Announcing My New Site Layout

Greetings all.

Well, it took me longer than I’d hoped but I’ve completed my transition to a new blog site layout.

In mid 2020 WordPress, forced all of us into using their new Block Editor. This proved to be a major disruption. Then last December I purchased a plan from WordPress for the sole purpose of removing ads from my online articles. Both proved to chew up more time that I care to talk about, but I’ve just finished making the menu mapping and the look and feel of my site into something I’m proud of.

My new plan entitled me to use a nicer theme which is the overall template of how the site looks and works. This new one is a tad more heavy handed on the featured photo for each page, but I’m told this appeals to most people, so I’m going with it and hope you enjoy the new photos and ease of navigating around my 3 story collections.

I also created 5 new items that might appeal to my readers.

1. A shortcut page to my New Stuff.  ABOUT -> Quick Links to New Stuff
2. A shortcut page to some short sample story tours based on how you know me. ABOUT -> Short Tours
3. The DOT (My original Dime of Time, autobiographical stories of growing up) collection is now mostly complete and I’ve added a Table of Contents under it’s menu to help you navigate that 75+ item corpus. DOT Stories -> Table of Contents
4. A section for my new fiction collection divided by story length. FICTION & NON -> section by length
5. A Coffee Share Index for almost 3 years of these lively chats between overly-caffeinated bloggers and our readers. COFFEE SHARES -> Coffee Share Article Index

I added a new search widget for finding something to read. On every page, except the Welcome page, there is a simple search tool where you can type in a word or phrase that will help you fine, say, the unicycle story or my fern brooch story. Look for it just above my photo on each page.

By way of reminder, I’ve decided to write in a manner to deserve your time to read.  It’s all still free and often a tad rowdy. I hope you’ll stop by, follow and peruse the collection to  find some great, short and clean entertainment that you feel is good enough to share with others. Like other writers, I love hearing fromr my readers. The comments section is always on, near the bottom of each page, and my email address is in the ABOUT section. Facebook (FB) is no longer a good way to reach me. I’ll try to watch for FB notifications but it’s way down on my priority list these days. If you’ve enjoyed my FB story posts, I hope you’ll jump over to following me on  WordPress.

My home site URL remains the same: Click here to visit and bookmark.

Consider yourself invited to come by for a visit.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-05-08: Tea 102, Iced

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share essay is about tea again. Several folks who are new to using loose leaf tea wanted to know about making ice teas.  Okay, if a reader asks, in my world, they get what they want if I can produce it.  So here’s my tour of some loose leaf teas and how they work out iced. It’s Spring for many of us, so come on and enjoy a tall glass with me.

Here’s the link for the full essay.
Coffee Share 210508: Tea 102, Iced

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays?  WordPress has two devices for bloggers to publish with.

(1) Pages, for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which are automatically chained into a chronological linked list AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to both; add a new story and notify my followers, I must do both and add a link I hope you’ll click on to read the actual story.  Thanks for visiting.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-05-01: Tea 101

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share essay is about tea. Something about talking about tea to a bunch of coffee dependents just sounded like useful fun. I hope you’ll check it out.

Here’s the link for the full essay.
Coffee Share 210501: Tea 101

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which are used for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading, automatically chain themselves into a chronological linked list of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.  Thanks for visiting.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-04-03: Overthinking Backyard Chores

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share essay is a fun story about my wrestling and winning against gravity in the backyard.

Here’s the link for the full essay.
Coffee Share 210403: Overthinking Backyard Chores

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which are used for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading, automatically chain themselves into a chronological linked list of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.  Thanks for visiting.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-03-26: Review of Winter’s Tale

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share essay is a book review of Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin.  My bottom line, people who love to read and love English really should consider this story

Here’s the link for the full essay.
Coffee Share 210326: Review of Winter’s Tale

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which are used for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading, automatically chain themselves into a chronological linked list of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.  Thanks for visiting.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-03-20: Spring In The Backyard

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share essay is a visit back to southwest Sonoma County from our backyard wildlife preserve in the twilight between suburbia and agriculture just outside the Petaluma valley.

There’s half frozen lizards, volunteer trees, annoying birds and seriously annoying gophers.

:: Spoiler alert ::  It doesn’t work out well for the gophers . . .

. . . and Gary’s peer homeowners go wild with applause.

Here’s the link for the full Coffee Share for this weekend:
Coffee Share 210320: Spring in the Backyard

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which I use for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading automatically tie themselves into a chronological chain of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to do both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.  Thanks for visiting.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-03-05: Spring

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share is a visit back to southwest Sonoma County for a taste of what spring is bringing to our little suburb just outside the Petaluma valley.

Here’s the link for the full Coffee Share for this weekend:
Coffee Share for 21-03-05

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which I use for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading automatically tie themselves into a chronological chain of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to do both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.  Thanks for visiting.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Story Posted: My One Cat Story

I finally have a story that gives a nod out to all you cat lovers. I had one for a while, and yes, I loved that critter, so I thought you’d enjoy not just another cat photo, but a full 8 minute story of how much fun a cat can be. Spoiler alert – the dog looses this round. Mom hated his name, but all the neighbors and visiting friends or family loved him. Here’s the story why.

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Read the fill story here: My One Cat Story

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Story Posted: Ribbons and Remembrances

This is about a 12 minute read and is a story about an elderly grandmother and a secret she’s keep for two generations. Once again, I’ve chosen to let my characters tell their own story with almost no narration. Here’s how it begins but things get strange pretty quickly..

“Okay! That’s it!. Stop right there all of you.” Michelle turned to face her three kids and waited until she met each of their eyes and knew she had their attention. “I want to be crystal clear on this.  Nana is old. She might not be high on your agendas for today but she loves you, is ill and  and wants to see you.  Since she can’t get out much, we don’t get to see her unless we visit and I’ll not have any of you, ANY — of — you, insulting her with a crummy attitude.  Becky, as the oldest, I expect you to be your most charming self — period!  If I once hear you say the word ‘whatever‘ without a lot more words and non-insulting feeling around it, you will lose your phone for a week, yes — a full week young lady!.  Do I make myself clear?”

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Read the fill story here: Ribbons and Remembrances

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-02-20: A List of Unforgettables

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share is a quick list of my matches to a list of things none of us can forget. It will take you less than 5 minutes to look back and may stir some fun memories of your own.

Here’s the link for the full Coffee Share for this weekend:
We Never Forget Our First . . .

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which I use for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading automatically tie themselves into a chronological chain of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to do both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.