One thing I enjoy about our eggs is the variety. Store-bought eggs seem to be uniform – all brown or all white and all the same size. Our eggs are all different colors and sizes.
Recently someone has been laying particularly interesting eggs.
At first, I thought it was an anomaly but there was another just like it a few days later.
I wish I knew which chicken was laying these odd-shaped eggs. It is most likely a white hen from the school. The brown hens usually lay brown eggs.
I was explaining this to some children once and someone asked, “do the green eggs come from green chickens.” Makes sense but that’s not the way it works.
Seeing all the different eggs in our cartons makes me happy. It is kind of like looking out at my classroom and seeing the wide variety of students. They keep life interesting.
The highest percentage of readers fall between the ages of 25-34
One-fourth of the readers are male
Nielsen BookScan’s data reported people of color make up roughly one-fifth of the romance buyers, while people aged forty-five and older hold more than 40 percent of the market.
Romance fiction is as diverse as our world. Each title is unique in tone and style, setting (any place or time), and varies in levels of sensuality—ranging from sweet to extremely hot. That’s why readers come back repeatedly.
Choices include series novels or single titles. Series can mean books issued under a common imprint/series name usually published by Harlequin, Check here for a list of Harlequin’s series lines. Another series type is stories written in specific locales or about specific families. Marie Force and Bella Andre are popular series authors.
Single-title romances, longer romances released individually and not part of a numbered series, are another option. These stories have deeper plots with romance playing the key role.
Entertainment, relaxation, and escape are most often cited as reasons for reading romance novels. The main appeal of the genre lies in the fact that the stories fulfill reader expectations. All romance novels have a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending.
Themes vary and whether you enjoy contemporary dialogue, historical settings, mystery, or thrillers, you’ll find a romance novel waiting to offer an escape and a reassurance that things can end on a positive note.
If you haven’t tried a romance, let me suggest my latest release at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Or you can check out my other titles on my website Choose from series and single titles.
You might be surprised at how much you enjoy the escape.
Neither are official-official holidays so there are no consequences. I’ll do better next year getting my blogs up on the actual dates, but in the meantime, here is my white-rabbit-late blog.
If you’re not familiar with the designation, both days are set aside to celebrate the underappreciated art of using correct grammar.
Jeff Rubin selected Sept. 24 in 2004 to be National Punctuation Day as “a celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever-mysterious ellipses.”
Martha Brockenbrough, founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, added March 4 as National Grammar Day to encourages everyone to use grammar correctly in both verbal and written language.
I love the reasoning behind the date. The National Grammar Day website states. “Language is something to be celebrated, and March 4 is the perfect day to do it. It’s not only a date, it’s an imperative: March forth on March 4 to speak well, write well, and help others do the same!”
These days our communication relies increasingly on our written word skills. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t email or text or post comments on social media. Correct grammar and punctuation are important.
I always need help with grammar and punctuation. If you have as much trouble as I do, here are my recommendations:
For help understanding how each punctuation mark is used, try this fabulous clickable chart here. Once on the page, you click on the punctuation mark and a page with the explanation opens.
It’s porch time on the Texas Gulf Coast. Gone are the oppressive high humidity and summer’s scorching heat. There are still warm days, but the evenings cool off. Unfortunately, mosquitoes still hang around. Sad to say, life in the south is never without mosquitoes.
If you take a ride on a country road, through suburban neighborhoods, or the tiny historic streets of cities like Charleston or New Orleans, you’ll find a wide variety of front porches. Southerners love porches. Entertaining on porches (porching) is a way of life in the South.
Going for rides is another Southern pastime, but that’s a topic for another blog.
Porches can be wide, spreading the width of the house. Wraparound ones circle the home. Some are small bungalow porches with columns of timber, stone, or brick. Others are portico porches also known as entry porches.
Every family home has its own anatomy for its porch.
But you’re guaranteed to see a welcome mat, real plants, a swing, a place for a dog, a ceiling fan on most, and even have a fireplace.
If you look closely, you’ll probably see a blue ceiling. The reason is muddled in folklore. It’s said “haint blue” wards off evil spirits. Haint being the southern word for ghost. Others say the color repels insects. Most simply fancy the elegant sky shade.
Screened porches make it possible to enjoy sitting outside on rainy days and stormy nights. Plus, the screen keeps out pesky bugs and insects. Screened back porches are particularly nice for a quiet “resting” place to read or a nap.
Fall is when seasonal decorating of porches begins in earnest. On your ride, check out all the lovely fall/Halloween decorations.
Our daughter Rachel, the animal specialist, recently earned her Master’s Degree in Animal Science. We are very proud of her!
Now she just needs a job. This has been much more difficult than any one of us imagined and Rachel moved back to Miller Farm to continue her search.
Since moving out Rachel has acquired another dog – and it is not a dachshund. Meet Cooper, the Australian Shepherd.
He is used to living in a house with several other Aussies and Penelope – Rachel’s dachshund. Now dachshunds outnumber him. He tries to fit in, but it doesn’t always work.
He has finally gotten over his fear of the scary dog that lives in our oven (otherwise known as his reflection).
But he is still not sure about the chickens.
It is a little chaotic at Miller Farm right now.
It is a good distraction, though, as we had to say goodbye to Bella last week. She had kidney disease and after giving all our kids the chance to say goodbye, it was time for her to go.
Having Cooper here helps keep us from missing Bella – usually.
At first, I thought it was an anomaly but there was another just like it a few days later.
