Laura Wiess's Blog, page 3

Christmas Eve

I woke up to a lovely, glittering dusting of snow and briliant sunshine. What a great combination for the holiday! The baccala is in the oven for tonight, the kalacs and kruschiki already made, and delicious. (Despite the fact that yeast baking and me have never gotten along, and it's no different this year!)

I've been thinking a lot this last week about loved ones, family, old friends and new ones, and I'm feeling really lucky to know so many wonderful, caring individuals. I've spoken with old friends this week that I'd lost track of and haven't talked with in years and it was so easy, and so grand. We share a history, came up together and it was delightful.

So, a deep curtsy to old friends, and the memories, history, joy and laughter they bring. Thank you.

I was also lucky enough to sit down this week and hang out with one of my lovely new friends, have some good conversation, the kind that goes beneath the surface and actually means something, and that's irreplaceable.
 
And then, of course, there's my family, who I CANNOT WAIT to see, hug and hang out with again. Yay!

There's a lot going on right now -- I'm still working on this new book -- and thinking hard about the kind of person I want to be, the traits I admire and what I hope to accomplish in 2012. It's a decent list, not written out yet but it will be before New Year's Eve. I'm looking forward to it.

So what I'll wish for you is all the beauty of the season, all the joy, peace and happiness, all the grand challenges and personal satisfaction, the small and simple kindnesses that can make a huge difference for a person or animal in need, bright smiles, warm hearts and hands extended in sincere friendship.

But most of all, I wish you hope, and love.

Happy holidays!

All Those Ones

11/11/11

Interesting. Was it a lucky day for you? There are a lot of people out there saying "Make a wish, it's a magical day," and it would be really cool if it was, so... Why not give it a try?

I haven't been here in a while and am backed up on responding to emails, etc.. This always happens when I'm writing and in deep. I disappear for a while, not many updates on Facebook, that kind of thing.

But I'll resurface at some point and breath again. The hardest part about disappearing to write is always all the things that are left in progress, waiting for attention and resolution. It's a mad hustle, and it's been this way all year.

So, it's back to work now but I just wanted to send a deep curtsy to the veterans today, especially the ones I know and love.

Passionate About...

It's been cold, windy and rainy all day, and my internet connection has been bouncing in and out, so if this ends in the middle of a sentence, you'll know why.

Maddening.

I had the pleasure of doing a Passionate About Pets radio interview over at WCHE1520 on Monday with the always charming and talented host Rich Britton. One of the things we talked about was my new book Ordinary Beauty and the kinship in the story between the main character Sayre (pronounced Say-er, since I know some of you asked ) who grew up knowing she was a mistake, unwanted and unloved, and the orphaned feral kitten she befriends. Both are hungry for kindness and affection, a safe place to rest, and the love they didn't get the first time around.

If you want to listen in, and this attempt works, you can listen here WCHE radio interview and decide I sound nothing like you thought I did. That's all right, because I sound nothing like I thought I did, too.

Apparently my voice gets higher the more passionate I am about a subject (my friends and family will attest to that. Also to the arm waving, and talking with my hands) but happily, you can't see that wild flailing in a radio interview. That takes hanging out in person.

I mean, who doesn't love a great, passionate conversation, especially when it involves strong coffee and good friends? That's the stuff that dreams are made of.

Oh, the Water

So where to start?

How about with all of the wretched and frightening flooding going on here right now? I'm fine up here out in the woods -- our road washed out by the creek bridge -- but I'm high and dry, lucky to be so, when others aren't as fortunate.
 


There's about an 8 foot deep crevasse there now. Yikes.

The photos of the flooding in NE PA are over at http://www.wnep.com at photolink and they're horrifying. Even if we could get out, I'm not sure where we'd go. I've heard that 200 roads are closed, washed out, under water. Thousands have been evacuated. I have no idea how long the recovery will take, especially since the Susquehannah River is still supposed to be cresting soon.

My heart goes out to everyone. Stay safe.

And because life still marches on, even when you're in the middle of a flood, I'll mention a couple of pieces of good news:

On Monday, September 12th between 3 - 4 pm est I'll be a guest on Passionate About Pets, talking with the fabulous Rich Britton and you can hear it here:

http://www.wche1520.com/ 

Also, because I'm a huge fan of Stop Staring! dresses, I'm over here, too, along with a bunch of other fans: http://www.stopstaringclothing.com/sunshop/index.php?l=fan_gallery and what fun! I wore another Stop Staring! dress to the CCSPCA event back in June, and one last NY's Eve, too. I just love what they offer.

Right now it's wellies and an umbrella, though. Hopefully, the rain is done for now.

Earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. Interesting month, so far.

Sending all good thoughts out to everyone doing their best to make it through. Believe it or not, this too shall pass.

C'mon, sun!

County Fair

We headed out to the county fair yesterday to commune with the animals and, of course, to sample the food.

Yum.

As soon as we got there we headed straight for the apple dumplings with vanilla bean ice cream and warm caramel sauce. Good stuff.

 

From there we wandered the midways (are there midways in fairs, or is that just carnivals, amusement parks and circuses? Don't know, and am too lazy to look it up) and came upon the potato pancake stand where of course I had to indulge. (I don't think I've ever met a potato I haven't liked. Gave me the urge to make a big batch of latkes.  

On to fresh-squeezed lemonade (aren't you hungry yet?) and then, at long last, we finally found the funnel cakes. Best funnel cake, ever. I have a recipe for these babies and I think I may give it too a whirl someday soon.

 

After ravaging the foodstands, we headed over to the open barns so I could satisfy my yearly urge to pet a cow, goat, pig, etc.. And we met some beauties, although we did manage to get there right at suppertime and petting definitely fell second to food. Sigh.



Goat luring. Notice the crooked finger? Goats love that.

Actually, I just made that up. I think it was my perfume because the pigs went wild over it and I actually got nervous, they were so crazy to get to me.



Ah well, we must have missed that shot.

I was too eager, I guess, to get to the beautiful Jersey cows with their big, dark, doe eyes and long, fluttery eyelashes. But again, it was suppertime...



and the buckets of feed were more alluring than being petted. Wretchedness.



There she is. I am an absolute sucker for those eyes.

And then, finding small satisfaction here, I ended up accosting a very nice girl on the way back from the cow washing station (yes, there really is such a thing. Who knew?) and asked if I could pet the calf. I think she thought I was nuts -- actually, I think most of the livestock-raisers thought I was nuts because I wasn't eyeing these animals to see how they'd fit under my knife and fork but just wanting to pet and be nice to them. What can I say? I like my animals alive, and just going about their animal business.



After disturbing the livestocks' dinner we headed into the rabbit building where it was mind-boggling for me, for sure. Being in a room FILLED with beautiful, fuzzy, nose-twitching bunnies of all shapes and sizes killed me. I have said it before and I'll say it again, because it hasn't changed any: I couldn't take having houserabbits. I would die of a cuteness overload. It would also be a fabulous way to go.

We couldn't take any pictures there because apparently we had intruded on the five minutes before the judging was to take place, and so we admired them from afar and I tried to commit at least one of my favorites to memory. I think it was a smoky lionhead? Something like that. The fuzziest bunny I'd ever seen. I have to stop talking about them now because I can feel the cuteness level rising.

After a refill on the lemonade and several bags of smoked almonds and sugar-crisped cashews  -- yum -- we headed over to the games, where my gallant bf won me not only a stuffed turtle but also a stuffed calf (stuffed animal calf, not a real, stuffed dead one. Ugh.) because I'd been bemoaning my calf-less state and the stuffed one was way cheaper (and smaller) than a real one. 

So, I am still without livestock. That's not a bad thing, as:

A. I have never been the caretaker of large farm animals, and undoubtedly have a rather romanticized view of a cow, goat, sheep, etc.. Kind of a Mary had a little lamb thing.

B. Most of my animals have found me and so unless a lost goat wanders up to my front door, there's a good chance I'll never have one.

C. I'm assuming you can spay them? 

D. They would be treated like my companion animals, not meant to do anything except enchant and receive petting, and would be with me until the end. So, how long do cows live, anyway? Their natural lives, I mean. (And don't say 120 years, like giant tortoises.)

E. And last but not least, I'm thinking they're all herd animals and would die of loneliness by themselves -- I flunked pasture grazing -- so that means they'd have to come two-by-two and now we're getting into some serious manure, so...

I will continue to indulge my livestock jones once a year at the fair. Chickens, on the other hand, are small, light and portable. They even fit into cat carriers. Something to think about.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Irene

I know I've pretty much disappeared this last month+ -- I usually do when I'm writing, especially to deadline -- but I wanted to resurface for a minute and send all good thoughts to the East Coasters who are riding out the hurricane/tropical storm.

I don't know about everybody else inland but still in the path of potential damage but I'm thinking it's worth taking seriously. I'm not a big risk taker with stuff like this and so I plan on tucking in and keeping an eye on what's going on out there. 

Be safe and talk to you soon. 

Sunday Morning

How's everyone been? Good summer so far?

I've been holed up writing and the days are going by way too fast. 

I have some lovely new Ordinary Beauty and How It Ends reader email to respond to, which always makes my day, and with any luck, some more old family recipe pickles to make with cukes from the garden. YUM.

Had lunch with a family of old JKS friends -- the Butches -- from Milltown -- Hey guys! -- and had a fun time catching up and reminescing. Thanks so much for hosting me. I always enjoy a touch of home.

And now it's time to head back to work.

Have a lovely weekend!

Catching Up

Okay, so I am way,way, way behind on posting but it's been because of author appearances discussing my new book Ordinary Beauty, book signings, and working on my next book, and time has kind of gotten away from me.

Sooooo...what's new? Anything good?

I spoke up at the Bradford County Library and answered some wonderful questions from a delightful crowd, and had the extreme pleasure of meeting back up with one of my grade school friend's mom (Hi, Mrs. B!), which just made my night. Here are a few images of the evening:



 Jeff, the man responsible for it all.

 
Afterwards, signing books and meeting readers.



I'm still waiting on additional photos.
And then on July 1, we headed back to New Jersey for a signing on my home turf



where I was so happy to meet up with my family and friends, some new, some old and all thrilling, including my 7th grade English teacher Mrs. H, who I'm always so happy to see.






We gave out custom chocolate lollipops to celebrate Ordinary Beauty, with a snowflakes on the front. (Thanks to my beloved sister!)

 Did a little reading from the book but let's face it: It was a social event, and a happy one.



A good moment.



Yay, Milltown Library!



Yay, Vinny and Paul, photographers extraordinaire! (Vinny's in it, Paul took it.)



There are a ton more pictures but you get the idea. (Plus, some of them are on Facebook already.) It was so good to be back home, hanging out with my family and catching up with friends.

Afterward, my sister and her fiance treated us to a wonderful dinner at a Portuguese restaurant in South River, and even more than the food, we enjoyed listening to the wonderfully talented musician George Simonovich
play guitar. If you're in the area, I would absolutely recommend spending a Friday night there. Can't beat it!

And now it's back to work but check in often, as I may be heading out to do a signing in the Chicago area in September. I'll keep you posted.

Plan B

Okay, so I'm scrapping Plan A, and moving on to something different. This will make life easier for everyone here. There's nothing like a good neighborhood rally, especially this weekend!

On the Road Again

And heading back to New Jersey, to sign Ordinary Beauty on Friday, July 1, from 7 - 9 pm at the Brunswick Square Mall Barnes & Noble, on Rt 18 in East Brunswick, and oh, I cannot wait to see everyone again!

If I wasn't knee-deep in my next book, I'd try to stay longer and hang out, but right now it's only a 2-day turn around, and then back to work. This is the last event until the end of summer, when I'll be in West Chester for a signing on August 27th, at PAYA. (More on this later.) And then hopefully in September, I'll be in Chicago but those plans are still in the works.

The Bradford County Library event was a blast, and i met a lot of wonderful people. I don't have all my pictures yet, but as soon as I do, I'll be posting them. Thanks ot everyone who made me feel so welcome!