Super Monday, 11/28/2022

Apparently, we had a glitch in the post from Saturday. It appears something went awry during the last paragraph about my thoughts on Yellowstone. I’d like to try and recreate the thought I had there, and finish it here.

I was talking about the opportunity to binge Yellowstone this weekend. I did, as much as I could, between cooking and quilting. And napping. It’s been early and overnight duty with the pups, since the Babe is out of town. But he returns tomorrow, late afternoon, and we’ll be back at full occupancy again. Looking forward to it.

The story of Yellowstone has more twists and turns than a mountain road. It helped to go back and watch the previous seasons to remind myself of subtle things that are significant later in the story. Some are tricky, some are expected, but they’re all a surprise.

Sunday’s episode of Jamie and Beth’s latest confrontation was so well done. I extremely dislike Jamie. He is so whiny, sometimes I can’t stand it. The character is well written, as is Beth. She has so many layers of flaws, strengths, shortcomings, she is a writers dream. Or nightmare, however you want to look at it. She is so complex, she would be a dream to create as a character.

I enjoyed seeing all the characters who had bad intentions towards the Duttons, they all met with what they deserved. No, the Duttons are not pure as the driven snow, but I believe they have the best of the land in their scope. It has been stated the maintenance on the ranch is everything it brings in over a year. Lots of overhead. Lots of unforseen expenses. It’s a fascinating story.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Yellowstone became an actual study of story/character/and plot development. It would be a hit, I believe. Taylor Sheridan knows his stuff, in my humble opinion.

What will this week bring? The first full week back to work after the first of 2022’s Holiday Season. People may feel the countdown towards Christmas now, as the heat is on for those who are counting down gift buying and all that goes with that. I miss the shopping for younger kids, and wrapping after they’re in bed, late at night. It’s when I learned about the true Queen of Christmas; Darlene Love, as she sang, “Christmas: Baby, Please Come Home,” every year on David Letterman. I miss that. She is wonderful, and I hope to hear her sing the song on tv this year.

As I wile away the hours tomorrow until the Babe returns, I’ll be working on Kayla’s quilt and cutting Cody’s out. I hope I don’t have to delay gifting the quilts until the respective birthdays of Cody (January) and Kayla (March). It may come to that, as I have just about run out of time. I’ll have to talk with my daughter about that. I’ll decide by the end of the week. More on that later.

Hope you have a great week. The weather is cooling, and shopping heating up. Make sure Christmas comes from your heart, not from what you feel pressured to do. We’ll see each other tomorrow. Be careful out there.

Thursday Zoomies

No, it’s not about Goldie or Lexie running around the living room chasing each other. I’ve decided to use the term to describe my talk with Sam Tyler, Book Coach, this morning.

Where did the word Zoomie come from? It’s referring to FRAP’s, Frenetic Random Activity Periods that dogs have once in awhile. They just are overcome with a huge amount of energy and for a short period of time, they run laps, circle quickly, whatever activity they choose to do. It releases the energy, and stops as soon as the energy is expended. Wish people would/could get them. There is no cause for alarm in dogs, as long as they can zoom around without hurting themselves. People, too.

I’m calling the Zoom Meetings we have as my Zoomies. I get so inspired when we talk, and I just want to dig in and write more. Today, however, I am going to follow her non-writing advice first. I’m not reading enough. I know I’m not. I need to read at least thirty minutes a day. No excuses. It doesn’t mean read Facebook, or Twitter, or look at Instagram photos, or reading technical stuff about writing. I need to read fiction with characters, scenes, character and scene development. I need to leave out the narrator intrusion I’m becoming (in)famous for. It’s not good, yet, unbridled, I can’t seem to stop it. I need to rein it in, and keep it in check.

Since all of my books still reside in boxes, it would take some time and help moving heavy boxes for me to find my Elm Creek Quilters series of books (very good scenes and character development), I’ve opted for a couple in my to be read pile. And I mean pile – a full tote bag, a stack on the nightstand, a stack on the old sewing machine, and a shelf on a corner cabinet. I’ve found “Charms for the Easy Life,” by Kaye Gibbons; and “The Whistling Season,” by Ivan Doig. I plan to spend some time on the deck, reading. As long as those pesky no see ums don’t bother me. What are they? Those tiny black bugs you can barely see but who bite with a vengeance.

I think I’ll start with “Charms for the Easy Life.” This book is about a family without men. All females, living in the backwoods of North Carolina during a sad and singular era, according to a review I read. It should be a good read, at least I’m looking forward to spending the afternoon with these ladies. How about you? Assuming you can dodge the no-see-ums what do you plan for outside on this beautiful day?

Thanks for stopping your day to read. Hope to see you tomorrow, too. Take care of each other out there. Be safe.

Imagination vs. Electronics

There have been many discussions on imagination lately, asking if all the electronics kids have are decreasing the ability of our kids to play and develop their skills while imagining. I loved how we imagined as kids.

The first recollection I have of imagination play was with my older brother, Tom. He is my Irish twin, he is exactly eleven months and four days older than I am. He was born in June, 1951, while Dad was in Korea. While I was reading my dad’s equivalent to a DD-214 (Military discharge papers), I discovered he was separated from the Army in August of 1951. Brother Tom was three months old? Well, if you do the math, I was born sometime eight months later, plus a few days. That makes me chuckle.

Tom was my best friend for a long, long time. We played on Saturday mornings, using bed pillows to make imaginary boxes, complete with a top, and jump out of them when Mom came into our room. She always acted surprised. Mom’s are great at that, aren’t they?

We had the coolest linoleum in our room. The room had all wood floors, and we had an area piece of linoleum, and it had squares divided with different sayings, game boards, and even a checkerboard. It was much like an area rug. We spend hours playing in the room, using our imagination for a lot of games of pretend.

When we were a little older, I played with Peggy and Karen, neighbors. When we were older, we rode bikes together. Before that, we did what a lot of kids did, reenact TV shows. When my brother played Army with the neighbor kids, we played together, and I was the nurse. A young Hot Lips Houlihan, as it was (MASH had not come out yet. There were a lot of Army themed shows, though).

For Christmas, I received a nurses cloak, bag with doctor/nurse stuff, and some sort of hat. When I put that cape on, I was not me anymore. Those were some good times.

The other great times were playing with Peggy and Karen, we played “Bonanza.” I was madly in love with Little Joe, so I always called him my boyfriend. Those were such innocent times, really fun. Life had little concern for us then other than who would be our fictional boyfriend.

When I was probably sixth through eighth grades, a friend and I used to write plays that we pretended into live action. They revolved around our fictitious lives as the girlfriends of our favorite rock and roll stars. It was probably pretty juvenile, but we wrote them and practiced them just like scripts, complete with music, and it was even more fun. That friend sent me a photo a while back of this very sweatshirt. Karen Smolinski, I loved it! Thanks for thinking of me! I’ll be wearing it soon if it doesn’t warm up a lot!

My New Writing Hoodie!

So here is one of the items the Babe brought home from the store. He knows us so well! It’s a great day for ice cream by the fire later. What a guy. I’m so lucky.

Here we are at the end of another blogpost for today. Thank you for joining me, I hope you stop back again tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have more done on my character’s origin stories. Been way too busy again this week.

And, by the way! You can also connect with me on Facebook, Kathy Raabe, Author, On Instagram @authorkathyr, and on Instagram @Author_KRaabe. Please ask your friends to give us some likes and follows. Thanks!

Be Safe, Kind, Patient, and Thoughtful today and every day. We’re all kind of struggling at one time or another. This will all be worth it. See you tomorrow!