June, 2008 | Ann Leary, author of The Good House

An Easy Keeper

June 30, 2008 by Ann Leary 3 Comments

I have featured most of our dogs and our cat on my blog, but realize the only horse I’ve blogged about is Mark. (More on Mark here, if you’re interested. And here.) We have three other horses, so today I present Snoopy.

Snoopy is a draft cross. He was born in Montana. I bought Snoopy when he was three years old, which is technically still a colt. Even at that young age I could see that Snoopy was a very laid-back individual, which was what I was looking for. I wanted a “guest horse” that anybody could sit on and go for a quiet ride without fear of getting bucked off and run away with. A “husband horse.” My friend Jen found him for me.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Steep Rock Diaries, Stuff I Did Tagged With: country life, family, horses

A Smiler

June 29, 2008 by Ann Leary 2 Comments

Allow me to introduce Pete. Pete lives at North Forty Farm in Roxbury, CT. He’s one of those rare and wonderful dogs who can smile:

Pete’s a boxer-mix. He weighs over 100 pounds. I’d estimate that fifty pounds of that is head. When you first drive up to North Forty, if Pete hasn’t met you before, he will usually rise from his bed next to the riding ring and give you a few short woofs. He’s an impressive looking dog, with those big jaws, and if it weren’t for his slowly wagging tail and his affable smile, you might think twice about getting out of your car.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Steep Rock Diaries Tagged With: country life, dogs

Clubbing

June 27, 2008 by Ann Leary 1 Comment

A few months ago, I was introduced to a woman named Lisa Bannon. We were both picking up our dogs from the groomer and Lisa told me that her book club had read my first book, An Innocent, A Broad. My immediate reaction was to spell out my name for Lisa, as I was sure she was confusing me with some other author.

Filed Under: Shameless Self-Promotion, Stuff I Did Tagged With: books, family, friends, horses

Rescue Me

June 26, 2008 by Ann Leary 9 Comments

Residents of Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood left their apartments yesterday and found that Jay Street had been hit by a bomb. There was debris strewn all over the street and sidewalk, ash and soot covered everything. A fire escape had fallen onto a car.

Being New Yorkers, most people just looked up and down the street for the familiar film crews and catering wagons, and then they trudged through the “ash” and “debris” and went about their day. Because it wasn’t the site of a terrorist attack, it was a Rescue Me location.

Filed Under: Husband, Red Carpet Diaries, Stuff I Did Tagged With: Husband, New York City

Fresh Air

June 24, 2008 by Ann Leary 5 Comments

This morning I’m heading into the city to tape an edition of NPR’s “Fresh AIr” with Terry Gross. I’m a huge fan of Terry Gross and am very excited but also anxious about doing the show. I was told that I would be asked to read from my book and have spent the better part of the morning ruling out various excerpts.

Filed Under: Literary stuff, Shameless Self-Promotion, Stuff I Did Tagged With: babies, books, radio, shame

Ghosts, Witches, Spite Houses

June 22, 2008 by Ann Leary 3 Comments

I spent the weekend in Marblehead signing books and catching up with old friends. I also met a “medium” who talks to dead people, which gave me some fodder for the book I’m working on.

There were numerous shipwrecks and pirates and witches in Marblehead’s early history, so of course there are lots of ghost stories, as pirates and witches aren’t much for keeping a low-profile in the afterlife, but instead enjoy shrieking at boats at night and, and casting lights on old cemeteries and chasing people up and down stairs.

Filed Under: Hags, Bats, etc Tagged With: dogs, ghosts, Husband, spooky, witches

Marblehead

June 21, 2008 by Ann Leary 1 Comment

I’m in my beautiful hometown of Marblehead, Massachusetts. I drove up yesterday because I’m doing a book signing today at the Spirit of 76 Bookstore, from 2:00-4:00.

This morning I went down to the landing and saw a lobster boat unloading its traps.

Then I walked down to the cove near my mother and stepfather’s house. This is Brown’s Island which sits right off the cove:

Filed Under: Literary stuff, Shameless Self-Promotion, Stuff I Did Tagged With: beauty, books, family, nature, youth

Our Master

June 20, 2008 by Ann Leary 6 Comments

Meet Sneakers. Sneakers is our barn cat. He may look cuddly, but he’s not. Trust me. I know him well. In order to survive, I’ve had to learn to interpret his every expression and anticipate all his needs. In the photograph above, he’s saying, “Put the cat food down …and nobody gets hurt.” He is the king of the barn and has trained me, and all other humans who enter his kingdom, to treat him with a fearful reverence.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses Tagged With: country life

Double Dipping

June 19, 2008 by Ann Leary 5 Comments

I don’t usually post two blogs in one day, but one does not appear on television and in print on the same day, everyday (or at least this one doesn’t.)

This morning, I was thrilled to discover that USA TODAY had run a very nice feature story about Outtakes From a Marriage. Now, the photograph is perhaps not the most flattering, I usually leave those extra chins at home, but Donna Freydkin, the reporter who interviewed me for the piece wrote a lovely feature, so thanks Donna!

Filed Under: Shameless Self-Promotion Tagged With: books

Pond, Rain

June 18, 2008 by Ann Leary 4 Comments

Just this, today, an Edith Wharton quote:

“I have sometimes thought that a woman’s nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawingroom, where one receives formal visits; the sitting-room, where the members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handles of whose doors perhaps are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.”

Filed Under: Literary stuff Tagged With: writers

An Easy Keeper

A Smiler

Clubbing

Rescue Me

Fresh Air

Ghosts, Witches, Spite Houses

Marblehead

Our Master

Double Dipping

Pond, Rain

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