Monthly Archives: December 2015

December 31, 2015

Begging and Groveling for Readers

Don’t. Just don’t. Several times I have been attracted to web sites or e-mail links that offer all sorts of wonderful opportunities.  Each offers amazing books, great insights and tremendous opportunities to do better, be thinner, be smarter, write more, and on and on. Each includes lengthy and impressive testimonials. I actually downloaded one or […]

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December 30, 2015

Stephen F. Austin in Texas

        What was it like for an Anglo to find himself in Texas for the first time in 1821? Texas had belonged to Spain since the 1530s, and although not heavily populated by 1821, there were Spanish settlements at San Antonio, La Bahía and Nacogdoches. With the promise of land for settlement […]

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December 29, 2015

The Care and Training of Dog Owners

            How do you do? My name is Ch. Lady Marguerite Elizabeth Diana of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Yes, that would be after the Royal Family. Sometimes I permitted my last caregivers (CG’s) to call me Peg. I’m a Cockapoo. In case you didn’t know, a Cockapoo is a very special breed—part Cocker Spaniel and part Poodle. That […]

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December 28, 2015

On Creativity

What is creativity and where does it come from? As I sit meditating and staring at a blank screen, (I think it was Hemingway who said “Writing is easy, just stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead”) I wonder why some people are so tremendously creative. Others […]

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December 27, 2015

To Do or Not to Do—the Joys and Pain of Discipline

New Year is fast approaching and Resolutions are looming.   Of course, I will trot out my usual list for the New Year. I’ve given up calling them resolutions. Like most folks, my resolutions last about as long as the Christmas turkey leftovers. They are more like hopes. Hopes that this year I’ll actually lose […]

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December 26, 2015

And the Star Wars Saga continues: A Review

If you haven’t been to see Star Wars VII yet, you might want to pull up those big-boy Depends and go.            I invited Hubby Flatbottom (early Christmas present), but he flat-out refused. He shuddered at the very thought of entering a theater with thousands of kids running up and down the aisles, interrupting his […]

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December 25, 2015

Gifts of Christmas

       Opening presents on Christmas morning is a thrill and a delight. To watch children’s faces light up and hear their screams can’t help but bring us joy. There is nothing like sitting around the Christmas tree in jammies and robes, feet propped on the ottoman, mug of hot cocoa or coffee in […]

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December 24, 2015

For Love of Pets at Christmas time

I’ve long been a supporter of our Rita B. Huff Animal Shelter and the ASPCA Humane Society. Yesterday I stopped by there and found a number of families picking out dogs for their kids for Christmas. Such a delight to see the excitement and the joy. Then I think about what is coming next. “Johnny! […]

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December 22, 2015

To Decorate or not to Decorate

            The amount of money, time and effort that is spent on decorating for Christmas could, without doubt, solve the national debt problem, or at least come close. Sunday at a cookie gift exchange, one of the church ladies bemoaned the fact that she had not decorated for Christmas. She wasn’t elderly, maybe mid 60s […]

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