National High-Five Day Today, April 19, 2018, is National High-Five Day! I’ve always enjoyed giving someone a ‘High-Five’. I guess it goes back to my childhood. It was the cool thing to do. I kissed and high-fived my husband as he walked out the door this morning. Cooper-Clyde couldn’t be left out. Two down many to go! Yes, I’m gong to keep a tally, just for giggles. I’m pretty sure that every knows what this hand gesture means. But, just…
Dancing with Dandelions Gift Basket Winner! What’s the best thing about going to a book release party at My Favorite Books and getting a copy of Paisley Memories and Dancing with Dandelions? It’s entering for a drawing to win a gift basket! A gift basket is the next best thing to chat with people about besides your newest book that you’re promoting. Seriously, guys. Who can pass up an opportunity to win something for free! A local antique store in…
CLEARING THE DUST OFF MY ANCESTORS Today I decided to plunder through some old pictures on the top shelf of my closet. It was time to start clearing the dust off my ancestors. Occasionally, on lazy afternoons, I enjoy looking at my ancestors and comparing the photos with information that my mother compiled from her genealogy research. Some of the photographs are professional photos. Others are random snapshots of summer picnics, a trip to a beach, hunting, or posing with…
CHOCOLATE LOVERS UNITE! Today, March 6th is National Oreo Day. Oh Yeah! Time to celebrate something that started over a hundred years ago by The National Biscuit Company, now known as Nabisco. A day to forgo the diet, healthy eating, and treadmill. I remember as a child taking as many Oreos as I could in one hand and with my ice-cold glass of milk in the other hand, I’d sit at the dining room table. Are you a Dunker or…
How I get my story ideas Motherhood, thirty-one years of marriage, family, friends, strangers, overhearing conversations when sitting in restaurants, and my boxers. These are how I get my story ideas. Motherhood I could fill an entire book on the crazy things I’ve heard my kids say over the years. Everything from “I’m a woman and I’ve got knees”. (She meant to say needs, but she said what she thought she heard on television and touched her own knees when…
Writing Retreat – St. George Island, Florida. What does one do in January in Florida? A writing retreat on St. George Island, of course! This is my first official writing retreat. I’d been Facebook stalking fellow writers as they posted pictures of previous retreats to St. George Island. I was green with envy. SOME UNBELIEVABLE STORIES HAVE TAKEN ROOT IN THIS HOUSE! I took the plunge and paid the retreat fee with several other writers who deemed themselves “Sisters of…
Book Release Party for Dancing with Dandelions What does one do when a second book is written in the Paisley Series? You have a book release party! The book release party is scheduled for Saturday, February 24th from 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm. at My Favorite Books in Tallahassee, Florida. Enjoy my book Blurb from “Dancing with Dandelions”. With a beach-front fixer-upper Tess Cooper recently purchased in Panacea on the Gulf Coast of Florida, she cuts the apron strings from…
Dancing with Dandelions. Who’s ready for book two in the Paisley series? Tess, Paisley, Butterball, and her friends, that’s who! You didn’t think I was a one-book-wonder kinda girl, did you? Nahhh DANCING WITH DANDELIONS My new book “Dancing with Dandelions” is almost here. It’s a continuation of “Paisley Memories“. Here is a sneak peak of the cover. Elizabeth Babski with Babski Creative Studios designed the cover. I’m a little bit in awe of her talent…I can only draw…
Morning Walk While everyone was still sleeping, I went for a Thanksgiving morning walk. I slipped out to make sure the rain had stopped and saw Cooper-Clyde patiently waiting by the window, making sure I didn’t leave him behind. I put on my inexpensive sneakers, leashed up Ruby and Cooper-Clyde, and slipped out the front door into the chilly, overcast morning. This is not my usual routine. I’m usually rolling over to snuggle with my husband about the time my sneakers made…
Thanksgiving I’ve always enjoyed Thanksgiving. The food, family, laughter, wine glasses clinking. During a recent genealogy search, it just got real. Guess what I found? I found Sarah Josepha Buell Hale. Sarah is my great, great, great, great, great grandfather’s great granddaughter on another line. In a nutshell, she is my distant cousin. The fact that she wrote the words to Mary Had a Little Lamb tickled me. Sarah Josepha Buell Hale Do you see any resemblance? Sarah is known as…