Penny Watson's Blog, page 70

First Peony Of Spring!

I was worried all my peony buds would shrivel up and die on the bush (this has happened in the past when we get too much rain).....but happy days! The peony shrubs survived, and all the buds are bursting into bloom! Yay!

Hope yinz all have a merry weekend....I will be hanging out with these dudes tonight!



Hang Tough!
Penelope

Get Ready for Celebrate New England!

Coming Soon....June 13, 2011
Celebrate New England!
*Print and digital book giveaways from tons of New England romance writers*Blog posts by New England romance writers*New England Favorites
Giveaway Baskets (print and digital) include books from New England romance writers Jessica Andersen, Ashlyn Chase, Mia Marlowe, Meg Maguire, Barbara Wallace, Patricia Grasso, Caroline Linden, Amber Skyze, Judith Arnold, Shirley Ann Howard, Kate George, Annette Blair, Kristan Higgins, Sherri Browning, Marie Force, Hannah Howell, Nina Pierce, Ella Drake, Penny Watson and more!




Blog posts about.....
Romance in Quechee, Vermont: Simon Pearce, my favorite place on earth!Lighthouses in MaineCool stuff about BostonArt in New EnglandNewport MansionsFavorites in New EnglandAnd much, much more! Including lots of giveaways....books, Vermont chocolates and other fun stuff!
Anyone interested in joining the party, send me an email and let me know. 
Mark your calendars....it's a New England romance extravaganza! 
Happy Weekend,Penelope

I Love Lumberjacks!

As some of you might know, I really like dudes with beards. ;^)>
Since the ultimate in beardy goodness is the lumberjack, I decided to write a book about one. Hopefully it will be released sometime this fall!
Julia Barrett sent me this hilarious commercial, knowing my fondness for the plaid-wearing, bearded, wood-chopping manly men. Thanks, Julia!
Enjoy.....(my favorite part is the birds living in his beard...hee hee hee!)




Happy Thursday!Penelope

I Love Window Boxes!

My favorite part of spring gardening is planting my window boxes. They are container gardens which really add a lot of curb appeal to your house. I like mixing it up....mixing annuals, perennials, herbs, even veggies! My approach to planting....
If all the flowers died, would your window boxes still look great? They should! Start with a cool mix of "foliage" plants, such as Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea--it comes in different colors like lime green and dark purple) ivy, herbs (I have 4 different kinds of mint, including chocolate mint and pineapple mint, thyme is also great, lemon verbena, etc), Licorice Plant (Helichrysum)--which is a wonderful silvery color. Mix up different colors and textures. Then you're ready for the flowers!I like mini Dahlias, Calibrachoa, and Violas (pansies and Johnny Jump-Ups). They last all summer, just be sure to dead-head the spent blooms.Don't skimp on the white! White flowers make all the other colors pop.Mix growth habits....some plants should be tall, some trailing. It looks lovely mixed together.Add in "useful" plants. Pop a mini cherry tomato plant into the box--it adds color, texture, and you'll be munching on yummy cherry tomatoes in August. Do you like to cook? Add lemon balm, golden thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint. You can pinch off pieces of herbs to use when you cook, and the plants will grow back. Most herbs are perennials, and will come back the next year. One of the reasons I love Violas is that they are edible. Try adding Nasturtiums, Violas, Calendula...and other edible flowers to the boxes. I sprinkle the edible flowers on top of fruit salads.




Here are orange Dahlias, purple and white Calibrachoa, lime green Sweet Potato Vine, Helichrysum, and 2 types of yellow Violas.



The Sweet Potato Vine gets huge! It's an awesome plant....gets full and lush and trails over the side of the boxes.



This one has chocolate mint growing in the back. Yum!


I love mixing bold colors together, and adding white for pop. Jewel tones look really nice...orange, purple, magenta. Gorgeous!


Any other cool tips for window boxes or container gardens? Let me know!

Happy Gardening,
Penelope

"How To Walk A Weenie Dog" by Penelope

1. Announce you are going for a walk. Use your "stern" voice.
2. Lucy runs away and hides.
3. Find Lucy hiding in the bedroom. Attach leash.
4. Lucy rolls over on her back.
5. Drag Lucy through the house on her back, effectively using her as a mop. Make sure to get dust in the kitchen.
6. Attempt to pull Lucy out the door.  
7. Once you accept the fact that the dog will not roll over, lift her in your arms.
8. Walk for approximately 40 ft, then put weenie dog on the sidewalk and say "Time to walk, Lucy." Again, use "stern" voice.
9. Lucy sits down on sidewalk.
10. Lift dog and carry for 40 more feet. Lucy closes eyes and gets in a quick nap.
11. Put weenie dog on sidewalk and tug gently on leash. Try embarrassing her. "You are the laziest-ass dog in the world!"
12. Dog lies down on sidewalk.
13. Do not give up! Carry dog for 40 more feet. Put her down. Jog in place. Say, "Doesn't this look fun? Let's walk!"
14. Lucy sits on her ass and looks at a blade of grass.
15. Neighbor drives by and yells out of car window "Nice walk!" Laugh at stupid joke.
16. Get to half-way point of walk. Put Lucy down. Lucy pees and poops on unsuspecting neighbor's lawn. (Don't forget poopie bags for clean up).
17. At this point, Lucy realizes she is half-way home. She commences her "walk"....sashaying down the sidewalk, swishing her tail back and forth in a very sassy manner.
18. Praise dog. "Good girl, Lucy!"
19. Get home. Lucy starts 3-hour nap to compensate for the 5 minutes of exercise she was forced to endure.
20. Repeat procedure every day of your life.
;^)

Happy Walking,Penelope

Tuesday Morning Updates: Boy Bands, Reading Blahs, And Johnny Jump-Ups

Here are my totally random updates, in no particular order....(okay, well maybe the first one is the best!)...

1.) I'M GOING TO THE NKOTBSB CONCERT THIS SATURDAY WITH MY SIS! (I don't often use all caps, but I thought that tidbit of news deserved it). Should a 44 year old suburban housefrau be embarrassed to attend a concert with a bunch of over-the-hill former boy band cuties, who are now bald, out of shape, and can hardly sing worth a lick? Hell no! Can't wait! These guys are adorable--they might get sort of breathless when they try to sing and dance at the same time, but they still got the moves, baby. (Pass the ice pack!).

2.) I am in a reading funk. I hate that! First, I finished the trio of Elizabeth Lowell beardy hero books. I loved the first two, Untamed and Forbidden . But the last one, Enchanted , was a super big bummer.

Reading books about raped heroines is not my favorite, but sometimes it's okay if.....(a) the rape is not described in gory detail, and (b) the "healing" part is appropriate for a "rape" book (in other words, don't have a rape victim get it on with a BDSM master, etc.) and (c) the HEA is really satisfying. My major problem with this book is that the Big Misunderstanding went on WAY too long...practically until the bitter end of the book. First, the hero thinks his intended bride is a frigid virgin (Misunderstanding). Then, he thinks she's a slut who had an affair with a knight (Misunderstanding). And after she tells him the truth....that she was drugged, brutally raped by the knight, and then humiliated by her father and priest, who did not believe her, her husband still refuses to believe her. Talk about adding insult to injury. This poor woman has been crushed by betrayal, and her stupid freakin' husband won't believe her. (This is after the heroine has risked her own life to save her husband!). I seriously wanted to kick his ass. She doesn't earn his trust until almost the end of the book, and by then, I already hated him.

3.) I absolutely adored the book Warrior by Zoe Archer. So, I was really looking forward to reading Scoundrel , the second installment of the Blades of the Rose series. Just wasn't feeling it this time. The first one was magical. This one felt flat. I made it to 35% in, and I gave up. I might just skip this one and go straight to Rebel (#3) which I heard is great. We'll see. :^(

4.) Continuing with my "bearded hero" theme, I read Yours, Mine and Howls by Kinsey Holley. The hero is a bearded werewolf. (I totally approve of bearded werewolves). Anyhow, there were some things I did like about the book, but overall, it was really bogged down by too much werewolf pack political stuff. And way too many characters. It sort of reminded me of Shelly Laurenston's series. (I think I'm the only person on the face of the earth who doesn't like that series.) Too many characters, too much crap about how everyone is related, inter-related, etc. Criminy. Just give me some hot wolfy lovin' and I'm happy!

5.) I always read an excerpt of any "new-to-me" author I'm checking out. Wanna see what kind of writer she is. What I discovered this weekend is that certain things might throw me off when reading an excerpt. Stuff like....grammatical errors, typos, and phrases like "carpet muncher" and "shoving his c*ck into her chatterbox." hee hee hee....are you kidding me? I can safely say that any excerpt with the term "carpet muncher" in it is automatic grounds for the "never gonna buy" list. "Carpet muncher" is just....not....that romantic. Oy.

6.) My window boxes look fab! I will post photos soon. Got a huge flat of Johnny Jump-Ups to add in, and then they're done. They're my favorite part of gardening!

7.) Coming up soon (the week of June 13), I will be hosting a Celebrate New England party on my blog. I have incredible give-away baskets from some amazing New England romance authors...including books from Jessica Andersen, Caroline Linden, Annette Blair, Pat Grasso, Meg Maguire, Judith Arnold, Mia Marlowe, Sherri Erwin, Barbara Wallace, Marie Force, Amber Skyze, Ashlyn Chase, Shirley Ann Howard, Kate George, Kristan Higgins and more! Get ready to rumble!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend,
Penelope

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day To All!
Penelope

Happy Weekend From Penelope (and Troy and Gabriella)!

Everydayfrom right nowgonna use our voices and scream out loudTake my hand;together wewill celebrate!





Happy Memorial Day Weekend!Penelope

Welcome to "P" Magazine!

Welcome to "P" Magazine, The Penelope Magazine! With Penelope on every cover!

(Hmmm. "P" Magazine doesn't sound so good. Way worse than "O" Magazine.)

Okay, never mind. Scratch that. I don't think people want to read a magazine about pee, I mean "P"!!!

Yes, I am making fun of Oprah. Since all of media news is devoted to her this week. I think it's hilarious how she is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. And her magazine has her initial. It's cute, it's clever, it's.....egomaniacal.

The truth is, I have never actually watched her show. Not because I have anything against Oprah. I don't watch any daytime talk shows. Or morning talk shows. Or late-night talk shows. Or awards shows. I have a weird anxiety about watching people on live TV. I get nervous and clammy, worried they are going to embarrass themselves on national (and/or international) television. I like pre-recorded shows with laugh tracks. You know nothing embarrassing will happen, and you even have built-in cues so you know when to laugh. It's very convenient.

Anyhow, I fell asleep last night with wet hair, and when I woke up, my hair looked like Bon Jovi from 1984. (See above photo). And I thought....I should post this on my blog!

Here is my reading update.....I am having a crazy re-reading week. Just finished re-reading all three books in the Lucy Monroe "Ranger" series. Ready, Willing, and Able. (Cute titles!) They have ridiculously alpha, ex-military heroes who have a hard time differentiating between lusty, possessive obsessive attraction, and romantic true love. It's all so confusing! And I also just re-read Honor's Splendour by Julie Garwood, one of the greatest romance novels of all time. With another alpha male hero who refuses to believe that he is actually falling in love with his wife.

Now, I am off to the plant nursery to purchase stuff for my window boxes and veggie/herb garden. And I think I might jump back into Zoe Archer's series today.

Hope y'all are having a good week! Big Hair Forever!
Penelope

Plant Of The Week: The "Bloody Mary"

Actually, this plant is not really called the "Bloody Mary". It's Bleeding Heart, or Dicentra spectabilis. However, my 8 year old daughter always forgets the name, and calls it a Bloody Mary, which I think is hilarious. It's one of my favorite spring flowers.

As a result of 100 days of rain (only slightly exaggerating), my garden is lush and gorgeous right now....



The hostas are up, the clematis is growing, the hydrangea is covered with tons of buds. My herbs all survived the winter....chives, santolina, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, mint. Everything looks great. I even have one lone fig growing on my fig tree! Hooray!

Happy Wednesday To All!
Penelope