Tag: tiny tuesday

Tiny Tuesday!

After a bad night’s sleep that’s absolutely not Anime’s fault, though she is the reason (she’s fine! no worries!), I was mostly a slug when I woke up. Debby had bought a store-made quiche from Whole Foods and brought over a couple of slices for Tom and me to have as breakfast today. It was delicious noonish with a salad I had left over from last night. But it wasn’t a lot of food, and about four, I got peckish. It wasn’t a picnic kind of day (writing schedule, state of outdoors, etc.), but I decided I wanted to create a sense of “treat yourself” using a picnic for one.


Right to left, those are some delicious seedless grapes, pita crackers, Old Wisconsin turkey sausage bites, and a chocolate-covered cherry. After I shot this photo and began to eat, I realized it wasn’t a picnic for one at all.

I used a small wooden board that was either part of some gift basket received in the past or an employee gift exchange package at one of my former workplaces. As I filled it, I thought of work friends from Christmases past.

I put the board on a cotton Ekelund Weavers mat which was a gift from Sweden sent by my friend/sister of the heart/college roommate Debbie sometime in the 1990s. Beautifully woven and titled “Long Dogs,” it’s been tucked away in a cabinet for years. I wonder why we put cherished items away to save for a special occasion and then forget them. Today, I reminded myself that every day is a special occasion, especially when things conjure up people you love who love you, too.

The grapes and pita crackers came from Sprouts, where Debby had asked me a couple of months ago to take her the next time I went (she’d never shopped there). She loves fresh produce, as do I, and theirs is organic and aesthetically pleasing, so we made a trip there this week.

The turkey sausage bites came from a gift pack that included several meats and cheeses sent to Tom by one of his sisters for his birthday. The chocolate-covered cherry means I finally opened the box of them that Tom gave me at Christmas, a yearly offering he took over from my mother after she died.

My “solo” picnic was filled with other people and lots of memories. Tiny moments, tiny treats, can loom large in adding happiness to our days.

Tiny Tuesday!


Tuesday turned into a BIG errand-running day, because everything seemed to take longer than it should have. The only small thing I have to offer is a sketch from the coloring journal Lynne gave me last May. I’ve only done a few entries in it, and I’m enjoying it. After all, I blog here every day, so I don’t necessarily need to journal a lot. (Speaking of blogging, I did get my 2023 banner changed today! 😁)

I wish the people in my life believed in themselves as strongly as I believe in them. The truth is, I don’t always believe in myself as much as I believe in them. Maybe we all need to work more diligently to be the friends to ourselves that we hope to be to others?

Tiny Tuesday!

Back in April, I shared a photo of a KiNSMART 1971 model VW van I was in the process of painting. I think it may have been black when I bought it, and I was painting it turquoise, after a van in the Neverending Saga, after which I “hippied” it up as a nod to a conversation between two characters about what men do for love. This was how it looked when I finished painting it and added stickers from my various sticker collections.

I was happy with the results, especially that I could add some details specific to my character (references to baseball, Canada, and New York).

This year, in my Christmas stocking, Tom included the same model that the company itself had similarly embellished. I’d never seen it in the stores (these diecast models are sold at both CVS and Walgreens pharmacies), so I was surprised and delighted to receive it. I always like it when my model cars have “buddies.”

Tiny Tuesday!

All right, the little tapestry case is still missing, but it occurred to me to check the toy box, and I found not one, but TWO tiny sock monkeys. The one on the left in swimming trunks I remember nothing about–where or from whom I got him–and the wee one on the right is the one I was looking for. He’s SAFE! (And not on Hunter Biden’s laptop after all.)

Tiny Tuesday!


I have a character who wants to come back into what I’m writing, but it isn’t his time yet. I set up his little doll rep with some incense, crystals, and soothing music to help me create a vibe that will let me FINISH what I’ve been trying to write since September and couldn’t for so many reasons.

If you think my writing tricks are weird or quirky, maybe you haven’t known many writers. We can be rich in superstitions, writing totems, and ways to communicate with our muses. Maybe a song offered up for the two characters currently blocking his path to my subconscious will help…

Tiny Tuesday!

Starting this day with a silly anecdote and again sharing my Eddie Van Halen Funko.

Last night, Lynne and I were texting about various things that included characters I write or have written or plan to write. Eddie Van Halen was mentioned in passing. We said goodnight, and afterward, I did a few more things on my phone before I closed all the apps and placed it face down on the table next to the bed.

If you know me at all, you know two things. One: With very few exceptions, I don’t like to talk on the phone. If you and I have spoken by phone, it means I’ve overcome my aversion for the sake of friendship and I’ve likely enjoyed those calls because of the friendship. But business calls, calls with other people who don’t like to talk on the phone, calls where it’s hard to hear the other person, GROUP calls on speakerphone–these are not my favorite things.

Two: I fully understand and often say that no one’s dreams are as interesting to anyone as they are to the dreamer. Sorry/not sorry: It’s just true. I think therapists who ask to hear their patients’ dreams are secretly making mental shopping lists, trying to remember lyrics to songs, or doing any other brain exercise while their patients ramble on. They interject an occasional, “What do you think that means?” or “Do you connect this stranger in the dream to someone in your life?” And while the patient then rambles some more, the therapist is thinking, “That Eagles album uses one of the most extended metaphors in modern music…”

This is your chance to stop reading.

I was sleeping soundly this morning around 6:30 and having a dream in which I was in some rural town with my grandnieces and grandnephews. I will spare you the details of which ones and all the things we were doing and discussing. But we decided to go for a walk through the countryside, talking and laughing along the way. We heard the loud noise of a motorcycle coming toward us from a trail/dirt drive, and the rider came into view. He did a few spins, smiled and nodded our way, then turned back the way he’d come. The kids didn’t react much, and I said, “Do you not know who that was?” They shook their heads, and I said, “That was Eddie Van Halen.”

At that point, I could hear someone talking next to me, and I woke up. The voice was coming from my lit up phone, so I picked it up while putting on my glasses. Lynne’s contact picture was on the screen, and the call voice was saying, “Press one to [do something], or press [some other number] to leave a message.” I was confused and I think I pressed one, and the call stopped, and I put the phone down, extremely disoriented. A minute or so later, the phone rang, I answered, and Lynne said, “What?” I explained that my phone, not I, had for some reason decided to call her, so we hung up because FFS, it was 6:30 AM! Right after that, first my phone, then Tom’s, BLARED alerts that the boil water advisory for the city of Houston had been lifted and all water has been found safe.

I then told Tom about my phone deciding to call Lynne for no apparent reason, even though all apps were closed, and the text exchange with her wasn’t the final thing I did on the phone last night. He said, “It’s almost like you told Siri to call Lynne.”

Is it possible that I said, “That was Eddie Van Halen” out loud in my sleep, and does that sound like “Siri, call Lynne?” Especially since I never speak to Siri or give her directions at all.

All I know is, I was up way too early, but I took my meds, mopped the library floor, and filled the dogs’ outside water buckets with safe water that we’d boiled yesterday.

If you stuck with me to the end of this, I’ll remind you that today is Giving Tuesday. If you’re unable to donate to any of the great organizations who help people, animals, and the planet, maybe just start giving your change back to businesses that collect for charity, like McDonald’s does for Ronald McDonald House.

And give a kind thought to anyone–friend, family, dead musician–who can make you smile in a dream–but don’t feel compelled to call me to tell me about it. SORRY, LYNNE! 😄

Tiny Tuesday!

Minute flanked by Anime and Eva. Anime and Minute are absolute besties.

Back in early October, tiny Minute stayed with us at Houndstooth Hall for a few days when Lynne and family went to Disney World on vacation. We love having her because it livens the pack dynamic and she enjoys it. Now that she’s sixteen, she plays less, but when she rejoins the BatPack, a little of the puppy comes out in her.

Delta and Minute–and toward the back fence, you can see Pixie, too.
Minute with Pollock in the background.
Minute with Jack and Eva.

Minute also gets along well with Debby’s Stewie, another senior dog, and Tim’s Pollock and Pixie are very respectful of her.

Another tiny thing: Lynne brought me this Disney pin celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Disney World theme park. The park first opened on October 1, 1971, so Disney began celebrating on October 1, 2021, and will continue until March 31, 2023. I’ve only been to Disney World once–in 1986, I think? Other than Space Mountain–not a fan of roller coasters in general, and certainly not when that one was in the dark–I loved the park, and it cracked me up that even though I was nine hours from home, when I was standing in line for It’s A Small World, I heard a student calling, “Ms. Cochrane! Ms. Cochrane!” They always found me wherever I was.

A final coincidental note about this pin: It features Goofy and Pluto, and both are mentioned in a scene I’ve written in the Neverending Saga. Lynne didn’t know that when she got it–and still hasn’t read that scene since she’s not reading Book Six until the first section of it is finished. =)