A WHOLE LOTTA GREEN!

This is the “Gone To Green” series about a ‘corporate journalist’ aka big town gal, who ends up becoming the owner of a small newspaper in a Louisiana Parish. We’ve all heard the stories (from Doc Hollywood, to Finding Normal, mostly medically speaking), and while it’s nothing new, this quaint and curious story, which spans five novels, welcomes the reader with open arms, and treats us to a banquet of hospitality  unknown in the greater work-a-day world, not to mention what I like to call The 21st Century Disease.

There are intrigues, and a smorgasbord of characters, some of which go down smooth, and others of which bite back. Charming is a word I’d use to describe the homey sense of Green, once our heroine gets past the hurdles of adjusting to her life ‘turning on a dime.’ The mishaps of her first moments in town, follow her through the series, always keeping the reader wondering how in the world is she going to get out of traps of, first, being the new kid in town, to the uncertainty of becoming romantically involved, when she never feels sure she’ll stick with it, to finding an inner strength of spirit even while questioning her faith in Faith. There is small town political chicanery, dangers of going up against the ‘big boys’ as a woman out of her element, as well as the natural disasters that can take everyone by surprise and leave them often wounded and yet finding camaraderie in the strangest places.

Oh, and there are the recipes that are included in the books, so if you should crave some of the mouth watering food described there-in, you’ll only have to finish the book to get the details of the meals. Yum. Yum.

There truly is never a dull moment as each novel unfolds.

Gone To Green Book 1,

Goodness Gracious Green Book 2
The Glory of Green Book 3

Rally Round The Green Book 4

Downtown Green Book 5

Thank you to The Bookworm Club for giving us the opportunity to talk about the books we love, and introduce them to others who might come to love them as much as we do!

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TOO MUCH FUN

PICK THE WORLD: Honduras

There are people, like ships passing in the night, who remain in the memory banks, even when the actual contact with them was brief. I remember Dante like that.

It might not have been the hottest day of the summer, but it ranked up there in the top 3 or 5. We were living in Texas then, so, if you know Texas, then you know how hot it can get. Mr. Quantum worked just on the other side of Dallas, in Irving. It was an hour and a half bus trip each way on three buses. But you can’t carry a globe in a stand

on a bus, in rush hour. Seriously, you’d have a riot on your hands. So, I drove there in our, then, 10 year old Ford (something or other). We pushed the globe and stand into the back seat, and headed for home. I don’t think we actually made it out of Irving. We were coming to a set of tracks, and the car sort of just stopped. Or maybe it coughed, and we rolled across the tracks and toward a curb, and that was it. Dead as a door nail.

In the shade it was at least forever hot, and we stood there scratching our heads wondering what in the world we were going to do. No, before you even ask, we didn’t have a cellphone. There was a gas station somewhere ahead, or back, and we went to call on a pay phone (oh? you don’t know about pay phones? Well, let me tell you, they’re a laugh riot).

We called Triple A. They said it would be over an hour before they could get to us. And all we could do was wait. And wait. And, say it with me, wait. We had gone back to the car, and sat under a tree. It was the coolest place we could find. At some point, not wanting to walk back to the station, I thought, there’s this nice apartment complex (sort of like townhouses, but not), right here, behind us, and the office for it was the first  unit, so we knocked on the door, and they let us call the motor club from their phone. The promise was they would be here soon. Their idea of soon was somewhere around next week, maybe, to never.

While we were despairing, in the little oasis of shade, a tow truck pulled into the drive way of the complex. I followed it down the drive, and when the guy stopped, I asked if he was from the AAA. Nope. He wasn’t. But he did ask if we needed help. And we told him, we needed a tow back to Dallas. He was just getting off work, but jumped back in his truck, got our little car up on the bed, and the three of us climbed up into the cab.

We learned his name was Dante. He said he was from Honduras, and he regaled us with stories of living there, and of trips going through all the countries to get there. It was hard times, and his way of looking at the kind of pickle people get into (like we were in at that very minute) was ‘Too much fun.’ We arrived in Dallas, in our little neighborhood, disembarked the wonderful air-conditioned truck. We waved good-bye. We never saw Dante again. He was just one of those ships that didn’t simply pass, but stopped and helped, and bolstered our spirits by who he was and how he touched our lives in a way that allows us to always think of the hard times as Too Much Fun!

As he drove away, I wanted to ask, “Who Was That Masked Man?” His kindness will never be forgotten.

Very Cool Reality

PROMPT: Sliced Bread

[Most of us have heard the saying, “That’s the best thing since sliced bread!” What do you think is actually the best thing since sliced bread?]

On the ‘first thing that comes to mind’ front, I’d say butter, but of course, butter’s been around longer, so ignore that, not to mention this isn’t about sliced bread really.

Years ago, before all this technology came into the world, there were certain things I’d dream about having in my home. I love movies, and I always thought that I would need to come with a way to build a mini theater in my house, so I could view movies on the big screen, without having to go out to a theater, but more importantly that I could have the opportunity to own and view certain movies at any time I want. As I say this now, I’m feeling how antiquated the VCR is, comparatively speaking. But, that really was my dream of being able to view, own and what have you, at home, coming true. The VCR, above all else which technology affords us, was the best thing since sliced bread.

Now remember, I was young, (well, okay out of my teens, and past my 20s, and had reached Thirty-Something) when I became aware of the this new fangled toy. I’d like to say that I was a kid, and had no reason to think such things as microwave would matter more to me. It didn’t because movies and tv are ‘White Man’s Medicine,’ and I have found the most profound truths in them. To remember these truths is easier when I can review them at the drop of a hat. That’s a Very Cool Reality.

Psyched Out

Thank you, once again, EMGN DESIGNS for the opportunity of remembering that which made us smile this week:

We’ve been watching (for the first time) a show called “Psych” which has a really fun end credits song. Everyday we watch an episode, we’d be trying like crazy to remember the words, but just didn’t seem to get through it once without getting all discombobulated.

Our sock monkey, Cappy,

is a great cheering section for most things, but becomes the peanut gallery when we can’t get it right. However this week, like yesterday, I think, we finally, without a problem, got through the song  without out one mistake! We weren’t just smiling, we were hooping and hollaring, and dancing around (well Cappy was, at any rate)…

Yes, we’re vantriloquists in training, and we don’t care if our lips move. lol  Talking for a sock monkey can be one of the most satisfying parts of playing a body can do.

MCMLXVI

PROMPT: Buffalo Nickel
[Dig through your couch cushions, your purse, or the floor of your car and look at the year printed on the first coin you find. What were you doing that year?]

I couldn’t find the buffalo nickel, though I do have some, but we have coins in jars, ready to be rolled up and taken to the bank. Of course, they’ve been in the jars for about 8 years. That’s us, ‘not-so-johnny-on-the-spot.’ But let’s not go there. I let my fingers drift down through the jar and pulled out a coin. It was a quarter, and I looked at the date. What was I doing that year? It didn’t take me long to remember. It was a rather momentus year, actually. It was my sweet sixteen year.

I don’t know if that’s still the big deal it was back then. But I clearly remember that the catering houses made good money off the families with daughters in them. The gala was usually like a prom, or a cotillion, or something along those lines. When my parents asked me what I wanted to do for my party, I didn’t have to think about it. I wanted to go to Fahnstock State Park for a camp out!

My catering house was Mama Gaia. Of course, then, we brought all manner of hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, probably tons of cocoa cola, and cake. Yes, of course there had to be cake. What birthday doesn’t have cake?

The ride up there was probably an hour and a half. I knew about this place because I spent my summers up there camping with my folks since I was nine years old. Before that is was bungalow colonies in the Catskills, but my parents got the camping bug, which was very contageous, I can tell you, and I still have that bug today.

I knew that I had to be selective in how many friends I could bring up with me. We wouldn’t all fit into the car (a station wagon) otherwise. So it was perhaps six or seven of us, which I’m sure was crazy making for my folks.

Fahnstock is a manficient state park, in the mountains, probably the Taconics, on the east side of the Hudson River.  We had a fabulous camp fire going, and trampsed around the trails to our hearts content, and came back to base camp for lunch.

The specifics of the day are somewhat blurry. That happens when it is way more than a single year before. But it was definitely the best Sweet Sixteen birthday party I could think of.

Other dates of note that year:

I had a deviated septum corrected.

But probably the most memorable was seeing

Yes, The Beatles at Shea Stadium that year! It was the 3rd time I’d seen them.

Can anyone guess which Beatle made this young girl’s heart swoon? (600,000 points if you guess right).

Talk about a time capsule!  *sighs contentedly*