A Time For Everything

I recently shared that one of my rewards for accomplishing my daily tasks for 4 days out of 7 was an inexpensive jigsaw puzzle from the local Dollar Tree.

And guess what--there's a day to celebrate doing puzzles and it's today, January 29. :0)

Here are three of the four puzzles I've done so far:

My reason for choosing puzzles was two-fold. One, as I mentioned, is that they're inexpensive (these ones from the Dollar Tree, anyway) and I enjoy them. Two, they're great for the brain. I'm getting older, but I'm trying to keep my brain sharp and even improve some of my brain functions.

According to various websites I visited, doing jigsaws uses both sides of the brain. So not only does it exercise creativity, emotions, and intuitive thinking, but it flexes the logical, objective, and methodical side as well.

In addition, it helps with spatial reasoning, hones attention to detail, improves memory, and improves problem solving abilities.

Not only all of that, but it's relaxing which put you in a better mood and reduces stress, which in turn allows you to be more productive and get along better with others.

Other puzzles work too, like crosswords and Sudoko, but I'm not so good at those so I'll still with jigsaw puzzles.

Are you a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast??

Have a great weekend!

Yep, those are the opening lyrics of our National Anthem. It's a song near and dear to my heart because I do love America. It has a lot of issues. A lot. But it also has a lot going for it. And also, I sing it a lot during hockey season. I've sung it three times in the last five days and will sing it yet again tomorrow night. :0)

But that's not where I was going. A couple of months ago, I listened to a podcast about the writing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Francis Scott Key was a lawyer and, according to Amazon, an amateur poet. Our anthem began its life as a poem called the "Defence of Fort Henry." Key was being held temporary captive aboard a pair of British ships. He and another lawyer were on a mission of truce at the time the bombardment of Fort Henry began.

As he indicates in the poem, he was watched through night as Fort Henry was being attacked. Watching from the enemy's ship. Key was a guy who lived this, was practically a part of it. He didn't just write an ode to the battle and to America's victory. Knowing all this gives the song a new gravitas for me.

For more information, here's the Star-Spangled Banner's Wikipedia page, and here's the link to the History This Week podcast about the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner "Land of the Free?".

 Have a great rest of your week. See you Friday.

Two games, two wins.

It's only two games, but there are so many things that came out of these two games. I won't bore you with them all, because I know you don't care and it could change in a heartbeat. But what a way to the start the season.

In lieu of my trip to Buc-cee's which I did earn, I bought a new puck for my collection:

I also tried a new dish, which turned out sensational. It's also versatile--I can use fish or pork instead of chicken if I want.

I'm having leftovers for lunch. :0)

Hope you had a great weekend...

...play their first game of the season tonight. I can't tell you how excited DD and I are.

And yes, we'll be there. The Stars organization has implemented socially distant seating arrangements, one must wear their mask the whole time unless actively eating or drinking, and there's a COVID form each person must fill out before being allowed into the arena. I think there will also be temperature checks upon entry.

The Western Conference Championship banner will be raised and a commemorative mini banner will be handed out at the door. So yeah, we're going.

I'll have safety precautions in place upon my return home--namely going straight to the garage and changing clothes.

* * * * *

In other news, I'm in negotiations with a friend for an exchange of services. I'll get editing for the epic lowlander book. She has an extensive knowledge of Scottish history which I want / need before this book baby goes into the world. Plus she's a great editor. Win/win for me.

She'll get a series guide for one of her series which currently has four books.  She wants to write a couple more at least. She'll have details of her characters and her world (it's a fantasy series) at her fingertips rather than reading all the books herself... So hopefully a win for her. Plus my writing is pretty clean to begin with and this book has been gone over several times already, once by a beta reader way back in the day, and by me a couple of times, so it shouldn't be a time-consuming edit needing a lot of "teaching" comments.

Also--it's the weekend so extra writing time for me. I've started writing the missing scenes and the ability to just submerge and write without having to stop and get ready for work is much needed right now.

Have a great weekend.

Catch you Monday.

Revisions for the epic lowlander historical I've been working on are proceeding apace. :0) Better and faster than I anticipated, since I opted to work on it while waiting for the cookie book to rest before I give it one last read-through before submitting, rather than jump into hockey book 5.

Hockey book 5 needed / still needs a little percolation time, so it's worked out better since I've had a couple of helpful revelations about the characters and plot arc.

Hope you're having a great week!

Catch you Friday...