Good morning, friends! Happiest of Father’s Day to all the great Dads out there!  I hope you have an awesome day! Grab your tea, iced or hot, make yourselves comfy and let’s talk!   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: that Yahoo mail has, once again, been throwing you into my spam email folder.  That makes me sad, because I don’t get to see your posts.  What’s worse, is some of you don’t even show in the reader!  So, no email, no reader, means no visit from me.  😦  I don’t know what to do anymore.  And yes, the email address is in my contacts so this isn’t supposed to happen.  But it does anyway.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: how thrilled I am for all the bloggers who won awards at the Annual Bloggers Bash yesterday.  I’m so happy for all of them!!  Also, thanks to everyone who voted for my blog.  I can’t say that enough.  It was a strong field and I was thrilled just to be nominated! You can view all the winners here : Annual Bloggers Bash Awards

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I got the official letter telling me everything appears to be okay from my medical tests.  I’m sure you heard me sigh wherever you are.  Finally, some good news!!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: Alyssa is taking online courses for Bible School.  She’s been doing so well, and I am very proud of her.  This past week, she took her exam on Joshua and scored 100%.  Could there be a ministry in her future?  The possibilities are endless.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: hubby and I spent yesterday just soaking up the beautiful weather (before the rain returns today).  There was a breeze, which eventually turned into a wind.  Thank goodness we were home already!  Otherwise, you might have seen me waving as I flew by.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I’ve taken to walking with Alyssa when she walks Darty.  It’s a decent walk but short enough that I don’t tire easily.  Plus I love how Darty turns around to make sure I’m still with them.  He is so adorable!!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: normally on Friday nights, we go for pizza, but this past week, I wanted pasta.  I have not had it in six months or more, carbs spike my sugar, but I indulged.  Hubby had his with sausage and I had the meatballs.  We love the pizzeria/restaurant we’ve been going to for years.  The owners are awesome, as is the staff. All the food there is delicious!  You can follow their Instagram, @PrimoPizzaWayne to see all the goodies.  Oh, did I mention I do their social media?   😉

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you:  As I mentioned up top, today is Father’s Day.  I’m hoping the rain holds out so we can enjoy some of it outside.  Otherwise, I’m cooking steaks indoors, and they never taste the same as when they’re grilled.  We’re also having home-made potato salad, sauteed mushrooms and onions, corn on the cob, and an olive salad with provolone cheese.  Do you celebrate Father’s Day where you are?

My Dad passed 34 years ago.  Hubby’s Dad passed 31 years ago.  I miss them both dearly.  You can imagine how hard the day is for both of us.  But memories come up and we talk about silly things that happened, etc.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I decided to stop my 10 PM blog posts from now until the Tuesday after Labor Day.  I usually cut back during the summer months, and the 10 o’clock slot drew the short straw.  My two daytime posts will still be here, so I hope you’ll continue to visit.

Speaking of, I have a huge milestone coming up, concerning my blog, two actually.  And when it happens I will be doing a giveaway.  I haven’t decided which book yet.  Most likely, my newest, “Short & not always Sweet”, so if you’d like a chance to win a signed copy, keep looking for the announcement!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: just a quick reminder…Alyssa and I would love it if you would follow our photography blog, Photos by We.  It’s gotten off to a wonderful start, with many of you already joining us.  If you love nature photography (me) and fluffy puppies, kitties and critters, (that’ll be Lys), we’ve got you covered!

As for the week ahead:

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: we’re planning on going to the zoo next weekend.  That means plenty of photos will be going up on the photography blog!!  I can’t wait!

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: it’s time to be on my way.   Have a blessed week ahead, my friends!   ❤

Good morning, friends! I hope you’ve had a great last week!  Grab your tea, iced or hot, make yourselves comfy and let’s talk!   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: how much fun I am having meeting each of you for tea on Sunday’s.  It’s very heartwarming, and it makes me smile.  🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: hubby is still mending from his work injury.  He went back to the doctor on Thursday, the doctor continued the meds, and hubby returns again tomorrow.  I think he’ll need physical therapy, but we shall see.  (Bet you didn’t know I had an MD after my name…neither did I).

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I saw the doctor myself on Tuesday, and my blood work came back pretty good.  Yay!  A couple of issues but nothing I can’t overcome.  I have two tests on Monday morning.  I’m praying they, too, come back okay.  I’ve had enough already!!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: hubby, Lys and I went to see “Secret Life of Pets 2” on Friday night. What fun!!  If you’re a fan of McDonald’s, then you know they have been giving out the toys from the movie.  I have every one of them except the hamster.  I’m bummed. And yes, I get Happy meals.  Don’t judge me. lol

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: we had the most incredible sunset Friday night.  God definitely took out his finest palette for this one!  It was waiting for us when we came out of the theater.  Of course, Lys and I were snapping photos.  This is an iPhone shot, as I didn’t have my good camera with me.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I had Lys home all week, and she’ll be here for a bit longer until she’s off on another puppy adventure.  I got to walk with her and one of her pups the other day.  It was fun, and good exercise for me.  Darty is such a cutie, and so well behaved.  AND I got puppy kisses, which definitely made my day!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I would tell you how sorry I am that I am slow to respond to your wonderful comments.  I have found my hands to be a bit uncooperative lately, and I shy away from the keyboard.  I will try to catch up as soon as I can, so please be patient with me, and know that I will get to them ASAP!  ❤

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you:  Lys and I baked blueberry  muffins for Fellowship Day at church, which is today!  Hard to believe it is upon us again so quickly, but last months was pushed ahead a week because of Mother’s Day.  We’re doing a brunchy sort of thing today.  I hope all goes well.  🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I have been considering taking some time off from blogging.  I seriously have to get cracking on packing up this house, should we find the right place.  I’ve been looking, but not diligently, and hubby said not to frustrate myself in the process, so, I’ll just keep my eyes open and hope I get a signal that it’s time to move on.

As for the week ahead:

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: so far, plans for summer are going to the zoo, joining the neighborhood lake, a day trip for a church retreat, and a day trip to Pennsylvania.  I can’t wait!  I know there will be other things (like going down the shore for the day), but we haven’t planned that yet. And I can’t believe next Sunday is Father’s Day!  We’re not doing anything special.  I’m just trying to make sure the kids are here for Neil.  Fingers crossed.

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: it’s time to be on my way.  Church is calling, and it’s Fellowship Day!  Yay!  Have a blessed week ahead, my friends!   ❤

Good morning, friends! I hope you’ve had a great last week!  Grab your tea, iced or hot, make yourselves comfy and let’s talk!   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I’ve had a somewhat busy week, which is good, It keeps my mind occupied.  Monday was a holiday.  We just relaxed and hung around the house.  See how busy I was!  😉

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: on Wednesday, hubby injured his back at work.  He had to go to Urgent Care and was prescribed some meds to help ease the pain.  He was doing okay until yesterday.  The meds don’t seem to be working anymore.  He sees the doctor again tomorrow.  But, he’s still going to work, where he lifts anywhere from 5 to 150+ lbs, at any given moment.  I think he’s nuts, but that’s another story.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: my own health is still causing me misery.  I saw my neurologist on Wednesday.  She upped some of my meds (Yippie….not) and gave me the same instructions.  No lifting, reaching, unnecessary bending, etc, and so on.  Might as well leave me drooling in the corner.  Sorry, don’t mean to sound sour, but this is so frustrating!!!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: as you can see in my bitmoji above, my hair is shorter.  Yep, I cut it!  And for the first time, I think in ever, hubby told me the length looked really good on me!  Imagine that.  I wanted my curls back, and the only way to get them was to take off some of the length.  I feel so much better!!  🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: yesterday, we spent the day at Laurelwood Arboretum.  I took so many pictures of all the beautiful flowers, bumble bees, butterflies, and of course, a chipmunk! Speaking of photos…

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: my daughter, Alyssa and I have a blog together called “Photos by We”  We’d love it if you’d give it a like.  We’ll be posting photos of our adventures, coming up soon.  Lys is a dog walker, so if you like fluffy friends, I’m sure there will be plenty to see.  It’s a fairly new blog, and we’ll be adding to it as soon as we can get all the photos ready, but here’s a sneak peek of what I will be uploading a bit later today. 

American Painted Lady taken at Laurelwood Arboretum

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you:  Yay!!  I got a review on my new book! If you’re a writer, you know how good this feels when one of your readers takes the time out of their busy day, to let people know about your book.  Writing is hard work.  It definitely made my day.  If you missed the post, you can find it HERE. I’m still smiling!   🙂   🙂   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: for awhile now, I’ve been combining word prompts from different bloggers, into an evening post, but I decided to change it up a bit.  From the month of June through Labor Day, using only one of the four prompts I follow, I will be doing Haiku.  I hope you enjoy them.

As for the week ahead:

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: we have been making plans for the summer, and some of those plans need attention this week.  I can’t wait to tell you about them!

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: it’s time to be on my way.  Church is calling, then my son is coming over this afternoon.  I can’t wait to see him!  Have a blessed week ahead, my friends!   ❤

Good morning, friends!  It’s Memorial Day weekend, here in the states.  On Monday, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedom. God bless them.  ❤  Grab your tea, iced or hot, make yourselves comfy and let’s talk!   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: if you haven’t seen me liking or commenting on your posts, please tell me.  I am still trying to find everyone that WordPress unfollowed.  It’s very frustrating because some of you I have been following since I began almost six years ago.  Please drop me a comment so I know and I can follow again.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: hubby and I had a wonderful overnight with Stella the Chihuahua.  She is such a good girl.  Except when she woke me up at 2:45AM to let me know she peed on her wee wee pad.  I’m sure she was hoping for a treat!  Then she wanted to play.  I finally calmed her down and she went back to sleep until about 7:30AM.  I miss having a dog of our own, but right now it’s not an option.  So, I will take Stella, or any other dog Lys wants to bring by, any day, so I can play!!

Stella on my knee, just chillin’

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I got my first rejection letter from a magazine, on a poem I sent them.  It’s okay though, because I decided to share with you to see what your reaction would be.  It was wonderful, and in the long run, that’s what really matters to me.  If I can’t capture your attention, then why am I writing?   ❤

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: it was a rainy week (again), but this time we had some very strong storms.  Extreme wind, thunder and lightning (my favorite part), and heavy rains.  Thankfully, it seems to be behind us now and we have nice weather coming in.  It’s supposed to be in the 90’s today!  Talk about one extreme to the other.  Mother Nature is really off this year.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: Thursday was my son’s birthday.  It’s hard to believe 32 years have passed.  I still remember when we brought him home.  He’s grown into a fine man and I couldn’t be prouder.  He has worked his way up the corporate ladder, for a major retail company, and is now a manager. He’s been with the company for 15 years! Wow.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: my rhododendron is in full bloom and I am just loving it!  Last week I showed you the rhodo from the church gardens.  Mine are very different. They are a light purple, which are the common ones you see around my neighborhood.  I don’t care what color they are, I just love the plant!!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you:  actually, ask you, what does it take to get people to review your books?  I have sold many copies of my new book, and of course, since it’s through Amazon, I have no idea who purchased it.  But no reviews.  😦  All I keep thinking is, Oh my God, they hate it.  I’d love to hear from your authors who have tons of reviews. Perhaps a little coaching from you would help me.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: we had a nice day yesterday, at a BBQ at our friends from church.  We joked it was “The Bates Motel” because that’s their last name.  Lots of laughs, lots of stories, just good people and good food.  At the end, Maricel, the hostess, called all the girl’s over and asked us to pick pink or blue.  I thought it was turning into a baby shower!  But, no…it turned into…

“Maricel’s Bunnies” From left to right: Me, Alyssa, June and Maricel ❤

The bunnies play “Jesus Love Me, This I Know”.  Love it!

As for the week ahead:

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: it’s a busy week ahead, between doctor’s appointments, bible study, and who knows what else will hit me when I least expect it.  I have the neurologist on Tuesday.  Please throw some good vibes my way, so I get answers!!

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: it’s time to be on my way.  Church is calling, then pizza!  What’s your favorite? Have a blessed week ahead, my friends!   ❤

Good morning, friends!  Spring is finally making an appearance here!  Yay! Grab your tea, iced or hot, make yourselves comfy and let’s talk!   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: the Mother’s Day service at church was beautiful.  Each mom got a beautiful plant to take home.  Mine is sitting in the bay window, looking at the backyard. It seems happy there.  🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: it’s Stella weekend at the Duclos’.  Lys has overlapping pet sitting jobs, so we get Stella for a sleepover! She’s a snuggle pup and I can’t wait.  This was last weekend.  We were lazy together.  Or maybe, we were scheming.   🙂

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I finally got an appointment with my neurologist but I have to wait until the end of the month.  Hopefully, she’ll order some tests to find out what’s going on.  It not that I want her to find something, but it’s so frustrating not knowing what’s going on with your own body.  I’m sure you can all relate to this at one time or another.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: I’ve been pondering.  That could be a dangerous thing, but I assure you, this time it’s not. lol  I was looking at my stats and was curious about the differences between how many views and how many likes on each post.  For example:  There are 30 views but only 25 likes.  What was it that those five people didn’t care for?  This could drive you crazy if you wanted it to.  Should I have done this, or that, or not posted at all?  Do you ever give this any thought?

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: Bible study on Wednesday night was so much fun.  We sang, we prayed, and we laughed, a lot.  Just enjoying the fellowship of each other.  We have such an incredible group of caring people.  i don’t think I’ve ever seen that under one roof before.  it warms my heart and comforts my soul.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: speaking  of church, these beauties are blooming in the church gardens.  It’s a rhododendron!  I have never seen one this color before.  Mine have always be light purple.  Thank goodness hubby has an app on his phone that identifies flora by simply taking a picture of the leaf.

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you:  it’s been very rainy here.  We went to a carnival, a local church was having, and of course, it rained.  The sky was blue with puffy white clouds and in a matter of 15 minutes, the blue was gone, and gray covered over.  We weren’t planning on going on any rides (can you imagine.  My speed these days is the Merry-Go-Round, on the bench seat!), but I felt badly for the families there with the kiddies.  We managed to get zeppole and Lys got Fried Oreo’s.  Neil played a game where he had to shot out a paper star,  but didn’t win.  But that’s okay by me.  We have enough stuffed animals in this house!

If we were sipping tea and talking I would tell you: it’s Fellowship Day at church and I am bringing macaroni salad and chips.  Others are making sandwiches and salad.  Refreshments are also served.  it’s always fun, and I’m happy I can help out.  of course, I’ll be making macaroni salad with Stella under my feet.  I’m sure she’ll be hoping I drop an elbow or two!

For any Pokemon Go nerds out there, it’s also Community Day.  Get ready to score some new Pokemon not to mention a shiny Torchic!!  I’m ready! (I get to stroll around my favorite park).

As for the week ahead:

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: my son, Jonathan, celebrates a birthday this week!  It’s hard to believe my first born will be 32.  He was born before me. 😉

If we were sipping tea, basking in the sun and talking I would tell you: it’s time to be on my way.  Church is calling, important meeting first, then service and Fellowship! Have a blessed week ahead, my friends!   ❤