XXXIII - March, 2010

We've had a gracious plenty of snow here on the mountain and I know that a lot of you have had even more. I continue to believe that Spring will come someday.


I still haven't received my final cover copy that I told you about last month.  Publishing has always moved glacially anyway and the many layoffs, due to the economy, in the past year haven't speeded things up at all. But, like Spring, maybe next month . . .


We lost another dog in February.  Jack, one of the Border Collies, was operated on for a tumor and, in spite of seeming to be recovering, suffered a seizure the next day from which he didn't recover.


Jack wasn't the prototype for one of Elizabeth's dogs -- although we had five,  I limited her to three so she wouldn't seem like a crazy dog lady. But he was a much loved member of the family and we miss him.

Dear me, this is sounding awfully down so far. I don't mean it to.  Suffice it to say that all is well on the mountain. I'm working to finish up Under the Skin  -- the fifth Elizabeth book -- even as I'm longing to get  outside and get to work in the garden.

Questions and Observations

Pat in TN says: Finished WENCH and wasn't too thrilled about it.  Definitely NOT like THE HELP, which many compared it to.  Mmmm, what were they thinking!?!?!  Now I'm reading BLOODROOT by local author Amy Greene.  A good Appalachian novel ... the kind I like best! . . . I highly recommend it and I've only just started.

Joan C. recommends Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts for a different take on history.

Nancy B writes: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is quite a story of the founding of Health Care Partners in Haiti. In fact, quite a description of Haiti's history. This book is a must-read!

Sue P in Dallas was snowed in and read all three John Hart novels and two of the Ann Cleeves Shetland Isles mysteries! Eight inches in sunny Dallas!

Recent Reads and Re-reads

Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island. Anne of Windy Poplars

Chronicles of Avonlea  - all by Lucy M. Montgomery. Books from my childhood, definite comfort reads

Little Men - Louisa May Alcott - another much-loved comfort read about an  early progressive school

Heaven-High, Hell-Deep- by Peggy Poe Stern, a NC native  and farm woman, writing from the heart about a tough mountain girl in the early 1900's.

Kitchen Confidential  by Anthony Bourdain. Could NOT put this down! A look behind the scenes in various high dollar eateries. (Don't order fish on Monday.)

 

These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner - the (fictional) diary of woman in the Arizona Territories, 1881-1901. I really loved this.

 

SCHEDULE ~ 2010

May 17 - meet with Read Between the Lines book club in Morganton, NC

September 28 -  The Day of Small Things (aka the Miss Birdie book) will be released!