Hello, Dear Reader! First, Happy Father’s Day to all those fathers, dads, step-dads, uncles, moms who have to be mom and dad, and all the men who may one day be fathers or care for children that are not your own. You are all needed and appreciated for all you do!
I’m so grateful to have been invited to write for a character in a novel with a group of writers who have all published novels! It’s honestly quite an honor. Some of these authors I have greatly enjoyed reading. Those I have not, I will be sure to read. Though I can’t go into detail yet, I can tell you my main character (MC) is the lead singer in a band on a cruise ship. I write from the perspective of my character, Becca. But I also write for the other band members – just on a less involved level. It’s exciting and, hopefully, a thriller read.
Writing on this story has prompted me to write more. I have a poem ready for the next Poetica anthology from my UK publisher, and I’ve started two additional short stories. Those I will need to find homes for when they are done, unless they fall into a submission call I already know about. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I am crafting when I’m not writing and cleaning and repairing little things in our RV for when we can hit the road again. That will be the end of the first week of December. Our precious child is taking the trip of a lifetime in November to spend their birthday in Japan. They took Japanese in middle and high school and have saved for this trip for years. Finally, they can go and are so excited about it! While I’ll worry, because I’m a mom, I know Japan is one of the safest countries to visit. These will be lifetime memories for my child! They’ll be back in time for Christmas in Oregon with us. We’re going early so I can help with organizing their apartment while they are gone. They were diagnosed with mild autism at twenty-three, which explained so much about their behavior growing up! And has made it difficult for them to get everything settled in their home. So I’ll go help get those boxes out of their hair and hopefully find some different furniture arrangement to fit everything in. I’ve been told there are lots of boxes and some furniture they haven’t found room for. I’ve lived in a lot of small spaces, so I think I can help.
When we get to Oregon, and our child gets home, we’ll be doing a lot of crafting to set up a booth in the small town where they live. So I’ve started making some easy things and will build up from there. I showed the Christmas trees I made that I don’t have room for, so those will go in the booth, and I will make several duplicates. I also made these little trinket trays that can be coasters or to set jewelry or other decor on. I started with these and similar ones I had in my craft stash:
Removing the beads and tassels and putting feet on them (the white beads that we removed and others I had in my stash), we get the trinket trays:
And here:
And…
They turned out cute! The little blocks you see, from Dollar Tree, are called Tumbling Tower Blocks. I plan to make phone holders, small chairs, and benches with flower boxes on each side, etc. But I only have some trial ones done so far. I’ll need to make some adjustments, and then I’ll post them when I’ve filled in with caulking and painted.
And that’s it for now, short and sweet. Until next time, stay well, and may you have peace in your life!
On Hummingbirds Wings 