Books and book activities

Once again I find myself apologizing for my lack of timeliness.  This is over a month old.  Sorry!

The local bookstore, Maria's, had an affair called The Giving Back Gang.  Nineteen local authors promised to give a portion of the proceeds of sales of their book during a particular week to a local charity.  The charity chosen needed to have some connection to the book.  The week culminated with a "party" at the bookstore, in which each author attended in order to sign books.

The book I chose was my children's book, Cooper's Smile . . . a delightful (even if I do have to say so myself!) illustrated and rhyming book about a loving and smiling dog helping a child through the trials and tribulations of life.  The charity I chose was Big Brothers, Big Sisters . . . the dog supports the kid, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters supports the kids.  Everything is perfect!

My friends, Burt and Dell, came in and purchased a book, a woman from my author's group bought a book for her grandson, and several other people bought books.  It was a fun night for a good cause.

About a week later, my Indie author group in town here had a holiday "party."  It was a pot luck kind of deal with appetizers, and those who wanted to could read from their books.  I brought organic blue gluten-free tortilla chips and guacamole.  Another woman brought gluten-free cookies.  Still another woman brought something else that was gluten-free.  If you want to be healthy, YOU, yes, I mean YOU, should consider going gluten-free.  Read the book called Wheat Belly by William Davis and it will blow your mind and change your life.  I know it did mine.  In a group of maybe fifteen people, to have four or five of them be gluten-free was just amazing to me.

After I munched down on the chips and guacamole and the gluten-free cookies, it was time for the readings.  It was really interesting hearing all the different people . . . we had been to many meetings together in the last year, but had never heard each other's works.  I read from my book called The Unicorn Whisperer.  Then, I read another piece, as yet unpublished, from the coming sequel.  It was well-received.  Unicorn Whisperer is a book that many mistake for a children's book.  It can be . . . it is appropriate for children . . . in the same way the Little Prince is, not that I'm comparing myself to Exupery . . . but, I'd like to!  Unicorn Whisper has many "lessons from life" in it . . . according to one of my reviewers . . . and I heartily agree . . . cause I put them in there!!

Preview of coming attractions:  an adventure far from home!

Mini-adventures

I normally go hiking shortly after breakfast, and on this particular day I left later than normal.  That's the only thing I can think to attribute it to.  I walked along the usual path and something about thirty feet from the trail caught my eye . . . something glinting in the sunlight.  I left the trail and walked over to it. It was an old bottle.  Curious, I thought.  What is that doing there?  I walked a few steps up a small hill close to the bottle, and to my surprise, there was an old dump!  I LOVE old dumps!  This one was awesome . . . a lot of bottles . . . an old sink . . . a bedstead.  (At least that's how I remember it, as it's been awhile, now!)  Moki wanted to walk around to, but with all the broken glass around, I made him stay in one place, which he was not happy about at all.  I walked all around and through examining all the treasures.  There was a piece of concrete/cement (what's the difference?), about a foot and a half wide, with the date, 1953, on it!  How cool is that!?  I checked it all out, walked back to our usual trail, and we continued our walk, with me smiling ear to ear!

Snow.  So I went snowshoeing a few times.  The first time was with Bob, who was on cross country skis.  As you might imagine, I had to really push to keep up with him.  He said to go at my own pace, but then he would get miles ahead and if we can't talk, what's the use of going together.  So, I pushed.  Hard.  By the time we got to the regular trailhead (we have to park about a mile away now because they lock the gates after the first snow fall), I was already tired.  The beginning of the trail is uphill for a ways.  It's never bothered me before, because when we used to hike it, we could park right there at the trailhead.  But, now, I had already been pushing for a mile or so.  The first hill killed me so much that I yelled up to Bob to stop when he got to the top.  The top, to my perspective about ten or fifteen feet behind him, looked like it was another six feet.  But, when I got to what I thought was the top, Bob was way out in front of me, climbing yet another hill.  Meanwhile, ten minutes later, we finally got to the top.  I was wasted.  I plunged down into the snow to rest, and didn't get up until it started seeping into my jeans.  Well, Bob was disappointed when I said I was done, but he still had a long way to go and he wasn't going to turn around.  So, I somehow dragged myself back to the car . . . including the long uphill that I had to traverse to get to the car.  But, I survived . . . barely!!

So the next time, I just snowshoed out for about ten minutes and back again.  I did that twice on a trail that I didn't recognize.  After that, I wanted to find out where the trail went, so I kept following it and hoped it would lead in a circle and not out into who knows where.  After a while, I had a feeling that I knew where it was going, and thankfully, I did!  It met up with my normal hiking trail . . . so I knew exactly where I was.  Now, I have a nice little loop to walk or snowshoe.  When the snow is packed down, I can walk it without snowshoes, but with my little studs on.

So, all of the above was awhile ago . . . it hasn't snowed and I've been walking with the studs.  I can go farther that way.  It was only yesterday that I looked around to see the "diamond glints" on the snow.  I love them.  I can't tell you how much.  It's magical to me, totally magical.  And, they remind me of something else.  There was a poem that I read at my Mom's memorial service, and one of the lines was, "I am the diamond glints on snow."  So, when I see those diamond glints, it makes me think of my Mom . . . like she is there hiking with me.  Although . . . she wasn't really a hiker, so she wouldn't stay long!  Today,  I noticed some animal tracks that were cool, too.  Just little ones.  They had melted too much for me to try to identify the creature, but I like looking at them anyway.