ABOUT A BIRD

Luanna Rugh is a close friend. I have edited several of her books. In addition, she participated in all six of the Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies.

Luanna’s stories nearly always include animals—usually dogs. Quite a while ago, she began a story with a scarlet macaw as a principal character. Other projects prevented her from finishing it, but I always loved it—especially the opening.

Up in Flames is a romance with lots of complications.

“Nine—one—one. What is the nature of your emergency?” “Our bird’s stuck in a tall tree.” “Young man, this number is for human emergencies only.” “It is. Honest, lady. My mom was trying to get our macaw down. Now her foot is caught and she’s stuck in the tree, too. I didn’t know what else to do.”

A young widow with a son in a new town, a bird stuck in a tree, an unsympathetic fire captain—how can this lead to romance? Lyanna Thomas and her son, Davey, have moved to Aspen Grove Colorado following her husband’s death. When their macaw, Scarlet, decides to go adventuring, a whole new world opens up for the family.

When our writing group had to stop meeting due to the pandemic, I encouraged Luanna to finish the book, and I did the final edit and formatting.

Larry designed the cover. 

Luanna knows all about macaws and parrots because she has one herself. She totally conveys their behavior. Scarlet is definitely a pivotal character in the book.

If you enjoy romance with a sense of humor, you will love this book.

LUANNA RUGH was born and raised on a dairy in Central California. She always loved animals, cats and dogs, cows and horses, not to mention the many wild animals living in the area. At ten, she decided she wanted to become a high school biology teacher.

Her family moved to Southern California the year she entered high school. Luanna followed her path in college until the summer of 1966. She worked at a local restaurant where she met the love of her life, Len Rugh. They were married in February of 1967. A year and a half later, Len was drafted and sent to Vietnam where he was critically wounded, but that’s another story.

When Len returned to California, she finished school and earned two teaching credentials in 1984.

At age fifty-seven, she discovered she could write when she co-authored the first of the six books in the Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies. She contributed to all six of them.

After she and Len published their award-winning memoir, Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam, she decided to stretch her wings, and write on her own. She loves writing animals as supporting characters. In Love From the Sea, a dog plays a major role. In Up in Flames, another dog and a scarlet macaw are lead characters.

Her books are available in paperback and Kindle editions. Most are also available as audiobooks.

She hopes you enjoy reading them as much as she loved writing them.

A TALE OF TWO CULTURES

I met Carol Van Kirk at church. When she discovered we were authors, she said she had been working on a book for years. I invited her to join Lagunita Writers, our critique group.

She brought chapters of her book, and everyone looked forward to learning more of her story each week. Her writing was outstanding, and she had a compelling story to tell.

Then came the pandemic…

The group stopped meeting, and the majority did not want to continue via Zoom.

I knew Carol was anxious to get her book finished and published. I called her, and we worked on the edit together. When it was ready, she published it.

Her husband, Nick, a graphic artist, produced an amazing cover.

The Yellow Lizard: A Tale of Two Cultures is Carol’s memoir. Written with contributions from her daughter, Allison Langbridge, Carol tells the bittersweet, and often funny, story of sharing the raising of her children between Southern California and Tahiti.

As a recently divorced mom of two teenagers, Carol agreed to paternal visitation rights of every other weekend and a month in the summer for her children. Soon after the marital dust settled, however, Dad moved to the remote island of Moorea in French Polynesia, aka Tahiti.

Thus began summers in Tahiti for these two over-indulged kids. Eventually, Allison graduated from school and settled into a conventional job and lifestyle in California. Her brother Alec, however, fell in love with and married a local vahine, Anne. This bicultural couple launched a vagabond lifestyle between an Island Paradise in the South Pacific and staid Orange County, California, filled with adventures, mostly comical and implausible. When two children arrived, however, they settled into a house in Opunohu Bay on Moorea. Subsequently, Grandma Carol became a regular visitor on this island that many people, including James Michener, have referred to as the most beautiful island in the South Pacific. Over the years, she became familiar with the Tahitian traditions and superstitions, some she embraced, others she found amusing, absurd, and sometimes downright scary.

But when tragedy struck, it was the Tahitians, not her American friends, who brought peace and comfort with their close spiritual connections to nature. Who then, she wonders, are the unsophisticated primitives?

The book includes many photos. I created a video trailer for it (something I rarely do for books I edit).

The book is available on Amazon in print and Kindle versions. I’m sure you will enjoy reading about her adventures in Paradise.

CAROL VAN KIRK is a technical writer and editor, who has written for various publications including alternative healthcare periodicals, trade journals and technical manuals, training manuals and online computer Help systems. She was copy editor three years for the magazine Yerevan, which was circulated internationally.

The Yellow Lizard was written as a project to share her family’s unusual background and history with the younger generation, but it soon grew into a full-fledged memoir. She is currently at work on a book of myths and legends of the Maohi Tahitians. Carol currently lives in southern California with her daughter and great-grandson.

A MOTHER’S HEART

Another book I loved working on was It’s Amazing – She Looks Just Like You: The Story of Sophia and Me, by Dawn Mauro with Carol Ann Mauro.

Dawn always wanted to be a mother, but the husband/partner in the equation never appeared. She tried all the options here in America to become a single parent, but for one reason or another, they did not work out.

By what can only be described as divine intervention, she was led to All God’s Children International (AGCI) in Nepal. She recounts the arduous journey of application, multiple forms, and other requirements—and lots of waiting, expense, and red tape—before she was finally approved for adoption.

So, she and her mother, Carol, set off for Kathmandu, and the adventure of a lifetime. Her determination was tried many times, but she felt God had led her to this place and this orphanage—and this child.

Carol contributes her memories to the book, adding a special dimension. The love of these two women, provided the foundation for the love of this precious child.

In editing the book, I got to know both Carol and Dawn. Their deep love of the orphans of Nepal transcends Sophia’s adoption. Carol; has become a major supporter of the orphanage and is now known as the “godmother” of the children there.

I so loved all the beautiful photos Dawn included in the book that I prepared a video trailer for it. (This is something I rarely do for the books I edit.) 

Their story is a triumph of hope and love. It is inspiring and will leave you with tears of joy. It’s a feel-good read you will truly enjoy.

Sophia just became a teenager, but she continues to inspire. She recently shaved off her long hair in order to make wigs for kids with cancer. You will not regret getting to know this inspiring family.

ON THE WINGS OF FREEDOM

 I recently wrote about my ancestor, William Blackwood, who was a publisher and editor. In the last few years, I have done more editing and publishing than writing. I love helping others achieve their dreams of being published authors. In the next few weeks, I will share with you some of the wonderful books I have been privileged to work on. (I help the writers I work with to self-publish their books so they have total control over them.)

One of these books is On the Wings of Freedom.

I was recommended to first-time author Malanna Carey Henderson as an editor. (These days, most of my editing is done for people on the recommendation of others.)

The book contained a McGuffin—a bird in flight carved out of bone. (McGuffin is a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock for an object that serves as a trigger for the plot. Think of the blackbird statue in The Maltese Falcon.) Strangely, I had one! My dad had sent it to my mom when he was in the service in WWII. It had a letter in its mouth, but Larry assured me he could remove it digitally.

This felt like a sign that I should work on this book. I also liked the theme and plot.

Because we write historical fiction, I was well-aware that readers of the genre will destroy an author in reviews if they get anything wrong. Unfortunately, I discovered quite a few things in this manuscript that were inconsistent for the period. Thank goodness, Malanna was willing to do the necessary research—and rewriting—to make it correct.

During the writing process, I mentioned the carved bird to my daughter. “I have one, too,” she responded.

Shortly afterward, we went to visit her, and she showed it to me. It had been with my mother-in-love’s jewelry. Neither she nor I nor Larry knew whose it was originally. I really loved this one. It was in full flight and precisely the image Malanna had described.

Larry liked it, too and used it for the cover.

When the book was published, my daughter said I could send the original bird to Melanna to be used for whatever purpose she chose. Mine will go to my daughter, and she will know the story behind it.

This is the synopsis of the story:

Born free in New York City, Carrie Bennet is unprepared to hear the family secrets her ailing mother, Sarah, reveals. An educated woman who has led a sheltered life, Carrie travels south to fulfill her mother’s dying wish―to free her grandmother from slavery. Circumstances set her on a perilous path that jeopardizes her freedom and leads to a charge of murder. Fearing she’d never get a fair trial, Carrie travels north on the Underground Railroad and joins Harriet Tubman. As her life hangs in the balance, Carrie fights an unjust judicial system as she struggles to deny a forbidden love.

Malanna Carey Henderson has written and produced ten plays which have been performed in Brooklyn, New York; Culpeper and Fredericksburg, Virginia. For the past two years, she has worked with members of the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, Shiloh Baptist New Site, the United Methodist Church, and St. George’s Episcopal Church to produce vignettes under the title: Untold Stories. These vignettes focused on little-known historical events featuring the contributions of African Americans as spies and military heroes to celebrate Black History Month. The one-act plays included To His Excellency George Washington, Camp Casey, It Was a Matter of Pride, Democracy is a Weapon, Secret Codes and The Pension Office.

In 2009, she won first place in the One-Act Play Festival sponsored by Stage Door Productions for The Eclipse. She won a first-place award sponsored by the Tulsa City County Library for A Question of Color.

A native Detroiter, she earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from City University of New York, Brooklyn Campus and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Detroit.

On the Wings of Freedom is her first novel. She lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with her wonderfully supportive husband.

Malanna as a Civil War reenactor

I hope you will give the book a try. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I have!

I will continue to share some of the wonderful, but little-known, books I have been privileged to have worked on.

What We Inherit

I have been interested in genealogy for many years. My grandfather’s Mormon family heritage is pretty well-documented with lots of stories about the Pioneers who helped settle Utah. (My grandfather was one of twenty-three children.)

My dad’s mother was Irish. I traced her side back a couple of generations, but like many Irish-Americans, the early records seem to have been lost.

Larry’s aunt did a great job of documenting his father’s family. She even wrote several articles for a publication in celebration of the centennial of her hometown. His mother’s mother was a Woolworth, but not the rich branch. Their family heritage has been traced back to Charlemagne. Larry laughed at all the European royalty in his tree. But when we had our DNA sequenced, the findings tended to support everything I had found. (He is descended from both leaders of the Battle of Hastings—William the Conqueror and King Harold—and many, many other kings, queens, and other royalty.)

I knew my maternal grandfather’s family was from Methven, Scotland. We visited the town when we were there in 1995. His branch moved to Clyde Bank, a famous shipbuilding city, before they emigrated to Canada and then to the US.

My maternal grandmother claimed that her family was 100% Scottish. I’m sure she didn’t know about her second great-grandmother. I received copies of the family records from her family’s Bible from a cousin on that side some years after my grandmother died. Her great-grandmother was listed as “Grace Smith from County Cork.” I was tickled when I found this, thinking how disturbed Grandma would have been to know this.

I knew her father was a school teacher and a member of the school board. I was proud to know that her family valued education.

I have had a membership in Ancestry.com for many, many years. I’ve uploaded all of the material I received from Larry’s aunt and my Mormon ancestors there, along with the family pictures and stories I have acquired. I have also been able to link to the work of others.

Last week, I got one of the best surprises ever. I discovered that my fifth-great-grandfather on my maternal grandmother’s line was William Blackwood, an editor and publisher. What a fascinating man.

In 1804, he opened a store where he sold old and curious books. From there, he moved into publishing. In 1817, he began to publish Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. It eventually became Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. His magazine was the first to publish work by an American, an essay by John Neal.

It also published many famous English writers: Joseph Conrad, George Eliot, and E.M. Forster, among others. After William died, various other family members continued the business. It lasted until 1980, when it was amalgamated. (No members of my immediate family were involved.)

For the last twenty years or so, I have not only been an author, but I edited for several independent publishers. Throughout my career, I wrote policies and procedures for every job I ever had. One boss used to plop down in the chair in my office and say, “Make me sound good.” He’d then tell me what he wanted to say in a letter to a vendor. I’d produce a formal business letter to which he attached his signature.

Another company I worked for insisted that a copy of every piece of correspondence—including memos and documentation of phone conversations—be sent to a group called “Presentation.” If there were any errors, the group gave the author feedback. As usual, I created a lot of documentation. One day I had a call from the head of Presentation. “Don’t send me any more of your writing. It’s always right, and I don’t need to take the time to look at it.”

A few years later, I began to ghost write corporate procedures for other company leaders. My phone rang. A laugh was followed by: “I thought I told you not to send me any more of your writing. Even though _____’s name is on this, I recognize your writing.” By this time, we were using word processing. The documents were produced in a separate group from my originals. “I don’t have a choice. They distribute everything.”

Periodically, I’d hear from him whenever I started creating documents from someone new. He just wanted to let me know he still recognized my writing, and we’d laugh.

As an editor, I have been privileged to work on some wonderful books. I’m known as a tough editor because I do both content and line editing. I love doing it, even though I rarely charge enough. The satisfaction of helping someone fulfill their lifelong dream is worth it.

Finding William Blackwood pleased me. I had a sense of connection to him. My love of words, editing, and publishing didn’t come to me from nowhere. Somehow, I had a sense of inheritance—intangible, but nevertheless real.

Do you have any characteristics inherited from your ancestors? What are they, and how do they impact your life today?

My Brother, Ron

Today is Siblings Day. I lost my only sibling, my brother, Ron, on August 31 of last year. He died peacefully in his sleep, for which I am most thankful.

My normal way of coping with loss and grief is to write about it, but I was not able to do so. His death was so unexpected, I didn’t have the words for once in my life.

The first month was a nightmare of cleaning out his mobile home. I won’t even try to describe the terrible condition of his place. Several days the temperature neared 120 degrees—without air conditioning. Fires raged nearby, so the smell of smoke permeated the air, and the place itself stank. He hadn’t allowed anyone inside for several years, so even his best friends had no clue as to how awful it was. I wish I had known.

We located his medicines, and it quickly became apparent that he had not been taking them—no doubt contributing to his demise. He was still under a doctor’s care, having undergone prostate surgery several weeks before, so she was able to confirm his heart issues and diabetes.

I was thankful he didn’t suffer for a long time. He would have been a terrible patient and would have done his best to make everyone around him miserable as well.

Among his things, we discovered a spiral notebook filled with his handwriting. I knew what it was because about ten years ago, he told me he had an idea for a story. At the time, I asked him to send me a couple of chapters and said I’d edit them for him. He did so, and the kernel of an idea was a good one. He wanted to describe what life was like growing up in post-WWII Southern California.

I encouraged him to finish the book and promised I’d edit it and get it published. I never heard any more and assumed he had given up the idea. Yet, here was the notebook.

It contained only six pages―more of an outline and not a complete story. It was lacking details and development to bring the story to life. Fortunately, Larry also grew up in the same neighborhood and agreed to work on fleshing out and completing the book. (Ron never told us how he wanted it to end.)

Larry and I completed the book, and it provided the catharsis I needed. Larry designed the cover using an old street sign from our street Ron had acquired many years before. He modified the name to the name of the book. (Ron and I had agreed on the title when he sent the first chapter to me.)

Dominic Drive was published on January 15, 2021. The immediate response was terrific. A number of his friends commented on how they could “hear” Ron saying some of the words. I loved this because in some instances, I wrote them. Our goal was for his voice to be consistent throughout the book, and the comments indicated we had accomplished our goal.

You can read the reviews on Amazon, but some of the ones I received in letters from friends were even more meaningful. Here are a few. (I have removed spoilers.)

This was from my neighbor: “Lorna, I had to tell you how much I enjoyed your brother’s book. I just finished it and cried so hard at [the end. Charlie’s] character was so well developed that I felt close to him. I also enjoyed reading about growing up in a neighborhood much like mine, even though it was in CT. It is wonderful that you and Larry completed it. Ron would be so pleased.”

This was from a friend who is also an author: “Darn you, Lorna. I was supposed to be making dinner, but I couldn’t put the book down. Then I came to [the end] and I sat and ugly cried. What a heartbreaking (but probably predictable for the time period) ending. Now I’m going to the kitchen. Just wanted to let you know.”

A distant cousin in Canada wrote: “Hi Lorna, I just wanted to let you know I read "Dominic Dr." I loved the characters in this book. My own personal enjoyment came from reminiscing about where I was when certain things happened. JFK's assassination, I was 12 and Canada felt the shock and sadness as if he were our President. I was 15 when I went to Disneyland and I kind of felt like the family in the book took me on a tour. I was 17 when many families moved to British Columbia to avoid the draft...Vietnam. I loved the ending of this book. So many stories end and leave you hanging as to what happened with the characters, real or not. I loved reading a proper ending. Thank you sooo much.”

As I was trying to channel his voice in completing the book, I remembered the little boy I grew up with. I created this video about him.

I also created a video for the book.

So, today on Siblings Day, I share my brother with you. RIP, Li’l Bro.

HUGS

Those of you who know me are aware that I am a hugger. Always have been. I discovered a big secret years ago: you can’t give a hug without getting one.

This past year has been very hard on those of us who are affectionate. We are people who need people. And we want to be with them in person.

A year in virtual isolation has been difficult for us.

Larry and I got our second vaccinations several weeks ago. It felt like the beginning of hope. It felt like the promise of being with friends and family again.

From the start, we chose to follow the science. We paid attention to CDC and NIH. guidelines. We listened to Dr. Fauci. We read the studies and papers written by scientists. No personal biases. No opinions. No emotional rants. Just facts.

We also listened to friends who were treated for COVID. We followed their treatment. We followed their therapy post-disease. And we mourned those who did not survive.

At this point, we are willing to be together with fully vaccinated friends and family members for a meal or visit—unmasked.

Yesterday, we celebrated my brother-in-love’s birthday at a local restaurant (Harpoon Henry’s). We sat at a table overlooking the water. We enjoyed a wonderful meal. For an hour or so, life felt more like we had known it pre-pandemic.

Casey and Lucy

Tables were still spaced, and servers were still masked.

Of course, the very best part of the evening was hugging again. It felt far too long since we had done so.

This past year has been the most difficult of my life. Too many deaths (most non-COVID-related). Too many lost friends—dear friends—long-term friends. Too many lost family members.

My brother, Ron Lund

Larry's cousin's wife, Claudia Tedford

And without any way to reach closure.

The usual means (funerals, memorial services, etc.) were not possible. Some may happen at a later date, but meanwhile, the losses accumulate. The pain remains.

For the first time in my life, I began to wake in the night with panic attacks. Often. Larry didn’t sleep well, either. He wanted to be sure to wake so he could touch me and reassure me everything was okay. I was okay.

The promise of some return to a form of normality feels like a breath of fresh air. The renewed hope feels like a new beginning. And the panic attacks have subsided.

Of course, we haven’t reached the point where we go out in public without masks. Many people remain unvaccinated. Some refuse. Some are waiting for their opportunity. But more and more are receiving their shots. And they pose less of a threat to everyone else.

So, I look forward to growing hope. I look forward to spending more time with friends and family. I look forward finding closure for some of the losses of friends and family members.

And I look forward to many more hugs.

How are you feeling? Do you sense growing hope? Do you feel more freedom? Have you also lost friends and family members? Do you need closure? And have you missed hugs?

HOW I WRITE HISTORICAL ROMANCE NOVELS

 

Today my friend, Shirley Skufca Hickman is my guest on my blog. I had the privilege of editing both of her historical romances as well as several of her other books. Welcome, Shirley. I asked her about how she writes historical romance.

 

I’ve written two romance novels, Sarah Darlin’ and The Tangled Web of Love. I like researching the time period, creating the main and minor characters, and developing a plot.

Often twenty pages of research may become a single paragraph in the book. I like to discover historical characters who can interact with my fictional ones.

For my first romance novel, Sarah Darlin’, set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, I found Tom McGuire, a real person, and used him to hire my fictional characters, Sarah, Patrick, and Katie O’Malley to sing and dance in his Jenny Lind Theater. Much of the action in the book takes place there. When the theater burns down, it triggers a painful memory for Patrick O’Malley.

Sarah O’Malley and Richard Moresby, are attracted to one another, but the O’Malleys left Ireland during the potato famine because of the injustice and cruelty of British landowners. Understandably, they despise the British. Sarah is fascinated by Richard, a British aristocrat, but is torn between her loyalty to the O’Malleys and Richard’s appealing charm.

My second romance novel, The Tangled Web of Love, set in England in 1812, is one of my favorite time periods because its stratified society offers limitations and opportunities.

In researching this time period, I found Richard Wellesley, former Governor General of India. He helps my fictional character, David, sign a lucrative contract with the East India Company, and Elizabeth translates for Wellesley’s French wife.

David Stedfeld, an orphan forced to steal as a child to survive, is now a sea captain and one of the richest men in London. Lady Elizabeth Reneau, the daughter of a duke, was born into wealth and privilege, but after her parents died and their estate sold, she is forced to live with her licentious uncle.

She runs away and waves down David’s coach to ask for a ride to London. She refuses further help and secures a position in London as a seamstress. She borrows a gown to attend a ball, but David accidentally spills wine on it, ruining it. She is dismissed, charged with theft, and sent to Newgate Prison, David fights to free her and offers her a position as his housekeeper. As their mutual attraction grows, Elizabeth knows David desires her, but will he ever love her?

After the research is complete, main characters determined, and a basic plot outlined, minor characters are created. Fortunately, or unfortunately, sometime they tend to stay longer than I intended.

I introduce Brandon Ratliff so Elizabeth has someone to dance with at the duchess’s ball, but he continues to intrude upon her life and competes with David for her attention.

Sean, in Sarah Darlin’, also refused to leave. I used him to illustrate how sailors were fleeced by unscrupulous landladies, but when the O’Malleys meet Sean, wrapped only in a blanket, they can’t leave him in the street, so they take him home, give him clothes, and help him find a job. Soon he becomes Richard’s rival for Sarah’s affections.

I never planned any of this, but Sean became so interesting to some readers, they requested a sequel to find out what happened to him.

Will the O’Malley’s accept Sarah and Richard’s love for one another? Will David and Elizabeth find enduring love despite their social differences?

Of course, they will. My responsibility as a romance writer is to make sure my characters live happily ever after in my books.

 

SHIRLEY SKUFCA HICKMAN grew up in a Colorado coal mining town, during World War II. As an adult, she wrote about the war from a child’s point of view in Don’t Be Give Up.

In 1947, the mine closed, forcing the family to move. Living in three rooms and sleeping in the kitchen with her two older sisters, she wondered if they’d ever have a real home again. Whenever her father made life better for the family, he’d ask: Is Everybody Happy Now? This became the title of her next memoir.

She enjoyed her high school years until her father’s death devastated the family. Without his love and financial support, they might have lost their home. Family is Forever is about their love for one another and how they coped.

Shirley graduated from college and became a teacher. She wrote Fall in Love With An Orange Tree or a Book about a teenager who lived in the shadows because she was in the U.S. illegally.

When parents asked her to recommend a book to help their children, she wrote: School Success: Five Hundred Ways Busy Parents Can Help their Children in School.

She also wrote Sarah Darlin’, a romance novel set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Before Sarah and her lover could be together, they must deal with prejudice, a fire, and a terrible secret from Sarah’s past.

In 2020, she published Rocky Road is More Than a Candy Bar about her courtship with her husband, Joe. Another moving memoir from this author.

Her greatest joys are her son, his wife, and their two boys.

For more information, contact the author at hickman@ocsnet.net

My Love Affair with Poetry

 

My first book was a cloth book of Mother Goose Rhymes. I literally wore it out. Of course, by then I had memorized all of them, so the fact that the words were obliterated made no difference. Even though it was worn out, Mom saved it. (My mother was not a saver. She threw out or gave away a LOT of our childhood items.)

Another favorite was The Little Golden Book of Poetry. My aunt and uncle gave it to me for Christmas the year I was one.

This one had wonderful, colorful illustrations. I memorized it as well. One of my favorites was Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Swing.” Whenever I went high on one, I thought of this poem. Another was “Hiding” by Dorothy Aldis. Of course, mine is much worse for the wear.

Some of the damage to this one was caused by my younger brother. I was always careful with my books, but Ron was not. Still, Mom kept this one, too.

As I got older, some of my favorite poets were Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, and Maya Angelou. I discovered I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in high school, and it became another favorite.

We were required to memorize the prologue to The Canterbury Tales in old English for my freshman English class. I can still recite it. (At a critique group meeting, another gal—who was probably in her eighties at the time—and I recited it together! Kindred souls.)

When I compiled our anthology, Seasons of Love, I decided to write an introductory poem for each of the four novellas.

Here they are.

Spring’s Fling

by Sherry Derr-Wille

Spring

 

Sing in the spring:

The song of new life,

The song of hope,

The song of new love;

Raise your voice and celebrate

The wonder of renewal

 

Summer’s Challenge
by Luanna Rugh

Summer

 

Dance through the summer;

Frolic in the meadow;

Twirl in the sunshine;

Caper among the wildflowers;

Gambol in childlike freedom;

Whirl in nature’s glory.

 

Autumn’s Blessing
by Christie Shary

Autumn

 

Let go in autumn

Of the past,

Of things which weigh you down,

Of hurts and burdens

Leave behind all sadness

To embrace the new.

 

Winter’s Song
by Lorna Collins

Winter

 

Linger in winter;

Await the rainbow behind the cloud;

Hope for what is to come;

Anticipate the green shoots beneath the snow;

Remain still in the knowledge

That life, ’though hidden, is stirring.

 

These are just simple verses, but they set the stage for each novella. If they have made you curious about the actual stories in the book, it’s available in ebook and paperback on Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/3e2j8w3k) and through our website (www.lornalarry.com).

Do you love poetry, too? Tell me about it.

Discovering Dana Point

 I doing research for our book, The Memory Keeper, I found photos of a statue called “The Hide Drogher.” Drogher is a word for the slow, clumsy coastal ships, which stopped in Dana Point to trade foreign-made goods for hides. The statue shows a sailor tossing a hide. I remembered seeing the statue many years ago, but when we were doing our research, I couldn’t find it.

I looked it up and discovered it was on the top of the bluff along the Bluff Top Trail. It used to be visible from the road along the bluff, but now, large homes have been built there.

 Today, after a stop at the post office, we were on Amber Lantern. I asked Larry if we could stop and take a walk on the trail.

The view was gorgeous from the gazebo-structure at the end of the road.

To call this a “trail” is a real misnomer. It is a concrete path with series of stairs, all with handrails.

Not far along the trail, we saw the arches from the 1930 construction of the original Dana Point Hotel, which was never completed because of the stock market crash and the Great Depression.

A plaque describes the wall and the circumstances.

Not far beyond the arches, we spotted the statue. It is now enclosed in a wall of concrete. (It used to stand alone on top of the bluff.)

The plaque describes the statue.

On the way back, we were able to see the old trail, which used to zigzag down the cliff to the beach below. Larry remembers hiking up the trail in the 1960s. Of course, much of the old trail has been washed out over the years.

The trail was lined with rock walls, some of which can be spotted below the new trail.

 

We took some photos with Larry’s phone, but they didn’t come out well. So, we went back and retraced our steps later on. Two hikes in one day! What a gorgeous time to enjoy our hometown!

Now that we know where the statue is, we may visit it more often.

 Are there places in your hometown you haven’t explored? So glad we discovered this one!