Another Beautiful Night on the Water

Writing, reading, playing: there are so many things I want to do. I hate to see the summer come to an end. Just a few short weeks ago we could be out on the water until 9:30 and on the way home by 10:00. Now it's dark at 8:00. Doesn't leave much time to do everything we want to do. At least it was another beautiful night on the river.

It was Ellen's first time wakeboarding.














I'm so glad Jake could get away from work.

A Sunday Afternoon Drive - By Bike

It was a beautiful day. Probably about 95 degrees. Lars and I got up early and went berry picking at the top of Mt. Tabor Park. Make sure you scroll through this link to see how really beautiful Mt. Tabor and Portland really are.

This is a park built on an extinct volcanic cinder cone. There are only two of these parks in the United States and the other one is in Oregon too, in Bend.

So, I'm going to make more of my Organic-Volcanic Blackberry Jam. But before I pulled out my berries, Lars and I rode our bikes down to the city. I want to start riding my bike to work - trying to be green, save gas and the environment. It was a great work out. Here's my husband, when we stopped at Starbucks to refuel.

Summer Comes to an End - Almost

It's probably one of the last weekends of summer weather. We wanted to spend the time, out on the boat, with friends.

Here is my daughter, Kara, wakeboarding.













Janice chose to stay on the boat and soak up the sun - rather than getting soaked.
















Darryl is an obvious boarder - whether its skate or wakeboarding.













Here's my husband, Lars, riding the waves.








I kind of look like a frog.







Then we came home and had a cold drink by the warm fire, sitting on the patio chatting. My brother, Steve, joined us and Kara and Jake hung out on the deck.

How did you spend the weekend?

Movie Night - The Other Boleyn Girl

This was a great show but so sad. Women were traded like cattle and used like assets. Fathers traded their young daughters for monetary gain.

My husband, son (Jake for his college graduation) and I visited Hever Castle (Ann Boleyn's childhood home), when we were in England last year. We saw paintings of Ann hung on the walls. Having seen her home and family paintings, makes this story/movie seem tangible and real. It was very emotional.

And, in reality, Ann Boleyn looked a lot like my niece, Serena. At least I think so, what do you think?





What a rough world it was. Thank God we’ve come a long way baby!

Here are a few photos we took of Hever Castle.

Query Letter Help from Book Ends

Book Ends gives some helpful hints about queries. Read it here.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

People come and people go but a neighborhood is more than comings and goings. It's a community of people who care about each other and go out of their way to get to know one another. One way that our neighborhood does this is by hosting Welcome to the Neighborhood parties and Christmas Cookie Exchanges. There are other ways too but here are a few pictures from one party where we welcomed Jen, John and Jackson.

These cyber neighborhoods are important too. We make friends and get to know one another over the net. So, grab a cup of coffee and sit and share some news with me. I've got a variety of posts to share with you. Hope you enjoy your visit into my on-line life.

Self-Editing Help - and other useful links

Here's a great post from Kelly Mortimer with a lot of helpful writing information. You can read the entire post here.

And if you want to find topics to write about, here is a list of 7 ways to track trends. Thanks to Writer's Digest. Check it out here.

Here's another useful link to read: Face-to-Face with an Agent, from Writer's Digest. Read it here.

Here's one more great post, which gives a list of agents accepting queries from children's literature writers, which was current as of March of '08. Check it out here