Weekend Coffee Share 7-8-18

Good morning, Everyone. If we were having coffee together, I would tell you that it looks like the day will be clear and sunny–perfect for an outing on the Bella Vela. Our Herreshoff sailboat launched and sailed without a hitch. Everything worked the way it should without the need to adjust or re-do while out in the bay. When it comes to boat ownership, there is always something.

It’s been HOT, so I keep an extra cup or two of coffee to refrigerate. We had a lovely July 4th visiting and barbequing with dear friends. Plans for a holiday in the middle of the week had to be kept to a minimum since festivities must be sandwiched between regular work days.

If we were having coffee together, I could ramble on about Friday. I trekked to New York City for a morning appointment. Being a typical suburbanite, navigating the city subway system is an incredible feat.  With the help of a newly downloaded app, Moovit, I was able to to get on the correct train the first time and only had to ask for directions once.

In the afternoon, I successfully traveled the subway again to make another appointment with Julia, the education program director at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. My new middle-grade novel is set in the tenements in 1911. Although the story is fictional, details must be authentic. The Tenement Museum offers live tours through a tenement building. Artifacts, family stories, and the setting place visitors at an important juncture in American history. The policies, hardships, and amazing accomplishments of the time are relevant to today’s issues. Since researching, I greatly appreciate the sacrifices and perseverance my great grandparents and grandparents had made to make a life for their families and make America great. Julia was an incredible help. She was able to confirm some details and steer me in directions to find answers to other questions. She even offered to send me further links to go deeper into the history. I just may have my own research assistant! Very exciting.

Once again, I got back on the subway (in the right direction the first time) and made it to Penn Station to catch an express to Ronkonkoma. Matt had dinner prepped that included grilled zucchini from our garden. A great ending to a busy and productive day.

I am pumped to get my story written now that I can see and understand the path. I did join the Camp NaNoWriMo to help me stay on track.  I was disappointed that I was not placed in a cabin with other kid-lit writers even after changing cabins twice. To tell the truth, I am finding it yet another distraction that takes me away from the writing. We’ll see how it goes.  

Time to get going on the day. Once again, thank you, Eclectic Alli for managing Weekend Coffee Share. Have a good week, Everyone. Make it great.

Antoinette Truglio Martin is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. The memoir is a wimpy patient’s journey through her first year of breast cancer treatment.

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