Thursday Thoughts ~ June 19, 2025

Welcome to another Thursday at Casa Carter!

Saturday, the 14^th, was our 45^th wedding anniversary! I wrote about it here. I wanted to devote a separate blog to our Day.

Before our anniversary celebration, though, I attended the No Kings Day protest in Chino Hills, CA. Hundreds showed up to take advantage of their first amendment right to gather and express their outrage over our current presidential administration. Certainly because of the military presence in Los Angeles, many people were extra inspired to come out and speak out. Here are some of the folks and some great signs.

Junior is almost finished with his heinously stinky antibiotic and he’s feeling much better. Here he is, helping me write the blog today.

We’re getting the house ready to be painted and we’ll be arranging for our old VW bus to be donated. We’ve been spending time cleaning out the bus ~ it’s been sitting for a while and The Husband had stored some memorabilia and stuff out there. And more time making sure old leaves, gardening supplies and trash cans are clear so the painters can power wash and paint the house. I’ll be glad to see the backside of June, when this should all be done and I can concentrate on writing again!

I’ve been doing one more read through of my book before I send it out to a beta reader or two. One day, I’m thinking it’s as good as the published books I’m reading and the next day, I’ve convinced myself it’s awful… Such is the life of a creative… I’m determined to get this book out this year, so at some point I’m going to have to stop tweaking it and move on to final line edits (looking at each line of the manuscript to fine tune it as much as possible), grammar and spelling checks.

Read a fun Hanukkah romance called Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot. Abby owns a coffee shop in small town Vermont. When her irritatingly sunshiny customer, Seth, proposes a fake romance to please his family and help her find vendors for the Hanukkah festival she’s reluctantly producing, Abby agrees. There are reasons that both Abby and Seth have fled from New York City to rural New England, and with the help of Seth’s friends and sweet parents, they both begin to face certain truths and heal old wounds. It’s written in first person from Abby’s POV, so we learn the most about her but I really liked all the characters. I learned a bit about the Jewish faith and Hanukkah. And, of course, being a romance, it’s not a spoiler to say that it’s a very happy ending!

Just this morning, I finished Biscuits and Slashed Browns, A Country Store mystery ebook, by Maddie Day. This is the fourth book in the series and I’ve liked them so far. The main character, Robbie Jordan, grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, with a carpenter mother. She moved to Indiana and bought and remodeled a country store she’s made into a thriving breakfast and lunch restaurant. Somehow, she’s always involved in a local murder, LOL! This time, a visiting college professor, who’s made a lot of enemies, is killed and Robbie needs to figure out who done it. A good cast of downhome characters, her continuing renovations to create a bed and breakfast, and solid mysteries will keep me reading ~ there are thirteen books so far.

Haven’t had a lot of streaming time this week, but I did catch the first episode of the new season of Sullivan’s Crossing, a CW show that’s a sweet soap opera. It takes place at a Canadian campground/resort, with Scott Patterson and Chad Michael Murray from Gilmore Girls and Morgan Kohan as the female lead.  Lots of drama and tears. Love it!

I’ve also been catching up on Doctor Odyssey, a very sexy version of The Love Boat. Part soap opera, part medical drama and part cruise brochure, it’s a show that’s fun to watch and, I gotta say, Don Johnson is still easy on the eyes!

Anybody got good recommendations for streaming? I feel like a doc or two. Would love to hear what you’ve been watching in the comments!

Till next Thursday!