Meet the newest member of my family, Daisy. She is a four-month-old German Shepherd, we adopted on Saturday as a playmate for my two-year-old Border Collie, Haley. I wanted to post a picture of her sitting, but couldn’t get her to stay still long enough. I happened to mention, totally in passing, that Haley needed someone to play with, because she was wearing me out. Don’t misunderstand, I love her, but she only has two speed- overdrive and off. Unfortunately,…
Today is Heritage Day here in sunny Alberta, Canada. Although this is not a national holiday, the first Monday in August is a provincial holiday in most of Canada’s ten provinces. The name of the day varies from one province to another, but the day off is a welcome diversion as we pass through the end of the dog days of summer. We had some hot days between 38 and 43 Celsius (100 to 110 Fahrenheit), but it’s cooler now….
Today was Victoria Day here in Canada, or as I and my high school friends always called it, May Two-Four. It was named in honor of England’s Queen Victoria and has been observed in this country since 1845, originally on her birthday, which was May 24, hence the nickname, although now it is always on the Monday immediately preceding May 25. The holiday is a federal statutory holiday, as well as a holiday in six of the country’s 10 provinces…
Much of Central Arkansas (and certain other parts of the state) is still reeling from a March 31, 2023, tornado outbreak that produced two EF3 tornadoes in Arkansas, among other tornadoes. The outbreak, which went across several states and continued through part of April 1, produced 132 tornadoes during a 24-hour period. The EF3 tornado in Central Arkansas (where I am) had peak winds of 165 mph – and to my understanding, it would have been rated as an EF4…
I began my writing career, such as it is, in 2017. My brother, Jann Rowland, was doing well as an author, so why couldn’t I? How hard could it be? I had always been an avid reader, so why not treat the world to my unique humor and sarcastic wit? I won’t describe the rude awakening I had upon publishing my first literary masterpiece, but the reviews were unflattering, to put it mildly. Almost every part of my storytelling was…
I have been a self publisher my entire writing career. It started with my first release back in 2013, and snowballed from there, with a few releases here and there, what I could fit around my day job, until finally I decided to leave that job and become a full time writer. Only once did I submit to a publisher, and that was not accepted. The only things I have ever done that were not self published were audiobooks, which…
Today, I’m supposed to do a glimmer-of-gold post. Looking back, I have already done one on kids, so I had to search for a different topic. I decided to go with writing! Writing is like a moving target. When you write something that you think is pretty good, you feel proud, right? Well, then you come back years later to it with the intent to make a few touch-ups here and there, and you end up completely rewriting each paragraph….
I thought I’d do an AGOG (“A Glimmer of Gold”) post about children. First off, I must say that whoever thinks having children is easy must not be the one taking care of them. In addition to basics like cleaning laundry, changing diapers, and picking up toys, here are some things you have to worry about: Babies choking on anything from tiny doll shoes to overlarge sprinkles. Babies suffocating from blankets, toys, and overeager siblings. Toddlers jumping on and falling…
The New Year is upon us and I’m sure a lot of people indulged in the time honored tradition of coming up with, then announcing to the world what they resolved to change, improve, quit, etc. in 2023. I might be a little bit late exploring this subject, but there is a method to my madness. The practice of making promises at the beginning of the new year is not a recent invention, unless one considers four thousand years in…
Today is what’s up Wednesday, where I tell you what is up! Well, there’s not really anything going on with me. I have been listening to eBooks and cleaning my house of late. I just haven’t had much time for doing writing, but I keep hoping that might come sooner rather than later. Something else I have been enjoying is watching movie musicals (though I usually have to watch things in 20-minute spurts). If you didn’t see Spirited with Will Ferrell…