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That is the image I portrayed last weekend as I yukked it up for the west coast writing scene. I was fortunate enough to be a guest at the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego over President's Day weekend and I cannot think of a better spot to have been.

The moment I stepped into the Crowne Plaza lobby I knew I had hit the right spot. I made a friend while I waited in line to register. After settling into my room, I wandered down to the conference registration and immediately ran into an acquaintance from a few years back in Wisconsin. Small world. But anyway…

Friday night I had dinner with Jeff Sherratt, Mike Sirota (the editorial wonder guy), and the absolutely delightful author of the Wine Lover's Mystery series and the Horse Lover's Mystery series, Michele Scott. It was awesome! (You can see photos by clicking here.)

There were so many highlights for the weekend. Let's start with the coordinators, Michael and Wes. What a great pair of guys. Fun, smart, entertaining, and so kind. They welcomed me, they made me laugh, and they introduced me to a whole new set of writers.

I rose early on Saturday morning to hear Jeff Sherratt (The Brimstone Murders) give the morning keynote. He was charming and clever, but I've not heard him be anything else. Immediately after that we headed down the hall where Jeff and I gave a witty little talk about the Author/Publisher Journey. The crowd was wonderful. Receptive, inquisitive, and attentive, we could not have asked for better.

There were numerous other highlights throughout the day, especially when Alexandra Sokoloff (The Price) stopped me in the hall to talk to me and say nice things about me. No matter how long I am a publisher, I still get giddy when the book celebs know me. Later I got to sit and chat with Michele Scott (Tacked to Death) one of the contributors to The Cozy Chicks Blog and Susan Arnout Smith (The Timer Game).

The weekend wound down for me on Sunday afternoon where I finalized my duties by sitting on an editor agent panel to a pretty packed house.

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend where I made several new friends, some great contacts, and might even pick up an author or two. That is what these conferences are all about. Networking and making things happen. San Diego has a great group of writers and I certainly hope I get to go back again in the future.

If you are an aspiring author, I put this one at the top of the serious consideration list for conferences. And the area is beautiful too.

I also have it on good authority that Jeff was a top seller at the conference.

And Saturday is when I play with my photos.

I love this picture of Beanie admiring a stand of bamboo in the Japanese Friendship Garden at Balboa Park.

That was the day we visited the art museum. We had parked behind the Organ Pavilion, which is next to the Japanese Garden, so of course we had to stroll through the garden on our way back to the car.

We were just in time to feed the koi.

Even with five kids in tow, the garden is a peaceful place.

This next one is from outside the delightfully named House of Charm, which holds the San Diego Art Institute (not to be confused with the San Diego Museum of Art) and the Mingei International Museum, a collection of folk art from around the world.

We haven't been inside yet, but we found plenty to look at (and climb on) outside the building.

And how best to unwind after a day at the park? Relax on your own personal park bench at home, of course! (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the bench and the countless photo ops it provides.)

“Looky at the new link that we got! It’s from our cheetah article from yesterday!”

“This link is to one of the most popular organizations that helps wild cheetahs.”

“Yeah it’s called the Cheetah Conservation Foundation and they got lots of neat stuff about big cats that go real fast! We’re gonna put up some more neat links soon. Ja minna!”

“Konnichi-waaaaa minna san! It’s meeee Jessica Hoshi! Today we got a super treat for everyone. This is our first ever article with a video, because my friend Talitha-chan is super smart and can do anything with computers. This is an article that was written by a guest author and they said we could put in on our site. We love big kitties because Shannon-sama has a big kitty named Kishi that is a magical cat. So we got this article about three cheetahs at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Their names are Majani, Kubali and Karroo! The first two are brother and sister cheetahs. Majani is a Swahili word that means ‘grasslands,’ and Kubali is also a Swahili word that means ‘to accept.’ Swahili is a language that is spoken in Africa, which is where there are lots of cheetahs, but not so many now cause cheetahs are endangered. I’m gonna get Talitha-chan to put links in our Fun Places list about cheetahs so you can get involved and help out just like us! Arigato minna!”

Meet Majani, Kubali and Karroo

Zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds.

No, it isn’t the latest super car or souped up motorcycle. In fact, these “vehicles” have no metal parts, engines or wheels at all. They have names, though. They are Majani and Kubali, brother and sister cheetahs who reside at the San Diego Zoo and are featured every weekend at the San Diego Wild Animal Park’s Animal Shows.

Three cheetah cubs

Photo copyright © Patricia Tricorache/CCF

Majani and Kubali put on speed exhibitions at the new San Diego Wild Animal Park’s “Cheetah Run Safari” where guests line the track and can get an up close, thrilling view of the animals as they dash past, chasing a small mechanical lure at speeds well in excess of 60 miles per hour. Majani, whose name means “grasslands” in Swahili, is the larger brother of Kubali, whose name means “to accept” in Swahili. Majani also holds the distinction of being the largest and heaviest zoo kept cheetah in the country, weighing in at 144 pounds. The largest and heaviest cheetah recorded in the wild was scarcely one pound heavier at 145 pounds.

Because of her size and weight advantage, Kubali is slightly faster than her brother. This may also be due to the fact that, like many big cats, female cheetahs must develop better and more effective hunting skills since they are responsible for catching and providing food for their cubs.

But what is probably most charming about these two magnificent animals at the San Diego Wild Animal Park is the fact they have befriended two dogs from the local San Diego Humane Society. That’s right. Cats and dogs, living together. Clifford is a labrador and Bear is a labrador/chow who were “assigned” to Majani and Kubali respectively, and act as a calming influence on the big cats when they are performing for the public. Like all cats, cheetahs can be somewhat reclusive in unfamiliar situations, but with their companions around, it seems the brother and sister team have an easier time of it during the Cheetah Run Safari shows.

Just for fun, the park staff lets Clifford and Bear out on the track for trial runs before the stars of the show take to the starter’s blocks. While they are probably quite capable runners, as some dogs are, labradors don’t quite compare to the fastest land animal on the planet.

After their runs, the big cats are fed and spectators have an opportunity to listen as their loud purring is heard throughout Cheetah Outpost. The Cheetah Run Safari is available on weekends to spectators and guests by reservation and requires an additional fee which does not include admission to the San Diego Wild Animal Park or Zoo. The program includes refreshments and a 5×7 photograph of one of the cheetahs from the show.

The third “dog and cat” team at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park is also a dog and cheetah team like Majani and Clifford or Kubali and Bear. They are Karroo and Sven, a cheetah and golden retriever team that appears in the “Wild Ones” show in the San Diego Wild Animal Park’s “Cat Canyon” area.

A cheetah running

Photo copyright © Patricia Tricorache/CCF

Karroo and Sven Olaf are the current caretakers of a historical dog and cheetah tradition at the park’s Cheetah Run and Cat Canyon, signified by a plaque commemorating the original team at Wegeforth Bowl in the park. The original team, consisting of a cheetah named Arusha and a golden retriever named Anna, performed and worked at the park together well into their old ages. Chobe and Jessie followed, and now, the featured dog and cat team of Karroo and Sven continue to thrill and delight audiences at the San Diego Wild Animal Park’s many shows and attractions, including the Zoo’s show at the Hunte Ampitheater.

Cheetahs are a unique species, and are among the most specialized creatures in nature. Their bodies are a wonder of aerodynamics, agility, speed and strength, and there is undoubtedly still much to be learned about the way they hunt and survive in the wild. Cheetahs live considerably longer in captivity than in the wild, and this will hopefully provide more opportunties to help this spectacular big cat overcome some of the challenges that are facing the 12,000 remaining cheetahs in the world, including inbreeding, genetic defects and various viruses and infections that cheetahs are susceptible to.

But in the meantime, there’s no reason that people cannot marvel at the incredible abilities of Majani, Kubali and Karroo at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. There is no better way to learn to appreciate wild animals, their habitat and humanity’s relationship with nature than to see nature’s strength and dignity in person, and that is precisely the opportunity shows like the Cheetah Run Safari and the Wild Ones provide. Endangered species like the cheetah and many others around the world are everyone’s responsibility, and learning more about both endangered species and species with healthy populations is an excellent way for people to develop a more profound understanding of both the world we live in and the challenges we share in preserving the natural world around us.

Vacation was great! Very relaxing except for the LA traffic. We went to Legoland, of course. The mini USA is incredible!

The beaches were wonderful. I love the feel of sand between my toes. It didn't do much for my pedicure, though. I don't know what kind of trees these are, but I love the delicate branches. I have lots of pictures of them.


We also took a trolley tour around San Diego. It's a great way to see alot of a new place. I've taken these tours in NYC and Rome. It's great for the first day. You can see alot and make notes on where you want to spend more time. Our last day was at Hurricane Harbor. It was hot—102. Nice once we got wet, though. We've been spoiled by very cool (sometimes cold) weather this summer. I hope it lasts! We finished our trip in Santa Barbara—one of the prettiest towns I've ever seen. Luckily, we have family there, so we get to enjoy it often.

Now I'm home. School starts tomorrow. I'll have lots of time to myself, but I'll miss the kids.

I'm heading down to Comic-Con in San Diego Thursday morning and will be staying for the whole show. My co-workers at AWN and I will be blogging constantly from all different angles of the show. Look for news, interviews, party happenings, cool stuff and lots and lots of images posted every night from the happening Gaslamp section of San Diego.

Deron Yamada, our splendiferous Art Director and lovingly called the Great Volcano God Yamada has designed a rockin header for the blog and we like it very much. All hail the Great Yamada!

Informed Art - Comic-Con Revealed

Hope to see you at the Con.

I love it here.

I feel a little guilty saying it: we left behind such beloved friends back in Virginia (and in New York before that), and leaving them tore me up. I miss them wrenchingly, miss bumping into Sarah and her herd of turtles on the bike path across the street from Lisa's house, with Lisa waving a cheery hello from her incomparable flower garden. I miss pizza nights and berrypicking and Lisa's cream scones and sitting in the sun beside the neighborhood pool, counting heads and complaining about how much I can't stand sitting in the sun beside the pool, counting heads. (I have ever been a shade-loving sort of girl.)

I miss my blue mountains and the view from that bonny, bonny glen. But mostly I miss our friends. I know my girls—happy as they are here with new chums and a whirl of fun activities—still ache for the cherished pals they left behind.

The pain of separation is real and stark. And yet I knew, as we said our goodbyes last fall, with "Danny Boy" running endlessly on the soundtrack in my head, that it was easier for us, in many ways, to be the ones heading off on a splendid new adventure—not to mention reunion with Scott, who is half of me. If Lisa's family had left the neighborhood, or Sarah's, there would have been one mighty big hole ripped in the fabric of our daily lives.

I guess we were the ones ripping the hole this time—same as I'd done to Alice and Brigid five years earlier. And although you know your friends will get along fine without you, still you feel some guilt.

And that can make it hard to admit to yourself how much you love your new hometown.

I love it here, love San Diego like I've been living here all my life. Love the perfect weather, the white stucco buildings with the red clay tiles on their rooves, the unkempt hills rising abruptly from flat scrubby plain and subsiding just as suddenly, as if in imitation of the ocean swells just a few miles away. You couldn't call this valley we live in a bonny glen, exactly, but it's got an undeniable charm.

It's more than just the novelty—an avenue of palm trees will still catch me by surprise, but it's not just the unfamiliarity—it's what Jane of Lantern Hill would call "lashings of magic," meaning an indefinable quality about a place that speaks to something deep within you. We keep tumbling, here, upon places that whisper welcoming words to us, greeting us like they've been waiting for our footsteps since time out of mind.

The brown hills that flank Mission Gorge Road; the breathtaking expanse of blue rolling west from Point Loma, west to the end of the world; the swooping ride down a backstreet in Santee, where the suburban desert sprawls eastward toward red mountains that aren't hills so much as giant heaps of boulders. The old Estudillo estate on the plaza in Old Town, where stout white walls enclose a courtyard so laden with blossoms that hyacinths are as common as the dandelions that ruled our old backyard.

The white cross atop Mt. Helix in La Mesa, stark and serene against a cloudless sky. The Marian shrine at the Maronite Catholic Church, seventeen feet high and crowned in spring with a garland of flowers. The Mission San Diego de Alcala, the first church built—in 1769, two hundred years before I was born (and one hundred years before Laura Ingalls Wilder arrived in that little house in the big woods of Wisconsin)—by Fr. Junipero Serra, before he began his long trek north. Its pews are short, its center aisle wide, and arched doorways on three sides stand open to admit the jasmine-rich breezes. At Mass there, two weeks ago, Beanie sat wide-eyed, staring up at the rustic vines painted on the wooden beams of the ceiling. Her gaze was turned heavenward, but her thoughts were on the things of this earth: "Mommy," she whispered, "did people of olden times really go to church here, just like us?"

"Yes, sweetie, really."

"Do you think they had donuts after Mass?"

My own thoughts may not have drifted toward pastries (for once in my life), but I shared Bean's sense of wonder that morning. It was July 1st, and we were there for the First Communion of a new friend, the son of wonderful Erica who made us feel at home here before we even arrived. July 1st is the feast day of Fr. Serra, and there we were sitting in the church he built, listening to the priest speak about the parish's "first pastor."

Exactly one year earlier, we had sat in another church thousands of miles away, red Virginia brick instead of white-washed adobe, at the First Holy Communion of our own child, listening to a priest speak about Bl. Junipero and the Mission San Diego de Alcala. We hadn't known, that Saturday morning, July 1st, that the day was the feast in honor of a saint who had carried the faith to the destination that was soon to be our new hometown.

"Imagine how my heart thumped," I wrote afterward,

"when our priest, Fr. Francis, began his homily with a story about his trip to San Diego last year when he visited the mission established by Father Junipero. He spoke about Junipero's travels and how he was so full of joy in the gospel that he couldn't help sharing it wherever he went. The homily ended with these words, which are still ringing in my ears:

'Like Bl. Junipero, we too are sent forth to—through our lives and occasionally through our words—share our joy with others.'

So here we are, beginning to feel at home in this magical city at the edge of the western world, missing our friends back east, deeply and daily, but yes, finding joy here, lashings of it. It bubbles up like a spring in the desert, spilling out, starting things growing—flowers lush as hyacinths, for us to pluck and share with our friends old and new.

I'll be at Comic Con in San Diego from July 26th to the 29th. Is anyone going? Would love to meet up if you are. My calendar is just starting to populate itself with meetings and fun parties.

Look for a special from the floor up to the minute account blog from AWN, that oh so fun place where I work. I'll be blogging with my co-worker and fellow blogger Rick of Ricks Flicks Picks fame ([email protected]). We're going to have a dedicated blog just for ComicCon but haven't yet decided what we're going to call it. We'll take suggestions!

Oh and if you have news related to Comic Con send it to [email protected] and we'll get it up on the site!


See ya in San Diego!