Signs of Summer

The official list.....

1. It may not seem possible that flip-flops on snow could be listed as a sign of summer, but for me, it is. After enduring an unreasonably long, cold, wet spring, my daughter and I found both sun and snow in Colorado over Memorial Day weekend. With a free day to do whatever we pleased before the soccer tournament, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park where they had plenty of snow and 90 degrees of heat--which is why we were wearing flip-flops.

It worked out great, actually, because I'd never hiked on snow in a pair of flip-flops before. And I never would have thought I'd enjoy it. But I did. Not only was it refreshing, but it tickled my feet, which made me laugh as I ran through it on tip-toes....all the better in my opinion.

2. Being chased by kids for a car wash....not that they had the wash-thing down--just the sign, which they found in a nearby field.

3. Boys on rope swings on the Blacksmith Fork River. Oh! to be young again.

4. Baseball......and more baseball. 4 days a week. Need I say more?

5. Movies! All the good ones are coming out. Prince of Perisa was fun. And so was Shrek. And Iron Man 2.

Which leads me to my next topic. I'll be brief....

Titles.

My daughter's friend recently commented that he went to see the movie, Killers. Based on the previews, he thought it was going to be a romantic comedy. Not having seen the previews myself, I thought he was kidding. Afterall, the movie was called, Killers. But no, he was serious. "Everyone wound up getting killed, in all sorts of horrible and different ways," he said. "It was bad. Not what I expected."

?!? Not what he expected !?!

Okay. So maybe the movie delivered what it promised. You can't be any more clear with a title like Killers. But in support of our seemingly clueless friend, I did see the preview after our conversation, and it really does look like the movie is going to deliever lots of laughs. So, until I see the movie myself, I guess I have to give him the benefit of the doubt and accept his surprise. Because it's funnier that way.

And besides, as I've discovered, there are movies that do seem to offer different content that what you would assume you're going to get.

For example, 1408 is not a historical drama (it's a ghost story). And The Secret Life of Bees is not a documentary.

Silly, I know.

One more thing....If America is missing the Statue of Liberty, I saw her in the back of truck on Highway 7, heading south, near Boulder. ... Just passing that information along, in case anyone was wondering.

Rambling, Again

A copy of In Black Bear Country arrived last week on my doorstep (yes--it was actually put there by the postman), and I must say, it looks great. I'm so excited to think it may soon be reaching kids in classrooms. Thanks so much to the editors at Richard Owens Publishers for giving this book a chance. I tried getting my camera to upload a copy, but it's a no go at the moment. Agch technology!

It's been a while since my last post. I've gotten a new manuscript written--which could be a creative nonfiction companion to In Black Bear Country--and am now going through the critique-group route with it. I'm hoping to have it sent out to an editor or agent by the end of summer.

In the meantime, Rick and I are keeping our fingers-crossed on a new manuscipt we wrote together at our last retreat. The whole process of writing it was so hilarious and fun, it almost still makes the waiting game bearable. Almost................

Twiddle, twiddle, ...let's see if that chunk of chocolate cake I just ate for a near midnight snack will kick in and spark some sort of imagination into these ramblings.... Sugar rush, anyone? Maybe not such a bright idea for one who has not slept much the last week. I still need to get up and work tomorrow. New quarter starts for the kids at school.

As for being mom to my own kids, I took my youngest to the dentist to check up on a tooth his brother yanked out this past winter....(they wanted cash from the toothfairy, who tends to be a bit of a slacker in this household and who doesn't seem to be too worried of threats to have her replaced...). Anyway, seems the boys loosened and yanked a tooth they shouldn't have. That tooth they plucked wasn't really ready to come out for another 2 years or so... SO, youngest will have a gaping hole in his smile for another 2 years. Poor guy. His brother wasn't too remorseful. Played the big brother part to form by laughing while reminiscing their whole foolish adventure.

(Nearly) Hot off the Press!

I admit, I can be a glass-half-full sort of person. But I also know I am quite capable of completely filling that glass up. All it takes is allowing myself to get into one of my chipper, carefree, no-worries-in-the-world kind of moods.... And a little bit of good news is more than helpful in putting me there. Like finding out that after more than 7 years your book is finally going to be published. Plus the fact that you've actually just seen the layout of the pages and are actually making final proof edits. Yes, that is more than a little helpful in filling my glass up for the day. Or the week. Or the month.... And if I can tie all this into a few good days of fishing, it could definitely last longer than that.

In Black Bear Country is going to the printer on Wednesday. It's being published by Richard C. Owen Publishers of Katonah, NY, for the educational market, and my editor expects that they will have books in house on April 9... just in time for my birthday a few days later. (I won't tell you what year I'm celebrating.) This has all come as quite a shock over the past 24 hours, since I thought the books weren't going to be ready until April 2011. Suddenly, it seems like all sorts of exciting things are happening. Although really, to be honest, not all that much is unfolding here on my end of the spectrum, but it's neat to think that a flurry of activity is happening somewhere out in the broader world that is linked directly to something I did.

I'm especially excited that this book is going to be published for a lot of reasons. One, it will show kids, teachers, and parents an aspect of black bear ecology they probably don't know about. Two, it may rekindle or strengthen an interest in the the protection of black bears and preservation of their habitats, which include much more than a cave on mountain in the woods, which seems to be the limit of what most young kids know. Three, it shows how preservation and protection has been accomplished for one area in Vermont. Four, did I mention 7 years? Yes, it's been a long wait. Good thing I'm patient. Although, in truth, I didn't expect publication would happen at all for In Black Bear Country, because 4 years ago I'd been told the project had been dropped. It wasn't until 3 months ago I received a letter telling me it'd been picked up again. So, here we are--sitting on a small, yet happy, mountain of news.

To celebrate, I'm heading out to enjoy the sunny, blue-sky weather with my dear friend Kristen and kids. They'll soak up the sun, and with a little luck, I'll hook a finny or two with a lucky cast on the fly.

Enjoy the day, everyone.