Weekend Ponders...

Who posts these signs anyway? Have a nice weekend!

anny

It's Friday!

I don't believe in wishing my life away, but sometimes it's just fabulous when Friday arrives, you know? And in my case that's weird because my days are pretty much all the same. I'm retired, so to speak. So Friday is mostly the same as Monday. Or Wednesday. Or any other day.

However, there's something about Friday...

Maybe it's the lifetime of knowing it's the end of the workweek. Or maybe it's knowing the weekend begins the next day (although that's not much different for me, either.)

Anyway, for those of you with plans, have a great weekend! It's Friday!

anny

Pickup lines...

Why do men need pickup lines? And how well do they work? I was introduced to the house hunk on a blind date so he didn't have to try out his repertoire, but I have to admit I've never been impressed by the lines I've seen in movies.

So how is a guy--or girl--supposed to develop that quick introduction that captures the target's attention? And why does it have to be clever? Why not just "Hello, I'm John. You're reasonably attractive and I would like to have sex with you." No?

It occurs to me such an approach would cut through all the baloney sausage but it probably doesn't meet the standards for the woman. Women want more romance. Even if it's fake. And then they complain that men are false. It seems to me they can't expect to have it both ways.

Romance is a female invention. Men just want to drag you off to their cave and mate. Romance is what they do because it's against the law to drag you off to their cave. Now they have to lure you to the cave.

So the pickup line is actually at the behest of the female. Hmmm.

What's the best pickup line you've ever heard?

anny

Night of the Mountain Lion

This story is for my friend, Julia Barrett, just because she asked so nicely...

When I was five we lived in Pima, Arizona. At that time it was what I call a 'blinking light' town. On the highway of life, Pima had a blinking light to signify it's one cross road. Of course, in Arizona at that time, blinking light towns were quite common. They were usually a small huddle of one-and-two bedroom houses, a gas station, and possibly a tiny general store. Pima also had a post office and a couple other businesses.

We lived in three different houses in Pima. I suspect it was a matter of moving up each time we moved, but that wouldn't have been too hard because prior to that we lived in surplus military housing in Mesa.

I have flickering memories about each house. In one house, I remember helping my mother do laundry out on the patio in our wringer washer. In another, I remember going to the post office next door to get our mail. And in the third...well, the third was the house where we lived on the night the mountain lion came to visit.

I mentioned we lived in Arizona, right? This was fifty-five years ago. There was no air conditioning. It was summer, so the windows were all open and a small fan was running in the kitchen where my mother was sewing while my dad worked at the tiny all night gas station in town. It was the last gas station for many miles. Mama was pregnant with my baby brother. My two younger brothers and I were asleep.

Outside, Rover, our dog started barking frantically. Mama turned on the porch lights, trying to see what was aggravating him. All she could make out was a large shadowy animal-shaped figure. Rover was howling and whimpering and then she could tell Rover was under the house in the crawl space.

Mama went from window to window in the tiny house peering out in the darkness. As she was looking out the bedroom window, a giant paw scored the old screen. With great presence of mind, she slammed the window down and then ran through the house, closing all the windows and doors.

She called my father, demanding that he come home at once. In the way that men react to such things, he told her she must be imagining things. The calls went back and forth for a while until Dad locked up for the night and came home. Mama was packing in the stifling kitchen, terrified and angry when Dad arrived.

Rover was still under the house and refused to come out.

And the next DAY we moved to an entirely different town.

So what was trying to get into the house that night? The sheriff came out at dawn and walked around the yard with Dad. They found extraordinary big cat paw prints. Our house was at the edge of town and the paw prints led off into the wilderness.

Daddy had to crawl into the crawl space to drag Rover out from under the house. He was crouched all the way in the corner as far as he could go from where he entered.

We never knew exactly what species of cat came to our house that night. But for sure, there are things that really do go bump in the night.

anny

Heroes

All sorts of heroes populate our world. Some are easy to spot. Others are only appreciated in hindsight. One such hero--David Warren-- died recently. Too often we fail to wonder about the heroes who make significant differences in our lives. Or we take things for granted. Take time to check out the link and learn about one man who made a huge difference to every single person who's ever boarded an airplane, wherever we live.

As I sat here, coughing and wheezing, I realized my life would be so much worse without the little inhaler I have sitting on my desk. It took a while but I tracked down info on one Charles Thiel, co-inventor of the MDI (metered dose inhaler) for asthma. Click on his name, scroll down the page, and check him out! Millions of asthmatics use his invention every day.

Do you know a hero? Tell us about them or provide a link in the comments! Let's celebrate the heroes who make our lives safer!

anny

You know it's HOT when...

You know it's HOT when...

The shade for your windshield melts to the window.

The dog refuses to go outside.

It's 80 degrees inside and that feels cold.

You wait until evening to go to the pool so you won't overheat.

Your ice cream cone melts before you can pay for it.

It's 95 degrees in the shade.

Your bathing suit is dry by the time you walk from the pool to your lounge chair.

What about y'all? How hot is it???

anny

Casual Friday

I understand the basic rules for Casual Friday. I just don't understand the reasoning. At most companies with a casual Friday policy, it's still business as usual. So what's the difference if a woman wears sneakers instead of high heels? And if there's no difference, then why not allow the sneakers the rest of the time? Wouldn't she be more efficient if her feet weren't hurting her?

My daughter's employer goes one better with the occasional barbecue Friday or other incentive. So I can certainly understand casual clothing if you're going to be eating barbecue in the parking lot. But for most companies that institute a casual Friday, it's no more than permission to wear jeans and sneakers. Now, here's my question...

Why not permit jeans and sneakers all the time? Ninety percent of the individuals in her company never meet anyone outside the company. There's no public interaction. All work is done via computers and telephone. So why the office attire?

See, I wonder if there's some study that proves that more work is accomplished if the workers are dressed up. OR would they discover that people work better when they're comfortable?

I watched a newsclip about the employees of Facebook. They work in whatever. The CEO's philosophy is the more comfortable the workers, the more creative and productive they will be.

I work at home. I wear whatever comes to hand first thing in the morning. I can guarantee it will be something comfortable and casual. And what I wear doesn't have any influence on how much I write or whether the writing is good or bad. For me a casual Friday would probably be working naked. Hmmmm. Wonder if that would work better?

anny

Boy, is that hot!

Not the weather...though it's definitely hot. I'm talking about that scene...

Part of an author's commitments is posting excerpts from their books. Once a month I have a chat where I invite other authors to post excerpts. And one of the reactions from other posters is the phrase, "that's hot!"

I'm curious. What does that mean? Because I confess that I frequently don't quite discern the "hotness". Is it me? Am I jaded? What defines the hotness for one person vs. another?

The hottest scene I've ever read was written for a Harlequin Presents by Anne Mather. That was about thirty years ago and for me, it's never been topped. I'm not sure the hero and heroine even kissed in the scene. Certainly, they weren't touching. So what made it so hot? I think it was the anticipation.

What about you? What's the hottest scene you've ever read? Why was it hot for you?

anny

Romance? What's that?

You get dressed up. You know--makeup, stockings, etc. And the hunk meanders out of the bedroom dressed in jeans and tee-shirt. I didn't need some guy to write a book about how women and men are from different planets. By the time you live with a man for two days you already have that down.

I've been working hard on a new book, Phantom's Rest. It's always a fine line an female author walks when they portray a male character. The truth is our (mostly) female readers don't want to read about how the guys leave their dirty shorts on the floor or their whiskers in the sink. They don't want to know about how he left the toilet seat up so the heroine fell in the toilet in the middle of the night.

So I think we fall back on certain stereotypes when we write. The guys usually drink beer. They rarely do laundry or cook--unless the author is using one of those to engineer a meeting.

But for some reason they know how to be romantic. They know about flowers and candles and those things that are close to a woman's heart. And if they have to choose between watching the Superbowl game or taking their lady out to watch a chick flick, they always choose the chick flick.

I do not know a single guy, regardless of age, who would do that. Oh, they might do it because they're aware that's the way to get lucky when they bring the little wife home...but willingly choosing to skip the game? No.

Not too many heroes sweat. They work all day at some kind of manly job out in the sun but when they come home and wrap those damp arms around the little woman? She burrows her nose in his chest and hums with contentment because he smells so good. Seriously. Check it out.

And every guy character in the book knows exactly how to fix a car. Any kind of car. They know how to fix the plumbing. And how to install a garbage disposal.

I want a guy who can tell me how to fix artichoke dip. I want one who knows how to run a vacuum, the dishwasher, and how to make me chocolate chip cookies when I need a chocolate fix.

Yeah, I want a fantasy...

anny

Hunks in wet shirts...sigh.

Yes, they are pretty, aren't they? This is actually a picture of guys in the Air Force doing rescue training. And yeah, I have to say it--they may rescue me anytime, any place. Go Air Force!

Hmmm. Other news in the Anny Cook universe? I have a release date for Alpheli Solution from Resplendence Publishing! October 20, 2010--Just three more months! Yay! This is my first vampire novel and I'm excited about Julian, Danamara, and Pierre's story!

Also, for those of you who love the Mystic Valley books, EC has just offered me a contract for the next one, tentatively titled Blue Paradise. This book has a sassy heroine named Poussé and two hunky blue dudes to keep her in line. When I have more info, I'll post it!

Now I'm off to write! I have 20K more on Phantom's Rest, a story set in a longterm RV park, replete with ghosts, assassins, spies and some of the liveliest retirees you've ever met.

Have an excellent day!

anny

Have a great weekend!

Don't do anything I wouldn't do!

anny

Throwdown at the Pool

Last week my granddaughters and I went to the pool. Normally, there aren't very many people there but on this particular day, it was unusually busy. After a quick dip I found a spot in the shade and read one of the stories on my Sony reader while the girls had fun playing with their friends.

When we'd been there about an hour, a fight erupted between two young teenaged girls in the pool. I'm not talking about a little sissy fight with them splashing water on each other. This was a champion throwdown with hair pulling and shoving. They were holding each other down under the water.

I must say I've never seen the head lifeguard move that fast--not because he can't, but because he doesn't usually need to. Anyway, he took life and limb in hand and separated the girls. Then he escorted them to the end of the pool where the steps were. As they reached the steps, one girl decided she wasn't finished with the fight.

She went around the lifeguard, after the other girl. Again, he separated them. Nope, she still wasn't finished. So he bodily lifted her out of the water, carried her across the width of the pool, set her on the side and told her to stay there.

In the meantime, her target climbed out of the pool, dried off and called her mother. Then until her mom arrived, she sat quietly waiting.

Now you might ask what in the world precipitated this fight. And the answer was words. One girl admitted she didn't like the other girl very much because she considered her rude. So the other girl attacked her physically because we all know that's the best way to win friends and influence people. Right? Right?

And if at first you don't succeed by beating someone over the head, well try, try again until they're cowering in submission. We can speculate all we want to about the influence of television, music, and movies on the way our kids behave. But the truth is our children usually model their behavior on what is acceptable in our home. If violence is the first solution in every instance, then that's what our kids will use.

At fourteen, this young lady has already settled into a pattern that will govern the way she relates to people around her for the rest of her life. I find this rush to violence very disturbing.

This fight wasn't precipitated in self-defense. It wasn't even started in the defense of someone else. It was initiated by a young woman who didn't like the words she heard.

What happens the next time she doesn't like something someone says? Will someone die because she refuses to stop?

anny