Day: September 5, 2022

TMP — Morning News

Fandango22 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. My peeve today is more of an annoying observation than a peeve.

I’m a newspaper man. No, I was never a reporter or a journalist. In fact, other that having a newspaper delivery route when I was a kid, I’ve never been employed by a newspaper. But I’ve always liked reading the newspaper while I’ve enjoyed my morning coffee.

In fact, everywhere I’ve ever lived, I’ve subscribed to the local newspaper. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe. Yes, we moved around a lot.

A dozen years ago, we moved to San Francisco, and I immediately subscribed to the San Francisco Chronicle. I have to admit that, for a “big city” newspaper, I was underwhelmed. But, when in Rome, as they say.

When we first moved here, the Monday thru Saturday editions had four sections. Section A: national and international news. Section B: local and business news. Section C: sports. Section D: entertainment, comics, and puzzles. And that worked great for me and my wife. I could read the sports and business sections while she had entertainment and puzzles to herself.

But the newspaper business has changed considerably in the last dozen years. Now the Chronicle has only two sections. The front section is national, international, local, and business news, and opinions and editorials. And the second section is sports, entertainment, and puzzles. And that means that I can’t read my sports section at the same time my wife is doing her crossword puzzles.

And that’s my observation (and my minor peeve) for today.

Blogging Insights — Finger Exercises

Fandango6 Comments

It’s Monday and Dr. Tanya is back with her weekly Blogging Insights prompt. She provides us with a quote about blogging or writing and asks us to express our opinion about said quote.

This week’s quote is from American novelist Kate Christensen.

“Sometimes I think of blogging as finger exercises for a violinist; sometimes I think of it as mulching a garden. It is incredibly useful and helpful to my ‘real’ writing.”

Were I a professional writer or novelist, as is Kate Christensen, I might be able to relate to this quote. However, the only writing I do is when I’m blogging. Thus, blogging, for me, is neither finger exercises nor garden mulching. Blogging is my “real” writing.

Share Your World — 09/05/2022

Fandango19 Comments
Share Your World

Di, at Pensitivity101, continues to serve as our host for Share Your World while Melanie, at Sparks from a Combustible Mind, continues her recuperation.

1. Do you prefer tea, coffee or juice first thing in the morning?

As I sit at my kitchen table trading my morning newspaper and enjoying my first cup of coffee of the day, the obvious answer is ☕️.

2. When it comes to food, what is your favorite smell?

I’d say bacon comes first, popcorn next, and freshly baked bread after that.

3. Do you prefer a take-out or to dine in a restaurant?

I prefer dining in, but I haven’t dined in at a restaurant since March of 2020. Well, unless you count yesterday, when my wife and I drove into relatively cool San Francisco to escape the triple digit heat where we live and met our daughter and her fiancé at a restaurant for brunch. We sat at an outdoor patio at the back of the restaurant, so I’m not sure if that’s considered dining in, but it wasn’t take-out.

4. If you are hosting a party, do you prepare the food yourself, get caterers in, or ask everyone to bring something for the table?

If we are hosting a small group, we will likely prepare most of the food ourselves, but if it’s a larger group (i.e., six or more), we will encourage others to bring something for the table.

Gratitude: What has been the highlight of your week this week?

I’m grateful, as the high temperature today is forecast to hit 113°F today, that the faulty control board on my whole house generator was replaced on Friday, so that in the event of a power outage today, which is likely, my generator will kick in and my air conditioning (and refrigerator/freezer) will continue to function.

Cellpic Sunday — 09/04/22

Fandango16 Comments

John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. I thought this might be fun so I decided to join in.

Let me start out by saying that I know today is not Sunday and it is also not September 4th. That said, I ran out of time and/or bandwidth yesterday, but I figured better late than never, so here is my Cellpic Sunday Monday — 09/0405/22.

This photo was taken using my iPhone two days ago. It is a part of the waterfall I installed in my backyard in 2020.

The reason I took this photo is because I noticed that there are green, grass-like thingies growing right from the large stone in the center of the picture. Below is a blow up to help you see them better.

Do you see those grasses growing from the rock? Cool, huh? Well, I found it fascinating, anyway.

If you wish to participate in this fun cellphone photo prompt, please click on the link to John’s post at the top of my post to see his photo and to read his instructions.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #183

Fandango14 Comments

Welcome to Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is unattributed.

For the visually challenged writer, the image shows a woman standing in an eerie forest and her arms transition into bare limbs of a tree and her lower torso into a tree trunk with long roots spreading out across the ground .

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.