Category Archives: Every Day Life

Monday Blog Post: Surprise!

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Town Car

Town Car

Last week my daughter texted me that she and her significant other would be driving down from Flagstaff to visit and “show us something.” I said, “Sure, come on down.” I’ll admit I was curious but I waited patiently and on Saturday she arrived in this.

Lincoln Town Car Interior

Lincoln Town Car Interior

Yep, a Lincoln Continental Town Car. Apparently one of only three made for the Soprano’s show. Two were destroyed and this is the only one left. Through an unexpected twist, their neighbor owned the car and was going to get rid of it. Sometime in the car’s past, someone had pimped it out with the running lights, decorative bling and the winged angel on the front. The wings light up! The interior is ostrich leather. It turns out they want to sell it.  So, if you’re interested, I can connect you.

Angel Hood Ornament

Angel Hood Ornament

I’m still picking peaches from my tree though as of Sunday morning, there is only about one branch full left on the tree. We’re really enjoying eating those fresh peaches. Of course I sent daughter home with a bag of peaches and apples as well as just picked cherry tomatoes, a New Mexico chili and a jar of canned peaches. I’ve been studying my squash patch. The yellow squash plant is producing little pumpkin looking fruit! I suspect a plant tag was misapplied at the store. I’m watching these fruits with some interest to see what they turn into.

Mystery at the Fair is released on Smashwords who has distributed the story to Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and iTunes. It’s also up on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback editions. See the links at the end to find Mystery at the Fair on those sites.

As for writing, Betrayal Moon for the Forward Motion anthology is at the editors. In the meantime, I’m rewriting Gold Dream, a flash fiction I wrote earlier this year, into a short story. If I can get it written and edited in time, I’ll send it to the Society for Southwest Authors writing contest. That deadline is September 15th so I need to get in gear!

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com.  I’ve put a notice up on my wordpress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I’ve stopped posting to the wordpress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) as of Friday August 7th.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I put a special offer up in my July newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Flash Fiction Friday Story: Eternal Water

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Water, Fall, Waterfall, Randy Cockrell

Water Fall by Randy Cockrell

It had been a hot and muggy July and Mom and Dad had taken us to the shore for the first week of August. Not just any shore, we were in Maine and the water was so cold you could only go into the ocean to your knees before you turned blue as the sky and had to come back out.

I was thirteen and feeling too old to play with the little kids but not old enough to just swim out like my teen-aged cousins. So there I was; wading in to my knees until my toes went numb then back out to the beach to sit on my blanket and dig those frozen toes into the hot sand.

After two days of that, Dad asked if we wanted to go for a hike. There was a nearby national park we could drive to and a waterfall to visit with a pool at the bottom, perfect for swimming. My older brother wanted to stay at the beach with our male cousins. The female cousins wanted to stay at the beach, too. I’d seen them flirting with some boys their age. It seemed they were much more interested in that than a change of view.

So Dad and I climbed into the car with our hiking boots, swim suits on underneath the hiking clothes, and drove to the woods. After we parked, we stopped to put on socks and boots. Even in the dirt lot I could feel myself relaxing. The ocean was noisy with the wind and the surf crashing and the screaming of little kids as the waves washed over tiny feet for the first time. The woods were quiet with bird song, the sound of crickets and frogs, and the soft sigh of the wind in the tree tops.

We started off, Dad carrying a day-pack full of our lunch and water bottles. The trail followed a stream. “Is this the stream with the waterfall?”

“Yep. It’s about two miles away.” He adjusted the pack on his shoulders. “I’m hoping no one else is at the pool and waterfall since it’s a weekday. We’ll have to see.”

I hoped so too. A whole pool and waterfall to ourselves! Along the way we stopped to look at the moss growing between the roots of massive oaks, red flowers my dad called Cardinal flowers, and fascinating yet horrifying, a snake that was eating a toad, only half-way into the snake’s mouth. We stopped to watch the drama going on just off of the trail.

“Can’t we do something?” I felt a little queasy.

“Would you like it if someone came along and took your dinner out of your mouth?”

He had a point but still. We left before the poor toad was totally eaten.

We rounded a bend in the trail and I could see what we’d heard for the last quarter mile, the waterfall. “Oh!” I ran to the edge of the pool. The falls were at least three times taller than my dad. A young couple was just packing up their things to leave.

“Pretty awesome, huh?” The young man picked up his pack and helped a young woman to her feet.

“It is.” I couldn’t take my eyes off of the wide ribbon of water falling over the lip of stone.

“Have fun.” The young woman waved as they left.

Dad and I kicked off boots, stripped off hiking clothes and dove in. The water was cold but nothing like the ocean. I came up for air, gasping and laughing. Dad splashed water at me.

“Race you to the falls!”

We raced across the pool, half the length of a swimming pool and stopped just outside the range of the waterfall. “Beat ya!” he laughed.

I eased onto my back and floated. The roar of the water falling could be heard through the water in the pool as I stared up into a clear blue sky framed by maple, oak and white pine trees. Dad climbed out onto the bank, spread out two towels then lay down and closed his eyes.

I continued to float, listening to the falling water, loud near the falls, mellower as I drifted away. A gray squirrel darted along the branches of an oak, stopping to rip a leaf from the tree and throw it at the pool, chattering in fury at my intrusion. It occurred to me that I liked the forest much more than the sea shore. I could hear my heart beat, slow and steady. The flow of the water across my skin was soothing, not the abrasive battering that the ocean gave. It seemed as though all of time trickled to a stop and it was restful as the sun dappled the leaves overhead.

Too soon Dad called to me. “Time to eat, Emma.”

It took a force of will for me to pull myself up and swim the few strokes to the shore where Dad had laid out lunch. There were two sandwiches, a couple of apples, two bags of potato chips. I sat cross-legged on my towel and wiped my hands on it.

“Having fun?”

“Yes.” I picked up a sandwich and unwrapped it, taking a big bite. My stomach was growling. He did the same. We watched the water ripple out from the falls, sun sparkling off of the tiny waves. “I like it here. What’s it called?”

“Eternal Falls.”

It was fitting. “I think I’m going to call it Eternal Water.”

The End

918 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Monday Blog Post: August and Summer

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Garden, Zucchini, Connie Cockrell

Garden Zucchini by Connie Cockrell

It’s amazing, really, how fast the summer goes. I stay busy, and that, I think, is the clue. I seldom have a lazy day, a day where I just lounge around, reading or binge watching movies. Even my downtime, hiking or gardening, is scheduled into my day so that they get done. I’m fully invested in the old saying, idle hands are the devil’s workshop. I’m never idle.

The garden is going nicely. Cantaloupes are just about ready to pick. Zucchini is growing well. Picked my first roma tomato a few days ago. Fortunately for me, the hornworms are few and far between this year. Yay! Yesterday I made zucchini fritters from one zuke I forgot about. It didn’t get too big but bigger than I want for grilling.

Saturday I canned peaches. A hiking friend had never seen it done so I invited him over and he helped me through the whole process. I ended up with 12 pints of peaches. There are still peaches on the tree. They’re not quite ripe yet.  I also picked all of my apples. Perhaps applesauce.

Mystery at the Fair is released on Smashwords. Smashwords will distribute the story to Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and iTunes. See the links at the end to find Mystery at the Fair on those sites.

Camp NaNo is over and I missed my 50,000 word goal. I did achieve 32,000 so I’m satisfied. I’ll continue to write on it until it’s finished. In the meantime I need to edit Betrayal Moon for the Forward Motion anthology and rewrite Gold Dream, a flash fiction I wrote earlier this year. I want to turn it into a short story and send it to the Society for Southwest Authors writing contest. That deadline is September 15th so I need to get in gear!

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com. The techs at GoDaddy, my hosting site, were very helpful and we’ve straightened out all of the problems. Yay! I’ll put a notice up on my wordpress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I’m going to stop posting to the wordpress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I put a special offer up in my July newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Flash Fiction Friday Story: Pet Peeves

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Face, Pet Peeves, Randy Cockrell

Pet Peeves by Randy Cockrell

Alandra Nickels slammed on her brakes, her nose nearly hitting the steering wheel. She jammed the heel of her hand into the horn. “Holy crap! Use the damn turn signal, that’s what it’s there for!”

The other driver, an elderly man, waved and continued on his way.

“Oh for….” She glanced in the rear view, the driver in the car behind her was mouthing profanities, she could tell. Alandra waved in the same way the elderly driver did and stepped on the gas. As she drove she counted her lucky stars that her car hadn’t been smashed from both ends but she was shaking. “I hate that,” she mumbled. “Why the hell people can’t let other drivers know what they’re doing is beyond me.”

She was still stewing about the turn signal when she stopped at the light of a major intersection. A car pulled up in the lane beside her, sound system turned up so loud her ears hurt. She turned to see who was in the rusting car. Four young men, stoners from the look of them, playing something that only resembled music because instruments were involved. She shivered with the pain of the blast and wondered how their teeth stayed in their heads. Alandra was glad when the light changed and the boys roared off, a good fifteen miles an hour faster than the speed limit.

At work, she cruised the parking garage for a spot. A spot finally was found on the top level, in the sun, of course. That’s what I get for coming in late. I should just take the day off after a doctor’s appointment.

“Alandra, you’re here!” Her boss, Nathan Wills, called out through his office door as she passed. “Glad you made it. Your presentation has been moved to three o’clock.”

“It’s scheduled for tomorrow at two, Nathan. They pushed it back an hour?”

“No, no. Grab your stuff, it’s today,” he looked at his watch. “In half an hour.”

Her stomach rolled. “But, I’m not prepared! I was going to clean up the slides this afternoon.”

“No time, you do good work, Alandra. They’ll be fine. The VP is going out of town tonight and wants to see the presentation before he goes.”

“OK. Meet you in the board room.” She hurried to her desk, a cubicle just down the hall. Oh, crap. My brain isn’t into this right now.

As she stuck a thumb drive into her computer to download her presentation, a co-worker stuck her head around the partition. “Alandra, Thank God you’re back. The Mason account computer vendor just emailed me that the order is going to be delayed a month.”

Alandra stared. “Jean, I’ve just been called to the board room.” She swallowed, those computers had to be on site in a week. “Call them and tell them that if the computers aren’t here in five business days we’ll sue them for breach of contract?”

Jean blinked. “We can do that?”

“Of course not. But tell them that anyway.” Jean was her least reliable team member. “Be convincing. Be firm. You don’t want to be the one to tell Mason that we can’t move forward on their project do you?”

Jean’s head shook. “No, Alandra. No, not me.”

“Good. Get on it.”

She grabbed her print copy of the presentation and the thumb drive and headed to the board room. No hard copy to hand out, I haven’t reviewed the presentation, Jean is about to sink the whole Mason project and I’m still ticked about the drive here. That’s what I get. At the board room she stopped out of sight and took a few deep breaths. It never did well to arrive looking flustered and panicked.

Alandra stepped into the room, her boss, the VP, the secretary, and the CFO were already at the table. She went to the other end, plugged the thumb drive into the projector and adjusted the focus. Her boss poured her a glass of water which she sipped immediately.

“Good Afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for taking the time to hear about the status of the projects we have on our plates.”

When it was over, the VP shook her hand. “Well done, Alandra. I like that you didn’t waste paper on handouts. The information is in the database. If I want a hard copy I can download it. Good cost cutting move and fine presentation.”

She nodded and smiled and wondered at her good luck that she hadn’t had time to print out the documents. Nathan grinned when the two of them were walking back to their desks. “That went well. You were as prepared as always.”

Alandra accepted the praise. She’d remember that when the next review rolled around.

At home that evening she poured a glass of Riesling as she told her husband about her day. “One problem after another, every one of them a pet peeve.” She sipped the wine. “I thought my head would explode.”

Her husband stopped stirring the marinara he was making and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “Sorry you had a bad day, Sweetie. You shouldn’t let things like the turn signals and loud music bother you so much.”

“Yeah, but those things just ratchet up my stress levels.”

“Well, now you’re home and safe and the car is whole.” He sprinkled fresh oregano into the sauce.

Alandra grit her teeth. She hated oregano. She sighed and sipped more wine. “Yeah. I guess so.”

The End

916 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Monday Blog Post: Birthday News

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Payson Book Festival, Banner, Chamber of Commerce

Payson Book Festival Banner at the Chamber of Commerce

There’s only 7 more days until the festival and we’re finalizing all of the tiny details required to be completed before we have our author Meet and Greet on Friday and the Festival on Saturday. Banners have been hung around town. TV, Radio, Blog and Newspaper interviews have been conducted all over Arizona. Posters are up. We’re ready!  I hope you can make it to Payson on July 25th, 9am – 4pm, and stop by the festival to say hello!

If you missed any of the interviews or media releases or want to read the proclamation, click here to find everything.

So Friday was my birthday. A hiking friend of mine had her birthday a week earlier. We’re the same age. Twins! So we had a joint birthday party on Saturday.  We belong to many of the same groups so we sent out an email to all of our friends to join us. We had a blast. Burgers and dogs, salads, cake, cookies, watermelon and oh, way too much food! Below is a picture from the party.

Birthday Cake, Connie, Ruth

Birthday Cake for Connie and Ruth

Mystery at the Fair is released! I’m happy that I have it done and was able to buy copies to have for the Book Festival. So far it’s only up on Amazon. Soon I’ll have it up on other sites: Apple, Barnes and Noble, and a few others.

Camp NaNo progresses. I’m not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to hold two major functions, release a book, and write 50K in a month but there you go, certifiably crazy. As of today I have over 30,000 words.  I’m working on the second Jean Hays series book, Mystery in the Woods. When will it be out, you ask? No idea. I have two other books, that I wrote in April, waiting for editing. Maybe you can tell I’m not as enthusiastic about the editing and rewriting part as I am about writing the first draft.

The garden is looking wonderful. I’ve picked four zuchinni already and harvested the potatoes. Now I’m in the process of not water the bed where the mint has run amok. I’m going to have to let that bed go until I can dig out all of the mint. The tomatoes are looking good even though none are ripe yet. This is Tomato Hornworm season so I have to carefully examine the plants. The damage a tomato hornworm can do is incredible.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I have a special offer going up in my newsletter, sign up today! Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote their books. Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: July Starts with a Bang!

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Mayor Evans, Connie Cockrell, Payson Book Festival Day Proclamation. Photo, Marie Fasano

Mayor Evans and Connie Cockrell with the Payson Book Festival Day Proclamation. Photo by Marie Fasano

On July 2nd, as the Chair for the Payson Book Fesitval, I received a Proclamation from the Town of Payson Mayor, Kenny Evans. The proclamation declares July 25th, the day of our book festival to be Payson Book Festival Day! You can see me and the Mayor in the above picture, shaking hands.

There’s only 19 more days until the festival and we’re hot and heavy into the marketing part of the event. Our Media committee member, Marie Fasano, has sent small articles to all of the major magazines in Arizona for their Calendar sections. She’s set up all of these interviews on radio and TV I’ve been posting about and she’s sent articles about our participating authors to their hometown newspapers to run. Marie has been doing a fantastic job. I hope you can make it to Payson on July 25th, 9am – 4pm, and stop by the festival to say hello!

If you missed any of the interviews or media releases or want to read the proclamation, click here to find everything.

It having been the 4th of July weekend I feel obligated to share that hubby and I went to a friend’s house and watched the fireworks from there. One of hubby’s pictures of the show is below. Our town does a great 4th of July festival in Green Valley park: children’s games and contests, food vendors, live music and then, a thirty-minute fireworks display.

Payson, Fireworks, Randy Cockrell

Payson Fireworks by Randy Cockrell

I’m still working on my Mystery at the Fair edits. After that will be the CreateSpace and Smashwords formatting and the release. I’m still shooting for the end of this week to finish the edits and then spend next weekend formatting and releasing. Cross your fingers for me, every one.

July is also a Camp NaNo month. As of today I have over 10,000 words. I completed the first draft of my short story for the Forward Motion anthology. Now I’m working on the second Jean Hays series book, Mystery in the Woods. When will it be out, you ask? No idea. I have two other books, that I wrote in April, waiting for editing. Maybe you can tell I’m not as enthusiastic about the editing and rewriting part as I am about writing the first draft.

My tomatoes have finally begun a serious growth spurt. I put the trellis for them up a few days ago and already they’re growing through the loops. The Sungold cherry tomato has tomatoes on it but still green. The rest of the plants are blossoming. Two of the six plants were volunteers that I dug up and put in the tomato bed. I can’t wait to see what they are!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

If you’re interested, click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote their books. Thanks in advance.

Chicklets in the Kitchen: Pasta Primavera

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Pasta, Primavera, Ingredients

Pasta Primavera Ingredients

It’s summer and the Farmer’s Market is overflowing with fresh, beautiful vegetables. We’re fortunate enough in our area that we have local dairies as well, both fresh cow’s milk butter and cheeses and goat’s milk cheeses and delicacies. If you haven’t been to your Farmer’s Market yet this year, you’re missing out. Last Saturday I scored marvelous young Swiss Chard, just picked cherry tomatoes, and fresh goat cheese. I had a plan when I went, you see, to pick up just those luscious things for Saturday night dinner, Pasta Primavera.

Pasta Primavera is great for whatever vegetables you happen to pick up at the market or what’s growing in your garden. You can substitute whatever you have for what I used. Feel free to mix and match.

Read the rest at Chicklets in the Kitchen

Monday Blog Post: Small Town Fun

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Monster Mudder, Water Slide, Randy Cockrell

Monster Mudder Water Slide by Randy Cockrell

Summer fun is in full swing in my little town. Friday was the first Friday of the month so some of the options for Friday night were a wine tasting at The Beverage Store and First Friday at the Down The Street art gallery where a person can look at and buy some of the wonderful selections of paintings, pottery, jewelry, and other art made by local artists. They offer a free glass of wine and various appetizers and this Friday, they also had the local drama club offer a one act play! Over at the Community Presbyterian Church, was a Jazz concert. Saturday was huge. See a picture from above from the Mogollon Monster Mountain days. There were ATV trail rides and the Monster Mudder. A wonderful 5K obstacle course race that had about 600 participants. Did I mention it rained for the first time in recorded weather keeping for Arizona on Friday and Saturday morning? Lots of muddy fun. Then there was the Farmers Market and in Pine, running all weekend, was the Craft Fair. I took my mom and she bought a cute little tea cup with a strainer basket that fits right inside and a cover to keep your tea hot while it steeps. Then Saturday evening was the concert in the park. This week it was a lovely group of a cappella singers with a doo wop focus. We were all singing along. So what happens in your town on the weekend? Lots of fun? Picnics? Concerts?

Over at www.conniesrandomthoughts.com I put up a button to advertise the upcoming Payson Book Festival. If you click on it, you’ll be taken to the www.PaysonBookFestival.org. Check out the Meet the Authors tab. We have SIXTY authors coming to the event. You’re sure to find a book or topic that interests you. We also are archiving the radio interviews of authors that will be at the Festival. Check out the Media tab, Interviews. There’s a new one every Friday until the Festival. The next one is my friend Susan Haught!

I’ll be closing down www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com. You’ll notice at the top of the web page the notice. Please do transfer over to the website. I’d hate to lose you all.

Mystery at the Fair came back from the editors and I’ve read through the comments. This was a content edit. That means the editor was looking for places in the story where I may need to ramp up the action, tighten the dialog, that sort of thing. I want this book out for the July Festival so I need to get cracking on the re-writes. I’ll keep you posted.

The unexpected rain last Friday and Saturday were a wonderful gift for us gardeners. I still need to get my tomatoes, peppers and such. That bush I pulled out? Yep, I went to the garden center and replaced it with lavender. I can hardly wait for it to bloom.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

If you’re interested, click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote their books. Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: New Month – June 2015

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Rufus-sided towhee, Bird bath, Randy Cockrell

Rufus-sided towhee taking a bath by Randy Cockrell

Hooray! It’s June. Here in Arizona school is already out but for many other places in the U.S.A. it’s the last few weeks of finals and then, graduation. June is also a wedding month. I have no graduations or weddings to attend but for you that do, have fun and congratulations.

May Story A Day, or May SAD as I call it, is now over. I committed to write 10 stories for the month and actually shoot for 12. I didn’t make even the official goal, I have 9 and a half stories written, most of them are flashes but there are a couple of short stories in the mix, too. In my other writing group I kept up with my 5 minutes per day writing challenge missing a day or two here or there. I like these sort of challenges. They keep me moving.

I now have a basic site up and running at www.conniesrandomthoughts.com. Notice there is no more wordpress in the URL. I’ll be closing down www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com. You’ll notice at the top of the web page the notice. Please do transfer over to the website. I’d hate to lose you all.

Eavesdroppers came back from the editors and I made the final corrections to it. Then I sent it out to the Acorn Press, Apocalypse Chronicles contest. The contest doesn’t close until July 15th and then those people have to read all of those entries. It will be awhile before I hear anything back. I’ll keep you posted.

It’s less than two months now until the Payson Book Festival. www.PaysonBookFestival.org. Check out the site, especially the Meet the Authors tab. Is your favorite author listed? If not, come and find a new favorite author. Mark your calendar to come to Payson for July 25th to meet us. We’d love to chat with you.

The hot weather has finally hit. It was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday. Time to get watering and put in my tomatos, peppers and such. I pulled out a giant red-leaved bush from our front yard next to the garage and front walk. It was growing out of control, had developed some rot in the branches and well, hubby has never liked it. I’m sorry to pull it out. It turned a bright red in the fall after a few hard frosts and in the spring had tiny pink flowers that smelled good and the bees loved. I’m going to replace it with lavender. Lavender does really well in this climate and after it’s established, hardly needs any watering. Plus, when it blooms, I’ll be able to pick a lot of those wonderful blossoms. Bees and butterflies will love it too. Win-win for everyone.

If you follow me on Chicklets in the Kitchen, this month’s recipe will be crockpot pulled pork. I love crockpot cooking in the summer and who doesn’t like pulled pork. That post will be out on the 25th of June.

Today’s picture is of our birdbath. The Rufus-sided towhee is again featured enjoying a bath.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

If you’re interested, click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote their books. Thanks in advance.

Chicklets In The Kitchen Blog Post: Grilling Chicken and Asparagus

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Grilled Chicken Quarters and Asparagus by Connie Cockrell

Grilled Chicken Quarters and Asparagus by Connie Cockrell

For most of us Memorial Day weekend is the start of the summer season. Not so much in Texas, Oklahoma and the mid-west this year though. Anyway, summer means grilling. I grill a lot here in Arizona. Unless there’s snow on the ground and I can’t roll the BBQ out, I can grill. Summer grilling means making meals outside where I’m not heating up the house. I love that. Here is my go to grilled dinner, chicken thighs and asparagus. Add a potato or macaroni salad, made in the morning while it’s still cool, and you have a fast, easy, pan-free meal that’s practically hassle free.

See the rest at Chicklets in the Kitchen.