Rainy Days and Sundays Always Bring Me....

Although I work from home, there still seems to be something special about early Sunday mornings. With a cup of coffee at hand and the computer warmed up and ready to cruise, I feel like I am this close to heaven.

What saddens me today is that I have not posted on this site in over a month. This is the favorite of my blogs - the one I truly enjoy posting. The other blogs I maintain seem more like a job, whereas this one is a fun, anything-goes kinda place to let loose and express myself.

This Sunday morning I'd like to share some good things that are happening in my realm:

Rain Can Be a Good Thing

Today, as I look out at the cloudy skies and light rain, I am so glad that we have our current weather. For some reason we have a lot of green grass after a very heavy snow-filled winter. This rain will help our grass grow and thrive. I feel for those who are battling the floods in Fargo, ND and the blizzards in the central plains area. The snow is heading towards my sister and brother, but hopefully it will settle down before it reaches us.

NetFlix is Cool

My daughter, Deb, really impressed upon me the benefits of NetFlix and how much enjoyment I could get from the variety of movies and TV shows they have available.

When the British TV show Midsomer Murders were showing on A&E, I could hardly wait for Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening to watch these magnificent mysteries staring John Nettles.

Unfortunately, A&E stopped showing all the good shows: Midsomer Murders, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and many more. I miss them all!

Now, thanks Deb!, I get to see all the Midsomer Murder shows. A&E only showed a very few, and then repeats. There are now more than sixty original shows completed, and with the recent announcement of John Nettles retirement (he is now 65 after all), there will not be very many more.

However, I have a list of the first 59 and have my NetFlix choices in order by episode so that I receive the shows as originally shown. So far I have watched eight. I will happily continue on with my very favorite movie pastime for quite some time.

I would also like to see if John Nettles' original very successful series, Bergerac, is available. I believe there are ten years worth of that British hit detective show. Can you see that I am a John Nettles fan?

Big Sunday Breakfast

Every morning I start off with a cup or two of coffee before eating a light breakfast. Why is it that I always feel the need for a large Sunday morning breakfast? Does that stem from my childhood? Or from going out to eat on many a Sunday morning over the years? Anyway, it is a pleasure that continues to this day.

Sunday Morning Country Music

Every Saturday and Sunday morning I listen/watch CMT's Top Twenty videos and Country Insider shows. Prior to those shows coming on, CMT plays about four hours of country videos. My recent favorite song/singer/video, Troubadour by George Strait has been replaced by Carrie Underwood's I Told You So.

I love where singer/song writer Randy Travis surprises Carrie by coming onstage from the back following her singing his song at the Grand Old Opry. It's a great moment of a young singer surprised onstage by an idol of hers.

Rainy days and Sundays have a special feel to them. Rainy days for staying in doors, reading, watching TV, napping, baking cookies, or whatever else we feel like doing at the time. Sundays have their own special laid-back vibe.

How about you? What are your favorite rainy day and Sunday moments?

Bush Out, Obama In

Well, the times they are achanging! President Bush gave a quiet, hardly heard message last night in the midst of drama, The Miracle on the Hudson, according to the Governor of New York.

Soon we will have a new President, with a young family to watch as they grow, probably a new puppy to admire, a stylish First Lady to admire, and a new regime to hopefully lead us into a more prosperous future.

In the meantime, it is colder than icicles in Michigan, frigid really, with temps as low as minus whatever. Clearly too cold to do much but write blog posts and articles, read cool books like The Leavenworth Case (1878), by Anne Katharine Green on Project Gutenberg, and watch miracles take place before our eyes on TV.

Now how could life get much better than that? Well, the obvious answer is for the weather to warm-up, the economy to brighten, and the new President to perform miracles. Will it all happen? Time will tell.

What do you think? Hopeful thinking or wishful thinking?

Potpourri Update

Well, it is nearing the midnight hour for this year. The new year promises to bring it's share of challenges, but also excitement at the same time. I am working hard on BellaOnline as I am in training as the new Mystery Books Editor. Come on over and visit to read interesting articles and chat with other mystery lovers on the Mystery Books forum.

Looking forward to a great 2009 in the writing biz.

What are your plans for the new year? What excites you most about your life?

When Words Don't Mean What You Think

The book wallah was an itinerant peddler - George Orwell

As I was writing the previous post, I checked the spelling of a word I have heard used for years, usually when someone has done something they are excited about.

The word? Wallah.

For example, “Wallah, I finally finished the post.”

To my utter amazement, wallah means something entirely different. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, wallah means “a person who is associated with a particular work or who performs a specific duty or service – usu. used in combination....” The example used was the quote at the top of this post.

Who knew?

Have you ever found out a word you like to use actually means something else? Did you stop using it?