Growing Carrots Vs Being A Lazy Gardener
I love fresh carrots. But I am also a VERY lazy gardener.
I prefer to let nature water the plants. And Spring tends to be very damp in my corner of the universe.
I planted carrots seeds in a container, watered it and placed it outdoors.
Then I forgot about it.
And it didn’t rain for almost a week.
The soil dried out. Which is a disaster for carrot germination. Carrot seeds, to germinate, should be kept moist at all times.
(forehead slap)
Thankfully, one of my Awesome Sisters gave me an extra pack of carrot seeds. So I’m resowing the carrots and putting a note in my calendar every day to water them.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Growing Carrots Vs Being A Lazy Gardener
Sneak Eating On A Cruise
At lunch on a recent cruise, a couple was seated at a table next to ours.
We had seen the husband at various eating venues around the ship. He was usually tucked into a quiet corner of the dining areas, demolishing a huge plate of fries and hamburgers and other goodies.
The waiter handed the couple two menus.
The wife opened her menu, scanned it quickly, and informed the waiter that they were both on extremely healthy diets and would have to customize their orders.
The waiter’s eyes widened ever-so-slightly. He glanced at the husband.
The husband stared back at him. He didn’t say any words but it was clear he warning the waiter not to say a dang thing about him eating all the not-so-healthy food all over the ship.
And the waiter, being a professional, didn’t say anything. He took the wife’s customized orders for two.
The husband ate his very plain salad.
And we saw him at the buffet a couple hours later.
During the rest of the cruise, we’d often see him at the buffet or the grill or other food venues and we’re often see the wife in different areas of the ship clearly looking for him.
He was a master sneak eater.
(grins)
Topics: Cruising, Travel | Comments Off on Sneak Eating On A Cruise
Muse Food – Sung Sot Cave And Other Portals To Adventure
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spotted this ‘secret opening’ near Sung Sot Cave in Vietnam.
And we imagined all the possible places (and times!) this entrance was a portal to. I imagined dinosaurs, a land full of giant ferns and equally as large dragonflies. The Dear Wonderful Hubby imagined a private beach edging a pristine sea that was the home to colorful fish no other human had ever seen.
Where do YOU think it leads?
Topics: Muse Food, Travel, Vietnam | Comments Off on Muse Food – Sung Sot Cave And Other Portals To Adventure
Cynthia Sax Weekly Update – May 18th
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spotted this beautiful cat in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
I love gardening. And I love writing.
One of the wonderful things about loving both of these things and living in the Northern Hemisphere is…
Publishers, agents and other people/entities often slow down during the summer. They don’t look at proposals as quickly. They often don’t sign contracts. At all.
And the summer is when gardening is, for me, the busiest time. I can distract myself from the lack of responses.
(smiles)
Have a wonderful week, my friends! (big hugs) Indulge in a happy distraction. That could be listening to a stranger’s not-so-private phone call while you ride the bus or stopping to watch a butterfly flutter by or reading a sexy short story. The best paths aren’t often the shortest ones. They are the paths that wander!
***
Cyborg Sizzle Homeland Omnibus
Cyborgs will do anything to protect their Homeland.
* * *
The cyborgs have claimed their Homeland but that has come at a cost. As they reconcile with their pasts, they seek to manufacture happier futures with the females they’re destined to love and cherish forever.
This omnibus includes three stories in the Cyborg Sizzle series: Taking Vengeance, The Cyborg’s Secret Baby and Dark Arsenal.
All of these Cyborg Romances are set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.
Taking Vengeance
The only force stronger than their hate is their love.
Vengeance hates all humans. They killed every being he ever cared about. When the huge C Model cyborg is told he’s genetically compatible with the enemy, he makes it his mission to capture the female and use her to expel all humans from his home planet.
The Cyborg’s Secret Baby
A fierce cyborg warrior and his curvy human female share a no-longer-so-little secret.
Stealth, a K Model cyborg, knows his passion for Zebrina, the commander’s human daughter, is forbidden, yet he can’t resist the curvy female. He craves her touch, cherishes her sounds of pleasure, would do anything to keep her safe.
Dark Arsenal
A cyborg warrior and a Rebel female’s first mission together might be their last.
Arsenal considers himself to be a disposable cyborg. He drifts from assignment to assignment, forming no connections to anything or anyone. When the cyborg council requires a warrior for a high-risk mission, Arsenal volunteers. He believes no one will miss him if he dies. He doesn’t realize he’s one female’s fantasy.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Amazon AU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book-series/cyborg-romance-continuum/id1488934279
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cyborg-sizzle-homeland-omnibus
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1700426
Topics: Cynthia Sax Weekly Update | Comments Off on Cynthia Sax Weekly Update – May 18th
There Are No Tariffs On Resold Goods
One of the projects the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have been undertaking is packing up the gently used or still-in-the-package items we will never use to take to a charity shop.
We hope that someone else can find delight in them.
Normally, we do this in the Fall/Autumn, before the busy holiday season. That way the charity shops won’t have to store them for very long.
But this year, due to the bizarre tariff war the US has instigated, we suspect there will be more people shopping at charity shops during the Spring and Summer.
Because there are NO tariffs on second hand or resold goods.
It is also great for the environment. And the goods should be less expensive.
It is a win-win-win for everyone.
(smiles)
Topics: Cyn-Sights | Comments Off on There Are No Tariffs On Resold Goods
If You Want The Butterflies…
This massive caterpillar munched his way through half of a taller-than-me mini tomato plant. I hope to see more Laurel Sphinx moths this year due to our hosting of him.
(smiles)
One of the things I often say to fellow gardeners is “If you want the butterflies, you have to feed the caterpillars.”
Caterpillars nibble on the leaves of our plants. They make the roses in our front yard, for example, look a bit ragged. They don’t kill the rose plants (the birds and yellowjackets ensure their population doesn’t become large enough to do that) but the plants aren’t the prettiest.
And the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I are okay with that.
Because we love butterflies. And hosting caterpillars is the best way to ensure we have butterflies.
This is true of many things in life. To achieve a wonderful result, we have to deal with the ugly, the hard, the strenuous.
To have a published book, we need to write every single word. To have friends, we have to interact with people. Often. To be have a trash-free neighborhood, we have to pick up the trash.
Dream of the world you want.
Then do that hard work, the ugly work to make that dream a reality.
You can do this!
Topics: Cyn-Sights, Gardening | Comments Off on If You Want The Butterflies…
Throwback Thursday – Warlord’s Bounty
Warlord’s Bounty was originally the first story in the Chamele Barbarian Warlords series.
I love Khan, the alien warlord, and Zeta, the human bounty hunter hunting him, so very much.
(smiles)
Warlord’s Bounty
Wanted: One Barbarian Warrior.
The bigger the bounty, the more dangerous the target.
Khan, a Chamele Warlord, has a huge bounty on his head. His enemy wants him captured and is offering any being in the universe an outrageous number of credits to accomplish that.
Khan wants to be captured, but only if the being apprehending him is a tiny, brown-eyed female with wickedly sharp daggers and an even sharper tongue. His passion for the feisty human can’t be inhibited by restraints. He’ll allow her to subdue him…in a variety of enticing ways.
When she finally collects her credits, he’ll collect his revenge, killing his enemy and claiming his little bounty hunter forever.
Zeta doesn’t do forever. After a lifespan of chasing dangerous beings across galaxies, apprehending and trading them for credits, she doesn’t get involved emotionally…with anyone.
Khan might be fierce and sexy and the most dominant male she has ever encountered, but the barbarian is also her target, and once she sates herself with his body, she’ll betray him.
That’s her job.
* * *
Warlord’s Bounty is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes violent universe.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PN8ZKK1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PN8ZKK1
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07PN8ZKK1
Apple:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/warlords-bounty/id1456156354
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-s-bounty-1
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/928431
Topics: Throwback Thursday | Comments Off on Throwback Thursday – Warlord’s Bounty
Gardening Failures Are To Be Expected
We watch a gardening video. We duplicate the steps exactly.
The seeds don’t germinate. Or they germinate and days later, the plants die. Or the plants die for some other reason.
What did we do wrong?
It is likely nothing we did.
We will never have the exact same garden as the person on the video.
Because every piece of land, every bit of soil is unique.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have different soil in the back yard than we do in the front yard. Stars. We have different soil in the north side of our tiny back yard than we have in the south side of the same back yard!
One of the many reasons it is different is because we have a giant horse chestnut tree that has dropped its leaves on the north side for the last twenty or more years. And the north side gets more sun. And it is a bit windier on the north side. And…And…And…
All those factors make a difference in growing plants.
Which is one of the reasons why it often takes years to figure out what grows well and how it grows well in our little plots of land.
(And every bag of soil purchased has variability also because it is ‘harvested’ from different land.)
Gardening is trial and error. In the beginning of our gardening journeys, there will likely be more failures than successes. Over time, as we build on our successes, we’ll become experts at growing things in our spaces. And the successes will far outweigh the failures.
WE will become the gardeners other people envy and try to duplicate.
And THEIR gardens will never mirror ours. Because our soil, our land is unique.
(smiles)
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening Failures Are To Be Expected
Looking For Love In Puerto Vallarta
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I were wandering down the Malecon, a pedestrian only boardwalk, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
There were vendors set up along the route. And there was a lot of buying and selling.
One of the sales must not have happened.
Because a handsome male vendor, clasping a blouse, yelled after a curvy older woman, “Get your husband to buy it for you.”
She partially turned around and yelled back, “I don’t have a husband.”
The male vendor’s eyes lit up. “That’s even better.” He smiled. “Do you want a husband?”
The woman, clearly delighted with the offer, laughed. “No.”
The male vendor held out his arms. “I’m single too.” He tried again.
The woman laughed louder, shook her head and walked away with her head held high and more of a bounce in her step.
The male vendor watched her for a moment.
Then he sighed, lowered his arms and returned to his store to take care of the next prospective customer.
Topics: Mexico, Travel | Comments Off on Looking For Love In Puerto Vallarta
Muse Food – First Flowers Of The Season And Other Firsts
These flowers, we call them blue snowdrops in the Sax household, are usually the first flowers to appear every Spring.
I love them. And they garner A LOT of attention because…well…they ARE the first flowers to appear in neighborhood yards.
Firsts are powerful. Especially in romance stories. First meets. First kisses. First fights. First declarations of love. These are all important moments.
Make them special.
Topics: Muse Food | Comments Off on Muse Food – First Flowers Of The Season And Other Firsts
