Southern Living Yankee

It's a hot and rainy day Sunday afternoon. We might take the boat out for an early evening cruise, but until then I decided to surf around on the internet for our upcoming trip to Long Island, and in particular, the return drive through Paradise, PA where I will be, as the title states, looking up dead people. Just their names and abodes, not them personally, may they rest in peace. Maybe this tombstone will explain. Notice my name? Notice the date? So I'll visit this cemetary and maybe get a pic of my mug on top of the tombstone. Unless it's walled off and protected from nuts like me. Then I might book a room at Creekside Inn Bed and Breakfast, built in 1781 on land that was part of the original Ferree purchase grant. This must be what it feels like for some people who visit Hollywood, or Graceland! I'm getting all goose-bumply! Must pack binoculars and camera! Oh, by the way, Mom, this website has everything you ever need about Ferree. Our Ferree Family An...

Who put July into warp speed? I can't believe it's already halfway over. Stop! Now! There it goes, calendar pages flapping in the wind. The rest of the summer is eaten away. We wanted to take the boat out today but it rained. I refuse to start painting the dining room and wallpapering the kitchen while the weather is nice. For now I have a large paint chip taped to the wall and it's making me incredibly happy. I bought the wallpaper so I admire it every now and then. It all looks great in my little head. For now. I'll get to it later when I don't want to go outside. WRITING UPDATE: The writers I met with last Wednesday were really helpful. I'm looking forward to working on the manuscript on Thursday or Friday. But I'm also pressuring myself to get the widows blog written ahead several weeks since I've got a week of vacation coming up, plus a quick trip to Wisconsin, plus maybe some company . . . Oh! Vacation! I don't think I told anyone yet. To...

I finally decided Chapter 5 has been edited to death--time for it to rest. I sent it off to some writer-types who will let me know what they think of it on Wednesday--why don't we just spell it Wendsday? So if you hear loud wailing and gnashing of teeth W-morning, between 9:30 and 11:30, that'd be me. You can come scrape up the pieces that are left, tape them back together, glue my butt back in front of the computer and tell me keep going. That's all. The big news--Actual Progress! After I put Chapter 5 to rest, I looked selected a widows blog post to use as Chapter 6. Chapter 7 just needed a brush up here and there, but it was pretty good! Then Chapter 8 was pretty good, too! I stalled on Chapter 9, but it could have been because it was the end of a long writing day. I also formatted the head and page numbers for all I've re-written. If only I could knock off a bunch of chapters every week! Thanks for checking in on me. Be sure to check my other...