Happy Easter to you and an update!

Greetings, readers. It has been a few days since I’ve posted an entry here. Well, changes are coming. I tried to make a video entry to copy and paste here, but it said that I had to go premium. 😡 

I had been toying with the idea of making a second YouTube channel for my blog to switch over to. As soon as I set that vlog channel up, I of course will post the URL here. I know that in my year absence from blogging, I’ve lost many of my readers. Hopefully I can gain some new viewers on YouTube. 😉 

My gaming channel [JMKGamer1965] on YouTube is a little over a month old and already I have 13 subscribers…, plus myself. [Lol] I need to see on my phone if the latest video did upload. Video # 42 will go up this afternoon. 🙂 

Until soonest, my friends, take care, have a great weekend, love one another, end war and conflict, hug your pet and as always, happy reading. 

Not feeling well, so no real entry today

Greetings, readers. This just might be the shortest blog entry yet. I am sick with a bad head cold or sinus infection. Yuck! So, just know that I didn’t forget you all. I feel like crud, so I’m going back to bed. Until Wednesday…………….

Well, There’s A First Time For Everything

Greetings, readers. I’ve worked at the Good Day Cafe here in my hometown since September 30th, 2022. Up until today, I had a spotless on-time record. You see, I don’t usually work on Fridays. My boss asked me if I wanted the hours, since we were closed Christmas day. I said, “Sure! Count me in!” Well…, I forgot to go in. How embarrassing to have to be called by my other boss, first to see if I was okay, and then to be told, “Hey, we kind of need you.” 

After rushing to get ready, I clocked in and was on my register in no time. I must admit that after my first few customers, I glanced at the clock on the register screen and was surprised to read, 12:45PM, instead of 11:10AM. I stayed until the last dish, bowl and utensil was washed and put away. 

After I got home, I walked into our community room and partook of ‘Friday grilled cheese day’. Yum! 😀 It was so nice to sit down and relax with some good food and good company. There was quite a large turnout there. The room holds some thirty or so people and only two or three chairs were available. A great time was had by all! 

Lastly today, I shall fill you in on my blog writing schedule. Working at the cafe on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays…, usually…, I shall blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I so want to get back to three new entries per week. Well, the brain is mush and my fingers are typing more incorrect letters than correct ones. So, until Monday, have a great weekend, do take care, love one another, and as always, happy reading. 

Finally, I found The Correct Password!!!! I’m Back In!!!

Greetings, readers! After a record 383 days, I’m back!!! This entry is for my handfull of readers I might still have left. In the following, I shall breifly tell you what’s been going on with me. 2023 was very good to me, as I hope it was for you. Hold on tight, Here’s my 2023 in a few paragraphs.

To start, Merry Christmas to everybody and a Happy New Year! I have worked at The Good Day Cafe for a year and a quarter and love it! It is the best job I’ve ever had. I meet and take care of so many wonderful people while working register. With 4 concussions, getting everybody’s names straight can be a chore, but I have overcome…, for the most part. 😉

Even though I had plenty of writing project ideas, none came to fruition in ’23. 😦 I hope that ’24 will provide me more free time to hop on the old laptop and type, type, type. I might drop down to only working two days a week from three, thus saving my feet and hips from getting any stiffer than they are now.

I’ve not done any more musical show’s at my apartment. My KISS show for 2023 will have to be moved to 2024. I’ve had my playlist made for 6 months. Perhaps I shall rock out in March or April. But, I did do a performance on December 22nd. I actually did some acting! Yes, I did a one-person performance of A Christmas Carol! That’s right, I acted every part. I was quite nervous and accidentally skipped a few scenes. But, overall I gave myself an 85/100. I’ll do better next Christmas! 😀

So much for 2023. My readers, I wish you a happy holiday season and a marvelous New Year. Until Friday, Take care, be happy & healthy, and as always, happy reading.

Hearye, hearye!

Greetings, readers. My new blog plan has been made. 🙂 Beginning August 3rd, I shall be adding at least one [1] new entry a week. Some weeks, if I’m not hot on the novel, you’ll have more than one new entry to enjoy. You know what they say, use it or lose it!

I’m going to use my writing skills as much as I can, adding new tools to my belt as I go. I’ve had to basically begin again on my summer camp novel, but I shall overcome. 😉

Until August 3rd, my readers, take care, wish me luck, love one another and as always, happy reading.

The blog is NOT shut down

Greetings, readers. Just a quick update. With my novel idea almost all but shot down, I think I will go back to blogging at least once a week. I was working feverishly on the novel, until I got the bad news. Too bad, for it was my best start to a writing project in 10 years!

Even if I do continue to work on the novel, look for a weekly entry here. 😉 I’ve missed it. Until very soon, take care, love one another, and as always, happy reading.

Yesterday was a bad day. Hence, no blog entry.

Greetings, readers. Here is a fact about me. When I have super-duper bad day, I don’t write…, actually it’s all I do just to breathe. Yesterday was just such a day. [more datils about that soon] I stayed in my jammies eight tenths of the day and listened to music from when I was a kid. Music and TV shows from my early years always make me feel better. I think of it as emotional comfort food.

It’s just going to be a short, but to the point entry today. I know that I stopped blogging for what must have seemed forever to you, my readers. But I’m back, and ready to go again…, with a hiccup day here or there.

Fear not, readers. I’m back and I’m going to remain! Heck…, I’ve got try to regain my readers from overseas. 😉 Until next time, love one another, be well, do a random act of kindness, and as always, happy reading.

From Rebecca: Top ten list of things I miss about working with Joe

Hi, Joe’s readers. It is a new year, and it feels so weird not to be spending Wednesday mornings with Joe anymore. We worked together for nine years and did a lot in that time. It was the right decision to stop, but I miss Joe and a bunch of other things. I came up with six or seven to share in a blog entry, then broke a couple up to reach ten items. I hope you enjoy my list. Hi, Joe!

#10. My Cat Naps weekly engagement calendar book. Every year I got a new one and used it to keep my special date reminders, my work hours, my appointments, and Joe’s appointments. I loved those cat pictures. This year I have a smaller pocket calendar from the bank which works just fine but is not them same.

#9. Going to the library and the bank after work. It was so easy to leave Joe’s place and walk to first Schlow Centre Region Library and then to my bank. I would get a week’s worth of books at Schlow, before taking my paycheck to the bank and get a week’s worth of money. I would take a CATA bus to and from work downtown, so parking was never a problem! I have worked out other times to visit both places, but it is not as convenient.

#8. Joe’s cat Princess Josie. I am not as close to PJ as I was to his late cat Keekee. But I think I would have gotten closer to her with a few more years. I was looking forward to watching her mature into an older cat.

#7. Joe’s friends. Over nine years of meeting Joe at his apartment building, I have gotten to know a lot of the residents – some only by sight – that have come and gone. Joe is a friendly and generous man, so he has been close friends with a lot of them, and I have gotten to know them through him. I will miss exchanging hellos with them, especially the women he goes to breakfast with most days.

#6. Bear Spring Camps. This one is odd, since I have only been to the vacation spot in Maine only through Joe’s descriptions, but I will miss being connected to it through Joe, and hearing about his trip when he gets back every August. I will miss taking care of his cat while he is away (though last year I was glad that his friend Smith helped with this as I couldn’t get there every day Joe was gone) and giving him updates on her. I will miss the vacation folder I have added to every year so that now it is thick with details of hotel rooms, rental cars, and dates, and we would use it to book that year’s hotel rooms and rental car. ( I will have to tell Joe where I stored that!)

#5. Organizing – the files, mail, appointments, etc. I have already mentioned some of my organizing routine with the date book and the vacation folders. There were many folders over the years, and many pieces of paper and mail that needed to be sorted and either stored or thrown away. I also kept two sheets of paper with weekly To Do and Tasks Done lists. They came in very handy over the years.

#4. Writing and editing with Joe. He would dictate as I typed and then we would edit his writing. It was so fun searching for and finding the right word or phrase. During editing, it is like magic to take a sentence that isn’t quite working, and make it good. To make it smooth and say just what we had in mind. It is the best feeling.

#3. Goofing around with my friend. In between tasks or when we finished early, Joe and I would talk about TV shows, world events, things in our past, and just in general take a work break. We laughed a lot and enjoyed each other’s company. We still talk and text, but it isn’t the same as being in the same room every week.

#2. The blog entries. Between the two of us, this blog site has been updated an average of twice a week since late 2011. I typed Joe’s dictation for most of this site’s 871 posts. We covered a lot of subjects. I will miss doing this form of communication every week.

#1. Visiting with Joe and catching up on his life every week. Joe has been my friend since high school, and I enjoyed working for/with him. As I said above, it won’t be the same not being in the same room with him.

Life is full of changes, and many times those changes are abrupt and shocking. Joe and I ending our work relationship is one the planned changes and it is okay. Joe and I built a lot in his apartment office in nine years, and I am proud of what we accomplished.

So good-bye yellow brick road …

Greetings, readers. After nine years and two months of writing the blog and other various writing projects, Rebecca and I have decided to close up shop. We will miss working together, but at the current moment it is the correct decision. The blog doesn’t pay the rent. Does this mean that I am closing the blog? Absolutely not.

The blog shall be open for everyone to enjoy and comment on, though I would ask you to please comment on my Facebook page. I visit there everyday. There are other blog topics to write about, but with me physically challenged and trying to find myself again, I’m going to take a short time off, and I shall try to get back to a once a week schedule at the beginning of the year. Rebecca said that she will also occasionally do a From Rebecca, and that is cool. She and I will have to touch base now and then to make certain that we don’t blog about the same topic. Lol. You know what they say, great minds think alike.

As we work on blog entry 871, I find myself looking back upon all the topics we’ve written about. There are a multitude of Top Ten Lists, R.I.P.s to numerous folks famous or otherwise, tons of entries about the weather, as well as blog topics dealing with Air Crash Investigation episodes and modern conveniences. It still gets me in the funny bone why Top ten list of modern conveniences was such a big hit, but it was.

I have also tried my hand at calming the country down, saying things like give peace a chance. What happens? More shootings. With only 15 people a day on average reading me, I guess I shouldn’t expect to be as powerful as a TV evangelist. 😉 We’ve also talked about natural disasters, and have prayed for those victims and families.

Am I calling this day a defeat? No. This is simply another chapter in my life. The brain is working better these days. I’ll explain why in a minute. But still I lack those tools to write that great American novel; that big hat hook that would put me on the map. I’m only 54 years old, so I’m not counting myself out yet. I know I’m not supposed to compare myself to my Dad, but hell, he wrote 30 books, albeit about theology and philosophy. My three books deal with my camping experiences and blogging. My fourth venture, of course, was as the co-author of Darren Taylor’s novel.

One of my current projects, which is improving my brain power, is playing an app on my phone called Wordscapes. I made words, usually from a group of four or five letters at a time. The higher the level, the more words you have to make and the harder it is. I can feel myself filling out the puzzle faster than the first time I tried to play it.

Oh, yes, readers, I have had many successes in life and shall continue to do so. I don’t think I shall ever close the blog down, and will add to it when I have big news to share. For instance, I am doing a one-man performance of A Christmas Carol locally tomorrow from 5 – 7pm. Rebecca or I may possibly even write a review. For anyone in the State College area, it is at the 3 Dots Art Gallery at the corner of Beaver Ave and Pugh Street. Come one, come all.

It has been a pleasure and an honor writing for you, and it has also been a true honor and pleasure to work with Rebecca these last nine years. Again, this is not good-bye.

So I will say, friends, until we meet again, much love, take care of one another, happy holidays, and we will be in touch soon … and oh, yes, as always, happy reading.

From Rebecca: I will miss working with Joe

Hi, Joe’s readers. Joe and I will have our last work day together next Wednesday and I am feeling sad. It is the right decision for us, I know it is, but I will miss so many things about working with Joe, including helping him write for this blog. It has been nine years since we began working together in October of 2010, and those years were full of words Joe dictated to me as I typed on his two different laptops. It has been such a privilege for me to work with Joseph Kockelmans, who is a sweet, decent, loyal, old-fashioned man. It has been my honor to assist him in writing his books, stories, and blog entries.

This is blog number 870, and I am proud of my From Rebecca posts in that number. I enjoyed sharing with you, Joe’s readers, on those occasions, and I thank you for reading my thoughts along with his. Looking back at a list of my posts, I am so proud of so many of them. I wrote about such a wide range of topics: About Joe’s performances here in Addison Court, as in this example; I wrote two entries about one of my favorite places in the world, Schlow Centre Region Library, the second of which is here; I got to share my thoughts on entertainment, for books, movies, and television; about things going on in my life, both personal, and in my hometown; it has been my pleasure to write about my family and good memories, as about my mom, my childhood, and these two about Joe and my husband Darren. Joe was always generous allowing me to have a voice on his blog, and I am grateful. I enjoyed it very much. I intend to write a few new blog posts next year.

Joe, with my typing and editing assistance, wrote and self-published two books of short stories, Picking Up Where We Left Off: My Bear Spring Camps Stories, and Tales from North Bay & Beyond: More Bear Spring Camps Stories, a book collection of his blog entries, Greetings, Readers: A Year in the Life of a New Blogger, and collaborated on a novel based on his play, Kimberly, with my husband Darren Taylor, called Four’s a Crowd. Plus 870 entries so far on this blog. We have a lot of which to be proud.

I have been coming to Joe’s home office every week for nine years, and we have talked about and shared so many things in our working friendship. I will miss hearing his voice, seeing his face, talking about the events in our lives on a regular basis. We will talk on the phone and on Facebook, but it won’t be quite the same.

On a happier note, I have known Joe since high school and we have been in each other’s lives off and on since then. As we go forward in the new direction for our decades-long friendship, I know that this is by no means the end of it.