Vacation

I've recently returned from a two-week vacation in Nebraska and Colorado. Fun times!

I was in Lincoln to see my parents and we visited the Sunken Gardens there.



Sunken Gardens, Lincoln, NE

Then I went to Colorado to see my sister's family and we spent some time in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

If you've never been to the Rocky Mountains, you MUST go at least once! The views are spectacular, the wildflowers are abundant and the wildlife will surprise you. We saw moose, elk, marmots, chipmunks, ground squirrels and more. The air was fresh and the temperature was mild. It was a wonderful getaway.

Imagine sinking into snow up to your thigh ... in mid-June!

No matter where you go, vacation is a chance to experience something new. Surprise yourself! Discover what's out there in that big world outside your hometown.

Summer

It's Summer! (I know it's felt like summer in some places for quite a while, but now the calendar agrees with the weather.)

Summer is good and bad, I know, but I prefer to think of it the same way I think of Spring Training for the Cubs: anything is possible and you might as well bask in it before ugly reality hits. Ha, ha. Okay, maybe not "ugly" reality, but reality anyway.

Among your other plans for the summer, you might want to look up occasionally and remind yourself that there are humans soaring over our heads daily, gazing down at this incredibly beautiful planet and realizing how amazingly lucky they are to be aboard the International Space Station. We might not be able to join them, but we can either see the view from the station (through the link in my May 17 blog) or we can actually see the station itself! I've done it twice so far and it's really worth it! I was surprised at how exciting it was to see a gold-colored dot of light soar over my head and to recognize that there were people up there. The station can be seen with the naked eye. No binoculars or scopes are necessary. For details on how to spot it, go here: http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

Otherwise, have a safe and wonderful summer. May it live up to all of its promise.

This Weekend

I hope those of you in the U.S. will fly your flag on Saturday, which is Flag Day. Our flag stands for quite a few important ideas and actions, so let it fly to show what it means to you. We might have a lot of differences of opinion in our country, but I think most of us would agree we'd rather not live anywhere else.

And for Sunday, I want to wish everyone a happy Father's Day. Give someone's dad a hug or a smile. And while you're at it, do the same for someone's mom. Parents are special people. I want to say "thank you" to both of my parents for putting up with me for all of these years! I love you both.

If you've never seen soccer (futbol) before, give the World Cup a try. There's a lot of fancy footwork--and if you think American fans are intense, try some of these international fans! To say they love the sport is to say that it gets a little warm inside a volcano.

I just wrapped up a run-through of the third novel and you'll be glad to know that I think it's worth keeping. I wasn't sure it would stand up to my scrutiny after the year or so since I'd last read it, but I think it does. It needs some tweaks and I'm working on those now. Then will come the most dreaded step: FORMATTING. Just the word strikes fear in my heart, but I will prevail! (And I'll try not to be so dramatic about it.)
I'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend!

The Big 50

Believe it or not, this is my 50th blog post!

(I can hardly believe it myself. Who knew I could be so wordy? Oh, that's right: I'm an author. I'm supposed to be wordy.)

Okay, enough celebrating. I have some happy news and not-so-happy news this week.

First, the happy news: last weekend, just after I'd posted, the mail came ... and in it was an envelope from the Library of Congress. Yes, I got my copyright registration certificate for Another Shot! (Refer to that little guy above.) I was pretty excited, since it was way back in January that I applied for it. Now it's official.

The sad news is that the Hastings store in Pittsburg, KS, will be closing next month. That's where I had my first two book signings and where I was able to sell several copies of both novels on consignment. I want to thank their book manager, Courtney, for being so helpful and supportive. I also want to wish her and all of the other nice people who worked there the very best in the future.

Pittsburg, KS, Hastings store

Things change, not always for the better, but that's how we learn to adapt.
Here's to the future ...



(Happy guy provided by www.freesmileys.org.)