Summers End

Is this the end or a new beginning? For me September signals the end of a hectic summer: two graduations, a wedding, and a fantastic 2 week trip to Disney World. Now I begin the last year of teaching. I'm looking forward to retirement but in ways this stage of my life may be bittersweet. I've made many friends in the teaching world and I may never see them again. I won't see them because I will have to be starving to ever substitute again. However, I have my publishing house and my writing which will occupy my time.

So, only a paragraph later and I have diverged from my original topic. Sigh… my family has increased, two new grandbabies and a new son in law. Wonderful things here, but my youngest daughter announced she and her new husband will be leaving in a couple of weeks to take up residence in New York. They move to find work. Is this a new beginning or an end? I can't describe how totally empty I felt yesterday. I knew this would happen. They had prepared us for this before the wedding. But it was still hard. I know this will be an incredible adventure. She has always wanted to live in a large city, but frankly, I was hoping for something on the west coast.

As to the first question…Is the end of something always the birth of a new beginning?

Tired but happy

Hello all,

Sable Angel here. Today my wings are drooping but I'm thrilled. I had a book signing yesterday at a local pub in our town. It's one of those places every town has where the customers are generational--granddad goes, dad goes and now that the kids are over 21, they go too. It's friendly and relaxed. When the bartenders see you coming they have your favorite libation ready before you enter.

Every year this little place has two very memorable parties; one at the beginning of summer and one ushering out the warm season. The parties are memorable because this is the Northwest and outside parties happen within a very short span of time.

There was a band, food booth and, of course, everyone's favorite drink. When I approached the owner about a book signing for my current release Dragons Among Us, he's the one who suggested I combine it with the end of summer party. No problem! He paid for all the extra stuff and provided me shade and a venue to sell my books. Can't lose with that combination.

As myriad friends of the Wingman and mine frequent this establishment, they were aware of the coming release of the book. [Wingman is a terrific marketing manager. He hands out my cards and pushes my books more than I do!] I had verbal promises from many of them.

Well, we writers always smile and nod our heads as we know family and friends have good intentions but don't always follow through. When all was said and done and my weary tired wings and feet were back home, I'd sold four books in my back catalogue and four Dragon books. Now, that might not seem like alot to many of you but I was thrilled!

I'm taking my drooping wings and tired tukus and relaxing for one day before plunging into the faerie portion of the St. Patrick's Day story the other Angels and I are composing. I also need to complete a general fiction novel I've started then begin the next dragon book in the series.

I don't think I'll be bored this winter. How about you? What are your plans for the fast approaching fall and winter seasons?

Keep your wings dry and fly happy.

Sable Angel

END OF SUMMER

School kids will be back in the classrooms in a couple weeks, yet I feel as if summer has just begun. I know much of that has to do with the unusual weather we've been having here in the Pacific Northwest. Cool and rainy through most of June, then summer burst on the scene with record-breaking temperatures hovering near 100. Then back to cool and rainy. Now we're facing a week of predicted highs once again near the 100-degree mark.

In the meantime, many Oregonians are wondering whatever happened to sunny and 80ish, and the wild critters act like fall will be here soon.

I guess the up side of the hot weather is that I'm staying inside much of the time where it's cooler, so have more writing time to finish my story for the Rogue's Angels release scheduled for March 2011. A time machine spins through our stories, from the early 1800s to the time between the two World Wars and back to the present day.

This is the first story I've written with other authors. It's been an interesting process to get the time machine from one time period to another and share enough information about its unexpected passengers to keep them in character.

The stories should be finished by the time fall rolls around, and we'll hopefully get enough nice weather for me get my house painted before the rains start in earnest again. I might even get to relax and enjoy my favorite season.

Do you have a favorite season? Any special reason why?

Summer Vacations

One of my most memorable vacations was actually a road trip my family and I took about nine years ago. Our last major trip the family made together.

We traveled from Oregon to Minnesota to visit my extended family. By the end of the two weeks, we were all extremely tired and didn’t want to see a car or freeway for months. Like most people we planned our trip with an atlas and AAA books with sticky notes on places and cities we wanted to see. Only we didn’t realize the magnitude of the distance we needed to travel and the short amount of time we had available. Many of the sticky notes we weren’t able to visit.

We made the traditional stop of Mount Rushmore. Although I’d seen this as a child, I was once again amazed at the enormity of the sculpture and wonderment of how anyone could make something so grand. The day of our visit was the day before Pres. Bush was to speak there. The area was swarming with Secret Service and technicians preparing for his speech. The novelty of their preparations added to our memories and excitement of the day.

Another stop was to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota where my grandmother was raised. Although she’d never told us about her life there we discovered how desolate and isolated the area is.

The trip reminded me of the old song This Land is Your Land for we truly saw how vast and varied our country is, from the enormity of Yellowstone to the uniqueness of Deadwood, SD. There are many places my husband and I would love to go back and see again. This time without the kids asking every 15 minutes “Are we there yet?”

Cinnamon