UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
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I’ve lived in a lot of places where the locals say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait…” Because in those places, the weather is very changeable. Now, I live in Arkansas, which changes on the daily because of the warmth coming off the Gulf and the cooler air coming from Canada. Our poor newscasters can only guess which front will be stronger. This week is shaping up to be a rainy week, although, today, we may get a bit of a break before thunderstorms move back in tomorrow.

I love storms. I love the rain. My daughter…not so much because she or my SIL will be mowing following a good soaking. I like the sound of the rain, the rumble of the thunder—the drama, I guess.

I’ve been a lover of clouds forever. We were all kids who looked for shapes in clouds. In the summer, I love nothing better than floating in the pool with my sunglasses on as I look for shapes. I’ve written about aeromancy—divination using cloud shapes. I’m a water baby, and clouds are made of H2O. How could I not love them and not be affected by them?

So, because it’s cloudy again outside (fat, gray cumulus clouds), but the forecast (for now) says it’s going to be clear, clouds and rain and lightning are on my mind. Hence this word puzzle. Sorry, not sorry. 🙂

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what your skies look like right now. Gray? Cloudy? Clear? Fluffy? Sketchy? Can you see a shape? Have fun!

UPDATE: The winner is…Margaret!
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It’s finally feeling like Spring. The japonica and forsythia bloomed and faded. The trees are budding—first, the red buds which quickly turn green, too. We’ve had to mow the lawn several times now. The temperatures haven’t dipped to freezing in a while…which makes me really antsy for it to warm up enough, so the pool won’t make me into a popsicle. We won’t talk about the green tinge of the water. We’re working on that.

So, thinking about trees growing their leaves, I found this picture which inspired a “what if” thought. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, would you enter? What would you hope is on the other side?

UPDATE: The winner is…Becky!
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I have a new kind of puzzle for you! Try it out. See if you like it. It’s a little challenging at first! You can see the finished puzzle at the bottom. To move the pieces, do you see the fuzzy/grayed piece? You can move a bright/crisp puzzle piece into that space by tapping it. That’s how you move the pieces. It takes a bit of strategy to get those last pieces in place.

Of course, since I’m still celebrating the end of Tyson’s Mission, I chose a Mayan ruin as the subject of this puzzle!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, or try to solve the puzzle, then tell me what you think of this challenge!

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

One family member is arriving tonight. My sister will be arriving maybe Sunday night…? Anyway, it looks like the weather might cooperate with Monday’s eclipse—the only total solar eclipse we’ll see here until 2044!!! I’m so excited—or as excited as I can be as I have a deadline approaching that is kicking my ass and I have been writing for 12+ hours a day. And yes, I have to finish the book on eclipse day. Gah! Yes, feel sorry for me. I could use an attagirl!

Anyway, today’s puzzle is fun. With all the weird nonsense online about the upcoming eclipse (what on earth do earthquakes have to do with eclipses?!), I thought the image I chose would be fun. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, and then tell me the wildest story you’ve heard about Monday’s eclipse or eclipses in general! Have fun!

UPDATE: The winner is Jane!
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Next Monday is going to be a big day for folks in my area. Schools will be closed. Everyone I know is planning a party. My sister and brother are driving down to enjoy the view from my other brother’s yard across the road. I bought the glasses and the T-shirt!

Of course, I’m talking about the GREAT SOLAR ECLIPSE. Which we may or may not be able to observe. The weather forecast changes daily. We can only hope that the stars align, along with the sun and the moon, so we can observe it all happen. Otherwise, we’ll get to enjoy total darkness during a thunderstorm. Woohoo.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you will be a lucky person to be in a place to observe the phenomenon—and do you have party plans?

UPDATE: The winner is…Jean White!
*~*~*

I’m late posting today because I’m not managing my time well.

I’ve been…distracted. After finishing up work on What Happens in Bozeman, my brain decided it wanted a rest from creating. I’m fighting it. I’ve already started the next story, and I will keep to schedule, but I’ve been dragging my feet.

What I really, really, really want to do is spend a week bingeing some fun Sci-Fi. I’m a Star Trek girl. However, while I’m waiting for new episodes of Discovery, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds to drop, I’ve been searching for another fix. I began Seaquest—which, by the way, is dreadful—and only have two episodes left to suffer through. Why did I continue watching when it’s so bad? Because I started it, and I hate not finishing what I start, whether it makes sense or not. A personality flaw, I know.

Last night, I googled “shows to watch if you love Star Trek, and Andromeda popped up in the list of many, many shows I’ve already streamed. Yes, Kevin Sorbo is the main character, but I will overlook that annoyance because it’s a Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek‘s creator!) project—and there are five seasons to gorge on! I was in bed when I reviewed the list. Then I googled “how to stream” and discovered it was FREE on Amazon Prime, so I clicked the link and watched on my phone (which I NEVER do). I didn’t go to sleep until I’d watched the first three episodes, which kept me up into the wee hours of the morning. It’s decent. It certainly caught my attention, and it’s different enough from Star Trek, and yet alike, that I’m definitely not bored.

But it does mean I’m dragging ass today when I have a mile-long list of things to accomplish today. So, onto my first priority—this blog. 🙂

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’ve watched Andromeda. Or tell me another Sci-Fi show (not Star Trek, not Farscape, not Firefly/Serenity, not Seaquest, not Star Wars) that I ought to check out after I binge my through Andromeda. Have a great Saturday and enjoy the puzzle!

UPDATE: The winner is…Kerry Jo!
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Sometimes, I struggle for themes for puzzles. Today, I didn’t have to look far for an idea. I have three bottles of ink sitting on my desktop with the most interesting color names: Chicken Coop (which is a rusty color), Robin’s Egg (the teal blue), and Parrotfish Twinkle (the green). I experimented with those three inks last night to produce the bookmark above.

I had those ridiculously named colors then opened a palette I put together myself with some of my favorite Daniel Smith watercolors (all D.S., except for the ochre and the pale green) to come up with the rest of the colors for the puzzle. They’re ones I’ve been using the most often lately.

So, for the contest… For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me what fancy-named colors you love. (Okay, so I don’t care if it’s a fancy name or not.)