Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 197

Knitting with the Wickeds

[image error]Today, the Wickeds are celebrating  Sadie Hartwell’s A Knit Before Dying release! Here’s the description of the book:

Shop owner Josie Blair is finally settling into the pace of living in Dorset Falls, Connecticut. Between running Miss Marple Knits, jumpstarting a blog, and handcrafting items with the help of her knitting pals, Josie’s too preoccupied to worry about her past in New York. And thanks to Lyndon and Harry, the owners of the brand-new antique shop next door, she has another project in her midst—repurposing a box of vintage crocheted doilies adorned with the most curious needlework . . .

But before Josie can formally welcome her neighbors, she discovers Lyndon on the floor of his shop stabbed to death by a rusty old pair of sheep shears. Police have pinned Harry as the killer, but Josie isn’t so sure. Now, she’s lacing up for another homicide investigation—and no eyelet or stitch can go unexamined, lest she herself becomes ensnared in the criminal’s deadly design . . .

Wickeds, the question for you is–do you do knit, crochet, sew, tat, quilt, or do any other crafts? Bonus question–do you ever think about how to kill folks with your craft? On the page, of course!

[image error]Edith: Congratulations, Sadie! I can’t wait to read the new book. I sew, quilt, sometimes knit, and always garden and put up food – do the last two count as a craft? I have (fictionally) killed people with a sharpened knitting needle, with a pitchfork, with commonly grown – and poisonous – garden plants. Thinking back on my seventeen novels and dozen short stories, I’ve also used a lethal chemical commonly used by jewelers and dark rooms (not that I do either of those crafts), and both a chef’s knife and a vintage kitchen implement (is cooking a craft?). All the rest of my murder methods couldn’t remotely be considered craft-related.

Liz: Congrats on the new release! So, I am probably the least crafty Wicked. I don’t have the patience for it! My mother tried to teach me to sew when I was a kid and I just wasn’t into it. Then she taught me to crochet. Again, not my thing. I did do some of those needle-hook things (not sure what you call them) where you follow a pattern. Those I could handle!

Sherry: I used to do lots of counted cross stitch. And I made a lot of Christmas ornaments using a folding technique and a heck of a lot of pins. Here are two things that are still in a drawer in my basement![image error]

[image error]I love taking pictures — that has become my other creative outlet. And while I haven’t thought about killing anyone with my craft, I do think about what would work as a weapon at every garage sale I attend.

Barb: Nupe, nupe, nupe. Terrible hand/eye coordination and fine motor skills here. I do admire the work of others. I have needlepoint pillows from my mother, paternal grandmother and great-grandmother, crewel work from my maternal grandmother, and knitted goods from my paternal grandmother. I treasure them all. I did manage to work a knitting-related clue into my short story, “Bread Baby,” with help from my amazing sister-in-law, Ann Ross, the manager at the yarn boutique GoshYarnIt.

Jessie: I love to knit. I always seem to have several projects on the needles at any given time. Currently I am working on one sweater, two pair of socks, a Red Riding Hood cape and two different shawls. I find that I am not always in the mood or in the right place physically to work on a particular project so I like to have a choice of what to grab to work on. Throughout the summer I usually work on socks or other small, light-weight projects. At this time of year I start contemplating something heavier to keep me feeling productive as well as to keep me warm whilst sitting at the soccer fields watching my son’s games. I haven’t decided what to choose this year but there is a cable-yoked pullover I can’t put out of my mind.

Julie: I am a knitter as well. Jessie, I need to try your multi project idea. I keep trying to knit socks, but I don’t enjoy it. I am working on a lovely shawl, but I can’t remember where I left off. So obviously, I need to focus a bit more on my projects. I love all sorts of crafts, but knitting is my favorite.

Readers, do any of you knit? Do you do other sorts of crafts? Let us know!Save

Save

Filed under: Book Release, Uncategorized Tagged: A Knit Before Dying, Ann Ross, Bread Baby, Goshyarnit, Maddie Day, Sadie Hartwell, vintage kitchen

It Never Gets Old

Jane/Susannah/Sadie here, enjoying a cool breeze and a hot cup of coffee…

[image error]This week I’m ecstatic that my fifth novel, A KNIT BEFORE DYING, is now out into the world. You’d think I’d be less excited this time around, but nope! It’s just as fresh and new and amazing and scary as when FETA ATTRACTION released a couple of years ago. I can say, though, that I think this one is the best, most complicated mystery I’ve ever done. Shhhh! It’s my favorite among my book children, even though we’re not supposed to play favorites, right?

So to celebrate the new book and the approach of autumn, when soft yarnish things and cozy mysteries are exactly what we need to settle ourselves in for the months ahead, I’m giving away two copies of the first book in the series, YARNED AND DANGEROUS. 

Just leave a comment below, telling us either what book(s)you’re reading now (if you’re like me, you have several going at once), or tell me about your pets. Brownie points if you’re reading a book by a Wicked or a Wicked Accomplice, or you own or have owned a tuxedo cat, but neither thing is required, LOL! The giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m., EST, on August 31, 2017. Good luck, and big hugs to all you wonderful writers and readers!

 

Filed under: giveaway, Jane's posts, Sadie's Posts, Susannah's posts Tagged: A Knit Before Dying, book children, giveaway, Sadie Hartwell, Yarned and Dangerous

Wicked Wednesday – Best Netflix Bingeing

 

Hard to believe we’re getting to the end of summer. I mean, it’s almost Labor Day! Can you believe it? The chill is apparent in the air in the early mornings and evenings, it’s inching toward darkness a bit earlier every day and school has already started in some places. I don’t know about you, but despite looming deadlines for some of us, I think we have to take advantage of the final lazy days of summer to do a little TV watching–or bingeing, as the case may be. So Wickeds, what have you been bingeing? Anything on tap for the long weekend?

Edith: Once again, my credentials as a cultural desert come back to haunt me. No Netflix[image error] bingeing up here north of Boston. What I am doing is as much reading as I can, preferably on a beach. I have Netflix binged in the past, though. I was a little slow to catch on to Downton Abbey, and had to catch up quick on the first two seasons once I realized what a great show it was.  This end of summer? Just trying to binge on sun-warmed tomatoes, gin & tonics, a great mystery, and warm sand between my toes.

Sherry: I confess I’m not much of a binge watcher. I seem to get bored after a couple of episodes of anything. I don’t binge read either. However, Bob and I do like the Bosch series on Amazon Prime and did watch three episodes of it in a row once. I keep meaning to watch The Crown on Netflix, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

Liz: I try to stay off TV as much as possible, but I did get sucked into The Fall – a Netflix original starring Gillian Anderson. It’s about a super creepy serial killer and she’s the head cop. It takes place in northern Ireland and it’s really good! One of those shows that will keep you up at night…

Julie: Welp, looks like I am going to be picking up the TV watching crown in this group. I LOVE binge watching shows. I get Acorn TV, so I watched Mr. & Mrs. Murder and The Brokenwood Mysteries. When  I write I like to have the TV on, but only with shows I’ve seen so I don’t get sucked in. So, Midsomer Murders has been on this summer. With 19 seasons, I forget a lot of them. I am watching The Defenders this week (love Marvel series), and watched Supergirl earlier this summer with the nieces.

[image error]

Photo by Jens Kreuter on Unsplash

Barb: I love binge watching, too, Julie. Bill and I started doing it before it had a name many, many years ago when PBS ran episodes of Prime Suspect back to back. We kept saying, “Just one more, just one more.” The bingers lament. For years we watched 24 hours of 24 every New Years weekend. Here in Boothbay we have been doing a major project sorting Bill’s late mother’s saved photos, cards, letters, her kids’ juvenilia, etc., for the various members of the family. Watching TV is a boredom reliever for this massive task. Since we don’t have cable here, binge watching on Amazon and Netflix has been the solution. So far this summer, Bosch, Orphan Black, Orange is the New Black, Ozark and Broadchurch.

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Amazon Prime, Bosch, Netflix, The Crown

Two Leading Ladies

By Liz, who can’t believe the summer is almost over…

I’m still getting used to the fact that I have an alter ego. Cate Conte made her debut earlier this month (thank you to everyone who already read Cat About Town!) and I’m wondering if I’ll ever remember to answer to Cate when I’m out somewhere promoting this book. Some days I can’t ever remember to answer to Liz.

I’ve been asked a lot if my protagonist, Maddie James, is anything like Stan Connor from my Pawsitively Organic series. She’s not. Of course, when I set out to create Maddie, I wanted her to be very different from Stan. They were two different people, after all, with different backgrounds and lives. I started with the obvious physical attributes. But as I started writing Maddie’s adventures, the real differences made themselves apparent.

First of all, Maddie’s voice is in first person, compared to Stan’s third person. I don’t remember consciously making this decision. Maddie just spoke to me in first person, and I’m really enjoying the conversations we have.

The next big difference is their background. Stan’s family is from money and status. She’s not close to her mother – at least until Patricia moves to Frog Ledge – and she lost her dad in her twenties. Maddie comes from a close-knit family, and her mother is one of her best friends. Her father has a good job and is well respected on the island, but her mother is kind of bohemian and into doing her own thing. Like Stan, Maddie is the oldest, but Maddie has a habit of looking out for her younger sisters. Stan had a habit of throwing up her hands and leaving her younger sister to her own devices, given Caitlyn’s similarity to their mother.

And then there are their work habits. Even though Maddie is younger than Stan, she was an entrepreneur much earlier. Before she even hit double digits, actually. She had a laser focus on being her own boss and made it happen early on. After she moved across the country, and again when she moved back. Even though Stan wasn’t close to her family, she only moved one state away. For years she stayed chained by the golden handcuffs of corporate America, until they showed her the door. And it took her a while to realize she could open and run her own business. Even six books in, she’s still building her confidence. Maddie seemed to hit the ground running with an endless supply.

I’m loving writing both of these strong ladies. They each have their own unique personalities and the more books I write, the more those personalities reveal themselves. It’s tons of fun.

Oh, and the similarities! They both love coffee and cats. Orange cats, to be exact![image error]

Readers, what do you think of Stan vs. Maddie? Leave a comment!

 

Filed under: Uncategorized

A Story Comes Knocking

Edith here, hanging onto every last scrap of summer weather and sun-kissed vegetables.

[image error]

[image error]

I pulled out my paternal grandmother’s travel journal recently. I’m not sure why I did, but I sat, mesmerized, turning the pages.

Dorothy Henderson, the eldest of six, at 18 and with her younger and only brother James, drove one of two Cole touring cars from Indiana to Portland, Oregon, and then down to Berkeley, California. She was the first woman to drive halfway across the country (or so the family lore goes). Her father, CP Henderson (my great-grandfather), drove the other car along with his wife, Irma, and the four younger sisters (my great aunts, all of whom I knew).

[image error]

Back row from left: Jimmy, Dorothy, CP, Ruth, Irma. Front row from left: Alice, Edith, Helen

I knew of this journey, but I’m not sure I knew of it before a series of strokes stole my grandmother from us when I was in ninth grade. I don’t remember her speaking of the trip at any time. But after reading the journal, a new character, a new era, and an entirely new scope of research came knocking at my brain – and I’m resisting as hard as I can! Here are the reasons:

A. I already write one historical mystery series. B. I already write three books a year. C. I know next to nothing about the period.

But consider these delightful bits that Momma Dot (as her grandchildren called Dorothy) so generously scribed – and illustrated – in a clear hand about the trip that started on June 16, 1918 – ninety-nine years ago! Each of the other children kept a diary, too. Her father was to be the new western regional manager for the Cole car company, so the trip was in part a publicity tour, and the family and the two Cole Eights were written about in the newspapers several times. [image error]

On their first day, it took eight hours to drive 200 miles west from Indianapolis to Cedar Lake, where they camped.

[image error]

In certain places after it rained they had to stay in a hotel for a few nights waiting for the mud to dry. She writes, “The roads were almost impassible. Deep, black, sticky mud hub high was everywhere! All of us wish for some good old Indiana roads!”

[image error]They continued through Illinois and Nebraska, sometimes camping, sometimes in hotels, making about 200 miles each day. She barely complains about anything, instead describing the scenery in vivid language. “A lovely full moon is rising above the fields of wheat that stretch for miles about us. An old windmill looms up threateningly against the black-blue sky. A cross-continental train just shot past across the prairies looking pretty against the sky with the sparks flying.” She drew the windmill and moon on top of her words, too.

[image error]

The family made it to Denver in nine days and took a day trip to Pike’s Peak, where “a charge of two dollars was made for each one going up to the top by the new auto road,” and she reports that several of the family felt ill and dizzy at the summit. Having gotten word of poor roads in Wyoming, they decided to continue via Salt Lake City, instead. “The roads were not very good for the most part, being narrow and along ledges, down which you can look for hundreds and thousands of feet.”

They traveled through what Dorothy calls the Great Utah Desert, and helped other travelers along the way, pushing one car up a steep incline, pumping up a tire for another, and sharing water with a third.

My grandmother celebrated her nineteenth birthday in style in Salt Lake City, with dinner on Hotel Utah’s rooftop garden. “Our wonderful dinner was well seasoned with dancing and music so everything was ideal.”

[image error]

And on they went, including a stop at Yellowstone.

[image error]

From there they made it to Portland, Oregon, finally landing at their new home in Berkeley, California, on August 10.

[image error]

My grandmother includes many more rich details about the trip in the diary. Can you see why I have a new story brewing? Or maybe I’ll just let Dorothy tell her own. I also have  the diary of Allan Maxwell, Sr. (my grandfather, and Dorothy’s husband) from his 1912 European “tour” with his older sister Ruth when he was sixteen. Every entry includes the weather (a Maxwell family inherited interest) and what he ate that day – which might sound familiar to those who have been or known teenage boys!

Readers: Have you been blessed with an ancestor’s journal or diary? Or read historical fiction based on a real account?

 

Filed under: Edith's posts, Uncategorized Tagged: car camping, Dorothy Henderson Maxwell, inspiration, Women pioneers

Welcome Back to Kate Flora (and Thea Kozak)

by Barb, posting this on a gorgeous day in midcoast Maine

I’m excited to welcome back to the blog someone who has been a friend and mentor to all the Wickeds, and a sort of a midwife to so many authors in the New England crime writing community as they brought forth their first books.

Death Warmed Over is the latest book in Kate Flora’s Thea Kozak series. Kate is offering a copy to one lucky commenter on this post. Here’s the description.

Thea Kozak’s dreams of a perfect home are shattered when she finds her realtor, Ginger Stevens, tied to a chair in the living room of her dream house, surrounded by glowing space heaters. Ginger utters five indistinct words before she dies. The house is tainted, and Thea has moved on to managing a drug crisis on the campus of a Connecticut boarding school, when Maine state police drag her into their investigation of Ginger’s death. It seems that Ginger Stevens is the name of a child who died in New Hampshire many years ago. The police have no idea who their victim really is. Her boyfriend has disappeared. Her colleagues know little about her, and her apartment is so sanitized there are few clues.

As she drives through March slush on New England roads, trouble-shooting for her clients, Thea is also searching her memory for small details Ginger might have revealed that could be clues to her identity. A photograph of a former student at a client school may be a clue. So may be that menacing visit from the former boyfriend who claims that Ginger sent Thea a package. As she makes her way through board rooms and alternately coddles and strong-arms wayward headmasters, Thea’s own life may be in danger. But from whom? Strangers in a mysterious truck? Or from her client’s own faculty?

Determined to get justice for Ginger, Thea plays detective until she finally puts the clues together that let her understand the meaning of Ginger’s five final words.

Thea is Kate’s original series character. I think many of us think back to characters we’ve created and wonder what they’re doing now. I asked Kate what it was like returning to a character she knew so well.

When the Character Barely Ages, but the Author Does

[image error]Writing a series character is challenging at the best of times. When a few years in a character’s life spans more than two decades in the author’s, the challenges—from culture to technology—can be great. The journey from my first Thea Kozak mystery, Chosen for Death, published in 1994, to the eighth, Death Warmed Over, published in 2017, has been full of publishing delays, discouragement, and determination. Before Chosen was published, I spent ten years in the unpublished writer’s corner. By the time I sold the series, the first two books were written. I then embarked on what I believed to be the rhythm of my career: nine months writing, then three months marketing.

Those of us who embarked on writing strong women represented “Nancy Drew comes of age.” We wanted to write women who rescued themselves, had their own careers, and for whom solving problems and helping others, rather than finding Mr. Right. Creating a series character who would grow through the books, and a character arc that went beyond the story arc of each book, was an adventure in learning to write. It was also an adventure in learning about Thea Kozak, with a deepening knowledge of who she was, what shaped her personality and her views, and about her family and her co-workers. Readers often asked if Thea was based on me, and I always said that she was younger, taller, stronger, and braver than I would ever be.

When I started the series, I wasn’t a lot older than Thea. She was entering her thirties, I was leaving them. She longed for children, I was raising some. She was an attractive woman in a working world still largely run by men. I was a lawyer in court hearing the judge say I was so attractive he couldn’t focus on what I was saying. Thea was a feminist in a world where men stared at her chest instead of looking at her face. She was a professional woman wanted to be taken seriously. She struggled to balance her work life and her personal life, often sacrificing her personal life for her job. I liked watching her strength emerge and her abilities grow.

[image error]I had a publisher that remaindered the books when a new one came out, and didn’t support the series. After a long, unexplained gap between book five, Death in Paradise, and book six, Liberty or Death, the editor I’d worked with on all the books notified me by e-mail that the series was dropped.

Then came several years when I thought I’d left her behind. I embarked on a new series: police procedurals set in Portland, Maine. Three of us started Level Best Books and published crime story collections. I learned to take the kinds of chances my fictional Thea did. (Though I never faced down bad guys.)

[image error]But Thea Kozak was a dynamic character. Writing her was fun. I missed her. After spending more than six years imagining her, I was curious about what was happening in her world. And then Thea was rescued by Jim Huang and the Mystery Company. He put the first book back into print. My faith in the series restored, I finished a story of stalking on a private school campus, Stalking Death, and The Mystery Company published it. Then I wrote Death Warmed Over. It got stuck on the vagaries of a small press, and languished for nearly three years. Finally, I decided to embrace the world of indy publishing, and the book at last appeared.

Bringing out the backlist, and moving Thea forward, has been a real challenge. As technology changed, cell phones, text messages, and social media became a part of Thea’s life and part of the private school world she consults with. Thea remained a thirty-something, hoping for a family, while I acquired daughters-in-law and nieces Thea’s age. Music changed, TV changed, language and cultural references changed. I needed to update her housing and social concerns, update trends in food, and explore changes in her work world. I needed to pay attention to what she’d wear. My family and Faceboook friends provide a source for answering those questions.

Reviving Thea has been so much fun, I’m now 200+ pages into the next Thea Kozak mystery, Schooled in Death. So if you’ve missed her, or you’re just discovering her, there will be more.

About Kate

[image error]Kate Clark Flora writes true crime, strong women, and police procedurals.  Led Astray is her latest Joe Burgess police procedural; Death Warmed Over her latest Thea Kozak mystery. Her fascination with people’s bad behavior began in the Maine attorney general’s office chasing deadbeat dads and protecting battered children. In addition to her crime fiction, she’s written two true crimes and a memoir with public safety personnel. 2017 will bring Shots Fired: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Misunderstandings About Police-Involved Shootings. Flora has been an Edgar, Derringer, Agatha and Anthony finalist and twice won the Maine literary award for crime fiction.

Readers: What do you think about the idea of bringing a series character back? What series characters would you like to see return?

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Death Warmed Over, Joe Burgess

A Wicked Welcome to Kellye Garrett!

We are so happy to welcome Kellye Garrett to the blog today! Kellye’s debut novel, Hollywood Homicide, the first book in the Detective by Day series and Library Journal pick for Debut of the Month, was released this month. We know Kellye from Malice Domestic, and we’re thrilled she is joining the national board of Sisters in Crime. Kellye is going to be doing a giveaway to a US commenter today! Welcome Kellye!

****************

The Big Picture

[image error]I’ve always loved television almost as much as I’ve loved reading. So, in retrospect, it wasn’t that surprising that I eventually became a TV writer—and later used that experience as the basis for my debut mystery novel, Hollywood Homicide. I thought it may be fun to share some interesting facts about working on a TV show.

It Takes a Village: It takes a lot of people and man hours to produce something that is only 60 minutes long. Television shows are like small companies. You have the boss called the showrunner, who is normally a writer and often the person who created the show itself. Like any job, there’s different departments with their own budgets and staff, including finance, casting, lighting and perhaps the most important group of all—craft services, aka the caterers.

Get a Room: Unlike writing books, writing a TV show is a group effort. A typical show normally has around 10-plus writers who all sit in the Writers Room—think a small conference room with lots of candy and whiteboards everywhere—and spend a week discussing what happens in an episode. Once the writers all figure out the episodes plot, then one writer will go off and actually write it.

Get Commercial: Like any business, the goal for a TV show to make money and that’s usually in the form of commercials. If you think you’re favorite television shows have gotten shorter, they have. Today’s hour-long shows have just 42 minutes of actual air time, compared to 48 minutes years ago. There’s also been a relatively recent change in how shows air. An hour television show used to have four acts. Now many shows have five. Why? So they can squeeze in more commercials, of course.

The Cliff Hanger: Every notice that the most exciting part of your favorite show always happens right before the commercial? That’s on purpose! They want you to be so excited for what happens next that patiently sit through all the commercials for toothpaste that you’d probably buy anyway.

Bottle Up: In 2015, an episode of your fave show cost an average of $3.5 million, (Link: https://www.onstride.co.uk/blog/much-cost-produce-favorite-tv-show/). Where does the money go? You have your standard expenses that don’t change every week like salaries, but other costs can vary per episode. So if a show’s has a special episode that goes over the weekly budget, they’ll later make up for it with what’s called a bottle episode. You can recognize them because there isn’t a lot of guest cast members (who cost money!) and the main cast spends a lot of time inside. Most shows usually have one or two bottle episodes per season. You can find some examples here.

Giveaway: Now that I’ve given you some inside info on TV, I’d love to learn what mysteries would make great TV shows. I’m giving away a copy of Hollywood Homicide to a commenter living in the United States. Comments will close on August 25!

Bio:

[image error]Kellye Garrett spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the CBS drama Cold Case. People were always surprised to learn what she did for a living—probably because she seemed way too happy to be brainstorming ways to murder people. A former magazine editor, Kellye holds a B.S. in magazine writing from Florida A&M and an MFA in screenwriting from USC’s famed film school. Having moved back to her native New Jersey, she spends her mornings commuting to Manhattan for her job at a leading media company—while still happily brainstorming ways to commit murder. Her first novel, Hollywood Homicide, was released by Midnight Ink in August 2017. It was Library Journal’s August Debut of the Month and was described as a “winning first novel and series launch” in a starred review by Publishers Weekly.

Book Description:

ACTRESS DAYNA ANDERSON’S DEADLY NEW ROLE: HOMICIDE DETECTIVE

Dayna Anderson doesn’t set out to solve a murder. All the semifamous, mega-broke actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. So after witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she pursues the fifteen grand reward. But Dayna soon finds herself doing a full-on investigation, wanting more than just money—she wants justice for the victim. She chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes, and movie premieres, loving every second of it—until someone tries to kill her. And there are no second takes in real life.

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Hollywood Homicide, Kellye Garrett, Wicked Welcome

Wicked Wednesday – More Podcasts!

Hey everyone! We had so much fun talking about crime podcasts last week that we decided to delve into a couple more categories. It’s so cool to hear what other people are listening to and finding new things to explore. And today, the news we listen to is so important, right? So Wickeds, which news-focused podcast do you love?

Julie: I am SO sorry I missed last week’s discussion. (Assuming Crime Town was included!) I love podcasts–I walk a lot, and take the train to work, and find them a perfect way to spend my time. News centered? I download WGBH’s Boston Public Radio, and WBUR’s On Point, so I can catch up when I can’t listen. I only download a couple of episodes, though, since news podcasts don’t age well.

Sherry: I still haven’t listened to any. But am eager to hear what others are listening too!

Barb: My daughter got me into Modern Love. In this series, made by one of Boston’s NPR stations, WBUR, and the New York Times, actors read Modern Love columns from the Times. The columns are moving and so are the discussions with the actors about why they were drawn to the column they picked. As a long-time reader of Modern Love, I’ve heard some stories that I’d missed, and seen new things in columns I remembered.

Edith: Sorry, not my topic! I get my news from the newspaper and WBUR or WGBH on the radio, and love the mix of news and laughs that the NPR show “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” offers. But I’m just not a podcast kind of gal.

Jessie: One of my sons is such a podcast enthusiast. Because of his encouragement Ihave started listening to Crime Town, This American Life and also Ted Talks as podcasts. Since my daily commute involves walking down two flights of stairs my life is not really as seemlessly suited to podcasts as some people’s but I enjoy them when I remember to give them a listen.

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Modern Love, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

The Detective’s Daughter

[image error]Kim in Baltimore protecting my eyes from the eclipse.

Nat King Cole sang about those lazy, hazy days of summer as Nana cooked in the kitchen. I could hear the music as I played in the yard. The windows were wide open despite the muggy heat of a Baltimore summer and the fact that Nana had a brand new air conditioner. She refused to turn it on no matter how hot the temperature.

[image error]I lounged in a tiny pool that Pop-Pop used a bicycle pump to inflate. Nana had put several throw rugs and an old comforter to protect the bottom of the pool and to cushion my feet from the hot cement.

Sometimes my friend Valerie from down the street would come over to sit in the cool water with me, but most often it was my dog Rikki who kept me company. He stayed in the shade under our picnic table watching over me as Pop-Pop sat dozing in his lawn chair with a transistor radio to his ear listening to the Oriole game.

This is how I remember the summer days of my youth. Baseball games, steamed crabs on Sundays, snowballs at night. I can close my eyes and conjure up the smell of Nana’s rose garden after an afternoon storm and hear the whistle of the trains passing the house and smell the tar of the street that was too hot to walk across in bare feet.

[image error]I tried to recreate those summers for my own children; the freezer stocked with juice pops, a wading pool in the yard, a gentle dog to keep watch. I have an air conditioner in the window I rarely use. When we first moved to the house we only had a few fans. In the morning I’d strip the beds and load all our sheets in the freezer for the day. At bedtime we’d grab them out and run as if the devil chased us up the stairs, throwing ourselves onto the sheets not even bothering to smooth them out or tuck them in. We just wanted to enjoy those few moments on the icy bed.

The coolness of the sheets was as brief as those summers that we remember not so much for the warmth of the days, but the happiness of being together.

Readers: What are your favorite childhood summer memories?

 

 

Filed under: The Detective's Daughter Tagged: Baltimore, icy sheets, Summer days, The Detective's Daughter

Sleep Tight

Jessie- Enjoying a last bit of summer vacation on the coast of Maine

[image error]I’ve written several times in blog posts, either here or as a guest on other blogs, that I am an enthusiastic planner and goal setter. For many years I’ve spent time once each looking over my resolutions and plans for the year and bringing them down to weekly and daily courses of action. Every year I buy a planner to help me to stay on track and to achieve those things I most want to accomplish.

This year I have been using a planner by Ink and Volt which I adore. The one feature that has been more useful to me than all the others is the monthly challenge. It is a page used to state a habit or skill you would like to work on for the month with a place to  write a note to yourself about why you feel like bothering and a daily check off area to mark if you manage to achieve what you set out to do.

In July the habit I decided to work on was getting 8 hours of slep each night. My husband has been remarkably sleep deprived for quite a long time and I wanted to be supportive of him making a priority of turning in early. I thought if I went to bed early enough to accomplish my goal he would feel he had to do so too and that it would do him a world of good. What I hadn’t realized was that more sleep was just what I needed myself.

For years I had no time to hear myself think until after the children went to bed. I would squeeze out a couple of hours for reading or knitting or movie watching after they were asleep. This wasn’t so bad when they went to bed at 7:00 or 7:30 but as they stayed up later and later themselves, I did too. As a result, for the last several years, I’ve managed on five or six hours of sleep every night and I thought it was enough. That is, until I made a habit of sleeping for eight.

By the end of the first week in July I felt like a different woman.  I popped out of bed with energy I hadn’t felt in years.  I wasn’t as likely to find myself looking in the refrigerator for no good reason. I was more productive with my work.  It was marvelous. By the second week I didn’t even feel guilty about lazing about in bed for so long every night. By the third and fourth I was astonished at the change in my life. I was awake fewer hours each day but each was more enjoyable and productive.

Now when I don’t get my eight hours I feel it. I even attempt to take a nap to catch up if need be. I’m not sure how I managed for so long on so little. Even after a couple of months I am astonished by how much better I feel and how little appeal just one more chapter or another episode of any given program on Netflix has in comparison with a full night’s sleep.

Readers, do you ever get enough sleep? Do you wish you could squeeze in a another hour or so every night?

Filed under: Uncategorized