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Thanks for visiting Fairfax County with me all this week. 

When all is said and done, our hometown has a lot to offer, but it's over-developed and congested most of the time. That's why when we decided to move out of our tract home 9 years ago, we sought a more private location to build a new house. We lucked out and found two wooded acres, hidden from the main road. 

This secluded setting is truly my oasis and affords me the solitude I need to write.

Since you're here, why not come in for a few minutes?

Here's the entrance to our l - o - n - g driveway (900 feet):
  
 
Do not be daunted by the appearance of lions, tigers, and bears (oh my)!
     
 Your virtual feet were made for walking. Just a little farther.

Now, can you see our house there, peeking through the trees, over on the right?
You're almost there.

Okay, you found us!


Now up the walkway . . .
       

You made it!
        

Care for a bowl of soup?

Thanks for coming! (There's a gorilla behind you.)

Don't forget to visit all the other LJ hometowns. You can find the full list of participating bloggers at Cindy Lord's  cynthialord  journal.

                                                      Occoquan River, Virginia

I like to escape to the small riverfront town of Occoquan every now and then, which is about 20 minutes from home. The river was crucial for water-borne commerce from Virginia's earliest settlement days. It's fun to imagine the Dogue Indians fishing and canoeing, or the hustle and bustle of a busy town with cotton and grist mills, foundries, and a tobacco warehouse. The Merchant Mill, which operated here for 175 years, was the first automated grist mill in the nation. After grain was unloaded from cargo ships and processed, it was boated up to places like New York and Philadelphia. 

Hmmmm. Mill + grain + bakery = pies. Okay, so I'm obsessed.

Visit all the other LJ hometowns listed on Cindy Lord's cynthialord blog!

Next time: my favorite Occoquan haunt
 
  

 

             "All Fairfax Reads" by Karen L. Kovechi, Chantilly Regional Library 

All this week, I'll be posting a photo each day taken in the area where I live, Fairfax County, Virginia. 

And, thanks to Cindy Lord cynthialord , lots of other Live Journal friends will be doing the same. Check in with her for a list of participating bloggers.

Today's photo was taken at the library where I borrow all my books. Thanks to the  Fairfax Library Foundation, there are unique sculptures displayed at various libraries, schools, and businesses, each designed by local artists. The project is called "Art in the Pages." To see a gallery of the other sculptures, click here. Thanks to Sara Lewis Holmes for the link!

I'm anxious to see everybody else's hometown pictures. What a great way to celebrate the birthday of the USA!
 

January was a busy month here at Stone Arch Books! We’re in the thick of working on our Fall 2008 list. All of the manuscripts are in. Illustrators are busily working away at covers, designers are starting the initial cover designs, our librarian reviewers and reading consultants are reading edited manuscripts, our marketing team is starting to work on sales flyers, and editors are polishing up the final manuscripts. Plus, we’re starting to receive manuscripts and talk about design concepts for some of our Spring 2009 books! But even when we’re busy working on our books, the rest of SAB life doesn’t slow down: we traveled to ALA this month, and are looking forward to SCBWI in February and ahead to PLA (here in Minneapolis—we can’t wait!) in March. We’ve got a lot going on—but the truth is, we like it that way.