Spring in Oklahoma! If you’ve lived here long, or even if you haven’t, you know why Oklahoma was given the nickname “Tornado Alley.” Some years are worse than others. The above picture is a free stock photo, not my own. I am not one of the Oklahoman’s who run out to video tornadoes as they sail over. I have great respect for the giants. The funnel pictured above could cause damage, but at least it isn’t a mile wide like some have been and it appeared with enough daylight to see it, not in the dark.
This weekend has been eventful in some places. May 3, 1999 and May 20, 2013 are examples of why we were awarded the nickname. We still talk about these tornado outbreaks. May 3rd still holds the honor of the highest winds ever recorded on the face of the earth, 319 mph. That will get your attention. If you weren’t underground that night, you might not have survived in the path of that monster. It sucked the concrete foundations of homes out of the ground. Luckily we don’t have those often or the state would be deserted.
Last night we had tornados in the state. A small one in the southwest corner of the state destroyed some homes, there were no deaths. That is how we count a win, no deaths. Tomorrow is supposed to be some of the same. The meteorologists say the atmosphere is unstable. When warm air meets cold air, there is bound to be a battle. And when the land is flat and there is nothing to stop the wind, a battle ensues. Tornados love the plains and will sometimes touch down on a turnpike and follow the path of least resistance.
But today is beautiful! The sun is so bright it makes it hard to see. The air is clean and crisp due to the rains last night. No damage at least in this area and we are preparing for tomorrow. May is always the most active month. In Oklahoma the other thing that is a constant is wheat harvest in June. You can be sure that it will rain all through harvest and then not another drop until October when storms can start all over again.
But adversity brings people together. My son says he’s leaving the state, my sister already has. But the places they go have problems of their own – snowstorms and avalanches, blistering heat and haboob sandstorms that will peel the paint off your car – or your body if you’re caught out in them.
I think I’ll stay home where I know what to expect. I’m too old to move and start again. Bring it on, Mother Nature, we can take it.
Erin grew up on Keystone Lake and the little town of Mannford, Oklahoma in northeast Oklahoma. It was an idyllic life for her and her mother until her father died on a cross-country trip. Then the two became even closer. Her mother owned a flower shop until the big corporate grocery store with their own floral department ran her out of business. Then she went to work for them. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. But Erin’s mother raised her daughter in the small town where she was born and along with help from her sister, a lawyer in Tulsa, the women not only survived but thrived.
Home from OWFI conference I am exhausted. I always feel this way after spending a weekend with like minds from all over. It was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I renewed old friendships and made some new ones. It’s Sunday and I am supposed to put out my blog. I will try, but I am tired. 
I’ve always been active and able to do what I wanted. I know I’m not getting any younger but my allergies have been terrible this year. I’ve had a stopped-up ear for over three weeks now, gone to the doctor, gotten a steroid shot and changed my allergy medications. Something needs to give. I want to work in my garden!
When The Wild Rose Press decided on another collaborative writing event for their authors, I thought what fun to give a topic and everyone write something different for it. I was right! The idea was to take a setting with a few main characters and all the different authors, with all their different writing styles and genres, and have a ball with it. And we did.
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Oh, that’s already been done. But it sums up this weekend fairly well. It was the weekend of the biannual Heavener Runestone Viking Fest at the Heavener Runestone Park in Oklahoma. I’ve been a part of this event for several years now but this year Mother Nature did not approve. I should have asked her first.
On the way back the GPS took us over unfamiliar territory in the deluge with skies so dark it looked like midnight and we were almost involved in a wreck on a two-lane rural Arkansas road.
It would be too cold and muddy to set up at the festival for those of us not as young as we used to be. Cold, wet and disillusioned, once again we avoided the mountain. We met for breakfast and the cousins headed back toward Texas and we packed the car for home. I hate that I missed it, but I don’t think nature meant for me to be there this year. I miss the forest and telling people about the magic of the place. 
Twice a year the Heavener Runestone Park 
I always learn so much by having a guest blogger on my website. Today I want to introduce author, Peggy Jaeger, and her novella Hope’s Dream. Peggy was one of the authors who wrote a novella about the fictional Deerbourne Inn in Vermont for The Wild Rose Press. I think we all loved writing about this place and I am thrilled to have Peggy tell us about her book and how it came to be.
That story I was milling around bounded to the front on my mind and HOPE’S DREAM came to life.
Today I am thrilled to have as my guest blogger, author Jean M. Grant. She is a fellow author writing for The Wild Rose Press and has written a novella for the Deerbourne Inn Series titled Soul of the Storm. Seeing how she goes about writing her books is a learning experience for me.
