This June was a time of celebration as I attended a birthday party of a dear friend. On route to the party, my husband and I stopped at our Alma Mater. This is where we met and so we very much enjoyed strolling down memory lane. It looked exactly the same and very different, all at once. We also went searching for the first restaurant my future husband ever took me to and found the fancy place was a simple pub with a very reasonable menu. It seemed very swank at the time, but then again I was surviving on Minute Rice and peas.

Once we arrived in Syracuse, I found myself in possession of a free morning and without possession of my laptop. So we went to visit a very charming zoo and were delighted to get the chance to meet an elephant up close and personal.

Our second celebration, a wedding, took us in the opposite direction, to Long Island. What fun to see family and have a chance to chat and dance and share a meal. Don’t you just love celebrations?

I celebrated another birthday with my husband who is ten days younger (and never lets me forget it). He tells everyone that he married an older woman. As the years go by, that is getting to be true. We had a gathering of family and friends in upstate New York for a lawn party complete with horseshoes and ladder golf. As I take another trip around the sun, I realize how lucky I am to have work I enjoy and family to love. Plus, the cake was awesome, chocolate sponge with canola cream filling and butter cream frosting topped with fudge!

I will be signing at Book Expo America in NYC on Thursday, May 27th, starting at 11 AM. Stop by the RWA booth if you are attending and say hello!

I learned I’m a finalist in the BOOK BUYERS BEST CONTEST for my debut paranormal romance, DREAM STALKER. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

April also saw me enrolled in a baking class through an adult education class. The beginning class included a seven layer chocolate cake which I made as homework. The final product was delicious, but did lilt somewhat off vertical. The Linzer Hearts came out more presentable. My husband has banned me from making anything with butter until he works off the five pounds he gained sampling my homework.

I spent March working on my next historical, preliminarily called, Partnering Lily and set in the Yukon during the gold rush. I did have two outings. First, I visited the Cloisters, a medieval collection of art and architecture owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the most recognizable items in the collection is the Unicorn in Captivity tapestry from the 1500s, but this museum also includes a lovely medicinal garden, chapel, stain glass windows and many decorative items. If you are in NYC and are a history buff, you can’t go wrong here. I also attended the first annual Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference. It was well run and well attended. The workshops were great, but I most enjoyed networking with other writers and catching up with old friends. The conference took place during the terrible rain and wind storm that did such damage in the Northeast. The lights went out a couple of times and conference hotels are not known for their interior windows. We later learned that one of the street lights came down, crushing a car in the lot (not mine, thank heaven). When I got home, I was relieved to see my house still standing with only a few limbs down around it, but my hometown had many, many beautiful trees toppled.

Many of you know that Buttercup, Jenna’s cockatiel has a Facebook page, but did you also know she has a secret admirer? She got flowers, a dozen red roses that look like the redwood forest beside her. She’s not sure what to make of it. Outside Jenna’s door Old Man Winter still reigns supreme, but that is just the right type of weather for writing romance.

This month Jenna completed her Christmas Novella, TROUBLE FOR CHRISTMAS, that readers will see in October of this year. She also learned the title of her next Western historical. Drum roll please… CAPTURED IN DAKOTA still has no release date. This is the story of Lucie West, daughter of Thomas & Sarah West the heroes of HIGH PLAINS BRIDE. Many readers asked Jenna to write her story and now she has!

Jenna has also been doing some baking and has a new favorite recipe from NPR for Gateau Basque. This is a dessert that falls somewhere between a cookie and a tart with a lovely filling of jam or cream. These cakes, from the Basque region between France and Spain, have been made since the 1600s and once you try one, you’ll see why. They are delicious.

Jenna has been tucked up close to her computer and her coffee maker this month because when she goes outside she has to shovel snow. The view from her back window shows the mourning doves are waiting out the storm and taking a break from Jenna’s bird feeder.

The Comforts of Home

January’s cold and gray weather has forced me inside. I’ve begun a small quilting project that is keeping my hands busy and out of the potato chip bowl! I’m not sure what I like best, the piece work or the hand sewing. I really take pride in sewing the border on with tiny stitches. I’m now about halfway around the border with a hand-quilted pattern of feathers and flowers. I only have another month to finish before my friend’s baby arrives. I tried for a neutral, but fear all the purple makes the quilt look more ready to welcome a girl than a boy. Either way, it will be warm.

As you can see, my cockatiel has taken an interest in my work. She likes to pick out the basting stitches and is curious as to what takes up so much of my time that it interferes with her ability to get me to pet her head. Something so distracting must be edible, right? Well, she thinks so.