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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Honeybush Blueberry Pancake @adagioteas #teaadventcalendar #adventcalendar2021

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Honeybush Blueberry Pancake. That’s sounds interesting! It’s also appropriate since I’m drinking this for breakfast today.

The tea contains honeybush tea, rose hips, apple pieces, maple flavor, blueberries, natural blueberry flavor, blue cornflowers, and vanilla creme flavor. When I opened the packet, I could definitely smell the maple, but only a hint of blueberry.

I steeped it for 5 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. You can’t see in the picture, but there was a big fat dried blueberry floating in the tea.

I don’t know if you can tell in the photo, but the tea is actually a little bit of a dark purple color, which is kind of cool. I could definitely smell and taste the blueberry flavor. I added almond milk and sugar, and that’s when the blueberry flavor really came out. It was really delicious!
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