News for June 2020 from Betsyanne at the Garden Spot. Many updates!

Hello, Friends and Blog Followers. I have missed writing here!

My favorite photo from yesterday's walk.

My new normal right now (in the midst of the CoronaVirus Crisis) includes:

1. Ordering food from an online service (InstaCart, and mostly Kroger, although there are other stores I have also tried...)

2. Cooking - a lot!

3. Trimming and doing yard work - a must! Trying to do this at least 2 times a week. Because if I don't, well, there are more consequences than just "delayed yard maintenance". Like snakes unwanted wildlife.

Rickey on the path.

4. Going on walks (as much as possible) - and taking photos there.

5. Organizing and posting books and more (online) - also a lot!

6. Going through papers and boxes, washing masks...

7. Writing - joined an online Writing Group for inspiration.

8. Hopefully starting back with my art.

9. Making discoveries - about myself and in boxes...

and

10. Updating blogs and websites. This will take awhile!

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Looking through the branches.

Posted throughout this blog posting are some photos of a recent walk Rickey and I did at Lost River Cave on their Greenway path.

I have discovered (not surprisingly...) that I still love to write and love to do art. Cooking - well, it does have a smidgen of creativity to it at times. The Creativity of Cooking story I've heard before does have some truth to it. I've been told I'm a creative genius at making something out of nothing, which is a genuinely useful skill especially right now. A chef I am not, but maybe a cook.

Our cat, Braxton, who I swear had a "feral" sign on his cage at the shelter, has gotten better. (Rickey does not remember this sign...) We don't get attacked as much. He sometimes will obey us. We have been using lots of treats and give him a lot of alone time in his own room, which he has taken away from Rickey for now.

My daughter has moved to a nearby town and we get a glimpse of them now and then. We make some book and etc. deliveries to them occasionally.

I am connecting by writing letters too, to relatives and friends, and hope to do more of that.

I hope you are all doing well and staying safe. Look for more news and photos soon.

Adding: There is so much to update about.  <NOTE: I have taken all but one of the ads off of here, and it may take a day or two for them to stop annoyingly blocking my text. Argh. I switch over to the "New Blogger" soon. will try it out later.>

Onward and Upward!

Betsyanne

And be sure to visit my other blogs and sites:

My selling site: The Best Books and Collectibles

The Nontraditional Student website and The Nontraditional Student blog

My Idea Notebook -- re-doing books, writing, more.

How are your ideas going? Great, I hope.

Here are 3 ideas I personally will be looking at and doing today.

I realize that everyone has ideas and things they want to do. It's the DOING them that can be hard, at least for me. I need motivation, and because I do not have a Trainer or a Motivator on staff, that person needs to be ME.

This week:

1. I plan to get my Favorite (and FREE) websites and links book done again. This will be Edition 2, and will cost either 99 cents, $2.00, or $4.00.

I have found some GREAT and free art sites and they really help with things like this blog.

This will be my first e-book. I hope to put it on Amazon for sale. If not, I will sell it on my blogs and websites. OR do both.

2. I will start writing in my Idea Notebook. This is a book like a diary, which I bought to streamline my daily To-Do lists and make each day a Day of Accomplishment. I will carry it with me like my Calendar, and put OTHER things on there to make me realize I am doing a LOT and getting things done. Good luck to me on that, I say. (haha) But the thought is good. The idea is good. Now to do it. It has been 3 weeks since I bought it and the pages and blank. NOW TODAY I will start using it.

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3. I will try to post at least once a week on ALL my blogs. This is a big endeavor, but one I think will be good for my writing, AND good for my to-do list also.

 Have you read "On Writing" by Stephen King? It's great.

Here is a link in case you want to check it out:



I myself do NOT have the 10th Anniversary copy! I need to put it on my WANT list.

Onward and Upward!

 

 

 

 

And be sure to visit a few (or maybe one) of my other blogs and sites:

My selling site: The Best Books and Collectibles

My personal and business blog: The Betsyanne website

The Nontraditional Student website and The Nontraditional Student blog

Become an Author - on Firefox News

There is a new place for writers. I found it yesterday. It's called Firefox News. They want writers to write on their new site. PLUS they give the new writers 99 percent of the Adsense revenue on the site.

This is WAY more than most places give. Most places only give you 50% (if anything...)

Here is a blurb straight from the site:

"Become an Author

Firefox News is currently welcoming new writers. If you are interested in writing articles about the entertainment industry, if you want to blog about subjects of interest to SF fandom or if you want a home for your fiction, we're looking for you."

none

CLICK HERE to find out more.

Getting 401 Organized...

I finally got my 401 folders up. Good news! Our fourth group member has signed on and our group is ready to do our first chat session soon.

Next to find my copy of "On Writing" by Steven King. I already bought it and it's somewhere in my books. I may have to buy another one if I don't find it tomorrow.

Lamott was excellent ("Bird by Bird"). You can tell she has been at writing a very long time. She's not too stuck on herself either. I need to look up who her writer father was. Probably somebody famous everyone else knows.

My puzzles didn't come out right - something about the spacing yesterday. I was going to post them again, but ran out of time today. Tomorrow I do a speech about my life - luckily it only has to be two minutes long! Just watched "Lost" on ABC - some pretty intense mind games seem to be going on. My take: the people are on a different world - on a strange planet, complete with a flying alien beast who can control minds. This would explain why the French girl was never rescued and why the ship's hatch can't be opened. And is the compass broken or is North really in a different place? How fun.

I trimmed one pot (the cut-out candleholder) and mashed the tall candle holder. Then I threw a decent brown clay bowl though, but forgot to put it on a bat so it warped a bit when I used the lifters to get it on my shelf. Diane told me about adding sand to the clay to make it more stable so I'll try that next time. All in all, a very satisfactory work day. It's about time I started back potting; it's like writing. All I had to do is start.

Some more advice from Dr. Judith I just remembered: Don't submit your posts double-spaced - that makes the reader have to scroll too much. I just read the Course Calendar for 401 - there are more assignments there I hadn't noticed at first glance.

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Other news: We saved a lot on insurance today! NOT GEIKO though... Since my daughter Jackie is officially listed as not living here, our car insurance took a deep dive. Mom did some pottery today! I get to wedge clay Saturday too.

Friday: Indian food buffet at the new downtown restaurant! I can't wait! Southern Indian food complete with nan and puris. The spices in Indian food are good for you, including the curry spices.

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Time to make speech cards for tomorrow and check 352, Diversity pages. Read Chapter One today and typed it up. I notice Chucky has made headway on his personal folder in 401. Thanks, Chucky, for putting an "Extra Credit" section on there. I had forgotten to do that.

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Creative Non-Fiction!!!! Our first class meeting

We had our first meeting with our professor, Dr. Judith, today. She pronounced her last name and said we didn't have to use it. Good thing - but I'm used to learning unusual names. I think I wrote it down phonetically so it should be OK. But I think she likes Dr. Judith best.

Dr. Judith doesn't want people to worry about the class. She said we could all do well if we just try our best. AND we aren't to have our feelings hurt if she says some blunt things about our writing. I will just steel myself to just taking the bluntness because I want to know the truth, no matter how it hurts.

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It was great fun listening to Lesa Dill today - she teaches Descriptive Linguistics. She says this class is a lot easier face to face -- and she wouldn't do it online if she didn't have to. Luckily, we are face to face. She is so funny - I like the fact that we won't have to shlog through the snow to come next month. Maybe...

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I will keep this blog for a daily journal and post a link to it on the website I will be making. I think I'll make a NEW first page and just link to my business page. That makes sense because I only have two things on my Ebay site right now - 2 Star Trek tapes.
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I think people are nervous about the CNF (Creative Non-Fiction) class but I don't think the people who came to the F-to-F (face-to-face) meeting will drop the class. I AM worried about our other group member - a little bee told me that his mailbox may be full. THEN I went to the WKU site and looked up his name under "Students" to find his phone number - they didn't have him listed. Darn.
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Next on the agenda for this class: a SCHEDULE for our group. That will make it easier for us - we can know when to post our stories and when to read them, etc.
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The land line phone is buzzing here at home instead of making that nice, normal d-e-e-e-e-p dial tone -- and I will have to move the crystal on the bookshelf in order to get behind and inspect the phone plug-in. I guess I'll do that tomorrow.

Tomorrow is The Pots Place time - 10-2 - and I trim my pots after 2:00. I will type up my notes there and get my folders in shape - ALSO must type up a 2 minute speech about myself. Blech.
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This is kind of fun, blogging. I went to the "other blogs" link and saw some GREAT blogs. Some have even won awards!!
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I guess this is mostly stream-of-consciousness right now... it's funny how many things we human beings handle in a day... OH - Dr. Davison asked me how I felt when my table group did the horse and rider puzzle today - the truth was, I was very pleased with myself for seeing how the puzzle went so quickly. :-) It was just my day.

Londa was right when she said we were lucky. I usually don't do that well on puzzles. I used to draw mazes though for fun and did some for my high school paper. I may have seen something like it once.

That reminds me.. I need to find that great book. Just went into the bedroom to search the bookshelves. Here it is! The Encyclopedia of Puzzles and Pastimes. What a great book. OK.. here's a riddle:

Stand oath
__u__ ur

It's pretty easy, really. "You understand you are under oath."

(from that great book, I'll call it EPP). Aren't those fun?
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Here's another one:

Stand__take____to__ taking
__I____ you__ throw __my

"I understand you undertake to overthrow my undertaking."

Isn't that GREAT???
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I guess I'll go pack my backpack.

I wonder if the words above will line up. If they don't, I'll need to make a .pdf file of them and retry this soon.
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