Tag: life

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time journeys on

It is hard to believe that we are at the midpoint of December. It’s been a year of status quo, travel, and challenge. For a good chunk of the year, I’ve felt stuck in a rut, but I’ve also traveled to a number of places I’ve never been before (and a few I have).

Mom and I took a road trip north of here, into gold country. We visited little towns and historical sites. We took lots of pictures. On the drive home, I learned that she wanted to visit New Orleans. New Orleans has been on my bucket list for a long time.

Next thing I know, we’re planning a week in NOLA, with my brother coming along for the ride. We did all the touristy things and even caught a Saints football game.

I also got back to Austin in August, and a few trips to Tucson to help my stepmother. Racking up the air miles! 

But here we are, December 16…Christmas is just 9 days away. The new year is just 7 days beyond that and we’ll be in 2024. There was a time in my life when that seemed impossible. It’s going to be a consequential year. Everything is on the line in the November election. It is easy to sink into despair over the state of things, but I choose optimism.

I choose to believe that Americans have seen the chaos of the last two years and will do the right thing to protect our democracy. Anything else is unthinkable.

These heavy thoughts brought to you by a lack of caffeine. I best get to pouring my first cup of Death Wish Coffee. Y’all have a great Saturday, Readers. 

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

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dragging myself out of bed

Yesterday was the absolute worst day of this cold. I hardly slept the night before due to coughing and sinus pain/pressure, and the cough was just killing me. I took the day off sick.

I drank Nyquil and snuggled into a blanket/pillow fort on the couch and watched a bunch of Leverage episodes. I coughed up junk and went through a box of kleenex. I only left the house to take the dog to the park and to take my mother to her sleep study.

After dropping Mom off, I crawled into my bed, put on a long ASMR video and drifted into a Nyquil fueled coma. I didn’t get a lot MORE sleep than the night before, but it was all in one solid chunk, and that seems to have made all the difference. I’m feeling much better this morning!

I did, however, have to drag myself out of bed before I wanted to so that I could go pick up my mother by 5:30 am. I am hoping that now that I’m feeling more like myself I can actually get some work done on both my day job and my house.

I need a second cup of coffee first, though.

Hoping your Wednesday is fabulous, Readers!

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*cough cough sneeze sneeze*

I missed posting this weekend because I have been down with a nasty cold/virus. I’m still sick, but I think I’m starting to come out the other side. This has been a long, slowly developing illness. I started with a sore throat a week ago Sunday. The sinus congestion started late on Monday. Sneezing arrived on Tuesday.

Thursday I thought I was feeling better. Friday, I went out to a work event (paintball) and was okay until about 2 in the afternoon, when I suddenly felt completely drained. By the time I got home, I had started coughing, all the junk settling into my lungs.

I’ve been coughing ever since. The fatigue sidelined most of my weekend. This morning I’m feeling slightly better, I think. The fatigue isn’t as thick as it was yesterday. My voice sounds like I started taking testosterone. My throat is raw from coughing.

Okay, enough complaining. Let’s talk about Friday. It was the first time I had met any of my coworkers in person. I drove an hour and a half out to Napa to meet up with them at a place called Paintball Jungle. They have a couple of acres of land set up with forts, blinds, and other obstacles.

My first observation was, damn that paintball gun is HEAVY. I’m still feeling it in my arm! Now, I’m not the most agile individual, and being that I was somewhat sick I also wasn’t hugely energetic, but I went out there to try. And I did pretty good, right up until my energy drained out of my toes. I sat out most of the last game we played and instead sat and talked with others who weren’t participating.

It was a fun day.

And now, I need to find some energy to get the day job started.

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BOOKS! I have books!

As I work my way back into the writing groove, everything feels rusty and foreign. I’ve written a poem a day so far this month, some of them suck, some are okay. I’m attempting to be more present on social media…well, Threads anyway. I’ve tried to maintain a posting schedule here (Wednesdays and Saturdays).

This weekend I hope to work on one of the novels I’ve got started

The world seems so dark right now, that I need to find the light where I can and my characters are the light I choose.

However, I also need to get some cleaning done. And shopping. Somehow Thanksgiving is next week! Oh! And that means that Christmas is around the corner. Do you have readers on your list this year?

I have hardback and paperback copies of most of my novels on hand. I am happy to personalize and sign and mail them out to you!

Hardbacks $20 ($35 for 2, $50 for 3) +shipping
Paperbacks $10 ($15 for 2, $25 for 3) +shipping

If you are interested, reach out to me via email. Let me know which book(s) you want, how you want them personalized, and make sure to include a mailing address. I’ll get back to you on the shipping cost. I can take Paypal, Venmo, cashapp and Zelle for payment.

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random thoughts and stray dogs

I have a mess of thinky thoughts roiling around in my brain this morning. Thoughts about veterans, about stray dogs. Thoughts about consent being a thing we need to cultivate and honor starting with out kids. Thoughts about books and writing. Thoughts about family and Yule and Thanksgiving.

Days like this are hard on the ability to write. I can’t focus on any one thing for too long because my head is just swimming.

This week I rescued a wee dog that was abandoned at the dog park. He’s a chihuahua mix, about a year old and un-neutered. Someone just left him there alone. He’s a sweetheart of a pup. He gets so excited anytime I come into the room. Part of me wishes I could keep him, but I know I can’t. My landlady would have a fit.

I’m still thoroughly enjoying Threads (https://www.threads.net/@nataliejcase) where I am connecting and interacting with lots of new folks. I’m almost to 600 followers over there!

I’m going to be running a sale on books, I just need to run an inventory of what I have on hand. I have hardbacks and paperbacks. I’m also running a special for the holidays where I will write poetry or short stories for you to give as a gift to someone special in your life.

Today is veterans day. My dad was a veteran, several family members are as well. We owe a lot to those who were willing to put themselves in harms way to keep the world safe.

I did say it’s a mess in my head today, right? Anyway, happy Saturday, Readers. I hope the weekend is kind.

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most of us

Democracy won in a lot of places last night.

I don’t write much about politics on this blog, but I am a political person. I am a liberal and progressive. I believe in LGBTQIA+ rights, voting rights, and the right of women to control their own bodies.

Last night women and Gen Z turned out and told Republicans that they are out of touch with the majority of Americans.

The thing is, most of us don’t want to go backward. Most of us want more rights, not less. Most of us want to let LGBTQIA+ live their lives and have the same rights that everyone else does. Most of us want everyone to have the chance to vote. Most of us want women to be able to make decisions about their own bodies. Most of us don’t buy into the conspiracy theories.

Republicans seem to be stuck in a mindset that most of us don’t share.

Now, we just need to carry that momentum into next year. And I need another cup of coffee.

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…and I’m back

*blows off the dust*

So, after my father died, writing kind of took a back seat to dealing with the aftermath and getting my stepmother situated to carry on life without him. It meant a lot of travel back and forth to Tucson, all while I was grieving.

It meant that there was very little of me left for writing, either here or on any of my projects.

It’s been a whole year, and I am starting to find my way back. I’ve dubbed November NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month and I plan on writing a poem per day. If you want to follow along, visit https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/.

In other news, I got my personal Facebook page disabled for no reason that I can understand, which has cut me off from my author and photography pages as well.

I have also left Twitter. You can find me on Threads or Bluesky. I don’t post all the same content on them, but there is some redundancy. I’m finding Threads is great for connecting with other writers and readers. I’m still struggling to find my way on Bluesky, but feel free to friend me on either or both sites.

I’m hoping to get back to one of the novels languishing on my hard drive too. I have no travel planned until the new year. With luck, that means enough down time to deep clean my house and get some writing done.

Welcome back!

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the year that was and the year that will be

Ah, New Year’s…that time of hope and good will and the best intentions. We say good riddance to the year that was and throw open our arms to embrace the year to come.

As a general rule, I do my goal setting and reminiscing about the year at Samhain, but it’s been a hell of a year.

I moved from Walnut Creek out to Stockton to be closer to my mom and brother. I went to Star Wars Celebration. I got a dog. I published three novels. I lost my father and stepped into the caretaker role for my stepmother. I got to go to Nashville to see Radio Company in their first public gig.

In April, I wrote a poem every single day. I finished writing one book and got a third of the way into the next.

I got to catch up with some family I haven’t seen in forever, and meet some family I had never met.

I generally suck at keeping up with any schedules or such when it comes to posting daily or weekly or whathaveyou…but I’d like to get back to a more regular posting schedule. When I started this blog, I committed to posting here every Mon-Weds-Fri, but life got in the way, so maybe I’ll attempt Saturdays and Wednesdays. One of those days I’ll post something about my writing process/progress and the other whatever comes to mind.

I’m also wanting to get back to writing more poetry, so you may see more of that too.

Here’s a wish for you, Readers: May 2023 bring you peace, joy, and love. May your coffee be strong, your food delicious, your sleep restful and your heart filled with kindness. Goodbye 2022, the year that was, and welcome 2023, the year that will be.

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the joys of being a growed up person

For a lot of years, I worked for a company that shut down for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Then there was enough PTO available in my next jobs that I could take it off. This year, I opted to not take the time off, even though I could.

It’s always an odd week. Half the company is off on vacation, which means there are no meetings. The normal cadence of the week is off. But, that also means more time to get work done.

However, I find myself more easily distracted by random things. I head to the kitchen to get a drink and end up cleaning off a counter. I go to the bathroom to take care of business and end up rounding up towels for the laundry. Go out to get the mail and end up playing with the dog.

It doesn’t help that the weather has us cooped up in the house. It’s been wet and rainy for days. Poor Athena doesn’t understand why we haven’t been to the park, but she gets so dirty! And bathing her is a chore and a half.

I’ll be heading back to Arizona for a few days in a couple of weeks, to accompany my stepmother to a few appointments. Haven’t decided how I’m getting there just yet, with the current state of air travel.

I need to go out today to get the car smog tested so I can finish the registration stuff, and I need a few groceries besides.

I’d rather curl up on the couch with a book and a cuppa.

Ah well, the joys of being a growed up.

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season’s greetings and all that jazz

This holiday season has not felt particularly joyous. It’s taken me most of the month to muster up any amount of holiday spirit. My Yule consisted of lighting a single candle and staring at it for most of an hour. My Christmas Eve was essentially my annual watching of Die Hard and then crawling into bed.

I didn’t sleep well, in part because I did something to aggravate my back injury and in part because I could NOT shut my brain off.

While Christmas is not a religious holiday for me, it is a day to be spent with family, and sure enough, I’ll be headed over to my brother’s place later today for presents and food. I promised my stepmother I’d call when I got over there so everyone can say Merry Christmas. She’ll be spending the day with friends.

I can remember a time when I went all out for Christmas, particularly when the girls were small. I decorated the whole house and I bought extravagant gifts. I cooked and baked and took great pleasure in gifting people treats from my kitchen.

Maybe I’ll find my way back there someday, but for today, I just want to be with the ones I love, cuddle some puppies and enjoy being alive.

Whatever you celebrate, I hope today is filled with love and happiness, Readers. Be kind to yourself and those around you.

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