Thought Wheel

Ann Chiappetta

Annie Shares News V. 2Issue 10

| Filed under blindness Poem Relationships

Annie Shares News Volume 2 Issue 10 October 2023

anniesharesnews@groups.io  Subscribe anniesharesnews+subscribe@groups.io

www.annchiappetta.com  Blog: www.thought-wheel.com

🎃  🍂  🍃

Autumnal greetings!

The most important  announcement is we are now living in Pennsylvania. Western PA cozied up beside Pittsburgh. We found a lovely one level house.  It came equipped with solar panels, three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, laundry, den, picture windows, garage and a beautiful, fenced yard. Not too much to maintain and plenty of living space.

 

I can’t wait to celebrate the holidays here and welcome  visitors who will be able to stay in the guest room.

 

In writing news,  Hope For the Tarnished is being narrated and it is halfway done. My second novel, Imperfections, is scheduled for a spring 2024 release.

 

I am looking forward to winter routines like drinking hot tea, slurping soup and cooking stew in our crock pot. And now I am also a Steelers fan. 😉

 

Here’s to a blessed month. Until next time.

 

The move has inspired  me to write a few poems.  Here’s one I wrote the day we moved from the apartment in New York.

Moving Day

By Ann Chiappetta

An empty room

Where once  life’s evidence  —

the energy and the sound  Saturated

Now Sparseness  joins

echoes. Memory echoes

touch echoes  visual echoes

 

Present yet empty.

 

Medium tan home bottom lined in matching brick. A truck is parked in the drive. A small lawn and peddle walkway in front and flag mounted above garage.  Halloween decorations  and a bench are to the left of the front door.

 

 

The Guide Dog Book Club 💖 🦮

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs writing

Greetings from the Guide Dog Book Club Team,

 

We hope your fall is off to a great start and full of plans for fun times with your dogs, family, and friends. A big woof and wag to the cooler temperatures!

 

Jumping off from the awesome discussion with Sharon Peters on “Trusting Calvin,” we are gearing up for another book club read and discussion. The next meeting of the club is scheduled for November. As always, all are welcome to join. More details to follow on exact date and time.

 

Our next book selection is…(drum roll, please, and hold the appaws):

 

“Forward Together: An Inside Look at Guide Dog Training” by Christie Bane

 

The book is available on BARD and other electronic book services. Get a copy today and start reading for another informative guide dog book club discussion.

 

Here’s a recent amazon review:

 

“This was such an amazing book. The explanations were well thought out, but not overly descriptive. The author was honest and realistic. The writing was down to earth and a pleasure to read. I would seriously urge anyone who has anything to do with the guide dog community to read this. It will increase knowledge and understanding for puppy raisers, handlers, GDMI applicants, other staff, and even the general public. I really really enjoyed this read!”

 

You can also review a synopsis here: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/53548729

 

To help keep us in touch and encourage conversations in the virtual world, we’ve created a new email list serve just for the Guide Dog Book Club community. That’s right, we have a list serve dedicated to our book discussions. Please check it out.

 

To subscribe to the list, send a blank email to guidedogbookclub+subscribe@groups.io. Or request an invitation to be sent to your inbox by emailing guidedogbookclub@gmail.com.

 

We can’t wait to share more information with you, so get those people-paws tapping on your computer or smart phone and sign up! We would also appreciate it if you could share this announcement with other guide dog handlers, puppy raisers, GDMIs, guide dog program staff and family and friends who support the partnership between human and guide dog.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions. Until we chat again, happy reading and wagging,

 

Guiding Eyes Graduate Council

gebgradcouncil@gmail.com

 

 

News Flash 🦮 big Yellow Dog Retires

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs pets and people writing

 

Bailey, my second Guiding Eyes dog guide, has hung up the harness. He is now the senior adopted dog of house Chiappetta and for him, at least the change is good. It’s a push and pull of relief and regret for the humans, though. But hey, he’s almost eleven, has bounced back from lung cancer and enjoys napping in the sun in his new back yard.

 

Yellow lab Bailey one year old standing at the shor in Maine

Yellow lab bailey posed with blue skies and clouds in the background.

We met in 2015 and during the second week of class I returned home with a serious case of RSV. A month later, when we reunited, he flew into my lap and nibbled my cheek as if to say, “Finally, we’re together again!”

 

Our first year was exciting and focused. His energy and love of working became infectious. He approached it all with curiosity and confidence. This is his best trait. The most difficult one to control is his scavenging and I hope his successor is not as intense in this category.

 

He is a great swimmer, doesn’t play fetch, drools profusely waiting for his meals and tolerates our cats with quiet dignity. He loves learning new tricks and learned to roll over, spin and  balance a treat on his nose.

 

Amusing quirks:

  • When he barks, which isn’t often, he scares himself.
  • When exiting a vehicle in a new location he needs a moment to scent the air before moving on.
  • Loves to sleep under my desk
  • Expresses impatience by sighing like a person
  • Walks on the tips of his toes and spreads out his toes when excited.
  • Air licks if he can’t get to your face.

 

The most significant saves while working were clearing us from a dangling wire hanging from the ceiling in an office building and a utility wire laying on a sidewalk. Avoiding e-scooters more than once while crossing a street. Plus numerous traffic checks on the block leading to my former office building .

Annie with pink mask and Bailey close up

Ann and Bailey on bench: Both looking straight on

 

Doggone Good

By Ann                                                                             Chiappetta

 

Good dog

Guide dog

Love what you do

Cool dog

Goofy boy

So much respect for you

 

Yellow dog

Poochie-poo

with a big brown nose

 

Steps out,

Nostrils flared

Catching

Air-scented code.

 

Guide dog

Good dog

There’s so much we do

In you

There is acceptance

loyalty

My moods don’t have you fooled

 

Big dog

Bigger heart

Grateful to be a pair

Stepping out

I want to shout

I trust in your care.

 

Good Dog

Guide dog

My heart is full

Love you

To the moon and back.

Glad to be matched with you.

 

 

As with the retirement of my first dog, Verona, I am posting my call for a new canine partner. My needs have changed over the past ten years yet the drive to be independent has become stronger as I age. I am cognizant the next dog will most likely be the last guide dog for me. Here’s to the next potential partnership and adventure.

 

Situation Wanted

A sixty-something white female who just happens to be blind is seeking a highly motivated working dog. If you are a Labrador retriever and are willing to work with me, please read the job requirements. Only serious applicants need apply.

Males preferred but will consider a female if all other character and personality traits are met.

  1. Height: over 20inches; weight: 75 lbs. Color: no preference.
  2. I am a moderate walker, use a support cane and travel in all modes of transportation. This includes paratransit vans and public buses. I also fly at least once a year and ride passenger trains. I stay in hotels and motels. I visit cities and live in the suburbs. I shop and attend social gatherings and meetings.
  3. My new partner must be experienced in offering a kind and gentle nose to other furry critters including cats and guinea pigs and other dogs as well as children. You will be filling the paws of my current partner, who is retired. He has been an amazing worker, friend, and part of our family for over ten years.

If you have read these requirements and feel that you have the right combination of breed, personality, manners, strength, adaptability, affection, drive, and possess intelligent disobedience skills, and wish to work with a human who will trust and love you the best she can, please send your contact information to Ann Chiappetta, Care of: Guiding Eyes for the Blind 611 Granite springs Road, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.

Yello lab Bailey age 10 laying on his side in the grass in our new back yard enjoying his retirement.

 

 

 

What We’ve Been Doing

| Filed under writing

 

Jerry and I are native New Yorkers. Over the years we both lived in other States but both found our way back to NY. Jerry came home after the military and I returned after living in  the San Fransisco bay area in California. We met, married and raised the kids. Now we are both retired and moved one final time, to Western Pennsylvania. The house we purchased is perfect for us, larger than the apartment but not overly so.

 

Right now we are sleeping on air beds waiting for the movers to deliver our household packed into 150 boxes, among other furniture like a new bed, dining room table and chairs, etc. It is quieter, green, and the taxes are low.

 

I will be posting new home owner pics and posts. I will try not to geek out on you all, this house is cute and full of sun and good energy 😊

There hasn’t been much time for writing.  I’ve got a bunch of ideas rolling around and a few poems are ready to flow. Once I can type on a table instead of propping up my keyboard on an open kitchen drawer and placing my laptop above it on the kitchen counter, I’ll write more. Until then, folks, wish us luck and enjoy yourselves, whatever it is you love doing.

Annie sitting on gray/blue sofa in showroom

 

by Ann Chiappetta | tags : | 1

Annie Shares News 2.9 September 2023

| Filed under writing

Annie Shares News Volume 2 Issue 9 September 2023
anniesharesnews@groups.io
Subscribe: anniesharesnews+subscribe@groups.io
www.annchiappetta.com

So Long, New York 🗽

That’s right, folks, we are on our way to our dream home in the keystone State, Pennsylvania. We will be living near the city of steel and bridges, Pittsburgh. Why did we choose Western PA, one might ask. It is rated one of the best locations for retired persons. House prices are reasonable and the cost of living and taxes are less. Let’s face it, we love our home State but it is a vampire when it comes to taxes and averages the highest COL in the United States. Oh, the other reason is we are tired of urban living and the noise pollution. Green spaces are great and we look forward to increasing some pastoral hobbies like birding, strolling around our neighborhood, container gardening and joining a social club for fun.
🦮
Many of you know I am a guide dog user and animal lover. Partnering with a guide dog is a beautiful and life-affirming responsibility. Staying in touch with other guide dog handlers is part of the lifestyle. Check out this great blog post by friend and colleague, Pat Leahy and guide dog Hogan.


And now a lyrical poem by Dreya the book dragon. She has returned from visiting her dragonkind in the mists and mountains.

Pages In Flight
Or song of the Book Dragon

By Dreya transcribed by Annie Chiappetta

Glide and soar
taste clouds and roar
Words on high
Sweep the skies

a dragon’s flight
noon or night
studies the wind
with a wink and a grin
Imagining

Pages found
Litter the ground
notes dance
a rainbow’s chance

a dragon’s flight
noon or night
rides the wind
Imagining

Figure 1Dreya the book dragon is smiling amid flying books and musical notes










by Ann Chiappetta | tags : | 0

Celebrating National Dog Day 🦮

| Filed under blindness blogging Guide dogs pets and people

For National Dog Day 2023

 

Dog Two

By Ann Chiappetta

 

He is  a sweet yellow fellow

Toasted darker

On ears and tail tip

Gives a nibble and a lick

Golden eyes Better than cash

He comes with a snow nose And personality to match

He’s tall and silly

Works, wags, and licks

So far no one’s gotten ticked

When he sneaks a kiss.

 

Guiding me around

Alert and looking  for sights and scents

On the bus and on the street

Freedom with four feet.

 

Dedicated to  Guiding Eyes Bailey

Yellow lab Bailey lick's Annie's face. She is laughing.Annie and yellow lab Bailey licking her face

 

 

 

Got the Keys Today 🔑

| Filed under writing

I got the keys to our new house today. It’s not a new house, built in 1960. It is ours and that is what counts.  I sat in this house today, listening to the strange sounds that will soon be familiar to me. The  sounds of the home we are leaving won’t be missed, only the memories it has constructed. Thirty years of  life within the walls absorbed  invisible ink, indelible  imprint and sound prints.

 

Eerie   two a.m. freight trains, dragons in the night. Sirens, planes, the local bus bleeping as it kneels to take on riders. The scooter posse buzzing down Palmer
Avenue heading for New Rochelle after the  closing the restaurants, racing home just before midnight.    Post-bar laughter and barking dogs four times a day.  Apartment living remembered but not missed.

 

by Ann Chiappetta | tags : | 0

Annie Shares News V. 2 I. 8 August 2023 📖

| Filed under blindness blogging Guide dogs

Annie Shares News volume 2 Issue 8 August 2023

Subscribe anniesharesnews+subscribe@groups.io

Web — www.annchiappetta.com

Blog — www.thought-wheel.com

Our time in New York is at an end, we’re moving onto a less urban location in the foothills of Western Pennsylvania.    A modest one level home with a fenced yard for the dogs and plenty of sunny windows for the cats. I’ll be writing in a different studio, meeting new people and collecting new experiences. What could be better? Shh, don’t tell my husband I’ll be traveling a bit more once we are settled. 😉

My guide dog, Bailey, is retiring once we reside in PA and I know it’s the right time. Next year I’ll most likely meet my new guide dog and train at home.

 

Earlier in the month, I was invited  to interview author Leonard tuchyner by good friend and author, Peter Altschul,   who cohosts the In Perspective podcast  with Bob Branco.  Leonard’s new book, Moon Rising: Stories and Poems  is whimsical and expressive, exploring life’s vicissitudes in a unique perspective.

Imperfections, my second novel, has been slated to be released in late spring or early summer of 2024. The audio for my first novel, Hope For the Tarnished is underway. Below is a poem I wrote during  our most recent visit to Pennsylvania. Enjoy it and may August bless you.

 

Doubletree by Hilton

or

Four dinky pillows for the bed

By  Ann Chiappetta

 

I thought the suite would be opulent

The King  bed

A sultan’s  necessity  for sleep

 

An Enviable, blissful transom

 

Whisk Weary  bones   beneath duvet and anticipate the soft

Pillowed  plumpness  cradling my head

My cranium  flattens cotton puff pastries  instead

WTF I say and inspect the offered spread.

I discover Dollar store purchases within

A  pricy three-night stay

 

shall we be complacent?

elect to ignite our  inner Karen  and

shout of the injustice of dinky pillows —

it insults  our guesthood

 

In the prone position

 

these little nothings  make no difference

 

Another thing about these pillows is their identity

Are they feather and down or

microfiber  polypill or some

hybrid of all of the above

I can’t figure out which one or  which combination

They’re like a generic of generic of generic

I’ve taken to putting a sofa cushion behind me instead

I am not Karen and will not stay there again.

Post a thumbs down on YELP while

reclining on a

Too hard king-sized bed

In a too large corner suite

With too many little pillows for sleep.

 

 

 

Zoom and Zap 🚀

| Filed under assistive technology Relationships

One of the volunteer hats I wear is being a Zoom host and account administrator. I manage the account settings, schedule meetings and  download and distribute the recordings for small nonprofits.  It is a geeky-techie thing and I like it. It allows me to be involved with others and  I feel  like I am giving back to the community.

 

The opportunity to train as a Zoom administrator was a direct result of the pandemic. I couldn’t visit  libraries, schools and civic organizations to present  topics or share in poetry readings. Back then, I felt I needed to learn Zoom if I did not want to fade away from the public eye. I needed to learn Zoom for the organizations I  represented and for the people  I liked and loved to survive while in the clutches of pandemic isolation.

 

The internet saved me from obscurity. I attended Zoom training sessions, presentations and meetings and improved my video and audio presentation skills.  I spent hours recording, deleting and reciting my work and reading biographies. I trolled YouTube for Zoom  tips and memorized short cuts. I increased my knowledge base regarding my assistive technology. I helped other people to improve their skills.

 

It is 2023 and thanks to being a good self-starter and being self-reliant , I am a Zoom administrator for small business and personal accounts. I reached  past my comfort zone and met my goals. I did not overreach and  this is essential to be successful.

 

Here is a poem I wrote about video conferencing platforms.

Zoom and Zap

By Ann Chiappetta

 

Prior to the pandemic

I got zapped with the Zoom app.

Now I zig and zag, click and tap

Interact on the Z

Meetings and webinars

Zoom zooming zoom

Unstable connections

Am I unmuted?

Get the got it button

Waiting for host

Virtual  connections

continue  after the pandemic ends.

☄️

 

Adding Zip to Your Manuscript 📚

| Filed under blogging Fiction writing Writing Life

Adding Zip to Your Manuscript

Cut and Replace  boring and predictable

 

I’ve been finishing my second novel, Imperfections for the past year. I feel like I’ve finally reached the home stretch. One of the indicators is  the task of scanning for redundancies. I think of them as  lazy  familiar words we fall back upon when banging  out  a story.  Examples: like,  was,  he/him, she/her, they/them, and as; passive verbs, nouns and  phrases penned by an average fifth-grader. Walk, sat, looked, hand, etc. “I looked in his eyes,”  “got in the car”, ‘he took my hand’,  and so forth.

 

I troll the books  of authors I admire   for strategies and stylistic tweaks applying them in my own stories. I employ the use of beta readers. I recon with thesaurus.com .

I am a mercenary in the act of  assist in reducing boring and repetitive words and phrases. I unpack the annals of my aging brain and  attack my manuscript executing  the find  function in the Word program.

The Control and f key combination identifies  68 instances of the offending verb,  ‘walk’.   I apply the literary gorilla wordfare. I slice and burn reducing the offenders to thirty instances and move to the next offending  word trap.

Whump!

 

 

The effort results in a tighter and more resonant story and I avoid the pitfalls of the mundane.