MIA

Anny will not be blogging for the rest of the week due to being hospitalized. If you would like to send her a message please put it in the comments so I can read them to her over the phone.
- J (Anny’s Daughter)

After the Blizzard of 2010

Reading for a Snowy Saturday!

Blizzard January 5-6, 2010. Parking lot early on Saturday morning. Still snowing...
"I know it is still early, but this book is the funniest I've read so far this year and probably will remain at the top of the list until next year. I laughed all the way through.

Drusilla is asked to take care of her niece's goldfish while the little girl is away and the fish winds up dying. Afraid of hurting her young niece's feelings Drusilla goes on a quest to find a new fish that looks exactly the same, only to find that someone else was purchasing the exact one she wanted.

The rest of the book is a comedy come to life with lots of great sex in the middle. As Drusilla gets to know Cormack, the man who also wants to purchase the fish, and their relationship sores. Kudos to Amarinda, who is a fabulous writer of books, and blogs alike."~~Romance Book Scene, Roni

"Inspiration comes to us in the strangest ways. Although I never met Lara Punches, her love of life and all creatures great and small inspired me to write this book. Some people, without knowing it, shed light and wisdom in simple, quiet ways and lead others on to achieve. Thank you, Lara," was the dedication that Amarinda wrote in her new book "Pet Me".

Lara was the daughter of Martha Punches, a staff member in charge of Ellora’s Cave/Cerridwen Press customer service, Amarinda's publisher. When Lara died early last year there was a lot of talk on the web about her passing and about the wonderful young woman Lara was. Several Ellora’s Cave/Cerridwen Press authors have dedicated their books to Lara this year as a way of honoring her and her family and helping her family pay for the hospital bills.

Besides all those wonderful reasons, it's a great story. On this snowy, cold day it's the perfect book to curl up with and keep warm. Click on the book cover to buy. Click on the pale green words to read the rest of the review!

Oh, yeah. It's still snowing here in Baltimore! Twenty inches and counting!

anny

The Great Blizzard of 1967

Today supposedly the blizzard to end all blizzards will arrive in our area. Forecasters are declaring an expectation of 18-30" in some places. Bah. Let me tell you a little story...

Back in my day, of course the forecasting was a bit iffier. On January 24, 1967, it was a balmy 60 F degrees in Chicago. The forecast for the 26th (mid-year graduation day for Chicago high schools) was possibly light snow up to four inches. Now in Chicago, that wasn't anything to even notice. Four inches? Bah.

On the morning of the 26th, I dressed and headed off to school. Strictly speaking there was no school that day as it was a combined teacher in-service day and graduation day. But the choir sang at the graduation so I went in to set up the chairs on the risers. It was snowing at a moderate rate.

My parents weren't going to be home that evening after the graduation so I made arrangements to stay with a friend across the street from the school.

At school, the choir officers--President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary (that was me!)--trooped down to the auditorium to set up the chairs. The AV guys were down there setting up the PA system. Officers from the orchestra were setting up in the pit. It was a noisy, bustling scene.

Around noon we went back up to the choir room to get our coats. Our intent was to walk the three blocks up to a popular kosher hot dog stand and buy lunch. Polite kids that we were, we asked our choir teacher if she wanted anything. And she was the one who suggested we look out the window before embarking on our trip.

There was already about a foot of snow on the ground!

After some consultation, the guys decided they would go as we girls were all dressed in skirts. Slacks were not permitted until two years later. So in my day, we generally froze while walking to school. There was no bus system other than the CTA buses.

The guys waded through the snow to fetch lunch. The owners of the stand were getting ready to close up and go home so they packed everything they had left and sent it with the guys in case anyone else was hungry.

By three o'clock, there were serious issues on the streets. Most of the smaller streets were already impassable. Many of the main streets were rapidly getting there. And the freeways were a giant parking lot of abandoned cars.

I made my way across the street to my friend's house. Her mom made sure I had a hot dinner. We watched the spotty coverage on the television until the power went out. Then her father walked me back across the street to the school.

Just about half of the choir, orchestra, and graduating students were able to make it to the school. Some of the choir and orchestra students were stuck for hours on the elevated train. There were some teachers stuck overnight at the school. Buses, trains, cars all were unable to drive as the snow steadily deepened.

The next day when it finally stopped, the official measurement was 29 inches of snow. In the middle of the street where I lived, we had 32 inches. For the first time in living memory, the schools closed for weather. I didn't make it home until four days later.

Then began the great dig out. There were snow tunnels everywhere. Kids were playing on top of the cars. A deep freeze came down out of Canada and froze the snow so hard it was like concrete.

My middle brother chose that week to run away. The cops picked up him and his friend walking down the center of the closed Interstate.

Two of the pictures above are from that blizzard. Funny, but after living through that, somehow the rest of the storms don't seem so impressive. Who knows? Maybe today's storm will impress the heck out of me. I'll let you know how it measures up!

anny

Side Effects...

Until my daughter's family came to stay, I seldom watched television, usually reserving my TV time for things like the Olympics and such. It's been a while since I watched commercials.

First of all. Commercials for sanitary products, feminine hygiene, erectile dysfunction? Why? It would be bad enough if such commercials were late at night after kids were in bed. But during the so-called family hours? Ick.

Second of all. Who in their right mind would ever take medication again after watching the commercials? Or doesn't anyone pay any attention to the long list of side effects the spokespersons rattled off during the commercial. The are bizarro. Many of them list death in the possible side effects. Ummm, why? Why would anyone take the medicine?

"If you take this medicine, you make cease to breath, throw up, have diarrhea, go blind, become impotent, and develop a rash..."

"Oh, yeah, you might also start to see strange pink shaded visions."

And if you notice, the medicine people are all earnest and concerned until they get to that point and then they get all chirpy and smiley. That smile worries me. That's the kind of smile psychopaths get right before they brain you with an axe.

And the topper? They tell you if you can't afford your medication, they can help. Well, if you're so anxious for us to take your pills, why don't you make them cheaper to begin with!!!

I've come to the conclusion that our youngsters are maturing faster because of the hormones in the food and water. How do we know what's in our food and water? Really? And if the stuff in our food could affect our kids, then how do we know it's not affecting us? Think about it. We're having an obesity epidemic. And significant numbers of women over forty have thyroid problems. And another significant number are suffering from other hormone problems. What's up with that?

It's no wonder we can't figure out what's wrong. I think I would have to quit taking every bit of my medication before a blood test would give accurate results. Boo hiss!

anny

Snow * * * * *

It's snowing. Again. It's supposed to snow again on Friday. And next week. This is the time of year when people start reaching their snow limit. You know--that time when they declare they can't take it any more?

The thing is--why? I get the general messiness of it all. The solution would seem to be just stay home. In the last years of my husbands employment, he deliberately kept back a few vacation days just so he could stay home. After all, the kids end up with snow days. Someone should stay home with them.

Do I sound simplistic? Actually, I've been there. I had four kids. Some days it wasn't practical to stay home, but most of the time it seemed to me more important to be safely home with the kids than risking my life on the road.

But if it isn't practical, then make sure you have the car snow proofed. Blanket, extra socks and shoes, hats and gloves, bottles of water, food bars, shovel and salt. Take your time driving. Better to arrive late than not at all.

If you're home, open all the curtains and blinds. Make a pot of soup. Maybe make fresh bread or cookies. Put on some music. Turn on the lights. Play a game with the kids. Invite the neighbor over for coffee or hot chocolate.

So much of SADS is not only the lack of light, but the isolation. What is it about a gray day that makes us curl up and withdraw? That's the very time we need to cozy up with a friend or loved one and enjoy their company.

And remember that all the snow that falls in the winter will be the very thing that decks our spring in color and scent.

anny

Details, details.

Yesterday I spent the day doing research. Research is kind of like going down the rabbit hole. One fact leads to another totally unrelated fact and soon you're researching weird things way out in the swamp where you had no intention of going.

I suppose that's why it's called surfing. You're reading an article that mentions some other facet of your subject and includes a link so you just can't resist clicking...and you're off and running.

Anyway, today I researched locks and dams. The watery kind. On the Monongahela River. I had nooooo clue that the river from Pittsburgh to the West Virginia line is a long string of locks and dams. Now if my hero travels that river, he's going to have to deal with the locks and dams--or he's going to have to hop out of the river periodically and port around the locks or dams. That's a good thing to know.

Unless your book is set in a totally imaginary setting, then the devil is in the details. Which way does the river flow? That will determine which way the water flows over the dams. How many locks are there? Where are they located? Those are things the author needs to know, even if they don't mention them in the book.

One of my critique partners read my current work in progress and pointed out a deficit in the writing. In twenty-seven thousand words, I really had not explained, described, or introduced the hero. Oh, I used his name, but not how he came by it. I described him in a cursory fashion. But I didn't give the reader a single clue about his character or personality or what events shaped his life. Nothing at all about those things that made him who he was.

When I started exploring my hero, I found I didn't know much about him either. So I'll be spending this week getting to know him. So far, he's a pretty nifty person to know. He's strong and gentle, responsible and afraid, laughs easily and is willing to cry. Who knows what else I'll find out about him?

As I peel back the layers, new avenues of research will open up and I'll be haring off, trying to discover which facts are important and which ones aren't. When I start writing next week, I'll have most of the background in place. And then, it will be BICHOK until I finish the book.

Details. Details.

anny