MG Travel Adventures

 memories:

One time when we drove to a car club meeting (for antique MGs) in Maine, Chip had to take a side trip to deliver a car part (one of his extra MG car parts) to a friend in northern New York, then figure out how to get to the convention. So I asked AAA for one of their trip-packs. 

(In olden days we used maps to get to places and AAA would prepare a guide to the best roads to take to get there) So, we are driving along and the highway became smaller. Then it became a dirt road. But the trip pack said that it would get us over those mountains to the convention, so we continued onward. Turns out it was a logging road. luckily it actually did get us over the mountains and back onto 'normal' roads and eventually to the convention in Maine. 

(yes, we took normal highways back home to Baltimore.)

This is just one of the many adventures we had getting to various MG "T" series club meetings. 

(Chip became an officer of that club and Technical Editor of the club magazine. 

Some of his articles got published in a book. In fact, he probably had a published book before I did - or very soon afterwards. )

New England MG 'T' Register 

New laptop

 My laptop was getting old and refusing to update, plus MS Word was out of date on both my laptop and desktop, sooooooooo — considering that Trump had put huge tariffs on China and Apple products are made in china and sure to become very expensive, I decided to get a new one.

Last Saturday I walked into the Apple Store and it was partially empty.
Picked out a new MacBook Pro, bought it and since I had brought my old laptop with me to the store, handed it to them to migrate my info to the new laptop.

Last Sunday, I picked up the new laptop all ready to go.  
(the store was MOBBED.  Even tho I had gotten there just a little after it opened.  Hmmmm.  Others must have decided to buy before prices went up just like me.) 

That new laptop was heavy.  Very heavy. 
Over the week, I decided it was too heavy for me to handle, so yesterday (Friday night) I brought it back to the Apple store and exchanged it for an Apple MacBook Air.  Yes, that is much lighter and I can easily carry it and since I mostly use it for writing at writing retreats or at the library or other places, it is perfect for my needs.

They did a fast job of giving me credit for my return (the Air is cheaper so I got a refund)  
and they migrated all my stuff over onto the Air and off I went.

the Betty White stamp and other stamp problems

 Well, I hope the Betty White stamp works out ok.  

I was using my Ruth Bader Ginsburg stamps to pay bills last fall and NONE of them reached the bill collector.  

I can only assume that some MAGA person in one of the sorting centers they passed through made sure those envelopes were destroyed.  

Luckily for me, the places they were supposed to go contacted me and I then rushed to pay those bills online before my insurance was cancelled and other problems with the other bills. Had to call my bank to stop payment on the missing checks.  

I've not used her stamps again and probably won't because the Post Office hires all sorts of people and some of them .....

Glitter Story

 A mention of the new book -- Glitter Everywhere:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/glitter-everywhere-where-it-came-from-where-it-s-found-where-it-s-going-chris-barton/19865357?ean=9781623542528&next=t&affiliate=3703

Brought this memory to mind:

Glitter story. I was typing a newspaper article , due soon, and decided to take a break and open my mail. Bill, Advertisement, and something from my sister. Opened that one and GLITTER spilled out - all over my typewriter. And into my typewriter. !!!

Thoughts about using an AI checker for plagiarism

 A writer friend tried using several different plagiarism  checkers to make sure she wasn't copying anybody else's words or sentences.  I responded:

I have some thoughts: In the first place - lots of people have the same idea, but it's the execution that is solely yours. Yes, you use the same words as the rest of us, and some phrases will be the same or similar to others. But it's the paragraph, the emotion behind the writing, the emotion that is created in the reader that is solely yours.

My husband and I are/ were both writers. But our styles couldn't have been more different. I stopped letting him read my work until after it was published because he would get out a pen and try to edit my writing to be more like his style. 

We both wrote nonfiction (and I also wrote fiction). But his articles about car repair and using computers were directed at adult audiences who used his writings as instruction manuals. Whereas I was writing for children, making history interesting, plus writing picture books to entertain youngsters. I'm sure we both used similar words/ similar phrases, after all, we lived together and influenced each other. 

In other words -- you do you.  

Another thought - one which you already know. Ideas are out there and (for example) oftentimes my work has been rejected because it was too similar to something the publisher already had. (we already have a pumpkin book) So, of course some AI programs would mark us as plagiarizing, when no, the complete work actually was original to you and to me. (It turned out that MY pumpkin book was actually very different from the one that publisher had in the works.)

We will use the same words as someone else. "green grass" "blue sky" We will use same or similar sentences, because there is just a limited way we can describe things. 

Unfortunately, AI can't judge the effectiveness of a scene, a paragraph, a sentence to convey what you are portraying in your writing. 

Cats

They say that orange cats are usually male.  However,  Our orange cat was female.  

And she was Queen of the house/ bossed around the other cats.  (We called her -Queen Katie)

She and her friend had kittens at the same time. A total of 11 kittens. We set up two boxes for the two families and woke up the next morning to find the two cats plus all the kittens in one box. So we ended up creating a huge box for them and they shared raising and feeding all the kittens. Ended up with huge breasts. (the vet called them "Dolly Parton cats) The 8 inch wooden frame around them boxed in the kittens while allowing the moms to get away from them to take a break or eat or lie in the patch of sun nearby.  

But when the kittens became large enough to get over that frame, it was mobs of kittens all over the place. And when they had 'nap attacks' they simply dropped onto the floor wherever they were. We had to be careful where we walked, stepping over sleeping kittens.

Mailing a manuscript by mail in 2025

 Sent out a manuscript by mail. 

Seemed strange to do that, but that's what the publisher's web page wanted.  

But Lo -- there's a second address for the same publisher from another source. Which one to use?  

I picked one and mailed it out.  

And LO -- today it returned:  

Return to sender. Not deliverable as addressed. Unable to forward.  

So, I guess I'll try mailing it to the other address that I had found.  

And then - the suspense. Will that address be also rejected? Stay tuned.