GOODWEATHER

REPORTS

IX – March 1, 2008

Like it or not , last month I turned sixty-five. Aye, law, hit don't seem possible. I'm a senior citizen. Sounds grim but the alternative is grimmer still. And I don't mind if people think I'm old – I just don't want them to treat me as if I'm senile. (Until I am – then I probably won't care.)

What really annoys me is being called ‘Young Lady' by someone much younger than I. A bag boy at the grocery store was the first to do it, almost ten years ago when I was recovering from back surgery and hobbling about with a cane. I scowled and didn't tip him, but held my peace. Then last year, the bell captain at the hotel where a mystery convention was being held did it as he was ushering me to my room.

“Here you are, Young Lady,” he said, opening the door and waving me in with a flourish.

“Wait a minute,” I said, suppressing the Southern Lady in favor of the Aging Curmudgeon. “Look at this white hair. Do I look like a young lady to you?”

“Er, yeah . . . sure you do . . .” he stammered, backing toward the door.

I was feeling really snarly now. “Then either your eyesight is bad or you think I'm senile enough to be flattered by being called ‘young lady.'”

Truly, I wasn't as harsh as it sounds. But we had a little sensitivity training session right there. I asked how he would like it if I called him ‘Boy' -- he being an African-American man in his forties He conceded the point and we parted amicably, shaking hand. (I gave him a tip.)

And if anyone ever refers to my age as so-many “years young ,” I hope to be able to hit them with my walker.

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I did an interview online recently: They asked me to tell something my readers would be surprised to learn about me. Check out the link below for my personal shocking revelation about dog fights and how to stop them. (This may fall into the category of ‘I don't believe I'd a told that.' But the interviewer asked for something that would surprise my readers to learn about me, so I told it.)

http://www.themotivatedwriter.com/2february.html

Moonrise at sunset

QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM YOU ALL

(or ‘you uns,' as Miss Birdie would say)

Many of you tell me of your ties to the area I'm writing about. Some have roots here – though they may be from long ago.

Pat D. in Florida was surprised to find the name of her favorite aunt – Aunt Omie – used in my books. She told me of visiting in the mountains and having a feeling of ‘coming home' only to learn later that her ancestors had lived in the area for generations. I had very much the same feeling but in my case I think it was the Scotch-Irish connection. My father was from a Scotch-Irish family that landed in Charleston and over the years made its way down through Georgia to Florida . Many more of that background came to the mountains, so when I arrived here a lot of the sayings and customs seemed familiar.

~~~

Rosalie L. wrote:

Nancy M. tells me that she has her aunts' old diaries – I believe they start in the 20's to 30's up to the late 60's – chocked full of Walnut and Madison County goings-on!  If you would like to take a look at them sometime, let me know – I would love to share with you.  One of the things I found almost comical was that both of them (“old maids” at the time they were writing in the dairies – one never married and one married in her late 50's) were always “worn out” at the end of the day.  My Aunt Inez would describe her days at home – Monday was, of course, laundry day – rain or shine – and there were so many times that the clothesline would fall.  And the way they treated just about all ailments with Epson salts!!!

And Nancy was good enough to lend them to me and I am having a wonderful time reading them. Perfect for what I'm working on now!

Here's a fun little sequence about Violet who had come to visit:

Friday, March 3, 1933 –Violet came this morning to spend the weekend.

Monday, March 6, 1933 –A bad day. The sun isn't shining and it looks like it is going to rain. Cook and work is all I get to do. Violet is still here.

Tuesday, March 7, 1933 – Violet went down to Treadways today. It seems good for her to be gone. Ha.

Wednesday, March 8, 1933 – Violet came back today.

Friday, March 10, 1933 – Violet left today and was we glad. Ha.

~~~

Judy K. from Little Switzerland, NC sent me a treasure trove of great links for research. Be warned – you can get lost in the pages of history!
American Memory:  Library of Congress --- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html   all sorts of items including pictures, maps, panoramic maps, info from the Federal Writer's Project, Folklore, etc

Making of America - U Mich/Cornell cooperative effort

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa
http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/

Eyewitness to history:   www.eyewitnesstohistory.com

~~~

From Pat W., who used to live in our county:

I just have to smile at the similarities between what you say about your farm and how life was on the farm we used to have . . .  Good memories/good times for us.  

I do believe that our simple beginnings on the 27 acres we bought kind of made the locals accept us easier then some others that had moved into the area at the same time.  We took things slowly and thought everything through, and slowly but surely everything came together for us.  They saw us work hard at building our house on our own, making fencerows, raising animals, gardening and becoming commercial strawberry growers.  (I did that so I could be a stay-at-home mom.) We gardened that first summer next to our camper and a small creek that ran through the property, and shared our harvest with all.  When we had our strawberries I never had to advertise, it was simply word of mouth and my fields were full of neighbors picking either for themselves or helping me fill orders I had taken from folks in Asheville where my husband worked 2nd shift. 

One year we brought a lot of amusement to our little area ... we had gotten 'weeder geese' to put in our strawberry fields.  My husband had read about them and we thought, "what the heck, why not", so we had them shipped in and trained them.  They had a leader, whom we named Ralph, and wow, did they do a good job!!!  We put food at one end of a row and water at the other end, and away they'd go ... always from one end to the other, never straying.  They only ate the weeds, never the plants or blooms as they went along, or the berries as they started to develop.  Shortly after that their job was done because they did 'fertilize' as they went, LOL, so I had to pull them out of the field several weeks b4 my pickers came in.  Many neighbors brought their lawn chairs and sat and watched them work. . .

~~~

Susan F says: visited your website, and it reminded me so much of "going to my grandma's"!  It reminded me of "hog killing day" and the aroma of fresh (fried of course) tender loin!  When I was a kid, I always wondered why the whole pig couldn't be tender loin, and why we couldn't have more of it on hog dressing day.

Oh, and ramps, do they ever stink, but they are so good! I went to a "Ramp Festival" in western Maryland (where I lived and worked as a pastor for four years) one time, and you could smell the ramps for miles around.  I remember standing in line for over an hour to get a precious plate of ramps and taters.

My grandmother babysat for us one evening, when my oldest daughter was just a few months old.  I came home to find that she had strained muddy water, from a big mud hole on our farm, and fed it to the baby!  She said it was good for colic.  I needed something for "conniptions" after that!

~~~

Judy B. recommends Cataloochee by Wayne Caldwell – a book I've heard good things about and have on my TBR (to be read) list.

Diann B. loves Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat. Pray, Love.

Tammy P. is enthusiastic about a long-running mystery series set in New Mexico . The author is Steve Havill and the protagonists are members of the local police force. Another one to look for. (So many books, so little time . . .)

Morning mist rising

Recent Reads I've Enjoyed

Slow Dollar – Margaret Maron

Always a pleasure to spend time with Judge Knott and her sprawling family. This entry in the series focuses on carnie life – fascinating!

Let's Go For Broke – Mary Lasswell

The last of a series about three eccentric older women. The series was popular in the forties and fifties – a bit dated, maybe (but so am I). I thought this book was a hoot. Think Ladies of Covington in California and seriously into beer. Now I'm looking for another Lasswell title – Mrs. Rasmussen's Book of One-Armed Cookery. ( the title refers to keeping one hand free to hold a beer)

The Scold's Bridle - Minette Walters

The Breaker – Minette Walters

Walters is an excellent writer who walks on the darker side of fiction. Haunting scenes.

The Burning Glass – Helen Norris

Excellent, intelligent stories, many about women and aging.

Folly – Laurie R. King

A re-read – everything King writes is worth re-reading, in my opinion.

Albion 's Seed

Not actually a recent read. This is a book about the Scotch-Irish and I dip into it now and again for research purposes. Some of you all might be interested.

In the Bleak Midwinter – Julia Spencer-Fleming

The first of a very good series set in the Adirondacks and featuring a (female) Episcopal priest and a (male) police chief. Very good reading.

My Schedule 2008

I'll be teaching a 1o session class on writing popular fiction. February 13 – April 23 (skipping March 26), Wednesdays, 6 - 8:30, at The Randolph Learning Center in Asheville , The class is offered through UNCA's Great Smokies Writing Program.  For more information contact Dr. Elaine Fox ( fox@unca.edu ) or see http://www.unca.edu/gswp/

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 Saturday, April 5 – Vicki will be a presenter at the Isothermal Community College Writers Workshop, Spindale , NC (more info to come)

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 April 25 -27 MALICE DOMESTIC  (A convention for fans and authors of the ‘traditional' mystery, held yearly in Arlington , VA ) 

http://www.malicedomestic.org/

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 Tuesday, May 20 - IN A DARK SEASON  on sale in bookstores everywhere !!!!!!!  whoopee!

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 May 23 – 25 – WNC Woman Writers' Retreat at Lake Logan . Presenters:  Lavinia Plonka, Peggy Millin, and Vicki Lane http://wnc-woman.com/events.html

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Sunday, June 8 -- Vicki will be presenting her latest Goodweather book, In a Dark Season at Malaprop's in downtown Asheville at 3 pm.

September 12-13 – Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, Burnsville , NC . Vicki will be leading a workshop. More info to come.  ( This is a great local festival in a charming town. I loved being part of it last year. ) http://cmlitfest.org/

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October 9-12 BOUCHERCON, Baltimore , MD. ( The convention for fans and writers of  mystery.)  http://www.charmedtodeath.com/

To email me:    vicki_lane@mtnarea.net

 To visit my website: www.vickilanemysteries.com

 To visit my Amazon blog: more or less monthly postings

http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A2MQM33N9H56R1/ref=cm_blog_dp_artist_blog

 To visit my new blog:   Brief and daily (so far) words and pictures http://vickilanemysteries.blogspot.com/2007/12/something-new.html

Susie Hutchins in a pensive mood