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Showing posts with label Detroit Tigers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit Tigers. Show all posts

Monday, April 10, 2017

Television, Traveling, and Tigers

Have you been watching “Feud: Bette and Joan”? Very interesting series. I remember watching Whatever Happened to Baby Jane on television back in the late 1960s. Freaked me out. The following day, one of my first graders talked about watching it. WTH? What were those parents thinking?

Anyway, the series about the ongoing feud between two aging superstars has been fascinating. I’ve always been a “star” watcher. I love movies, as if you couldn’t guess by now. Every chance I get I read People magazine, usually in a doctor’s office. I can just imagine how the feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford would play out in today’s media. Susan Sarandon as Bette and Jessica Lange as Joan are perfect for the roles. I could believe that I’m watching the real Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.

Another movie on television caught my attention ahead of time. So I set up the DVR to record it just in case we missed it. We missed it. Worse, the time allotted was wrong. Instead of a 90 minutes, To Walk Invisible the Bronte Sisters ran for almost two hours. When the recording shut off in the middle of the movie, I was so disappointed. Fortunately, it reran at 3 am the following week. I recorded it again (adding an hour to the time indicated). What a fascinating look at the family life of three classic authors and what they had to go through to get their works published. If you get a chance, it’s worth watching.

Rogue One came out in DVD last week. Haven’t had a chance to watch this. Again. We saw it at the show. Unfortunately, because much of the cast is British (and other nationalities) and Hubs and I have some hearing problems, we missed a lot of the dialogue. I’ve been waiting for this Star Wars affiliated movie to come out on DVD so we can get closed captioning. I didn’t have time to get to the store and purchased it, let alone watch it.

Rogue One came out on Tuesday. We left on Wednesday, driving to Arizona. We left behind rain, with a good possibility for snow, for Spring in the Southwest. After the first day of rain, we had sunny, warm days for the rest of our trip. How wonderful to see flowering shrubs and trees leafing out. The farther south, the more definite Spring had arrived. Our family back home assured us the snow went east of us. Still, we were happy to leave it behind.

In the month since we left AZ, Toddler Girl’s vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds. She’ll be two next week (our reason for returning), and we’re fascinated by how many words she knows and uses correctly plus how much she understands. This is a fabulous time. I’m so glad we could spend so much time with her. Our lovely daughter-in-law (and son) welcome us so graciously and enjoy having us stay with them. We love the time with our granddaughter and they make it easy for us.


I’m anxiously awaiting the return of my edited manuscript—which will probably be here before this post goes up. Good thing. I’m almost afraid I’m cutting it too close. The finished ms. is due on Amazon on Thursday. The penalty if I miss that deadline is steep. No more pre-orders for a year. I won’t miss the deadline. The Case of the Meddling Mama will be released a week from today, April 17th. While it’s on pre-order, it’s priced at $1.99. After release, it will go up to its regular price of $3.99. I’ve had a lot of fun offering snippets each weekend. I hope you’ve gotten a chance to read them. 

The Detroit Tigers won opening day. Currently, they’re in second place in the American League Central. What a great week!


I hope you have a great week.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Daffodils, Baseball, Tornadoes

You can tell it’s Spring in Michigan—and in most of the Midwest. Daffodils and other spring bulbs are poking their heads through the cold ground. Today is the first day of baseball—the Detroit Tigers play the Chicago White Sox. Time to get boats in the water. And it’s tornado season.



Every fall, Hubs and I plant tulips and daffodils in the hopes that we’ll have lots of color despite winter’s brown grass. Unfortunately, some critters think bulbs are a delicacy. Not sure, but we think it’s a rabbit and his/her buddies. The profusion of blooms fills me with joy and hope. So we’ll plant more bulbs and hope for the best.

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that baseball is my favorite sport. Never mind that Hubs and almost every person in the U.S. will be glued to their televisions tonight watching the NCAA Basketball playoffs. I’d rather watch baseball. Some equate watching baseball on TV the equivalent of watching paint dry. Not me. As a kid, I played baseball. As a parent, I watched my kids in Little League, and even kept score for our son’s team. Baseball is a sport whose rules I understand. Besides, it’s fun. While it's quite a hike across the state to watch the Tigers play in person, I can still get my baseball fix by attending the West Michigan WhiteCaps games. The WhiteCaps, a minor league team affiliated with the Tigers, play just north of Grand Rapids.


While the first two signs of Spring are fun and exciting, the next one is scary. I lived in Missouri for six years. Tornado Alley. A tornado hit Sedalia the year before we moved there. Despite the devastation to houses, a mobile home park, and the factory where Hubs went to work, no lives were lost due to the advance warning system. After seeing pictures of the devastation, I have a healthy respect for tornado sirens. I hope you do, too. While Michigan isn’t exactly in Tornado Alley, we do get tornadoes here. So, I know where in my basement to go when the sirens sound. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by the tornadoes this past week.

The Case of the Meddling Mama takes place in Spring. My cover designer, the talented Florence Price of The Novel Difference, did a great job with the cover. See the containers containing tulips in front of Alex’s building and the people frolicking on the beach? They’re smart enough not to go into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan. But it's a great time to go fishing and sailing.

Blurb:
Once again, Alex O’Hara is up to her ears in mysteries. After surviving an attempted murder, all she wants is R&R time with Nick Palzetti. But his mother leaving his father (“that horse’s patoot”) and moving in with Alex puts a crimp in their plans. Then Nick leaves on assignment and the teen she rescued from an abusive father believes his buddy is doing drugs. Meanwhile, Alex has two easy cases to take her mind off her shaky relationship with Nick—a philandering husband and a background check on a client’s boyfriend. Piece of cake.

Release date: April 17, 2017. Available for pre-order at a reduced price.


Have a great week. Happy Spring!



Sunday, October 26, 2014

Snarkology Halloween Hop #giveaway


CONGRATULATIONS TO JOELY B. FOR WINNING THE FREE COPY OF
THE CASE OF THE BYGONE BROTHER.


This time of year is especially fun. Now I'm not crazy about scary stuff. I really do not like scary books or movies. And forget roller coasters. Even Ferris wheels give me the willies. But I love the cold nights and warm days, the brilliance of maple and poplar leaves, the smell of woodburning fireplaces. Baseball World Series is only a favorite event if the Detroit Tigers are playing. Second best is the St. Louis Cardinals (Mom was from St. Louis and her mom took me to my first baseball game at Busch Stadium). Football isn't my thing, but I will sort of watch Michigan State play. If my family reads this, they will disown me since they're avid U of M fans.

But the most fun of this time of year is watching the kids come trick-or-treating. The costumes are so much fun. At our old house, a neighbor dressed their dachshund in a hot dog costume. The noise of kids and ringing doorbells would drive our dogs nuts so Hubs and I would sit in lawn chairs at the edge of our open garage door to hand out candy.

What's your favorite thing about this time of year?

I'm giving away an ecopy of my newest release, a PI mystery titled THE CASE OF THE BYGONE BROTHER (An Alex O'Hara Novel) that will be released on Thursday, October 30th. As you can tell from the cover, the story  takes place in the fall. This is the first of a new series featuring a private investigator in a fictitious small resort town on Lake Michigan. Alex O'Hara gets into scrapes as well as danger as she hunts for a missing relative. 


Here's the blurb:


Alex O’Hara finally gets a case that will give her bottom line a much needed boost. She might even be able to change her diet from ramen noodles to prime rib. All she has to do is track down a man who’s been missing for over ten years. Piece of cake . . . until an old flame arrives and a mugger roughs her up with orders to back off. 

Buy links:
Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/489085
Amazon:  http://amzn.com/B00P1GPR0Q

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/case-bygone-brother-alex-ohara/id935501248?mt=11

Be sure to leave your email address along with your comment to be eligible to win the free ecopy of THE CASE OF THE BYGONE BROTHER.

 Every blog hop has grand prizes. This one is no different. Enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win.

Now check out the other participants for more opportunities to win prizes.



Monday, April 1, 2013

Wake up, Mother Nature!



Come on now. We’ve had enough Winter. In the nearly three weeks since Spring started, we’ve had snowstorms, it’s still cold, we’re having flurries today and the grass is still brown.



Despite the weather, signs of Spring are around. Daffodils are poking through ground, daylight hangs around longer, road construction begins and today is Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers. The last is my favorite part of Spring. You know how much I like baseball. Every season I have high hopes for the Tigers.



But wait. Baseball isn’t my only favorite part of Spring. I love the fact that it stays light longer. Sun plays such a large part in our mental health. Around the Great Lakes, gray skies are the norm from November through March. When we were in Arizona last month, I couldn’t get over how bright it is. My mood improves and the warmth makes my joints hurt less. I just have to figure out how to stay out there longer in the Winter. As much as Hubs and I love our son, living with him and his girlfriend for more than a couple of weeks would definitely strain our relationship. Maybe we’ll figure out another way.



My least favorite part of Spring is the beginning of road construction. I know it’s a necessity to repair the damage to the pavement from Winter, but I just hate seeing those orange barrels. That means long lines as we go from two (or three) lanes to one, rude drivers who wait until the last minute to merge and having to factor in more time to get to our destination. Hubs and I have developed a fatalistic attitude—it’ll be great when it’s done. Only problem is they’ll just move the construction farther down the road.



I’ve saved my very favorite reason for liking Spring to the last. The daffodils. My own harbinger of Spring. Forget the robins, which I haven’t seen yet, and the crocuses that the rabbits eat. Daffodils are such a happy flower. Bright yellow cups nodding in the breeze. Plant the bulbs once and they come back each year more prolific than the year before. I just wish they lasted longer.



Baseball, road construction and daffodils have one thing in common—starting over. The very best part of Spring is a sense of rebirth. A second chance. After being beaten down by Winter, the earth comes alive again. Just like us.



Oh, wait. One more thing. Even though it’s April, we’re not done with March Madness. Michigan made the Final Four. Go Blue!