Monday, June 10, 2024
Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
In addition, now and again I will provide some of my fiction to read, for free, on this newsletter. Everything is available to anyone who subscribes, but I am always pleased when someone shows their appreciation for the newsletter by upgrading to paid.
Daily Diary, Day 1378:
This is going to be another short post today because I want to get it dictated while my husband is out walking the dog. I am continuing to dictate whenever possible because well everything else is improving, the problems with my knuckles and tendons in both hands haven’t abated. Consequently, I am trying to be consistent with using the splint when possible and not over using either hand. However, as I shared yesterday, the left knee seems pretty much healed at this point and right the heel is considerably better. As a result, I have been able to increase my speed while walking, which is good for my overall stamina. I had yoga this morning with one of the most challenging breathing exercises, and this is another area where I am seeing a definite improvement in my breathing capacity. All good news.
Someone has come from the remodel company, and while there is still no word on either the mirror or the shower door, they are painting the bathroom door, which is great news, because I was hoping that would be done before we had to move in so the paint smell would be dissipated.
I do have a phone call scheduled this afternoon and I also want to spend a little time, looking at the rest of the month in terms of scheduling any promotions. In addition, because 90% of you who answered my poll about Madam Sybil’s First Client short story said that you would read or reread the other short stories if I put them up for free, I need to look into when to put up the Misses Moffet Mend a Marriage, the third short story in the series. I also would like to write a couple of posts introducing this story, so that is part of my attempt to plan this without blowing my commitment to being “on vacation!”
Meanwhile, I am going to go make some more tea, leaving you with a fun post I read this weekend on the historical origins of tea. Here is a fun little yard ornament from today’s walk.
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Ah, tea. It has woven in and out of my life for many years. My most recent habit of a morning cuppa is due to you, dear author. My preference is English Breakfast and I have discovered that Numi Tea has a very nice loose leaf breakfast tea, which has become part of my morning ritual.
Twenty years or so ago, when my boys were babies and we lived in San Francisco, we befriended a Japanese tea merchant whose shop in Japantown was a treasure trove. I learned to brew various teas in various clay teapots that still adorn my shelves. This shopkeeper had also become a Master of the Tea Ceremony. For my husband's birthday, I arranged for a Tea Ceremony. It was held in the Master's apartment in which he had built a Japanese Tea House to precise specifications required for the Ceremony.
It was an amazing and memorable experience. He explained every nuance, instructed us on when and how to comment, and we were incredibly blessed to experience an official Tea Ceremony. It was interesting to see that commenting on certain aspects could be quite challenging. I enjoyed examining the tea cup far more closely than I would ever have thought to do. He told us how to hold it, turn it, examine the cracks and imperfections, and then to reflect on what we saw and felt.
Thank you so much for the post on the history of tea. A pleasure to read and it brought back many wonderful memories.
So sorry to hear you to have the challenges, in this case not only life, but your body gives you. I do LOVE the photo you posted, very artistic. Good luck with your remodeling.......it is worth it at the end.