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 everyone.

Everything’s pretty much the same. Had a small thunderstorm last night and it’s raining this morning.

I finally submitted my entry to WriterGirl’s comp. It was tough for me. I’ve never heard of thin fiction. I kept writing a complete story instead of a piece with a cliffhanger.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend.

I'm back from the beach. It was a lovely week with family. We had fantastic weather, just a few storms one afternoon. The ocean was calm enough to swim comfortably without fighting the currents until the last day. The only drawback was the temperature of the sand. Even with flip-flops, the sand would kick under your feet, and it burned. I was pleased to find my vegetable gardens and flowers had not perished in the heat. It rained one day while we were away, enough to keep them going. It will be stupidly hot for the foreseeable future, with no sign of rain. Yuck.

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer. I'll take a few cookies and an icy cold lemonade to go. I need to finish putting everything away. I do like things to be orderly. Cheers.

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.

Hey everyone.

gillianleeza, I am glad you enjoyed your vacation. It sounds lovely. I think it is fantastic you grow a vegetable garden in addition to a floral garden. Last summer our vegetable garden had some problems. I think the biggest issue was bugs eating stuff. This year we opted out on growing vegetables but still have an abundance of flowers. And lavender. Oh my, so much lavender. It is lovely.

The entry I submitted for WriterGirl's challenge was practice for me. It is the first action piece, albeit very short, I ever wrote. I write mostly drama. But action has interested me for a while, namely special ops. I think I grew in my writing skills, exploring new territory. I think I might finally be ready to write an action piece. Last year I made it a goal to write a piece in as many possible categories at SS as possible, exploring new territory.

I hope you all are having a beautiful weekend as it comes to a close.

Good morning!

Just wanted to say, “hey.” I will probably be back later. Pinky is curled in a ball next to my leg and my coffee is on the coffee table. I think I might practice an embroidery stitch today.

I hope you all have a beautiful day.

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.

Happy Canada Day, Mendalla! I hope you have a lovely day.

Quote by Mendalla

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.

Funny, I don’t feel Canadian.

Happy Canada Day, all.

Strange doings in the U.S. this morning.

Back here at home, things are fine. Same old day today. I have no ideas for the contest on another site, so I will stick to the MRI demon story (which whispers to me that the could be a novel).

Coffee please. And a sugar cookie.

Good morning, everyone.

I hope you enjoyed Canada Day, Mendalla.

It is gloomy and cool this morning. My sister made ice cream sandwiches from scratch last night to save for the 4th of July. She is very thoughtful. Also an excellent baker. I love her very much. Oh! It just started raining. A relaxing morning, here.

I hope you all have a beautiful day.

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.

Quote by Mendalla

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.

I have been having the exact same issue for far too long. I hope it passes for both you and I soon. I am glad you enjoyed Canada Day.

Sorry everyone is feeling so blocked. My cure for writer's block is just to write badly for a couple days. There's usually a good sentence or two in there. Delete the rest. I'm about to waste a bunch of words on the MRI story, since I don't really know where it's going.

Woke up INSANELY early today, around 5, awakened by thunder. I'm not tired yet, but expect it to hit me hard later.

A LOT of coffee please.

Quote by verbal
Woke up INSANELY early today, around 5, awakened by thunder.

Ugh. 5 is a bad time for me. I normally wake up c. 6-6:30 so waking up at 5 means I may not get back to sleep. So vibes. Take it easy.

Time for COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Or TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA!

In the coffee pot we've got a dark roast from Costa Rica. For teas, we're doing Irish Breakfast and Russian Caravan. Washed the pitchers and mixed up fresh iced tea and lemonade. Pop is stocked up. Hot water is boiled for other hot beverages.

What's up, folks?

And one day until the big day South of me. Any plans, my American friends/neighbours?

Well, I followed my own advice and wrote crap all day yesterday. Staring at 600 words I'm about to dump right into the trash.

I'm rested though. Dragged by butt through the entire day yesterday, but got a good 8 hours of sleep last night.

Buying burgers and brats today for a small cookout tomorrow, bur other than that it's the same old day.

Coffee would be swell. Sara, what cookies do we have coming in? I'll stick with a rocket for now.

Quote by verbal
Buying burgers and brats today for a small cookout tomorrow

Brats can be a problem but cooking them seems like a desperate solution. 😲

😉

Okay, I know you mean bratwursts or something like that but it was too good to pass up.

I'm planning on a mix of Canada day cookies and fourth of July cookies since this week is crazy busy with getting things ready for a trip on Sunday for a couple of days in Phoenix .

Hi peeps! A beautiful summer day here

Canada flag,polar bear in a sweater maple leaves : eh? Canada day love Canada red and white maple leaf . White maple leaf with red sprinkles

USA: square 4th of July, red star cookies America,white star USA cookies, let freedom ring cookie fireworks and rocks and USA heart-shaped cookies

*pouring a large coffee it was a super early morning .

No plans other than maybe fireworks tomorrow night .

giving the adorable critters fresh water and treats

emptying out the glass cookie jars and moving the old cookies to the emergency cookie tins and filling the glass cookie jars with fresh cookies

Oo, nice. Both holidays in one yummy bundle. takes an "eh" maple leaf and a star

It's MORNING!!! Time for COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFEE!!!

So we've got some Deathwish Dark Roast brewing.

For the tea crowd, there's Scottish Breakfast and Cream of Earl Grey.

Cold drinks are ready and waiting in the fridge. Hot water is on standby.

How's it going??

I've been realizing that I have two stories fermenting that are basically the same story. One is a sequel to Night of the Wind and one is a sequel to Spirits of Tan Maldrin, so one in each of my fantasy worlds. This happens from time to time and is basically a good sign that I have a good idea, just need to decide which of my casts of characters get to live it. I think I can tweak the latter to make it different enough so right now, looks like it will be the former, though I'm also changing the direction of it a bit.

I have also realized that Niomi Shen, from Night..., is evolving to be a bit too much like Nalia in Spirits... as I move her into the protagonist role in the sequel . Still not sure how I'll deal with that. Both priestesses, both with magical elements, both involved or potentially involved with soldiers. Niomi is older and more experienced with some tragedy in her backstory (home village destroyed in a war) so that might become the differentiator.

Happy Fourth of July for those residing in the States and a belated Happy Canada Day for my Canadian friends. We roll both holidays into one celebration at my house since my better half is Canadian. We usually have family over, but I have COVID-19 again, as do a few other family members, so it will be just my husband and me. He's going to grill a few things, but I sadly won't be able to enjoy much; my sense of taste has fled. I'm relieved that my parents' retirement community has a celebration for the fourth with a lot of food and patriotic themes. The place was originally built for retired military and government workers, so a lot of patriotism is happening there. My father loves it; he was a pilot in the Air Force for over 26 years.

It's a good day to stay inside since there is a heat advisory and air quality alert for today. I'll grab something icy cold to go. I sense a nap in my future.

Have a great day, everyone. Cheers!

Quote by gillianleeza
I have COVID-19 again

Oh crap, how many times is this now? Hope you get through it okay this round. Take care and enjoy your holiday.

And I kind of forgot to wish our American friends a Happy July 4th this morning. Have a great holiday, y'all!!!!

Happy 4th, and Happy Canada Day! God bless North America!

Our power is out. Supposed to be back up in a few hours. Luckily, you can grill without electricity. Just have to keep the fridge shut as much as is reasonable.

So, just chilling now. We have a ton of batteries for the phones so we can still surf the web! Sorry about round two of COVID, Gill.

I was Tuesday years old when I realized I've been mishearin' part of Hometown Blues (my most favorite Tommy song ever) this whole time.

What Tommy says: Gotta do a number on the late night show.

What I keep hearin': Gotta do a number on a late lasso.

Jeff, I'm sorry about the power outage. It would be very unpleasant here since there is a heat advisory in effect.

Scott, this is my fifth bout of Covid, and I must say I am starting to take it personally.

I had it first in the fall of 2020. Since then, my husband and I have had it the last three February's. We joke it is the worst Valentine's Day present ever. I am current on my vaccines, so that is not a factor. My doctor always suggests avoiding large social gatherings, which is funny since I am not a social person. She just wrote me another prescription for paxlovoid since I have a concerning history of respiratory illnesses. Luckily, the symptoms are mild this time: body aches, a slight cough, and fatigue. It's an excellent excuse to nap, read, and binge something on television.

I'm currently watching the fourth season of Evil. I'm unsure how to describe it, but I have enjoyed it immensely and am sad it was not renewed for a fifth season.

I'd love a cold Coke; I can taste cold things more than hot.

5.5 hours without power and counting

Quote by verbal

5.5 hours without power and counting

Eek. Hang in there. Wish I could send you some hydro, but vibes will have to do.

Woo hoo! It is Friday.

In the coffee pot we have Fire-Roasted Fireside.

Teas are English Breakfast and Assam.

Hot water is on for other hot beverages.

Cold drinks are looking good.

What's up?

We finally got power around 5. It didn’t affect us too much, we could still grill.

Played a little catch in the street with my daughter and a neighbor, and Lord, it was good for the soul. Played a ton of MarioKart too. We didn’t really bother to look at fireworks, other than the ones we could see from the deck.

I hope everyone had a safe holiday. I’m sure all the dogs in the neighborhood are glad the 4th is over. Out cats clearly don give a s**t.

No plans today. Works for me.

It's another hot day here. At 10 p.m., it is still 88 degrees with 70% humidity outside. I'm thankful for whoever invented AC. My gardens are desperate for rain. I water everything daily, but the difference a good soaking rain can bring is amazing.

I'm still fatigued but feel that way in the summer anyway. I'll take a cold ginger ale. It reminds me of being sick as a child, the one time my Mom would let me have soda.

Say cool, everyone, and have a great weekend. Cheers!