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Sunday Snippet: The Anniversary Edition
It’s our wedding anniversary. Husband and I have been married 51 years today. Last year for our 50th, we took a trip to Oregon and celebrated our day with wine and supper on a beautiful deck overlooking a gorgeous vineyard. It was heaven. Today, we’ll have another kind of heaven, celebrating with homemade flatbread pizzas and a good chianti. Maybe a walk down to the lake in the moonlight. 51 years. Wow…that sounds like a long time. Probably because it is a long damn time. Marriages in this country don’t usually last for over 50 years. We are a nation of disposable everything, including marriages. Folks seem to me to…
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Sunday Snippet: A Real Snippet!
Good Sunday to you all. Thanks for stopping by. I don’t say it enough, but I really appreciate all my lovely readers who come by every Sunday to see what’s happening in Nan’s world. I’ve never considered myself to be all that fascinating, but I sure am glad you want to be here with me. Right off, I’m nervous as heck about the cardiac PET scan tomorrow–seriously nervous and scared about what they might find. But, we take whatever comes along and deal with it, right? So… that’s that. I won’t have any conclusive results before I go back to Dr. B to discuss what the test showed. I’ll get…
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Sunday Snippet: Heart Update # Ummm… Whatever…
Good Sunday morning, mes amis, and I hope you’re enjoying this long holiday weekend. It’s the weekend when we honor all those soldiers who died in service to our country. I am so grateful to anyone who fought and currently fights for the security of the United States and to protect our constitution. A smile and a salute today to all those brave men and women who died fighting for to keep America and the world safe and free. Now, to the update: As you all know, although I try not to dwell on it here, I am in heart failure–Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction–HFrEF. Don’t you just love…
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Sunday Snippet: Another Deep Breath Edition
How did it get to be April 14 already? I mean, seriously, wasn’t it just Valentine’s Day and the ground was covered with a light blanket of snow and my gardens were still sleeping? Now everything is popping up, flowers are blooming, bushes and trees are leafing out. These are my gorgeous tulips that my sweet neighbor, Mary, gave me for my birthday in September. As you can see, my office garden is starting to wake up. Husband has already mowed twice, and y’all know he’s happiest on his mower. We’ve had torrential rain this week, so the lawn is lush and green and as soon as it dries out…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Love Autumn Edition
Autumn is my favorite time of the year, even though I’m often restless and sad in the fall. It’s an ending in so many ways, and yet there is that feeling of joyful beginning that comes with Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season. We’re closing up the cottage this weekend, packing perishable items that can’t stay over the winter, storing linens, and winterizing. The saddest thing is leaving our lake friends. It’s odd, but in the summer, the lake often feels like our real life, and when we come home, it seems as if we are just marking time until we can go back there. I’m not sure…
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Sunday Snippet: The Begin Again Edition, Plus a Snippet!
Good Sunday morning, mes amies. It’s kinda cloudy here at the lake and the forecast is calling for rain and cool temperatures, which is okay. We need the rain and it’s supposed to be sunny and pleasant the rest of the week. So boat rides after work, but no swimming–the lake has cooled off considerably. We’re having guests this week, which is always a joy, but we also have work to do. Husband plans to scrub the back of the cottage, we need to reset the last of the border bricks in the back as well, and we’ll start scraping the deck in prep for priming and painting sometime before…
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Sunday Snippet: The Summer’s Closing…Sorta Edition
I really can’t believe it’s Labor Day Weekend. The lake is busy, busy as it is every holiday weekend, so we went out early this morning for a boat ride to avoid the crazy. There is a sort of leaving feeling in the air here in our little lake community. Some folks will close up their cottages for the season, others (like us) hang on a bit longer. We generally start closing up closer to Halloween, but we’ll pull the boat in late September or mid-October. But fall is definitely on the way. The cottonwoods and walnut trees are turning yellow and dropping leaves. On our way up to the…
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Sunday Snippet: The What the Heck Happened to Summer? Edition
Seriously… how is it already August 6? I mean, wasn’t it just May and Husband and I were looking forward to our 50th anniversary trip to Oregon and I was busy making plans with my writer pal Carol Light for our trip to San Juan Capistrano and the Tule Author Retreat and checking with my sibs for a visit to my brother’s in Woodland Hills? I’m sure that was just a week ago… Yikes! Oregon is a fond, wistful memory now. The Tule Author Retreat remains ingrained in my heart and mind as a wondrous time with fellow authors and editors and the Tule team, as well as a fun…
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Sunday Snippet: The Whine, Then Find the Sunshine Edition
It’s been a tough week. My shoulder hurts, really aches, from spending so much time in front of my computer, working on editing gigs and writing Jack and Maddie’s story. Son is dealing with a lot of stuff that I wish so much I could take off his plate, but I can’t. I can only listen. (Even when they’re in their forties, your mom instincts kick in.) We’re doing work on the lake cottage, making choices about where we want to spend refurbishing dollars this year, except that those dollars now have to be shared with medicine expenses because I hit the damn doughnut hole with my heart meds this…
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Sunday Snippet: The Editor Nan Edition
Nine years ago–gosh, has it been that long? Nine years ago, when Husband retired, took off his watch, and said, “I’m done,” we agreed that I would work until I got to age…well, a certain number. We’d worked endlessly on a retirement budget, figured every dime, and knew exactly what we’d need to maintain the lifestyle to which we’d become accustomed. Back then, it felt a long way off and I was sure that by the time I got to that number, I’d be ready to stop editing. Well, that certain number now looms large on the horizon and I’m not at all sure I’m ready to hang up my editor…