Hello, beautiful souls! Happy first day of June! I have a lot of meandering to do today, so I hope you’ll hang with me.
Whew! Where to start?
I suppose the best place to start is with the wonderful visit to see my sister! It is a five hour drive to her house, but it took me a little longer because I chose to go a back way due to heavy holiday traffic. This is the first big road trip in my new car and it performed perfectly. I experimented with the adaptive driving option and have to admit it’s nice to be able to look at the scenery without the car following my eyes. 🙂 Anyway, we had a great visit. We did lots of brainstorming about our stories. We don’t always work on stories at the same time, but we are both writing Christmas novellas right now. Linda is much farther along on hers than I am, but at least now I know where my story needs to go. That always helps. We visited two metaphysical shops in Lubbock, looked at old photos and watched part of a Netflix series that left us both scratching our heads. Oh, and I loved drinking coffee with her every morning. Sadly, we didn’t take any photos.
Not familiar with my sister’s books? You can see them HERE!
I got back home on Tuesday, then left early on Friday, along with my oldest daughter and four friends, for an excursion to a cave in south Texas for a sound bath. Yes, I do realize how crazy that sounds, but oh my goodness, it was amazing! The blog banner photo above is from inside the cave. I often attend sound baths locally, but the cave experience was phenomenal. Don’t know what a sound bath is? You can find out HERE.
It was truly one of the deepest and most profound meditations I’ve ever experienced and I was thrilled to share it with my daughter and friends.
The Air BnB we rented was a Silo house. If you’re curious, you can see it HERE. It was definitely unique and decorated with artifacts from around the world. BUT the weirdest thing was the toilets. They were all out in the open in the bedrooms. Seriously. No privacy at all! it reminded me of dreams I’ve had where I was using the bathroom out in public and people would casually walk past. It was pretty bizarre. Good thing we were all ladies.
I have a niece who lives near the cave area and she met up with us Saturday for lunch. It was so great to catch up with her. She is my oldest sister, Jean’s daughter. Oh, and I had the most delicious Lavender Latte!
On the way home Saturday. we stopped at Wiseman House Chocolates in Hico, Texas. Oh my!! It is a place where chocolatiers make everything from scratch and with love! In 1996, artist and chocolatier Kevin Wenzel first opened the doors to the Wiseman House to begin offering fine handmade chocolates to the public. Having studied fine arts in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and chocolate making at a fifth-generation chocolate school in Pennsylvania, this confectioner’s son brings the rare combination of talent, training, and heritage to a craft that rewards patience and precision. SO good! And, yes, I bought too much.
I got home late on Saturday and spent Sunday trying to get back to square one and rest up a bit. I know I missed all of the blogs from my friends last week and don’t know if I can go back and catch them all, but I will do what I can.
I finished another good book and all my May reviews will be coming soon!
On the writing front, I didn’t get many new words written, but did make headway with getting the story on track. I hope to make progress with it this week. What started out to be a simple story about a man who is running from a painful past, painting Christmas scenes on store windows has turned into so much more with overlapping plots. Here’s a snippet introducing two characters who seem to want a bigger part in the story than I imagined.
Darcy slid a case of eggs into the refrigerator as Beth hurried into the kitchen, leaving the door partially open to keep an eye on the customers.
Painting Christmas by Jan Sikes
“I’m going to brew a pot of coffee, sis. The stranger said he’d like a cup, and I could use one myself.”
Darcy whispered, “That guy’s a little weird, if you ask me. Notice he hasn’t touched the whiskey? And what’s with the picture he’s propped up in front of it?”
“I don’t know, and it’s none of our business. He’s a man looking for work, and right now he’s a paying customer, which Lord knows we can always use. So, let’s be nice and don’t ask too many questions.”
Darcy put her hands on her hips. “I swear, Beth, you have no curiosity about you at all. What if he’s a criminal? Or a killer?”
“If he is, he’s still a paying customer.”
“And you told him he could paint our windows?”
“I did. You have a problem with that?”
“We are supposed to be partners. Grandad left this bar to the both of us. Just because you’re older doesn’t make you the boss” She folded her arms across her chest. “Don’t you think you should’ve at least talked to me first?”
“Please keep your voice down. You’re right. I reacted in the moment. You ought to see what he sketched during the short time it took me to make a sandwich. Plus, he seems so sad, broken, and beat down. Figured we might could help.”
“Well, if he robs us blind and disappears, I’ll try not to say I told you so.”
Beth grinned. “Since when did you ever hold back on anything you wanted to say, dear sister?”
I will be around this week, but then this coming weekend, I am traveling with my daughter and two of the grandsons to Katy, Texas (outside Houston) to see my brother and sister-in-law. I don’t get to see him often and he is ten years older than me, so I take advantage of any opportunity to see him. That being said, I’ll be out of pocket for the weekend, but then I have no other trips planned until July when I will go to New York City with all the family.
Sorry. I know that’s a lot, but I’m glad you stopped by. I’ll leave you with this.
I had to think about this for a minute, but then it made perfect sense.
The tarot card for the week is one we’ve seen before, but maybe we need a reminder.
The theme of this card is indecision. As my good friend says, “my mind can’t make up itself.” It also indicates that you are not seeing the whole picture, thus the blindfold. We are reminded to take a step back and look at things from a different perspective then move forward trusting our intuition. We are in control of our minds, not vice-versa.
I’d like to remind everyone I do remote tarot readings. If you are interested, or know anyone who is, please visit https://jansikes.com/jantarot/ and send me a message.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me today!
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I loved reading about your travels, Jan
It’s wonderful that you got to have a visit with your sister, Jan. Her books look captivating. Your trip for a sound bath must have been fascinating, and the stop for chocolate must have been fun. I’m glad to have read this.
Wow! you had a very busy week! It’s always so good to visit family and do the things you enjoy together. checked out the silo house. I’m sure there were practical considerations around plumbing and available space, but a toilet out in the open in the bedroom would be a deal-breaker for me. Good luck with your story!
Hmm, sound baths. That’s another thing I didn’t know existed. You got in your fair share of traveling, didn’t you? I often drive my vehicles until they’re ready to be taken out to the barn and shot, but I took the plunge over the weekend and bought a new car. It’s supposed to be delivered to me tomorrow from a dealership five hours away.
Quite a busy time. Looks like your new car got some good miles on it. I enjoyed the snippet. Good luck with the rest of the story.
My car definitely racked some miles, Dan. And it was great. Glad you enjoyed the snippet. Thanks for visiting!!
What a great week, Jan. Your snippet does make me want to read more. Well done.
That’s good to hear, John! Thank you for visiting today.
I watched Ozzie and Jack Osborn take a sound bath on TV once. It was pretty interesting. You had an amazing week and I’m glad you make time for such things.
Thanks, Craig. At my age I know to take advantage of every opportunity. That is hilarious that Ozzie and Jack Osborn took a sound bath. 🤪 I appreciate you stopping by.
You’ve had a jam-filled week with family and fun things. Great to hear all about it. xo
Thank you, Darlene! Glad you enjoyed the recap!
Glad to hear you had a good trip, Jan. The chocolate sounds heavenly, the sound bath intriguing, the ‘open plan’ toilets less so. We’ve seen these in a few houses we’ve viewed down the years, and sad to say they were a deal breaker; I don’t think our marriage would have lasted long with this arrangement – nuff said! Many thanks for sharing and have a good week. 😊
I can certainly understand how the toilet issue would be a deal-breaker. Thankfully, we were only there one night, but I had to wonder what the owners were thinking. It at least gave us a few laughs. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment!
So much interesting in this post. The sound bath–I’ve been researching the sounds caves make, how that impacted our ancestors, rocks that sound like gongs, for my next trilogy so I’m clicking through on your link. The in-the-open toilet, hmm….
I think our ancestors would have explored the different sounds they could make inside the caves. Our bodies are 90% water and sound travels through water, so it makes sense that different sounds can affect us mentally and physically. Have fun with your research and if you have the chance to attend a sound bath, take it. Yep, the open toilet was very strange and caused a lot of laughs!
Oh my goodness, I’m so envious of your cave singing bowls experience! Wish I could’ve gone. And oh yes, we had such good sisterly time last week! I loved it and it fed my parched soul. Thank you so much for coming…and for the plotting sessions. I think our Christmas books are going to be awesome. Love you, Sister.
I loved getting to spend more than just a day with you! That was a treat. I do think both our Christmas books will be good. I just need time to write!! Of course, that requires staying home. 🙂 I know you would have enjoyed the cave singing bowl experience, but the hike down into the cave and back up was hard. It was a struggle for me to get back up. Thank you for stopping by today! Love you!
What a wonderful post. I’m so glad you had a wonderful time with your sister. Great photos of you and your daughter. Love the air bnb, though not sure about the loo!
I know, Esther. We were all shocked and had a lot of laughs because of it. 🙂
You’ve been busy, Jan! I’d have enjoyed the cave except for the singing bowls. I took a yoga class where the instructor used them at the end, and I nearly came off my mat. The pitch felt like an ice pick stabbing my brain. My husband said it didn’t bother him, so it’s a me thing. And the chocolate shop? You could have left me there and I’d have been happy.
That is an interesting reaction to the singing bowls, Teri. You must be extra sensitive to that particular frequency. The chocolate shop is a decadent experience. 🙂 Of course, I brought some home. Thanks for visiting today!
The caves, a silo house, a lavender latte, my goodness, you had a wonderful time! Welcome back.🙂
Yes, I did, Priscilla. One day I will get to old to still go and do these things, but that’s isn’t here yet, so I am taking advantage of every opportunity! My daughter said it perfectly, “Every moment is a choice in how we spend our time…” Thank you for visiting today!