"...and the dream shall never die!" -- E. M. Kennedy

The TV was full of tributes to the late Senator Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy yesterday, and rightly so. A great American has passed. But I have my own memory of Ted Kennedy, and I’ll share it here.

First, the context: I used to be a political conservative, and this story happened several years before I became a flaming liberal. I was a single mother with a teen-age son when I dreamed—

I met Mr. Right! (every woman’s dream). As happens in dreams, I never saw his face, but he was always next to me. He was wealthy (hey! it’s a dream!) and bought me a gorgeous ring, flew me back east where his family was; we courted, and eventually married. The wedding was High Mass in some huge cathedral, then we flew to someplace warm and tropical for our honeymoon. Everything was perfect—but I still hadn’t seen his face. In the morning, I rolled over and gazed into the face of my beloved husband and it was, of course, none other than Ted Kennedy. I would like to say I woke at this point, but I didn’t just wake up, I woke sitting in bed laughing hysterically.

And so, I have extra special memories of Ted. And I will, truly, miss him.

My Gratefuls:

1. Medicare

2. Minimum wage

3. Living in the age of television

4. COBRA

5. Ted Kennedy

My Undying Dream:

That we will all come to the realization that all of our ancestors walked out of Africa and stop this color prejudice; that we will learn to find interest instead of fear and hate in people who speak differently, worship differently, look different from ourselves—think of the new recipes we could get, the new fashion ideas, and most importantly, the new Friends we could have.

My Wonderment:

That a man who buried his three older brothers, all killed while serving our country, could go on and face the fear that surely was there, and serve our country too. While I didn’t agree with everything Ted Kennedy did, I admire him greatly for facing his fears, for facing his shortcomings, and growing into one of the Great American Heroes of our day.

Sunset in the Horse Heaven Hills, Kennewick, WA

Dune Grass, Coquille Lighthouse, OR

Harvest Moon, Bastendorf State Park, OR

Wow! It’s been almost a week since I’ve posted. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! It’s also been a very busy week, and an exciting week. Mostly, exciting. I’m not sure what the busyness was, but the week sure went by in a hurry!

My son, who lives with me, was gone for the week house-sitting for friends. I had so many plans for the week, and none of them were realized. But I did get several copies of Brother Rat mailed out, and now I am getting the word from several people who have read it they have enjoyed it. One young father is reading it out loud to his two children every night, and he’s enjoying it as much as they are. A couple of “fans” have even admitted to shedding a tear or two at appropriate places. Can I have higher praise than that?

My friends have returned from their trip, Aaron has returned home, and now I need to return to some semblance of a schedule. So, now that the temps are down into the high 80s, I’ll start sewing a quilt I cut out last winter. It’s a jeans quilt, so once sewn together it’s finished, except for trimming all the seams (it’s a ragged edge quilt). It is very heavy, very warm, very green, and very winter. And winter is coming, whether I like it or not.

My Gratefuls:

1. Friends who give me their old jeans

2. Whoever it was who came up with the idea of ragged edge quilts

3. People who sharpen scissors

4. Friends who unstintingly share their expertise with me—whether sewing, making jam, writing—whatever help I need, they give

5. The www. it makes research so much easier than having to get dressed and go to libraries

My Wonderment:

Because downtown Kennewick was blocked off for a parade, Judy and I went to a different restaurant for our Saturday morning breakfast. I felt a little “off” because I really enjoy the restaurant we normally go to, O’Henry’s Go Go. One of the really nice things about O’Henry’s is we can eat outside in nice weather, and it’s relatively quiet. So, yesterday, not knowing where else to go, we went to IHOP. IHOP is not known for it’s quiet, and our IHOP does not have outside dining, so we ate inside, where it was noisy, and under air conditioning (fortunately, I brought a long sleeved shirt, or I would have been freezing!). There were many people there, from senior citizens (like me) to young families. There was lots of noise from the dishes banging behind me (server work station), to the talking among the customers. BUT NO whining or crying children! All of the children, at least those I saw and heard were either quiet or laughing!! Now THAT is a wonderment! And a blessing. I enjoy well behaved children, and I love hearing them laugh—is there a sound more pleasing to the ears than a child, or anyone, laughing?

This is the first ragged edge quilt I ever made. There are 150 squares in the quilt, 10 across, 15 down, and each square is made up of three squares of fabric-2 of flannel and one of old jeans. I now make the squares larger, so there are fewer, and the squares have the pockets, and once in a while the fly. This quilt was made for my foster son in Korea, and cost over $20.00 to ship it, by sea, the cheapest way. I spent more on shipping than on fabric! The hardest part of making these quilts is the trimming of the seams after the quilt is made so the ragged edge “fluffs” after washing. However, they are very heavy and very warm, and virtually indestructible once made.

Ragged edge side:

Flannel side (My extra special helper, also shown, is Tashiko Akuma Pestini):

Pollyanna

I have a dear friend who laughingly calls me Pollyanna, because I’m an unabashed optimist. I admit it, I am. However, I’m not a blind optimist, but if I have a choice to see the silver lining in the cloud, I do so. Though, as an amateur photographer, I also like the dark shadows of the cloud.

If the glass is filled to the halfway mark, is it half empty or half full? My answer? It depends what’s in the glass! If the liquid is something I love, then it is half empty and I want more. If it’s a foul tasting medicine I have to drink, then it’s half full, and I can’t get it down fast enough!

It’s like email. Is email an advantage or a disadvantage? Or is it neither, just being ‘is’? I love email, it allows me to keep in touch with friends across the country, it allows me to submit manuscripts in a less expensive and more expeditiously manner, but if I let it, it is also a great user of my time.

I have many friends who send me many forwards, and I admit, I do not always read those forwards. If I have to scroll through 27,386 prior addresses, I hit the Delete button. If it’s a forward from my Conspiracy Theory buddy—I hit the Delete button. If it’s a forward from some of my friends who want to convince me that their political party (or religious affiliation) is the ONLY political party, (or religious affiliation), I hit the Delete button. There was a time when I might enter into a discussion with these people over the emails, but no longer. I just accept that they care enough about me to send me their dire and fright-filled warnings, delete said missives, and send them back something light and totally off their subject. Is my in-box half full? Or is it half empty? (How many emails will my in-box hold, anyway?)

I guess if I have to choose, I’d rather be Pollyanna than Scrooge. Besides, I’m lazy, and it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown—or so I read somewhere.

My Gratefuls:

1. Friends who send me emails

2. The Delete button

3. Telephones

4. US Mail

5. Popcorn

My Wonderment:

Clouds. I love clouds. Sometimes they are animals, sometimes they just are. Sometimes they fill the sky, sometimes they just give a bit of interest. Is the sky half full or…?

Reflecting Pool at Oklahoma Memorial Site

Looking down on Cottonwood AZ from above Jerome AZ

Blue Bird, still waiting for happiness instead of making his own.

It dropped down to the low 50s last night. Admittedly, it feels good, but I fear we are in for an early Fall. I’m just not ready for summer to be over. Hopefully, this cool spell is just that, a spell, and we’ll have a few more weeks of summer.

Now that Brother Rat has been here a few days, I’m beginning to come back down to earth, so to speak. I can only say that receiving my first sold and published novel (not a vanity publication!) is a high that rates right up there with becoming a mother and flying a 747 in a simulator (I flew it OK, but broke it on landing;-).

But I’m coming down off the mountain now. There are meals to be cooked; dishes to be washed, and I have to figure out what to make for Winter Gifts! I try to make my gifts. It would be a lot easier—and less expensive!—if I just went to the store to buy something. Alas, I enjoy making gifts, and I think (I hope!) my friends enjoy receiving something made with love. For those who live locally, I usually give homemade jams, but I like to give something else, too. Last year I made calendars with some of my photos. The photos were taped on so when the month was over, the people could remove the photo (I used low tack tape) and put them on a note card to share with friends should they so desire.

Lee and Nancy, two of my Sisters of Choice (SOC) come over in September or October depending on their work schedules, they bring whatever fruit they’ve collected and frozen to add to my freezer full of fruit, and we spend three days madly making jams and butters and ketchups. We call it our Jam Session. Last year we put up 240 jars of jam in three days. Nancy found a pectin that takes very, very little sugar—far less than the Low Sugar stuff on the store shelves. In fact, we tell folks that once opened their jam needs to be refrigerated because there isn’t enough sugar in it to act as preservative. (Nancy has a friend who just laughs. She claims she opens it, and eats it straight from the jar, and all at one sitting!)

One of the most popular things we make is Plum Ketchup. Everyone curls a lip at that, until they taste it. We are now getting requests for it! Yes, it goes on meats just like the red stuff you buy. It also goes on peanut butter. Or just bread. It is truly wonderful stuff. Honest. Trust me.

My Gratefuls:

1. My children, Sonja and Aaron

2. My Family of Choice

3. Coffee in the morning

4. Squirrels who scold me for coming onto my patio

5. New followers of my blog

My Wonderment:

Sitting outside on my patio before the sun is up, drinking a cuppa. I love listening to the birds wake, and have noticed the correlation between their waking and calling, and the sun rising. I’ve often wondered—if the birds do not wake first, and call the sun, will the sun stay down and not rise? (Oh, the puzzlements of life ;-). Yesterday, I saw several hummingbirds and two of them actually sat on a bare tree limb for several seconds! Now, if that’s not a wonderment, I don’t know what is.

I took this picture in the Cactus Garden in Phoenix this last spring. I have no idea what kind of a hummer he is, but he is green.

And this Ibis wanders my girl friend’s back yard in Port Charlotte, FL...

As well as a family of Sand Hill Cranes. It was great fun seeing Mom and Pop and Baby strut around the yard. There are a couple of ‘gators in the pond, but they didn’t appear too interested in the birds. Pop was on lookout while Mom walked Baby up and down the shore.

It's Here! It's Here! Brother Rat is Here!

I am sooooo excited! My novel, My Adventures as Brother Rat has finally made it into print, and my copies arrived yesterday afternoon. This has been a long time coming. I wrote the original short story some 25 years ago, and folks kept telling me it was really a novel, and, well… they were right. I just had to retire to see it. And write it. And re-write it several times!

It was bought and published by a small independent publisher, Sam’s Dot Publishing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You won’t find it in your favorite bookstore, but if you want a copy, you can order it from http://www.genremall.com/fictionr.htm#brotherrat or, if you want a signed copy, email me at: lenoragood@charter.net. The price is the same - $10.00 for the book plus $4.00 shipping and handling for a total of $14.00.

Of course, I’m biased; I think the book is worth $14.00.

My Gratefuls:

1. Brother Rat is here

2. Brother Rat is here

3. Brother Rat is here

4. Brother Rat is here

5. Brother Rat is here

My Wonderment:

After waiting and waiting and waiting BROTHER RAT IS HERE!

I’ll try to be a tad more serious in later posts, but right now, I’m just flying way too high on natural endorphins!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, Brother Rat is a young woman who was orphaned as a young child. She was taken in by the Healer to the King of Wu and wanted only to become a Healer, but after a series of dreams, she must become a Warrior and takes the name of Brother Rat. The story takes place during the Warring States period of Ancient China, when Yueh invades Wu. It is being marketed as a Young Adult novel because there is no gratuitous sex or violence. There is violence, but it is not glorified—the message being that war sucks bilge water and should be avoided when possible. Unfortunately, it is not always possible.

Ah, it has been a few days since I’ve posted. Primarily, my lack of posting has been due to several projects that needed completion. Plus, I admit, a certain amount of laziness when not working on the projects. Laziness is allowed now and then—it’s good for the soul.

However, my laziness was not totally unproductive. I read several pages of Lift Up Thy Voice by Mark Perry. This is a book about the Grimke family, or at least some of them, who went from Slaveholders in Charleston SC to Civil Rights advocates. (I am reading the book as research for a story I am writing.) Anyone who likes US history, especially leading up to the Civil War, should find this book interesting.

Speaking of writing, November is NaNoWriMo time—aka National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who have ever wanted to write a novel, this is a great way to set about doing it. For further information go to: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ . NaNo is free to join, and for those who need the prompting and companionship of other writers is a great way to meet those writers in your part of the world. They consider 50,000 words a novel. The great thing is, no one cares how well or how badly it’s written. The important thing is to write it! You can go back and clean it up later.

And, yes, I have written two novels this way, and they are both just about ready to try to find a publishing home. Check out their website. It may be just the prod you need. Good writing.

My Gratefuls:

1. Finishing of

projects

2. Digital cameras

3. Electric/timed steamers for food

4. Meeting new friends either literally or electronically (welcome to my Family of Friends, Tom)

5. The annual rain of falling stars

My Wonderment:

I woke entirely too early this morning (3.30), so got up and wandered outside to see if I could see the rain of stars. No, I couldn’t, but I did see the memories of past rains. The sky overhead was quite cloudy, which as you well know makes star gazing just a wee bit difficult; however, there was a giant hole in the clouds just above my house and I could see a great many stars on the black sky. As I moved about my patio, looking for the shooting stars, I saw with my peripheral vision something running toward me. Not wanting to step on it, or be tripped by it, I stopped moving and looked. It was the shadow of my arm. The moon had broken through the clouds, and was literally pouring enough light down I could have sat outside and read a book! Instead, I sat and just watched the stars in their stationary orbit, and the clouds as they moved slowly about then I went back to bed. When I got up this morning there were no holes in the clouds, instead there was a delightful rain of water (not stars) falling all about my home.

One of my finished projects; a table runner called All Around the Country With Friends and Family.

Moonrise over the Horse Heaven Hills; taken up at the wind farm. Title: Lovers Tryst

Moonrise over the Ed Hendler Bridge (between Pasco and Kennewick—and yes, I played around just a smidge with the color) Title: Moon Goddess

Back in the days when I was a good Bible Toting Christian, I read several books by Father John Powell, SJ, which I loved. Unfortunately, I no longer remember the titles of them, but I do remember many of the lessons. (If you’re interested, you can Google him.)

One lesson, and I believe a recurring one throughout his books, was our own responsibility. I copied something he wrote and put it on my bathroom mirror where I saw it every day. I may no longer have the words exactly right, but I do have the lesson. Sign on my mirror: You are looking at the face of the person responsible for your happiness today!

Many people have said the same thing, just in different words. The truth is, we and we alone are responsible for our happiness this day and every day. Happiness is a choice, though it isn’t always an easy choice. I know it was hard for me to learn to be happy, but I’m oh, so glad I made that choice and learned that lesson. Thank you Fr. Powell!

Yesterday’s Gratitudes:

1. Memories of Fr. Powell’s books and lessons contained therein

2. Breakfast on the patio with my friend, Judy

3. Finishing the quilting of my table runners (sewing the backs on is today)

4. Cooler nights so I don’t have to run the a/c

5. Publishers that take electronic submissions of poems and stories

Yesterday’s Wonderment:

Sitting outside and watching the play of light and shadow as the breeze danced with the plants. Enjoying the patio of O’Henry’s Go Go all to myself for almost an hour before people started coming. I had a chance to read, and to stop and watch the shadows and the filtered light.

Apricots from Judy’s tree:

My neighbor’s Poppy:

A little wind, a little rain…

Ah, the weather cooled down a tad yesterday. About 7pm it actually began to rain a wee bit. Of course, I sat in a restaurant enjoying dinner with my gal pals, and didn’t notice until I left that my car window was down about 4 inches. Fortunately, the rain remained gentle until I could get it rolled up.

I admit, it was very nice to come home and open the doors to get some fresh, and cooler air into the house. And as I stretched out on my bed, listen to the wind play the cedar tree outside my window like a flute. Now that was a lullaby!

Yesterday’s gratefuls:

1. Cooler temperatures

2. Gentle rain

3. Gal pals with whom to share a nice meal and great conversation

4. A quilting foot for my sewing machine

5. Nice breeze

Yesterday’s wonderment:

Standing on the walkway by the Ice Harbor Brew Pub watching the water birds swim in the Columbia River, and following the clouds as they swam under and around the birds. Or did the birds swim over and through the fallen clouds? And marveling at how clean and fresh the air felt and smelled. Again, I am so grateful I live I live here.

So, we had a little wind here, last night. On Friday the 13^th of August 2004, when I lived in Florida, we had a lot of wind, winds at 155 mph, actually, and this was my pool during the eye of Hurricane Charley.

And this was one of many little frogs that visited me regularly while I lived in Florida. I do miss the wild life of Florida, and the thunderstorms, but not the hurricanes or the humidity! Those I don’t miss at all, thank you very much!

Quilts

Yesterday was a tad cooler, and today is supposed to be in the 80s. I can deal with that. I can even enjoy that. There is a slight chance we’ll have water falling from the sky today, a larger chance it will happen tomorrow. Either way is fine with me.

For fun, I came up with a writer’s prompt, which I sent to some of my writerly friends, and then wrote my own story. Perhaps you’d like to write your story (no need to share unless you really want to;-). The prompt: The cats are always barfing up hairballs and other weird things, so when I saw…. This is the first sentence of your story, so when you finish the sentence, finish the story. The important thing is: have phun!

Yesterday’s Gratefuls:

1. My sister of choice, Nancy—and the unexpected “Christmas” package I received in the mail from her! Christmas in August is better than Christmas in July. Honest. Trust me.
2. Duotrope.com—the best (at least that I’ve seen) search engine for markets for stories and poetry
3. Friends like Judy. She shared her apricot bounty, again.
4. Canned beans. Oh, how nice that I didn’t have to stand over a stove for hours cooking beans last night.
5. Plastic wrapped chicken in the grocery store. How delightful I can buy what I want, and not have to waste so much chicken.

Yesterday’s Wonderment:

The imagination of fabric artists who can design a print that fabric companies will buy and produce and then sell to people like me. The wonderful imagination of quilt designers who can design a quilt, make the quilt, and write instructions easy enough even I can follow to make a quilt.

My quilt: My Prince

Luke's Quilt - he picked out the fabrics, Grandma made the quilt

Joy of Clouds

Yesterday was more of the same—hot! My friend, Judy, and I went to dinner then to our writer’s group, the Tri City Writers (aka Round Table Writers). After dropping Judy off at her home, I came back to mine, and collapsed on my bed and actually slept all night. That may not sound like a big thing to most of you, but to a long time insomniac, it’s a big thing to me.

Today, Aaron and I head back over to Judy’s to pick more of her ripe apricots, which I will wash, pit, quarter, and freeze in quart bags. Then next month when it is cooler, two of my sisters of choice will come over from Seattle bringing whatever fruit they have, and we will have our jamming session in my kitchen. Last year, in 3 days we put up 240 jars of jams, chutneys, butters, and plum ketchup, which is wonderful!

Yesterday’s Gratitude’s:

1. Joy and her restaurant, Phukett Thai. (She makes the best Thai food ever!)

2. The Tri City Writers

3. Lowe’s and their next day free delivery and set up

4. My Sisters of Choice (SOCs)

5. Friends like Judy who shares her bounty of apricots.

Yesterday’s Wonderment:

The clouds, as they moved in and roiled and churned above us, filtered the sun and cast interesting and beautiful shadows. There was, for a time, hope of showers; if anyone got rained on, it wasn’t us.

Clouds with contrail

Clouds fallen into river

Promises, Promises

So much for my resolutions! Yesterday was another scorcher here, and I, being a creature of habit lost all semblance of sanity when my morning routine changed. Instead of getting up and spending the morning waking at a leisurely pace with coffee and email and some writing, I got up, grabbed a quick cuppa, showered, dressed, and headed out the gate to run errands before the heat settled in. I succeeded, but then, of course, my day was shot,.

First off, I stopped at Home Depot to look at freezers. They had a small selection of both freezers and salespersons (none of the latter in sight!) So, I stopped by my car, picked up my book and coffee mug, walked across their parking lot to the drug store where I picked up my Rx, then across their parking lot to Starbucks. The heat was already building, but a nice breeze was a blowing, so I sat outside where I read my book, drank my coffee, and smiled at everyone who passed. I even doled out a compliment or two.,

With most of my coffee gone, I headed back out to finish my errands--the last being at Lowe's where they not only had a better selection of freezers, but a much better selection of sales persons! I bought the freezer (free and next day delivery, it's due in a while) and a few other things I needed, and came home.

Aaron and I then rearranged my room, and I somehow managed to waste most of the day doing such important stuff I forgot what....

Grateful List:

1. All the smiles I collected yesterday
2. Lowe's and their free next day delivery
3. Young son and his strong muscles
4. Being retired
5. Being happy being me

Yesterday's Wonderment

There is a scene I just love, and every time I see it, I'm ever more grateful I live here, in Kennewick. While driving out Clearwater (one of our main drags) there is a section that is mostly vacant, and one can see the hills. I think I'll never tire of looking at our hills. They look like they are covered in velvet that changes color with the seasons and the light--greens in the spring then yellows and then browns. They are covered in sagebrush, or wheat, or maybe orchards or vineyards, depending on where one looks--and who owns the property. I love sagebrush. I love the color, the bush, and the smell, unlike Narcissa Whitman who found them singularly ugly, both in appearance and in smell. Proof positive, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder!

This is a 'close up' from one of the hills. Trees only grow where there is water, otherwise it is grass and sagebrush. This grass is, I think, rye; there are clumps of sagebrush between it and the trees--the gray-green stuff.



A shot of the hills from the top of one of them. These are the Horse Heaven Hills to the south of the Tri Cities.

I have a New Hero

Actually, I have two new Heroes. A couple of college boys who are passing out Free Compliments! I saw a clip about them on the news the other day, and I thought it a wonderful thing. I won’t promise to give a free compliment to everyone I see, but I do try to give a smile to everyone I see!

But, why not, I ask myself, give out a Free Compliment? Imagine what the world would be like if we all complimented each other, genuinely, instead of hurled insults and anger. Giving real, genuine, and free compliments merely adds to the beauty of being. It’s a little strange, at first, but becomes easier each time I do it.

It’s kind of like giving away my Gratitude List. Several years ago, I bought or received as a gift a Journal of Gratitude. I think that’s what it was called, the author was Sara Ban Breathnach and the book was part of her Living Simply series. Anyhow, it was a blank book. There were 5 lines for each day of the year, the object being to write down 5 things before going to bed for which I was grateful. I have no idea what happened to my original book. I think I completed it, or maybe I gave it away, but I’ve been mentally keeping a gratitude list ever since. I go to bed at night, and I think of all the things for which I am grateful. I wear a smile as I go to sleep (do you know it is impossible to think sad or evil thoughts if you wear a smile?). I think that is one reason I seldom have nightmares.

Anyhow, in a conversation with one of my Sisters of Choice the other day, she told me she used to have her kids bring their Grateful List to the dinner table with one addition. Not only would they tell everyone those things for which they were grateful, they would tell everyone one thing they experienced of which they had no participation, that caused them Great Wonder that day. Wow! Wished I’d thought of that.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept, is:

1. Start your own Grateful List.

2. Watch the world around you. Find one thing each day that causes you wonder—A sunrise/sunset; an unexpected street musician on the corner where you walked, a free and genuine compliment you received from a passing stranger.

3. Give away a smile and a free (and genuine!) compliment. And tell everyone you meet who wears a uniform “Thank You!”

Since I’m asking you to do this, I thought it only fair I do it, too, so I’ll try to add at least my Gratitude List and Wonderment Sighting to the blog each day. If you would like to share your list please feel free to use the Comments section and do so.

Five Things for Which I am Grateful:

1. Walt Lee, Cartoonist, for a cartoon I’ve had over my desk for at least 20 years that says: Thou shalt find joy in each new day … even if thou must search until sunset!

2. Air conditioners when the outside temp is triple digit!

3. Publishers who still publish Print Media!

4. Friends!

5. All those men and women who wear uniforms and do their best to keep us safe (military, police, medical….)!

Yesterday’s Wonderment (I’m still working on this morning’s coffee. Now, coffee is a wonder, but it belongs on the list above;-):

Yesterday, while eating breakfast with a friend in our favorite outside restaurant, she called my attention to the play of light and shadow on the back fence behind me. It was a simple thing, but also one of great beauty.

And remember, the sun is always shining! Sometimes you just have to get 35,000 feet above to see it ;-)

New Post, New Brag

So, I'm still waiting for my books to arrive. I tell you, this is worse than waiting for a baby to be born! And, believe me, I understand that wait, having two kids that were (1) 14 and (2) 10 days overdue!

OK, enough whining - as Tyree says, we're "waiting as fast as we can," and they'll get here when they get here. Besides, at 109 degrees outside at 4pm on Saturday 1 August, it's too hot to whine -- or wait any faster ;-)

In the meantime, back when I first started writing, I wrote a story for the older kidlets, called A House Dying - a real space opera, with a 15-year old heroine who single handedly saves the generation ship on which she and her family, and everyone else she knows, are traveling. I thought it a good story, but it was too long for kid magazines, and too young for adult magazines. I put it away, and hauled it out a few months ago, did a bit of updating and polishing, and submitted it to Beyond Centauri magazine. Tyree Campbell, the Managing Editor of Sam's Dot Publishing which publishes Beyond Centauri (as well as other magazines and novels) loved it, bought it, and today my contributor's copy of the July 2009 issue arrived. Not only was my story mentioned on the cover, it is the lead story. And ya sure ya betcha, I'M BRAGGING!

If you're interested in reading the story, you can order the magazine at: http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#beyondcentauri


This is a kid friendly magazine - there might be EG (eeewww gross!!) content, but no gratuitous sex or violence. It's great fun for kids of all ages! Buy it, you'll like it!