Writing Beach Retreat

I love the Oregon Coast! The sound of the waves, the mist of the fog, the salty, fishy smell, the scrunch of sand under your feet. I love it all! My husband on the other hand, he tolerates it all when I get a hankering to go to the coast. 

Lucky for me, I joined Oregon Writers Colony where groups of writers can rend the OWC house in Rockaway for a week or a weekend. And luckily I have writer friends who do there frequently and I can join them.

in the house writing

That's where I am this week. On the Oregon Coast enjoying the coasty things I like and getting a novella written for an upcoming contemporary western romance box set that will be out in June.

If you've been following the Tumbling Creek Ranch series in the box sets, this book is Dillon's story, The Wrong Cowboy to Love. He works for the family excavation company by day and sings in bars and writes music for his real dream job. There is a wedding at the ranch and as you've discovered from the other books, the Wallis family comes to the rescue when it is needed. They are all at the wedding and Dillon has written a song for the wedding couple. Lucky for him, the weekend before he was bumped into by one of the bridesmaids at a bar where he was singing and the bridal party was having a bachelorette party. At the wedding they become even closer and Ruby is so fascinated by his song writing she offers to make videos and help him get his work into the right hands. This is all wonderful, except, she had had a crush on Dillon's cousin Nate since high school. Will she forget her fantasy of being Nate's soulmate or will she go for him and drop the man who respects and loves her?  Guess you'll have to wait and see what happens in June!

Here are some of the photos I've taken while here on the coast.

This was where a creek washed down across the beach. The black sand made art work, I thought.

This is what I call a beach butterfly. ;) 

A Day in the Life by Paty Jager

Oma cleaning windows

This past Sunday was a busy but productive day. My mother-in-law who we call Oma which is Dutch for Grandma was visiting for four days. She spent the first two days cleaning my house. Windows, floors, refrigerator... if it was dirty, she cleaned it. I call her the energizer bunny. She loves to clean and stay busy. Every time she's here cleaning she says it's fun. And means it!  So I let her clean. It makes her happy and I'm happy because I have a clean house for a while. ;)

Sunday started with having breakfast and feeding the horses. Then I spent the morning sewing a boho sling bag to give away on my Marvelous Monday Giveaway day on Contemporary Western Hearts Facebook page.  If you like contemporary western romance you might want to join the Facebook page. Not only do you discover authors and great books but we have the giveaway every Monday.

sewing the bag together

Me modeling the bag

I finished the bag  a little before noon. When I took it out to show Oma and hubby who were sitting on the porch talking, I discovered, I'd sewn the bottom on wrong. So I took that out and sewed it back in the correct way.

After lunch, I wrote and worked on writing related stuff until 3 PM.  Then Oma and I headed to town, a 45 minute drive,  to pick up the photos I'd entered in fair. We picked up the photos without a hitch- 4 with no ribbons, 3 with a white ribbons, 2 with a red ribbon and 4 with blue ribbons and one best of show.  I stood in line for a bit to get my $11 in premium money.

My Best of Show photo

From the fairgrounds we went to Safeway where I picked up a few items we needed. At home, Oma and I got to work making spaghetti for dinner. She was excited because it was one of her favorite foods.

Oma was leaving early Monday morning so we went down to the acre hubby planted in potatoes and dug her up a bucket's worth of potatoes to take home.

Spuds

As we walked up from feeding the horses, the sun was setting and we had a colorful sunset.
And that was a day in my life.

Photo Blast

You get photos because I'm trying to get my next book out to you on time!

Harley, my dad's dog.

The twins getting a meal.

Autumn view of Smith Rocks

When Half-Pint was born.

Half-Pint 18 months later.

Farm Photos

While walking around the farm yesterday while checking on irrigation weirs and dams and snapped some shots.

This photo is of what we call the "swamp". It's in the NW corner of the property and catches the runoff water. Our son managed to get two vehicles stuck in it in his teens. He thought it would be fun to go mudding, only to end up stuck to his axles in the mud and needing to use a tractor-and in one case- two tractors to pull his pick up out. 

This is the view from the west to the east looking almost the full length of the property.

That's Milker(our grandson's cow) peeking around a tree. That's her last year's calf laying behind her.

This is part of the cow herd resting in the shade under the juniper trees. 

This is my life and I wouldn't change the lifestyle for anything. 

Friday Farm Fun- Photos

How we spend our winters. Cattle have to be fed every day when there isn't any green grass to eat.

Fixing fence is a never ending battle when you have curious calves that like to get out.

Looking forward to sitting on the deck this summer and watching the pivot go back and forth.

It's not always easy to fit a cow into the squeeze chute. Especially when she's a longhorn cross.

Thought I'd end with a photo of a cute calf.