, If you weren’t already counting it, you can use the dishwasher itself as a drying rack, just as you would on the air-dry setting. Leave the door partly open for better circulation.
Knowing that I am not going to be able to go to the library regularly in the near future (due to hip being replaced) I bought a heap of books. Some fiction and some non-fiction – mostly art and archaeological – things I want to know more about. I still have a wish list at the library, the novels and non-fiction I bought were not in the library system. It feels good to know I have a heap of books on the TBR pile.
Yesterday I heard a lot of children’s laughter and happy voices, and is unusual on a Saturday afternoon to hear quite a lot of people (unless there is a football match on ‘cos I’m not far from the stadium) it is normally a quiet street at the weekend. However, I remembered the reason when I looked out the window – it was Doors Open day. This is a day/weekend when places not usually open to the public are, and for free too (not all of them there is an annual list).
At the end of my street is the bus depot, and that is where people were heading. I went the very first year it did Doors Open and it was such fun. There was an open-topped bus ride around the depot, which is housed in a glass roofed building that was built for the 1922 Edinburgh Exhibition. After there were vintage buses to explore or have a photo taken of you pretending to drive (this was very popular with Dads.) While I was waiting for the open-topped bus one of the workers who was corralling us said that they hadn’t expected it to be popular and didn’t think they had laid on enough to do, so a last minute addition was coming to entertain us while we waited for the open topped bus. It was a double decker that took us through the bus-wash (like a car wash but really tall). The Dads went nuts over this, at least two men were videoing it from the inside when I was there. I confess I loved it. What is it about car washes?? Anyway I came home and went to work on Monday and told everyone what fun I had. Clearly so did everyone else because the next year the queue for the experience went right round the block and they had to put a second day on. It was great to hear parents and children going to have fun, and it brought back such a happy memory.
Sounds like the September Heritage Open Days in England, only better!
Do you have a date?
Usually the last weekend in September Debbie so you will have to wait until next year. 🙁 Here is a website for information. It was the Lothian Bus Depot at Annandale St
https://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/regions/edinburgh
The characters in my WIP started talking to me again! I even jumped out of bed just before falling asleep to write down some dialogue. I refused to believe myself when I thought I’ll remember that in the morning. LOL!
Yes, we mostly don’t remember those brilliant ideas we had on the border of sleep.
Took my 17 year-old nephew who is living with us now for grade 12 to the Ontario university fair. Spent six hours there so I will probably take six days to recuperate. But it was hugely useful for him as he got a lot of clarity on where he wants to go and where he doesn’t want to go to school next year.
Years ago I took my niece to three or maybe four colleges in DC and it was really helpful for her—and sadly for me resulted in her going to California for college.
Attended “An Evening with Patti Smith.” She read from her latest memoir, told stories and sang–and did it all so well. “Because the Night” and “People Have the Power” left me with goosebumps.
My back finally stopped hurting this week! I did something to it, and that meant a lot of heating pad time.
I when to the post op visit, and the surgeon said my eyes are not quite in alignment, yet. I have until mid-October for that to happen. It’s frustrating, because at first, it seemed like all was well, but now I’m still seeing double, but the images are closer together. If it isn’t better by mid-October, there’s the option of another surgery, or prism glasses. ‘They gave me a narcotic to assure I would not move during the last surgery, and it took 4 days before I felt close to normal, again. At least I know what caused that, and to tell them not to do that again. Sigh.
There are still lots of goggles left, so that helps with seeing.
It is cool enough to walk in the mornings.! I have met more neighbors, including a woman pushing her poodle in a baby carriage, this morning.
Please forgive any typos. I just don’t see them.
My bil has had prisms in his glasses for decades and his youngest daughter(42) just got them. Both say that the only problem is the increased price.
They are a bit thick, too. If the ones the surgeon used to check my sight are any indication.
My Good Sunday is also new writing. 🙂 Having done one more polish on a Sierra Foothills story (after getting feedback from my professional pilot friend about my character who’s a professional pilot), I drew a line under that whole project and started the next one. Two chapters in and the inspiration factory is running full throttle.
Also had an impromptu pizza & s’mores night around my sibling’s fire pit last night, which was really nice.
We’re in the middle of a three-day Nor’easter so yesterday I decided to shift the summer to winter clothes. I already have two bags of clothes in the trunk of my car that I tried to put in the bins for donation only to find the bins locked. It seems everyone had the same idea. What I wanted to do was move these along before I tackle the attic. I find myself saving too many of everything and it’s just gotten out of hand. I have got to stay on this ruthless streak in order to get things done.
Downtime this crappy weekend is reading a Sandra Brown novel and realizing I had already read it. Doesn’t matter. Just wrap me up in a cozy throw and with the electric heater on, and with no sun it takes the chill off the house.
I also helped my youngest son take the AC’s out of the windows; his version is I was in his way.
Then he shouldn’t need your help to put them in next spring, I imagine.
I got my sweet, miserable male cat to the vet for his allergic reaction to the fleas, which bother him exceedingly, even though he’s mostly an indoor cat. His sister is not, at least in warm weather, and brings an abundance of fleas to share. They don’t bother her. Anyway, he’s doing much better after two injections and some soothing cream. They have both taken to spending most of their time on top of a bookcase, having cleared it of all that was on it.
Also met up with friends I don’t often see and had coffee.
I saw a lovely exhibit of botanical drawings by Faith Fyles, the first female botanist hired by the Canadian Department of Agriculture. She later became an illustrator for a federally-run farm that developed many plant varieties. She was extremely talented and was able to travel around Canada as part of her work, which was atypical for women in the 1920s. It was a nice way to pass a couple of hours.
We’ve had a warm and sunny weekend, so spending as much time outside as possible. Every Saturday, there’s a farmer’s market in my neighbourhood so DH and I stocked up on fresh vegetables. It’s also a great place to run into neighbours and chat. We went to an Octoberfest at a local nursery and I had one of the best raspberry wheat beers I’ve ever tasted.
My garden is winding down but I’ve got lots of tomatoes still on the vine and a new crop of beans coming in (planted in late August). Hoping I’ll have enough to serve at Canadian Thanksgiving, which is in 2 weeks.
I’m taking an Artist Way course. And clarity figured out what I could do to fix the book that Ingram Spark screwed up. They printed it with four blank pages in the back, which made it look unfinished. I never caught it because the proof they sent me did not show me the four pages. I know one of the pages has to be blank, but I added two pages to the book, the book is a children’s picture book called mom. Is there a Santa Claus? So I added a page for a Dreamkeeper rules because when you don’t believe in Santa anymore, you become a Dreamkeeper. And a page where you can draw your idea of Santa and say what his favorite food is, and where he lives. I’m happy about that now. I’m gonna turn the whole thing over to my editorial assistant, ChatGPT, and see if they can get it back in Ingram Sparks in the correct order. Lord knows I can’t. I’m so thrilled that Jennie that you are writing from scratch. It makes such a difference from editing over and over again. Oh I also went to a meeting of LARA the Los Angeles romance riders at P.F. Chang’s. We meet in person once every three months and it was mentioned that young people prefer first person and that none of them are reading historical. Well, that sad news for my historical. But I have a first person why a book I wrote that is still in first draft from years ago. I thought I couldn’t publish it because I used Heinlein’s science, but no one has ever heard of Robert Heinlein anymore, something I don’t understand, but I might be able to fix the book and publish it. I actually did like the story.
I have two auditions today to film. I’m going to spend time on a jigsaw puzzle, something I haven’t done in a while. It gives me joy. Oh, this is way too long sorry.
Not too long and congrats on fixing the children’s book. I personally don’t mind third person but then again, I’m probably not considered young. I turned 57 yesterday.
Happy birthday!
Happy belated birthday!
Thank you!
I’m not clear on what “used Heinlein’s science” means, but you’re right that Heinlein is not as widely read as he once was, and new readers that try him at random often happen upon his flaky late work and are rightly unimpressed. But my local county library was once down to no Heinlein physical books at all except for one novel in a Library of America omnibus, but it now has several, and more as ebooks, so there may be some movement in the right direction.
Thursday was a good day. I got a quilt quilted that had been on my frame for 2 months untouched. You can see it at https://www.instagram.com/p/DdzheeQmq78/?stkn=MWV0YmI3dHhucDVvZQ== I didn’t make the top, just quilted it.
I’m also feeling virtuous. I mowed our lawn today. We have a motorized push mower. I’m the one who moves it. Two of my neighbors are currently mowing their lawns on riding mowers. Lazy guys. 😂
I am at the annual symposium of the nonprofit I volunteer for, so I am eating twice as much as I need to and spending time with quality people. As a bonus, my friend and I drove (well he drove, but you know) from Ann Arbor to Windsor and took the train to Toronto; extra pleasure as I love trains.
Plus I just read all the HSSS posts I could find links to from Friday flashback, which also made me happy. And I had forgotten the days of having to type a code for one’s comment to post, with the resulting practice of commenters making up “sentences” using the letters. I seem to remember a preponderance of Qs which made it all the more challenging.
Thanks for explaining that!! I was puzzling what those weird words meant.
A pleasantly dull week. Flu shot done. COVID shot done. Public comment meeting regarding a proposed data center and other tech installations attended.
I did go out to lunch with one of my cousins and a friend. The friend is 90 and will be relocating from her house of decades to a senior citizen apartment building nearby. It’ll be a good move for her.
Another cousin will b 95 this week. The women in my family seem to be living long with fairly good health. I’m hoping that’s a good thing.
The good news: I don’t have pneumonia after being told I had it (while not being sick AT ALL), and I had the appointment with the neuro-oncologist and met her team, and they were all very nice. I also just took advantage of a 2-for-1 deal on pretty dresses I’ve been eyeing. And I don’t have to go back to work in November after all, I guess.
The not-great news is it’s going to take at least two months to figure out how to treat my remaining tumors, I’ll have a LOT of tests and exams, and the two options for treatment aren’t great 🙁 My CT scan (see above for where the “pneumonia” diagnosis came from) was also pretty bad and nobody will talk to me about it until late October, but I have to go back again in 3 months. Plus FIVE MRI’s, genetic testing, and seeing another ENT. I feel perfectly healthy and yet am sick as well, and the two treatment options are pretty sickening.
It’s been a mixed bag week, for sure.
Sending many pocket hugs. I’m so sorry you are going through this.
I’m really happy you are back with us though.
For the past few days I’ve been down with stomach flu or something. I first thought it was just a reaction to a change of diet, but diarrhea turned into vast quantities of stomach gas, and then into retching. I think I may have “passed the crisis,” as the Victorians said, since the symptoms have considerably died down, although gas and retching remain at lower levels and I have zero appetite. I’ve been sleeping a lot.
Horrible stomach bugs are the worst. Hope you feel better soon!