Here's a quick tip to help you identify the difference between a lower case L and the number 1 when seen online.

To many people, those two look the same. Example, I'm typing l and 1—which was which? In this blog window what I typed looks identical.

In actuality, the first character I typed was the lower case L (l) and the second one I typed was the number 1— side by side, lower case L and number 1—l1l1l1.

It all depends on the font. In the compose font on my blog interface, they both look the same, but when you read this, the font will show a difference between the two with the lower case L being a straight line and the number 1 having a little slanted line at the top.

On Google apps, the lower case L has straight line at the top and the number 1 has a slanted line at top.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Hope this keeps you from making mistakes with passwords and other important information.

Yes, I guess I've diagnosed myself with spring fever. It's been a week since I've blogged because I've been overcome with all things spring.

My purple iris are blooming and so are my knockout roses—so many roses covering the bushes that it's breathtaking.

The vitex trees in our patio pots have grown a foot and have leafed out. They're so green and pretty. The plumes of purple won't be far behind.

Yes, the world is alive with fresh green leaves and blooming flowers. It's SO difficult to stay inside in the office when I want to be outside installing a new flower bed on the west side of the back yard.

So pardon me for not "chatting" with you since last week. Today I forced myself back inside and to the computer. After all, I'm supposed to be a writer, not a gardener.

Ah, Spring Fever has me in its grip. Torn between two loves. But, I've plugged away and pulled 700 words out of my brain this afternoon. Alas, I won't have this book finished by the end of March. Now I'm aiming at the end of April. 

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Sometimes being your own boss is a problem—especially if the boss (me) is easy-going. This first week of Spring? That's me. Easy-going and refusing to put my nose to the grindstone.

At last, my azaleas are blooming! I was afraid the sudden cold snap we had a couple of weeks ago destroyed the buds.

In case you didn't know, Houston is famous for its azaleas. Every year, thousands of people flock to the Azalea Trail. This yera it runs from March 6–8.

Organized by the River Oaks Garden Club, it  features tours of private gardens in the River Oaks/Tanglewood areas and the historic Bayou Bend and Rienzi gardens.

ARE AZALEAS RHODODENDRONS?

Azaleas are not Rhododendrons, but they are part of that genus that has over 10,000 varieties.

These gorgeous shrubs thrive in acidic, well-drained soil with dappled shade, and they're known for spring blooms. They can be evergreen or deciduous. Amazingly, they've been around for 50 million years. They symbolize femininity, passion, fragility, and temperance and are native to Asia, Europe, and North America.

You should know that all parts of the azalea plant are poisonous to humans and pets because they contain grayanotoxins. They can grow from small dwarf shrubs to large bushes reaching 8–10 feet in height and are often called "royalty of the garden."

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Most of my azaleas are the Formosa variety shown above—large shrubs covered with blooms. I have some medium height azaleas that bloom red.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired after nearly 3 days of Super Bowl celebrations, commercials, and reports.

I'll admit I don't watch much football so I didn't have a "dog in the game" so to speak.

I mainly watch the commercials or the puppy bowl on other channels. This time I didn't watch the half-time show at the game or the alternative show.

Instead, I read Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine by George M. Taber.

We'd had dinner with daughter Adina and son-in-law Mike yesterday, and Mike gave us a copy of the book because he knew how much we'd loved the movie Bottle Shock which was based on the Paris Tasting in 1976.

(By the way, I highly recommend Bottle Shock, the movie which starred Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, and Bill Pullman. If you love wine and underdog stories, you'll really love this flick.)

I hope you enjoyed your Super Bowl event as much as I enjoyed mine.

MONDAY, MONDAY

Like you, I'm back in the office. So far, it's been a frustrating day. I spent 4 hours looking for the page proofs for one of my backlist books. Finally found it—persistence pays off—so I think I'll take a coffee break before I tackle the rest of the items on my TO DO list.

Here's a quote for you to guide your week—especially if you're pronE to insomnia as I often am.

"If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep." —Dale Carnegie

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

If you work at night instead of staring at the ceiling, you may be yawning through the next day, but you may get a lot accomplished too. What do you think?

 

If you're like me, your email Inbox is inundated on a daily basis with scam, spam, spoof, and AI bot mail.

I'd say about 99.99% of that is designed to steal your identity and/or your money—probably both.

6 QUICK TIPS IDENTIFY SCAMS

1. Always be suspicious of anything that insists you act now. The only acting you should do is thinking and figuring out if it's a scam.

2. Fake messages like from the post office or an online business claiming there is a problem with your delivery or your account. The post office will NEVER send you an email unless you have signed up for USPS alerts, and if you have, you'll know exactly what those alerts look like. 

If you know you have never ordered anything or bought anything from the "business" trying to contact you, send that email to the junk folder.

3. Third-party social media posts and ads with a deal that seems too good to be true. Never click on the link. If you're interested in the item, go directly to that company's website and check it out.

AND STOP SCAMS!!

Always remember, anything too good to be true is never true.

4. Never click on anything—even in "white" space of an email—no matter who it is from that asks for your password, the last 4 of your social security number, your birthdate, or any basic vital personal information that could be used to compromise you and your privacy.

If it's something that involves a credit card that you have, call the phone number on the back of the credit card and tell them why you're calling. Same thing with your bank and any other place that involves your money and savings.

Why not click on a place in the email that's just white space? Because that white space may content a hyperlink in white text. By clicking at a random spot on a scam email, you just might be sending your computer information to the crooks.

5. If you get a phone call from an unfamiliar number, let it go to voice mail. If no voice mail is left, it's probably a scam artist.

6. Since so many people order from Amazon, just be assured that Amazon will never email you or call you regarding your order or to verify anything about the order. All communication for Amazon orders goes through your Amazon account portal.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I hope this helps. Be aware. Be safe.

Websites that list significant events in history are very popular. I subscribe to a couple of those. As an author, I never know what might strike a cord and inspire a story.

I find it's interesting to look at what happend on "this day in history."

It's odd how certain events like natural disasters can happen on the same day years apart. Here are a few such events.

1. 1556: Shaanxi Earthquake, deadliest on record, in Shaanxi Province, China, killed 830,000 people.

2. 1812: A 7.8 earthquake strucck New Madrid, Missouri, and it's still discussed today.

3. 1859: Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii begins an eruption that lasts 300 days.

4. 1973: Helgafell volcano on island of Heimaey Iceland erupts for first time in 7,000 years.

5. 1989: Hundreds feared dead after a powerful earthquake strikes the Soviet Central Asian republic of Tajikistan.

6. 2016: Category 5 blizzard dropped a record 3 feet of snow across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S., killing 55 people. The economic losses were estimated at $500 million to $3 billion.

7. 2017: Thunderstorms and tornadoes in Georgia and Mississippi killed at least 18 in the U.S.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Looking back over this post, I see that it's a little macabre. Sorry about that. Maybe you can file this post under trivia.

After spending a couple of hours clearing out the spam email from my 3 email accounts and checking a couple of dozen emails for credibility without clicking on them, I'm frustrated.

The AI world has enabled the internet crooks to increase their output of scams, spoofs, and frauds. 

Everyone gets these emails, but for authors, it's even more frustrating. We get huge amounts of emails praising one of our books and bemoaning that the book hasn't a bigger presence on social media and/or number of reviews.

They tell you that they are in charge of a coffee/booze/cocktail/senior citizens book club or online community of reviewers that can shoot you to the top of the bestseller list! All they ask you to do is email them for more information. 

The emails are always gmail addresses despite the name of the so-called readers' group they offer in the email. Guess they never heard of Facebook groups.

Never, ever email them in return. It's risky just seeing the email in preview. Don't dare open it. 

In fact, don't click on anything in the email, not even a "blank" spot because there may be a hidden link, colored white that won't show up. It's a fricking minefield.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

These are the letters supposedly from literary agents, publishing house editors, and movie production companies. They want to take your book to the big time. I've checked out the names and the companies these scam artists supposedly represent. The names, photographs, and companies are real, but the fraudster using them is not. The contact email will always seem like the legit email, but there will be some character in the email that makes it wrong.

Then there are the alleged lawyers who threaten to sue you because you used music or something in a video that the copyright owner wants you to pay up. These are frauds too.

HOW DO I KNOW?

With any letter about copyright, I know because I keep a record of the rights owner of any photo or music I've used.

With the letters supposedly from publishing representives and lawyers, never click them. View the information you can see without clicking on the email then go to a Search Engine and query, "Is email regarding copyright from XYZ Law Firm legitimate?"

With everyone I've received, I've found dozens of SERPs that show they're scams.

You can check the publishing house professionals' names and companies this way also, by querying whether they are legitimate and/or whether their name and image is being used in email scams.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

It's a scary world out there for the unwary so be aware. Question anything that is designed to excite you or scare you.

Instead of posting the recipe I'd planned for today, I worked on cleaning out my office while Darling Hubby built another shelf in the pantry.

I didn't finish my office work, but he did complete the new shelf. We have really high ceilings in our home, and the pantry had a top shelf about 6 feet from the floor which left a good 4 feet between the existing top shelf and the ceiling.

Since I'm always in need of more storage, I convinced him to install another shelf above the top one. He went to Home Depot yesterday and today, he built another shelf that matches the others in the pantry!

He did a great job. Then he went outside and cut all the roses in bloom since we're expecting a freeze tonight. What a sweetheart!

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

A new pantry shelf and a bouquet of roses! What more could a woman want? Stay warm tonight!

Recently, I binge-watched Falling Skies—see my review if interested—and I'll be watching the new documentary The Age of Disclosure this weekend.

I must have UFO's on the brain. The other morning we were making a quick jaunt to Cosco and stopped at our local Shipley Donuts for sustenance.

When Darling Hubby brought out the box of 4 donuts in a box that usually holds 6, the aroma was incredible. They were hot and dripping glaze.

When we arrived at Costco, we parked and had a donut with our travel cups of coffee. OMG. There's nothing better.'

I said, "If aliens invade from outer space, the first thing I'll do is go by Shipley Donuts and some hot, fresh glazed donuts because there probably won't be any donuts—ever."

We both laughed, but that got me to thinking of all of the things we'd miss from the unimportant to the crucial if that happened. 

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

What would be your "last chance" treat if aliens in UFO's invaded?

Halloween is 2 days away. If your Hump Day is tough, give yourself a break by breaking out the Halloween candy.

Are you like me and buy the bagged candy that is your guilty pleasure?

How does your Trick or Treat preference stack up against the rest of the nation?

I did a little research and discovered these candy facts.

Number 1 in 2025 on the tastebuds of Americans is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is loved for the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. It's certainly my #1 pick.

That's followed closely by M&M's—classic and peanut—Kit Kats, and Snickers—luscious chocolate, caramel, and peanuts. (I'll take all of them except the M&M's.)

As you may suspect, chocolate dominates the Trick or Treat scene but sour, fruity candies like Sour Patch Kids and Skittles are favorites with Gen Z and Millennials. Gummy candies are rising in popularity too.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

So to get over the hump that Wednesday can be, enjoy a few of those bite-sized candy bars and remember how much fun Halloween was when you were a kid. Why? Because money can't buy happiness, but it can buy chocolate—which is almost the same thing.

Okay, let's be honest. Do you know anyone who actually works a 40 Hour Week?

I'm not talking about juggling a job and raising a family and taking care of a home. 

Everyone I know who works—inside the home and outside the home—puts in way more than 40 hours a week, and that goes for women and men.

There may be jobs—probably the kind where you punch a time clock—where someone works a 5-day week, with each work day beginning at a specific time and leaving exactly 8 hours later, but that was never my experience even when I was a teen working for an hourly wage.

Most working people get there before their official day starts and leaves after their official day ends. A lot of people work during their lunch hour, and many take home work. that they do in the evenings and weekends.

Why am I even talking about this? Because on this day in 1940, the  40-hour workweek went into effect in the U.S.

It was actually part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, but it took 2 years before it went into effect.

WHO HAS THE WORST WORK WEEK?

As someone who is self-employed, I think I can safely say that the self-employed work the most hours every week. Whether you're an author like me or someone who makes and sells something physical, you work far more hours than someone getting a paycheck from an employer.

If you're self-employed and home-based, your time is never your own. Your work may not even be at a specific time especially if you have children. You probably squeeze in some work time before preparing meals, after getting the kids off to school, and walking the dog.

Then you juggle your "work" with house work, laundry, meal preparation, errands, and all the other things that make you think you have the worst of both worlds—career and parenthood.

In fact, to the self-employed, having 40 hours to do nothing but work your business would be a blessing.

Those who work outside the home, i.e., getting a "real" paycheck, and then come home to the chaos of children, meal prep, and, hopefully, time to work your self-employed dream, may well question why you're trying to start a sideline career.

At night, when everyone else is in bed, the self-employed worker bee, like me, is in the office with a few hours of peace and quiet to devote an hour or two to creating something to get the self-employed paycheck.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Do you work only 40 hours a week? If so, I congratulate you. Leave a comment and tell us how you manage that. I'll take notes while I finish my coffee.

Image by Linda Roisum from Pixabay

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends.

To my American friends, here's a little bit about Thanksgiving as celebrated by those north of the border.

Thanksgiving in Canada is a national civic holiday, not a religious one. It was first celebrated in 1578, when English explorer Martin Frobisher held a ceremony to give thanks for his safe arrival in what is now Nunavut.

At various times over the next few centuries,  Thanksgiving was observed at various times over the following centuries to celebrate momentous occasions such as the birth of a royal child or military victories.

Gradually, the celebration began to focus more on the harvest for the agrarain country. In 1762, the first community Thanksgiving celebrated the harvest in Halifax. 

In 1879, Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday with the date originally set as November 6th. As the years passed, the date varied though and after the end of World War I, it was merged with Armistice Day.

Finally, in 1957, the Canadian Parliament officially set the second Monday of October as Thanksgiving Day, making it a holiday separate from Remembrance Day in November. It's still not a federal holiday in some provinces, and in Quebec, it's called Action de grâce.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I didn't know much about Thanksgiving in Canada so I'm glad I did a little research on it. I hope you found it interesting too.

I happily welcome September wth this quote from Rowland E. Robinson, "September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn."

Eight years ago, on this day, Hurricane Harvey, considered the worst hurricane in Houston's history, made landfall here.

Darling Hubby had gone to our house in the country which was our "storm escape" plan to avoid being near the Gulf Coast when a storm cane in.

I'd driven our daughter to physical therapy that day. We'd planned to join him later, but by the time we left the hospital, it had started raining.

Daughter insisted on being returned to her home so I did that and prayed she and her husband would be safe there. By the time I reached my home, I was resigned to riding out the storm there.

Wind and rain had started, and that began 48 hours of the most horrific rainfall I'd ever witnessed. It simply never stopped. Hours and hours of rain for 2 days.

By the second day, our chimney had become saturated with rain and the brick inside the house became soaked too. I placed towels around the bottom to protect the wood floors. That was worrisome, but it was nothing compared to what thousands of people were experiencing.

To my surprise, we never lost power or water or cell service, but people in other parts of town were being rescued by boats from their roofs.

It was scary. I'd been through countless hurricanes as a child growing up in Louisiana and through typhoons as an adult living in Japan. Hurricane Harvey beat all those experiences.

Although Harvey was a Category 4 hurricane, its impact was off the charts due to the catastrophic and widespread flooding, the high winds, and the record-breaking rainfall.

The problem was that the storm stalled over Southeast Texas after making landfall. It's considered to be the wettest hurricane on record in the U.S.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Emergency responders and ordinary citizens who pitched in were amazing. The people here are one of the reasons why we love living here.  

William James said: "Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune."

A dear friend passed away. We'd been friends since the late 1980s. Even though she had moved away, we stayed in touch nearly every week.

I can't believe it happened. I guess that translates into I can't accept it. I thought of the quotation above and have come to the conclusion that acceptance must be the optimistic cousin of resignation.

Takeaway Truth

I know I'll eventually "accept" this loss, but it will simply be that I'm resigned to it.

Today is my dad's birthday. Although we lost him long ago, he is ever present in my heart and mind.

I never knew him when he looked like this photograph of him which was taken in a nightclub in London or Paris. He was one of the D-Day soldiers who came ashore in a hail of gun and cannon fire.

He survived and went on to marry after the war and have 3 children. I'm the middle child. I have his blue eyes and dark blond hair.

My older brother has his  handsome features, and my younger brother, also handsome but not resembling him as much with his facial features, has his body shape and strength.

Daddy played the guitar and piano by ear. He had a great sense of humor, loved a good joke, and had a wonderful laugh. 

I wish an impossible thing—to have known him in his youth when he was young and had the whole world in front of him. 

From his World War 2 experiences—fighting in England, France, and Germany—he suffered  from a back injury incurred when he carried a wounded friend to safety.

He also suffered from what we now call PTSD. I believe that arose from horrible abuse in his childhood coupled with memories of the war that haunted him—the dead and the dying and so many more awful things that he wanted to forget. I often wonder if that's why he developed Alzheimer's. In the end, he forgot everything.

If only I could have 5 minutes with him again. Five minutes to tell him how much more I appreciate him and everything he did and everything he was. Five minutes to tell him how much I Iove him.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

If your father is still on this earth, take time to tell him the things he has done that you admire. Tell him you love him. 

Doctors may no longer handwrite prescriptions, but they still use the Latin words in the prescription.

If you've been mystified by obscure abbreviations in prescriptions and wondered why doctors don't write a prescription in plain English, this post if for you.

I blogged about this many years ago so I'm happy to disclose the secret language of prescriptions once again.

No need to be puzzled by the esoteric words any longer. Just print and save the chart below.

Here is the Rx, which, by the way, means recipe in Latin, to understand what your doctor is telling your pharmacist.

PRESCRIPTION TRANSLATIONS FROM LATIN TO ENGLISH

Rx (prescription) = recipe

a.c. = ante cibum = before meals

p.c. = post cibum = after meals

č = cum = with

Ꞩ = sine = without (Symbol is Latin upper case S with line thru it.)

Lest you think I've been wasting time and shirking my usual tasks, allow me to assure you that Life has been  frantic since late April.

Despite my good intentions—yeah, yeah, I know those are the paving stones on the road to Hell—I've let some important tasks fall by the wayside.

Life got complicated by trying to squeeze in all of our annual doctor appointments, check frequently on property we're selling in another county, line up electricians and painters for our home in Houston, and two out of town high school graduations.

Next on the agenda is my semi-annual sibling reunion in another state. Everything was taking a lot of time, but I had everything scheduled and was crossing each item off the list, but things got a little complicated.

We got home only yesterday, and we're now packing to leave for a funeral in West Texas. When I get home next week, I will immediately pack so I can meet my brothers for our reunion.

TIME IS PRECIOUS

 I kind of feel as if I'm running a marathon. When I have a publishing deadline—yes! I'm trying to finish that book that keeps getting out of reach—and I'm not writing, I get overwhelmed and anxious. I keep chanting my affirmation: "I have all the time I need to do all the things I want." I hope.

I think the next time I buy a laptop I'm going to try to find one that has a daylgiht-readable monitor because I spend so much time traveling by car—the motto for Texas should be "The Road Warrior State"—that I'd like to utilize that time while Darling Hubby drives.

I do have some blogs written and scheduled to entertain you while I'm gone so feel free to drop by SlingWords.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Never say, "I'm just killing time." Wasting time has an impact on the infinite nature of existence. That's what Thoreau meant when he wrote in Walden, "As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."

 

May the solemn beauty of Good Friday fill all of our hearts with peace and purpose.

Let's try to remember that there is more that binds us together than separates us.

Be kind, compassionate, forgiving, and practice what you say you believe.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Wishing you a sense of optimism, the determination to rise above the noise and confusion of life, and Joy in everyday Life.

I must admit I'm totally taken with these adorable charms for Pandora style bracelets.

You know, those uber-expensive bracelets that cost about $50 bucks in silver and about $300 in gold? They're a slender coiled chain that comes apart so you can slide charms on them. Yes, those!

Well, it's Easter, and if you have some tween or teen girls on your gift list, you'll appreciate today's post. It's all about girly things that I find appealing, and they're all Amazon Prime.

You could probably get these in time for Easter if you live in a city. Otherwise, it might take a day longer. I find Amazon's next day delivery isn't as fab as "next-day" as it once was.

The item shown above is the Happy Birthday Heart Charm from BEVALY, a company that has a huge line of charms for Pandora-style bracelets. This charm is only $11.99. Isn't it cute? A teen I know who is having a birthday next month is going to love this.

There are so many cute charms like Moon Star Dangle shown at right which comes in a silver finish or Rose Gold, but I'm only showing you the ones I want to order. This one is $13.99. Most of the Bevaly charms are in that price range.

Yes, I think these are so cute that I wanted a Pandora Style Bracelet for Charms too. Sure, I have expensive bracelets, but I seldom wear them. I guess because I'm a little wary in today's world. 

Also, I don't go to elegant formal events very often so the diamonds stay locked up. But I like wearing jewelry, and this is fun jewelry that's chic and stylish too. 

If I lose it or something happens to it, I won't be devastated. This is worry-free good-looking jewelry.

At left is the bracelet I found on Amazon. I like the little barrel clasp decorated with sparklies. It's not by BEVALY, but those charms will fit since they're designed to fit most U.S. and European bracelets, such as Pandora, Biagi, Troll, and Chamilia. 

The BEVALY charms are made of hypoallergenic 925 sterling silver, and the ones with cubic zirconia are set in a high-polish finish which means they're fade-resistant for a long time.

This summer one of my girlfriends is taking her first cruise, and I have the perfect bon voyage present for her—this Cruise Ship Charm, another BEVALY design. There's also an airplane with little dangles that's cute.