Snowbanks, Spoons, and Snuggle-bunnies

Well, the snowbirds have landed back in VA.  We know lots of folks who buy a condo someplace warm and start heading south every winter.  (Jerry Seinfeld even did a bit about that once, how you reach a certain age and the cops show up at your door and tell you you've got no choice but to move to FL and start driving a golf cart.)  My husband and I didn't think we'd ever become "those people," no matter how old we got, because we love living in New England..

In spite of this.

That's how high the snowbanks at the end of our driveway were on Tuesday, when we left to fly back down here.

Wait, let me put this in better perspective.

There it is.  There's our mailbox.

In spite of all the snow--or perhaps in part because of it (because it sure is pretty, isn't it?), it was wonderful to spend a few days back at the old homestead, catching up with our mail, getting some important things taken care of, and having a dinner out with our neighbors--who kindly came down with their snow-blower while we were gone and cleared away the parts that were too close to the house for the plow guy to get.  (Without their help, we would have had trouble getting in the door!)

While we were home, I enjoyed being where I "have my things about me."   (If you've never seen the delightful John Wayne movie called "The Quiet Man"--which you should!--you probably won't get that reference.  I'm channeling Maureen O'Hara's feisty Mary Kate Danaher here.) 

I was especially happy to use one of "my things," the special Christmas gift I got this year from my firstborn son and his wife.

No, it's not the creamer and sugar set (those are pieces of Salmon Falls pottery, made in Dover, NH), or the cup with the way-too-dark coffee in it (somebody give that another shot of cream, STAT!).   It's the sweet vintage spoon that my daughter-in-law found for me on Etsy.  And it's the engraving that really makes it special.

As if I didn't already enjoy the whole coffee drinking experience enough already, this spoon makes it even more fun for me.  It really reminds me of my twin granddaughters, Bonny Babe and Cutie Pie.  Whenever we'd go to their house, they knew I would make a pot of coffee each morning.  Their mommy sometimes drinks it, when she's not pregnant, but she often prefers tea.  And Daddy and Papa are not coffee drinkers.  But they know I am.  And they have a coffee maker that beeps when it's finished brewing.  So even when they were very young, they'd hear the beeping sound and right away they'd say, "Grammy's coffee!"

I love that spoon. It was the perfect gift from that particular family.

So I miss my awesome spoon, and some of the other comforts of home.  But I don't miss the single-digit temperatures.  And if I was there and not here, I'd be missing spending time with  this little snuggle-bunny.

So I think I'm right where I should be.

WWRW: Murder, Intrigue, Suspense...and Love!

Yay!!  Everyone's favorite spicey housewife, Jessica, is back--after taking a hiatus to, oh, I don't know--live her very busy life with her very large and incredibly good-looking family.  But she's back to hosting her popular on-line book club (once weekly, now monthly) called What We're Reading Wednesday.

 

I hope the other link-ups will not be too offended when I say that WWRW is my favorite link-up of all the ones I've been exposed to in the blogosphere.  (But I mean, I just really like books. I like to read them, to talk about them, to re-read them, and then to talk about them some more.  Does that make me a nerdy bookworm?  If so, I wear the badge proudly!  Proudly, I tell you!)

 

Murder is not really a subject about which I normally like to read, on Wednesday or any day of the week.  But that was before I met Amy M. Bennett, the author behind the compelling Black Horse Campground Mysteries series.  (And by "met," I mean became friends with on-line, via an introduction from some mutual friends of ours, books.)  I've never read any Agatha Christie mysteries, but I wonder if these books are the modern-day equivalent of those classics.

 

A while back, I read Amy's first novel (which was the first installment of the Black Horse Campground Mysteries), End of the Road, and you can see the review I wrote for that gem in this 2013 WWRW blog post.

Not too long ago, I read the second book in the series, No Lifeguard on Duty.

 

And all I can say is Amy M. Bennett has done it again! 

It was another edge-of-your seat page-turner, and here's the 5-star review I posted on Amazon and Goodreads yesterday:

 

I recently finished Amy M. Bennett's second novel in the Black Horse Campground Mystery series, No Lifeguard on Duty, and I have to say this: Bennett has done it again--she's taken a reader who was once very skeptical of the merits of the whole mystery/suspense genre and turned me into a fan!

This author has identified her books as belonging to a particular sub-group of the mystery genre known as the "cozy mystery" wherein the reader becomes acquainted with a certain town (in this case, Ruidoso in Bonney County, NM) and gets to know its inhabitants very well, and therefore becomes invested in their lives--almost as if they are well-known and much-loved friends. The reader develops a cozy familiarity with the Black Horse Campground and the cast of quirky and unique characters who live and work there.

After I finished the first book in the series, End of the Road, I was itching to find out what would happen to these people I'd come to know and love. Would Corrie Black, the beautiful yet down-to-earth and humble owner of the campground, end up with Sheriff Rick Sutton, the old beau who once broke her heart but really loves Corrie, yet can't act on his feelings because he's a divorced Catholic whose marriage has yet to be annulled; or would she end up with the intriguing newcomer to the area, J.D. Wilder, a former law enforcement officer with a mysterious past who keeps his distance because he's aware of the Sheriff's feelings? (In many novels, there is a clear-cut "good guy" for whom the reader must root; but both of these characters are fine, upstanding men who treat Corrie with gentlemanly respect.)

My mother-in-law use to watch "Murder, She Wrote," the T.V. show equivalent of the "cozy mystery," and my husband used to tease her about her obsession with violent crimes. "And why would anyone in his right mind stay in the same hotel as Angela Lansbury anyway?" he'd say. "Someone always ends up dead!" That's true of the Black Horse Campground, too--yikes, Corrie's business seems to be jinxed by bad luck, with two murders committed on the property already during one camping season! But without the murder mysteries that need solving, readers of Bennett's series wouldn't have the pleasure of watching Rick and J.D.--Corrie's would-be suitors, who are partners as well as rivals--team up to find the culprits, and while doing so, bend over backwards trying to help and protect the woman they both love.

Bennett's two Black Horse Campground Mysteries are page-turners, with lots of plot twists and turns. But the best thing about them is that they're so cozy. And they keep you wondering: which man will Corrie end up with? The third book in Bennett's series, No Vacancy, is due out soon. I can only hope that it will solve THAT mystery, once and for all!

(And for the record, before I sign off: Bennett's main characters are practicing Catholics, and it's nice to see them carrying out their faith simply and beautifully--going to Mass, keeping their relationships chaste outside of marriage--when so many characters in modern fiction are portrayed as being anti-religion, or even anti-God).

 Okay, are you looking for some more good book recommendations?  Then head on over to Housewifespice.  Because Jessica's back!  (But I told you that, right?)

Grace-filled Tuesdays (Book Club "Meeting" #1)

Well, several months ago I said that there was going to be a book club here at String of Pearls and that it was going to start in early 2015.  So...I think it's about time I got going on that.

Since my first novel is titled Finding Grace, I thought I'd use "Tuesday's child is full of grace" (a line from an old nursery rhyme that begins "Monday's child is fair of face") as inspiration for the name of the club, as well as the day of the week on which it will be held. (BTW--thanks to those who voted when I asked what your favorite names for the club would be.)  I will use this book club to discuss Erin's Ring as well, which has no character named Grace in it, but is also--I hope--full of grace for the reader.

Okay, where to start?  Well, I'm just spit-balling here...but I though I'd point out some things that both of my novels, Finding Grace and Erin's Ring, contain (and I don't think I've included any true spoilers here, but it might be better to join the club after you've read the books).

1. A family with lots of boys in it (five Kelly brothers in FG, four McCormick brothers in ER--and who knows, maybe that baby Ellie McCormick is carrying is another son?).  Hmm...wonder why?

2. A minor character named Harding, which happens to be my maiden name (the kindly pharmacist in FG, the kindly English landlord in ER).

3. Lots and lots o' Irish characters!  Folks with names like Kelly, Foley, McCormick, O'Brien, Finnegan, Kennedy, McQuinn...if you're a sucker for an Irishman, you just might like my books.  (My mom's maiden name is Kelly; and my husband is just about 100% Irish, on both sides--I never thought the last name Pearl sounded all that Irish, but turns out it is.)

4. Men who are carpenters (Abe Perlmann in FG, Tommy McQuinn and Dan McCormick in ER), with comparisons to St. Joseph the carpenter.  My husband, you might be shocked--shocked!--to know, is also a skilled furniture-maker and woodworker.

5. Pearls (Peggy Kelly's trademark necklace in FG, the strand that holds Mrs. Driscoll's eyeglasses in ER).  Pearls are my favorite jewels, as you might have guessed.

6. Reminders of Mary's role as a Mediatrix, along with characters who pray the Rosary.
The daily Rosary has been a part of our life for many years, and we are devoted to Mary, our Mother.

7. An important male character with many of my husband's attributes--physical and otherwise (Tom Buckley, the handsome, gap-toothed love interest in FG, and Dan McCormick, the airline pilot/devoted husband and father in ER--and when I wrote about Seamus Finnegan in ER, it was my husband's face I pictured).  I read an interview once where an author admitted that even after many years as a writer, her husband still got a little jealous of her male characters.  I could never create a love interest for my female characters who didn't have at least a passing resemblance to my guy, so I don't think that's going to happen in our house!

8. Allusions to St. Joseph (see #3), the patron saint of families (and to whom we Pearls pray, with utmost confidence, for special intentions regarding our various family members--especially the powerful prayer called "The Unfailing Petition to St. Joseph," which was included in ER).

9. Information about our dear friends in Heaven, the saints (there is a lot more of this in FG than in ER; but even in the much shorter ER, the reader learns for whom Saint Aloysius is the patron).

10. A climactic scene involving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I can rarely receive the graces of this sacrament without tears, always humbled by God's endless capacity for mercy and love.  It has the awesome power to heal and console, so I think it is fitting that when my characters have major struggles in their lives, they wind up in the confessional unloading their burdens before God, aided by a holy and compassionate priest.

During some recent airline travels, I started reading a work of fiction wherein the main character is a young woman who pretty much lives to read--she's a quiet type who works in a bookstore and always has a novel going.  I find this sort of character in a lot of the novels I read.  And it hit me that many people who write novels create characters who are avid readers (and often writers) like themselves.  My sweet bookworm Grace fits this bill, always alluding to Mr. Darcy and other favorite characters from her favorite books--and hey, it just so happens that all of her favorite works of literature are mine, too!  Who would have guessed?  But with Erin's Ring I actually managed to create two young female characters who aren't obsessed with reading, like I am.  However, Molly McCormick loves learning about  history and combing her grandmother's attic for treasures from times gone by...and boy oh boy, does that ever sound like a girl I know very well.  (Can writers ever really separate themselves entirely from the characters they bring to life?)

Okay then, that's a good start--don't you think?

If you're reading this, and you've read both of my novels, can you think of any other similarities between the two?  Or do you just have a question you'd like to ask me?  Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from you!  And I will respond--that's a promise.

Welcome to the New Little Christian!

Yesterday, our little grandson G-Man was baptized.

My husband and I, unfortunately, had to miss the big event.  But there's a good reason for this.

We had spent the month of January in VA, staying at the home of son #3 and his wife Preciosa, babysitting for the little guy during the week while his parents worked.  (Luckily, my hubby's airline job gives him lots of flexibility and he was able to commute to work from there.)  Originally, we were going to stay long enough to see G-Man receive his first sacrament and then head home today, traveling by car; but instead, we flew home to NH on Thursday to spend a long weekend checking on our house, collecting and sorting through the mountain of mail that's been held for the month we've been away, paying bills, and keeping some key doctor's appointments.  And tomorrow, we're planning to fly back down to VA--where we will be living until May (with the exception of about 7-10 days per month, when we have to be at home and/or other places)!  Our daughter-in-law is going to stop working at UVA as soon as the school year ends in mid-May, and then she plans to stay at home full-time.  She found herself feeling very sad about the prospect of putting her angel in daycare...so until she begins her new career as a SAHM, Papa and Grammy (with some help from Preciosa's parents and some other relatives on her side) are going to be the full-time caregivers for that sweet little boy.

And he is sweet, let me tell you.  Check out this photo of him: he's smiling while sleeping.  He is one happy baby.

Back in 2011, when our twin granddaughters were on the way, I went on a christening gown-making spree.  I made two identical gowns out of some linen and cutwork pillow shams that had been part of my late mother-in-law's collection.  Then I thought they might be a tad big for twin babies, who were bound to be tinier than most newborns; so I made two more gowns, in a different pattern.  The twins weren't all that tiny, for twins anyway (6 lbs. 10 oz. and 5 lbs. 9 oz.), but my daughter-in-law Regina chose the smaller-sized pair of gowns, which left me with two extra beauties to pass on to my other sons when they began having children.  I blogged about these dresses ages ago, and I had one of my porcelain dolls model them for my readers.

Here is the gown that G-Man wore (along with a cap I sort of pieced together at the last minute).  He's about 15 lbs. now, and it fit him perfectly!

Before we left on Thursday, my husband and I took a slew of photos of him modeling his christening outfit.  Here's a sampling.  (It sure looks better on this living doll than it looked on the porcelain one!)

While we had to miss G-Man's big day, at least his other grandparents were able to be there.  And since three of our sons (#2, #3, and #4) live in VA these days, 3/5 of our children were there celebrating together.  When my daughter-in-law Ginger texted me this photo of my three boys, their wives, and the adorable newly baptized Christian, my heart swelled with love and gratitude.

God is good.  All the time.
 

T-Shirt Blankets for My Boys



This past Christmas, I decided to give each of my five boys a special, personalized gift--one that wouldn't cost all that much in dollars, but would be priceless in a different way.

I spent hours web-surfing, looking for a place to have t-shirt quilts professionally made (something I've actually wanted to do for them for a long time now), using cast-offs from their schoolboy days that I still had stashed away in piles all over the house; but then I decided that I wanted to tackle these quilts on my own.  It wasn't so much that I was bothered by the high cost of having someone else create these one-of-a-kind gifts for my boys; it was more that I simply wanted to, as my oldest son used to say in his toddler years, "do it my own self."

I can sew, but I'm no quilter; so the ones I made are technically t-shirt blankets rather than quilts (with no fluffy batting inside, just backed with cotton sheeting).

I spent a great deal of time on--and had a great deal of fun with--the making of these gifts, and I infused them with something a random on-line seamstress couldn't: immeasurable amounts of a mother's love for her now-grown sons.  I think my boys liked them, if the smiles in the following pictures are any indication.

It felt good to make use of close to 150 old t-shirts for this project--some of them still bearing indelible, ground-in dirt stains from football practices long ago.

Even though I used so many up to make these blankets, I still have lots of leftover t-shirts that I ought to give to Goodwill but can't part with quite yet.  But at least the piles have gotten smaller since Christmas!

Here are some photos from the trenches, as I plugged away at this daunting (at first) but ultimately rewarding DIY project.

All I can say is, phew, I finished! With all that was going on this past fall (the birth of a grandson in October, and in November, the wedding of a son and the publication of a new book--not to mention lots and lots of travel), I wasn't sure I was going to have the blankets completed and under the tree on Christmas day.  But in early December, I stitched my last seam...and then my poor, overworked sewing machine up and died on me.  The old girl was a real trooper and managed to keep chugging along, although I could tell she was straining towards the end.  And now I'm either going to have to get her motor fixed or buy a whole new machine.

It was all worth it, though, for this:

Scenes from Grammy's Lap (Episode 1)

My little buddy G-Man hangs out on my lap a lot these days.  Enough that I thought I might run a little ongoing "series" of photos here at the blog during my extended stay in VA, and I think I'll call it "Scenes from Grammy's Lap."

I love today's photo, taken while my adorable grandson was napping sweetly, with his pudgy little hand resting on mine.

I think I'm getting pretty good at snapping pictures with my cell phone while holding G-Man, raising my right hand high overhead while my left arm is otherwise occupied.  (Just so you know, I'm patting my own back right now, with the same right hand I was just telling you about.)

This picture, taken from this interesting angle, is rather artsy--don't you think?  Too bad I'm not on Instagram, where I've heard such photos are found in abundance.  But I'll never be on Instagram.  (However, I was never going to be on Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter, either, so...)

Stay tuned for future episodes of "Scenes from Grammy's Lap."  (You're on the edge of your seat, I can feel it!)

An Irresitible Face, and a Face for Radio

I'm still here, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.  Still trying to have my own little (very, very little--these days anyway) voice in the Catholic blogosphere. I've been busy, you see.  Because...well, because of this, for one thing.  This wee happy munchkin, who is better known here at String of Pearls as "G-Man."

This FACE!  How can I tear myself away from it to blog?  I could blog when he sleeps, I suppose; but I like to let him slumber on my person, you see--in the crook of my arm or on my shoulder...which makes trying to type on my laptop a tad problematic.

I've been spending quite a bit of time with this handsome little lad.  My husband and I traveled down to VA to stay at the home of our middle son, his wife Preciosa, and their firstborn son G-Man, just after New Year's.  We live in New England (and I have to say that with the record-breaking blizzard that is hitting up that way right about now, being down here where it's [relatively] balmy is not too shabby at all).

Our original plan was to go back home to NH on Feb. 2, just after G-Man's Baptism the day before. And then he was going to start going to daycare after we left--just until May, when his mommy plans to quit her job and stay home with him full-time.  But in the last week or so we have come up with a new plan that will enable us to stay down here until our daughter-in-law is finished working.  (We're lucky that as an airline pilot, my husband can commute to work; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to do it!)  During the 7-10 days each month that my husband and I have to be other places--at home checking on our house and picking up our mail (so we can pay bills!), out at Notre Dame for our youngest son's Army ball, out in MI to help our oldest son and his wife when baby #4 arrives in April, etc. etc.--Preciosa's parents, aunt, and cousin are going to take turns filling in, traveling here from FL and AL.

So it looks like we're going to get to know our new little grandson very, very well!  He's going on 4 months old now, and already he's changed so much since we arrived almost a month ago.  He's trying to roll over--and even to CRAWL!--already, and he gets cuter and chubbier every day.  I can't even imagine what he'll be like by the time we head north in May.

So, that's what I've been up to lately, in case you've been stopping by and wondering if I'm ever going to put up a new post.

Before I go, I thought I'd share a link to a recent radio interview I did with Ken Huck for Radio Maria.  Ken has a show called "Meet the Author," and after being given a copy of Finding Grace by an old high school friend, he invited me on his show to talk about it (and Erin's Ring) on January 15.  If you'd like to listen, here's the link (I'm the second person Ken interviewed that day, and my segment starts at the 32-minute mark).

I have trouble advocating for my own works of YA fiction in person--even though I do believe they could be a positive influence in the lives of readers of all ages.  For instance, this past weekend, my husband and I drove over to the DC area to visit with son #2 and his new bride, Ginger; and while at the dinner table with Ginger's whole extended family, the subject of my books came up.  As usual, I got somewhat tongue-tied and embarrassed.  But while talking to Ken on the phone during his radio show, I didn't have ten people making eye contact with me while I spoke and I found it was so much easier that way.  I was nervous before we got started, but Ken put me at ease almost immediately, and I chatted away as if I didn't have an introverted bone in my body.  Amazing.  Who would have ever guessed I'd be comfortable on the radio?!  

It must be that, as that old saying goes, I have a face that was meant for the radio.  Hardy-har-har.

See you soon.  Really, I will.