Better late than never for Coffee Klatch

Yesterday, Denise N. and Chris J. joined Vicki at The Tapestry of Life for the second week of Coffee Klatch Friday, and I'm just catching up now, via Denise's blog. That's the great thing about a blog invitation. You can arrive late. You can even arrive uninvited! And it doesn't matter what you wear.

This is what Vicki says about her idea:

~The Goal ~ 
To have a community of bloggers that are friends, that can come together once a week with ideas and support for one another. We all blog for different reasons. For some, it is to be heard, for some it is to share, and for some it may be acknowledgement. After all, many blogs are just your thoughts, feelings, and experiences ... that you share  ... and here it is easier. 

This Week's Question(s) :
What did you want to be when you grew up?  Are you that now?  What is 1 thing you LOVE about what you do , or who you are?


This week's subject:
Please share a photo or 2 of what your area of the world looks like.


Well, hi, Vicki, I'm Kay. I live in the Canadian province of Alberta, and I agree with you: Coffee does taste better with a friend! People who can come together with ideas and support for one another are my idea of perfect friends.


I'll start with the second part first, if you don't mind.
Our part of the world is flat, and the sky is huge.
Here, a storm is blowing in from the south (that's our little town on the horizon) and we are hurrying home to let the prisoner in. She's afraid of storms.

That's our dog, Lindy, behind the gate. She hates to be outside during a storm.
Lindy is a major part of our world, and we want to do everything we can for her health and wellbeing.

This is across the street from our house. My husband, Dick, is taking Lindy for a walk.

There is lots of land where horses and cattle can graze.

But walk a little further on the flat prairie and you'll find the land drops away in front of you, to form the rock- and grass-covered slopes of what we call coulees. In the coulees grow tumbleweed, wildflowers, cactus, thistle and...wildlife!


But, more about the wildlife another time. I've covered most of it in my blog already, but no one has ever asked me what I wanted to grow up to be, so I want to answer the question.
I wrote my first story when I was six. It was called "The Life of Tommy John Atwater" and I knew I wanted to be a writer.
Am I a writer now? Well, yes, I am. Have I always been a writer? Yes, in my heart I think I have, although most of my working years were spent in the family trade. I was a printer—a journeyman compositor, to be more specific. My father and brother ran presses, but they wouldn't let me near them because I was so clumsy.
I had, at times, managed to earn a living as a writer and editor, but only for small publications, which didn't pay much. So, if I  couldn't write for the dailies because I didn't have a university degree, I could at least work for them as a compositor.
When my health let me down, slowly at first and then with a bang, I had to quit working, but I managed to edit my father's books for him, and I continued writing if and when I could.
Nothing of mine ever got published, mostly because it never got finished. When a dear, good friend introduced me to blogging, however, things changed. I already had 18 chapters of An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel written, so, using those as a base, I began a blog of the same name and am hoping to have a finished or near-finished product with plenty of fans to present to a publisher one day.
What is one thing I love about who I am? That's easy. I have learned, no matter what my experience in life has been, I am able to help others. If I die with an unfinished unfittie book on my hands, it won't matter. I will always know, whether healthy or wealthy or neither of the above, I have been privileged to be able to help others. I truly believe a life lived for self and self only is a wasted life, whereas helping even one other person is what really counts. (That's all I have to say on that subject.)

Posted for Coffee Klatch Friday
now in its second week. CKF is hosted by Vicki who, I am sure, hopes more friends will drop in next week. Click here for more information and to meet Vicki, Chris and Denise.