Fond 4th of July Memories
I’ve always loved The Fourth of July and the way the community got together to celebrate our Independence Day when Wayne and I were newly married and raising our family. Some of my happiest memories are of taking the children to celebrate by watching the parade and the fireworks display. Our oldest son, Ted, was about five when he saw his first marching band. He was mesmerized by the sights and the music and seemed enthralled with the man in front with the big baton. When I asked him if he wanted to march in a band one day, he nodded eagerly. Read more
Let ‘er Rip!
The time I have to knit is so precious, and it seems I have less and less of it. (That, however, doesn’t mean I have decreased my yarn buying habits!) Last Sunday offered five uninterrupted hours of knitting as Wayne and I drove home from our Washington State wine tour. I was in knitter's heaven. I’m working on a vest and managed to finish up the body and one entire side, when I realized, to my horror, that I had made a mistake in the first row I knit after we hit the road. A really big mistake. This is the kind of error that c
Happy Birthday, Shirley!
I played hooky from the office yesterday afternoon. My cousin, Shirley, was in town, and we celebrated her 70th birthday with a movie (The Proposal with Sandra Bullock), along with plenty of buttered popcorn, followed by ice cream cake. We both paid for our bad behavior later, but it was so worth the movie and all the giggles. Unfortunately, I don’t have a sister, so I count on my cousins for those special family relationships. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with several. Happy 70th Birthday, Shirl, we’ll have to celebr Read more
Wine-Tasting Weekend
Wayne and I are off today for a weekend wine-tasting tour with friends. (This is our reward for the six-week book tour.) For those of you who might not be aware, Washington is the second largest wine-producing state behind California. We have some exceptional red and white wine varieties.
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A Knitting Prayer
A reader, Lola, from Tiffin, OH, recently mailed me this anonymous Knitting Prayer. It was so good I wanted to share it with all of you.
Life is like knitting:
God gives me the wool and the needles and tells me
“A stitch is a day on the needle of time”.
After 12 rows of knitting, I have 365 stitches,
And in 10 years, 3650 stitches.
Some are purl, others are knit.
Some stitches are lost, but I can pick them up. Read more
Happy Birthday, Dale!
Today is our youngest son’s birthday. Thirty-four years ago Wayne drove me to the hospital after my water broke and labor began. Although it was late afternoon, Wayne was hoping we could wait until after midnight so we wouldn’t be charged for a full day’s hospital stay. Because money was tight in those days, I tried my best to wait. Needless to say, Dale foiled our cost-cutting plans. Truth be known, we were fortunate to make it to the hospital in time. With Dale we completed our family—two girls and two boys. Happy Read more
How an Author Relaxes
I spent three days home last week recovering from a simple medical procedure. I wasn’t so much in pain as I was uncomfortable and physically drained. So what did I do?
Curl up and read a book? I tried but fell asleep after a couple of pages. Knit? Well, some, but the rows just seemed so long and boring. Did I watch movies? It was too much effort to figure out how to work the DVD player. (I need a grandkid to figure it out even now.)
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The Smell of Chlorine in the Morning.
Oh my, how I love the smell of chlorine in the morning! I’m back into my regular routine of swimming in the morning and heading for the office around 7:15 a.m., where my latte is waiting for me. While I always enjoy meeting my readers and visiting other parts of the country, I have to confess I’m loving every minute of settling back into my life as I remember it. Naturally, that includes spending time with the grandkids, and playing fetch with Bogie. In the evenings, Wayne and I often sit in the yard with a cup of coffee or an occasional g
Home Again
The last city of my spring tour was Knoxville, TN. It was a delight to participate in the Book Junkie Book Club event and meet with the knitters at The Knitting Nest in Maryville. Thank you, one and all, for coming to signings on this year’s tour. I have phenomenal readers!
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Louisiana
Thank you once again to all the wonderful readers who have taken the time to greet me in Louisiana. I loved meeting you, and love the state. New Orleans was fabulous and is the place to be for Cajun food, and I do enjoy Cajun food! Even though there was thunder and lightening and I was deluged with rain, I still had the chance to do a little antique shopping and wandered the French Quarter and Chartres Street. I’m taking home wonderful memories.
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On Time in New Jersey
I was gifted with Divine intervention at the Tallahassee airport yesterday. At the very last minute I was able to change my previous departure, which had a too-tight connection in Atlanta, to an earlier flight. This allowed me just enough leeway to make my connecting flight and to arrive on time for my New Jersey signing. I would have hated to disappoint the over 200 people who were waiting to greet me there. And if you know me at all, I hate to be late for anything (and rarely am). When things like this happen, I know God is looking after me Read more
Happy Memorial Day!
I was overwhelmed with the reception I received in Savannah last night. Read more
Savannah, GA
Although I’m technically on a book tour, Wayne and I are continuing our own personal restaurant tour of the south. Here we are in Paula Deen’s Savannah restaurant called Lady and Sons, enjoying our lunch. I had fried green tomatoes and crab soup, and it was fabulous. Wayne had the buffet—three times!
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Charleston, SC
Wayne and I are en route to Charleston, SC. I am still overwhelmed from the special gift I was given today at the Sam’s Club signing in Columbia, SC. Delores and Ben, a young military wife and husband, came to the signing to give me a coin called Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am so honored and touched to receive this special coin. My friend, Leslee, who was with me and considers herself a hard-nosed New Yorker, was close to tears.
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Driving instead of Flying
After a restful break at home in Port Orchard for Mother’s Day, Wayne and I boarded a plane for North Carolina. Also aboard the plane was Bruce Crandall, Medal of Honor recipient (and our friend), along with four young women and two young men headed toward marine boot camp. It was a thrill to give them a standing ovation and let them board the plane first.
Tour Adventures
I have completed the fourth city of my tour and have been doing quite a bit of TV. (Personally, I feel a lot thinner on radio!) Yesterday morning in Fresno, I joined the two anchors on the FOX affiliate for the morning newscast and was seated with them. Five seconds before air time the producer asked me to raise the level of my chair. Attempting to comply, I touched the bar and immediately sank to the point my nose was level with the table top! There was some furious maneuvering as the cameras switched around to focus on the one anchor. I Read more
News from the Road
Signings in both St. Louis and Denver have been incredible and it’s been wonderful to meet my readers there. If you missed me, I did leave behind several signed books in the stores where I signed, along with a small gift.
In addition to signings, I managed to squeeze in visits to two yarn stores and loved seeing new knit projects for future knitting.
On the Road Again!
I'm humming that Willy Nelson song. Yesterday was the first stop of my 2009 book tour for SUMMER ON BLOSSOM STREET, in my own back yard of Vero Beach, FL This evening is the second stop, Des Peres, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. I'm a people person, so do come and see me if you're in the area. I so enjoy meeting my readers.
On the Set of Mrs. Miracle!
I spent the weekend on the set of Mrs. Miracle with the Producer, Dan Wigutow, Caroline Moore, Co-producer, and Director Michael Scott. Doris Roberts is an absolute delight as Mrs. Miracle! All these wonderful people are bringing Mrs. Miracle to life in the most charming way.
Doris is even funnier in person that she is on the screen–witty, personable and a force of life. Doris and I had a photo shoot and were interviewed for an electronic press kit, which I learned they call an EPK.
Marie Macomber
I have sad news to report. Wayne’s mother, Marie, died last Friday. She met Wayne’s father, Frank Gair Macomber, during World War II and went back to live with her family in Colville, Washington during the war, and Wayne was born there. Frank was injured in the war and died shortly thereafter. Marie continued to live with her parents in the same house in which she was raised and remained there the rest of her life. She never remarried.
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Lessons Learned
The other day I asked Wayne if he would take on a project for me. (I needed him to wind some yarn for me–he’s always so helpful at doing this.) Wayne was a bit distracted playing his computer game, but he said he would do the good deed. He took it from me and set it aside. When I returned at the end of the day, the yarn was still not wound, but the sweater I had been working on the last day or so was totally unraveled and off the needles!*#@! Four to five inches of circular knitting was gone, wound up into a beautiful skein Read more
Annual Easter Egg Hunt
Wayne and I had a wonderful Easter with our children and grandchildren. As anticipated, the annual Macomber Easter egg hunt was a huge success. The start of the Boston marathon could not rival the kids running out the front door in search of the hidden eggs. I hid the grand prize, a special egg containing a $10 bill. Five-year-old Isaiah echoed the thoughts of every grandchild when he said, “Grandma, I could really use ten bucks.”
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Happy Easter!
Today is Good Friday, which has tremendous meaning for me. This is the day Christ died for us. For many years I wasn’t sure exactly what His death meant. Even now I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what His suffering upon that cross entails. What I do know is that because Christ died I shall live one day with Him. I have faith. I believe. I have problems, weaknesses and even moments of depression. Don’t we all? But when I do, I can always reach for my Bible and be co Read more
Regular or Plastic?
I’m flying back to Washington state Wednesday morning in order to spend Easter with our children and grandchildren. Of course, the Easter bunny makes an appearance at the Macomber household, although he brings plastic eggs. This became necessary when one of the ‘regular’ eggs went undiscovered for six months and caused quite a stink once found. One does grow wise with age, and so it’s plastic for this bunny! Read more
The Sound of Silence
The din has died down from five grandchildren scrambling from one end of the house to the other. They were here for spring break, and we had a blast. I spent more time in the pool in the week they were here than I did the entire winter. The silence seems deafening now, and I miss them already. The good news is that Wayne and I will be back in Port Orchard for Easter, and the fun will start all over again—sans the swimming pool. Read more