Inspirations, the Stories Space Coffee House: If you're reading this it just might mean I'm back, sorta. If you're not reading this, well, congratulations.

Hey, my memoir just got a shout out from Memoirland in a Best of the Web roundup! I’m pretty excited. https://memoirland.substack.com/p/a-bakers-dozen-of-great-personal-0a4

Good morning and congratulations to verbal! Getting the word out is half the battle.

After a stormy day yesterday that messed with things at work badly, Ape is hoping for a quieter rest of the week.

There's Las Chicas Private Reserve Medium on for coffee. Teas are English Breakfast and Raspberry with hot water on standby with a selection of other options. Cold beverages (needed in my part of the world as the temp heads for the 30s Celsius) are looking good.

Later, alligators.

Hey I'll have some of that Las Chicas!

My LORD but the Mets suck. There's talk they'll break up the team and look to next year.

Got some nice love from the Internet yesterday about a recent publication. It felt good, and I needed it. Today, back to the salt mines.

Nice day outside, with dramatic thunderstorms tumbling over the mountains.

Coffee!!!

Kicking 454 is brewing. Got some Irish Breakfast and Earl Grey Supreme ready for tea drinkers along with hot water. Cold beverages are made up fresh. Soda stock looks good.

Back to toying with finally doing a new story in the universe of "Night of the Wind". It was originally supposed to kick off a series set in the remote border/trade town of Avenigar with Dev, Niomi, and Jaira as the main characters. Basic plan was a "fantasy Western" about weird stuff happening to the "sheriff" of (Dev), his deputy (Jaira), and the town priestess (Niomi) who also happens to be a magic-user/witch. But somehow I got off track after publishing "Night..." and never did the next one I had in mind. I actually have notes for two more stories about Avenigar kicking around, both leaning a bit darker than the first and even getting a bit into horror.

Hey, looks like we've got some comp entries to read!

Today? Acupuncture and going out to eat with my daughter tonight. In the meantime I'm trying to ret-con a story about mind-controlling plants into a story about mind-controlling fungi, for an anthology call.

Gorgeous day today, but I sadly will not have time to take a walk OR watch the hapless Mets play.

I'll have some of the that kick-y coffee. AND WHERE ARE THE COOKIES?!?!

Cookies are here :

Chocolate chip and banana chocolate chip cookies and shortbread shaped like foxes, squirrels, raccoons, bears and chipmunks

*wiping out the crumbs from the empty cookie barn shaped jar and filling it to the tippy top with fresh cookies .

Busy day running errands so a large coffee would be great

Might get to go to the Rockies vs Braves game in August if everything goes according to plan

Quote by verbal
Hey, looks like we've got some comp entries to read!

scuttles off to Stories page

Oo, TomEccleston entered. He just commented on mine, actually.

scuttles back

And new cookies!! Yay!!

grabs a squirrel, a chipmunk, and a cup of Irish Breakfast

Good morning and welcome to Inspirations!

Who know what this day will bring? Joys? Sorrows? New comp entries? Only time will tell.

But to carry us through all that, we have coffee from Jamaica, a nice medium roast Blue Mountain. For teas, we have Darjeeling and Russian Caravan. Hot water is on for other hot bevvies. And there's our usual pitchers of iced tea and lemonade along with an assortment of sodas for those seeking something chilly.

Dance while you can!

Morning all!

Gorgeous day here today. And today I should be able to make time to write and walk. Yay!

It's therapy day. Other than that, it's a pretty boring day.

Coffee and a fox cookie please.

Heat and humidity have sadly crept into the area. I reluctantly turned on the AC. I don't mind the heat or humidity during the day, but it makes it very hard to sleep. We'll probably get a few cooler days now and then, but once June hits it's pretty much heat and humidity all of the time and goodbye open windows.

There are so many decorations left over from the wedding that I have been using them to make my three season room look a bit like a English cottage. There's a lot of fake greenery that looks surprisingly real and string lights. I might as well make it look nicer since we painted it and cleaned it up before the wedding so we could serve food and drinks in there. So even though it was a lot of work, we do get to enjoy the work we did on our deck and backyard.

Happy Thursday everyone. I'll take a soda to go. Cheers!

Hey everyone.

I wrote my story and it was just now approved! I am elated. Writing the story brought back painful and nostalgic memories. All of this I wrote in the comp thread but I am sharing it with you again in case you are not reading that thread.

Tomorrow I leave for my long-weekend vacation up north. I will be going with my family and my dogs to a cabin that overlooks a river and is next to a mountain and forest. I am looking forward to reading, reflecting, hopefully writing and spendingfamily time with the dogs. For four days I will be off the grid. I am excited.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful day. ❤️

Quote by Cora
Tomorrow I leave for my long-weekend vacation up north. I will be going with my family and my dogs to a cabin that overlooks a river and is next to a mountain and forest.

Want to trade vacations? That sounds more appealing than my cruise right now. Have fun!

Quote by Mendalla

Want to trade vacations? That sounds more appealing than my cruise right now. Have fun!

Haha! 🤭 Thank you, Mendalla.

So, our house isn't sliding down the slope of the hill, so that we will all die in some crazy mudslide in the middle of the night. We just had a guy come out and confirm there's been no more slippage (we had to add 5 anchor points to the foundation of the house a couple years back, at MUCHO cost). So, yay to that!

Physical therapy today. See if we can't loosen up a few of the nerves in my neck to see if that helps things.

And, I will write, I will walk, and I will watch baseball. I'm nothing if not a creature of habit.

Coffee please. AND A COOKIE!

Stormy Saturday here. How's thing in your neck of the woods?

We've got some Muskoka Loon Call Breakfast Blend ready if coffee's your thing. Tea-wise, there's Organic Darjeeling and Buddha's Blend. Cold beverages and sodas are looking good.

Nine in the comp. Hoping we might see more but we shall see. I've got a couple more to read from the current lot but I'm please to say, it seems to be good, interesting mix of takes on the theme.

Help is one of the weirdest movies I've seen in awhile, but for Ringo, anything. Or just about anything.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

Help is one of the weirdest movies I've seen in awhile, but for Ringo, anything. Or just about anything.

Have you watched Yellow Submarine yet? If you think Help is weird...

Quote by Mendalla

Have you watched Yellow Submarine yet? If you think Help is weird...

You're actually the second person to tell me that, but no, I haven't seen it yet.

My thing is - what if the submarine was driven and co-piloted by the octopus and the walrus? And what if it was a killer submarine?

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

You're actually the second person to tell me that, but no, I haven't seen it yet.

My thing is - what if the submarine was driven and co-piloted by the octopus and the walrus? And what if it was a killer submarine?

Thought of you yesterday - you HAVE to Google footage of Drew Carey enthusiastically praising the Phish concert at the LV Sphere during the After Midnight show. I think he had fun 😊 It's very funny.

Taking a break from yardwork all day. We dig lawnwork for the most part - I got to use the chainsaw today! Any day with a chainsaw is a good day.

Yay for 10 entries!

A cold lemonade please.

Quote by verbal

Thought of you yesterday - you HAVE to Google footage of Drew Carey enthusiastically praising the Phish concert at the LV Sphere during the After Midnight show. I think he had fun 😊 It's very funny.

Oh, I saw that. Him was postin' bout it on Threads too.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

My thing is - what if the submarine was driven and co-piloted by the octopus and the walrus? And what if it was a killer submarine?

The weirdness gets into that zone. Not those specifics but very weird. OTOH, the soundtrack is basically a Beatles greatest hits so the music is fantastic.

Quote by verbal
Drew Carey enthusiastically praising the Phish

Carey likes Phish, eh. I need to listen to them. I have probably heard them but there's no Phish entry in my brain's music library for some reason.

OTOH, in my world "phish" has taken on a rather negative connotation, being associated with hackers trying to scam people or steal passwords.

Quote by Mendalla

The weirdness gets into that zone. Not those specifics but very weird. OTOH, the soundtrack is basically a Beatles greatest hits so the music is fantastic.

Oh, I believe it. Just as long as nothing happens to Ringo, I'll watch just about anything him's in.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic
Just as long as nothing happens to Ringo

I forget if he ever gets "blued" (you'll see what I mean) but it's a fun, silly Beatles movie so the guys all walk away in the end.

Good morning! Rainy days to start the week in my world. Even got a weird, out-of-the-blue tornado alert from Environment Canada yesterday evening. Weird because radar showed that the storm system involved was still crossing the border (no doubt getting a hard interrogation from border services 😉🤣) when the alert went out and when the storm did arrive here, it was just heavy rain. Not even that windy compared to some storms earlier in the month.

For coffee, we've got some Tobermory Flowerpot Island.

Teas are Wakoucha (Japanese red) and Raspberry. Hot water is ready for other teas and hot beverages.

Washed the pitchers in the fridge and mixed up fresh iced tea and lemonade. Sodas are stocked up.

Later, folks.

Today's cookies are memorial day themed

Not much going on today just laundry and maybe a BBQ later in the afternoon .

*moving the old cookies to the emergency cookie tins behind the counter and cleaning the barn shaped cookie jar and putting it away.

putting the fresh cookies in the glass cookie jars

A large coffee would be perfect

Ape slumps in looking like he's come off a 3-day bender

Bad headache last night. Still not great this morning.

Coffee is PC Gourmet Medium. Teas are Red Rose and Earl Grey. Enjoy.

Ape scarfs a stars and strips heart cookie and a Red Rose and slumps back out

Good morning all. Yay for ten entries in the comp!

Sorry about the headache Ape. Tired today as well. I didn't sleep well. Not much going on today, thankfully. And it's nice out, which might call me outside for a walk.

Double header today, playing the mighty Dodgers. We'll be lucky to avoid being swept.

A flag cookie and a PC Gourmet coffee please.

(looks around, finds the place empty)

I've got some Kona coffee in the urn, and Red Rose black and Kettl Uji Genmaimatcha green teas brewing today.

So far, I think I've got a decent chance of making the Top 10 in the current competition! Of course, it would be great if more people joined the fun, but then I expect there will be a last-minute rush.

Let's hope so at any rate!

Chilly here this morning: 10C, which is 50F, but it should warm up as the sun rises.

Enjoy the day, y'all, because it's Spring!

Quote by JamesPBear
So far, I think I've got a decent chance of making the Top 10 in the current competition! Of course, it would be great if more people joined the fun, but then I expect there will be a last-minute rush.

There was but for this comp, that meant like 4 stories. At least ten matches the last comp so we aren't falling any further. Two days until the judging announcement is supposed to happen. No idea if things are happening on schedule or not. We will see on Friday, I guess.

Thanks for getting things going, Bear.

Headache gone, back is better. Worried about upcoming vacay. 10 cities in 11 days (cruise). Not sure if my body will be up for that pace but we shall see. I have a few more days off after we get home to recuperate anyhow.

Quote by Mendalla
Worried about upcoming vacay. 10 cities in 11 days (cruise). Not sure if my body will be up for that pace but we shall see. I have a few more days off after we get home to recuperate anyhow.

That's a lot of cities! I don't know I could handle a schedule like that. Off to get a haircut, and run a few errands - we are off to a Brooks and Dunn concert in Denver this weekend.

I'm taking a few days off from watching the Mets. It's just too depressing. Why do they ALWAYS suck?

A coffee and a flag cookie please.