I'm Moving - Come On Over!

Blog friends, I'm moving--not from one house to another--but from one web address to another.

Please visit me now at http://www.lynncoulter.com/

Lynn

Invincible Summer

It's Jan. 12, and we're into day 3 of Atlanta's 2011 Deep Freeze. Three days of impassable roads, no mail delivery, cancelled airline flights, and stores running out of bread, milk, and bananas. (I cannot figure out why the stores ran out of bananas before the storm even hit. What was everybody planning on eating for the forecasted week-long chill? Peanut butter and banana sandwiches? Bananas in cereal? Banana bread, banana pudding, and just plain old bananas? I mean, you might expect a run on citrus during an ice and snow storm, but not this. I have this nagging feeling that there's some secret I haven't figured out yet, like bananas are good for wrinkles or quick weight loss.)

Anyway, I was organizing my digital images today and thought it was time to haul out a few summery, flowery pictures to get us through this cold weather. Hope you enjoy the ones below! (And I'm terribly sorry, but I don't even have any pictures of bananas.)

I bought a pot of greenhouse-grown hydrangeas at Publix years ago and planted them beside my porch. The picture above shows how they bloomed last summer. Just love the color. You can tinker with the pH of your soil, you know, to make your hydrangeas bloom pink or blue.


Nothing says "summer" to me like lots and lots of bright green ferns on the porch or deck. An added bonus: wrens have built nests in mine for several years in a row. I have to put out "do not disturb" signs for any UPS or FedEx deliveries until the eggs hatch, but I don't mind, because I've gotten to see some of the babies make their first flights. Little birds seem to like making nests in plants that have long, arching, woody branches, so they can dart in and out as they feed their young.

Here's another porch-pot, this one filled with begonias. I like the heart-shaped leaves and pale pink flowers. They did well in part sun/part shade, and weren't bothered at all by pests or diseases. Wish I could say the same for the roses I keep trying to cultivate. They're plagued by black spot, which is a fungal disease that's tough to control in our humid, hot summers. I've finally given up on most modern rose varieties in favor of the so-called antique roses, which are just as beautiful and not nearly so demanding to grow.

This is a container I planted with "hot colors," which are really bold and bright, but I like them. The purples are petunias and the orange flowers are calibrachoa, which are also known as "million bells," because they bloom prolifically. They look like baby petunias and grow just as nicely. Few pests or problems with either of these plants.

Here's a summer-y quote to help see us through the cold weather:

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." - Albert Camus.

Inspiring words, aren't they? Almost enough to make up for those bananas.

The Nose Knows

Come closer.

That's it. Don't be afraid. Get a teeny bit closer to your computer screen, so I can see you better. Or sniff you, I should say.

You see, doggies use their noses more than you human-types do. We can smell bones buried in the back yard, cookie crumbs dropped under the kitchen table, and the socks somebody lost behind the hamper in the laundry room. Ah, the power of the nose.

Today, I'm using my nose to check out all the snow that's fallen in the lady-writer's yard. We must have four or five inches here in the metro Atlanta area, enough to shut down some of the major highways and keep the grown-up humans indoors while the small humans run screaming out the door with boots and heavy gloves and trash can lids to use for sledding.

You people are so funny.

That's why we doggies love you.

Have a safe and fun snow day. I'll be on patrol in the neighborhood, digging a few holes through the ice and inhaling a nice, deep sniff every now and then. I'll let you know when I smell the thaw coming.

wags,

Miss Paws

Snow Day!

Jan. 10, 2011: We've got snow! Atlanta seldom gets as much as we've seen in the last 24 hours, which is somewhere between 4 to 6 inches, and I'm loving it. Miss Paws went bouncing out into the backyard last night while it was still coming down, biting at the snow, digging in it, and even sledding. (Yes--Miss Paws would pounce up in the air and come down with her paws out in front, sliding on her belly down the hill, as her front feet pushed up the snow in front of her like a snow plow.)

Later she came inside and did this:

She was a tired puppy.

I had fun outdoors in the white stuff, too. Look at the strange creatures that I discovered in the woods behind my house:


Sno-cupine


Snow bugs, very resistant to bug sprays but can't handle the blast from a hairdryer.

Addicted to beads

I just realized I'd better add another resolution to my New Year's list: I've got to do something with all the beads I've been ordering lately.

If you're not into beading--well, you better stay away from Etsy.com, because there are so many talented beaders selling their wares there, that you may find yourself getting addicted to this hobby, too. The handmade beads are my favs, whether they're lampworked glass, or made from ceramics or other materials.

This is a new pendant that I just ordered from a talented lady named Tracee Dock. Her Etsy site is called The Classic Bead, and it's packed with handmade pendants, beads, and more.

This piece is a seed pod; see the golden seeds peeking out of the blossom? There's an opening at the top so you can insert a chain or silk chord and make a necklace, which is what I plan to do. It seems fitting to make a piece of jewelry with something seed-related, since "seeds" appears in two of my book titles, and like Tracee, I'm fascinated by how so much beauty and promise are packed into seeds, which are really tiny genetic packages, if you think about it.

I've ordered from Tracee before, and I have several of her lovely focal beads that I'm planning to make into necklaces this year. I'll do a giveaway with them in a month or so, a little closer to the release of my new book, Little Mercies, as promotional items, so watch this space!

Meet Miss Paws

Merry day-after-Christmas! I got a very special gift this year: a new friend.

We had a Golden Retriever for many years, and I've missed her terribly since she passed away. Somehow I kept waiting for just the right time to get another pet--and then I saw an animal rescue organization called Angels Among Us on Facebook. If you're in the Atlanta area, check them out. They do great work, saving unwanted pets from kill shelters and housing them in foster homes until the pets can find their "forever families."

We were drawn to a photo of a sad-looking little black-and-white girl named Yoshi and read that she'd be available for viewing through Angels Among Us the next weekend. We drove to Alpharetta, GA to meet her and fell in love. Now we've re-named her Dixie, and because I'm a nickname fanatic, she has quickly also become known as Dixie Dog, Moondoggie, and Miss Dix.

But today I've decided to give her just one more nickname. She is already showing signs of being the perfect office assistant for a working writer (that is, she sleeps on my feet while I'm at the computer and keeps my toes warm).



So, gentle readers, I'm delighted to introduce you to my new assistant: Miss Paws!

Miss Paws is of mixed heritage, but we believe she is part Border Collie and part Corgi (the kind with tails). She's 25 pounds of sweetness, approximately 10 months to a year old, and full of energy. She's still doing some puppy-biting, but one of our Christmas gifts is a doggie training course that starts in January, so we hope to address that bitey-business soon.

Watch this blog for updates from her when I'm otherwise engaged or simply slipping off for a nap or other such important activity. She has promised to write a post from time to time, and if anyone out there would like to know more about the writing process, be sure to drop her a line here (that is, write a comment). Miss Paws will endeavor to answer your questions about writing, getting published, etc.

Trust me on this. Miss Paws will answer; she's a pretty fast typist. ;-)

The Louse that Came for Christmas

Okay...you're probably visiting my blog right now because you saw my post on Facebook earlier today. I posted that I had received, in the morning mail, not a handful of glittery, cheery, Christmas cards; not an early gift; not a box of yummy cookies--no, no.

I received--a giant head louse.

Yes.

'Louse,' if you're wondering, is the singular form of 'head lice', and of course the singular form is the only way any of us want to see these nasty, itchy pests.

And I'm not kidding. I really did get a head louse in the mail today. Take a look:



Yes, it's just a kid's toy, but how would you like to put your hand, unsuspecting, into a large manila envelope and pull out a giant bug? Its tag even describes it as "cuddly"--oh, please. Gentle readers, do any of you cuddle your head lice? Me neither.

I'm making jokes, but seriously, the stuffed louse came in a package along with a complimentary book for me to read and review. It's author Amy Stewart's newest, Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects (published by Algonquin Books, and available for purchase starting May 3, 2011).



Amy's new bug book is a follow-up to her New York Times bestseller, Wicked Plants, and both books are entertaining, informative, and just plain fun for gardeners (and if you're not a gardener, don't let that stop you. The chapter titles include "Zombies," "Bugs of War," and "She's Just Not That Into You." Aren't you itching, if you'll excuse the bed-bug pun, to know more?)

Amy's book is fascinating (even if it is making my skin crawl just a teeny bit). There are fine drawings to help you identify the bugs in your house or garden (you do know that insects outnumber us here on planet Earth, right?), along with fascinating facts and historical notes.

Did you know, for example, that "Over half a million English drivers have had a car accident caused by the distraction of a bug in the car"? Or that Germans believed American forces were dropping crop-destructive potato beetles into their fields during WWII?

You know, I'm beginning to warm up to my louse--the stuffed toy, I mean. He is kinda cute. And I'm learning a lot from Wicked Bugs. I'm just going to have to read it with the lights on, and with a big can of very strong bug spray by my bedside.