Happy Winter Solstice!

Winter, 2008, wood sculptures by Linda Studebaker

Snow- We're almost snowed in here. There is at least 10 inches of snow on my sundeck and just as much ice and slush on our hilly roads. In between snowstorms yesterday, we did manage to get some friends over for lunch. We were in such a hurry to get them back to Seattle safely, we forgot to serve dessert. Now, I'm stuck (!) with a pound or two of homemade caramel with almonds. Weep for me.

Lists- I'm still making lists and checking them twice. Sadly, the list gets shorter every year, as I've lost most of my senior relatives. How I miss my mother and her sisters. It would be hard to pick a favorite aunt. All of them were funny and loved to laugh. As I am just part Hispanic, for most of my life, I felt like just a partial member of their very special club. In later years, the aunts opened up more. In my last visits, I felt like a full fledge member of the Meraz Women's Club (Oklahoma-California-Missouri). How I wish they could have lived long enough to read the books I based on them.

My Aunt Norah and I pulled one of the last pranks together when I was visiting Lawton. A fellow member gave us the keys to her house so we could feed her cats while she was out of town. While we were in there, we put a life-size cutout of Billy

Ray Cyrus in her kitchen. We put an ex-rated note on his chest. He looked so real, he startled her. She found someone else to feed her cats on the next trip. Ha!

On my dvd- Mamma Mia! Psst! Pierce Brosnan can't sing, but he doesn't know, so don't tell him. No matter. I loved him and Meryl Streep and the rest of the over-forty cast in the movie. If you haven't seen it, get it. It's a wonderful way to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Plenty of blue water and sun. I loved every bit of it.

I'm famous in our family for giving a movie 12 minutes. If it doesn't grab me by then, I'm punching out of it. Carl Sandburg did much the same thing with books. I've read that, when he was traveling around college campuses giving talks, he'd stop by the college bookstore and pick out a book to read. When he got to the checkout counter, he's rip off the first third of the book. He'd tell the clerk to save the rest under the counter. If it was any good, he'd send for the rest. According to the story, he never did.

On my bed table- I'm still reading Lawrence and Zig Zag, with a short pause to read my friend Nancy Covert's new romance, Kaniksu Magic. Books are piling up, and I'm not good at dusting, so I'm going to have to take an afternoon and finish some of the books I've started. Sometimes, I set my alarm for an hour earlier, and read until it's 8:00 AM. As an empty-nester, I can get away with this. With kids, it doesn't work. The minute the alarm goes off, they're hungry, no matter what time it is!

I hope you're having a very Merry Christmas. For my friends who do not celebrate Christmas, I wish you much joy and happiness. Thank you for being a part of my life.

5 days until Winter Solstice

Cabo, a million years ago

5 days until Winter Solstice

Augh! There's not enough eggnog in the world to get me through the next five days. Maybe I'll rewrite my Bears in Hibiscus romance again. Especially that chapter that takes place on a Hawaiian beach.

With the sun.

The blue water.

The white sand.

Quote du jour:

"There's no such thing as bad weather...only bad gear." Bob Bundy

Winter Solstice is next!

Merry Chrismas from the cranberry bogs in Washington State.

Dear friends- I have changed my Google settings which should make it easier for you to leave me messages. I love to hear from you!

I was clueless about how Google works but, thanks to J. A Konrath (http://www.jakonrath.com/), I've discovered a lot of message that have been left that I never saw because they were left days after I posted and I never looked back. I always try to answer messages, and apologize to readers who didn't get an answer to a message--I never saw it!

I guess it's time to get some work in. My husband threw away the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers--the cranberries. Wasn't it cranberries that Louie Anderson used to talk about in his hilarious comedic routine about the holidays? He said his mother would say, "There are some on the table, some in the oven...some in the neighbor's garage next door..." My daughter and I used to laugh until we cried. He is the funniest man in America.

Now, you might say, it's on to Christmas. WRONG. Winter Solstice is next on my list. I may start a countdown tomorrow. In case you're one of those people who doesn't notice when you have to hang a flashlight around your cat's neck so you can find it, solstice is December 21st. I have a special lamp for my office this time of year. It looks like an octopus, and has five 60-watt bulbs. It burns whenever I'm working early. My cd player blares Hall and Oates, and I wear all my rhinestone jewelry on my sweatshirt, wrists, and fingers. Augh! I hate the dark!

This was in my email, and I think it's interesting:
Bar Codes Identify Country of Origin - Be Sure to Check Them
The whole world is scared of China-made 'black hearted goods'. Can you differentiate which one is made in the USA ,
Philippines , Taiwan or China ?
For example, the first 3 digits of the bar code reflect the country code where the product was made.

All bar codes that start with 690, 691, 692, thru 695 are MADE IN CHINA.
Bar code items starting with 471 are Made in Taiwan like this one:
Chinese businessmen know that American consumers don't prefer products 'Made in China ', so they don't show from which country it originates any longer. However, you may now refer to the barcode. Remember if the first 3 digits are in the range 690-695, then it is Made in China . 00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland & Liechtenstein
471 ~ Taiwan
480 ~ Philippines
628 ~ Saudi Arabia
629 ~ UAE (United Arab Emirates)
740-745 ~ Central America
Please inform your family and friends.

It is our human right to know, but its not the government's job to educate the public, just to rake in the taxes.

Therefore, we have to protect ourselves & make everyone aware.

On my bed table- Two books:

1. Agent Zig Zag by Ben Macintyre-about a spy who worked as a double agent for Nazi Germany and Great Britain, and

2. T. E. Lawrence by His Friends, edited by A. W. Lawrence. If you're very young, T. E. Lawrence was Lawrence of Arabia. What an amazing person! He is definitely the second person I'd most like to meet in heaven.

The first is my grandmother, so I could ask her whatever possessed her and my grandfather to get off the wagon train in Oklahoma. Oklahoma! There were no jobs there. No water. It was 60 miles from the Texas border where prejudice against Mexicans was off the hate-meter. Why, Gramma, why?

On my TV- not much. I don't know how many times I've watched You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, but it is perfect for this time of year. Lots of sunlight and flowers. Loved it (again!)

My website- Over the weekend, I moved my older stories on Halloween and Thanksgiving to an archives page. If you missed one, you can find it there (http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/ )

Custer and His Naked Ladies- a review that was reprinted from an Oklahoma City paper was in USA Today. I hope you saw it! I missed it until someone emailed me about it.

Kindle/Sony- By the end of the week, all of my books should be on Kindle and Sony. A Three-Turtle Summer and Custer and His Naked Ladies are on them now. Unfortunately, Custer is showing the wrong cover. That happens in this computer age. They'll fix it!

Quote du jour--Catalog humor:

On a plaque: Follow your dreams. Except that one where you fly. That never ends well.

On sweatshirts:

Paddle faster! I hear banjo music!

I was told there would be no math involved

Most of these were in the Wireless Catalog. I've misplaced the source for the math quote...

www.heifer.org/catalog --Don't we all have enough stuff? How about sending small livestock to a needy family somewhere in the world? It's easy. Heifer does all the work.

Spring is on the way!

Belle & Bud, Christmas, © Joyce Stevens, 2007

Poor Belle! I couldn't get out to find her a Christmas sweater. My buddy since childhood, Joyce Stevens, made her for me when my husband was out of town one time. The doll has a growing wardrobe, including red cowgirl boots, but no red sweater. She's a size two, so everything I put on her of mine just hangs. Bud is easier to dress because he's bigger. In the summer, Bud sports a red Hawaiian shirt. Bud was the first to arrive. Joyce brought him over to keep me company once when my husband was away for a month. He is always a big help when I'm stuck on a chapter!

It was a wonderful Christmas here, and I hope yours was too. I think my daughter has outdone me, as she is still celebrating and opening presents with her friends--giving a whole new meaning to The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Winter Solstice has come and gone, and I have to admit that I forgot about it after our tree was up. I keep checking the sunrise and sunset times and we seem to be going backwards so far. The process must be more complicated than I understand. For now, I have to console myself with my calendar that clearly states that the solstice has come and gone. Spring is on the way!

Speaking of calendars, I have a free day, thanks to my husband's insistence that I buy my 2008 calendar early this year. About now is when I usually start racing from store to store looking in vain for the style I prefer--usually ending up with a calendar with an awkward shape, unworkable format, and covered all over with some dorky design. One time, I even came home with a calendar that was designed for teachers--the year started in September! Good grief.

Custer and His Naked Ladies is doing nicely, even though there have been some snafus in distribution. If you want a copy, please order directly from iUniverse at http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/qsearchresults.asp?choice=title&inputstr=custer+and+his+naked+ladies (this link will take you directly to my page), or http://www.amazon.com/ until the problem is resolved. Don't miss it. It's a hoot! iUniverse, $15.95.

Oh! You can also read sample chapters and order my novels on my main website:

http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/

8 days until Winter Solstice!

copyright 2006, JMH

8 more days!

Augh! It's not just the dreary skies, it's the quiet. If it weren't for the next door neighbor's rooster, there would be no sound at all in the morning. Oh, I'm sure the birds are singing somewhere (like maybe Arizona)--just not here. I haven't even seen a crow for days. No lie.

I have new Christmas ornaments, though. We're having some work done on our eaves, and they have discovered wasp nests. I think I'll spray them gold and put them on our tree.

Custer and His Naked Ladies-my new book is being very well received. There's still lots of time to order your copy. It's a good read. iUniverse, $15.95. I've posted sample chapters on my main site.

Well, off to get some light into this house. Maybe I should knock out the wall near my fireplace and put in a nice window overlooking my deserted birdbath (whine, whine, whine).

9 days until Winter Solstice!

copyright 2006, JMH

9 days until Winter Solstice!

The photo above is from one of last year's snowstorms. This year, we've had floods, and I didn't feel like photographing people's homes floating down the river, or their basements filled with mud. In the sixties, we had a TV weatherman who took a better job in California, but he didn't stay long. The weather there was too boring. Now, he might feel differently. They've got as many problems as we do.

Dreary days are good for getting a lot of work done. I'm well on the way with my new novel...before most of my readers have even read Custer and His Naked Ladies. (available for order at all Internet and walk-in bookstores).

Maybe we'll get the tree up this weekend. That should perk things up around here. I was hoping to get our new TV cabinet upstairs first, but it has been so cold in my husband's workshop, and the project is behind. It's been 35 degrees here, and his workshop is unheated. It's zero fun to run a saw when you can't feel your fingers from the wood.

My Christmas shopping is about done. Family members shopping for me are having a rough time--there's nothing I want this year. I'd rather send a check to the food bank, or the Save the Manatee fund. I just feel like I have all the stuff I need.

Our president looks like he's been rode hard and put away wet (a Western saying I'm throwing in for my readers in Europe.). Well, you reap what you sow. Hmmm...I wonder if Santa has new presidents in that sack he carries?

Quote du Jour:
"Careful, or you'll be in my next novel." Catalog humor (on a sweatshirt)

10 days to Winter Solstice...

copyright 1999, Dick Hooper

Countdown: 10 days!

Ten days until Winter Solstice! It's a big date for me, as I hate the dark winters. The only time I haven't was when I was a docent at The Anchorage Museum...where winters were the darkest. Every morning, I'd spring out of bed and race down the hill so I'd be at the museum in time for the first school bus to roll in. Before I left our apartment, I'd always tell my husband that I'd be back early enough to get our dinner cooked, but everyday, it seemed, I'd fly through the apartment door just before he did. I could go on and on about Alaska, but this is not the place. Maybe another time.

Now, in Washington, I am without my beloved museum, and it is just dark. I don't even bother to look for my coffeepot until eight o'clock. The only light bounces off my laptop screen when it flashes Yahoo!

Woo-hoo! I answer back. Saved for another day. Did I tell you there are only ten more days until Winter Solstice? I think I did.

Oh! The photo of the two moose was taken by my husband. He has a ton of them.

Custer and His Naked Ladies was written in the Southwest, and it's a good cure for winter darkness. The days must grow shorter, even down there, but I don't remember. I do remember being cold. In Alaska, I learned that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear." In Oklahoma, all of my gear was bad because I chose my wardrobe for looks. I guess I was trying to keep up with my peers. So I looked good--even if my skin was blue. As I write this, I'm wearing my sheepskin house slippers, so I have learned something...