Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day.

Uggghhhh! We’ve had four straight days of rain here. I’ve been putting on a pair of flippers rather than shoes when Holly, my dog, and I go for our walks. We’re both hoping for sunshine very soon.

But when I’ve been inside keeping dry, I’ve managed to complete an online writing course (Easy Reader/ Chapter Book Workshop) taught by Anastasia Suen. http://www.asuen.com/

For four weeks Anastasia provided a wealth of information on these often overlooked areas of children’s literature. Anastasia also offered insights on three of my own writing samples for this age group. She’s extremely encouraging. She’s written nearly a hundred children’s books and has taught writing for many years. For anyone who’s interested in expanding their knowledge of children’s lit and improving their writing, I would strongly recommend taking one of her courses.

I’ve already signed up for another one.

This weekend, I went on my first
official hike of the spring
with my husband and two other
hiking buddies, Debbie & Krista.
We’d taken a break during winter’s cold & ice.
On Sunday, all that nasty stuff was long gone. The weather was perfect, sunny and 70’s. The bright green leaves on the trees were fresh sprung. The brilliant purple, white, peach, and yellow wildflowers dotted the hillsides. Violets, Buttercups, Columbines, Clover, Spring Beauties, May Apples, Trilliums, and many I don’t know the names of.

Wildflowers amaze me–so precious, so vibrant. Like jewels tossed down from heaven. Who would expect such a bounty of colors and shapes and sizes and textures–such a hodgepodge. And all so eager to show off their beauty in the most unexpected spots. They snuggled up to rocks, tumbled over ledges, and peeked through the remains of last fall’s leafy decay.

So I thought… if wildflowers can thrive after the winter’s cold & ice and parade themselves in such glorious displays, then surely I can spur on my slightly out-of-shape winter legs to complete the 5.3 mile hike without collapsing more than once. And I am happy to report that I made it!

Really!!

The picture at the top is an after shot–thank goodness I had my poles to help hold me up. 🙂

We also encountered a fawn out for a mid-day walk as well. She decided to take another route than we did. Deer–with their state-of-the-art foot gear–are much better equipped to take alternate forest paths than we can.

And special congrats to Andy and Tina who were married on Saturday!!! May their lives together be very DEAR. 🙂

This has been an enlightening day for me. Not only has my new and improved website gone live, but all my windows were washed as well. Now the spring greens look so much greener through my shiny windows.

And all the fun and informative stuff on my website looks so much funner and more interesting, too. Don’t just take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.

It’s all thanks to Zoe Feast at Indigo Image http://www.indigoimage.com. She’s made my new site so jazzy and easy to navigate. She’s an amazing web designer. Thank you, Zoe!!!

Happy Birthday to Holly!
She’s my Schnoodle puppy (part Poodle/part Schnauzer)
and she’s 6-months-old today! Hooray, Holly!

Welcome to my new web site and blog