VW and the land of the Volkswagon

I saved V for today specifically to have the VW post.  I know that sounds right and it sounds plausible but it was also convenient.  As the story I am just finishing lurches to the finish line it is gobbling more of my time and it seems like it will never be done.  But the end of a story always feels like that, like the edits will never end.

And I'm happy to declare as I return to writing a blog post I started this morning, that the finish line has been reached, for now.  The story is out to my reader who fortunately, is much faster reading than I am at writing.

The punch to the finish line of a book reminds me of one of my first vehicles.  Back when in those free and easy days when all you have to think about is yourself and your possible career plan or lack there of, I was in love with the Volkswagon Beetle, and one of my first cars was a bug.  That was before its rebirth, we're talking the vintage model.

And as I thought about that old bug I remembered a trip that I took with a friend from the prairies to Victoria, British Columbia.  Now the VW could do sixty miles an hour top speed and that was with a

wind in your favour and a flat road.  So the mountains presented a bit of a challenge.  My trusty old VW crawled up those mountain roads chugging and panting to make it only to race down the other side. 

And then the worst happened.  The car wouldn't start.

Remember the days of youthful flying by the seat of your pants, when worries were as few as the dollars in your pocket?  A car that was a little finicky was not going to stop us from reaching Victoria not when just cooling the engine off got that car going again.  I shudder to think of driving that balky little vehicle onto the ferry for the last round of the trip.  But she started right up to drive off with no problems and we were problem free again until we hit the mainland.  From there we jump started the car a couple of times before we finally arrived home.

Why didn't we check in at a service station?  I wonder that now.  But if we had, I suppose now, I wouldn't have a story.  And the story was, that Volkswagon made it despite weary parts, all the way to the end.  Kind of like a story, one day at a time, one word at a time and eventually you'll finish that last word and voila - a story!

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ryshia on Facebook
Ryshia on Goodreads

Cold Days, Hot Nights

It's that time - the first Wednesday of the month and time for:

And it all begins, kind of like this:

In the dying days of winter...

Hah!  Dying days?

She's fooled us again, at least out here on the prairie and yes, at this time of year it's all about the weather!

 -38 Celsius(-36 Fahrenheit) is an all-time record, at least it was on the day I began to draft this post.  Winter isn't about to die, crap out or expire any time soon.  I had to use that phrase, any time soon.  Why?  It's one of those radio announcer phrases that really should die right along with this year's winter.

So there you have it, the cold part of this post, but to get to the hot we have to work our way through a little weirdness.  Everywhere in life there are the seeds of a story and some weeks the ground is fairly littered with ideas. Here's a recent day as an example - the weirdness of it, there lies the story. 

The day began with a visit with my mother who is still getting used to her new condo.  I suspect she is pining for the house she left behind after living there since she was a bride.  And she's also made it known that she misses her stuff.  Although that one does puzzle me as we moved far more than her new place will hold and she's had to continue down-sizing after the move.

"What stuff?" I asked trying to get some kind of specifics.  The liquidation of stuff was ongoing from last years spring garage sale through to the online fall selling bonanza I organized in the fall and ending with a finale of charity donations and garbage dumps. 

"I can't find my evaporated milk.  I was sure I packed three cans."

Whoa... evaporated milk?  Moving into the third month and evaporated milk is the issue?  With sofas and chairs and excess lamps on my past agenda, the last thing I had time to consider was a measly can of evaporated milk. 

An update - The evaporated milk never did make an appearance and I have to admit my mind was on other things, the class a few nights ago for one - the Erotic Writing class at the Public Library - yes, didn't I promise hot nights?  But erotica aside, first I had to deal with the guinea pig.

Guinea pig?

You heard right.  My mother is in charge of my niece's pet while she's on vacation.  Only problem, she won't touch it!  Okay, there lies the rub.  Guinea pigs are fairly harmless critters but they do tend to have a very active elimination system that requires a good clean up every three days if you don't want a stinky cage and an unhappy critter.  Besides, everyone needs a little exercise.  And that was the cue for my entrance - an assist to a guinea pig.

I got home in time to discover mail from the public library.  Not sure what this could mean I opened the envelope and discovered I'd won a prize at the Erotic Writing class - a gift certificate to a sex shop!

Yes all of that was a days work and it left me with this dilemma:
Where to begin? 

What do I write about?

Oh the choices....

Evaporated milk

Guinea pigs

an upcoming trip to the sex shop?

There's ideas everywhere, just make sure you pick up your feet so you don't stumble on one or two.  What has you rushing to get to the keyboard?  Alternatively, what has you picking up one book over another?


This is a blog hop - check out other bloggers by clicking here.

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ryshia on Facebook
Ryshia at Goodreads
Ryshia on Twitter