Kate Collins's Blog, page 43
February 6, 2019
Memories and Picture Galleries
by Karen Rose Smith
Caprice De Luca, the sleuth in my Caprice De Luca Home Staging mystery series is always looking for meaningful ways to decorate the houses she stages. She has to keep personal mementos at a minimum when decorating for clients to sell their homes. But when she operated her own decorating business, she loved to incorporate personal touches throughout the spaces she created. Picture galleries, one such personal touch, can make your home decor warm and cozy. Surrounding yourself with family photos and other memorable items makes your home's ambiance uniquely personal and unlike anyone else's. Mixing personal items with catalog items from online retailers can make your home feel styled, yet a part of your life's story. Photo groupings help keep memories of times past alive.
Photo collages are always part of my own decorating schemes. I might hang a grouping of photos next to a hutch, tying together the furnishings in the room with the wall decorations.
I also enjoy galleries of pictures of my cats. One Christmas, my son gifted me with a framed collage of my senior cats. I positioned it over my computer next to a collage that I created of wolves from a local wolf sanctuary that I love to visit. Notice the tie-in of the animal theme with the horses on the clock. Often functional items like a clock can effectively be camouflaged in a themed picture grouping.
A single framed collage can nicely fill a small space. This collage hangs next to my desk and reminds me of special times from my youth with my mother and father.
My living room has a southwestern ambiance so I incorporated suede frames of our trip to the grand canyon next to a gourd vase, Indian pottery and a drum light with a rawhide shade.
I filled a dark hallway corner with some of my father's paintings and added a flameless candle lantern to the grouping. The candle is on a timer, so every night the hallway is brightened by its glow and is reflected in the glass-covered artwork.
And sometimes a single picture says it all!
Caprice De Luca, the sleuth in my Caprice De Luca Home Staging mystery series is always looking for meaningful ways to decorate the houses she stages. She has to keep personal mementos at a minimum when decorating for clients to sell their homes. But when she operated her own decorating business, she loved to incorporate personal touches throughout the spaces she created. Picture galleries, one such personal touch, can make your home decor warm and cozy. Surrounding yourself with family photos and other memorable items makes your home's ambiance uniquely personal and unlike anyone else's. Mixing personal items with catalog items from online retailers can make your home feel styled, yet a part of your life's story. Photo groupings help keep memories of times past alive.
Photo collages are always part of my own decorating schemes. I might hang a grouping of photos next to a hutch, tying together the furnishings in the room with the wall decorations.
I also enjoy galleries of pictures of my cats. One Christmas, my son gifted me with a framed collage of my senior cats. I positioned it over my computer next to a collage that I created of wolves from a local wolf sanctuary that I love to visit. Notice the tie-in of the animal theme with the horses on the clock. Often functional items like a clock can effectively be camouflaged in a themed picture grouping.
A single framed collage can nicely fill a small space. This collage hangs next to my desk and reminds me of special times from my youth with my mother and father.
My living room has a southwestern ambiance so I incorporated suede frames of our trip to the grand canyon next to a gourd vase, Indian pottery and a drum light with a rawhide shade.
I filled a dark hallway corner with some of my father's paintings and added a flameless candle lantern to the grouping. The candle is on a timer, so every night the hallway is brightened by its glow and is reflected in the glass-covered artwork.
And sometimes a single picture says it all!
And where do you live??
Hi, Duffy Brown here. I set my Cycle Path series on Mackinac Island and many readers want to know more about the island and what its like to live there. So here are a few tips.
You know you live on Mackinac Island,,,
... if you’ve ever gotten frostbitten and sunburned in the same week. (though truth be told this could be Cincinnati too)... if you can identify an Ohio accent.…if you don’t need car insurance…if a fender bender is a two-bike crash... if you learned to pilot a boat before the training wheels were off your bike.
... if you point at the palm of your right hand when telling people where you live... if "Down South" means Toledo.... if a Big Mac is something you can drive across.... if you have no problem spelling Mackinac Island.... if you have as many Canadian coins in your pockets as American ones.
... if the trees in your backyard have spigots.... if you know that a place called "Kalamazoo" really exists.... if you bake with "soda" and drink "pop".... if you know what a pastie is.... if you know how to play Euchre.... if fudge and bicycles remind you of home sweet home.... if you can name all 5 of the Great Lakes, and point to their locations around your left and right hands.... if you know that Pontiac and Cadillac are cities.... if you can actually pronounce Ypsilanti.... if you own only three spices - salt, pepper and ketchup.... if you design your Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.... if you keep track of the miles you put on your snow blower.
... if you think everyone from the city has an accent.... if you think sexy lingerie is tube socks and a flannel nightie.... if your snow blower gets stuck on the roof.…if you save your Christmas tree to help mark the path across a frozen lake for the snow mobiles... if summer takes place the second week of July ... if you find -20F a little chilly. ... if the kids drive to school in a snow mobile.... if you know the 4 seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Almost Winter, and Yesterday was summer.... if you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by.... you know the day the horses get off the ferry and return to the island
... if you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time.... if you often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.... if you see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings.)... if down South to you means Ohio.... if you go out to a fish fry every Friday.…if the whole town is 500 people strong... if you know what a Yooper is.... if you know that UP is a place, not a direction.... if you know it's possible to live in a thumb.
February 4, 2019
Escaping Winter. . . For A Few Days
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by Maggie Sefton
I am starting a week of total relaxation here on the sunny West Coast of Florida. I'm on St. Pete's Beach in a lovely oceanfront hotel. Since last year was so hectic with all kinds of "family activities," I did not reserve a Caribbean cruise in time to snag the prices and trips I liked. So I decided to escape a little Winter Weather at a favorite spot----St. Pete's Beach, near Tampa.
For several years our family enjoyed summer vacations on the East Coast of Florida around Miami's South Beach. And, then, we discovered the West Coast of Florida where the quieter and warmer Gulf of Mexico waters totally seduced us. Our daughters could splash and play in the Gulf without getting knocked down by Mother Atlantic's strong ocean surf. The warmer and gentler Gulf was also filled with frolicking dolphins enjoying the waters just behind the adults and kids floating and playing there.
During the younger daughters' afternoon nap times, I loved relaxing on a chaise lounge under a palm tree and reading. :) It's hard to beat that. And nothing is as dramatic as a summer thunderstorm at night, with jagged bolts of lightning flashing in the sky. Now, that is definitely exciting.
I am starting a week of total relaxation here on the sunny West Coast of Florida. I'm on St. Pete's Beach in a lovely oceanfront hotel. Since last year was so hectic with all kinds of "family activities," I did not reserve a Caribbean cruise in time to snag the prices and trips I liked. So I decided to escape a little Winter Weather at a favorite spot----St. Pete's Beach, near Tampa.
For several years our family enjoyed summer vacations on the East Coast of Florida around Miami's South Beach. And, then, we discovered the West Coast of Florida where the quieter and warmer Gulf of Mexico waters totally seduced us. Our daughters could splash and play in the Gulf without getting knocked down by Mother Atlantic's strong ocean surf. The warmer and gentler Gulf was also filled with frolicking dolphins enjoying the waters just behind the adults and kids floating and playing there.
During the younger daughters' afternoon nap times, I loved relaxing on a chaise lounge under a palm tree and reading. :) It's hard to beat that. And nothing is as dramatic as a summer thunderstorm at night, with jagged bolts of lightning flashing in the sky. Now, that is definitely exciting.
February 3, 2019
PUREBRED VS RESCUE PETS?
By Mary Kennedy
This graphic sent by my pal Lynda Turpin says it all. Why do people prefer purebred pets? I guess they must have their reasons, but I vote for rescue animals instead. All my pets have wandered into my yard, alone, homeless, thin and scared. Some were absolutely emaciated and I had to nurse them back to health with vet care and loads of TLC. Shadow certainly fit the bill. I found him huddled under a bush in the backyard, curled up in the rain, emaciated to the point of near death. Here he is, many months later.
Since his fur was hopelessly fine and tangled (and he refused to let me brush him) we had to go with a lion cut for the summer. Not for aesthetics, just for his comfort!
Many of you know the story of Henry, my little sociopath. He is a delightful orange cat who showed up in my yard. His ear was tipped but he was no feral, he obviously had a home once and loved people. However, he didn't love other cats and I called him gladiator cat. He would dart into the house for dinner, beat up my indoor cats and then run out the door. (no wonder he lost a few homes along the way!). Still, I refused to give up on him and took on the task of reforming him.
I spent 20 minutes with him every day, petting him, grooming him, and playing with him on the sun porch. The other cats watched enviously from inside, probably wondering why I was wasting my time on him. But in the end, it all paid off!
Damian was another challenge. I rescued him from the neighborhood when he showed up in the dead of winter, curled up on a wooden bench on my open porch. He was well fed but freezing. I threw on a coat over my PJ's and dashed downstairs to cuddle him. I put a heating disk on either side of him and he snuggled right in with me. I was hesitant to take him inside until I had him checked out my a vet, which I did, a few days later.
It's a good thing I did because not only did he have hook worm, ring worm and round worm, he had a bite of unknown origin and would have to isolated for 6 months! So he spent six months in solitary splendor on my sun porch. Eventually the time passed and he could come in the house with the rest of the Kennedy cats.
Each of my rescue pets has a story to tell. I was disappointed when a friend told me she would prefer a pure breed to a "flea bitten stray." My cats were insulted (so was I). As you can see, my rescue cats are delightful pets, sweet and attractive, not the least bit flea-bitten!
Mary Kennedy
This graphic sent by my pal Lynda Turpin says it all. Why do people prefer purebred pets? I guess they must have their reasons, but I vote for rescue animals instead. All my pets have wandered into my yard, alone, homeless, thin and scared. Some were absolutely emaciated and I had to nurse them back to health with vet care and loads of TLC. Shadow certainly fit the bill. I found him huddled under a bush in the backyard, curled up in the rain, emaciated to the point of near death. Here he is, many months later.
Since his fur was hopelessly fine and tangled (and he refused to let me brush him) we had to go with a lion cut for the summer. Not for aesthetics, just for his comfort!
Many of you know the story of Henry, my little sociopath. He is a delightful orange cat who showed up in my yard. His ear was tipped but he was no feral, he obviously had a home once and loved people. However, he didn't love other cats and I called him gladiator cat. He would dart into the house for dinner, beat up my indoor cats and then run out the door. (no wonder he lost a few homes along the way!). Still, I refused to give up on him and took on the task of reforming him.
I spent 20 minutes with him every day, petting him, grooming him, and playing with him on the sun porch. The other cats watched enviously from inside, probably wondering why I was wasting my time on him. But in the end, it all paid off!
Damian was another challenge. I rescued him from the neighborhood when he showed up in the dead of winter, curled up on a wooden bench on my open porch. He was well fed but freezing. I threw on a coat over my PJ's and dashed downstairs to cuddle him. I put a heating disk on either side of him and he snuggled right in with me. I was hesitant to take him inside until I had him checked out my a vet, which I did, a few days later.
It's a good thing I did because not only did he have hook worm, ring worm and round worm, he had a bite of unknown origin and would have to isolated for 6 months! So he spent six months in solitary splendor on my sun porch. Eventually the time passed and he could come in the house with the rest of the Kennedy cats.
Each of my rescue pets has a story to tell. I was disappointed when a friend told me she would prefer a pure breed to a "flea bitten stray." My cats were insulted (so was I). As you can see, my rescue cats are delightful pets, sweet and attractive, not the least bit flea-bitten!
Mary Kennedy
February 1, 2019
Over 200 free books ... all you need is a Nook (or an app)
by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett
You may not know this, but three of the Cozy Chicks are members of Novelists Inc. That's an organization that represents authors. We were recently given an opportunity to participate in the Nook Book Bash. That's a promotion where you get the first book in a series for FREE and the opportunity to get the second book in a series for 24% off. (Don't worry if you don't have a Nook ereader -- you can download the Nook app for FREE, too!
What genres are covered? Mysteries, thrillers, romance (contemporary, historical, paranormal), and Sci-Fi. The books are all from tried-and-true traditionally published authors. You can't lose! You can either choose from categories or see all the books (over 200) at once.
I've got two series in the promo. The Lotus Bay Mysteries (cozy) and Tales of Telenia (adventure-fantasy).
You can pick add my two free books to your shopping cart. Just click the links below:
Panty Raid
Tales of Telenia: STRANDED
Go to the checkout and use coupon code: NOOKBASHFREE
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To get the second books in the series for 25% off, use these links:
With Baited Breath
Tales of Telenia: JOURNEY
Go to the checkout and use coupon code: NOOKBASH25
This sale is a great way to find new authors.
So what are you waiting for? You could be reading right now!
(This sale lasts until Feb. 28th)
You may not know this, but three of the Cozy Chicks are members of Novelists Inc. That's an organization that represents authors. We were recently given an opportunity to participate in the Nook Book Bash. That's a promotion where you get the first book in a series for FREE and the opportunity to get the second book in a series for 24% off. (Don't worry if you don't have a Nook ereader -- you can download the Nook app for FREE, too!
What genres are covered? Mysteries, thrillers, romance (contemporary, historical, paranormal), and Sci-Fi. The books are all from tried-and-true traditionally published authors. You can't lose! You can either choose from categories or see all the books (over 200) at once.I've got two series in the promo. The Lotus Bay Mysteries (cozy) and Tales of Telenia (adventure-fantasy).
You can pick add my two free books to your shopping cart. Just click the links below:
Panty Raid
Tales of Telenia: STRANDED
Go to the checkout and use coupon code: NOOKBASHFREE
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To get the second books in the series for 25% off, use these links:With Baited Breath
Tales of Telenia: JOURNEY
Go to the checkout and use coupon code: NOOKBASH25
This sale is a great way to find new authors.
So what are you waiting for? You could be reading right now!
(This sale lasts until Feb. 28th)
January 30, 2019
Changing the Bed Linens...With Cats!
by Karen Rose Smith
Changing the bed linens at our house can be a three-ring circus...or should I say a five-cat melee! If I don't have the presence of mind to close the door before I begin...or there are already one or more cats on the bed, I know I'm about to be a referee in a fight over who claims the bed and who gets to claim the clean sheets.
Even if I begin with a cat-free room, as soon as I begin to strip the bed, I'm bound to have a curious feline visitor. Usually, it is not too difficult to remove the linens from a cat-laden bed, but remaking the bed is another story. And for some reason, word seems to spread quickly that I am about to attempt to put fresh linens on the bed. It seems that there has to be a ritual to leave feline scent on the clean linens. That might be accomplished with a simple roll over the fitted bottom sheet. But as more layers are added, the process becomes more complicated with cats on top of the bedspread and in various layers under the spread. Bumps move across the bed and heads pop out from the sides at the edge of the newly arranged covers. Sometimes it becomes a cat-and-mouse game of one feline on top of the spread chasing a moving bump under the covers.
If the chore becomes impossible to complete, I just retreat for a few seconds to let them perform their antics and then return to complete my task...and remove cat hair left behind as the felines move on to their next escapade. And then, of course, there is the clever feline who always finds the newly laundered sheets after I take them from the dryer and before I get them folded to put in the linen closet.
Changing the bed linens with cats in the room can be frustrating...or you can make it a game and enjoy the shenanigans along with the furry crew. It may taken longer, but you can make a mundane household chore fun.
Paddy gives her okay to add the spread and pillows to the freshly-made bed.
Freshly laundered sheets? Freya says, "Let me check!"
Halo prefers to watch from under the bed.
Changing the bed linens at our house can be a three-ring circus...or should I say a five-cat melee! If I don't have the presence of mind to close the door before I begin...or there are already one or more cats on the bed, I know I'm about to be a referee in a fight over who claims the bed and who gets to claim the clean sheets.
Even if I begin with a cat-free room, as soon as I begin to strip the bed, I'm bound to have a curious feline visitor. Usually, it is not too difficult to remove the linens from a cat-laden bed, but remaking the bed is another story. And for some reason, word seems to spread quickly that I am about to attempt to put fresh linens on the bed. It seems that there has to be a ritual to leave feline scent on the clean linens. That might be accomplished with a simple roll over the fitted bottom sheet. But as more layers are added, the process becomes more complicated with cats on top of the bedspread and in various layers under the spread. Bumps move across the bed and heads pop out from the sides at the edge of the newly arranged covers. Sometimes it becomes a cat-and-mouse game of one feline on top of the spread chasing a moving bump under the covers. 
If the chore becomes impossible to complete, I just retreat for a few seconds to let them perform their antics and then return to complete my task...and remove cat hair left behind as the felines move on to their next escapade. And then, of course, there is the clever feline who always finds the newly laundered sheets after I take them from the dryer and before I get them folded to put in the linen closet.Changing the bed linens with cats in the room can be frustrating...or you can make it a game and enjoy the shenanigans along with the furry crew. It may taken longer, but you can make a mundane household chore fun.
Paddy gives her okay to add the spread and pillows to the freshly-made bed. 
Freshly laundered sheets? Freya says, "Let me check!"
Halo prefers to watch from under the bed.January 29, 2019
Doing the Bucket List
Last week I talked about winter and loving it and this week I’m taking a bit of my own pep talk and engaging in winter. Usually it’s me going from my car to house to store as fast as I can make it in the snow. Usually it’s staying inside and watching the snow while drinking coffee by the window and a blaze in the hearth.
But not this week! This week I’m snowmobiling in Yellowstone. Yep, tons of snow and me with every piece of clothing that REI sells buzzing around Yellowstone on a snowmobile.I’m writing this blog before I’m actually going ‘cause today I’m out there on the trail. It’s a three-day even traveling 200 miles in Yellowstone. I’m sure it’s going to be a real adventure. And fun...at least for the buffalo who will probably be laughing their butts off.
This is truly an adventure for me and it’s on my bucket list. I really wanted to do the snowmobiling across the Ice Bridge from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island but this chance came up and I loooooove Yellowstone so I jumped in.
We stay in for the three days as we make our way around the park. I hate that there are no rangers to watch things for us in case there’s a problem but I told my daughter who is going with me to bring her compass. If we get lost and head east we got home…right?I’ll take lots of pics and post from my iPhone so you can travel with me. Wish me luck.Hugs, Duffy
January 28, 2019
EMAIL? TEXT MESSAGE? PHONE CALL?
by Maggie SeftonWhich one do you use most of the time? Do you text family and friends and email other people or companies online? Or, do you regularly choose to make phone calls rather than send an electronic communication? I've thought about this subject many times over the last twenty or so years as I noticed how the American public communicated on a daily basis.
These past twenty plus years have brought so many changes in communication that I can't even decide which adjectives best describe it. Among my friends, family, and acquaintances, all methods of communication are used. In my family daily text messages arrive and are sent throughout the entire day and into the evening. I'll bet my family's text habits are due to the youthful makeup of the total family. I have four daughters and seven grandchildren. Only two of the grandchildren have ever sent me a text, which usually occurred around special occasions. But everyone else in the family sends messages, announcements, photos, you name it, via texts.
Then there are some of my closest friends that have been a part of my life since childhood back in Arlington, Virginia (only a stone's throw from the Potomac River and Washington, D.C.) We literally grew up together and are now "senior citizens" together which always makes up laugh uproariously. We're part of the Sixties Generation---tharyNotorious Generation that "kicked out the windows and the doors" and caused a lot of trouble but also brought in a lot of fresh air. And, of course, we text each other. A lot.
And, of course, new friends and acquaintances text as well. So----I have decided that text messages have become an integral part of daily communication for a huge segment of the American population. Of course, texting messages can happen best and easiest on the modern phones of today like iPhones and Samsung phones and others. Those larger screens make writing text messages a lot easier.
I hope my post today on our Cozy Chicks Blog didn't bore you. It's a rather mundane subject, but I've always been fascinated with how changes occur in American culture and lifestyles. How about you? Do you choose to text, send an email, or use the phone?
January 27, 2019
WOULD YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?
By Mary Kennedy
A wonderful profile of screenwriter and novelist David Saperstein in this month's AARP magazine leads us to this fascinating question: Would you choose to live forever if you could? Certainly the most important choice you would ever have to make!
The Saperstein article discusses his hit movie Cocoon and the difficulties he had getting it made. Some producers objected to the fantasy theme (residents of a Florida retirement community discover some pods that have mysterious healing powers and the story takes off after that.) One producer actually said, "Old people don't go to movies!"
It was a challenge, but after five years, Saperstein finally got an A-list director (Ron Howard) to direct the film. And once the movie was a hit, Saperstein got a book deal and Cocoon landed on the New York Times best seller list.
The idea for the film came to Saperstein when he visited DelRay Beach in Florida, home to many retirees.
Such a clever premise. If you had the chance to be restored to youth and vitality but it would mean leaving this earth, never to see your loved ones again, would you take it? Or would you choose to live out your normal life span here on earth, surrounded by family and friends? What if you were married and you and your spouse made different choices? What if one of you chose to stay and one of you wanted to leave.
The possibilities are fascinating and endless.
If you can rent this wonderful 1985 movie starring Don Ameche, please do so. I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.
By Mary Kennedy
A wonderful profile of screenwriter and novelist David Saperstein in this month's AARP magazine leads us to this fascinating question: Would you choose to live forever if you could? Certainly the most important choice you would ever have to make!
The Saperstein article discusses his hit movie Cocoon and the difficulties he had getting it made. Some producers objected to the fantasy theme (residents of a Florida retirement community discover some pods that have mysterious healing powers and the story takes off after that.) One producer actually said, "Old people don't go to movies!"
It was a challenge, but after five years, Saperstein finally got an A-list director (Ron Howard) to direct the film. And once the movie was a hit, Saperstein got a book deal and Cocoon landed on the New York Times best seller list.The idea for the film came to Saperstein when he visited DelRay Beach in Florida, home to many retirees.
Such a clever premise. If you had the chance to be restored to youth and vitality but it would mean leaving this earth, never to see your loved ones again, would you take it? Or would you choose to live out your normal life span here on earth, surrounded by family and friends? What if you were married and you and your spouse made different choices? What if one of you chose to stay and one of you wanted to leave.
The possibilities are fascinating and endless.
If you can rent this wonderful 1985 movie starring Don Ameche, please do so. I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.
By Mary Kennedy
Celebrate chocolate cake day!
The Cozy Chicks celebrate all things chocolate -- and today is National Choolate Cake Day.
Are you a chocolate cake fan?
