Retreat Sunday Coffee Share
A Cup of Coffee and a Conversation
If we were having coffee I would tell you…today I am in Tulum, Mexico! I was honored and blessed to be able to attend a writing retreat at the last minute this month! I have been working diligently on my Margot project while I am here. It is nourishing here in many ways.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you… breakfast day looks different today. I am sad to not be with Chris this Sunday morning at our regular spot. Here is my breakfast from today. After breakfast a few of us went to the local cenote and got in the water. We took a walk and it was a delight! This cenote was in a cave and looked like it should be in a movie.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you… the woman who hosts us here at the resort is an amazing cook. She is writing a cookbook too! We are fed delicious food that is also beautifully plated. This resort is off-grid so there are rules for charging devices and the use of lights. There are candles everywhere at night. We are in the middle of the jungle which is quieter than you would imagine at night. There are cenotes close which is how they fill the tanks for showers and washing. The Mayans believe the jungle is medicine, as well as cacao and there is a sacredness to how things are done here. It is beautiful in so many ways.
If we were having coffee I would tell you…here are pictures from this past week!
If we were having coffee I would recommend:
This post: my dopamine menu from A Life’s Work Substack - I challenge you to write your own menu! The links to other inspiration for this concept are included by Julia in this post. I recommend those links too!
BOOK: Ella Minnow Pea This book was recommended to me by writer and educator Donalyn Miller whom I admire so much and was able to meet and go to dinner with because of my association with the Indiana Reading Association many years ago.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you…the last mini Bradbury Trio challenge went out today. I hope sharing these will add to your writing and reading life this week!
If we were having coffee, I ask you…when do you consider a person to no longer be a stranger? Is it when you know their name? Plan to see each other again? Do you have to have met them in person for them to not be a stranger? I would love to hear your answers in the comments.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you…I have been diligent about not distracting myself this week. I have left my phone in a place where I am not working. I have no listened to podcasts or scrolled on my phone. I have focused on the one project and have not found myself drifting off.
If we were having coffee I am excited to tell you… a new round of the Bradbury Trio Course will begin February 16, 2025. There are limited spots for this course and it is filling up.
The course will run 4 weeks on the platform WetInk. There will be two themed reading weeks and two writing weeks. Participants will write and share two pieces and give feedback to two other writers.
You are welcome to write whatever form and genre speak to you! The prompts are open enough to accommodate everyone.
I invite you to read more about it here:
You're Invited to a Gathering at the Table
The Bradbury Trio Course begins February 16th, 2025 and I would love for you to join us!
I wish you a Happy Sunday full of delights!
A little more about me: Tammy L. Evans is a writer, teacher, runner, and coach living in a tiny house on a peninsula with her husband and adventure cat. Her location device is her loud laugh. She is a reader for Reckon Review. She is the creator and host of the THE BRADBURY TRIO COURSE. Her poetry has been published in The Storyteller, FoxGlove Journal, Story Hall, Blue Insights, The Partnered Pen, and others. Her fiction has been published in Gone Lawn, South Florida Poetry Journal, Cabinets of Heed, Spelk, Five on the Fifth, Clover and White, Fiction Berlin Kitchen, and others.
How lovely!!!! Thanks for sharing your Joy!
Last November, our region got hit with a "bomb cyclone" that knocked out power for days. On one of those days, my wife and I took our dog for a walk to survey the damage (downed trees, etc). We ended up passing a neighbor's house down the street just as she was exiting her front door. We'd seen her face from afar plenty of times, but she and her family were strangers to us. For years.
She saw our dog, and we knew she owned a dog, so we chatted a moment-- all the icebreakers were coming together. One thing led to another, as they do, and she brought up her turtle, Sisyphus. (I know nothing about turtles.) She and her husband were in a panic. They'd inherited this turtle from an ex-son-in-law, and-- now stuck with him-- were doing the best they could. He needed to live in a certain water temperature. But, with the power out for days, they couldn't keep his bathwater warm, and they were afraid of harming or even losing him.
We said, "Hey, we've got a generator, and power at our house. We'll watch Sisyphus." When I tell you she was floored, she was floored. It honestly was no trouble (like, none), but she and her husband couldn't believe it. They carried him and his little bathtub down the street to our house, and we watched him til the power came back.
I'll wind up the story here, but the point is: before the storm, Mel and Duda were strangers. Now-- even though we don't know much more than their first names-- I don't consider them strangers anymore. They've been in our house, they've brought us chocolates, and I feel like we could count on one another. I think they'd say the same.