For Sunday Stills this week, Terri challenged us to all kinds of fresh ideas for our post this week.
- fresh air
- fresh frozen. and
- fresh flowers
Top that challenge off with the idea of a Special Place by this week’s lens artist, Murtagh’s Meadow. Both of those ideas merged as the perfect description of my week’s schedule. All photos were taken with my iPhone 12s, labeled, and adjusted slightly in Bridge so they qualify for John Steiner’s Cell Pick Sunday Challenge.
My Fresh Special Place
Home is my special place, wherever home is. In December Vince gave our condo a fresh coat of paint to make it lighter in the living and dining rooms. We are both much happier when the sun is shining and our space is light. Normally Vince sits across from me where he keeps an eye on the news and the poker games on tv while I enjoy blogging and chatting with my friends around the world.
Today I made a fresh start on spring cleaning to get ready for our house guests who arrive on March 11th. I donned my sturdy cleaning gloves, got out our Rainbow vacuum, which I use both indoors and outdoors, and dove right in.
After some extreme winds of nearly 50 MPH about a week ago, the chairs were full of pine needles and little leaves. The patio floor had its share of mess, too. So I vacuumed them then I moved on to vacuum the rocks. LOL You can see how much I got and I didn’t get it all. I’ll wait until just before our friends come to give it one last sweep and then everything will be fresh.
My Special Place with a Fresh Coat of Snow
In February we had our first real snowstorm of this winter. It made everything look fresh and beautiful. These were also the last February images on my iPhone for Bushboy’s challenge, Last on the Card taken with my iPhone.
This next short story, fresh off the press, was written for Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction. A short story in 99 words, no more, no less. #99Word Stories
Farming at the Condo
“Does she own a bull?” Cylie asked. “Look down.”
“She lives in a condo.” Jessica grinned as pieces of her hair dropped to the floor.
“No way! But she rides bulls? Does she want to move to a farm? We have cows on our farm and we are close to Prescott. I train horses.” Cylie extended a mirror. “How does that look?”
Jessica looked. Each hair was in its place. Not for long.
“Leya is only twelve. She’s asked her Dad for a farm. Who knows, right?”
As Jessica got up she whipped out her cell phone.
“Your daughter?”
Coming Up on Always Write
- Tuesday: Story Chat Yvette Prior is scheduled for this month.
- Hear the real story behind the video in a fresh interview taken right here at my special place. TBA
- Wednesdays are always WQW Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays. This week the topic is Women’s History which is a little different. But why not honor a woman who has made a difference in your life? Next week will be Food: Recipes/Favorite foods and if you want to add a little Taste back in on that one, feel free to do so since I missed the boat on the Taste week last week and did Transportation instead. I’m still wracking my brain to figure out how I got so cornfused. Click on the link above for my page to find out all the topics.
- Fridays are always PPAC Photographing Public Art Challenge. Your choice of topics. BTW many of you post PPAC in some of your other posts. Feel free to link those gorgeous posts you’ve already spent hours writing and then you don’t have to write a new post to join in the fun.
- Don’t forget, you can always double dip. Some of you are already experts at this. You’re looking at LAPC or Water Water Everywhere anyway, and low and behold there’s a little café with some public art right by the water. You can link that to both WQW for recipes next week and PPAC for the artwork. And if there’s a flower that finds itself somewhere in a photo, you know Cee will love it for FOTD.
- If you are into writing include a word of the day, poem, or short story
Now It’s Your Turn
I love it when you chat with me, or if I’ve missed something you want me to read on your blog. Catch me up with a link. Have a happy rest of the week.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
You have a lovely home, Marsha – thank you for the spring cleaning tour!
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Thanks, Leya. I’m almost finished. Thank goodness it is a small home.
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♥
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but riding is not easy and that video was awesome – and enjoyed seeing your place and hope you enjoy the guests (and hope they appreciate your wonderful hospitallty – to even temporarily relocate the cats is awesome)
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That was more work than I thought it would be. LOL I’ve vacuumed enough hair from behind things like washer, dryer, refridgerator, etc, to make another kitty!
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Hahah – that sounds like a lot of hair (and is natural when we have pets) – and we noticed that our brown lab is shedding a bit more this month / – getting ready for the warner months 😉
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I’m shedding almost as much as the cats, Yvette. Fortunately, Jack isn’t allergic to human hair. I tried out my house cleaning efforts on our neighbor who is also allergic. She still had problems. Another neighbor loaned us a huge air filter and I dug even deeper into the cleaning efforts, wiping down furniture after vacuuming it, replacing drapes. I had no idea how much of a mess my house was. It looked great on the surface. I felt thorough.
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Wow, that is very ind of you to cater to a house guest like that – but I guess cat dander can get everywhere – and two in my family are allergic to cats and their eyes water at certain places where cats reside – but that sure was nice of you to try and arrange it – sorry she still had problems.
– and cleaning for houseguests can be a great way to tackle some deep cleaning.
Last summer, my BIL and his family came and I spent two days getting things cleaned and bedding ready and all that – and they stayed less than 12 hours – hahah how is that for a ratio- they had dinner, breakfast and headed on to their trip.
But the house felt so wonderful and because I was prepping for them I seemed to get a lot done (like moved quicker and more efficient) does that happen to you too?
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That’s where I’m at, too. I just put the last of my new drapes up. They look so much brighter. My carpet, which I spent hours vacuuming, then Kathy still had problems made me decide to take a damp mop to the carpet. I spent about 2-3 hours this morning – lost track of time – MOPPING my shaggy carpet. You would not believe how much hair I got up. Yes, I feel great about the progress and a bit embarrassed about how dirty it was even though it looked clean on the surface. I sort of pride myself on having a clean place. Oops!
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Hi – the dust bunnies and dirt can sneak in – that is for sure – and hence the term spring cleaning ?? hahah
also, we got rid of almost all of our carpet years ago – and it was not just for pets – I just hate carpet.
We only have it in one room with carpet – the rest is tile downstairs (real wood at entry) and upstairs is a faux hardwood that is pretty awesome.
and Marsha – this sure helps in so many ways for clean up – and I can only imagine how much shag carpet can subtly hold accumulate –
on the flip side of this – carpet can be beautiful and awesome – it is warm and absorbs sound and a house can be wonderful with it – my sister lives in Canada and the house that they bought a few years ago – well the former owners put in some SERIOUS carpet – the extra thick pads too – and when you walk on it – wow – feels amazing. I still marvel at such plush (but still good functioning) carpet whenever I visit.
We have an assortment of small rugs that can be shaken, washed, or replaced easily –
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The best of so many worlds. Sun and snow, cool and warm, friends and contemplation. So much. I love your snowy pictures.
I am renovating my office/ everything else room too. It’s fun to see projects come together.
PS . Thank you for addressing the “taste”. I thought I kept reading the list wrong. That said I liked the transportation theme. Have a nice weekend. Donna
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Thanks, Donna. I don’t know what happens in my brain sometimes. But I wrote down the wrong thing in my calendar.
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Home is where the hearth is, and the heart. 🙂
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Yes, it is. 🙂
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that looks like a nice comfy place to relax with your husband and to do your blogging!
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It is. Easy to snooze off mid-sentence, too. 🙂
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the room is sounding better and better!
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LOL
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As Dorothy said, “There is no place like home.” It is truly a special place. I love how you wove the “fresh” theme into the challenge.
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Thanks, John. I do love home – wherever it is. I would prefer that it wasn’t snowing right this second, though! LOL. Vince is enjoying the warm sun in Scottsdale right now.
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I love the office, Marsha!
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Thanks, Susan. I’ll look forward to chatting on the 22nd.
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Can’t wait, Marsha!
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Manny and I are both excited. Did you see him today? He’s in my PPAC post.
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Heading over to see it today!
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You have a lovely home, I enjoyed the ‘tour’! I also find that an impending visit of house guests initiates a burst of cleaning 😆 And I’m a bit in awe of how many challenges you manage to squeeze into a single post – I can rarely manage more than two at most!
You asked if you’ve missed anything on my blog. You’re such a regular visitor (for which thank you ❤) so the only thing I can think of is perhaps my February round-up: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/gallery-a-february-selection/ But no pressure or rush to visit, I only mention it because you asked!!
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I loved this post, Sarah. I didn’t remember the beautiful red parrot, but I did remember the slide show with the portrait of the older man. I love your portraits of people.
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What a treat Marsha….well except the painting and vacuuming….the only snowy Last Photos and a great hang on bull ride. So good. Thanks for joining in 🙂 🙂
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Can you believe that bull ride? I will post another post next week or so on her ride.
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So good 🙂
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Thanks for inviting us to your special places, in all their varying conditions and moods.
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You are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Margaret. 🙂
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Love your patio.. Beautiful cushions…and your fireplace in your fave. room.
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Thanks, Judy, These belonged to the former owner. They left us a lot of furniture and accessories because they were changing color schemes and styles. The outdoor furniture we had in CA went mostly to friends and some to the new owners. We couldn’t take everything. We brought one set which went to Vince’s sister, Cindy where she lives. So we were grateful when they left us this beautiful set.
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I love your condo Marsha. I can see why you like to work in that room. Great way to combine so many challenges.
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Thanks, Carol. Our office has a beautiful view as well, but no recliners. I’m hoping this will make a difference in my circulation.
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thanks for the wonderful tour of your home and glad to see the recliner for you there! 💖💖
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Most important, too, is the lap desk.
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yes indeed!!! 💖💖
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Home is a special place for me too – thank you for joining in.
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This is a cool post Marsha ;D
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Thanks, Cee. Does that make me one of the cool kids? In Spanish they say “fresca” and in English they say “fresh.” So your compliment is super appropriate for the title of the post, LOL.
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As usual, you managed to respond to 100 challenges in one post, Marsha! I love your take on “fresh” and Vince did an outstanding job with the paint! It does look so much brighter! I’m glad you have a nice place to work and relax. I would have vacuumed the patio and rocks, too (I own a small industrial vac). Your friends will really enjoy that patio like we did! The snow in Prescott looks so fresh and beautiful. Ours is all but melted with this warm rain, and I’m so ready for spring.
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A hundred might be stretching it a bit. I think we are about equal. Our snow is all gone now and the temperatures here are in the 60s almost 70. It’s about 20 degrees hotter in Scottsdale – almost too hot. This is a much better March than last year was. I’m ready for spring, too. 🙂
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LOL, I never exaggerate. Wow, what a huge change in weather!
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hahaha It does make stories more interesting! 🙂
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Thanks for the link, Terri! 🙂
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Spring cleaning is quite my favorite activity. Lovely pics Marsha
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I do like things organized. But I’m going overboard, I know. 🙂
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Sometimes we need to do organizing, to relax
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It is relaxing, isn’t it. Today I started on the office and digitized a bunch of my husband’s old photos.
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Must feel so good and satisfying
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