Whew. Ended up
being a long week between work, home, and other projects. The biggest and best
one is helping my daughter edit her final paper for her master's degree. I'm so
proud of her!
I made a small dent
in the great cleanout project. Didn't get a lot accomplished but made a bit of
progress, which I'll take.
Finished up two work
projects and continued on with two more. I have another two in flux and two new
ones coming sometime this week. Excited to stay busy!
Pretty good week
for viewing. I got through my full round of shows and finished up one from last
week. I'm still working on one of the others.
Started with Miss
Fisher's Murder Mysteries and it was one of my favorite episodes. I love a
good masquerade or costume party.
Caught another
episode of Madame Blanc Mysteries and enjoyed Gloria and Nick working
together. Hope to see more of that in future episodes.
Enjoyed an episode
of Death in Paradise. The run-up to Neville leaving is turning out to be
a lot of fun. And always good to see Dwayne back. Looking forward to the next episode.
Finished up the
two-part Poirot and loved how the resolution came together. I like it
when the infallible Poirot gets off on the wrong track for a bit.
Watched another episode
of Elementary and quite enjoyed the mystery. Also enjoyed Joan handling
her detractor and Sherlock acting as the support system afterward.
Enjoyed an episode
of Batman Beyond. I remembered this one from my original watch. A lot of
fun.
Caught an episode
of Lower Decks and, again, ended up being equally charmed and annoyed. I
think that's my standard for this show.
Finished up the Reacher
episode from last week and wow. Gotta say I didn't see the ending coming, which
is always a good thing. Hoping I can get a full episode in this week.
Almost finished an
episode of Peak Practice. Things are getting very messy in the
relationship departments for everyone, and Sam, whew, what a huge pile he's
getting ready to step into.
That's pretty much
it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Future in Play,
a novella that got a start with writing community prompt.
Here's the miniblurb:
Nellie Finch is a little bored with her family's annual
fall money-maker, the Apple Butter Festival. But when the village council
decides to add a competitor to the yearly event, Nellie faces off against Mace
Bigelow to see who makes the best mouth-watering spread and find out which
challenger will win bragging rights and maybe the other competitor's heart.
And a snippety peek…
Nellie pulled into the drive at her gram's house and cut her engine.
"Mane Bigelow." Wow … he'd filled out since graduation.
Grabbing her keys, she got out of the car and retrieved the leftovers from
the backseat. She yawned and headed up the sidewalk to the house. The meeting
started early, just after six, to accommodate one of the committee members'
night-shift schedule. Nellie foresaw a nap in her future.
Nellie entered the house and found her gram sitting at the table, scrolling
on her phone with a cup of coffee in front of her. "Hi, Gram. What's
happening on your socials?" Mamie had more media accounts than Nellie did.
Mamie glanced up. "Eh, nothing interesting yet. But I've only checked
Facebook and TikTok so far." Her eyebrows rose. "You're later than I
expected. Did the meeting run long?" She set her phone aside.
Nellie stowed the takeout in the fridge then joined her gram at the table.
"No, we were finished up by a little after eight." She propped her
elbows on the table. "Ran into Mace Bigelow at the restaurant and gave him
a lift out to Hannah's." She'd enjoyed talking to him … and hoped he did
call.
Mamie narrowed her gaze. "Isn't he in the navy? Home on leave?"
She got up and refilled her mug.
Nellie nodded. "Yeah. He didn't let Hannah know he was coming so he
got to surprise her." Her lips quirked. "She was so happy to see
him."
Mamie sat back down. "She loves that boy. And with Linc gone, I'm sure
she gets kind of lonely out there in boonies."
Nellie laughed. "Gram, I hate to break it to you, but we're not
exactly in the thick of it out here either." But they were just off the
highway instead of buried out on a township road.
Mamie shrugged. "Nothing wrong with having your closest neighbor be a
quarter of a mile down the road." She flashed a smile. "Besides, it
makes skinny dipping easier when there's no one else around."
Nellie rolled her eyes. "You keep forgetting the Wilsons bought a
drone. Don't know about you, but that rules out skinny dipping for me."
Their neighbors loved to send the device out for aerial photography.
Mamie chuckled. "Fair point. I haven't actually skinny-dipped in the
pond since I had your dad anyway." She leaned back in the chair. "But
it's nice to sit on the little wharf with our feet in the water in
August."
Nellie nodded. "True. Especially after trying out new recipes with
apple butter." They almost had a perfect icing for cupcakes.
Mamie's lips curved. "You know, when I first started competing at the
festival, I thought Lincoln might be some stiff competition." Her mouth
thinned to a straight line. "If he'd been confident enough to enter his
butter."
Nellie blinked. "Um, why wasn't he?" And why hadn't she heard
anything about this?
Mamie shook her head. "The old biddies that started the festival were
so scandalized a man could make better preserves than they could, they did
everything in their power to gaslight Linc into believing he couldn't possibly
be up to snuff." She snorted. "It worked. He ended up pulling his
entry and never tried again." Mamie leaned forward. "And you know
what? He'd have won. I haven't figured out what his secret ingredient was, but
he made damn good butter."
Nellie settled back against her chair. "Wow. I had no idea. I wonder
if Mane knows his grandpa could've been king of the festival." Maybe she'd
ask if he called.
Mamie tilted her head. "You finally noticed."
Nellie arched her brows. "Noticed what?"
Her gram huffed out a breath. "Mane. That young man always had
potential." She inclined her chin. "And you finally realize it."
Nellie rolled a shoulder. "It's not that I didn't realize … more like
I had too many commitments and not enough hours in the day to pay
attention." Her high school class schedule, extra curriculars, and part-time
jobs kept her busy.
Too busy to really date anyone. Instead, her group of friends intermingled
and did things like homecoming and the prom as a unit, pairing off but
attending together. She wouldn't change anything … but sometimes wondered if
she missed out on something.
Mamie finished her coffee. "I'm heading out to check the trees. Wanna
come?" She rinsed her mug and set it in the drainer.
Nellie got up. "Sure. Let me change and I'll head out with you."
Then she planned to come back and catch a nap.
Unless Mane called…
I'm in the beginning stages of this one and I'm having a lot
of fun writing it.
That's it for this week. Happy reading!
Skylin
