2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – And it Snowed

Posted on December 13, 2020 by peggylchambers

It’s 12 days until Christmas (I think there’s a song about that) and we have snow here on the Great Plains!  If you’re from up north, you would laugh at our little snow, but it can shut us down.  At least me.

I woke up this morning, looked out the window and said, “No, I’ll stay home.” I have Christmas baking to do and of course I can always clean, do laundry, and there are the final edits on that novel that need to be finished. Since I gave up my gym membership last March, I try to exercise at home.  Not as effective, but at least I’m moving off the couch.  

I love Christmas and the family dinners, etc.  The dinner is small these days since we have grown grandchildren and then there’s the pandemic.  We don’t even want to talk about that.  But I still look forward to seeing my children, and their children, and eating too much.  We will still celebrate Christmas.

My writer’s club had their first Zoom meeting, and it was mildly attended.  We’ll do better in the future.  I meet with my daughter and some friends for yoga online on Saturday mornings.  I keep finding ways to stay busy.

I talked to LA Talk Radio, The Writer’s Block yesterday and I scheduled an interview with them again.  I love these people.  We’ve become friends and they are so much fun to talk to. But they are busy and the next date they had available was April.  April first, April Fools Day!  Perfect I said, it works with my personality.  But I can discuss my latest books and works in progress.  It will be fun.

I also ordered copies of Ian’s Magic yesterday and talked to a writer in the UK who wants to guest blog on my website.  I can do a lot from the comfort of my love seat.  But yes, I need to get up now and then. Maybe I’ll cook breakfast for a change.

What are you doing on Sunday morning?  Is it snowing where you are?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Persevering Petunias

Posted on December 6, 2020 by peggylchambers

Perseverance is a word that best describes the petunias that came up in my garden this year.  Several appeared voluntarily from the ones I planted last year. Seeds I didn’t’ realize were in the soil. I never went to the greenhouse. I was surprised to see them and decided to transplant them into pots that were strewn around the garden to protect them – then more appeared.

They popped up in the garden and bloomed in colors from white, to pink, to purple.  They managed to survive the Oklahoma August (some people don’t do that) and bloomed through fall.  They are still going, and it has frozen several times.  It was 29 degrees this morning and we long ago quit watering and covered the hydrants outside for protection from the elements. The flower is beginning to fade a little but every morning it is still there.

It’s been a tough year for the whole world.  The pandemic threatens to take out humans and animals alike – but still the petunias bloom.

We had an ice storm in October that tried to kill most of our trees – but still the petunias bloom.

We had a little snow – but still the petunias bloom.

Thanksgiving is done and we’re into the Christmas season.  My tree is up, and I’ve started my shopping – but still the petunias bloom.

Maybe they are the hope that this world needs at a time when hope is in short supply.  Persevering petunias could become our mantra and our symbol of hope.

What’s in your garden this week?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Ian’s Magic

Posted on November 29, 2020 by peggylchambers

Ian’s Magic has been a long time coming.  The middle-grade chapter book was one of the first things I wrote and has been through many changes.  But in February it will be available for purchase.  In fact, you can pre-order it to your Kindle now at https://tinyurl.com/yxnszumv .

Ian Conner learned in the first grade he could perform magic using math. And this year, the prize for the annual math contest is $500! Ian really wants to win, but he knows classmate Thomas Martin will be stiff competition.  Thomas wins every year.  And this year he has a college tutor helping him prep for the contest! 

Ian decides to study accelerated math, hoping it will help him win. But when the day of the competition arrives Ian must make a difficult choice – hope his studying helps him win fair and square – or cheat using his “math magic” to win the contest.

Math magic is not the only thing that Ian has to deal with in the fourth grade.  He has a little brother who is jealous of his talents and he has to hide his ability to perform magic from the rest of the world. And if his math is not correct, the magic doesn’t work.  He learns a lot about life and how math is used in everyday things and sometimes he wins the day.  But what happens if you get the ratio wrong when mixing hair color for your little red-haired brother? Or can his little brother help him using physics when he falls off a cliff and gets stuck in a tree? Brothers can be a pain, but sometimes they are helpful.

I am truly excited about this book and I can’t wait to be able to show it to you.  Maybe by spring I’ll be able to present it in person at a book signing or craft show, but in the meantime check out Ian’s Magic.  You’ll agree, math can be magic.

What are you reading this week?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 22, 2020 by peggylchambers

It’s Thanksgiving week!  There will be turkey, stuffing, pies and lots of overeating.  I will join in  those festivities, but Thanksgiving will be different this year.  Fewer people are traveling and  that is a good thing physically, maybe not emotionally. 

Covid-19 has taken its toll on everyone.  Hopefully, you are not one of the many who contracted the virus but if you did, and you lived to tell about it, you have antibodies.

My family is split this week on gathering for the holidays.  My Oklahoma City group is having their own celebration and so are the Enid ones.  We will be a smaller group of about seven.  We’ll have the same menu, but fewer people around the table. My son has taken over the hosting and that pleases me.  It seems to be harder and harder to host a big celebration than it used to.

When my kids were young, and their grandparents were alive, my small house was stuffed to the brim with people and food.  The windows open and ceiling fan going from all the body heat, still it was warm in the house.  Kids ran and giggled, and grandparents smiled. Well, my children are adults and so are their children these days, but we’ll get together – most of us.  Some have opted out of the festivities because of the pandemic.

My husband and I discussed that yesterday was opening day of deer season in Oklahoma. I had forgotten.  He always hunted the week of Thanksgiving. In the last few years, he gave his deer to a family who would eat it – venison was never my favorite. But in the last 48 years, this is the first time I know of him not getting up at the crack of dawn to freeze and take down a deer.  I always felt it was the caveman in him feeling the need to provide for his family.  The fact that there was meat at the grocery store was beside the point. 

Things have changed.  We hired a painter for the first time ever.  We’re do-it-yourselfers.  I purchased a pie crust and used it in a quiche this week.  I’ll go back to making my own pie crusts. 

But Thanksgiving is a celebration for families.  We can still eat too much and gather with a few – but still the feeling of giving thanks for our lives and our families is as strong as ever.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving this week? Happy Thanksgiving!

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2020 Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Ice Storms and Tree Trimming

Posted on November 15, 2020 by peggylchambers

If you’ve ever lived with a sweetgum tree, you will understand.  Last year was the worst.  We’ve lived in this house for 24 years and the house was built in 1980.  I can only assume the tree is 40 years old since it was probably planted when the house was first occupied. 

Sweetgum trees put out balls, the size of an English Walnut, every year that look like tiny landmines with spines all around.  It is natures way of moving the seeds from place to place by way of hooking in animal fur and transporting to other areas.  Then new trees can sprout.  Every year we rake up over a dozen lawn and leaf bags full.  The tree also has roots that stick out above the ground just waiting to trip old people like us and makes it hard to mow around.  My husband hates that tree.

But in the summer the tree protects our house from the hot west sun in the afternoon and has been home to many birds and squirrels.  My husband rescued a juvenile Mississippi Kite who fell from the tree and was unable to fly.  Robins and Sparrows have frequent arguments over the best place to build a nest.  Blue Jays drive away squirrels and nature continues on as it should.

The historic Oklahoma ice storm in October really hurt the old tree this time.  It is not the tree’s first experience with ice storms, but my husband trimmed it substantially when it warmed back up.  I can now see the neighbor’s house! I’m sure the sun will help the grass grow underneath it next summer – unless he has it taken out.  That seems to be the plan. 

I will miss the tree that has caused us back-breaking work for years.  It’s lush green leaves turned into a carpet of leaves to be raked every fall – and then there were the sweetgum balls.  The house will not look the same. It already seems bare.  But as we age, we can no longer look after things the way we used to.  Maybe it is time to let it go.  But I’m sure I will miss it’s shade and so will the wildlife that live in it. 

What are you doing this week?  Raking leaves?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Two Releases!

Posted on November 8, 2020 by peggylchambers

Once again it comes in groups.  And I’m not griping. Expect the unexpected.

My novella, Strawberry Sundae Delights has been combined with two others into an anthology titled A Taste of Danger, part of the One Scoop or Two series.  The original novella is available only electronically, but because a lot of people (like me) want to hold a book in their hands, The Wild Rose Press https://www.thewildrosepress.com/product-category/shop/special-release-paperbacks combined novellas of similar genres into paperback books and printed them.  So, you can purchase them either way!  If you like short beach reads on your electronic devise, get the novellas.  But if you must hold a book in your hands, get the anthology and there are two more besides mine in there by the talented authors Julie Howard and Wendy Kendall.

I also got word this week that we are on track for my middle grade reader, Ian’s Magic, to come out in early 2021 and I have a cover.  So cute! Doodle and Peck publishes this book, and I am really looking forward to showing it to you.  It was several years in the making and has had more than one story line.  But I love the finished product.  It is a story of brotherly love (well, sometimes) and magic and you might learn something too.  Ian loves math, unlike a lot of his classmates, but he can perform feats of magic if he gets his math correct.  Otherwise . . .

You can pick up a beach read – or three in one book – or you can learn math the magic way in a few months.  Perhaps you’d like both?  I’ll keep you updated.

What are you reading this week?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – No Trick or Treat

Posted on November 1, 2020 by peggylchambers

Like everything else this year, we opted out of handing out candy for Halloween.  On the good side, I saved some money!  I bought one little bag of candy for us and there is plenty left.  With the pandemic we decided not to touch all those little hands.  For the first time ever, we turned off our light and shut the door before dark.  There is a pile of limbs at the curb so it would have been difficult to pull up and climb out of a vehicle to run for the door.  We even turned off the motion sensor lights over the driveway that might encourage someone to think we were home. To say I’m sick of this kind of living is redundant at best.  We all are, and it looks like things are only getting worse. 

We watched a movie and then I was up late because the caffeine in the chocolate made it difficult to sleep. But the full moon was fabulous.  I know because it shone in the window through the blinds as I wandered around in a caffeine stupor. 

The ice storm in Oklahoma last week left tree limbs strewn everywhere but we had no damage.  We’ve piled the limbs at the street for the City to pick up when they can get here. I know as the wind blows we’ll have more. Fortunately, we never lost power.

The elections will be over on Tuesday and the political ads can’t end soon enough.

But being stuck in the house has made me work tirelessly on a novel that has needed to be finished for some time.  I found plot holes and other problems that needed fixing.  I continue to work on it.

Halloween came and went uneventfully.  I missed the kids dressed up in costumes. I don’t have small children of my own anymore.  It would have been different if I did. Maybe the world will return to normal soon.

What did you do for Halloween?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Witches’ Cliff

Posted on October 25, 2020 by peggylchambers

Witches’ Cliff novella from The Wild Rose Press, part of the Deerbourne Inn series.

Penny Winters flees to her birthplace in Vermont to consider the marriage proposal she left behind in Salem. Complicating her already difficult decision, she is smitten when she encounters handyman Liam on the porch of the quaint Deerbourne Inn.

A modern-day wiccan, Penny intends to contact her distant great-grandmother, who died on the cliffs when Willow Springs held witch trials. Penny needs advice, and the best time to connect to her ancestors is on Halloween. But she is not the only witch in Willow Springs, and they both have their eye on the same man. And who is the old woman who keeps appearing, telling her to go home?

Penny comes to the cliff to seek Grandma’s advice. But Halloween is an important holiday for a witch, and she is not alone on the cliffs that night. Penny will have to battle not only for Liam’s attention, but for her life.

It’s the week leading up to Halloween and I plan candy, ghouls, fun, but no politics.  Halloween can be fun and not really scary. I don’t plan to hand out candy with the pandemic and little hands full of viruses in and out of my candy dish.  I thought of just wearing gloves and carefully placing the candy into bags.  But in my experience, it wouldn’t happen that way.  I’ve had little girls, hyped up on sugar, run into the house and chase my dog down the hall.  No, not this year.

But the weather has changed, and I don’t think we can deny it is fall and Halloween. I have a suggestion for a quick read that is both fun and sweet. Witches’ Cliff.  It is a romantic tale with a paranormal twist. Check it out.  It’s a quick read that will leave you with a Halloween feeling.

What are you reading this week?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

Posted on October 18, 2020 by peggylchambers

Fossil Rim from the top of the hill – photo by Peggy Chambers

Last weekend my husband and I traveled to Glen Rose, TX to visit relatives.  Glen Rose is a small tourist town about 50 miles southwest of Ft. Worth https://www.bing.com/travelguide?q=Glen+Rose&l2sid=f8a986bb-6c73-a854-115e-8a1184e77829&form=PLACAB .  His cousin has lived there all his life. Glen Rose has museums, fossilized dinosaur footprints, river floating adventures, and a small-town atmosphere.

But in all the time we’ve traveled to this small city and visited with cousins, we’d never been to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center https://fossilrim.org/ .   We were amazed.  They are an international wildlife center with breeding programs for endangered species. And I’ve never met a more hospitable staff to both humans and animals.

The area around Glen Rose, on the Brazos and Paluxy rivers, is hilly and lush.  Some of the animals roam around and you can feed them, others are inside pens for their safety and yours.  I made friends with a giraffe who kissed me on the head.  Or she was trying to get my attention to feed her more. I’m going with the kiss option.  Of course, we missed that photo op. 

The day we were there they were preparing to transport a rhino to a zoo in New York.  They have small Mexican Wolves and the larger Gray Wolves as part of their endangered species program.  But I was most impressed with the cheetah exhibit.  Part of their breeding program centers around an area known as “lovers lane” where the cheetahs are allowed to get to know each other and if they show signs of liking each other then they are placed together with the hopes of having offspring.  Everything I saw with the staff showed their great love of animals and they worked hard for the benefit of the animal.

There were antelope that were being bred and reintroduced into the wild in Chad, Africa where they are dying out.  Once again they may roam their native land because of Fossil Rim’s breeding program.

I want to go back and visit Fossil Rim again.  I was so impressed with the staff and animals and I hope they continue to be wild and free on the acres of west Texas and then some day back on their own turf.

What did you do this week?

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2020: Fewer Possessions, More Experiences – Feeling Blessed.

Posted on October 11, 2020 by peggylchambers

I am blessed.  Feeling stuffy and achy this week, I made a trip to the urgent care for a Covid-19 test.  They tested me for the Covid virus, Flu, and Strep.  They all came out negative and I was told it was an upper respiratory virus (cold?).  But I had several things to do this week that included meeting people outside my home, and I wanted to be sure.  In a couple of days, the stuffy/achiness disappeared, and I decided it was allergies after all.

My sister’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter have all tested positive for Covid-19 and are quarantining at home. I am praying for their family. 

On Tuesday I met with the Enid Public Library’s teen authors and talked to them about publishing.  I could talk about writing forever.  And they were happy to have me. 

Wednesday I had a doctor’s appointment with my neurosurgeon for a follow up on this summer’s  surgery.  He said things were proceeding well.  The vertebrae are fusing as they should, and I am in less pain all the time.

I am reading my first steam-punk novel.  I’ve seen Jules Vern’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Wild Wild West.  I love fantasy and when you combine it with steam powered engines, it can be fun. So, I downloaded a copy of The Bloodless Assassin by Celine Jeanjean. It is a series and very imaginative.  I love the way it moves and the quirky characters.

I’m feeling grateful for my health and praying for those who are sick.  There are so many.  I hope you are well and living your life to the fullest in spite of the pandemic. 

What are you reading this week?

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