New Friend

A new puppy found Ken yesterday. He was weeding in the front flower bed and up our hill came a tan and white terrier. He decided our side porch was home and promptly took up residence. Late last night we did the unthinkable and fed him. He is well trained except he jumps. He sits on command, fetches, and Ken has shown dominance so now a good "shush" stops his scratching at the doors. We have to find him a new home. As much as Ken might like another dog, Izzie will feel rejected and we all three move too slowly for this dog. If you know of someone who loves dogs and wants a new one(probably 4 months old by his teeth), just respond to this blog.

Best Seafood North and West of the Gulf and the Atlantic

If you're ever in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama you must not miss dinner at the Pita Stop which now has two locations. We were so homesick for their seafood we went twice in two days this weekend. You can't miss the Amberjack. However, my favorite is the Seafood Kabob with chunks of grouper, shrimp and scallops. Everything there is marinaded in the Pita Stop's special Mediterranean marinade. My mouth is still watering and I can't wait to get back for another big helping. Yum!

Travel

Because I got to do so little of it for so many years, I love to travel. The same old byways are just as fascinating to me on the one hundredth trip as they were the first time I traveled along them. We made a familiar trek today to Birmingham for a wedding. It was a wonderful day on roads well traveled.

weather

I must be getting old. Here I am writing about the weather again. Well, it has changed so much in two days. Last weekend it was very hot. We were glad to have sandals and short pants. Today I have my shawl around me and socks on. This temperature is to my liking as is summer hot, but it is the back and forth adjustments that require a lot of my body.

We are expecting storms again this afternoon. They are moving in from Tennessee as the last ones did. As long as we avoid hail I can enjoy the lightning and thunder. Hail will destroy Ken's crops and batter our vehicles. I have never experienced this many storms with hail in them in my lifetime.

Family

I love my children. This weekend two of our children and their significant others are going to be here in the mountains with us. We have looked forward to this for a month. The first son arrived late last night. The second one arrives tomorrow night. They are both here to see one another, but one is going to a wedding also. This is a weekend to celebrate. We'll miss the girls and their loves and the grandchildren, but there'll be other opportunities for that reunion. They are together in Chapel Hill where they live.

Writing a mystery

I love a good mystery. I want a provocative element in the book, a complex set of characters that are all important to the plot, and a fast moving plot. That is a tall order if you are writing one. Today I am going to edit Righteous Acts to see if I can make the 13 chapters I've written have all of those things. Other than that it is wash day Monday and clear the guest room Monday and Tuesday. We are having company this week and I am thrilled. In my next life I'll be a bed and breakfast owner perhaps.

The Business of Writing

It sounds so romantic, sitting in your ivory tower at your cleared desk with you computer and all those creative thoughts. Well, it isn't romantic, but it is fulfilling even though you're in a closet that is your office with a mess on your desk next to your computer. You still have all those creative thoughts that you had in the car on the expressway or while you washed the dishes or walked to get the mail. They itch to leave your fingers as they hop across the keyboard of your Apple. And when the day is finished you feel like you've let go of ideas and people and places that needed to be out and about so they could meet the world around you.
I spent several days editing the first book and writing the second one. I don't think the first book will ever be finished until it is published. The second one is coming along much faster. I think I've learned somethings about putting words on paper that say what I mean. Now for two days I've been researching agencies that might connect with my first book and therefore be willing to represent me to publishers. Lots of them are not a good fit and though that is discouraging it is good to find that out and not waste their time or mine. One or two do. Today I submitted to one of them. They had a form to fill out. I filled it out and then the mayhem began. Technology and I don't get along when I am tired and by the time I got ready to hit submit I was apparently too tired. I punched submit and found that most of the form went to the agency blank. So tried again, only to clear it accidentally before I punch submit this time, luckily. Finally, I filled the form out, maybe not as well as I did the first time, but at least completely, and hit submit. I got a confirmation and it made it. The discouraging thing is that if they don't think I am right for them I won't know it until I wait and wait and wait and just am left to assume it wasn't a good fit. That is the way the business of writing goes these days because electronic submissions, though usually time saving, are so abundant that agencies don't have time to reply to all of them and still sell the books of those they can reply to.
If anything I'm persistent. I'll keep sending out my queries and I'll continue to polish and polish it, but I'll spend more time now on my mystery at least until I've gotten emails back from those submissions that said they'd get back to me.

Lighter and Brighter

After all that reading about death, I am ready to be out in the sun. It is a bit too hot to head out after 9 or 10, but 6:30 or 7 in the morning is just about right. The dog and I watch the sun come up over the mountain to the side of our house as Ken heads out with his tools to plant more tomatoes. We've had so much rain that Ken has had to replant. We are hoping we'll have the right amount of rain to keep everything growing. The strawberries from Ken's garden this year were heavenly. We are looking forward to the tomatoes and watermelons now.
Unfortunately, I have a brown thumb so I leave the planting to Ken. I'll help with the harvest and canning which is a joint effort. In the meantime a new mystery is brewing inside my brain and I have to get it on the small screen.

Death

Death is a common thread. THE BOOK THIEF is told by death. It is a beautifully written book that, like THE HUNGER GAMES, is very provocative. I just read both. After reading HUNGER GAMES, I don't think I want to see the movie. Children killing children in order to survive is not a redeeming theme. Young people are fascinated with war and death because they have not, for the most part, at least in America, been part of senseless death. Now nature is bringing that guest who snatches up our souls and children are not so fascinated. It is too real. It is too arbitrary. Even when Death is expected one never can know when it will arrive.