Coffee Blog

Coffee and things I didn’t know

Writing Sparkle

My coffees in August were made in my new Keurig. For those of you who don’t know, my family and I lived in our R.V. for the month after a long haul across Canada. I needed decent coffee to drink for the month so I purchased a soft pink single cup Keurig.

If we were having coffee, I would share one of the things we saw on our drive. We saw road signs for turtle crossings, which sparked a memory. My dad rescued a snapping turtle—the size of a toonie—from the road decades ago. When Dad died it took me a few days to get to his house; the turtle was the furthest thing from my mind. He couldn’t still have the turtle after decades, right? Well, when I went into his house, I found a large aquarium with a very large, hungry snapping turtle: Charlie. Charlie was leaping and snapping at me with his prehistoric-looking head and body.

This leads me to the second thing I didn’t know. There was a turtle rescue place in town. I called the turtle rescue place, but they wouldn’t come and get Charlie. I had to bring Charlie to them. The tank was too big and heavy to transport, which meant that I had to pick Charlie up. I had to put my fingers on hungry, snapping Charlie! The water wasn’t clean and Charlie was clearly hungry. I couldn’t leave him like that. So, Charlie and I had a little talk to calm us both down and then we got down to business.

Charlie was one of the scariest creatures I’ve handled. But with lots of snapping from him and cursing from me, I got him to the turtle rescue place. The lady I handed him off to handled Charlie like he was a cuddly puppy and he let her! Was he sensing my nervousness and responding to it? I don’t know. Anyway, the lady said that he looked healthy, especially for a turtle living in captivity.

Did you know that a turtle imprints on its environment when it’s born? So, when they are captured and released, if they aren’t released in the same place, they spend the rest of their life searching for their home. How sad. I didn’t know this either.

If we were having coffee, I would share that my online course for structural editing started this week. I ended my last course before summer vacation with a grade of A. I’m loving it. Since my theme for this virtual coffee is “things I didn’t know”, I will share that I didn’t know that I would love editing. I remember in university thinking editing wasn’t for me. I had a friend and she and I were so very similar in likes and dislikes right down to we both majored in the same thing—different schools though—and we both wanted to go to law school. We even wrote the admissions test together. Anyway, as we know I didn’t work out so as we scrambled for what to do she chose editing and went on to have a career there. I chose differently, thinking that editing wasn’t for me. Maybe it wasn’t then, but it sure is now.

If we were having coffee, I would share with you that I am working with my first client. Complete honesty, this client is a family member so there won’t be any testimonials or reviews coming out of the experience but I will share a bit about the project once we get closer to completion. It’s scheduled to be a fast project so more on that soon. What I didn’t know when I agreed to work with this family member was that she was going to pass me her notes, tell me what her goals were, and give me full reign for the project.

How was your week?

By Shari Marshall – 2023

Weekend Coffee Share is hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I hope you have a chance to join us for a virtual cup. Coffee share #36? in 2023.

14 thoughts on “Coffee and things I didn’t know”

  1. I did not know that either about turtles! That is very sad to think they spend the rest of their lives looking for home… but I am so glad that Charlie was so happy and healthy, your dad sure took great care of him!

    I’m very excited for your editing career starting as well! I am also interested in editing but I’m unsure where to begin.

    Anyway, it’s lovely to have virtual coffee with you again Shari. ☕️

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s heartbreaking. If Dad knew, I don’t think he would have brought Charlie home.

      As for editing, this certificate course I’m taking is great. If you want to look it up. It is through Simon Fraser University in British Colombia. It’s all online and it uses the Chicago Manual of Style mostly.

      Thanks for stopping in, Alexandra.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. I only found that out about turtles recently. As little kid I may have brought one or two turtles home, but for the most part I always left them where I found them. Now I am sorry about those one or two! I have pushed very large snapping turtles off of the road before, always in the direction they were headed – they must know where they are going – but would not want one in my house!
    Hope you have a wonderful week!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. What an interesting story about Charlie. I wish him well and hope he doesn’t spend the rest of his long life looking for his previous home. Handling him would have scared me to death. You did well, Shari.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Hi Shari,

    I had to look up your ‘toonie’ and laughed to realize it was just loonie x 2. I well recall my days of working east of Toronto for IBM and using the loons for meals and such. I really liked them and wished that the US could get their act together and release a dollar size coin that was worth 1$, but instead we’ve had several attempts that all failed to gain much popularity because they are about the same size as our quarter so machines could barely be taught how to distinguish them nor could you tell the difference in a handful of mixed coins without careful inspection. Then they released a round of quarters with theme designs from all 50 states so everyone was confused by what that quarter-size coin really was.

    There are days when I really miss Canada. . .

    Anyway, I thought your dad’s turtle was going to be much bigger and thought you were a bit nuts to take him on. But how big was he after being kept all those years? Could you not have used a big jar to scoop him up from behind then slap a lid on the thing or was he just too big?

    Fun stuff. Looking foward to hearing how your new side gig pans out. I can see the creative opportunities really appealing to you.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Gary. I have to say I miss the days when we had one and two-dollar bills. It is too easy to be weighed down by change.

      Charlie was large and heavy. The aquarium he lived in was huge. I would say Charlie was full-sized; Dad had rescued him decades ago. There was no scooping Charlie in a jar or a pail. Once I got him out, I put him in a plastic tote to transport him. He was an impressive creature.

      Thanks for stopping in. Happy Sunday.

      Like

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