Barbara Samuel's Blog: A Writer Afoot, page 20

My gluttony of choice…reading, reading, reading

Over the past two weeks, I've had a slight hip injury (incurred while hiking the top three miles of Pikes Peak without enough warm clothes), and a cold that knocked me flat for a couple of days.  Also a side effect of the big hike, probably, and someone said, "Why do you keep doing these things if you get hurt/sick?"  And my answer is: because it's exhilarating.  Because you can get a sprained ankle stepping off a curb.  Because the air is as sweet and crisp as apple juice up there. And...

My spider friend

Early in the summer, I noticed a yellow spider on one of my tomato plants.  He seemed to be taking care of nasty bugs, so I let him be.  He grew a little, and a little more, so the pot was no longer working as an apartment.  He built a web along the clothesline a couple of times, but that didn't work for me.  I felt sad when I had to ruin it, though he's pretty quick to rebuild.

For the past few days, he's been hanging between the two posts on my deck. High enough the dogs can get under it...

My spider friend

Early in the summer, I noticed a yellow spider on one of my tomato plants.  He seemed to be taking care of nasty bugs, so I let him be.  He grew a little, and a little more, so the pot was no longer working as an apartment.  He built a web along the clothesline a couple of times, but that didn't work for me.  I felt sad when I had to ruin it, though he's pretty quick to rebuild.

For the past few days, he's been hanging between the two posts on my deck. High enough the dogs can get under it withou

Orienteering, baking up a new book and Aha Moment

I've been baking up a new book that I superstitiously can't talk about yet, but having a blast and think you will love it madly, too.   Haven't had much time to blog properly, though I'll have a little more time this week. 

Saturday, I went to an orienteering event but bombed out badly on the orange course.  Not sure why it was so wretched, except that I lost my confidence almost right out of the gate and couldn't seem to recover.  It's a hard area, but I was defeated before I began–I...

Orienteering, baking up a new book and Aha Moment

I've been baking up a new book that I superstitiously can't talk about yet, but having a blast and think you will love it madly, too.   Haven't had much time to blog properly, though I'll have a little more time this week. 

Saturday, I went to an orienteering event but bombed out badly on the orange course.  Not sure why it was so wretched, except that I lost my confidence almost right out of the gate and couldn't seem to recover.  It's a hard area, but I was defeated before I began–I defeated my

Cooking and books, books and cooking: my Julie/Julia story

One Christmas season, I was at loose ends.  I was finally, officially divorced after a fairly long marriage.  My sons were working and traveling, or out with their friends. There was a man I'd been seeing, but he was traveling, too, and anyway, he was never going to be My Guy and I knew it. 

I was alone. A lot. And Christmas was bearing down on me with all the traditions I would not be indulging this year. No vats of cookies or Chirstmas morning bread. Not much shopping. So I wrote journals and s

Gifts of summer: Peaches, green beans and a ghost

Around here, we've been mellow.  Haven't gone back yet to my usual schedule–the girls and my brain needed a rest.  I've been haunting the farmer's markets, gardening, going to Nia, and working with the bounty from summer gardens.  Don't you love summer food? 

One day this week, I ambled around the markets, picking up plums and peaches for jam, a melon I've never tried, ears of fresh corn, and fresh green beans.  I'm largely indifferent to green beans–I don't dislike them, but there are so many ot

Guest blogs elsewhere

I've been recovering from all the back and forthing, and doing copy edits for my next book, THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING, which will be out at the end of December, and sleeping, and watching movies.  Also have guest blogged twice in the past week. 

At WRITER UNBOXED, I blogged about how to get yourselve moving even when you really, really don't want to write, and you have a headache, and the baby woke you up three times last night and you have to–whatever.  Here it is:  Six tricks for writing when yo

Philly Inquirer's "Foodie Beach Reads"

Happy to report The Lost Recipe For Happiness made the list.   

In:

Beach reads for foodies;

A menu of summer treats to sate your literary hunger, Dianna Marder writes:

"The perfect foodie beach bag contains prime kitchen lit: books on food history, essays on sustainability, food-centric fiction (call it foodtion), and sentimental food memoirs, or foodoirs.
Foodoirs are celebrity confessionals or tell-alls. In more sentimental varieties of the foodoir, the author embarks on an emotional journey, re

10 little stories about Michigan

4th of July sunset on Lake Michigan.

Christoper Robin and I traveled to Michigan to celebrate his first 4th of July as a citizen.  Here are a few observations.

10. It is a long way from the Detroit airport to upstate, especially on the Thursday before a Saturday 4th of July, and especially when you've been flying since 6 am from Colorado, and you narrowly escape the crash of United computers at O'Hare Airport, where there are a lot of annoyed and exhausted passengers.  We arrived at Lake Wallon at