Fourth Grade Angels

I'm too busy to blog today (story of my life, I know!  But truly, my baby is graduating from Notre Dame this weekend, and a whirlwind of activities is about to ensue!).

However, I thought I'd share a few pictures with you.  Yesterday, I visited my niece's fourth grade class at her Catholic school, Queen of Angels.  The kids had just finished reading Erin's Ring as a class, and they were excited to meet me and talk about the book.  I was somewhat nervous going into it; my hands shook a little as I sat in front of the classroom and held up an old photograph of my husband's Irish grandfather, one of the people to whom Erin's Ring is dedicated.  But those kids very quickly put me at ease.  My niece, God bless her, had had them write up questions to ask me, and I was blown away by the depth of thought that had gone into them.  They were not the kind of questions I had expected from fourth-graders; they were incredibly mature, insightful, probing, and just all-around phenomenal.  Any point I would have wanted to make about the inspiration for the book, the writing process, the character development, the plot development, the messages I hoped to convey--you name the topic, and it was covered by the questions this group of exceedingly polite, intelligent, and creative kids had written up to ask me.  "Wow!  Good question," I kept saying.

I'll probably want to devote more time to this absolutely wonderful experience (the first of its kind for this fledgling author) here at the blog; but as I said, I'm a tad busy to do that today.  If I have time to do some writing on Tuesday, when we're back home, perhaps I'll share more then.  Yesterday's talk with those kids was like the greatest book club meeting ever, so I think it would make a perfect Grace-filled Tuesdays book club post, don't you?

 

These are my peeps!  I just love these kids.

P.S. I found out yesterday that the Harry Potter books include a character named Seamus Finnegan, too.  As much as I love that name (which was inspired by two beloved dogs, if you can believe it--one that we got before we had children and had for about five years, and one that currently belongs to our #4 son), I never would have used it if I knew that!  Sorry 'bout that, J.K. Rowling!

WWRW: A Brown Bear, A Yellow Duck, and...A Purple Cat?

I love the What We're Reading Wednesday link-up.  Thanks for hosting, Jessica.

I'm a bit busy these days, so I haven't had as much time as usual to spend reading grown-up books; instead, I've been reading cardboard picture books to my wee grandson G-Man, who like all of us has his definite favorites when it comes to literary material.  Sometimes, he gets a little whiny about two pages into a book, and I quickly toss that one aside and grab the next one in the pile.  But he does have a couple of books that he never gets tired of listening to; and when I say never, I really mean NEVER.  You can read two of his books to him over and over again, without him ever getting the least bit bored.  I blogged about one of them, I Love You, Through and Through, in a recent post.  That title is pure gold as far as my little G-Man is concerned.

My discerning grandson's other favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  I just looked at him and said those words to him this morning, and he smiled immediately.  He knew I was talking about that book, one he knows forward and backward already.  He can listen to its sing-song cadence indefinitely.  Apparently, this book first published in 1967 is considered a "classic," but somehow we never discovered it when our own boys were young; so sadly, they missed out.

 

My middle son, G-Man's daddy, is not a huge fan of this book.  For the most part, it stays in the land of reality--with a brown bear, a yellow duck, and a black sheep; but it also includes a blue horse and a purple cat.  My son just can't deal with those two color choices.

G-Man, on the other hand, has no trouble with animals that come in fairy tale hues.

He loves that purple cat.  He loves ALL the animals in this book.

I know there is a real talent involved when it comes to writing books that can hold the attention of very young children like G-Man, tiny people who've only been in the world a matter of months but already know what they like and what they don't.  The authors of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle) have that talent in spades.

Now head on over to Housewifespice for more reading recommendations!

Happy Birthday, G-Man's Daddy!

My middle son turns 29 today.  This picture was taken 22 years ago, on his 7th birthday.  It was the year he got the Jurassic Park compound playset (his own personal Red Ryder b-b-gun) as his big gift.  Pretty exciting stuff.

I don't know where the time is going, folks.  I can't help repeating that tired old cliché: it seems like yesterday!  Or that other one: my, how time flies! Because it really does.  I remember the impish, stick-thin little boy in this photo so very well.  He was just the sweetest little guy, with the most endearing smile

I don't just remember him at 7, though.  I remember him at all of his stages of life.

I remember him in the hospital the day he was born, all 9 lbs. 13 oz. of him.  His shoulders were so broad, he got stuck in the birth canal; they almost had to break those poor little shoulders to get him out of there.  (Is that TMI?)

This photo was a "professional" shot (by 80's standards), taken
before we left the hospital.

 I remember him on his first birthday, in 1987--oh my goodness, what a cute kid he was.

And I remember him at 5, when this picture was taken--with him looking quite debonair in his suspenders, sporting a buzz cut and nubby little baby teeth.

I remember him as a handsome high school senior, getting ready to head off to Notre Dame...

...and as a beaming 27-year-old brand-new husband in 2013.

Every stage of son #3's life has been a treat for his dad and me.  We have been so proud of this hardworking, kind, funny, and thoughtful young man.

But I don't think we're ever been prouder than we are now, as we watch him in his role as a doting and very hands-on father to his first son, G-Man.



We've told our kids that they can never really know how much their parents love them until they have children of their own.  Well...now he knows.

We love you, dear son and G-Man's daddy.  Happy, happy Birthday!

Hair and Make-up with G-Man

I've had the cutest little best buddy to hang out with the past four months or so: my adorable grandson G-Man.  I've been his live-in nanny since early January (along with my husband, when he's not busy flying to far-off lands for his job as an airline pilot)--and I've got to tell you, it's the best gig on the planet for any doting grandmother.  But his mommy is about to become a SAHM; and when that happens, I'm going to become, once again, a SAHG.

We are pretty much joined at the hip, G-Man and I.  Literally.  The little guy rides around on my left hip for a big portion of every day, helping me out as I go about my business.  A few days ago, he sat on the left side of my lap while I ordered a Mother's Day gift for my mom online. I typed away on my laptop, awkwardly and painstakingly, using my right hand only.  While I was otherwise occupied, G-Man decided to play hairdresser.

How did my hair look when he was done with it?  You be the judge.

Actually, it doesn't look that much worse than normal!  (People who know me well are reading this and saying, "Wait.  Isn't that how you always wear your hair?")

I usually bring G-Man along when I do my make-up, too--if he gets too stressed about being left a whole five feet away in his crib, sitting in a cozy pillow nest with his toys, with me calling out "Hey buddy, I'm right here" and singing songs to him.  If that situation makes him feel too abandoned and sad, I bring him along and let him watch.

It was a lot easier to perform tasks such as this when I first got here, and he was a wee sleepy 3-month-old.  Now that he's a squirmy, grabby, 20-pound, almost-7-month-old, it's a little more challenging.

I don't recommend that you try this at home.  It's actually pretty difficult.  Luckily, my left arm muscles have gotten fairly well-developed the past four months, with all this weight training!  And also luckily, my normal make-up routine involves only powdered concealer, bronzer, and blusher, applied in a rather inexact manner.  Because any kind of detailed work around the eyes might be a little too dangerous with this pint-sized cosmetologist around, eager to lend a chubby little hand.

My husband and I are going to be leaving VA a week from tomorrow, heading back to our "real" life in NH.  And I'll tell you, I can hardly imagine what it's going to be like performing all my normal everyday tasks--typing a quick email on my laptop, brushing my teeth, putting on my make-up--without my sweet little cling-on stuck to the left side of my body.  I think my left arm and hip are going to feel like they're on vacation or something.

But I also think it's going to be sort of...lonely. 

The Imitation Game

I am a huge fan of Kate Middleton's wardrobe--which makes me no different than everybody and her sister, I know.  Whenever I see a picture of this beautiful young royal, I drool over her outfit.  I would like to own pretty much every article of clothing in her closet and leave my house every day dressed Kate-style.  If I could afford the price tags on those designer duds of hers, I would be a total copy-cat.

But here's the rub: without her long, lean figure and her stunning face, framed by that glorious hair of hers, I don't know that the effect would be quite the same on me.

See what I mean?  The gal on the right there is perfectly fine-looking, like most of the rest of us commoners; but somehow she doesn't pull off this coat with the same panache as Kate.  (Of course, the hat helps.)

If I was slim and gorgeous, a long drink of glamorous water, this is how I would dress:

 

 

She seems to wear a lot of blue, doesn't she?  I, too, love all the shades of blue. Especially the shade known as royal.

Apparently, there are Kate-watchers who keep track of the number of times she wears particular colors.  (Some of us need to get a life, I guess!) 

Green came in at 9%, which is a lower percentage than it would be if I had the clothing budget Kate has.  Green is actually one of my favorite colors to wear (along with blue, red, and purple).

I like that Kate Middleton wears simple, closed-toe pumps (my favorite sort of dress shoe).  I like that she wears pantyhose (they don't seem to be "in" anymore, but I wouldn't be caught dead without them).  I also like that she recycles wardrobe pieces and is okay with being photographed in them more than once.

That's one classy coat, Kate; I can see why you love it.  If I had one like it, I would wear it over and over, too. 

I absolutely love coats, and would be happy if they could be worn pretty much year-round.  Not that I want to live in a frozen tundra or anything--but even the need for a light jacket in the summer would be my preference (though where I live, there are definitely some months that are too warm for any sort of outerwear).

Some of the most beloved articles of clothing in my wardrobe are coats and jackets.  And I am always tempted to buy new ones, even though I certainly don't "need" them.  A couple of months ago, I picked up this hot pink beauty for a fraction of its regular price at the Talbot's after-season sale.




I blogged about this coat in a What I Wore Sunday post called "In the Pink (and Spreading Happiness)!"  You don't think Kate might have stumbled upon that post, do you?  Because, well...is she copying me?

I'm sure that's it.



Grace-filled Tuesdays (Book Club "Meeting" #5): Character Development in Finding Grace

When it comes to novels (the reading of which is one of life's great pleasures--am I right?), it's the characters that are most important to me.  The characters keep me reading a book--not the plot twists and turns, no matter how exciting or compelling they might be.  If I don't care about the people to whom things are happening in the story, then I just can't make myself care about what's happening. Period.  I've given up on books for that one reason alone: because the people who are driving the action don't seem real, or even if they do, I don't like or connect with them enough to stick around and find out their fate.

I had several worries when my first novel, Finding Grace, went to print in 2012 and I knew it was going to be--gulp!-- "out there," open to possible criticism and negative reviews.  One worry was that readers might find my writing too plain.  You see, I don't use a lot of awe-inspiring metaphors in my prose (a style I often admire in the writing of other authors); and I don't spend a lot of time using detailed brushstrokes to paint a clear picture of what the scenery looks like, or the buildings, or even the physical appearance of the characters themselves.  (Did you see what I did there?  I used a metaphor!)

But because character development is the #1 thing I look for in novels myself, my biggest concern of all when it came to Finding Grace was that readers wouldn't like or be able to relate to my characters, or that the conversations between them wouldn't ring true. Or mostly that they would put the book down when they hadn't even gotten that far into it, because they just couldn't care enough about Grace Kelly or Tom Buckley or Jimmy Sullivan or any of the rest of the rather large cast of characters that populate this lengthy novel.

My husband (who has not one infinitesimal speck of bias where I'm concerned, of course) couldn't stop gushing about what a great job I'd done in the character development department.  But I couldn't take his word for it (sorry, big guy).  I know he thinks I can do no wrong; but I realized that there might be plenty of readers who would think otherwise.

You can imagine, then, how gratified I was to read some of the kind reviews of my first "baby" when they appeared on the book's Amazon page--reviews that contained comments such as this one, from Catholic author Therese Heckenkamp: "The characters are fully developed, easy to relate to, and real. Grace's relationships with her parents, her many brothers, and her friends, are genuine. Readers will become invested in Grace's fate, and yearn for her to win her true love in the end."  Therese's assessment made my heart sing, because that was my dearest wish--that readers would become invested in the fate of my characters, who had all taken on lives of their own by the time I finished the manuscript and had become my special friends.

Here's another positive comment about character development in Finding Grace, by Catholic author Kari Burke: "Amazingly with such a large cast of characters, Pearl does a wonderful job of developing each of them so thoroughly and making each one so unique and memorable that I had no trouble keeping them all straight in my mind."  What wonderful words to hear!  When I started out, with just a few main characters who'd already taken shape in my imagination, I had no idea that I would end up adding so many secondary characters and storylines to this novel, and I'm thrilled that Kari doesn't think they got lost in the shuffle.

In March, I was fortunate to be able to host a book signing at our parish church, where I displayed and sold copies of both my second novel, Erin's Ring (which tells the history of that very church and the Irish immigrants who were responsible for having it built), and my first novel, Finding Grace.

An author who is a good friend of my husband's youngest brother once told me that sometimes you have to write a second book before people discover your first one.  And I think that's what happened at the parish book signing, where about a dozen copies of Finding Grace found their way into the hands of fellow parishioners who'd come out in support of Erin's Ring and didn't even know I'd written another book first.  Here are some excerpts from a sweet email I received recently from Chris Deutsch, a lovely woman whose kids attended the same Catholic high school my boys did: "The characters are very well drawn...I thought the Perlmann story particularly good...with an excellent depiction of Mrs. P as she revealed her sad history.  I could picture her physical posture as she talked through all that pain with a young teenager."

I was so touched by Chris's comments, because Abe and Miriam Perlmann are very beloved characters to me.  They were inspired by a story my mom once told me about a Jewish couple with whom she and my dad were friends: this couple had lost many loved ones in the Holocaust, and Mom said they refused to ride in German-made cars.  That was the jumping off point for the Perlmann story line, and the rest is completely fictional.  It was one of the hardest parts of the book to write--in fact, I put off tackling it for quite some time, even after I'd researched the historical part and come up with a rough outline for what was going to happen.  It was very important to me to make the Perlmanns and their ordeal seem real, so I'm glad that Chris was able to connect with "Mrs. P."

If you've read Finding Grace, is there a character that resonated in a special way with you?  If so, who and why?

Personally, like Grace I've got a soft spot for Tom Buckley, who was inspired by this good-looking young stud (who just happens to be the great love of my life, the high school boyfriend who is now my husband of almost 35 years).

 My "McDreamy"

To distinguish him from my brown-haired husband, I made Tom a blond, like my oldest son (although I did give him my hubby's tooth gap!). But it didn't take long for Tom to become a totally unique person to me, separate from my best guy.  It's true what they say about the characters novelists create: they take on lives of their own, they really do.

If you haven't read Finding Grace, do you have a favorite literary character from some other work (a grace-filled one, I hope)?  Please share--I love discussing fiction with fellow bookworms!

Mimi's Got a Brand-New Hip

Remember I told you about how my poor mom had fallen at home and broken her hip?  (Here's that post, if you missed it.)  Well, I am happy to report that she has recovered nicely from her hip replacement surgery.  She was in a rehabilitation center for over a month afterward, learning how to move and take care of herself with her new apparatus.  (Now that she has a state-of-the-art titanium ball and socket, the former "Energizer Bunny" has morphed into the "Six Million Dollar Woman.")

Mom/Mimi is home, finally, which makes my dad a very happy Bigfoot.  (That's what his grandkids call him, which you know if you visit here often.  If you don't...well, it's sort of hard to explain...)  He wasn't doing so great without her.  See that Band-Aid on his forehead?  Never one to be left out, he had a little fall of his own while his best girl was over at the rehab center.  :(

My dad is 80 and my mom is 79; this June, they will celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary.  And they're still a pretty ding-dang cute couple, don't you think?

Thanks to all of you who said prayers for Mimi.  She and her brand-new, very high-tech hip certainly appreciate them!