Monday Tea with Me (on Wednesday)

Baby Gage sneak preview!

Hello!

Due to many circumstances, some wonderful, some irritating and frustrating, I haven't been able to blog for a week!

I KNOW. I missed you.

Today, let's have tea. I have been dying to share tidbits with you. Grab a cup. Remember, I share, you share. I'd love to hear about your week.

1. The number one priority - Baby Gage has arrived! All 9 pounds 1.4 ounces of him. I shall blog about him on Friday and share photos. Of course, Nana has to do that. Do you have any new additions to your family?

2. I've spent the last two days trying to figure out computer and internet problems. Yesterday was the worst day with my time spent on the phone with tech help (I might add that Chasity at Costco Concierge was delightful, while Dell tech was not and hung up on her). I tried several strategies, from restore to virus scan. Nothing worked. Last night, I even lost the internet. Period. But this morning, ta-dah, I was able to easily get online and do what I needed. I know God worked a miracle overnight, because I went to bed with a non-working computer and no internet access. What's your biggest tech frustration?

3. Kevin survived a bumblebee in his helmet! We were on a short motorcycle ride out the North Fork Ahtanum Road west of Yakima. His visor was up so he could enjoy the cool mountain pine-scented air. And a bumblebee. He calmly drove on after he saw a bee wandering just outside his peripheral vision and heard buzzing. He pulled over at the next available safe spot. I jumped off and that's when we realized it was a giant bumblebee. Who immediately dropped down and flew off. Whew. Any other bee stories out there?

4. Raspberries are on, and they are oh so yummy. I love them fresh off the bushes. What's your favorite raspberry treat?

5. Getting ready to rip out a sage bush (the herb). I've come to the conclusion that nobody needs two, when one provides more than any family can use. Plus the extra one is taking up raised bed space. Sage, anyone?

6. Right in the middle of two grands and a great-niece (holy cow, I have a great niece) being dropped off yesterday, the cats (always on cue for chaos) brought in a dead bird. I am glad it was dead, or I would have had to chase it around the house trying to keep two kitties from destroying everything. As it was, I had to hold off the cats, especially Mabel who was trying to steal it from Monet, while I yelled for paper towels. The guts were gone, so I suspect that Monet found it dead, snitched it from someone else, or previously ate out the belly parts. ICK.

7. I personally trimmed the three birch trees in the front yard. Do you know how much a birch tree grows in one year? Enough to block visibility from our driveway and keep big trucks from parking. I do miss the privacy, but it is much easier to be safe now.

8. Bladder infection. Again. I should be on speed dial with the doctor. I told him they need a home test kit. Then I could take it at home (because I do KNOW the symptoms) and text the results in, which would let me avoid an appointment (this one being one where I was checked OUT instead of IN by the receptionist and I sat for 30 minutes before I asked what was going on - meanwhile Papa was on lunch break with the three amigos, forced to wear a crown while he made lunch).

9. Finished a writing deadline. Just in time to help Baby Gage make his appearance and cut the cord.

10. I have slept in all three beds in my house over the last week. Yes. Amazing fact. Most of those nights were accompanied by small children with long, long arms and legs.

How about you? Time for your sharing. Thanks for having tea.

Always a Writer

Cleaning up after my four year old grandson with his cutting and writing, I was suddenly taken back to my own childhood. I must have been about his age. I distinctly remember wanting to be able to write so badly that I used a pen and made sprawling loops and curlicues all across sheets of paper. I recall the strong desire to (and envy of) write like I witnessed the grown-ups around me doing. So I made up my own writing.

Years later, in middle school, I asked permission of my 7th grade teacher to go somewhere to write. Somewhere, as in not in the classroom. Class work was a variety of choices. I chose writing. I still have the cougar covered notebook filled with "The Mystery of Black Devil's Forest," my mystery novel filled with terror (7th grade version), horses (of course), and Washington state (where I must have subconciously dreamed of living, since I was devastated when we actually DID move back to Washington the following year).

When I began writing (not counting the mounds of verbage required for high school, college, and all forms of education) as an adult, I fumbled around with changing technology. Earlier writings had all been archaically completed with pencil(s) and paper. The next rounds were tapped into existence on first manual and then electric typewriters. (What's that you ask? Google it.) Finally, after many horrendously long manuscripts (for typewriters do not have word count), I made the leap to PC. Yes, that probably still dates me, as there are other forms of more cutting edge technology available. But I will keep my PC.

That first PC, though, was used just for typing the final copy. I still wrote out the manuscript by hand and then word processed it into the computer. It took numerous projects before I could get my mind around the whole game of typing and rewriting on a screen. No more pencil scribblings, circling, arrows, cross outs, or carrots adding words and phrases.

Despite the method of committing word to paper, I have to write. I see others write, and I feel that urge to pen my own. I read and want to write. I write and think of more to write. It is a compelling thing. I often don't know when to stop writing (yes, we know, you say). I can go on indefinitely. Another flashback - college blue books. We had to provide these little notebooks for certain tests that required hand written answers, paragraph style. My goal, although unstated, was to always use up all of the paper in each blue book, regardless of the exam. I wonder if technology has changed and they are allowed to use an Ipad or PC or other form of technology?

Regardless of the instrument, I have to write.

Just give me a pad of paper and a pen. I will write.