A Fish Story

Come sit a spell. Have an iced coffee with me.

Iced coffee has become my fuel.  When I read that coffee is good for me, I threw discussion to the wind, gave out a loud whoop, and grabbed the coffee grinder.

Now I see coffee is touted even in Dr. Oz’s magazine.

“You live longer…”

“Feel happier, remember more.”

“Work out harder.”

Sounds good to me.

This is my favorite at home coffee: #Peets “House Blend,” fresh ground beans, French Press coffee pot.

Easy, boil filtered water, pour into pot over grounds, stir, let set a few minute, push plunger.  Viola’ great coffee.

I might have a hot cup, but the rest of the day it is iced—with real good ole organic half and half. I have no wasted coffee, and the amazing thing is it never tastes stale. It can sit overnight and still be good.

This is a far cry from when I learned to drink coffee with dishwater tasting coffee perked in the dental lab, while trying to make it palatable with powdered creamora. My reason for enduring it? I was trying to stave off hunger until one o'clock.

Whoops, I got carried away.  I intended to tell you a fish story.

I went into my accountant’s office the other day to pick up the tax forms, and, I saw a tiny placard on his wall, “I love Fishing.”

“You’re a fisherman,” I said.

His eyes lit up, and he pushed a sheet of paper toward me. It was a short story, just a few paragraphs. I was surprised and delighted that he wrote a story. I read of his experience on the creek bank, the sparkling day, him throwing out his line, a bite, the fish hitting his line with full force. It fought with all its might, and as he had no net, he managed to wrestle it onto dry ground.

Success. He landed the fish.

“My friend thought we ought to capture this monumental moment on film,” he said and shoved an 8 x 11 picture across his desk.

He was all decked out in fishing gear.

I looked closely, “Where’s’ the fish?” I asked.

“There, in my hand.”

Well, there was a tiny silver streak. The fish must have been about four inches long.

 “It hit that line with its whole two ounces,” he said.

That reminded me, once again, of the little accountant in the movie, #You Can’t Take I with You when Grandpa asked what the accountant what he would like to do, and he pulled a toy bunny from beneath his desk. “Make toys,” he said.

When a person is doing what they love to do their entire countenance glows.

And I wonder again what has been pecking at me for a long time, “How does one do the thing they want and get paid for it?” For without pay, you must work at something else.

#Jonathan Mead writes about, and offers coaching on “#Paid to Exist.”

I haven’t gotten it yet—either him or the concept.

Carry on.

Make it work,

Joyce

P.S. I got advice from an agent the other day. She said, “If you haven’t finished your book finish it.”

If you don’t have a platform, Build one.”

Well, duh.

I Saw God in the Sky the Other Night.

 My husband and I were walking in the rain and from overhead came a great honking noise.  I stopped and looked up into rain falling on my face, and there in the sky, a great flotilla of geese honked their way across the heavens.

They didn’t fly in big “V”, although there were some little v’s among the group. The majority flew in irregular circles, like the edges of puddles, black dots that ebbed and flowed over our heads in a dance of movement and music. How they honked and flew at the same time was a mystery to us.

Why did I call them God?

I was reminded of Izak Dinesen’s book, Out of Africa, “The natives,” she said, "think the God of the Americans is old and infirm for he spends all day in a church. The God of Africa lives in the forest and the fields and on the mountain when the rains come.”

This week I have seen God, my three chickens began to lay after a long time of winter fallow, I got my book up from 21,000 words to 31,000, I have been inspired by Will Rogers who said, “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there,” I have let the pups in and out the back door 3,678 times, big boy hound dog, Layfette, has lost his testicles, and little Sweet Pea has had her first estrus.

The Daffodils are blooming.

I guess it’s spring.  

How was your week?

Dancing baby goose.