Well lord be jesus and thunder and lightning!!!

I don't know what that means, really, but I think I've heard that expression before. If it is sacrilege, I apologize ahead of time 😮 

I bring this up, as we haven't had rain in 3 weeks at least, and yes I know that isn't long compared to many of you but we have been having one hell of a thunder and lightning storm over my city. At first the rain came down like crazy, I saw cars pulled over and stopped on the streets! After about 15 mins of that, the rain stopped and it has been about a 1/2 hour of lightening and ensuing thunder. 

I'm not a fan of lighting myself  

So, as I was driving around my city today, I was trying to kill time and went through some different communities that I've never driven though before. Not new ones, but ones that have been around forever. I found one that borders on one of the larger urban parks that surrounds a huge reservoir that holds about 1/2  of the city's drinking water. I've always wondered what kind of houses were behind all those big trees on the southside of the road that travels on the northside of the park.   So I pull in and oh my gawd! So this is where the other people live in their mansions and I imagine well over a million dollar homes with trees probably 100's of years old. A lot of old homes being ripped down and montrosties being built, but it seems like the trees are being protected in the new homes. I thought all the rich and fancy homes here were in Mount Royal, Elbow Park and Mayfair. Well this place made them look like average communities. 

Now my question of the week will be, have you ever come across something in your city, town, county  that made you go, wholly crap, I didn't know this was hear!!

About 20 years ago I was bored and drove down an irrigation cannel service road and looked over to my right and saw what I thought was miles and miles of weed plants  This was way before it was legal in Canada. So when I got off the gravel road, I followed the grid roads separating sections of land, and saw a sign saying it was a hemp farm. Also a warning that it was nothing more than hemp and if you trespassed and tried to take some,  you were going to make yourself really sick  or something along those lines. I can understand who that sign was for, not me, but I'm sure many of people would have thought that they had hit the jackpot! I wonder if others drove along that irrigation service road and pulled over and chopped a few stalks down to take home to dry out  

Guess  I'm saying you don't need a city to find something new that might have always been right under you nose  

We actually had a active week this week due to the Secret Author Contest fun and games. Second question, if you have read any of the stories, how many have your read?

On Monday, Cia added a new twist to the contest, she took quotes from the stories and asked you to identify who said what quote  . She does provide the answers in hidden spoiler box, but I think this might be a motivation on making me read more . Like 'The Stabbed Man' has a quote! You would think it would be something like, 'Help me, I'm stabbed and bleeding' But no, it isn't  

Tuesday was Myr's time to shine and do a deep dive. Instead of diving, he rustled up a horsie and took off with his trusty dog, Fetch and visited some Westerns:

Then she's baaaaack! The ever sneaky Cia added another feature to the contest, she asked authors for 2 truths and a lie 😮 What is she up to?

How'd you do on the Words of the Day? I usually ask this, but a lot of these words you already know the meaning of the words. Or do you? Did you learn a different meaning of the word in the discussion? I'm curious  

steady, confidence, harmony, growth, continuity, fulfilled, resurgence

Upcoming Writing Events 

2026 Yearly Anthology "Horizons" & "Unspoken" - Due October 1, 2026 - Find all the information right here.

Member Participation Blogs - Great way to promote yourself!!

Ask an Author 3.0 If you have a author you want to get some answers from, write a PM to @astone2292

Author Guess Who Get our members to guess who you are and also let everyone know who you are. Also write a PM to @astone2292

Here is the look at the past week's postings on all our Authors and Poets!

If you still think I'm going to post who all the Secret Authors were, you still have another thing coming  

1 Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories

1. The Double Hex by Topher Lydon

9 Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories

1. Carter's Asset by Topher Lydon
2. Take the Long Road Home by kbois
3. Enthralled by Topher Lydon
4. TRAVISTY by Mark Arbour
5. The Double Hex by Topher Lydon
6. Supermarket by Topher Lydon **Complete**
7. Treacherous by CassieQ
8. Out of the Blue by Mark Ponyboy Peters
9. Roping the Moon by Headstall

1 Recently Updated 'Promising Author' Stories

1. Blades of Ashes by lilansui

40 Recently Updated 'Author' Stories

1. The Tor by andy cannon
2. Alpha Awakened by Painawakened
3. Beefy, Chalked Up and Taken Hard by Soren Kraft
4. Confounded: Part III by Andr0gene
5. Parents Weekend by Boy Mercury X
6. Designed for You by mastershakeme
7. Heart of Teutonburg by Mark Paren
8. IceBerg by J92
9. Safe Distance by Tony S.
10. The Thing About Konstantin by Jason Rimbaud **Complete**
11. My Straight Best Friend Asked Me to Be His Boyfriend by StoriesByTroy
12. The Curse of Love by Yeoldebard
13. Aethan's Reign - Exile by ValentineDavis21
14. Alex & Neil: Moving On by Robert Hugill
15. Six Months of Silence by Lupus
16. Unraveled by jkwsquirrel
17. How We Became Ourselves by Kevin Snell
18. Run, Hamster, Run! by Winged_Wolf
19. Time Stood Still by Jason Rimbaud
20. Shooting Stars by Littlelovestories
21. Monstrum by Laura S. Fox
22. Begin Again by Kevin Snell
23. 1st Love: Past by Grayson Rose
24. Beyond suspicion by Thomas Lindblad
25. The Mirror of Dreams by Lupus
26. Frozen Embers by sumtimesIwrite
27. Suburbia by irivera
28. At Tempest Island by Grayson Rose
29. turmoil by Paladin
30. In the Barb by Vcs
31. Boy Meets Boys by Grayson Rose **Complete**
32. Hollywood and Vine by Albert1434 **Complete**
33. Noah's Quest by AquariusGuy
34. Pigsty by Jack Poignet
35. Seducing The Cambion by BendtedWreath
36. The Field of Love by Enoch
37. BigPaws by Jack Poignet **Complete**
38. Beyond the Veil by Laura S. Fox
39. Blades of Ashes by lilansui
40. Mantown by Boy Mercury X **Complete**

Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (Don't forget to Recommend too!)