T'is the Season by Robin Janney

What season you may ask?

Graduation season!

And when students graduate, there are parties.

I have two to attend this summer. A nephew of mine who lives just over the border in New York, and C.P. Stringham's youngest daughter as well.

Kenzi's party was Saturday. We were late because Mr. Janney forgot about it and didn't come to bed until eleven Saturday morning. The food was good, the hostess was the mostess and Kenzi seemed to be having a fun time.

Mr. Janney and I have been having a lot of late nights...a.k.a. we're staying up all night and don't go to bed until anywhere from 5-7 am. He's doing what you expect...xboxing. Although the way he yells at his Xbox friends makes me glad they're not his enemies! They have a truly unique relationship which probably wouldn't work in the real world.

I, of course, have been hard at work retyping Farmer's Daughter. I have it saved on OneDrive so I never lose it again. I may have to do the entire retyping thing for Ring of Fire as well because I can't seem to find the CD it was saved on. I was sharing with Mr. Janney just today that I'm happy with some of the changes I've made to Farmer's...some of it has been minor personality changes which better fit the storyline...some scenes had been combined/restructured or both...some of the side characters have been showing up more, a few of them have extra scenes. Of course, one minor change here, another minor change here...can have a domino effect I hadn't planned on, but I'm confident it'll all work out in the long run. I know it's just me, but I think it's flowing a little smoother than the original...flowing a little more like Ring does.

My nephew's graduation party isn't until the 7th of July...and I'm kind of looking forward to it. Kind of...because I'm having my top two wisdom teeth removed 2 days before! I'll have to ask my brother if there's any mushy food on the menu!

Going to keep this Monday blog short because it's late in the day and I want to get it posted.

Until next time, much love!

Frozen Moments by Robin Janney

Last week I posted two pictures for my Wordless Wednesday post. One was of my mother and her pup, who just had her first birthday and isn't really a pup anymore. But I think dogs are like kids who never really grow up. They're perpetual toddlers, forever pups at heart. Like my dog in the second photo. I'm not really sure how old my Jaclyn is, but I think she'll turn 7 this summer. You wouldn't know it by the energy she routinely displays...I wish I had half her energy!

Bath day...

Late in the year of 2016, my Mom expressed the desire for a lap dog. So, I began looking for one for her. Mr. Janney and I found a little doggy for her. Muffin is a mixed breed, terrier and pug I believe.

Mother spoils the dog worse than her grandchildren. I'm pretty sure the entire reason Mom makes toast in the morning for breakfast is so Muffin can have her share.

Unlike my dog, Muffin likes being in a lap. My dog Jaclyn will occasionally ask to come up to my lap, especially recently, but she's a little too big for it to be comfortable for either of us - it doesn't stop us from cuddling though.

My Mom is scheduled to have a lumpectomy on Wednesday, and I'm not sure if she's devised a method to keep Muffin (and the cat, Fuscias) from using her as a bed. Perhaps my sister will be able to provide enough distraction for Muffin to leave Mom alone so she can recover. Sara is going to be staying at Mom's for before and after the surgery, which is a relief for me since FMLA has only approved me to miss 3 hours of a shift for Mom's appointments. I'm actually using a vacation day for the day of the surgery. I suppose I could have more paperwork done but at this point I am sick to death of the FMLA paperwork.

Jaclyn as a puppy...her tail still wags that fast!

I've always enjoyed taking 'nonsense' pictures. Especially of our animals. I'm not sure why. I did this even before the days of digital cameras. Of course, I have plenty of pictures of landscapes and flowers as well.

I enjoy documenting my life in pictures. It's so much easier to take pictures than it used to be. Although now it's a matter of 'how much memory do I have left?' instead of 'how much film do I have left?' Pictures help the facing memory.

Let's be honest, as the years pass and things change...peoples faces fade in our memory. If I close my eyes and try to picture my father, it's a dim memory...pictures keep that memory from fading away entirely. While I can respect people's desire to not be photographed, it frustrates me because the photo being taken isn't for them...it's for years from now when someone wants to remember.

Left to right: sister Sara, Mom, me
(pretty sure that's Mr Janney's head behind me lol)
Photo cred: Sara

There are so many moments in time that I don't want to forget. People. places. Pets. Because time goes by faster than we think. It doesn't seem it when we're young, we think we have all the time in the world and we don't realize that those silly pics we're taking are capturing a moment in time we'll never see again.

It seems that just yesterday that I was thirteen and my biggest worries were whether I was going to survive another day at school and whether my father would be home or whether he would be back in the hospital. And here I am today, almost 42 and worrying about rent - still uncertain about what the future holds.

I had it all planned out as a teenager. Runaway when I became 18, go to Hollywood and become rich and famous (and marry Mark Hamill (forgive me Mrs. Hamill, I was young and dumb)). That obviously has not happened! Which I'm okay with, because I kind of like my Mr. Janney.

I apologize if I'm coming off too melancholy or too dramatic. It's just that I'm feeling the weight of life at the moment. I've managed to catch the same episode of Criminal Minds a couple times over the past couple of weeks. They usually begin and end their episodes with a quote. This particular episode ended with a quote I felt was applicable to my current phase in life.

I don't think that letting go means forgetting though. So I take pictures to remember the life that brought me to the place I am today. Where I will tomorrow. Because it's all connected.

What Have I Done? by Robin Janney

It started out innocent enough.

My brother, who lives at home with our mother, commented to me a few weeks ago how he's been trying to get someone, anyone, to clean off some bookshelves in the hallway so that he can lay down new carpet and have more room to travel the hallway. He wears an artificial leg and having the bookshelves in the hallway makes it a tight navigation. If it wasn't done by the time he was ready, he was just going to risk mother's ire and just throw everything out.

Can't have that now can we?

So this weekend I went through all the books on the small antique bookshelf and sorted them out. It has to be antique; we've had it since as long as I can remember and I turn 40 in a matter of weeks!

Rather busting at the seams don't you think?

Now, I ask you: does it really look like I needed to bring more books home?  My bookshelf pictured to the right does not hold all my books even though it is packed, with books stacked on top of books. I have books scattered throughout the house, some sitting on my desk, some in the bedroom. I've been saying for years that I need to weed out my books, but I keep putting it off. Someday, someday. Although I will note here, that as I was discussing this with Mr. Janney - who thinks it's all rather funny that I came home with more books - he did say that one of the things he wishes to make for me is a better bookshelf, he's just not sure where to put it yet.

The scary part is, I haven't told our mother what I've done yet. She wasn't even home as she's been away visiting her sister. I messaged my own sister and another brother to let them know that there were books at mom's that they needed to go through, I added the 'they'll be thrown out soon' threat just to motivate them. Either way, Mother will be coming home to two small stacks of books that she can go through and make her own decisions about.

Sadly, I had to throw some of the books away. There were a few that somehow had water damage to them. Not a little damage either. And some of them had been worm food (I really, really, really hope I didn't bring any of them home with me!!!) And a couple were badly outdated.  Like the computer book from 1990!! One of the pictures in it featured an old dot matrix printer!!  I'm not sure where it came from, it sort of looked like a college book but may have just been a book we picked up at a yard sale. I didn't go to college until 1994 and the book would have been outdated even by then. Part of me wanted to keep it as a conversation piece, but I honestly don't have the energy for that.

It was an interesting bit of conversation time with my brother. I came across The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and he exclaimed, 'That's a good book. The boys need to read that.' (He has 3) Whereas I - can't even remember if I've read the book in it's entirety. And The Red Badge of Courage; I know I've never read that one and he has. Apparently one of the reading classes he was placed in during middle school read a bunch of classics that year. He told me he was thinking about reading Shakespeare (and maybe Dickens since he quoted one of the lines from A Tale of Two Cities) and wanted to know if I thought it was worth it. Wellllllll, I liked Hamlet and Merchant of Venice was ok. At one point he said to me, 'How is it we've collected all these books over the years, but we don't have one copy of Moby Dick?' Another book on his wish list to read. Uhm, not sure.

Some of the books turned out to be mine anyway, which I'm not sure how I lost track of them but it happens. Like the one book I was looking for when I was clearing the shelves off; Job's Niece. I have no idea where it could have went to. And then brother tells me there are boxes of books out in the shed.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that's a project for later.

In the meantime, I have to figure out what to do with the three little shopping bags of books I brought home. Although to be honest, it's more like two and a half since there was a small plastic box of recipe cards in the one bag. When I pulled them out and looked at them, I said, 'Hey, I think these are mine!' I collect recipes just like I collect books!

And I just got done talking with my mother about all this and she was okay with it. Whew! At least I'm not in trouble with mom or hubby then!

I might write about the different books as I read them, some of them are old. We'll see! I have to get done with the Harry Potter series first, I'm on The Half-Blood Prince.

How many of you are like me? More books than space? But it doesn't stop you from bringing home more? Have you read all the classics or like me, are you more 'hit and miss'?

Who Says Chick Books are Bad? by Robin Janney

Family can be harsh critics sometimes.

I have a brother, who discouraged our other brother about reading my novels.  Because it's a "chick book". Like it was something bad. And he said it in my presence.

It was embarrassing.  And honestly, I felt a little ashamed.  I've written a book that my brother feels that he can't read because it's a Romance.

The more I dwell on it, the angrier I become.

Why should I be ashamed? It's not the greatest book, but it's a good book. And while it is a Romance (which there's NOTHING wrong with that), it's also so much more.  Forgiveness is a major theme that runs through the entire series.  Forgiving oneself, forgiving those who've violated us...or not forgiving them. Mental illness is another theme.  Living in fear of it, living with it, battling it. Freedom from religion is another theme; each character is at a different place spiritually which causes some friction. There's also some Fantasy in the books.  I consider my demonic characters Fantasy characters as they are in no way 'biblical'. And many times, the Angels/Guardians take on the form of an animal of some kind...a dog, a horse, a cat. And there is the beloved Dragon Dream...ok, readers love it, the characters not so much. As the series goes on, the Dragon Dream becomes more and more real.

But even with all those layers, my brother says "Chick Book" like it's something bad.

So what if it is?

There's nothing wrong with Romance.

Boy meets girl (or whichever variation is relevant to your life), they fall in love, face adversity of some kind, overcome it and have a happy ending.

Which can be a welcome thing during those times when our lives is anything but a happy ending. It's probably fiction in general and Romance's harshest criticism...that it doesn't represent real life. Sooooo? Sometimes we need a break from the harshness of the real world.  We need a dose of hope. We need a chance to dream a little.

I'll admit that there were many years when I was single and unable to find Mr. Right that I had to put Romance novels aside. I never thought I'd find my Mr. Right and it hurt to read all those happy endings. Even sexless Christian Romances left a bad taste on my reading palate at the time.  But even in other works of fiction that I read, romance still had it's place. I mean, goodness, Rand al'Thor in the Wheel of Time series managed to woo three different women! Without trying! In the Visitation by Frank Peretti, the widower slowly falls for another character amongst the backdrop of the spiritual warfare plaguing the town. Even in this brother's favorite crime series he reads, which I've tried the first book of, there is a love interest for the main character.

So, really, I wonder what his beef with 'chick books' really is.  Romance, love, sexual tension, and ensuing conflict are all around us to varying levels. And unlike novels, we don't always get a happy ending. Hearts get broken, lives are devastated and turned around, marriages end and families are broken apart, partners turn out to be abusive jerks. Is it really so wrong to read novels in which things tend to end happier no matter what adversity hits the characters?

Yes, some people get stuck in the fantasy. Of any fiction. That's where a good therapist comes in, and I'm not completely joking when I say that, but I do mean it in a non-judgmental way. While I've never had this problem of separating fact from fiction, from reality and fantasy, I know that there are people who do have this problem, and there is really nothing I can do to help them...I'm not writing for them. I'm not writing to be theologically correct, biblically correct or historically correct...I'm not writing to be correct at all (this might be the core of my brother's issue). I'm writing a story that my head can no longer contain and if I don't get it out it's going to drive me mad. I'm exploring a world like ours, but slightly different. And if someone else happens to like it and wants to read along, that's great!

Not all my characters are going to get their happily ever after ending. Not even all platonic friendships will get a happy ending.  And some of them are really going to have to work for it.

I was just perusing Facebook and came across a meme that fits this subject. "So many men think women want money, cars and gifts. But the right woman wants: a man's time, effort, passion, honesty, loyalty, smile, and him choosing to put her as his priority." I know that this has been my main complaint from time to time in the past when Mr. Janney ignored me for his gaming. He's gotten better at that. There has to be a balance in any relationship, and that balance can change at any given moment depending on a partner's changing needs. This truth is reflected in many romance novels, at least the ones I read. It's not about what the guy can do for the girl, it's about the time and the effort.

And since 50% of the worlds population are "chicks", why shouldn't there be a genre of literature for us? I don't like the crime series my brother does. I tried, but I just don't. But that's ok, because those books aren't aimed at me. If it suits my brother's taste, then that's fine as those books are obviously geared for him and like minded readers. All genres of literature are equal. None is better than another. We just each have different tastes and preferences. I'm sure there are men out there that enjoy a good romance novel, I just don't know where they are!

Don't discourage people to read. Ever. It's not cool. It's not up to you to decide whether someone else will like a book.

End rant. Thanks for reading.

Traveling Woman by Robin Janney

Most of the time, I live my entire life in one little square county of Pennsylvania. Monday through Friday I get up and go to work, maybe stop at Walmart on the way home from work and go to bed.  With varying mundane chores in between; and walking my dog.

But since my last short post, I have probably traveled close to 2000 miles outside of my little corner of the universe.  Part of the reason why I'm posting so late, actually at the start of Carol's week, is I'm just plain exhausted even though I've been home since Tuesday.

The "Big Chair" of Thomasville!

The first trip was to Thomasville North Carolina for my Aunt Pat's funeral.  I'm very grateful that my work allowed me to take the time off for this trip, even though aunts (and uncles) don't technically qualify for bereavement leave.

The different ceremonies for my aunt were spread across three days, rather than the usual two.  Mostly because of scheduling at the National Cemetery where she was to be laid to rest.  So late Monday afternoon, after the funeral and the meal that followed, my immediate family and I were left to our own devices.  We didn't want to just sit around, so after some discussion (and finding out what was opened and closed) we ventured into Thomasville in search of the "Big Chair" which as you can see in the photo, we found.  Pretty impressive, even if it does seem strange.  But then, the area's claim to fame is their furniture so I guess it's understandable.

Managed to sneak myself into this one!

Across the road from the big chair, was a pretty fountain and a small clock tower.  We wandered across, and decided to wait to see if it would chime on the hour like the internet said it should.  Of course, we took the opportunity for another photo...or two.

It was a lot of walking for my mother, who walks with a cane, but we managed to keep up with her.  Still, I don't think any of us minded waiting for the top of the hour.

And then when nothing happened, and we started to leave...the darn thing started chiming!  About two minutes past what the clock face said was six o'clock!

After this, we wandered down to the caboose they had sitting on a retired track.  We have one in our town, but this seemed something special since it wasn't...well, wasn't home.  Of course, more pictures followed. 

Antics like this is probably why the town cop kept driving through the center of town real casual like.

There wasn't much else to do after that, so we returned to our rooms for the evening.

After my aunt's internment, my husband and I started the long trip back home.  For the most part, it was uneventful, although we did drive by a tractor trailer accident not to long after it happened.

It was heavier traffic than what either one of us were used to, although according to another brother since we were still moving it wasn't that bad.  Still, we detoured into Fancy Gap, Virginia for a while.  Just to get off the highway and find some breathing room.  Thankfully the rest of the trip was uneventful and we found ourselves home shortly after one in the morning.

Life returned to usual for a few days, and then Mother, my younger sister and I were off in the opposite direction.  North. To Rochester, New York.

First we stopped along the way and picked up one of my brothers, then we headed to Rochester.  To see a specialist for my mother.  She's  been plagued with bladder problems for years and our local specialists no longer have much to offer and they sent her to Strong Memorial Hospital for a second opinion.  And all that ended up happening this trip was the doctor ordering a test Mother has never had done before (which sounds really uncomfortable).  I'm not sure yet whether I'll be able to accompany her in April, but at least my brother and sister are up to speed and could step in just in case.

After lunch, which took longer than expected due to a new waitress, we took a few minutes to relax and site see since we were in another new locale.  My brother found us a waterfall in the middle of the city to look at, so off we went!

High Falls.

HIgh Falls, Genesee River, Rochester NY

Which felt a thousand times higher than what it was.

Pont De Rennes Bridge, from whence the previous picture was taken.

Now, I only made is about halfway across this pedestrian walkway.  Walking down the middle, only looking at my feet or straight out to the left or right, never downish.  I began repeating to myself that "I've been higher. I've been higher."  Indeed, I managed to look down from the top observatory in the Empire States Building in New York City.  This should have been cakewalk.

I did manage to get to the edge of the bridge to take a picture or two.  I never did look straight down even then though.  My body was shaking by the time I got back to where my mother was sitting on one of the many benches they have on the bridge.  It felt to me like the entire bridge was shaking when groups of people would pass.

The rainbow

Still, I managed to stay in control and didn't freak out.  I walked out, took my pictures and enjoyed the view, and then walked back when I decided I had enough.  Even managed to see a rainbow in the falls spray!  And if you look in the background of the first picture of the falls, we were lucky enough to be there when a long train was passing over.

Mother stayed the rest of the week with  my brother, who kindly brought her home today.  I'm not sure I had another trip in me.  I like traveling, although the pre-trip is anxiety-ridden (did I pack everything I need? Where am I going?), but I sure do like landing back at home in my own trailer, in my own bed.

There truly is no place like home.

Although, husband and I are already planning a trip across country.  Hey, nothing wrong with dreaming and planning a few years in advance!

Hope everyone's had a great weekend and may your week be a good one.

Living the Busy Life by Robin Janney

I had to do some  investigating when I saw that our last post was a late one from myself.  I realized late last night that I hadn't done my post last week, and was surprised to see that CP missed her week as well.  I know from her Facebook posts that she's been busy: graduations and weddings have filled her days as well as formatting her latest work Overcoming Sarah into a proper format for paperback.

I think I needed to come up with 2 sets of 3 for this hand...
didn't have the greatest start, but I've seen worse!

Trying to think back on what I did last week to lose track of time and turns.  And I'm not really sure!  Friday and Sunday night were card night at my in-laws.  A while back, my mother-in-law decided it would be a good idea for the four of us to play cards on Friday night.  Sometimes we play just one round, other times we get in two.  Last weekend we played cards on Sunday night as well since the two of us who work had Monday off.  It's always fun, even when the cards don't go my way.  One night we made homemade ice cream while we were playing cards!  Usually we don't have any snacks at all.

Monday was Memorial Day and my side of the family celebrated as usual by a having a picnic.  This year we were at the Waverly Glen park just over the NY border.  My maternal grandparents are buried in the cemetery that borders the pretty little park.  I was trying to stay out of the sunshine because a medicine I was on carried a sensitivity warning, so I didn't get any pictures of the water fall that graces the park...although I still managed to get a slight sunburn anyway!

Then of course it was back to work on Tuesday.  And really it's kind of a blur.  I know I had a doctor's appointment Thursday afternoon, after which we hit the Toyota dealers to ask about a metal piece we thought had maybe come off our truck (it wasn't ours!) and then to step into Mr. Janney's doctors so we could ask about his stitches.  No one ever told us they were the dissolving kind and so that was another relief.

One of my husband's attic finds; he placed it in my computer area :) I love the
creative ambiance it adds!!

There is a yard sale coming up next Saturday and there've been a few days our focus has been sorting and cleaning and deciding what to keep and what to sell...and there'll be more of that this week.

Mr. Janney also took the opportunity to rearrange the computer room one day while I was at work as well - he needs to take it easy still, only 3 weeks after his surgery, but he's getting antsy.  I forget which night we went up to his parents and helped go through their attic.  Mr. Janney found a few things he's been looking for, although I'm still not sure if he's keeping or selling the stand up pin ball machine in the yard sale.

One evening we were called up to help my mother do a quick cleaning job to make room for a new couch in her living room. I think it was the same day as the doctor's appointment because I remember coming home and my smartphone connected to wifi and I had all these messages from people and a bunch were from my mother!  It was a quick job, but still managed to take up a large portion of the evening due to the conversation that took place!

You'd never know a storm had went
through  minutes before this pic.
Stephen Foster Lake at Mt Pisgah State Park

This weekend my husband and I tried to go swimming at an area pool, but the weather wouldn't cooperate.  I'd barely gotten changed into my bikini when it thundered and the pool closed...we had to wait until 20 minutes after the last thunder before it would reopen.  We hung around for a while, and had been in the pool for maybe five minutes before the next storm made itself known.  This time we took off to find a spot to picnic at while it rained.

Our only visitors; they made a little noise but not much.

We found an empty pavilion and hoped the ones who had reserved it for the day had either already come and gone or were coming later...we got lucky, no one showed up and told us to leave.  We ate in peaceful nature, with a gorgeous view and a few animal visitors.  But the threat of more thunderstorm shut the pool down for the rest of the afternoon so our swimming was over.  Which was frustrating because none of my doctors want me walking for exercise and instead would rather I swim.  Which will be hard to do with this being the only free swimming pool that I know of in our area.  The fact that I can't actually swim aside.  At the least, I can 'walk' in the pool without creating stress on my torn foot tendon.

Today we are just relaxing.  My Janney is playing his GTA 5 and Clash of Clans.  I'm catching up on laundry and computer stuff.  What have you all been up to in these past few summer-like weekends?

A Grateful Heart by Robin Janney

Sara and me <3

The past week or so has been particularly rough for my younger sister.  Some of you may know her only through her picture Carol posted from our last girl's night to the right.

She and I don't always get along, but sisters are sisters no matter what.  So when she approached me one morning at work and asked for a hug, I knew something was wrong.

The price of dinner...

The night before, she had stopped at our local McDonald's and while she was inside the restaurant, someone backed into the rear of her jeep.  And it had completely shattered the back window.  When I got a chance to see it, I saw that a bit more damage had been done than that...broken taillights and a dented bumper are still minor to the busted window.

At least she was able to get insurance information from the offending driver...and $10 towards her diner.

But her bad luck held.

Thursday afternoon I got a phone call from my mother asking if I would come help her at Sara's place with some last minute cleaning before an important meeting.  I figured I'd go, at the least I might get treated to dinner as a thank you.  No, it's not my mess but sometimes we all need help getting out of messes we've made.

As Mom and I were sitting at Sara's home, waiting for her, there was a knock on my window.  Which startled the poo outa me.  But anyway, it was a woman from the veterinarian clinic next to my sister's and she had a message from Sara - 'she was ok, but she'd had an accident and they were taking her to the ER just to get checked out and could we pick her up from there?'  Once we survived the message, Mom and I traveled to the ER only to discover that we had beaten her there!

So we waited some more.  Made some phone calls.  Including my sister just to see if she had her phone with her and if she'd be able to answer it.  She did and she was.

Sara was released from the ER close to 2 hours later and we got to hear the whole story.  She had stopped at the Dollar General after work, and she was trying to make up that time in a hurry to get home.  She was very anxious about the meeting, which has been moved to Monday.  So even though it's a road she travels everyday, and even speeds on everyday, something about this day was different and as she turned through a slight curve she lost control of her vehicle and then overcompensated.  Off the road she went and got up close and personal with a tree.

Her worst injuries...

Sara got off lucky.  Her worst injuries are the cuts and bruises you see in the picture to the left.  They're from the air bag or maybe the steering wheel; she's not really sure.

Her jeep did not fair as well, but jeeps are replaceable and humans are not.  We are all very grateful that Sara was not badly injured even though the loss of the jeep is a hardship.

Busted back axle.

Fender damage

The part that kissed the tree

Full frontal view, lack of anything witty to say...

Pulled the drive shaft out of the transmission.
And those are her feet

My sister's learned a few valuable lessons from this experience.  Don't speed.  Don't drive around with a messy vehicle.  Don't eat at McDonald's...just kidding, I don't think she'll ever abstain from the restaurant.

Even though the weather is nice and we don't have to worry about snow-slicked roads, I want to remind everyone that nothing is worth speeding for.  Unless you're in labor, but I don't know anything about that.  Or if you're being chased by evil doers. I am just as guilty as Sara, but I've been watching my speed more.  It's hard when 'keeping with traffic' means going 75mph or getting out of the way so they can pass you at 5am.  I've been driving our pickup recently and I haven't figured out the cruise control on it and so I've been going faster than I did with our car which is parked waiting for rotor work.

I just wish I could convince my husband of this truth!  But that's another story.

Sometimes you don't know how much a person means to you until they're gone or they've had a close call with serious injury.  Appreciate your loved ones, and let them know you care.  Make that phone call, write that letter.  One day it will be too late.

When the Other Shoe Drops by Robin Janney

In the six years my husband and I have been together, we have lost a lot of loved ones.  In what feels like rapid succession.

Even though Mr. Janney is an only child, he really does come from a family as large as my own.  And as I was telling my mother, when you have a family as large as ours, there are going to be times when they seem to die in droves.

And that doesn't make it any easier.

In fact, it seems to multiply and prolong the grief.

A quick tallying tells me that he and I have easily lost a dozen or more loved ones.  In six years.  It is no wonder we've battled so much depression.

And we lost another one just last night.  We lost Uncle Chuck last March, a brother to my father-in-law.  Last night we lost his remaining brother, Uncle Jeff.

We knew at Christmas that Uncle Jeff wasn't feeling well, he didn't even come to Christmas dinner.  He was hospitalized shortly after the new year came into being.  He didn't have a good heart, and he had leukemia as well.  He was also mentally challenged and had the mentality of maybe a five or six year old, which sometimes caused complications with his medication because he just didn't understand he was only supposed to take one chemo pill a day!  That wasn't the issue this time around thankfully, but this time didn't turn out well, obviously.

Early in his hospitalization he had a heart attack.  It was so bad that his heart actually stopped beating for about two minutes.   They were able to bring him back, but he didn't bounce back.  He just kept becoming weaker and weaker.  He wouldn't eat, and something had caused an infection.  And ever since, my husband and I have been waiting for the news to come that came last night.

And just because you know that other shoe is going to drop, doesn't make it any easier when it does.

Unfortunately, my work place does not give grievance days for uncles (unless things have changed since my Uncle Eddie died a few years back and no one's told me) so I was a little weepy as I drove in this morning.  I probably will be for a few days.  So forgive me for keeping this short this week, and I apologize for it being late.  I had another post started, but decided to save until another time.

In my final words today, I just want to say: life is too short - live, love, forgive the petty crap.

Until next time, peace.

Better Late Than Never - By Robin Janney

And then there is that moment, when you look at the blog schedule and realize..."Oh yeah, it was my week to post something!" and the week is almost over.

I'm usually all on top of that kind of stuff, but even my mother's birthday snuck up on me this year and that's been the same date since before I was born!

Of course, with the pressure on...my mind is completely blank.  But apparently it's been on the blank side all week!

The road goes ever on and on,
down from the door where it began....

But, my trip to my mother's last night gave me a bit of inspiration.  Another thing I have in common with my writing cohort, is photography.  Although I am nowhere near Carol's caliber, I love taking pictures!  My hands are so shaky any more, I'm lucky to get whatever good shots I can.

Lucky shot

With the invention of the digital camera, especially in camera phones, it's a lot easier to take pictures and have them 'developed' than it used to be.  All a girl has to do it point her phone at some pretty fall leaves, click and then upload to Facebook.  Well, if she's on Wi-Fi - it doesn't eat data up that way.

I have two tricks to get good pictures with my cellphone.  One of the things I love about my new cellphone is how quickly it can take pictures.  I can take several in rapid succession; which gives me some great Google AutoAwesome pictures by the way.  So one of my methods is to take several shots all at once and hope one of them is good enough to upload and share.  Sometimes I get lucky with a single shot, if I'm careful to keep my hands halfway steady.

The view out my back door...

The second trick is to use the video setting on the phone and then watch it, pausing at the spots I want and take a screen shot.  That was how I was able to get pictures from out my back door.  I just swept my phone slowly along the ridge, then snapped some screen shots.

I still have to look up to get the view, but it's worth it!

I learned the video trick from one of my husband's relatives while at a family reunion.  It was a large reunion, and there were a lot of people there and I don't even remember this teen's name.  He had commented on my iPhone's  casing, which was 'custom made' as it was pieces from two different sets.

It's a good time of year to be snapping pictures anyway.  Not that there is ever a bad time.  But with the fall colors creeping in, far too quickly, the mountains and the country roads are breathtaking.  So much color here.  I probably have scores of pictures of fall foliage, both in Facebook albums and in physical photographs.

My Jaclyn

I also like to take pictures of my animals.  I wish that camera's on cellphones were more common when my Little Bear was still alive.  I would have so many more pictures of her!  She was a special dog, and I credit her with saving my life during a very dark time in my life.  But that's okay.  It's not just my own animals I'll snap pictures of.  I have no problem snapping pictures of my mother's animals too.

Mother's cat - Fuchsias

My brother's dog Buddy, who is more mother's dog...

Mother's cat is a bit spoiled.  He was named by her one grandson and so his name is a bit different.  Think the color Fuchsia and pluralize it.  We're not sure where he came up with that name, or what it meant in his young head.  But it stuck, even though the cat is clearly yellow and not pink!  And he was male before mother took him to the vet.  And he is most definitely Mother's cat.  He doesn't like her grandsons' playing with him, and will tolerate us other grownups petting him.  He'll curl right up on Mom's lap though and sleep with her through most nights.

I'm not sure what to tell you about poor Buddy.  He was brought home by my youngest brother as a pup (look Mom, can I keep him?), who then later moved out and left the purebred coon dog with mother.  He'll run away looking for his master, even though he loves Mother and is clearly her dog as much as the cat.

Believe it or not, there is a deer in the picture...
All the way down where the sunshine is...
Honest...

As I was leaving my mother's last night, I had my phone's camera open and ready in case my suspicions were correct:  when I walked down to get mother's mail and newspaper, I took my phone with me to grab some fall shots; when I lowered it, I happened to see movement in the distance - a deer crossing the road.  So when I left a little bit later, I was hoping it would still be there when I drove by.  And was I ever right...and then some!  I got a few stills, but then decided that wasn't good enough and switched to video.  They cooperated for longer than I thought they would.




And last but not least, I managed to snag some pretty cool sunset pictures as well.  I'll leave you on that note, hoping you've enjoyed a slice of my life in pics.

a bit of heavenly fire

or heaven's gold, if you prefer

AutoAwesome rocks...

Confessions of this Married Writer by Robin Janney

My first confession is that I've been a slacker this week.  I haven't posted on my own blog, and have put off working on this post until today.

The three day weekend last weekend had a lot to do with it, because my husband had all three days off.  And let me tell you, there is no getting any writing when he is home.  Not because he bothers me, just because I set it to the side so I can spend time with him.

Clare Dunn opening for Parmalee

Saturday, we decided to go to the Kiwanis Wyoming County Fair even though we knew it meant sacrificing our grocery money for the week.  Thankfully, it didn't matter because we had enough already so that it wasn't an issue (although I did have to end up using my change to buy a loaf of bread). My husband has such a good heart; one of his co-workers has been down in the dumps so my husband decided to invite him to go with us.  I walked waaaaay too much on my foot that won't heal, even sitting down on benches here and there.  But I got to eat Triton pizza and later had homemade ice cream.  We ran short on time after the concert, so we missed out on funnel cake this year.

One thing I like about this fair is that their concert area is in this little bowl in the land.  They fill the bottom part with chairs, but they let people bring in their own chairs and sit on the side of the banks for a cheaper price.  It used to be $5, but this year it was raised to $10.  Still a good deal.  Three years ago they had the Roots and Boots Tour: Aaron Tippin, Sammy Kershaw and Joe Diffie.  Unfortunately, there was a bad thunderstorm that blew up and rained us out an hour into the show. :/ That didn't happen this year with Clare Dunn and Parmalee. While it sounded to hubby and me that their sound was off (screechy) we still enjoyed the songs.

Parmalee

The second coming?

Oh, there they are!

Sadly, sitting on the bank means that the pictures my phone will take are less than stellar.  But that didn't stop me from taking them.  :)

Which leads me into another confession I guess.  I love taking pictures.  Which is something my husband finds amusing, unless I'm trying to take a picture of him.  The handsome lad doesn't like his picture taken because he thinks he's ugly!  It's far from true, but sometimes how we view ourselves isn't anything close to how others view us.  Neither view is 100% accurate, is it?

But as long as I'm not aiming at him, he doesn't care.  In fact when we were in the fair's southern field, about five minutes too late for the Big Cats show, he laughed when I pulled my phone out to capture what pics I could of the gorgeous animals.  "I knew that was coming out!" he said.  Even though we missed the 'show' we still got to see animals we'd never seen before. It was quite exciting.

Meow Meow

Meow

Meow Meow Meooooow!

What can I say?  The majesty of these big cats speak for themselves. Though caged, they still have this regal bearing that says: "I'm only tolerating this because you're shoving chunks of meat through the cage to me."  I can only hope that when they're not on the road being shown, that they have a bigger home than the cages we saw.  Part of me hates that they're caged, but another part of me recognizes that without the cages, I would never have been able to see them.

Well, that covers day one of the three day weekend, you say.  What about Sunday and Monday? you ask.

Sunday, I still wasn't feeling well from a stomach bug that had been bothering me for over a week and from overdoing it at the fair (I didn't even mention the Tough Truck Competition because I didn't get pictures).  So I pretty much bummed it.  All I really remember doing is a lot of reading.

Which leads me into confession number three.  This should be no surprise to any of you readers out there.  I have more books than what I know what to do with, but that doesn't stop me from buying more.  From the library last week, I picked up two paperbacks for fifty cents a piece (and am eyeing more): The Stand by Stephen King and The King of Torts by John Grisham.  I've never read any of Grisham's books, and while I've read some of his short stories, I've never read a King novel either.  I'm usually hesitant about trying out authors I'm not familiar with, but I've been feeling the need to expand my horizons recently.  For fifty cents, you really can't lose.  AND, while at the fair, I picked up two more!  The Green Mile, another Stephen King, and Vision In Death by J.D. Robb.  I love love love the book stall at the fair! :)

And that's not all.  I recently bought Breathe of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann.  I don't read Christian fiction much anymore unless I want something light to read because much of it lacks a certain energy.  What I've read of Kristen's has that missing energy other works seem to lack. I've been trying to read that at the same time as reading The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan, but Shadow has been demanding my full attention.  Sucks me right in, every time.

Mage Ciera without her armor

Monday...well, uhm, see this is a hard confession.  I'm not the level of gamer that my hubby is.  Not much for Xbox, although I can play a decent game of Halo Wars (better if he's on too giving me 'orders') and I like Hexic (think Bejewled Blitz).  But I love the online role playing game RuneScape.  Monday, hubby was on his account and well, I can't exactly let him get too far ahead of me now can I?

Sitting in the same room, on separate computers, it's not uncommon for us to ask each other "Where are you?"  We had our characters in different places in the beginning, but ended up in the same dungeon room killing zombies and crawlers. And picking up whatever loot the other players let go.  I leveled up my Herblore almost ten levels by cleaning the herbs left behind by other players' kills.  They snooze, they lose.

Just like in real life, somehow I ended up making sure hubby, or rather his character, had enough to eat.  Those critters fight back, and if you're not paying attention you can kick the bucket.  And then he needed bowstring for a bow he wanted to make and he was going to buy it from the games "Grand Exchange" and I'm like, "No, no, no!!  I have some I can give you!  Don't buy any!"  Apparently he's forgotten where the flax fields are and how to make bowstrings.  Just a silly game, but it's fun and relaxing (except when others don't play nice).  As I was reading the Wikipedia article I linked above, I was amused to discover that there has been three fantasy novels written based on the game.  Why not?

Tuesday is a bit of a blur.  I didn't do much of anything fun.  Dishes.  Which is five minutes on my feet, and ten off, which can make doing dishes quite the ordeal if I've let them pile up like I did over the weekend.  I'm so bad.

Today, my mother and I went on a road trip of sorts.  My foot doctor has ordered Orthodic inserts for my shoes and the place he sent me to is in Johnson City, New York.  It's roughly an hour from my home, traffic and road work permitting.  Road work did not permit today and I was about fifteen minutes late.  :|  For an appointment that maybe lasted fifteen minutes.  If that.  All he really did was take down my info, look at both my naked feet and them make impressions of both in blue foam.  I get to go back in three weeks.  Praying that my insurance covers it, because otherwise that'll be a nice bill of $420!!  Yikes!

After that, I decided to splurge a little and take my mom out to eat.  I found a Friendly's to stop at.  Which the booth mom and I sat at had mirrors behind my mom, so out came the phone again to take pics.

Trying not to laugh too hard at me

My mom...I <3 her...

Food was good, the sundaes even better!  They give you these huge plates to make you think you're getting a lot, but you're not really.  You're just getting a normal portion.  I can't say the same about the five scoop sundaes we had.  Those were niiiice...

Those are the best confessions I can come up with.  Not exactly earth-shattering, or entirely shocking in same cases.  But enough to let you know what this crazy writer has been up to recently.  I'll be getting back on the ball tomorrow and back to proofing book number two.  I'm getting so itchy about wanting to release it!  But I can't yet, not until I weed out as many typos as I can find!  And touch up a few weak spots.  Once I've finished my present going through, and have made all the corrections, I'm going to upload the file and get my proof copy and then read through that one to make sure I've gotten as much as I can...again!  I'll never be 100% satisfied, but I'll reach the "confident enough" level after I've done that much.

But I'll leave you with a teaser of the cover as I ask you, "What did you do for Labor Day?"

Coming soon, I promise!!