I love to read. Like a lot of bookies, I could read all day and night, if life didn’t get in the way. If you don’t believe me, check out the number of bookcases, full to the brim, sitting in my house. And then there is my Kindle.
But I know some people find reading tedious, or maybe their eyesight is failing so reading has become something they can only do in short stints, or maybe not at all. I’ve got the answer for them. www.audible.com from Amazon now has streaming books. Unlike the CDs you used to buy and stick in the CD player, you can now listen through your computer, phone, e-reader, tablet, or any other device. Some of us old people find this fascinating. The younger ones, not so much.
But so far, I have two books on audible and another one on the way. Secrets of Sandhill Island is now available on audible.com and so is The Apocalypse Sucks. Stones of Sandhill Island is in the production mode. It is just another way to enjoy books. You can even share them with the other people in the car. While the kids are plugged into whatever movie, game or activity in the backseat, Mom and Dad can listen to a book in the front on the way down the road to Grandma’s house. Ah summer vacation!
Check out my books on Audible and all the others that are available. Audio books have created a new line of actor/voice-over opportunities for those so inclined and it makes books available to people who can’t or won’t read. It’s a brave new world out there.
Go enjoy a book.
I am still in the editing phase with the uber-talented Ally Roberts, of The Wild Rose Press, on my latest work in progress, Blooming Justice. However, the equally talented design staff at Wild Rose Press, specifically Kim Mendoza, once again did me proud. She has designed all my covers at The Wild Rose Press and is a wonderful artist. This is my cover reveal for Blooming Justice, the first in the Keystone Lake series.
My husband and I went on a road trip to Osage County, Oklahoma Friday – such is the life of retirees. If you’ve never been in that area of the country, it is the rolling hills in northeast Oklahoma near Pawhuska. We were on a quest.
It’s Father’s Day! I hope all the fathers out there who are celebrating with their families enjoy their day.
If you read this blog regularly or follow me on Instragram, you may be sick to death of reading about my gardening – complete with pictures. Here we go again.
I was a vendor at the 49
My mother used to call it “junkin’.” She and a friend used to “go junkin’” on a regular basis and after she died, I inherited some beautiful glassware. Mom knew a good piece of glass and she kept track of what she spent and what it was worth. When my sisters and I had an estate sale for Mom and Dad’s lifetime of accumulation, we first called in an antique dealer who was a friend of my parents and asked him for appraised value of the pieces. We kept the good stuff in the house and the junk in the garage. It was an exhausting yet fun couple of days and we got rid of a lot of things. (We also took home a lot of things).
Sandhill Island is a magical place. The lives of the people on the island are linked to the sea and her bounty. Meg grows a garden in a salty environment, Alex paints the ocean with Meg’s produce for medium, Paul fishes for shrimp, Sam cooks for his neighbors and tourists, and Billie sings the blues.
I’ve been a mother for a long time and I may slowly be getting the hang of it. I married young and had my first child much too early, but we persevered (That’s me in in the middle with the blooming belly). Because as a parent, what else can you do? The child is dependent on you. And you will find you are also dependent on the child. The bond between mother and child never ends. I can’t imagine the pain of losing one, but I’m lucky to have never had to face that obstacle. 
I had two children, one girl and one boy, and then decided I’d filled the house up and it was time to quit. They were the best thing I ever did with my life and somedays I wondered why. If you’ve raised teenagers, that sentence needs no explanation. 
Today my kids are middle-aged which makes me old, but we are still a family. Last night my grandson graduated from high school and heads to college in the fall. I remember this stage in life when my kids were that age. A child in college, one in high school and my parents retired and left town six months out of the year. “Here’s the key, look after our house and pay the bills from this checkbook. We’ll call later.” I had lots to do with a job, teenagers and aging parents. But I would do nothing different. It was life. It was family. And it was what I wanted to do.
Years ago, I had an imagination flash and wrote a post-apocalyptic short story called Bra Wars. A publisher who is no longer in business liked it and wanted 4 or 5 more stories in the world I created to e-publish. I wrote them. Eventually the short stories turned into a book titled The Apocalypse Sucks, a snarky take on civilization after a virus decimates most of humanity. I mean if you can’t make fun of the end of the world, what can you make fun of? Eventually that book found itself in the hands of the uber-talented Airship 27 Productions and with the help of Andy Fish 
