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.

It's Canada Day up Canada way on the first day of July...

So sang one of this country's great songwriters, Stompin' Tom. In honour of the day, here's pancakes with real Canadian maple syrup. Coffee is Timmy's Dark Roast (because Canada) and teas are Canadian Breakfast and Vinyl Cafe, both genuinely, authentically Canadian from my local tea shop. There's fresh lemonade and unsweet iced tea in the fridge. Sodas are stocked up, including a selection from Canadian legends, Pop Shoppe. There's actually been two runs of that brand. The first started in London, Ontario (Yay!) in 1969 and I remember them from my youth. They went bust in the eighties but the brand was revived in Burlington, Ontario in 2004. Have not actually tried them since the revival.

And some Canadian music. The Globe & Mail, one of Canada's biggest papers, did a list of "101 Canadian Albums You Need To Hear" for Canada Day this year. It's a real mix from classical greats like pianist Glenn Gould to the great Canadian singer-songwriters from the sixties and seventies (Young, Mitchell, Lightfoot, Cohen) to popular contemporary stars like Drake and The Weeknd. But one metal band made the list. Anvil started in 1978 and are cited as a major influence on thrash metal (Metallica, Megadeath, Slayer).

Here's a live performance of the title track from Metal On Metal by Anvil, one of the 101 Canadian albums you need to hear.

And forty plus years on, they are still at it. This is from last year's One And Only.

Happy Canada Day!

Here in the US it’s “we stopped that nation-destroying bill from being passed” day. They voted all night long but thus far, they are unable to throw 11 million people off of health care to pay for billionaire tax cuts. Stay tuned.

Hot and sunny here. Write and walk today. I haven’t done that in awhile.

Sieze the coffee cup!

EDIT: The bill passed the Senate. The billionaires are in charge now.

Quote by verbal
The bill passed the Senate. The billionaires are in charge now.

Thought that a different version passed the House and reconciliation would be needed? So it may not yet be over. Keep fighting. I was a bit po'd at the revocation of the Digital Service Tax. Giving Trump his way make ape grumpy. I am not a big fan of some of the regulatory moves Canada has made around digital services (like enforcing Can-con on services like YouTube), but using a tax to keep some of the profits in Canada was one I could handle.

Quote by Mendalla

Thought that a different version passed the House and reconciliation would be needed? So it may not yet be over. Keep fighting. I was a bit po'd at the revocation of the Digital Service Tax. Giving Trump his way make ape grumpy. I am not a big fan of some of the regulatory moves Canada has made around digital services (like enforcing Can-con on services like YouTube), but using a tax to keep some of the profits in Canada was one I could handle.

The Senate was our last, best chance. It's a sad day.

My apologies for being political. I will attempt to be chill from now on.

So now that my country's birthday is over with, we can get back to our regular fun and games. There's Deathwish Dark Roast on in the coffee pot. For teas we have Cream of Earl Grey and Kenyan Tinderet (a really nice African black tea). And there's the usual assortment of cold drinks in the fridge.

I am struggling a bit with writing. I'm producing, but it's all for another site and I'm despairing of ever being able to get a project for here to the finish line. They just all seem to languish or ramble on. I was reviewing some of my options yesterday and I am still not really sure which one to pursue. Or just toss the lot and start something new. Part of my problem is my penchant for starting to write with a scene or general idea in mind but no real sense of where it should go or how it will end. Or I have an idea of how it will end but grow to hate it as I progress and halt before I get there.

I am looking forward to the 4th of July celebrations. I have been absent from stories space for a while, but I am enjoying the new stories.

Quote by rolandlytle

I am looking forward to the 4th of July celebrations. I have been absent from stories space for a while, but I am enjoying the new stories.

Whoa, Roland is back! Hello there, stranger. Hope all is well with you. Have a great Fourth.

To rephrase a song by Stompin' Tom Connors:

It's Independence Day

Down America way

On the fourth day of July

Happy Fourth, my American neighbours!! Have a good one!!

There's Kicking Horse Happy Camper on for coffee. Bigelow's (American brand) Earl Grey and Raspberry Royale on for teas. Lots of sodas from both sides of the border along with pitchers of unsweet iced tea and lemonade for those needing a cold beverage. And in honour of both countries celebrating b-days this week, here's the cake.

Good morning. I want to thank everyone for your patience with my silence. In the last few months, I've lost several people, I've been sick, and my father has not been doing well. It is hard to stay fully focused on being responsible when your mind is pulled to its breaking point. I want to publicly thank gillianleeza and Sherzahd for everything they do. They are amazing. I don't know what either I or the site would do without y'all.

As for my announcement, I thought a fun little summer flash was in order: https://www.storiesspace.com/forum/writing-competitions-and-calls-for-submissions/summer-love-competition

I saw that on the front page. Nice banner. Will begin contemplating.

Sorry to hear you've been having a bad year. Sending good vibes and condolences on the losses. Take care.

I’m so sorry to hear of those hard times, Molly! Always take care of yourself! Let people who want to help, do so! ❤️

Thank you for posting another fun comp for us! ❤️

Quote by Molly

Good morning. I want to thank everyone for your patience with my silence. In the last few months, I've lost several people, I've been sick, and my father has not been doing well. It is hard to stay fully focused on being responsible when your mind is pulled to its breaking point. I want to publicly thank gillianleeza and Sherzahd for everything they do. They are amazing. I don't know what either I or the site would do without y'all.

As for my announcement, I thought a fun little summer flash was in order: https://www.storiesspace.com/forum/writing-competitions-and-calls-for-submissions/summer-love-competition

.

So very sorry to hear that, Molly. You don't deserve that – no one does.

And thanks for thinking of us, even so.

Sounds like it should be a light-hearted and delightful comp! I already know the story I want to tell – an adaptation of something that actually happened to me – now I just have to find the time to write it.

Quote by verbal

Here in the US it’s “we stopped that nation-destroying bill from being passed” day. They voted all night long but thus far, they are unable to throw 11 million people off of health care to pay for billionaire tax cuts. Stay tuned.

EDIT: The bill passed the Senate. The billionaires are in charge now.

.

There's more in that bill than just tax-cuts for billionaires at the expense of the poor, unfortunately. One thing that has largely escaped notice is all the money for ICE. It's just barely less than Canada spends in total on national defence!

What's that person going to do with all the money, and all those people, you ask?

He's going to set them up as his storm troopers, his SS. They've already shown a proclivity to nab people – any people, citizen or not, including "enemies" – without due process, to wear masks, and refuse to show ID. It's going to be "Nacht und Nebel" in the Land of the Free, I fear.

And I'm sure there are other rotten Easter eggs buried in the 1,000+ pages of crapola as well.

I had a great 4th of July with my oldest son, sister, BIL, and their kids and grandkids.

Yes, Scott, there is a lot of stuff in that bill. Check out the status of AI research and protection of AI for the next decade.

AI research has to happen. Regardless of what we think of things like ChatGPT and Gemini, AI is a powerful research tool. Already, Google's labs have vastly improved our ability to generate models of protein folding, critical for improving drugs and other biochemistry. Scientists are feeding large data sets into AI models to more quickly and efficiently analyze them. Basically, it's the old computer adage: "Garbage in, Garbage out". Used with a meaningful, useful dataset, AI can work wonders. Used with something like the Internet, which is a mixed bag with lots of meaningless, useless, and sometimes downright harmful data, it pukes out garbage. And research is how we are going to deal with it properly. Now, whether this bill actually helps with that research is another whole issue...

(and that's James the Bear you're responding to, by the way)

Welcome to day two of Summer Love!! Not some new relationship I'm having, but the StoriesSpace comp that launched yesterday. I'm thinking about possible stories. How about you?

In other news, there's Tobermory Flowerpot Island coffee brewing. In the teapots, there's some David's Breakfast (named for the chain that sells it, not some dude named David) and Kenyan Tinderet. The latter is delish. If you thought all good coffee came from the Far East or India/Ceylon, it's worth a try. There's some nice stuff in Africa, too. Cold beverages are all looking good and will be needed. 31-33C with humidex potentially heading for the 40s here for both days of the weekend.

I’m melting in Kentucky! I’ll take anything cold, please.

Busy little bee working on my comp entry. Bad timing for me with work, so I gotta get it in early. But then I can chill and enjoy y’all’s entries!

Morning all.

Hot and sunny here. I am trying to write a story about the guy delivering Nikes to the Heavens Gate suicide cult, back in the late 90s. Anyone remember Hale-Bopp?

Things are fine here. I have some relatives in Texas hill country, but everyone seems to be fine. My prayers go out to all those families. Devastating.

Coffee would rock.

Quote by verbal

Morning all.

Hot and sunny here. I am trying to write a story about the guy delivering Nikes to the Heavens Gate suicide cult, back in the late 90s. Anyone remember Hale-Bopp?

Things are fine here. I have some relatives in Texas hill country, but everyone seems to be fine. My prayers go out to all those families. Devastating.

Coffee would rock.

You have the coolest story ideas! And on top of that, your execution of your ideas is superb!

We have 2 entries so far with Meg on the way. I hope we get a lot of entries! :)

Quote by WriterGirl

You have the coolest story ideas! And on top of that, your execution of your ideas is superb!

We have 2 entries so far with Meg on the way. I hope we get a lot of entries! :)

Thank you, DubyaGee! Looking forward to reading the entries!

Quote by verbal
Anyone remember Hale-Bopp?

Very well. The first comet I really saw. One evening, I was riding a bus from my place in Hamilton to my wife's place in London (this was during the time when we lived apart for career reasons) and got a great view of it out the window.

I've put on some Jamaican Blue Mountain Dark Roast for coffee. Teas are Irish Breakfast and Black Currant. Cold drinks all refreshed.

Temperature has improved here but it's still muggy. At least there's a breeze, which helps a bit.

No comp entry here, just stray thoughts that could become one.

Quote by Mendalla

AI research has to happen. Regardless of what we think of things like ChatGPT and Gemini, AI is a powerful research tool. Already, Google's labs have vastly improved our ability to generate models of protein folding, critical for improving drugs and other biochemistry. Scientists are feeding large data sets into AI models to more quickly and efficiently analyze them. Basically, it's the old computer adage: "Garbage in, Garbage out". Used with a meaningful, useful dataset, AI can work wonders. Used with something like the Internet, which is a mixed bag with lots of meaningless, useless, and sometimes downright harmful data, it pukes out garbage. And research is how we are going to deal with it properly. Now, whether this bill actually helps with that research is another whole issue...

(and that's James the Bear you're responding to, by the way)

The BBB has provisions that block any laws from being passed to regulate AI.

Remember that the AI we are using today is not, by definition, Artificial Intelligence. They are just very sophisticated programs.

Quote by rolandlytle
Remember that the AI we are using today is not, by definition, Artificial Intelligence. They are just very sophisticated programs.

Yeppers. We are still a long way from Skynet. Whether the US regulates AI or not almost doesn't matter. China is likely going to be the leader in AI eventually anyhow.

Hello, all. How's things? Comp is up to 3 entries so is ticking along jiggedy-boo. Now I just need to come up with something.

Refreshed the hot drinks. Cold drinks are looking good. Here's some sweet goodness in case that helps with the storytelling.

Went to a poetry reading last night! Talia read a bunch of poems (some probably from this site). It was big fun. I read a story, but I was mostly there for Talia.

Same old day today, though without a walk - the heat is just too brutal today.

Mets had a great win last night.

A brownie and a coffee please!

Welp, there goes attempt number one at the comp. I like the story and I'll still write it but no freakin' way this one can be done in 1000 words. Back to the drawing board.

I love seeing competition entries coming in.

Jeff, that poetry reading sounds amazing.

I'm finally planning our trip to Newfoundland. Things have been a bit chaotic, and I couldn't secure the ferry reservations I needed, so I've adjusted the dates, but it works out better. We are getting two ferries this trip. We'll drive to Maine the first day, and the next day, take a high-speed catamaran ferry to Nova Scotia. The next day, we'll drive across Nova Scotia and board the ferry to Newfoundland for a nighttime crossing. We've always wanted to take the Cat ferry. It's a long journey, but we've built in time to see some sights. I love visiting my husband's family. His sisters treat me like one of their own, and we always have a good time. So I won't be around much in August. I haven't been in eight years, so I am excited. My dad's in good hands, and my brother is near so he can handle any issues.

The weather here is stupidly humid and hot. I hate sweating just because I walked outside. At least we've been getting enough rain, so my gardens are happy. Take care of yourselves and stay cool. Cheers.

What a fabulous trip, Gillian! I wanna go, too!

And we have 5 entries in the competition.

With hopefully many more to come.

Let's see – we've got some Picasso Blend coffee from Dunedin, Florida, Yorkshire and Darjeelings teas, plus lots of cold drinks in the cooler. I'm not sure what recipe Mendalla uses for lemonaide, so if it's too sweet, let me know.

Hope everyone is well – as well as good!

.

Quote by gillianleeza

I love seeing competition entries coming in.

Jeff, that poetry reading sounds amazing.

I'm finally planning our trip to Newfoundland. Things have been a bit chaotic, and I couldn't secure the ferry reservations I needed, so I've adjusted the dates, but it works out better. We are getting two ferries this trip. We'll drive to Maine the first day, and the next day, take a high-speed catamaran ferry to Nova Scotia. The next day, we'll drive across Nova Scotia and board the ferry to Newfoundland for a nighttime crossing. We've always wanted to take the Cat ferry. It's a long journey, but we've built in time to see some sights. I love visiting my husband's family. His sisters treat me like one of their own, and we always have a good time. So I won't be around much in August. I haven't been in eight years, so I am excited. My dad's in good hands, and my brother is near so he can handle any issues.

The weather here is stupidly humid and hot. I hate sweating just because I walked outside. At least we've been getting enough rain, so my gardens are happy. Take care of yourselves and stay cool. Cheers.

.

Our family took that Cat, Gillian. It was a long ferry ride, but fun, especially if you like fast ships.

However, in retrospect, my biggest regret was not spending more time around Bar Harbor, Maine. It's a delightful part of the world, whereas the geography on the Nova Scotia side is much less interesting. Try to spend some time in Maine before taking the Cat if you can!

OK, folks, I've thrown my hat, er, story into the ring. I had some fun writing it, which I take as a good sign.

I was only able to get to it because I shipped off a proposal to a literary agent about representing my edited version of my father's autobiography. The working title is: The Invention of a New Science: A Firsthand Account from the Birth of Physical Oceanography.

It was a lot of work researching the agent and agency, and then crafting the letter and the rest of the submission, and the odds of being accepted are never good, but I have hope, so we'll see.

The basic problem with publishing anything is that there are so many other people publishing works that any given project or manuscript gets buried. I'm finding that with Bear and Girl. The book has drawn rave reviews and ratings, but doesn't sell much. Nothing wrong with the book – just too many alternatives.

Such is life in the modern era.

Quote by JamesPBear
However, in retrospect, my biggest regret was not spending more time around Bar Harbor, Maine. It's a delightful part of the world, whereas the geography on the Nova Scotia side is much less interesting. Try to spend some time in Maine before taking the Cat if you can!

When we went that way, we drove through Maine, spent a night in the Bar Harbor area, then drove through NB and PEI before heading into NS and visiting Cape Breton. Our ultimate destination was Halifax, though, since Mrs. M was teaching at Dal then. But, yeah, that part of Maine is beautiful.

Woohoo! SEVEN entries in the competition!

Come on in, Verbal and Mr Ape, the water’s warm…