Posted in children, family, fantasy, Fantasy/Scifi, life, love, mothers day, photography, Uncategorized | Tagged baby, holiday, kids | 9 Comments »
You just painted right over it? Really?
Posted in art, comedian, comic, entertainment, humor, life, photography, sarcasm, Uncategorized | Tagged funny | 24 Comments »
I was quite ill several years ago. The results from my standard physical with blood, needles, band-aids you know the one, weren’t good. The results showed I have an antibiotic resistant infection and my kidneys are functioning at 55%. I’m going through a course of antibiotics and will be retested in a few months. Some illnesses never let go of you.
On a lighter note, I’ve become an Amazon Associate. So instead of paying Amazon 100% of what you spend there, if you click one of my links and buy ANYTHING within the next 24 hours, I’ll get a little of the money and Amazon will get most of the money. If you’re going to shop there anyway, I would really appreciate it if you used one of my links.
Here’s some great deals on books I love and Amazon Unlimited (my favorite way to grab books at close to free.) If you haven’t checked out Amazon Unlimited, you should. I read 10+ fiction and non-fiction books a month. I get many of them free or at a good discount with the subscription.
Category: Chick Lit
Perfect on Paper (The (Mis)Adventures of Waverly Bryson)
By Maria Murnane (Goodreads rating: 3.6 – 3,374 votes)
“You know you’re a real grown-up when nothing but Oreos is black and white.”
“Meet the new Bridget Jones” (PopSugar Daily). When her fiancé calls off their wedding, Waverly Bryson — armed with cynical wit and self-deprecating wisdom — jumps back into the dating scene, with hilarious results.
$2.00 $3.99
Category: Fantasy
The Black Guard (The Long War)
By A. J. Smith
An epic fantasy with over 150 five-star ratings on Goodreads: Bromvy joins forces with the outcasts of the Darkwald forest to save the burning city of Ro Canarn. And meanwhile, armies amass for a war that will tear the world apart…
$0.99 $7.28
Category: Paranormal Romance
Fate of the Alpha: The Complete Bundle (Episodes 1-3)
By Tasha Black
“Her name is Lilliana Atwater. Mid-twenties, dyed red hair, was last seen in a yellow raincoat. Any reports or injuries or anything in your neck of the woods?”
“Nope,” Joy said, “can’t say that it rings a bell. Have you tried Springton?”
“Gee, no, I didn’t try the town NEXT to Tarker’s Hollow.”
Ainsley Connor is adjusting to pack life in Tarker’s Hollow. With her mate by her side, she feels unbeatable. But warnings of dark magic and signs of a rival wolf make it clear that Ainsley will need all the help she can get.
$0.99 $4.99
Category: Historical Romance
By Janmarie Anello
“You will marry me, Miss Jamison…in two days.”
Leah Jamison is too practical to expect a romantic proposal from a man she only just met, but even she is shocked by the bold command issued by the darkly handsome Richard Wexton, Duke of St. Austin. Why the nobleman wishes to wed her and how her father brought about the match, Leah cannot imagine ……
$0.99 $4.49
Emily
By Juliet James
Emily is alone in the world after the death of her father — but her destiny is forever altered when she meets a mail-order bride. Emily changes places with the hapless young woman, and is soon on her way to be married to an unknown Montana man…
Free! $2.99
Categories: Best Sellers, Thrillers
The Faithful Spy (John Wells, No. 1)
By Alex Berenson
Rating: 4 – 9,092 votes
“Everything depends which side of the shotgun you’re on,”
When a CIA agent returns home after years undercover, he becomes the only one who can stop a lethal terrorist conspiracy. “A well-crafted page turner… Will keep you reading well into the night” (New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn).
$1.99 $7.99
Posted in animals, art, bargain, Best Seller, book review, books, chick lit, children, deals, entertainment, family, fantasy, Fantasy/Scifi, Fiction, free, historical romance, literature, photography, romance, Thriller, Uncategorized | Tagged Amazon Deals | 4 Comments »
Please help me decide which cover to use. Vote here (This vote is open to the public. You do not have to be a supporter to participate. You do have to scroll down.)
I wrote Meet Me by the Gate several years ago after an illness. Thanks to all of your encouragement, I have decided to self publish this book. I have created three possible book covers and posted them on my Patreon account.
Thank you for your support.
P.S. The next book I’m working on is called Blood Guardian.
P.S. 2.0 It has come to my attention that you must have an account to vote on my patron page. Sorry I didn’t realize that. I am posting the covers below and you can vote on them by number via a comment. Any thoughts you have on the design, fonts or anything els would also be appreciated. Thank you.
Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Posted in art, books, Fiction, life, literature, photography, Uncategorized, writer, Writing | Tagged Meet me by the Gate | 31 Comments »
Nothing interesting ever happens around here.
Posted in art, comedian, comic, entertainment, humor, photography, Random, Uncategorized | Tagged funny | 15 Comments »
(To start from the beginning, check out the Meet Me by the Gate tab.)
July 11
Item # 40 – Pink floral china
Logan, my darling boy,
I hope you aren’t reading this until you are an old man with children and grandchildren, ready to retire with a wonderful wife. But if things don’t turn out the way I hope, I want you to have the pink floral china my mother and I brought back from Europe. And when you are married, I want you to use them often. Those dishes were never used enough.
***
Charlie has been scarce most of the day. I guess he took my suggestion to get back to work to heart. It’s good for him. He needed to think about something else for a while. It wasn’t long before Allie stopped by. Without Ladies’ Guild, I guess she has time on her hands.
The painting in front of me was of Allie, not today’s Allie, the seven-year-old Allie. The dark lawn in the painting was forested with trees. Evening had set and fireflies flickered among the trees. At the edge of the canvas, just in the corner was the face of a little girl with red pig tails peering over the edge of the canvas. You could only see the top half of her head and her eyes. But those eyes told you a hundred stories of mischief.
“Remember when you left for college, it was just me and Grandma?” she was saying, peering over my shoulder much like the girl in my picture.
Allie picked up a bottle of water and sprayed herself in the face. How could someone look so glamorous and be so clumsy?
“I remember. You missed me so much you never wrote me.”
“Grandma was so sad. I hadn’t really noticed it until you left. When we lost our Mom, she lost her baby, her only child,” said Allie.
I hadn’t thought of what it must have been like for Grandma to watch her daughter get sick and die.
“I became her distraction,” Allie continued. “We’d grab copies of the latest fashion magazines and sit around in the evenings trying to decide which outfit to make next. She’d get out brown paper grocery bags and we piece together a pattern. It was amazing what she could do. Her creations looked like they came from the magazines. I’d try them on and she’d take pictures. I still have those pictures.”
She paused for a moment, staring out the window.
“I never knew.”
“That’s when I found my talent, my appearance. It’s all I really am. I know it deep down inside. I’ve made the best of what I had because I had nothing else,” she said.
“Allie, you’re more than looks.”
I wanted to tell her as long as she believed that, it would be true. The minute she realized she was more, she would be. It sounded like something your mother or sister would say.
But Logan came bounding in as only a ten-year-old boy can.
“Hey Logan,” Allie called, “Are you going to visit your Dad or are you stuck with Granny Liv all summer?”
“Allie.”
Livia’s eyes narrowed. I’m sure Liv was not a nickname she wanted to encourage, let alone Granny.
“I didn’t realize you were here,” Livia continued.
“Cami says if she wanted a little bastard around, she would have had one of her own.”
I was shocked to hear that kind of language coming out of Logan’s mouth. I knew his new stepmom didn’t like children, but she needed to watch her language.
“Who’s Cami?” Livia asked, suddenly perking up.
“The latest replacement unit,” Allie explained. “She’s a socialite wanna be. You know her, she just joined the Guild.”
“Did she? And she called Logan a little bastard, did she?”
Livia’s eyebrow rose at a dangerous level while she drummed her finger nails on the table.
“I think Cami’s about to find Ladies Guild more difficult than she ever imagined,” Livia said, smiling at Allie.
The two of them conspiring together was a bit scary, but I was a happy to learn that Cami’s life was going to get more difficult.
Posted in anxiety, art, books, entertainment, family, Fiction, immigration reform, life, love, Personal, short story, sister, Writing | Tagged Meet me by the Gate | 2 Comments »
If you love paranormal, you’ll love these books. And the best part, they’re FREE! Dee
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Don’t forget to pick up your free copy of Everyday Moments Now through 5/1/16. This is to celebrate the opening of my new author website: TracyMeyerhofer.com While you’re there, I’d be tickled if you would sign up for my newsletter, or Follow Me on my Amazon Author Page! Thank you so much! ❤😄
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
(To start from the beginning, check out the Meet Me By the Gate tab)
July 10
Item # 37 – Honeymoon photos
Charlie,
I want you to keep the picture of you and me on our honeymoon in New Orleans. I remember a jazz band playing while we danced in a square at sunset. I was dancing on clouds. It would make me happy to think that you will look at it every now and then and remember me.
***
Charlie received a letter today from a little girl, Yamile in Sihisbamyo in the wilds of Peru. She was only five when he last saw her and her younger brother. Now her brother was sick. She wrote to Charlie for help. She begged him to hurry and come save her brother.
He folded the letter, tucked it in his pocket and went back to making my soup. Outwardly he acted as if nothing had happened, but his face had frozen in an odd look of hardened serenity as if it was taking all his will to appear peaceful. Periodically, he would stop what he was doing to grip the granite counter, staring at it, tracing the veins as if they were roads on a map.
He brought me my soup, patted me on the shoulder and asked how I was feeling. When had I stopped being his wife and become his patient? That’s how it was with Charlie and Allie to a lesser degree. I was becoming the sum of my illness. They were both so concerned I might break they were seeing less of me and more of my cancer.
So it was not out of pure selflessness that I told Charlie I was feeling better and didn’t really need him hovering over me. In truth my appetite had returned and my strength with it. I insisted he work on his project, check in with the engineers and students working with him and generally keep things moving. However, I didn’t expect not to see him for the rest of the day, but perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing either. Maybe we both needed a break.
Posted in anxiety, art, books, entertainment, family, Fiction, life, love, Personal, short story, sister, Writing | Tagged Meet me by the Gate | 3 Comments »
(To start from the beginning, check out the Meet Me By the Gate tab)
July 9
Item # 36 – Christmas card from Grandma
Bryan,
I found this Christmas card in some of Mom’s old papers. She kept it all those years. I think she would want you to have it. I keep it in my purse hoping for a good time to give it to you, but I’m not sure that time will ever come. So if I haven’t given it to you yet, take it. They would want you to have – Grandma and Mom.
Remember I love you. We all love you.
Jo
***
Bryan hadn’t answered any questions. In fact, he just added to them sending the table. I was going to make one more attempt to find the brother I was missing, the brother of my childhood.
When I pushed the door open and stepped into his world, I felt a pang of envy. He wasn’t in the main studio. Instead I found myself alone with a completed bronze horse and rider.
I heard the sound of steel hitting steel in the courtyard beyond the studio. I picked my way through saw horses holding plaster molds. Large chunks of granite and marble, their half hidden inhabitants waiting to be revealed. A woman roughed in bronze was reaching for the sky. Her face seemed sad almost pitiful.
In the courtyard, I found Bryan with a hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other working to free a sleek modern form swirling in and around itself from the tan granite. Dust had settled on his head and clothes mingling with his sweat, so that he almost looked like a sculpture come to life.
He saw me and paused mid-swing. It was hard to tell if he was expecting me or was shocked to see me.
“Back so soon. I was giving you a little more time.”
His hammer continued rhythmically slamming against his chisel.
“Why did you send that table?”
“Direct and to the point, you’ve changed since we were kids.”
“Why did you send a table from Olla Podrida?”
“I wanted you to know it’s not too late. You have a gift and it’s not too late to put it to use. It might take some time, but you can still be an artist. You have real talent,” he replied.
Bryan spoke in rhythm to his hammer.
“I’m afraid I’m past that now.”
My mind raced ahead to what my last days would be like if I went down the same path as Mom.
“You talk like you’re an old woman. You have plenty of time.”
Metal against metal rang clear.
“I’ve come to a point in my life I’m afraid I can’t turn back from.”
“You sound like Mom. She never had what it takes to make it,” he continued.
“She got sick. She didn’t give up.”
I knew she didn’t give up because, like me she never really started. I felt the need to defend myself through her.
“I know more about Mom’s illness than you ever will,” Bryan yelled.
He slammed his hammer into the granite, cracking the statue in half. The pieces fell to the ground with a heavy thud. His face was twisted with anger.
“What do you want Jo?” he asked.
“Some explanation of why.”
“There’s only pain back there. I’ve finally got my life together and I’m not going to let you drag me back.”
“I just want to know why? What happened? What did we do?”
“There’s no explanations, no answers. Why are you here? After all this time, what do you really want?” Bryan asked.
His voice sounded like his hammer, slamming each word.
“I don’t want anything. I just wanted to see how you were.”
“Is it money? Do you need money for drugs?”
“Drugs?”
Until starting the chemo and radiation, I’d never done drugs in my life and now only for nausea. I didn’t even smoke or drink.
“God, Jo,” his voice softened. “You look like hell. What are you on, meth?”
“Meth?”
He thought I was an addict. I looked at the window behind him. I wouldn’t have recognized the woman there. I’d lost at least forty pounds. My cheeks were hollow, my eyes dark, I looked tired.
“I have connections. I can get you into rehab,” he offered.
I remember how he looked when Mom was sick. He didn’t look that different from me now. He’d lost weight and looked tired all the time. He lost the look of a child, looking more and more beaten. I didn’t want to see him look like that again. Not when he looked at me anyway. He was right. I did want something from him. I wanted to use him as a crutch and he didn’t owe me that. I hadn’t bothered to find him until I was sick, until I needed him. I didn’t need to drag him back there.
I took the card he offered me, from some rehab center nearby. I left letting him think I was a meth addict rather than his worst nightmare.
God, let him have some peace. He seems to have been a long time coming to it. I’d rather he think I’m a drug addict than to know I have cancer.
Posted in anxiety, art, books, entertainment, family, Fiction, life, love, Personal, short story, sister, Writing | Tagged Meet me by the Gate | 5 Comments »
Deidra Alexander's Blog 