I just totally threw my back out. I accidentally deleted my previous post. I'm going back to bed.......

♪ Those Lazy,Hazy,Crazy Days of Summer & Wind Chimes ♪

** Thanks to the comment left by Sioux, I changed my previous music for this particular post, to one that makes much more sense! Wind Chimes! Hope you enjoy! **

I don't know if I've ever written anything on my blog about my love of wind chimes.........

But, ever since I was a little girl, I've been mesmerized by them. I especially love to listen to these shell-like ones. They are delicate and have a soothing, summery kind of sound. As you can see in these photos, I have two sets hanging on a floor lamp. The lamp occupies a corner of my upstairs office, which gets really hot in the summer, so a couple of years ago, my husband put in a window air conditioner for me. The lamp stands near the window and when the a/c is on, the air blows toward the chimes ever so gently, and they make just the slightest of tinkling sounds. I find it so soothing. It takes me back to other times in my life and brings me great joy. Isn't it wonderful when something so simple can be so life effecting?

 

 

Can you see the shells swaying in this photo?

Can you hear them, as well?!

"Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy." - Richard Halloway

** Fractured Friday **

How many remember the Fractured Fairy Tales? It was a segment on the Rocky and Bullwinkle TV Show, in the 1960's. That cartoon show was a classic! I guess it was meant to be geared toward children, but the humor was really hip! Each one was loosely based on a "real" fairy tale (isn't that an oxymoron??), but was slighty fractured!

That's what popped into my mind when I thought of a title for today's post. Yeah, my mind works in funny, fractured ways sometimes....groan!

Today was fractured because:

a)  My son, Scott, spent another night in the hospital last night, due to pains and swelling in his abdominal area. I didn't know much for over 24 hours and was quite frantic, to put it mildly. Turns out it's still issues from his ruptured appendix and resulting surgery in June. More tests were done, and so I (guess I)  feel better about it all.....for now, anyway.

b)  Today was my mom's birthday. She's been deceased since 1989. I'm so glad she was able to see Mark a few times before she died. She lived in Iowa and we drove there a few times and she traveled here a time or two, also. She would've been 95 years old today.

c)  I'm really perturbed at AOL. It seems they have decided to LIMIT some of the e-mails we AOL users can send, in a given amount of time! I first noticed it yesterday, when I tried to send an e-mail, I received the following error message: You are blocked from sending email messages. See KW:RATE LIMITS for details.  And, of course, I immediately thought, Huh?...Well, that's obviously a mistake. I'm not on any kind of rate limit on my Aol account. But, when it continued, I put my mail in the "Send Later" folder. After a while, I could go into that folder and click "Send" and off it went.  BUT, this evening, after attempting to send 5 different e-mail.....mostly my "thank you for your comments on my blog" e-mail,  I decided to see if I could find the "rate limits" info. Long story short.....(I know, it's already too long)......It has to do with some kind of spam problems associated with Aol Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms. (which I don't even use)  I then contacted AOL through their Live Chat System and after the usual niceties was told, quote: "Meantime, if you really need to send mail I strongly suggest to use the AOL webmail.On the Internet Explorer address bar please typehttp://mail.aol.com/lite
Sign on with your AOL screen name and password to send the E-mail."

WHAT?? If I wanted to send mail that way, I wouldn't have AOL! Acccckkkkk!!!  I have a new abbreviation for them......SOL

“We have no reliable guarantee that the afterlife will be any less exasperating than this one, have we?” -- Noel Coward

** If It's Thursday -- Part 2 **

Just a couple other things I wanted to mention.

1)  I'm probably going to begin responding to your comments by e-mail, whenever possible, instead of in the comment section. It seems like the logical thing to do, because I can reply faster and directly to the lovely person!

2)  Are you one of C. Hope Clark's blog followers? If you're a writer and you're not reading her blog often, you are missing out on lots of great information. She always has info about Calls for Submissions, Contests, the rights and wrongs of writing, etc. She is also going to be one of the key note speakers at the MWG (Missouri Writers Guild) Conference, in St. Louis next spring.

3)  Another interesting Call for Submissions I came across, and I honestly do not remember where, when or how I saw it....but it's called Shaking Like a Mountain. (And if I've already posted about this, please forgive me, because as you all know, I'm losing my mind!)

4)  And, the ever famous, Chicken Soup for the Soul, has Call Outs for 4 books right now. They pay well, give free books in addition to the money, and it's a quality name that everyone knows and respects.


"There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential." -- Rusty Berkus

** If It's Thursday, I'm Way Behind On My To-Do List **

Okay! Here are various interesting tidbits, in no particular order.
Nick Nixon: Writer, singer, song writer extraordinaire, is on a local radio station every first Friday of the month. That would be tomorrow. KWRE, 730 ON THE AM DIAL. 3:00 to 5:00PM, CDT. I checked out their website yesterday. They are not streaming online yet, but it's coming soon. You'll definitely want to listen when it's available. And if you live "here", you can listen on your radio and enjoy Nick's easy going ways, good natured jokes, and beautiful singing. Nick is a memeber of Saturday Writers and the Coffee & Critique group. I'm proud to know him and call him my friend. Following are 2 links from the late 1970's (I'm pretty sure!): One is of Nick singing and the other is Barbara Fairchild singing "The Teddy Bear Song", a song Nick wrote. Even though I wasn't a big country music fan at that time, I certainly remember hearing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UugW9yo8Idg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeiA2XTca9g&feature=related 


Robert Brault has a new post on his blog and saying it has been worth the wait doesn't do it near justice! Jump on over there as fast as you can and see what I mean. I read and reread every quote and just savored them all. Thank you, Robert, for sharing your wondrous thoughts and words.

June Freaking Cleaver e-mailed me this morning to notify me of her very first acceptance, anywhere! And what's even better is that this was the first time she ever submitted anything, anywhere! Yay for June! I kept telling her how talented she was and how much I loved her writing, and that she should submit something....somewhere! And gosh, she actually took my advise! Go over to June's blog and congratulate her! I think it's just the start of an awesome writing career.

Patchwork Path has story call outs. I received an e-mail yesterday from the editor about this, plus the news that Treasure Box is being edited and due out this November, as scheduled. (That's the one I have a story in. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.)

Okay, that's going to be all for now. I don't want to make this too long and scare everyone off!

Thanks again to everyone who reads my blog, has become a follower, especially recently. It took me about a year and a half to just reach 50 followers, which was May of this year. In less than 3 months, the number has almost doubled! I am truly in awe of that, and I am touched and honored. Thank you!

And you know I must end with one of Robert Brault's newest quotes:

"Who does not wish to be beautiful, and clever, and rich, and to have back, in old age, the time spent trying to be any of them." -- Robert Brault

** Wonderful Wednesday **

Originally I was going to post a lot of different information this evening, but time got away from me (how does that happen, exactly?) One reason is that our electricity was out for some time, most likely due to all the air conditioners running on TILT!  It went off around 7:55 pm and came back on at 9:30 with a blast of lights and TV noise! I rather enjoyed the quiet and candle lit rooms for awhile. I even have a little transitor radio I listened to for a short time, but that, too, got old....

So, I'll wait until tomorrow to share various tidbits of news. Until then, wherever you are, I hope you are staying as cool as you possibly can.

(photo courtesy: savagechickens.com)

“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance” -- Jane Austen

** AND THE WINNER IS....... **

JENNEE!! Congratulations to my July Contest winner, Jennee, from Cheap Therapy.

I really enjoyed having this contest and reading all the resourceful reasons why everyone wanted to win. As I said, though, it was purely a random drawing contest.

As soon as I hear back from Jennee with her mailing address, her goodies will be on their way!

(photo courtesy: history.utah.gov)

Now...I just have to come up with another inventive contest for August. And don't worry, oh fabulous Miss Cathy C......I'll try to get my act together and post it before the end of the month!  ☺

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about." -- Charles Kingsley

** The Dog Days of August Are Upon Us **

I've had so much going on the past few days, and all of it's been great.....well, except for that car repair bill, which made me go: *BOING*

Just a few of the highlights.

Our Saturday Writers meeting yesterday was a fun-filled, action packed, marvelous event! I could write volumes about it, but luckily for you, I don't have time. I'm sure Donna will post lots of information on the site soon, telling more about it...and other upcoming meetings, contests and events. (Speaking of Donna, I've been a follower of her personal blog ever since I met her. I don't remember exactly when or how we met, but she is a wonderful writer, critiquer, and friend!)

I received a very favorable e-mail from Susan Bono at Tiny Lights pertaining to my book!! Still doing dances about that one! (If I could do cart wheels, I'd do them, too, but I never could perform any gymnastic type feats. There's a lot I can't do, and couldn't do as a child. I always thought I was born without any talent whatsoever. I didn't realize until I was 40-something that I could at least do a little writing!)

I also received an e-mail from Stacey Battat at Kiwi Publishing. She e-mailed just to reconnect and said a story I submitted last year for her Thin Threads anthologies was still in the running. I really hope that story makes it, but regardless, I will include it in my book.

I found out today that I won a fabulous blog prize! Linda at A La Carte hosted a very unique contest. Click on over there and read all about it.

I'm probably forgetting people or events that I wanted to write about tonight...which is now Monday morning.....But you know me....I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about at a later time.*

*Addendum: 7:00 AM Monday is now a "later time":
I forgot to mention something else about Saturday Writers....its President, Lou Turner. She is probably the most energetic, hard working, intelligent writer-gal I've ever met! Anyone who knows her, believes that her day must consist of 48 hours, instead of our measly 24. She gets more accomplished in that period of time than anyone else I know! How she can include being President of our writers group into her life is beyond me.   And I'm not just saying that because she is my publisher, either! ☺ Lou has been a world of help to me and other writers near and far. Check out High Hill Press and learn more about it. There are contests to enter, calls for submissions, etc.



Don't forget to Follow Your Bliss, (and that my contest ends tomorrow, Tuesday, August 3rd at midnight, central daylight time) and have a wonderful week!

Tonight's quotes....2 from the Mahhhhhvelous Maxine!

"Ever feel like you've had too much coffee? Me neither."


"Fashion magazines are society's way of saying 'If you don't feel inadequate already, read one of these!'