So a few days ago I put up an oldie but a goodie pic of me as a baby. Today it’s hubbys turn.
That head!!! I just can’t…
Tag Archives: #amblogging
Photo of the day, day 19
I do have a lot of mugs!! haha
This is another fav because, really, when it comes down to it this is exactly what writers are: storytellers.
Some are better than others, assuredly.
But within every writer is a burst of inspiration that cries out “Let me tell you a story.”
Love that!
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 18
I post a lot of pics of Maple Leaf because she is just the center of my home universe now. I love this one because of what she is doing. She usually waits at the front door – which is glass – for my hubby to come home every night. The moment she sees his car she goes bananas!
With the weather being so friggin’ cold here I don’t like to open the front door because all the cold comes in. Maple has figured out a way to still watch for hubby every night by sitting on the couch ( which she is theoretically not allowed on) and gazing out the window for him. The moment his car pulls into the driveway she goes bonkers.
She’s a pretty smart cookie to have figured this out. Especially since – and I repeat – she is not allowed on the couch.
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 17
I know this is a bit of an odd photo, but it made me laugh. Here’s why: this is a pic of Maple Leaf. She was sick the other day and I put a blanket over her to keep her warm. She was completely covered when I left the room. I came back a moment later and she’d stuck her right paw out of the blanket, still completely covered everywhere else. I got a good laugh out this because I sleep the same way – with one leg out from under the blankets.
Like mother like canine….
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 15
As a writer, I am first a voracious reader. I love reading books about the craft of writing and try to get in at least 4 or five new ones every year.
Under the title WHAT I’M READING NOW is this new little gem I picked up the other day. I am almost done with it. For a romance writer, tropes are something I think about all the time when I am starting a new story or trying to figure out why one I’m writing isn’t working.
This book is very easy to read and chock full of examples of tropes in the movie world, books, and every day life. Love that!
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 11
I always show you Maple’s puppy stew when it’s already in the containers. This is what it looks like when it’s cooking. Today was cooking day. I have enough for the next 21 days now. She gets fed this every morning and since day 1 of giving it to her she’s had no more diarrhea, skin allergies, or weepy eyes.
Here’s a quick funny story.
You all know I cook every week for my parents. I usually do It on Mondays. A few months ago I was cooking Maples stew at the same time I was cooking my parents’ meals for the week.
After I delivered them I got a call from my mother saying, “Peggy, that stew you made was the most delicious stuff ever.” I was baffled because I hadn’t made them stew that week. Then it hit me: I must have given them some of Maple’s food by mistake.
Of course, I didn’t tell her she was eating the dog’s food. I may be dumb at times but I’m never stupid!!
Here’s the recipe if your dog has severe allergies to EVERYTHING like mine does.
2lbs skinless, deboned chicken pieces
2 lbs stew meat, or lamb cut into bite-sized pieces
2 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1 lb shelled peas
1lb green beans
1 lb cut carrots
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled, and chopped
2 cups barley or brown rice ( i alternate every month)
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups cut squash ( if you want)
1 lb corn kernals ( if you want. Some dogs don’t digest corn well)
Place everything in a stew pot. Cover with water until just covered. Bring to a boil then once it is, cover and simmer for 2.5 hours or until meat and veggies are very tender ( no longer than 3 hours).
Place into individual containers and freeze. I have 2 cup containers. Defrost one per day. Maple gets hers as her breakfast.
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 9
She’s still in the cone and still NOT allowed on the couch – but deems it okay for her to not only go up there but fall asleep in this ridiculous position as well using the arm rest as her own personal pillow.
Honestly, this dog is the love of my life and the bane of my existence!
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 7
I’ll be taking this down today and returning it to storage until next year, but wanted to show it to you for today’s photo.
This is my Nativity set. The reason it is so near and dear to me is that the stable was my beloved mother-in-law’s. It is over 60 years old and get this: the light bulb still works and has never been replaced. It’s true when people say they don’t make stuff like they used to — even lightbulbs!
The Nativity set is mine, a Willow Tree set it took me three years to collect. I simply love it. The figurines may not be in proportion to the stable itself ( in real life they would be Amazonians!) but I think the overall aesthetic still works.
Filed under year in photos
Photo of the day, day 3
This little cutie is my 85-year-old mother. I took this right before the holidays when she had a routine MD appointment for a follow-up visit after her last hip surgery.
She’s wearing a Christmas sweatshirt I bought her last year – at her request – and the faux fur hat is from 1969. Yes, she’s had it that long. The blue jacket she bought on the dollar table at a local church bazaar 15 years ago. The woman knows the value of saving a penny and never paying retail if you can avoid it – lessons I learned at her knee.
In the past year she’s had an outbreak of shingles that incapacitated her horribly and left her with nerve damage in her forehead, broke her right hip in a fall at home that resulted in surgery and a 10 week stay in a rehab center, and welcomed her first great-grandchild. She is no longer mobile without the aide of quad-walker or a wheelchair, so she hasn’t been outside the house for anything other than hospitalizations and doctor visits in almost 2 years.
Despite that, she wakes up every day and the first thing she does is say a prayer of thanks to God.
When I was giving her a shower a few weeks ago she said to me, out of nowhere, “I can’t believe I’ve lived this long.”
I mumbled, “Me, either,” to which she shot me the glare she used to when I was an errant child.
85 years old and she can still instill parental fear in her 61 year old daughter. That’s the power of an old-school, Irish-gened mother, kids.
Cherish your parents, peeps, no matter how old you are. You won’t have them forever. Tell them you love them daily and show it whenever and however you can.
~ Peg
Filed under year in photos
#SundaySnippet from MIX & MATCH
from the upcoming first book in my new HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series, MIX & MATCH, releasing 3.1.2022. ( here’s the preorder link for amazon:) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09P48WPZC
Olivia Joyner smiled as she hit enter and sent her RSVP response to the on-line wedding site. This affair was going to be such a joyous event and excitement filled her to be included on the guest list.
Of course, since she’d been instrumental in the bride-and-groom-to-be meeting and falling in love, it made perfect sense she would be invited to the nuptials.
Olivia sat back, still smiling, and gave herself a mental pat on the back. She’d done it again – another successful match between two people who might never have met if not for her. As a third generation matchmaker, she got such a kick out of the wins – the couples who found their happily ever after.
But of course, for every tick in the match column, she could always depend on some not taking root. The couple might look perfect on paper, all the planets aligning, all the answers to her in-depth questionnaire in sync. But for some unforeseen reason there’d be no chemistry, no spark, no little zing when hands met, or gazes locked. Looking perfect on paper was one thing, but, try as she would like to, Olivia couldn’t force an attraction on someone if it wasn’t organically there.
Case in point, the client she was currently waiting for while at a cozy table for two in Joy’s House of Java. The coffee shop was a staple in the small town of Heaven, New Hampshire and once upon a high school age Olivia had worked as a barista.
The original Joy went to her maker a generation ago, the shop now owned and operated by her granddaughter.
“You want a refill,” Destiny, the said granddaughter, asked as she waddled up to the table, coffee carafe in hand, the other over her just-about-to-pop pregnant belly.
“I’m good, Des, thanks.” Olivia smiled. “I’m waiting for someone.”
Destiny nodded, her hair a cloud of waves courtesy of the fresh blowout she’d treated herself to at the Nirvana Day Spa and Salon, bobbing with the motion. “Jasmine Green. Heard she went out with the new doc in town last night.”
Olivia fought the strong urge to roll her eyes but kept her smile in place while internally groaning. Gossip was the mother’s milk of small towns and the residents of Heaven were devout lactose lovers. Olivia strove to protect her clients’ privacy despite the wagging tongues surrounding her in the town she’d been born and reared in – no easy feat.
As if she’d been summoned by the utterance of her name, Jasmine Green blew into the coffee shop, glanced around, and when she lit on Olivia, came her way.
“Hey, Des,” Jasmine said as she tore off her sunglasses and plopped into the chair opposite Olivia. “Can I get a full brew, extra milk, four sugars, please?”
“I was already saying it in my head when I spotted you,” Destiny replied. “You’ve been drinking the same thing since we were in high school. Be right back.”
Another head bob and she left them.
Garbed in a bright blue scrub suit, a stethoscope wound around her neck and her nursing pins attached to the front of her scrub top, Jasmine had, obviously, just come from a shift at Holy Mother of God Hospital. Her red hair was tucked back into a messy bun, her face makeup-free. Weariness colored her deep hazel eyes and when she leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table, a heavy sigh escaped from between her lips.
“Tough day?” Olivia asked.
“They all seem to be lately.”
Destiny returned, carrying a steaming mug. Silently, she placed it in front of Jasmine.
“So.” Olivia took a sip of her own brew. “Tell me about last night.”
Jasmine took a breath and then blew on her coffee. “I hate doing this again, but,” she said after taking a gulp, “well.” She shrugged and Olivia got the impression she was embarrassed.
“What? Come on, Jazz, talk to me. I can’t help if I don’t know what happened.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Nothing happened, that’s just it. The date didn’t go well.”
“Why not? Did he say or do something to put you off?”
“No.”
“Was he rude? Condescending? Obnoxious?”
She answered with a shake of her head.
“Did he say something off color or insulting? Tell me. What is it? Because on paper you two are a pretty good match.”
And there were. Both were in the health profession so they had a lot to discuss on the work front. Both only children. Both divorced. They enjoyed the same type of music and both were exercise enthusiasts, in addition to a myriad of other attributes Olivia considered compatible.
“He’s, well, boring is the best word. And kinda…stuffy. He reminded me of an older uncle or even grandfather. Stodgy.”
Olivia did her best to hide her shock. The Hunter Reinhart she’d taken on as a client didn’t strike her as any of those things. Not boring, not stuffy, and certainly not like a man past his prime. She’d been thrilled when he’d hired her, and had been captivated by his good looks, respectful manner, and charming smile.
“There was just no…spark, no,” Jasmine shrugged “something special between us. Several times during dinner I wanted to yawn but knew I’d look rude if I did.”
“What did you two talk about?”
“In all honesty I can’t remember. None of it seemed particularly interesting.”
Once again, Olivia employed her face-blanking talent so she wouldn’t give her thoughts away.
“I’m sure he was as bored as me.”
“What makes you say that?” She refrained from telling her the doctor had called this morning, claiming the date went well and he wanted to see Jasmine again if she agreed.
Another shrug.
When Jasmine had contacted her, Olivia thought it would be easy to find her a match. The thirty-three year old nurse had recently moved back home to Heaven from New York after her acrimonious and public divorce, intent on getting her life back to some semblance of normalcy. She’d sought out Olivia because, as she’d stated in her email, she didn’t want to get involved in the bar scene and most of the guys in the small town she’d known all her life, attended school with, and hadn’t considered them marriage material before she left town, her opinion unchanged now that she was back. Even with that declaration, Olivia had thought it would be an easy task to match her with someone.
After three dates with three different men, the latest one the newest doctor in town, Jasmine found none to her liking.
All the men she’d met were perfectly charming, suitable, and successful, but Jasmine found flaws with each of them. Olivia was beginning to think the woman was looking for someone—or something—who didn’t exist.
Either that, or she still carried a torch for the ex who’d publicly humiliated her when he left their marriage for a model ten years Jasmine’s junior.
“At this rate, I’m beginning to think I’ll end up like my mother. Alone, depressed, and bitter,” Jasmine said, then heaved another soul-crushing sigh.
Olivia kept her own counsel. She never wanted to give up on a client discovering their one true love. But Jasmine’s words were worrying and Olivia was concerned they just might prove true.
Intrigued? Hee hee. More snippets to follow.
Happy Sunday, peeps
~Peg
Filed under Heaven's Matchmaker
Peggy Jaeger, Author 