Category Archives: Gardening

Garden, Fund Raiser, Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale: Monday Blog Post

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Sunday, I decided the potato vines had died back enough and I dug up the five plants that had self-seeded. The above picture is my entire harvest, about 10 pounds of potatoes. Most of them are red skinned. Those three plants not only self-seeded better but grew lots more potatoes. There are a couple of purple potatoes in there and a handful of Yukon Golds. It’s been my experience that the reds, at least here in my garden, produce much better than the others. In my climate, the potatoes started growing in March and I harvested on June 28th. I have time now to plant beets, but I expect the chipmunks will eat the baby greens as soon as their little leaves poke up through the soil. Sigh. I also pulled all but one of the bolted arugulas. Only one plant left to provide seed for a next planting. Time, I think, for a trip to the local garden center for some already half-grown veggie bedding plants. The critters may be less inclined to eat those.

I’m asking that people donate to my favorite 501c3 non-profit, the Payson Book Festival as my birthday fundraiser. Cancelled this year for the Coronavirus, I thought I’d try to get a jump on earning money so that the 2021 Payson Book Festival will be even better than before. So if you’d care to, pop on over to Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/donate/952277878565180/10217646111446962/, and drop a little money into the kitty. You can find out more about our festival at www.PaysonBookFestival.org.

The weather back to hot and dry and windy. Several small fires have popped up and been controlled. I am hearing rumors that the Forest Service will close the Tonto National Forest, because it’s so dry here. Everyone who lives here, hopes so, as it only takes one careless person to start a fire in this tinder dry environment.

I’ve seen some Facebook posts from people asking what everyone is doing for the 4th of July. My answer: Nothing. I’m staying home. I’m not going out without a mask. I’m not starting a fire. All the usual town events are cancelled, if not for the Corona, then to help keep fire danger down. Maybe I’ll grill. Remains to be seen.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

New sale! Over on Smashwords starting the 1st of July, it’s the summer/winter sale. Several of my books are on sale and I hope you get a chance to go to that site and check them out. Click on the link and scroll through the list to see books on discount sale. Have fun and check out some other authors while you’re there! https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/conniecockrell Don’t forget. The sale starts 1 July and ends on the 31st.

The spring giveaway, Spring Flings and Book Things, is nearly over. Want to win a prize? You can get to it here, on my Giveaways page.

Where will I Be?

Phoenix Fan Fusion, September 25th – 27th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Note that the event is a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Thursday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, has been officially rescheduled. The new date for my appearance is October 26th, still at 1pm. So if you happen to be in Pine, AZ, on that date, come on by. I’ll have some books available for purchase and signing.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming. Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Art, BookShop.Org, The Garden, Fire: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

I belong to a Facebook group that does casual art. The admin posts a new prompt once a day and if you feel the prompt, you draw, paint, photograph to the prompt. The other day the prompt was campfire. Above is what I did. It’s pencil and watercolor paint on art paper.

The other day I was scrolling through Facebook posts and there was one from an author group I belong to talking about a newish website called BookShop.org. They said the site had their books on it so I clicked over to take a look. BookShop’s About page describe it as an alternative to Amazon and the site supports local bookstores. I went ahead and set up a page on there. You can now find my books, all except Gold Dreams, at bookshop.org/shop/conniesrandomthoughts. Check it out.

The weather here has been hot and dry and windy. My garden plants are taking a bit of a beating but still doing well. The tomato plants are blooming, so that’s a good thing, though I won’t have any tomatoes until well after the 4th of July. The basil is still surviving, and the potatoes are dying back quickly. I just need to harvest them promptly when they’re ready. The peas and beans that were overwhelmed by the potatoes are now visible and the peas, especially, seem quite happy. They’re blooming too. The roses are past their 1st glorious bloom and if I weren’t so lazy, I’d deadhead them and get a nice second blush. Sigh.

https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Bush-Fire-closes-Hwy-87.jpg

There is a major fire burning just 60 miles south of us, called the Bush Fire. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6773/ Nearby neighborhoods, directly east of the fire just this morning, have been issued an evacuate order. The air here is smoky and people with breathing problems have been advised to stay indoors. This was a human caused fire, a car caught fire on the highway that runs between Phoenix and Payson. So not deliberately set. Unfortunately, it has closed the highway since Friday afternoon and the traffic confusion that has resulted on Saturday and Sunday has been immense. All the valley campers up here for the weekend were forced to take very long reroutes to get back home. I17, to our west, had 50-mile backups as there was a fire near that travel artery as well. Arizona is beautiful, but escape routes, especially for rural areas like ours can be down to just one or two ways out. So everyone who heads out of your city and to the country for weekends or vacations, please, please, please follow no burn rules if they’re in place. A careless camper can devastate miles and miles of countryside, potentially destroying local towns, and send residents running for their lives. We have a saying up here, “If it’s not camping without a campfire, just think what it’s like with no forest.”

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

The spring giveaway, Spring Flings and Book Things, is now open. You can get to it here, on my Giveaways page.

Where will I Be?

Phoenix Fan Fusion, September 25th – 27th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Note that the event is a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Thursday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, has been officially rescheduled. The new date for my appearance is October 26th, still at 1pm. So if you happen to be in Pine, AZ on that date, come on by. I’ll have some books available for purchase and signing.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming. Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Wildlife, The Garden: Monday Blog Post

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Found out this is a Gopher Snake.

Newest News:

So, just an Arizona thing. We went for a drive around town in areas we don’t normally travel, just to see what’s new, where new homes are being built, just a joy ride. On a back street, we saw the above fellow, crossing the street. It isn’t a rattlesnake, as there are no rattles. We don’t know what he is but he was a good three plus feet long. Handsome, isn’t he? Any pictures of wildlife in your area you’d like to share?

A rose getting a drink from the birdbath.

The tomato and pepper plants I bought last week have survived the heat and the chipmunks. So at Saturday’s Farmer’s Market, I decided to press my luck and bought two basil plants. We’ll see if chipmunks like those. The roses are mostly gone, now, and the arugula has all gone to flowers. The lavender in the front yard is almost ready to bloom. Things are happening all over the yard. I have not yet seen our Chiricahua lizards yet this year but there have been plenty of others, darting around both the front and the back. The hummingbirds are also returning. Not enough as yet, to hang the second feeder, but they’re out there, fighting about who gets to drink at the feeder we do have up.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

The spring giveaway, Spring Flings and Book Things, is now open. You can get to it here, on my Giveaways page.

Where will I Be?

Phoenix Fan Fusion, September 25th – 27th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Note that the event is a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Thursday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, has been officially rescheduled. The new date for my appearance is October 26th, still at 1pm. So if you happen to be in Pine, AZ on that date, come on by. I’ll have some books available for purchase and signing.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming. Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Mother’s Day, Horror Flash Fiction, ebook Sale: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

I love the way this red-orange one has only opened the outermost petals. The rest is still a bud!

The tenth was Mother’s Day and like pretty much everyone under stay at home orders, I had a lovely day at home. Hope you had a great one. I lazed half the morning away reading emails, watching Food Network shows and having breakfast. Then I watered the garden, had a shower, and took some time to macerate some strawberries for strawberry shortcake. I found a Paleo Lemon Pound Cake recipe and made that as my shortcake base. Dinner, however, is less elegant. I have a fridge full of leftovers, so we’ll be having left over pork scallopini, Cauliflower rice with asparagus, and the afore mentioned shortcake for dessert. Not bad, right? The rest of my rose bushes are blooming. Above is a picture of one of the red ones. It’s an orangey red. Below is a coral peach color one. I love both of them.

This one is a coral peach color, which in full sun, the camera on my phone didn’t capture very well.

I found a contest for a Horror Christmas/New Year/Solstice short story contest and I’ve been working on a story. I think I’m doing well on the scary part. My ending is a happy one though. Those of you who like to read horror, would a happy ending be disappointing? Comment back if you have an opinion, I’d really like to know.

I should mention here that I have a sale going on over on the Smashwords site. https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/conniecockrell This is my author page and as you scroll down, you’ll see all of my books. Since I make my books as inexpensive as possible right from the start, I don’t usually do sales but because of the lockdown, I did put some on sale for 60% off. You’ll see the sale prices listed on the ones on sale. This runs through the end of the month, so hop on board an get some reading in. Prices will return to normal June 1st so don’t delay.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

The spring giveaway, Spring Flings and Book Things, is now open. You can get to it here, on my Giveaways page.

Where will I Be?

Payson Book Festival, at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, Payson AZ. This event is now cancelled the next festival is July 17th, 2021. The danger to our authors, volunteers, and guests just seemed too great to hold the event. I’m disappointed, as are the committee, volunteers and authors already scheduled to attend. With luck, next year will be much better.

CokoCon 2020, September 4 – 7th, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe, 2100 S Tempe, AZ. This event hasn’t been cancelled yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, September 25th – 27th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Note that the event is a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Thursday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, has been officially rescheduled. The new date for my appearance is October 26th, still at 1pm. So if you happen to be in Pine, AZ, on that date, come on by. I’ll have some books available for purchase and signing.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Gardening, Poetry, ebook Sale: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

We’re now into May and my garden is coming along. Volunteer potatoes have sprouted up in the middle of where I planted bush green beans and peas. Sigh. They’re growing so well I don’t have the heart to pull them. I’ll have to put another row or two of beans and peas in to compensate. My roses have begun blooming. That’s a picture up above. Love it when all of the bushes are in bloom at the same time. How’s your garden?

April’s Poetry month is now over. I hope you enjoyed the daily offering of different poetry forms. I really enjoy doing them and have saved all I’ve written. I may put out a book of poems one day. Maybe after the seven other projects I have sitting around waiting for me to get on the ball.  

On sale now!

I should mention here that I have a sale going on over on the Smashwords site. https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/conniecockrell This is my author page and as you scroll down, you’ll see all of my books. Since I make my books as inexpensive as possible right from the start, I don’t usually do sales but because of the lockdown, I did put some on sale for 60% off. You’ll see the sale prices listed on the ones on sale. This runs through the end of the month, so hop on board an get some reading in. Prices will return to normal June 1st so don’t delay.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

The spring giveaway, Spring Flings and Book Things, is now open. You can get to it here, on my Giveaways page. As soon as the winners are announced for the St. Patrick’s giveaway, I’ll let you know.

Where will I Be?

Payson Book Festival, July 18th at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, Payson AZ. This event is under consideration for cancellation. We’ll know more in May

CokoCon 2020, September 4 – 7th, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe, 2100 S Tempe, AZ. This event hasn’t been cancelled yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, September 25th – 27th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Note that the event is a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Thursday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, April 27th has been officially rescheduled. The new date for my appearance is October 26th, still at 1pm. So if you happen to be in Pine, AZ on that date, come on by. I’ll have some books available for purchase and signing.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Gardening, One Problem after Another, Masks, Poetry, Giveaways: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

Sunday I spent some time in the yard, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. I watered the two flower pots out front that have pansies in them. They’ve been there five days and the javelina haven’t found them yet. They like to snack on the flowers, pulling them up by the roots, eating the flower part and spreading root balls and dirt in all directions. So far so good. I also watered my lavender and my fruit trees. A good long soak to get deep to the roots. Then, my biggest challenge was to repot my jade plant. I’d put it in a pretty but narrow necked jar two years ago and it was definitely looking like it needed repotting. The problem was to get it out of the jar. It wasn’t easy. I soaked the root ball and slid my hand down into the jar and around the root ball to break it up. With a lot of effort, I got it out but minus the lower third of the roots. I repotted it in a wide mouth pot this time and watered it well. Cross your fingers for it to survive the abuse.

Problems. If you own a house or the appliances and furniture in your apartment, you eventually end up with issues. Since Friday my poor husband has had to fix a number of things. First was the ice maker in the refrigerator. True, having an ice maker quit isn’t exactly an earth-shattering problem but I use my ice maker all the time. So, after tinkering with it, then dumping out all the ice into a container to use as needed, then tinkering some more. He fixed it. At the time we both decided the ice maker was broken, all I could see was a giant repair bill. We’d had a repairman come to the house once before for a previous fridge. Hundreds of dollars later, it was fixed. Thank goodness we didn’t have that this time. If a repair person would come out in the middle of a shut down anyway. Second was the Prius. Hubby got in it early Sunday morning to make our grocery run. It wouldn’t start. That’s never a good start to the day. Anyway, he took the second car and when he got home, spent some time with the owner’s manual to try and figure it out. Turns out the 2nd battery, the one that starts the car, was dead. He managed to find a new battery at a local car parts store and got it fixed. Disaster averted, but it wasn’t cheap. New batteries for Prius’ are expensive.

Hubby asked me to make him a mask to wear out in public. So Friday and Saturday I did. It took me three hours to make two camo masks, one for my husband and one for my daughter’s room mate. The next day, I made two more, one for me and one for my daughter. The second time around it went a lot faster. These pleated masks have a pocket to put a filter in them. My sister-in-law, the nurse, told me about these and she uses the best hepa furnace filters she can find to put in the pocket. So, anyway, they’re done.

April is National Poetry month and I’ve been writing a new poem daily with a group on Facebook. If you’d like a quick getaway, I also post the poems on my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ConniesRandomThoughts/. They’re a quick read and sometimes fun, sometimes thoughtful. You’d like to join in the poetry writing fun? Check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/178557275869627/. Tell Stephanie I invited you!

The St. Patrick’s Day giveaway is done. I’ll post my winners as soon as I get them.

See below for cancellations and changed dates for my appearances.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

The spring giveaway, Spring Flings and Book Things, is now open. You can get to it here, on my Giveaways page. As soon as the winners are announced for the St. Patrick’s giveaway, I’ll let you know.

Where will I Be?

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, April 27th at 1pm. This event hasn’t been officially cancelled though the library is closed through April. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.

Payson Book Festival, July 18th at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, Payson AZ. This event hasn’t been cancelled yet. I’ll keep you posted.

CokoCon 2020, September 4 – 7th, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe, 2100 S Tempe, AZ. This event hasn’t been cancelled yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, September 25th – 27th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Note that the event is a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Thursday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

The Garden, Navajo Flatbread, Appearance News: Monday Blog Post

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My nectarine tree in full bloom

Newest News:

So, finally cleaned up the 3 backyard raised garden beds. They only had a few stems and dead leaves in them. I have no idea why I kept putting it off since November. It took all of five minutes to clean. Sigh. I also went to the front yard and pruned off the dead stems from the lavender plant. I hate that job and it took me about an hour. Now though, it’s done, and the plant is all ready to put out new flower shoots. The weather here is getting warmer, even though we can still get frosts and maybe even a late snow. No matter. I’m going to put in some lettuces and maybe even the peas. I’m certainly going to put in my Swiss Chard. It’s a mild kind, all green, that substitutes really well for spinach, which I can never grow. With luck, the chipmunks will leave it all alone. The bunny from last year must have moved on when it ran out of my garden veggies to eat. I haven’t seen it in months.

I found this easy bread recipe on-line for Navajo flatbread and I made it for supper last night. https://templehousegallery.com/pioneer-plate-blog/2020/3/18/bread-shortage-easiest-kind-of-bread-you-can-make It was quite easy to do, and I substituted a mix of cassava, tapioca and a general-purpose gluten free flours for general all-purpose flour to make it. Came out wonderfully. It calls for a cast-iron pan but I used my non-stick frying pan and they came out perfectly. Very tasty. I served it with a chicken tikka masala with broccoli and peas. I’ll make it again.

The St. Patrick’s Day giveaway is done. I’ll post my winners as soon as I get them. In the meantime, prepare for the Spring giveaway which will be starting in the next day or two.

See below for cancellations and changed dates for my appearances.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Giveaways:

The St. Patrick Day giveaway is now over but the Spring giveaway hasn’t quite started yet. I’ll post my winners as soon as I get them.

Where will I Be?

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, April 27th at 1pm. This event hasn’t been officially cancelled though the library is closed through April. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.

Payson Book Festival, July 18th at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, Payson AZ. This event hasn’t been cancelled yet. I’ll keep you posted.

CokoCon 2020, September 4 – 7th, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe, 2100 S Tempe, AZ. This event hasn’t been cancelled yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, May 21st – 24th. This event has been postponed until the end of September. Current dates are now September 25th through Sunday the 27th. Note that it’s a day shorter, starting on Friday rather than Saturday. For people who have special Thursday passes and other special tickets, check out the Fan Fusion website for details on how those will be handled.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

I’m Literary! Giveaway Opens, Fruit Trees Pruned: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

Just after I posted last week, I received news that a story I wrote last August, had been accepted and was just published. The way it happened was that I met a woman, Rosemary Dombrowski, a poet from Arizona State University, who was doing some pre-book festival work with sixth-graders here in Payson for us. She has this literary magazine she and some of her students and other instructors work on, called Writing For Peace. https://writingforpeace.org/gardens-in-the-desert-cultivating-awareness/ It turned out they were accepting short stories and poems and art for the upcoming Winter 2020 edition. The theme was Gardens in the Desert, Cultivating Awareness. Even though my fiction isn’t considered literary, an idea immediately popped into my mind and I wrote it up.  After I sent it in, I just forgot about it. Then a few days ago, I was contacted by the staff to check my story for correctness. A week later, boom, I have a link to the electronic copy. I hear an actual paper version will be published later this year. I’m looking forward to that as there are wonderful stories in there and stunning artwork. Want to check it out while it’s free? Click on the link above and it takes you right to it. My story, A Little Bit of Light, is in the Fiction link. Enjoy it and the other stories, art, and poetry.

Peach tree from 2019

I mentioned last week that it was time to prune my fruit trees. I actually got it done. I managed to sprain my wrist in the process but the two pears, the peach, and the nectarine trees have all been cut back, crosswise branches trimmed and the trees are now ready for spring. The rosebushes and the lavender bush all still to be done but that will get done eventually too. How about you? Are you able to garden yet or do you still need to wait for the snow to leave?

Giveaways:

Hooray! The St. Patrick Day giveaway is now live! This is one of our shortest giveaways so be sure to click on the link right away. As always, we ask that to win, you follow us on one or more of several social media, or our newsletters, or our websites. You don’t have to join all of them, but to find out more about the many wonderful authors, you’ll want to do that. Here’s the link. https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ or go to https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2703c98f110/  Sign up today!

Where will I Be?

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, April 27th at 1pm. More info to follow.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, May 21st – 24th.

Payson Book Festival, July 18th at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, Payson AZ.

CokoCon 2020, September 4 – 7th, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe, 2100 S Tempe, AZ

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Happy President’s Day, Cooking : Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

Happy President’s Day. The holiday kind of caught me by surprise. We went to breakfast Saturday morning and the town traffic was heavier than usual. I couldn’t understand why till I happened to check the calendar. So. Hope you are having a great three day weekend and staying safe, as well.

Anyone reading this also on Facebook? Sometimes a meme comes through that just sticks with me. A few weeks ago was one that read: Hardest thing about adulting? Deciding what to make for dinner every night for the rest of your life. I so understand that. I didn’t when I was younger. I loved buying cookbooks, trying new recipes—now, if I can’t make it from memory or requires more than one pan, I’m out. So for those of you still enthusiastic about dinner, yay! For me, I’m still struggling along.

The weather here has been getting warmer. The rose bushes and fruit trees are starting to bud. That means I’m late at pruning. So to all of you gardeners out there, time to prune!

Giveaways:

The St. Patrick’s Day giveaway will start soon. I’ll post links as soon as I get them.

Where will I Be?

Pine Library, 6124 W. Randall Place, Pine AZ, Friends of the Library meeting, April 27th at 1pm. More info to follow.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, May 21st – 24th.

Payson Book Festival, July 18th at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, Payson AZ.

CokoCon 2020, September 4 – 7th, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe, 2100 S Tempe, AZ

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Releases:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is up on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, (Direct link doesn’t work, copy the URL and paste it into your browser, or go directly to Kobo.com and search for Gold Dreams, Connie Cockrell), and Smashwords. The print version is available on Amazon. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Last Phoenix Fan Fusion T, Social Media, Were You a Female in Afghanistan, Gardening: Monday Blog Post

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This is it. The last picture I took of tee-shirts. Hope you’ve enjoyed them!

Newest News:

After the Phoenix Fan Fusion, I began showing some of the t-shirts from the show. Here is the last one I took. Many thanks to all of the very nice fans who stopped at my table so I could take their pictures. You made my day.

Let’s talk social media for a moment. I belong to several sites, and on a couple, I’m really building a following. For example, I’ve passed 700 followers on Bookbub. If you aren’t a follower there, and you love books, you should be. Lots of giveaways there, lots of announcements of free books by your favorite authors. Lots of reviews so you can check out a book before you buy. Then there’s my YouTube channel. I passed 1000 followers on there. I don’t post a lot on there, but there are some amusing things to see. And finally, not really social media, but I do post the occasional newsletter when I have some book news to share. You can find that below. I’d appreciate it if you’d follow me on all three of these places.

I’ve been poking at my next book in the Jean Hays series, Mystery at the Reunion. I know it’s been taking forever but I’ve finally figured out how to fix the draft book. I’m looking for a female military person who has been stationed in Afghanistan. I have some questions about your time in country, so that I can get details correct for a sub-plot in the book. If you did serve, or know someone who did, would you allow me to do an interview? It can be via email, phone, Skype, whatever works. Contact me and we can work out the details.

Gardening. The peaches are small, and some are now ripe. I picked one, because I thought it was a little hard and bit into it. Perfection. Fuzzy, warm from the sun, delicious without being too soft. Of course, some are already being picked at by the birds but that’s all right. There’s plenty for all of us.

Giveaways:

The Summer Giveaway is open! There are 33 participating authors with 33 book prizes and 33 summer gift prizes. The Grand Prize is $100 in Paypal cash. This is certainly a giveaway to get involved with.

Where will I Be?:

Now that the Payson Book Festival is done, I don’t have anything on my calendar until the December Mesa Book Festival. The date is December 14th from 10am – 5pm and the location has changed to 225 E Main St, Mesa. This is the Benedictine University, for those familiar with Mesa. I am sharing a booth space with the wonderful Marsha Ward. The site only promotes the author registering the table, so you’ll only see Marsha’s name, not mine. But I promise, I’ll be there. You can find all the details and a map at https://anthology.org/category/mesa-book-festival/.

On the other hand, if something juicy comes up, because it’s a long time between July and December, I’ll let you know. Do you know of an event where you’d like to see me? I’d love to know about it. Contact me here and say the word.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Gold Dreams released May 13th, 2019. It is only up on Amazon, at the moment. I’ll let everyone know when the print version is up and is up on the other platforms. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.