Mona Karel Author

The monumentally talented Lisa Ricard Claro wrote the blog I contemplated. The not so Obvious Obvious

It is a shame we don’t figure these things out earlier in life, sad that too often we don’t figure them out until it’s too late. Once I did decide to take more control of my life, I developed a mantra to chant when I was not feeling very motivated

Don’t Sit when you can Stand.

Don’t Stand when you can Walk.

Don’t Walk when you can Jog.

Don’t Jog when you can Run…some of us substitute stumbling around for Jog and Run but the main idea is:

JUST KEEP MOVING.

If nothing else, a moving target is harder to take down! And here’s proof I am moving. Not fast, not real pretty (my dog is the pretty one) but moving.

Lisa has written the small town Firefly gems, check her out at the above link!

Nothing profound here, I’m just sharing a bit of my life. When I am not writing, I am with my dogs. Heck, when I am writing I am with my dogs. When I’m working, or traveling, or doing whatever, part of my mind is on my dogs. That’s what it’s like to be a responsible dog owner.

My breed of choice since 1972 has been the Saluki, though from time to time I’ve flirted

Noble…Stately…Saluki

with other breeds. Something about their eyes, their devious minds, their loyal to a select few people selves calls to me.We do things together and at times the Salukis are what get me up in the morning and keep me moving throughout the day. In addition to devoting my not always spare hours to the dogs, I’ve also done what I could to pay back for their existence in my life by working with clubs to help put on events and protect our breeds.

Which led to me chairing the Saluki National Specialty. Again. This means managing a show dedicated to my breed. Pretty heady stuff, or pretty scary, depending on where I was in my planning. We hold the show at the Purina Event Center south of St. Louis, which

see…51

means an 18-20 hour drive.This year I was determined not to drive until my eyes crossed, something I’ve done too often in the past. My poor guardian angel! I broke the drive into 8-10 hour segments, including stops to walk the dogs and also walk myself.

We spent the first night in Area 51…okay, not quite but I was in camping spot 51 at the El Reno KOA. Seriously, see the sign? Then on to Purina,and seven days of activity before returning, this time setting up at Elk City. It can be a gypsy sort of life, going to dog

Setting up the camp in Elk City OK

shows, traveling sometimes ridiculous distances and taking over temporary domiciles. Always with the dogs.

Does this have anything to do with writing? Funny you should ask. About six hours into the first day, I knew how I was going to move Lana and Adam to the next stage of their relationship. That would be for A Question of Trust, the third Stormhaven book. In the middle of my show chair duties, I received a message from Faith, my intrepid editor at Black Opal Books, returning edits for A Question of Faith, along with a declaration of love for this story. Pretty heady stuff! Now that I’m home and sort of rested up I’m finally writing down that scene I envisioned while on the road, and getting ready to approach those edits.

In the meantime, if you haven’t read about Sydney and Devin, you might grab a copy of A Question of Honor and learn about Stormhaven.

I’ll be back sooner to share more adventures living in New Mexico with Salukis and gardening and…food!

The best way to support an author is by reviewing and the very best way to honor that author is with a truly honest reviews. Thanks SO MUCH

Thanks to the inspirational advice of The Amazing Jami Gray  I’ve been immersed in final edits for A Question of Faith, the next Stormhaven story. As I was going through the first love scene, I reviewed the pithy, witty, clever, totally unnecessary dialogue. Intimate chatting after the fact is or can be so special. Not so much when your characters are supposed to be on the verge of out of the universe love making. Julie Andrews said it best:

Best just get on with it, don’t you think?

Especially when I find a gem like this: ‘His mouth hovered over hers.’ Bringing up images of flying saucers…or stealth helicopters. Well, at least it didn’t hoover. But, yeah, need to reword that one.

#amediting and writing.

I was reminded of this song while noodling through YouTube. A song so powerful, it was used by the United Nations to mark “The Year of the Woman.” At that time no doubt we all thought women’s rights were a foregone conclusion.

Yeah, about that… We’ll get there eventually. In 1975 I was finishing up my career with horses. I wasn’t thinking much about women’s rights since jobs in horses are filled by people willing to work, and you keep working according to how well you do the job. Young females are often hired since they crave being close to horses. If I had not fallen for Salukis I’d possibly still be cleaning stalls and picking out hooves.

Where I worked with horses, everyone did everything, with no thought of how heavy that bale of hay might be, or how fussy we had to be about cleaning tack. You just did the job until it was done. This continued as I worked in a wide variety of jobs. By the time I married I was accustomed to doing what I could when I could. My husband took over some of the harder jobs, as long a it didn’t require climbing a ladder (he had issues with heights.) Since he died, I’ve once again handled what needed to be done.

Which brings me to my recent roaring adventure. After the well went dry we were hauling

Truck, snow, camper shell

our water from a local source, using a 250 gallon tank on a trailer. I’ve shared some of the adventures with the trailer. This winter a blizzard moved in, leaving behind a mass of packed snow and ice that refused to melt. Hauling the trailer with the truck became problematic. Then the truck skidded into the trailer. and messed up the hitch. Oops.

While ice predominated on the local lane, using the hitch was a moot point since there was no safe way to haul a trailer with 2,000 pounds of water on board up the icy covered road. I busied myself with hauling water in five gallon containers, lifting those forty pound containers over my head to pour into the cistern. Great exercise. Seriously. Not a great long term solution.

Tank on trailer

After some thought I came upon an elegant solution to the issue. I could buy a new trailer (expensive!) have a larger cistern installed to have commercial water delivery (even more expensive, and time consuming) or, I could transfer that water carrier to the bed of the truck. This would mean removing the camper shell, and figuring out how to get that tank up and in.

Nothing a strong woman can’t do. Even better when you have two strong, determined women. The camper shell was going to a chicken farmer. Once I removed the fasteners and loosened the shell with a pry bar (I love my tools!) the two of us lifted it off. Step one!

Truck, no camper shell

Using straps, wedges, and a bit of creative thought, I got that tank onto the truck bed. Yes, I could have asked my very

Tank, moving up to truck bed

helpful neighbor and had it been onerous I would. But the feeling of accomplishment was just too tempting.

Yes, we can.

Another old song. And a blog forty plus years in the writing.

I remember when this song came out. Heck I remember when Olivia Newton-John first emerged as a major talent. Her soft voice, romantic lyrics, and lovely face were a huge hit. When I Honestly Love You came out, I was as enthralled as most of the rest of the listening public.

The song stuck with me, for decades. I read my first romance in 1984, and came across the trope of hero/heroine leaving town because they can’t be with the one they love, or they can’t stand that person being with some else, or…or…or.

And I began to wonder. Yes, it’s a great fantasy theme. But, do people really act like this? Do they really leave town or change their lives because they can’t find happiness without that one true love? Yes, I’ve met people who have emoted at length about their one true love and how they’ll die without them. But these people have always seemed to be on stage all the time. If their life doesn’t overflow with DRAMA, they don’t feel alive. Not, I would say, hero/heroine material. At least not for me.

Then we get to the part where she sings: “I’m not trying to make you feel uncomfortable…it’s coming from my heart and not my head.” Great romantic line, not so much on the ‘real life’ scale. “There you are with yours, here I am with mine.” We both have other commitments but I just had to blurt this out and possibly muck up multiple lives.

In a world where day time drama is preferred entertainment, followed closely by fake reality shows, maybe this is the best and most perfect expression of ‘love’. I’m seriously wondering since I never believed much in throwing everything away to follow my ‘heart’ or maybe I never came across a man worth the effort? I know when I met Tom, my immediate thought was ‘I’m going to marry this man.’ It didn’t happen for a long time, and in the meantime, I went about my own life.

Maybe I just lack the necessary passion? Hard to say. What do you think?

For now, I think the sun shining, the wind’s blowing, and I need to get the topper off my truck. I’ll be back to work on edits for A Question of Faith, and finally let those poor people in A Question of Truth get together.

Good Morning Sunshine

Remember this one?

I’ve thought about how I wanted to write this blog a lot the last few weeks. What would we do for love? Think about the things we’ve done for love, with no thought of reimbursement or awards. The school play, sports when we know we’re only slightly above average, sitting in a hospital with a friend.

Except…

This song is not just about what we do for love. It’s about what would we do if we could not do the thing we love most? Whatever that might be…dance, ride horses, sing…

What would you do, if you couldn’t do that one special thing ever again? If you couldn’t see that one very special person or place again?

If you had to leave the country you cherished, never to return? Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) turned this loss into an iconic book, one that never fails to move readers. How many people have had to leave the home of their heart, knowing they would only see it again in memories?

How many people have hugged a lover, friend, family member prior to deployment, knowing there was a very real possibility of never seeing them again?

Could you be philosophical about putting that phase of your life behind you? Could you let those experiences give greater value to your future?

Or would you dwell in the past, like someone whose greatest life experiences came in high school? Would you choose to hide in the cave of your memories, or move forward into a bright future?

A Rare Foggy Morning

WordPress informs me it’s been twenty two days since my last post. Time is definitely slipping away. All that snow…well a lot of it is gone but melting snow produces its own inconveniences (MUD) plus there are places where I know the packed snow/ice will continue for a month or more.

All of this cold and slippery is not conducive to exercising, or at least it offers reasonable excuses. It didn’t take long to slide back into very bad habits, and on my last doctor visit some of the pounds had crept back. Sigh. Probably because  my steps had fallen from around 7,000 per day to (gulp) 3,000 or less.

Not acceptable.

I needed to come up with a plan that I could follow. So I created a few simple rules:

ONE: Be Less Efficient. Seriously. Instead of carrying a full load in from the truck, carry one bag in each hand. Better for balance on slippery spots, plus…more steps.

TWO: Use the Stores. Any of the larger stores offer a safe, warm atmosphere to move around. I can add in the less efficient here as well. Instead of planning how to shorten my shopping as much as possible by making one planned circuit, I’ll go back and forth from plumbing to eggs back to paint swatches, along with a quick trip out to what’s left of the garden center.

THREE: Make it Fun for All. Walking around the yards and fields with the ‘lukis keeps all of us exercised, plus it really helps with the dark day doldrums. Granted I can’t stride out in bumpy fields the way I can on smooth surfaces, but we’re all still out and moving around.

FOUR: Get UP. If I’m at the computer for long stretches (writing, really!) then I need to stand up, move around, go outside and walk even if it’s just to check the bird feeders.

FIVE: Have a Fallback Plan. If I can not get out of the house, much less out into the yards, I know it’s a certain number of steps around the large main room, and I can add in the garage if I get bored just going in circles. Every. Step. Counts.

SIX: Never Miss a Chance. Once enough of the ice had cleared from my road, I started walking down to the gate, then running (okay, sorta stumbling) back up. First one time, then two, and I’m up to three or four times now.

Every step counts, and I am determined to be in better shape this June than last.

Coming with me?

You might ask, what am I writing? I decided Lana needed her story told. That would be Tyler Randolph’s ex-wife; Sydney Castleton’s estranged sister. From a Question of Honor. This book is A Question of Trust. Lana needs to learn to trust.

On Amazon

Do you remember how, when we were kids, we couldn’t wait to see snow falling? Snow Days! No school! Go out and get cold then come in and get warm. Sledding and snowmen and snowball fights. What were we thinking?

Enter a caption

Snow can be so pretty in the dawn, even prettier when the shadows fall across it in the evenings. During the day sunlight sparkles on the snow, gorgeous to watch, even though it can hurt our eyes.

Snow can also be deadly when it packs into ice under our tires, or piles up where we need to walk. Those of us with helpful people around, either in the house or in the neighborhood, can have that snow cleared away before it becomes too difficult. I’m very fortunate to have a neighbor who keeps the lane plowed, and does what he can for my driveway.

For the rest, I’m pretty much on my own. Since I refuse to let something like fluffy frozen water hold me hostage, I’ve learned where and how to keep myself as safe as possible. And how much I can do at one time. A few minutes every hour not only gets me up and moving but it’s also not so exhausting.

Before the snows start, I collect my equipment: a good flat faced shovel (as opposed to a pointy shovel which I’ve always called a spade; several show shovels, with varying length handles; a good push broom, and a regular broom. The shorter snow shovels make me bend over too much and hurt my back. I like the longer ones to work on sidewalks though the short ones help with big piles of snow. The regular shovel is great to get under ice, or to clear heavy, wet snow. The brooms help with fresh, lighter snow on my back (concrete) porch slab; once one of the dogs have walked on it, I need the shovel. Keep all of this close to hand, inside near a door. It does no good to have your equipment outside in a shed when the snow is knee high in between.

Driving. If you have to drive on nasty roads: Slow down. Then slow down some more. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your four wheel drive vehicle means you can go zooming down the highway. That extra feature just means you can get yourself out of nasty situations more easily. If you’re lucky.

Sadly the parking lots in my area are not well tended. Early plowing mounds up the snow into impressive barriers but there is still up to three inches of slush or ice, depending on the temperature. I have to remember I’m going to be pushing my cart back through that slush. Just nasty sometimes!

When it’s slushy, either on the roads or in a parking lot, I use the lower gear on my old truck and…yep, I slow down. Mostly I let the truck move without touching the gas pedal much. When you do start to skid, the best thing is not panic (yeah, easier said than done!)

Using all this knowledge, I was feeling pretty darned proud of myself. Until I eased up my lane, backed into the cleared area, then thought I’d want to move over just a little.

I got stuck in my own freaking driveway. Sigh. Too embarrassing to let my neighbor see it! What to do, what to do.

Mulch works very well to give your tires a grip on icy driveways. Isn’t it lucky I bought two big bags to winterize my garden, and there’s some left? All it took was stopping to think.

Boo likes to watch the bunnies in the snow