Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 32

And the Oscar goes to. . . Cookie!

"I would like to thank the Academy for my Oscar for outstanding performance every time I hear the refrigerator door open."

"I'm staaaaaarving! I haven't eaten in daaaaays!"

Cookie says. . . .

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Hot Rod Hamster in Kansas!

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kansas run a reading program for the children in their area. They invite local people to come in and read once a month, and every child who attends gets a copy of the book.

A retired teacher and an auto mechanic read Hot Rod Hamster.

Heading Home

It snowed in Vermont last night. This morning I took a walk to see what condition the roads were in, since I'm on a dirt road on a mountain with a Camry. I'll go slow heading home today, but that's no hardship when *this* is the view.

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I finished my draft, and had a wonderful time!  But now, I'm ready to pack up and head home.

Hello from Vermont!

I'm in Vermont at a writing retreat. I came with the goal of finishing a first draft of a young chapter book, and I'm halfway there. In between chapters, I let myself just enjoy being in a beautiful with really nice people.



You know when the directions say "road turns to dirt" that you're going somewhere interesting!

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Would you like some SPAM with your lunch?

If you get a blank message from me with email links, please don't click the links. My Yahoo email was hacked and sent out a round of SPAM. You know I wouldn't just send you links with no explanation, right?

I changed my password, deleted all my contacts, and I hope that helps. In the meantime, if you get one of those blank messages with links, please just hit 'delete.'

As Catherine in Rules would say, "This stinks a big one!"

Saying Goodbye to the Seals

Yesterday afternoon, I felt restless. February is a month where winter starts to feel old and I get tired of living in small spaces:  the house, the shoveled pathways, planning everything between storms.  It's good for writing and creative things, but it's wearing, too.

So I decided to just jump in the car and go watch a couple of seals being released. At the University of New England, there's a marine mammal rehabilitation center, and when the seals are ready to be returned to the ocean, they open that event to the public.  I've gone before (though never in February!), and it's always a heartwarming sight to see the seals hurry down the sand for the ocean.

It was really choppy, though!  I was grateful no one was asking ME to swim in that water!

This is Linguine!

Here is CousCous!

The kennel doors are opened, and CousCous takes the lead!

There he goes!

Linguine is not far behind, though.

Wow, that looks so big after the pool at the rehabiliation center!

Gathering up his courage!

And with a dive into a wave. . .

They were home.

Five Things on a Friday

Hot Rods from Jelly Bean Junction Preschool, Melbourne, Florida

1.  We've had a few days of 40-degree temperatures, which have brought our monster snowbanks down a bit.

2.  I'm off to a writing retreat on Saturday through Wednesday. I'm spending the first night in New Hampshire and the rest in Vermont. It's my last concentrated writing time before I turn my attention to my spring events. It'll be a lovely way to end my winter writing months.

3. I get attached to the dogs that I see every week when I volunteer at the animal shelter. Nothing makes me happier than when they are adopted.  Every now and then, a family will post a photo of the dog in their new home, and it brings me a big smile.

4.  I saw my first bald eagle of the year a few weeks ago. He was flying over the road, chased by a swarm of real-life angry birds.

5.  I had a lovely Valentine's Day, complete with red roses.

Cookie says. . . .

Happy Valentine's Day!



"I made a Valentine card for you, but I ate it."

Wordless Wednesday

Walker Art  Museum, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. Photo by my husband, John