Patty Newbold took over Barbara's threads and now she's passed it on to someone whose name I've forgotten. I've also forgotten how to get into any of the sites. I know "Hanging Out" is still alive. Mostly I know she's offered classes and discussions on Barbara's books. These have not interested me, mainly because she wants money and I am cheap.

In other areas - my writing is lagging. My gardening is lagging. Everything else is lagging. I need to do something to jump start my creativity. Not sure what that is as I write this. Maybe something will come to me by the end of my post.

Meanwhile - good stuff. I have a healthy, happy tomato plant. This is a big deal because I've tried to grow tomatoes many times and failed each time. A possible project in the future - I want to make a coffee table from a slab of walnut burl. I have the burl. My husband made a table top from it and then left it in the sun for four years. Yes, it looks exactly like you're picturing it. I'd like to bring it to life. Making the base will be the big challenge.

I'm not a facebook fan, but I've been watching the reels on it when I'm bored. There's a guy - you can find him on Blacktailstudios on youtube. There's also a scammer with a similar website. Anyway, he makes tables with burl and epoxy that are gorgeous. They sell for about $20,000 - so don't get too excited. He lives in Seattle. Mine wouldn't be anywhere near as professional as his are. For one thing, I don't have the tools or the patience or the knowledge or the experience. And this might be just a pipe dream, but a girl can dream.

I'm reading a book, "The House of Payne." It's not a great book. I'm not particularly recommending it. But it made me think about my life when I was young and in love. I seem to squash a lot of that "in love" stuff these days.

So onward! I think I'm going to go somewhere to write. Maybe my Indian/Pakistani restaurant. And I think I'll draw and write crazy stuff just to get my creativity going.

I think all writers have this vision of themselves sitting down at the computer and wonderful words coming out one after another. Spoiler alert - it doesn't work that way.

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