Months and Months

You think with being home more, I would be blogging more, instead it has been a lot less. It took a friend to point out to me I hadn't blogged since April and that was back in June. Now we are nearly at the end of July.

I did have ideas for blog posts, and kept meaning to write them, but each day has past by me. Between adapting to working 100% from home and new writing ideas, blogging fell between to the cracks. So today, before I allow myself to fall into complete distraction I shall blog.

The fifth Conrad novel is almost finished. It is in the final stages of editing. When done it is off the printers and an examination of the proof. Then POOF! It is released.

One of the items I wanted to show on my blog, but failed to was all the beautiful flowers that popped up in yard at the end of April and early May. Luckily, I snapped some photos of them. Here they are:

Co-Hosting My First Webinar on April 22 @ 6 p.m.

As life is focused on safe, isolated pursuits, I am working from home with my day job as a financial advisor. My firm is putting on a Webinar on April 22 @ 6 p.m. The title is Successfully Managing Adversity: Through Mental Health, Financial Opportunity and Empowerment. You are invited to join us for this fun hour-long educational event. You can join either through Facebook or if you prefer a Zoom link, e-mail me and I will send you one.

https://www.facebook.com/events/220347125915676/


See you there.

The Giant Easter Egg!

With Easter almost here, the creativity was sparked in our household, especially given that we are living in isolation per the current pandemic situation. Wanting to make Easter special, and knowing we couldn't do what we normally do this time of year, we decided we should make a giant Easter egg to place on the Empress Tree stump in our front yard.

This idea started a debate on what we could make it from. A balloon was the first thought. Yet, we didn't have any in the house, and given the need to stay out of society and with most stores closed, reasoned we needed to come up with another idea. That lead us to the concept of a wire frame. We had some fencing wire in the garage, but that didn't seem like a good idea. Rummaging around, I found a damaged umbrella I had placed in a bucket of random sticks, poles, and broken curtain rods set aside to prop plants up as needed. We had our wire.

First we broke the spokes off the umbrella and stuck them in some card board circles. We added a paper bowl to the top to round it off.

Since we had found a roll of Easter wrapping paper to decorate our egg, we figured we needed something to go over the spokes. While we considered more cardboard, we came up with a better idea: egg cartoons! Since Boomer and Fern eat eggs every day, and egg cartoons are no longer considered recyclable in our area, we had a huge pile of them. We tore the tops of the egg cartoons, flattened them out, and then used hot glue to attach them to the spokes.

Next we cut the wrapping paper into strips, which we glued and taped to the egg body.

We finished our giant egg off with a gold ribbon and bow.

Now our Easter egg is ready for Easter morning!

Feel Like Reading!

Feel like reading?

Here in Oregon, it's been raining daily, which always motivates me to read and write. If you are into fantasy, science fiction or children's books, you might like to read one I penned.

That said, I arranged a discount through my printer if you buy the books directly through them. I set all my books at 20% off or more. In addition, Lulu.com, usually offers an additional 10% or 15% off. Thus, going straight to my printer is the cheapest way to buy my books, though you can still find them wherever books are sold.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/heather-hobson/the-conrad-chronicles-revolt/paperback/product-23411235.html

Thoughts on a Pandemic Day

Before I was a financial advisor, before I was a teacher, I was a historian who studied the Middle Ages and Ancient World. Those times in history were marked by increase travel and trade, which resulted in the spread of viruses and diseases that frequently halted the daily life which our ancestors were accustomed.

We are also now living in such a time, and as a historian, I see this as a moment of great change for how our lives are lead. Societal shifts, as we are undergoing right now, are often hard, confusing, and can be painful, but once the change has occurred the opportunity for a new creative society is born (imagine the shift from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance).

What we are experiencing with Covid-19 is new for us, but it is not a new experience for the human race. Once all is settled again, which will take time, we will find ourselves in a new age, with new opportunities. So even though you may be suffering or grieving today, realize you are living during a unique, historical moment, and you will get the honor  of being one of the first humans to experience the birth of a new age.

My Other Job

For years I have kept this blog exclusively focused on my writing, random thoughts, fun things, and areas of concern in the world. Very little have I written about my various careers. Right now, given the Covid-19 Virus and our changing world, I feel perhaps my other skill areas are important to share.

Heather H. Lewis, Financial Advisor

Currently I am employed as a financial advisor with Castro Monroy Group in Salem, Oregon. So if you are currently concerned about your financial situation, you aren't alone. My colleagues and I are here, and are more than willing to do our best to help you at this volatile time. We are working remotely, and conducting meetings via phone or video. So if you feel the need, please reach out. There is no cost to meet and consult with us. We offer personalized service, and many products that are stable in this current environment and with solid companies that survived even the 1929 market crash. We carry very strong and competitive life insurance products, if that is a current concern you have.

Also, you should know I am a former teacher, and am passionate about educating people, as well as have a strong desire to see a vibrant and successful middle class, so I'm willing to work with any client, with which I can legally work (that means Oregon residents right now), no matter their income level.

So if I can help you in anyway, please e-mail me at my work at HL@castromonroygroup.com

Life on March 17, 2020

Here we are on St. Patrick's Day, in the middle of the season of Lent, living during a pandemic. Now that I have done all I can do in preparation for what might come, many thoughts bounce around my head. They are random in many ways, but also connect to the current times and spread of Covid-19. As a historian by training, and novelist, I have felt for weeks this virus would turn into a pandemic and spread. Unfortunately, what I believed would happen has (though I have been surrounded by those who don't think the virus is much of an issue).

One thought that reached my mind was of the Titantic. When it hit the iceberg, and a few feared it may go down, they prepared life boats. Not many people were willing to listen and get in at that time. After a bit more time passed, a few more saw the wisdom of getting in a life boat. By the time most people realized the ship was truly sinking, it was too late and they drowned. I'm in the first life boat. That's just who I am.

Secondly, I've been pondering how one of the priests at my church talked on Ash Wednesday about Lent being a time to grow closer to God, to remove from your life what is keeping you away from God. Now that I have chosen to eliminate all extra out of the house activities, and the world has slowed, I wonder if one of the positives to look for in this time of forced stillness is a space to be closer to the Creator.

Last night I pulled a book off my shelf I had read in college and kept. Now seems to the right time to read it again. The first chapter, in several ways, connected to and helped explain the spread of diseases and how pandemics occur, and have done so throughout history. The book is The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe by Robert S. Gottfried. For years I have referenced ideas from it in conversations I have had, as many of the facts written among its pages awoken and expanded the thoughts of my young mind.

Take care of yourself. Use some of this stillness to reflect on what is important to you.