The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[TarnishedPenny]

Morning, all. It must be good, 'cause this is the first coffee of the year.

 

[NotWise]

I've been grinding the jalapenos I dried last fall. I'm a little saturated with it right now, and a lot of tender spots are burning a little.

I'd read on the NMSU Chile Institute's site that the heat in a chile is concentrated in the placental ribs--those spongy structures (in a bell pepper, for example) that the seeds attach to. Pieces of the dried ribs were falling out with the seeds when I prepped the pods to grind, so I decided to test that idea by eating a piece of one.

It's good, I guess, that it proved the Chile Institute's finding. On the other hand, I had to take a break and eat a slice of bread to calm the burning in my mouth caused by eating a tiny little piece.

 

[Duleigh]

A hollow chili is a safe chili

 

[MillieDynamite]

It's a new month, a new year, and I'm starting a new story. Everything is bright and shiny with a promise of something. What it is, I don't know. For better or worse, I need a cup of coffee!

 

[Duleigh]

 

[MillieDynamite]

Thanks, @Duleigh, I needed that.

 

[dmallord]

Shortly before midnight as I typed away on my Mike Hammer 2025 story, I began to hear fireworks in the distance. It was to ring in the new year. I lifted a Coca-Cola in response, and ate a handful of grapes as is commonly prescribed. Closed my eyes about five in the morning. Now up to about 8,500 words more into the mysterious disappearing minx working title. Short excerpt to spark your interests until July.

He looked down as she chastised him and shifted subjects. “By the way, I still dream of us living together in a charming cottage on a hilltop with a white picket fence, three curly kids, and a dog running around the yard.”

Ashley touched his arm lightly, then spoke matter-of-factly in the pregnant silence that followed, “By the way, I took the state bar exam, Jack. The results are coming back next week.” Her confident look evoked the sense of overcoming a wall of obstacles that had held her back over the last three years. It had been a long time coming.

Jack read the look, the finality in her statement. He knew she would be moving upstate when that happened. It was an unspoken ‘Goodbye.’ Her eyes seemed to moisten as she turned and walked away.

Happy New Year to all the writers and readers here!

 

[Duleigh]

I have to share this. I recently published All Aboard Andi's Dream Chapter 19 It's drawing to a close a story I actually started on in 2018 then tossed away thinking it was "Hallmark Channel Garbage" but I eventually began posting it in chapters starting in November 2022. The story grew out of romance into drama (why don't we have a category for drama?) and now Chapter 19 is drawing the story to a close. The story arc where the MC was kidnapped drew to a climax and my readers just loved it. A fellow I had never heard from before appeared out of the ether to post this:

Stephen King has identified his more ardent fans by the label "Constant Reader" and I've read thousands (no exaggeration) of books, stories, novellas and novels over the years living up to that description. When I couldn't read a physical book, like when I was at work or driving, I listen to Audible.

With very little polish, I'd include Duleigh on par with many of my favorite authors, including Clancy, Cussler, Coontz, Forsyth, Koontz and Ludlum and vastly superior to most others. I am especially invested in this story arc (Wonderful Wife, Stormwatch and Andi along with the supporting submissions that serve to tie them all together). These characters are among my all-time favorites and I've come to feel as though they have become my own friends and neighbors who I can empathize with.

Chapter 19 may very well be the best chapter in this tale, it is certainly my favorite so far. As has already been noted, the tie-ins with other branches of this universe add a special touch.

Now, if I can only convince myself that chapter 20 will be out soon...

Thanks, Duleigh, for another great step in this adventure!

 

[MillieDynamite]

After I win this tonight, I'm done with worry. LOL

 

[MrPixel]

After I win this tonight, I'm done with worry. LOL

What? It wasn't you that won the $1.4 billion? Oh. They were in California, so I hear.

Just don't forget who your friends are.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Oz powerball is $20M tonight. Not in the same league, but I'd be happy with that.

 

[Duleigh]

They were in California

They're always in California.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I don't need that much! I'd be happy with fifty bucks since I've never even won that much.

What? It wasn't you that won the $1.4 billion? Oh. They were in California, so I hear.

Just don't forget who your friends are.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The odds on any drawing of winning the Powerball jackpot are 292,201,338 to 1, or about as likely as winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction without writing anything.

 

[dmallord]

I had a 'Putzer' Prize Trophy once. Never got around to collecting it, though.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I have a lesbian trophy wife.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I have a lesbian trophy wife.

Oddly enough, that’s what Jo has been saying.

 

[Duleigh]

It's off to work. Time to see if 2025 is all it's cracked up to be.

 

[ChloeTzang]

View attachment 2457661
It's off to work. Time to see if 2025 is all it's cracked up to be.

Enjoy! I have my first day back on Friday after 2 entire weeks off.

 

[Duleigh]

Enjoy! I have my first day back on Friday after 2 entire weeks off.

The county gave me an Entire Day Off for new years! (New Years Day) but ... that was my regular day off anyhow.

Time off is more of a punishment than a benefit. When you have a job that you love that lets you write when things get slow, and is just blocks away from a Wawa for lunch, the only thing that could make life better would be a paycheck (it's volunteer work at the Emergency Operations Center)

 

[Candy_Kane54]

There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot. There are some Hazelnut Pirouline cookies on the counter.

Today is the ninth day of Christmas and the nine pipers are making a loud racket and I'm sure I'm not going to get much writing done today. It wouldn't be so bad except one of the pipers is out of tune and it is driving me crazy ....

 

[Duleigh]

Pipers? Pipers? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DANCING LADIES?

I've been waiting a week and a half for the dancing ladies

 

[NotWise]

The daughter that flew in last week got a dose of COVID on her way. She's home and better. Now I'm feeling a bit puny, and I didn't sleep well last night. I think I'll just stay home today, keep the virus in-house, and sleep.

 

[MrPixel]

It wouldn't be so bad except one of the pipers is out of tune and it is driving me crazy ...

Wooden transverse flutes are next to impossible to reliably play in tune. A consistent embouchure is everything, and there's a reason conventional concert flutes have a lip rest.

"Hey. Didn't I see you playing a piccolo the other day?"
"No! That was no piccolo, that was my fife!"

Bah dump dump tissssssh.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The answer to the question is NO, I did not win the lottery. I got all of the numbers, except for the five before the Powerball and the Powerball itself. So, none, nada, zip, zelch, ninguna, aucune.