Chipmunk

I pulled into the parking lot at the covered bridge and this is what I saw peeking out from a hole in the stone wall.

Mr. Chipmunk!

Linking to Saturday's Critters

Willy-Nilly 5

Wow! A new photo theme. This one is called Willy-Nilly Friday Five. Yay! Rules? Well the rules are— there are no rules. Well except for the directive to post 5, count them 5 random thoughts, link up, and visit some blogs. According to our head guru, Tanya,wil·ly-nil·ly is an adverb—without direction or planning; haphazardly. That's the way I live life, haphazardly. So here are my five: 

In case you haven't read my blog before, this is Fergus. He is celebrating his 1st Barkday, today, Thursday, while I write this post. He has filled the void left when Willie crossed the rainbow bridge. Willie was a much calmer sort. Fergus is a bundle of energy and keeps us old folks on the go. Not a bad thing. Fergus can destroy a dog toy in seconds, well, unless it is made by Kong. This red dumbell is made by Kong and he is obsessed with it. We gave him two more balls and a squeez toy for his birthday. He is in doggie heaven.

Fergus is also obsessed with his Pop. I will do in a pinch, but Pop is the bestest human ever. Pop was busy filling a watering can to water the window boxes. Fergus is busy watching his pop from the confines of our screened in porch. Note the tongue hanging out gathering lots of slimey saliva to smear on his red dumbell before begging you to throw it. And if you don't readily accept it, he keeps nudging you with it, thus wiping all the slime on his humans.

As I posted earlier in the week, I went to granddaughter's dance recital last Saturday. I did find one other picture I can post without showing her face and this is it. It's the final pose of her hip hop dance. Did I mention she was a wonderful dancer? Oh, and I'm not biased at all.

One of my favorite things to do is look for deer while out driving on the country roads. We often see them when coming home in the evening from our garden on Bro O's farm. This is one we saw a couple of nights ago. She was all alone eating some of Mr. Farmer's new soybeans. Mr. Farmer won't be happy, but I enjoyed seeing this doe.

Small towns really don't provide much entertainment for the kids, so I was happy to see what was advertised as 'Family Day'. I drove by in the early afternoon and it looked like everyone was having a good time. I hope it becomes an annual event. We need more fun for the kids.


Linking to Willy Nilly 5

Good Fences

 My lillies have bloomed.

 A fence leading up to the covered bridge in Greenup, IL

I found this fence along a country road.

Linking to Good Fences

A Bird and Words

Are you ready for one more of my bad bird shots?

Is this a Martin? A Swallow?

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday

1. What summer activity most takes you back to your own childhood?
Picking blackberries. My mom would get my brother and me up before dawn, dress us in long pants and long sleeved shirts (during the heat of summer), and walk us out to the wild blackberry patch between the field and the woods. Sweat bees would sting, briars would scratch, and by bedtime chiggers had taken up residence all over our bodies. (A time before Off was invented.) It isn't exactly a fond memory, that is until you get to the blackberry pie and ice cream part. Yum!

2. What's your favorite summer smell?
The wind right before rain.

3. It's beach season in the US of A...so how do you feel about sand? 
It's hot. Must have beach shoes. 

4. Sun tea, SunChips, sunflower seeds, Capri Sun, Sunny Delight, Sun-Maid raisins, sun-dried tomatoes...your favorite food or beverage with sun in its name?
Sun tea. Love iced tea with lemon slices. No sugar and especially none of those poisonous artificial sweeteners.

5. What's your favorite way to cool off on a hot summer day?
Air conditioning. 

6. Share a favorite song with the word sun or sunshine in it's title.
Cheap Sunglasses ZZ Top

7. Tell us about a time you had an exceedingly good or truly awful customer service experience. If it was awful, did you report it? Ever go back there again?
I know I have experienced both during my lifetime, but can't think of anything in particular, good or bad. Before I retired from my real job, I had to travel and work out of town a lot. I went out for dinner at a nice restaurant every night, alone. The waiters and waitresses used to come sit with me and keep me company. I know they were trying to be nice, but I was somewhat offended. I don't recall seeing any of them sit down with men dining alone. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Blank mind here. Think, think, think! Aha! I thought of something. This saturday night is our Freedom Day celebration. Our town always has a fireworks display the Saturday before the 4th. Daughter and family come every year. We have a cookout and plenty of junk food for the kids. We put lawn chairs in the backyard and have an excellent view of the show, which is only 1 block away. My last beloved dog, Willie, was horribly frightened and used to hide in the bathtub. I'm wondering how Fergus will deal with all the noise. 

Rubbish Tuesday #8

It's time for Rubbish Tuesday again. I can't believe this is number 8 already. I'm having fun, hope you are enjoying the old stuff, too.

 This is an old barn that caught my eye while on a ramble. I liked the way the side looks like it has stripes. I don't know why, but it has strips of wood nailed to the side. While looking at this shot on the computer, I saw a flag on the front side of the barn.

This is a crop of the old barn when I saw the flag that led to the winning entry in the camera club contest. If you missed my brag post, click HERE. I liked TexWisGirl's comment on that post. She commented that the flag is a mixture of a Texas and American flag. I agree.

 Most people around here are avid Cardinals fans. Me? I'm a die-hard Texas Ranger fan, but root for the Cubbies up here. So what if they never win? On the same road I saw this storage shed. That's a great old bike, gate, and hand cultivator leaning up against the side. I didn't get a very good angle. There was a wedding going on in the back yard of the house, so sneakily stopped where the guests couldn't see me. I'm a bit timid about taking pictures when people are looking. I guess I'm afraid they will come running out and yell at me. Are you timid when it comes to getting a good shot?

This is the side of an old church turned antique shop. I really like the 'stuff' shown here. One day I'm going to stop and go inside.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will join in the fun.

My idea was to have a place to post 'old things'.  Anything old and/or deteriorating such as old houses, barns, outbuildings, old cars, rusty things, antiques, interesting junk, or it can be something in pristine condition, but just old. 

1. Link to a post featuring photos of something old.

2. Link back to Rubbish by Roan in your post.

3. As time allows, visit other participants and comment on their posts.

A Bird and a Dance

Friday night was garden night. Happily Bro O's mulberry tree was a hot item with the birds.

  Of course, I couldn't get close enough to get any good shots, but I finally got a Brown Thrush to stand still long enough to get a bad shot.

I can't see this bird good enough to tell what it is. Does anyone have psychic capabilities?

Linking to the Bird D'pot

I've been off to visit granddaughter. Her dance recital was last evening.

This is the closest thing to a picture I will be able to post since I'm not allowed to post pictures of her face on my blog. We were told not to take pictures during the show, so I didn't take my good camera. Since everyone else was breaking the rule with their handy dandy phones, I dug out my little point and shoot and got a couple of really bad pics. Such as the one above. This was her ballet routine. She also had 2 hip hop dances. She is an awesome dancer!

Writing Blog Hop

A writer friend of mine, Nancy Kopp, has tagged me in a Blog Hop,  #MyWriting Process. The object is to answer 4 questions, tag others to do the same, and link this post back to Nancy at her blog, Writer Granny’s World. Nancy asked my permission to tag me prior to posting, and I agreed. However, I didn't realize it would be so difficult to find writers who are not already involved in the hop. 

One of my first choices was a new acquaintance via blogland, but she wasn't able to take the time. Another choice was the author of The Pecan Man, Cassie Dandridge Selleck. She was already working on a post for the blog hop. The rest of the writers I know were either already involved or just didn't have the time. So I will post without tagging. However, if anyone wants to play along, please do so and link back to this post.

Questions and Answers

1. What are you working on?

I recently finished choosing and editing thirty fictional short stories for a compilation book tentatively titled, Stranger on the Shore. For the past couple of years I have been writing a memoir in the form of short stories. To date the count is up to eighty-two stories and one poem. I am currently writing a memoir piece about my maternal grandmother. I am also continuing to write what I hope to become a series of tween books titled The Dirt Foot Gang. The title and first story were inspired by one of my husband's many childhood adventures. I also have two complete, full length novels. When I say complete, I mean the first draft is done. Both remain in the editing stages.  

2. How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I really enjoy writing romantic suspense. I get lost in the storyline and time vanishes. I often have to set an alarm clock so I will remember to go to work on time. I think my work may differ from others in that I don't always stick to the black and white of the genre. Sometimes other genres bleed over into the romantic suspense. I try to stick to the perceived guidelines, but if the story decides to cross the line, who am I to stop it? After all, the main reason I write is for my writing enjoyment.

3.  Why do you write what you do?

I have been writing a lot of creative non-fiction and memoir pieces recently. I started writing memoir pieces and sharing on a website called Our Echo. It was then I decided to preserve what history I remember about my family and my childhood for the generations to come. I would like to introduce my grandchildren to my mother through these stories. As far as romantic suspense, it's the genre I most enjoy reading. I write what I enjoy.

4.  How does your writing process work? 

It starts with an idea. For instance, one of my novels is titled Blackthorn Cove.  I was in the Starbuck's drive-thru lane, waiting for my Grande Cappuccino, when I saw an apartment complex called—Blackthorn Cove. The name seemed to be calling out to me as if it were important in some manner. I dug in my purse and tore a deposit slip from my checkbook and wrote down the name. Weeks later, after I discovered the piece of paper at the bottom of my purse, I sat down in front of the computer and typed out Blackthorn Cove. The name turned into a street where an older lady lived. The woman's estranged daughter was brutally murdered, leaving her son alone. The boy, the woman's grandson she had never met, moved to the house on Blackthorn Cove. Each day I sat down in front of the computer and waited to see where the story would go next. It was like my brain was reading a book while my fingers typed the words. This is the way every fictional story I write is born. I have tried outlining, but I find guidelines stop the creative flow.

If anyone wants to join in the hop, feel free. It has been interesting reading how others write and approach the writing process.

Stop by Nancy Kopp's blog, Writer Granny’s World. Her posts are packed full of useful information for writers. It's a blog I read on a daily basis. I have never failed to learn something or be encouraged by her words.