"" Writer's Wanderings: March 2008

Monday, March 31, 2008

Been There. Done That. Got the T-shirt!


Recently we made the trip to Florida to see grandkids and catch a couple Indians' spring training games. While in the area, there was an extra stop I wanted to make. About a half hour out of our way was a small area know as Fort Lonesome. There has never been a town there to my knowledge, certainly not a fort, and the most I could find when I researched it was that it had two grocery stores--one of which has since met the wrecking ball.

In my internet search I also discovered that it was considered a ghost town. Well, now isn't that just the juice a novelist needs for some ideas? We arrived mid-morning at the Fort Lonesome Grocery--the only building in sight other than a shed on one corner of the intersection. A couple of large trucks were parked in the gravel lot when we pulled in with our rental car.

Walking inside the store was like walking into a movie scene out of the 50s--the one where the unsuspecting tourists make a stop at the wrong place. We stuck out like sore thumbs. With a half-dozen truckers (all standing with drinks and sandwiches in hand ready to checkout) as an audience, I asked the lady behind the counter if she knew anything about this place being a ghost town. Her answer: "We got live people here and we got dead people here. . .and that's all."

I bought the T-shirt anyway.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Book Cover--A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts


As I sit and watch the snow melt--Yeah!--I'm torn between welcoming the signs of spring and being eager for the fall to arrive. Why am I so eager? We (my co-authors and I) have received design ideas from our publisher for the cover of our book as well as peeks at what the inside may look like. It's like Christmas has arrived early!

This is what we think the cover will look like--at least it will be very similar. The inside of the book will have rich colored pages that accent the stories, scriptures verses, recipes, kids activities, green thumb tips, etc. We couldn't be more proud than if the six of us were all giving birth at the same time.

Oh! Guess we are--sorta.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

I Survived the Blizzard of 2008

One last whine about all the snow and I'm done--I hope! Don't want to see another flake, no sir.

Here is what it looked like in the midst of the storm. I call it a blizzard even though officially they are saying it didn't meet the criteria. The winds had to be sustained at 30 mph or more and the visibility had to be reduce to 1/4 mile for at least a three hour stretch to qualify as a full-fledged blizzard. We must have missed the mark by five minutes.





The first flakes started falling at 10:30 a.m. Friday as I was gathering food for the anticipated weekend barrage. It was supposed to start until noon. At noon when I went out to my Toastmasters meeting, the roads were already slippery and snow covered. When I got back, I pulled the car into the garage and it still has not seen the light of day.

The video was taken in the middle of the day on Saturday. The snow fell all through Friday afternoon with a little lull just after dinner. It started up again around nine and snowed all through the night and the next day. It didn't clear until around midnight Saturday night (that would be one a.m. since we set the clocks ahead before retiring).




When it was over, we officially had 21" but there appears to be 24" on the table on our deck.








Under the pile of snow from the driveway is a six foot crabapple tree--shivering, I'm sure.






The roads were still a bit treacherous this morning on the way to church, but the sun was a welcome sight. Hopefully we will see more of it tomorrow and the next day, and the next. . .and the next. . .



Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Longest Winter


"The longest winter" sounds like the title of a book. Hmmm. I'll have to think about that. But it does feel like the winter is never ending around here. A week ago we were dumped on with almost two feet of snow. It melted and was promptly replaced this week with more snow, then freezing rain, then sleet, then ice, then snow again. Help!!

Today we are to have a quiet weather day as we watch with icy anticipation another storm move up from the southwest. Depending on its track, we will get snow and/or lots of snow.

Am I whining? You bet.


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