Today is January 7th.  This day means a lot to me because it is my first born's birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!

 I dug up a couple pictures in honor of the day so everyone out there in internet land has a chance of seeing just how sweet and adorable he was as a wee little guy.  He still is sweet and adorable, of course, but there is something about being itty bitty and having all that baby fat that adds to the adorableness.

  In this picture above he is five months old.  I think we've all changed since that picture was taken.

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If I keep my resolutions secret, then I may break them because there will be no one to hold me accountable for my actions, right?  So I thought I'd make it plain to everyone what they are.  My son, who is very good about achieving his goals, told me to be specific.  I guess when you're specific you stick to it. 

I resolve to:  walk a mile every day
                    drink 2 quarts of water every day
                    finish and submit Murder on Sprinkle Lake
                    finish the first draft of The Strawberry Street Cafe
                    continue to learn about the craft of writing fiction

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 When there is a puppy involved, the wrapping paper becomes the best part of opening presents.  Come to think of it, my kids enjoyed playing with the Christmas paper when they were young too.  They'd pile it up, throw it in the air and run around with it.  They've been a little too old for that silliness for years now, but the puppy came and gave them an excuse to do it all over again.  The guy in blue is my son, Matthew.  He's working on his doctorate in physics.  Look how fast the dog appears to be going.  Someone in the physics world should study that---the Christmas Paper Frenzy...


We had a wonderful Christmas 2011.  The kids are all grown up now and in their chosen fields of study.  My son is working on his doctorate in Physics, my oldest daughter is teaching Algebra I and Geometry, and our youngest is working toward her goal of Landscape Architecture.  Even though we are all in different places in life we can get together play family games, eat and reminisce.  There is one thing that I found that has to change for me personally, however.  The entire family is in excellent shape except for me.  We were thinking about family vacations and everyone wants to do climbing and hiking, etc.  That can't include me at this point being I'm completely out of shape.  Sooooo---I'm officially training for a family vacation.  Wish me luck!





This scene out my back door was shortly after Christmas.  I woke up and saw snow coming down.  It's exciting to see snow!  I know everyone complains because of the slippery roads, but I think it's beautiful.  It brings up so many memories too.  Both my husband and I grew up in Minnesota where snow was not a rare sight.

I don't think the birds on our feeder are cardinals, but we did get cardinals shortly after this.  There were about eleven or twelve feeding on the ground and on this feeder.  Naturally when I crept up to take a picture they all flew away.  Talk about camera shy--they're worse than me!

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Carolers singing outside of Preservation Hall



Newburgh began their Newburgh Celebrates Christmas Celebration December 2, 2011 with a Festival of Trees party benefitting Warrick County’s Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. Preservation Hall  downtown Newburgh was adorned with a dozen fully decorated Christmas trees and other Christmas items donated by individuals and area businesses. These items were available for viewing and silent auction throughout the weekend. The party was the kick-off to a fun-filled holiday weekend.


Kate Fischer, who is both Chairman of Christmas in Newburgh and President of Warrick County CASA, reflected on the origin of the Festival of Trees party: “We needed something that would create a draw. Carol Schafer and I sat down and brainstormed and came up with this.”













Christmas Trees for auction in Preservation Hall


The Festival of Trees party had beautifully lit trees giving the room a dreamy holiday atmosphere. The trees were all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some trees were traditional with beautiful ribbon bows while others were pink or white with an eye for a child’s room. There were trees that came with extra features, such as a free tooth whitening visit and take-home kit offered by a local dentist! All trees were accompanied by a description of the tree and wishes for the holiday season.

The party featured food from: Café Arazu, Edgewater Grille, Tin Fish, Turoni’s, Knob Hill and Mulberry Jean’s. It was A Taste of Newburgh as all of the restaurants were from Newburgh. Steve Small and Jon Lutz filled the room with holiday music as people ate their goodies and admired

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Dr. Michael Daugherty, Composer

 





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My friend, Barbara Barrett, is standing in the nice, little cafe off Green River Road in Evansville called Cafe 111.  We enjoy having lunch there and right now they have pumpkin spice coffee too.  Anyway, note how Barbara and the man in red are dressed for the fall weather.  I ask, 'What was the guy between them thinking?'   Maybe he's been asleep for a month--just woke up and decided to visit the cafe-- shocked to find the season autumn--ya know all damp and cold?




Cold Legs



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This weekend has been both challenging and relaxing.  I am at a Writers Retreat/Workshop in Spencer, IN  staying at the Canyon Inn in McCormick State Park.  It's just beautiful here with all the large trees.  Most of the leaves have fallen. The silence of the woods speaks louder than thunder...

An added bonus to this beauty is all the learning and work I have been doing on the craft of writing.  I have much to learn.  I think I am drawn to writing because I am naturally a creative person, but also because I have trouble expressing myself.  With writing you can work the problem until it is right. 

 Although I don't have any people pictures at this point, I promise you I have been able to talk with my friends from Evansville.  And, it has also been great to make new friends! 

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                                                  A Tiger Lily from my parents garden.
If this flower could speak, what would it say?  Does it appreciate the lake view from where it stands?  Does it know how beautiful it is?  Does it feel vulnerable or Tiger Fierce? 

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Body Farm


My second manuscript turned out to be a middle grade novel called Murder on Sprinkle Lake. When I first started writing this, I thought it was going to be a YA novel and had an older audience in mind. In that story there is a murder; a character is hit on the head with a heavy object. I wanted to know what the result of the hit would be like as far as blood and stuff goes. I also had questions about the condition the body would be in if found several hours later. My questions took me to the University of Tennessee where my cousin works in the Forensic Anthropology Dpt. She gave me a very interesting tour (including a room filled with boxes of skeletons all neatly organized). She told me that she could tell an awful lot just by looking at the bones. She used to assist in autopsies and explained about that. Basically, I found out that the character in my story would have been a bloody mess. When the tour inside the college was over, she took us (my husband and two of my adult children were with me) to the Body Farm. Yup the very Body Farm Patricia Cornwell went to when she was writing her book, Body Farm. If you haven't read it, you should. I happen to like her writing in general--keeps you on the edge of your seat. Anyway, the Body Farm is as creepy as it sounds. Interesting though. My cousin is doing research on what sorts of animals munch on the bodies. She wasn't the only one doing research, the FBI had a garbage can with a body in it. They were studying the decomposition rate with the lid closed being they find a lot of bodies in garbage cans I guess. Most of the bodies were pretty decomposed. I guess a gossip magazine got in there once and took pics of the bodies and put them on the internet. Nearly closed the place down. So--now the bodies are covered until they are pretty far along in decomposition. In the end I didn't use much of what I learned that day. It is tucked away in my head, however, and may come out in another story. Maybe the one I'm writing now, who knows? My current writing is for a YA audience. An agent at a conference in Ohio told me that if my protagonist is less that twelve years of age, it is a middle grade novel. This time my protagonist is sixteen.

Posted by Lola at 1:31 PM 0 comments

Saturday, August 29, 2009

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The pictures in this blog post were taken by me last year.  I thought I'd write something up for the paper.  It wasn't printed so I thought, hey, why not share this story here.

Melvin Ortez, owner of the Acapulco restaurant in Newburgh, Indiana, has always loved animals, especially birds.  As a young child in Honduras he was surrounded by Amazons, Quakers, and other sorts of colorful birds we only see in zoos and pet stores.  Sadly, when Melvin goes back to visit his mother in Honduras now most of those birds have disappeared making their homes away from people.  He feels it is because they are hunted so much.  As a child he remembers taking part in that particular activity too. However, unlike others, he kept the birds he caught.
"Me and my dad and my brother we used to go up to the mountains and catch them when they were babies.  It was a fun thing.  They did it for business.  When I catch a bird, I don't get rid of it.  I fall in love with it and so I had several birds at home.  Green Amazons, Quakers (little green ones-- very beautiful)--now there aren't as many because too many people kill them.  The people that live in the woods kill anything they can to eat.  some people catch those little birds to sell them.  they used to make their nests close to where people lived, but now you can't find them anymore."

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