Quote by Cora
I hope you enjoyed Canada Day, Mendalla.

It was a beautiful day weather-wise so spent the afternoon working on the yard. Got lots done. Back hated me but whatever.

Putting on some Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica and some Raspberry and Oolong teas. Fridge looks good for today.

Seem to be pretty much blocked writing-wise but keep trying. Too bad, because I have lots of ideas floating around, just can't seem to get them to work on the screen.

O Caaaaaaanadaaaaaaa!

Good morning and Happy Canada Day!! For today, everyone is Canadian while they are here in the cafe.

We've Timmy's Dark Roast coffee, and Red Rose and Canadian Breakfast tea. Hot water is ready for other beverages. Iced tea and lemonade are mixed up fresh and waiting in the fridge. Boxes of Timbits are on the counter for your sugar fix.

Pistachio gelato sounds like something to die for.

Depends on what flavours are being offered, really. I mean, usually ice cream but a favourite sorbet might trump that in the right situation.

Hotel/Motel or camp out?

It's actually been a cool, damp weekend here so far. Not much rain today but lots yesterday. Very windy, though. Tomorrow looks nice, which will be good for the various Canada Day events and parties.

Like all "rules of writing" I think it needs to be taken more as a "rule of thumb" than a "hard rule". It's a best practice and there are times where it is okay to deviate. After all, adjectives do have their place in the language. But, yeah, in general I like this.

I am sure it will delight Anna to know that I am currently watching a livestream of Eivor's performance at Hellfest 2024.

Wow, I make 10 entries, though it's getting hard to count with all the chatter in between.

Way too creepy, unless the ending has the twin sisters waiting eagerly for his arrival. Though their revenge on him and his employer could make his plans look sweet by comparison...😲😈

Quote by JamesPBear
MS Word thinks it's 70 words.

MS Word has some funny ideas sometimes, though. 😜

One weird thing I have noted with LibreOffice Writer is that the dang thing counts the header. So I have to CTRL-A to select the whole body to get a count of just actual text. That's one thing Word gets right, it ignores the header in word count.

G'mornin'

munches on a rocket cookie

Thanks for the cookies, Sara.

Bit grey here but the rain isn't supposed to come until tomorrow so could be worse I guess. Was mostly nice yesterday, anyhow.

Made some rando coffee that was left over in a tin. No idea what it is or how good it is. Could even be our "house blend" (ie. a bunch of ends and dregs). Teas are Red Rose and English Breakfast. Hot water is on for other drinks. Iced tea and lemonade are refreshed for those needing something chillier. And the soda stock is replenished.

Later, alligators.

🤣 at James' entry. Probably the funniest so far.

Quote by verbal
Making popcorn for the debate tonight.

How much will end up in your stomach vs. getting thrown at the screen in rage and disgust? Apparently, I can watch it on CBC Gem, the national network's streaming app. I suspect I would rather have cataract surgery again than watch those two go at it. And Kennedy is having some kind of alternative event where he sits on a stage and responds to what they are saying. It is supposed to be streaming on X and his website.

Woohoo! Some more "hints" in WriterGirl's challenge including a curious Aussie and a bear. This might get more entries than the last official comp at this pace. 😲

Putting on some Las Chicas dark roast in the coffee pot. Teas are Assam and Earl Grey. Hot water is on for other hot beverages. Cold drinks are looking good.

Okay, here it is.

_______________

Walking in the summer heat, I met Goldie. The old man looked nervous, even a bit frightened.

“What’s the buzz?” I asked.

“Mickey’s back.”

My face went pale.

“You’re kidding?”

“I’m not.”

The last thing I needed was Mickey back. I hurried home.

“Mickey’s back,” I told Laura.

My wife stared out the window, then sat down and wept.

A cat’s meow made us both jump.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

Quote by verbal
Dierks Bentley, who we are seeing in August, has an excellent cover of American Girl on it.

Yep, that one is pretty good, too. I haven't got to Rhiannon yet.

Quote by Cora
Hope everything is back to normal now.

The local hydro got things back online fairly quickly. Just had to adjust a bunch of clocks when I got home (wife leaves that for me). Saw a tree down on my way to work this morning in a cemetary of all places. It's a old one from a church that used to be there (the church still exists but moved to a new building less than a kilometer to the West back in the eighties).

Quote by Cora
I have extra bass ear buds; they are excellent.

Oo, I should look into those. Would probably be better for rock and metal than what I have. Wired or Bluetooth?

Quote by Cora
It is a gloomy day today. The past few days there have been severe thunderstorms from night through morning and sporadically throughout the day.

We had that yesterday morning. Then a band of storms came through with high winds that knocked out power in a good chunk of the city. Work was fine but home was out.

Alien : Romulus (upcoming next movie in the franchise)

I have done both. Later is fun. Former is overrated. Not to mention in some snowstorms here you could probably get enough on your tongue to take a drink.

Savoury or sweet?

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

I'm not at all into country. Tommy is kind of my exception though 'n while I did hear of the album, I'm gonna pass cause I feel like nobody could sing those songs the way Tommy could.

I'm listening to it and very impressed so far. Highlight of the first quarter or so is Dolly Parton's take on "Southern Accents". Nothing weird, just a solid ballad with a string section and country band behind her. But I just got to "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" covered by Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum) and it sounds like they nail it. It's one of my favourite Petty songs. OTOH, Luke Combs, being part of the current generation of country artists who count guys like Petty among their influences, pretty much does "Running Down the Dream" as a straight version of Petty's original.

One thing it does point up is what an f-ing brilliant songwriter he was. I expect we'll be hearing his songs for the rest of eternity.

Paging JustAnotherSapphic. If you're at all into country, this might be of interest. It was recommended as a "road trip disc" by, of all places, Scientific American. Well, the editor of their daily newsletter anyhow.

https://store.tompetty.com/products/petty-country-a-country-music-celebration-of-tom-petty-cd

And I see Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers guests on one track, so I guess this is official. Personally, I am intrigued by Rhiannon Giddens doing "Don't come around here no more". Her folk-bluegrass sound could do interesting things with that song, I think.

Goooooooooooooooooooood Morning!

Coffee is brewing, there's tea in the teapots. Water is boiled if you need something else. Cold drinks are waiting in the fridge.

Saying anything negative about Tom would just be...😎...petty. 🤣

Quote by verbal
Tom Petty seems to be pretty universally beloved. Fine with me. Did I tell you I saw once in concert. Lenny Kravitz opened.

Kravitz and Petty seems like a good bill. Different enough to keep things interesting but close enough that fans of one will probably like, or at least be okay with, the other.

Archie Caine is someone I am still trying to find information about. I only found him because another Floor Jansen/Nightwish fan recommended the video below.

From some googling, it appears that Archie is a British singer-songwriter with strong influences from prog, power, and symphonic metal. His only album is a concept album called Tommy And The Angels (2022) but he managed to get two veterans of the European metal scene to help with it. Damian Wilson has appeared with many bands and projects over the years as both lead and guest vocalist. Dianne van Giersbergen has fronted two bands (best known for her time in Xandria) and is currently releasing solo songs leading up to her debut solo album. This song features Dianne, who packs a magnificent operatic soprano. Per something I found on Reddit, Archie may now be fronting a band called Fairyland, replacing their late previous lead.

Got a book? Not having much luck with agents and big publishers? Not up to self-publishing? There's always the small presses. These are open to working directly with authors though may have submission periods, i.e. don't take submissions all the time. It's a real mixed bag from non-fiction to poetry to kids and YA. Have a look and see if any suit your work.

One that caught my eye is Annick Press. It's a small Canadian press focussed on children's books that is famous here for discovering and publishing the great children's author Robert Munsch. Would be a perfect market for, say, a collection of stories about cute animals having adventures.😉😊

» 21 Terrific Small Presses Open to Direct Submissions (authorspublish.com)

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic
like the person elsewhere who described him as the Applebees of music

😲

One wonders what music they like, though I know a lot of indie music fans tend to turn up their noses at anything even slightly mainstream. And fans in some niches, like metal and punk, can be like that, too, with music outside their niche (or even music inside it that doesn't meet their standard).

Well, I have one started and only need to cut 31 words. Gack. And I thought 100 words for a micro was hard.🙄

Tom Petty is just a terrible musician and ...😕... oh, who am I kidding, I love a lot of his music.

Good morning.

Hmmm. Lavazza seems to the coffee of choice in Northern Europe so we've got Perfetto in the coffee pot. Teas are Russian Caravan and English Breakfast. Hot water is one for other hot beverages. Cold drinks are all refreshed.

Currently attempting WriterGirl's 70 word challenge. Easier than wrestling with the story I have going.

Which leads me to a writing question. If you have a longer work going on and it stalls at a particular scene, do you skip that scene and come back to it later? Just thinking that might solve a problem I am having. I'm hung up on how to play a scene and starting to think I'll just jump over it and then it might come together once I have the next couple scenes in place.