Clancy59

Speaking on the behalf of all Librarians, we NEVER get tired of seeing students coming in to get things to read!

Wow! This is a first! I am the first to leave a comment, because I am the first to read this chapter! This has never happened to me before! Oh, bestill, my beating heart! LOL!! 🤣

Lovely story. Lovely to revisit these friends. You have lots of future stories open here! Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁🎅🏻

Sign Language is actually a much easier language to learn. You don’t have to memorize a foreign vocabulary because the signs are conceptual. A ‘phone’ is a ‘phone’ everywhere, as is ‘boy,’ ‘girl,’ ‘love,’ and every other word. The thing that is tricky to learn is the syntax. American Sign Language is different from Signed English, for example. Otherwise, wherever you are in the world, you can communicate. I loved this story. I thought it was very sweet.

I was so happy to see this story back in the lineup! I had to reread several chapter just to remember everything that had been happening. In the last chapter, you said that just the epilogue was left, but this sounds like at least a couple more chapters are coming. Or, at least, a proposal/wedding chapter and then another book about them adopting a little one?

Yes, the Annual Cookie Bake was a big production, but we made so many because we also gave many as gifts. Mama was a talented baker, as she was at almost anything she did, and people LOVED getting her cookies.

This story reminded me of The Little Match Girl by Hans Cristian Anderson.

We also made butter cookies each year, as well as several others. Mom would start collecting ingredients in October and we’d start mixing and baking in November. One year we counted and discovered we made over 250 dozen cookies, of different kinds, each year. The butter cookies were the favorites. Mom would sit on one side of the kitchen table and my brother and I would be on the opposite side with all the containers of sprinkles, sugars, nonpareils, etc. We had a card table at the end and Daddy would cut strings for the ones baked with holes in the tops (we knew just where to put the holes for a balanced hang. We used plastic straws to make the holes). Mom would put on the icing, my brother and I would decorate and Daddy would string up the dried cookies. We then hung those on the tree, along with real candy canes. They were part of our decorations. We even did it when we had dogs—we just had to hang them out of reach for the small pups. Then, on Christmas, we were allowed to start to ‘eat the tree.’ Those were the absolute best cookies!

It’s a good thing you opted for the Weenies. Those Bunche de Noel cakes are NOT easy to make! I can remember a French teacher challenging our class to make various traditional French foods. My Mom was a baker, so we tried to make French bread. Note the word ‘tried.’ The yeast never rose. The teacher still gave me credit for trying. Another classmate attempted a Buche. They did a pretty good job, considering we were in Junior High at the time. However, we were told it would be the only time it would be attempted due to its difficulty in construction.😊

I am a big fan of the Valdemar series, and I commend you on an excellent piece of writing. It reads true to the feeling of Misty’s books, although I wasn’t certain until the end that they were Holderkin. Although you wrote this as a stand-alone, I could easily see this expanded into a longer story. How soon is this after Vanyel’s disappearance? It can’t be long.

Me and your friend the major are celebrating our civil partnership at Zenda castle on 24 June. 👍. That’s my wedding anniversary! ☺️

We actually have a past contestant from one of these shows who lives in the area. He’s actually fairly well-known, so I don’t want to name him, but he said he didn’t want to win because the contractual obligations would have more of a stranglehold on him than if he would come in 2nd. I don’t remember his final place, but it was 2 or 3.

You’re right. It’s not fair, but it happens all the time. I always warned my students to be careful about what they posted. There was a case a few years ago of a young teacher in a conservative school who went on vacation with her friends. A picture was posted of her with a beer in her hand. Someone from administration saw it and she was called to task and she actually lost her job. Not fair, but...

Yay! You’re back with a new story! I’m so excited. Glad to hear you’re safe from Dorian. Now we’ll just keep the prayers going for those to the north.

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I don’t always look for specific authors when reading stories on this site, so I didn’t realize this was Quokka’s when I opened what looked like an interesting story premise. After I had read a couple of paragraphs, I thought I recognized the style and confirmed the author with a groan. Why a groan? Because, for some reason, Quokka has an extreme dislike (I won’t go so far as to say hatred or prejudice) against Americans. Every story I have read by this author has an American evil-doer, whether acting as a spoiled brat or a criminal. In some capacity, it’s an American who is the bad person in the story and everyone else is angelic in comparison. Now, I am not saying all Americans are wonderful people. We wouldn’t have the current resident in the White House, if that were true. However, the vast majority of us are friendly people who love to meet new people and visit new places. Yes, there are those few individuals who ruin the reputation of Americans on the whole, but that can be true in any group of people and in any area. All I am asking, I guess, Quokka, is for you to lighten up on Americans. Come meet a few of us. Most are quite honorable. If you must have evil-doers (which you must for a storyline!), spread the evilness around. America is not the Great Satan, despite what is broadcast in the news. I’m sorry to have to get on my soapbox today, but It isn’t fair to always be blamed as the evil perpetrator. As far as this story goes, how do we know someone in the school didn’t break into the office and sell the plans to the Boston firm as if they belonged to them? There’s really no way the group from Boston would have of knowing to be able to steal those plans that night.

Devon’s experiences in school are very typical in some instances. He is obviously suffering from burnout, which is a real thing. If he hadn’t been, he would have responded to the name instance in a teasing manner, which it is 95% of the time. It’s those kids like Samuel who make all the heartache of teaching worthwhile. I do know whereof I speak having retired after 35 years working with students from Pre-K through 12. The joys far outweigh the bad, but it can get hard dealing with those parents when that’s the parameter of your job. His fantasies are his desperate need to escape from the tedium he is experiencing at school, and has nothing to do with Fabian. The fantasy guy is probably always Fabian! I loved Fabian’s attempt to help Devon. That’s love.

Carlos, Fridays won’t be the same without CJ and his family and friends. This was a fantastic series that I have enjoyed thoroughly from the first installment. You are an excellent writer and I am looking forward to whatever you put out for us to enjoy next. I am planning on rereading CJ’s story from the start, but can hardly wait for your next offering.

I decided to wait for the right time to do my first posting. Now is the time. I was holding my breath halfway through the story and crying through the last quarter. I can remember my father leaving on his own deployments, even though they were short term, and often crying as he was leaving. It’s a very lonely feeling. Thank you for a lovely story. I hope it comes true for many families