July 4, 2026

It's July which has always marked the beginning of the summer season.  It's hard to process that here in Southern California since we are still getting cool gray morning and eve  when the sun comes out, the temperature are cool enough that AC isn't required.  I am not complaining--not when I see what the temperatures are other places.

I have to admit that I don't like the Fourth of July. Instead of being a celebration , it feels ominous. It turns into a battle ground of people shooting off illegal fireworks around here.  Aside from the concern that they might injure themselves or start a fire, they terrorize all the pets--and me.  There's nothing like  what sounds like a bomb going off in the middle of the night.

I mark the occasion  by making sure all the windows are closed and the cat has a place to hide.

July might mark the beginning of summer, but Walmart was already putting out the back to school supplies.  

Last  month was about SCONED TO DEATH  coming out, but now it's back to focusing on the next Molly book.  I was happily typing away only to discover that somehow my computer did not save the days work.  It wasn't so much the computer as apparently Word.  There's a way to recover unsaved documents, but there was error with that so I will just have to write them again and hope Word doesn't screw up.

For now I am going to enjoy the peace before all the noise. 

 

Progress

 As you may know, I’ve been working hard on some edits on the manuscript for the second book in my new series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, K-9 Crime Solvers. I’ve mentioned that here quite a bit. 

And yes, I’ve been making progress. I think I’ve addressed all the prior issues, hopefully in ways that now work better, although the manuscript is now even longer than when I started out with it—which was longer than it should be. 

Are even more edits needed? Not sure, but maybe— including doing some shortening. 

Meanwhile, I hopefully have posted this on time here this week—despite my mind still spinning over accomplishing those edits, or hoping to.

 And my dogs? They’re happy, as always, keeping me company as I hang out at my computer. They enjoy hanging out beside me on the floor, although Roxie sometimes jumps onto the chair beside me to communicate, or sleep.

 By the way, Happy July, everyone!

Fashion Sense

 I'm still waiting for the next step with DANGER LOOMS and the release of SCONED TO DEATH is already in the rear view mirror.  I  am already working on the next Molly book and doing a synopsis for the next Crochet and Crumpet book.  It is nice to have projects to focus on.  

There is a lot going on at my house. I went from being alone here for long stretches to activity 24/7. Sometimes I just need to get away and the easiest way is to watch something on TV.  Streaming has changed how I watch programs.  When I'm into I need an escape mode, I tend to watch one program at a time and watch an episode or two each night until I am finished with the show. 

Last year it was Sweet Magnolias.  I spent most of the time talking to the screen at the awful fashion choices for one of the characters and the absurdity that she was a chef with long hair hanging loose over the food she was preparing and she was wearing heels.

Watching shows like Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age  was about the fashions as much as the story.  The men always looked comfortable in pants and jackets, but the women's clothes were mostly ridiculous.  I saw a clip online of one of the actresses from the upcoming season of The Gilded Age getting into a van to take her to set.  She was in costume and the combo of the long fussy dress and climbing into the  van made the dress seem even more absurd.  All those layers of clothes and weird undergarments had to make moving around a challenge.

I thought the idea of uncomfortable fashion wase all in the past.  But then I saw a photo of the new wife of a very rich guy who shall go nameless.  He was dressed in comfortable looking pants, maybe even jeans.  She, on the other hand looked like bees had stung her lips. They were so inflated, I wondered how she could sip a cup of coffee.  Her face had been altered with injections and her hair looked like a hurricane wouldn't stir a strand.  She wore a very fitted dress and her waist was clearly cinched in by some sort of corset which seems to be a thing now.  Heaven help her if she wanted to take a deep breath to relax.  All I could think was what's the point?  Why would anyone want to dress like that?   Why would anyone want to look like a generic doll instead of themselves.

That's the part of getting older I like.   It's all about feeling comfortable and being able to move freely and take those deep breaths when I get tense.  

Correcting A Frustrating Mistake

 Hopefully I’m on time here this week—despite how unusual that is these days. I’m still busy with the edits to my second book in my upcoming K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. But life goes on, and my time is often interrupted by things both important and not so important.

 Earlier this week, I had to spend a long time resetting a password for a Yahoo email account. My husband and I received an invitation to a neighbor’s party that required putting some information on the site to RSVP. We checked with the neighbor, and she said it was legit, so I went ahead and entered the info—only to be told by the neighbor that she’d been confused and there was no party. The invitation was apparently a scam to get information that otherwise wouldn’t be provided, which I’d unfortunately done. I had to delete and change some information without knowing how to do it, so I had to contact a Yahoo person—very nice, and he walked me through fixing the issue. 

But that was time-consuming. Plus, frustrating, since I’m always assuming things are scams and therefore avoiding them—but not this time. 

Okay then, it’s hopefully fixed, and now I’m back to my edits, feeling somewhat foolish for falling for that scam.  

Oh, well. At least all seems okay now.