Well, there was a bear on our front lawn this morning. I was in bed, so I didn’t get to see it. Denis was outside having a smoke, enjoying the fine spring day, when suddenly the dogs whipped past him, barking madly. Denis padded barefoot after them, across the damp lawn, and then he saw what he fleetingly thought was a black horse. It wasn’t until it turned to stare at him that he understood that it was a bear. Most of the time, we humans are in predator mode, but I guess when you’re armed only with a cigarette and a coffee mug, wearing nothing but a pair of tattered briefs, your body goes into a self-protective/prey (and praying) mode when you meet a large black bear. Denis said he was frozen with fear. Exactly like a deer in headlights.
Ann Leary, author of The Good House
Author of The Good House
Win Valuable Prizes!
I’ve been having problems with new photo software, so I thought that today we’d have ourselves a quiz. It’s actually a sort of scavenger hunt. I will post a photo that is from the blog archives and ask some questions. The first person to get all the question right will get signed copies of both my books. I know that many of you probably have the books and those of you who don’t apparently don’t want them. NONETHELESS, it’s the thrill of the hunt and the possible triumph of winning the game that makes it fun!
So, here we go.
Babies
It’s a Girl
I haven’t blogged about this for superstitious reasons, but my friend Jenny’s mare India has been expecting a foal. Every day Jen has had to tolerate my annoying, repetitive questions.
“How’s India?”
“Fine.”
“Do you think she’ll have her baby today?”
“I don’t know.”
Every day.
Why I Have Trouble Focusing on Work
If you’re having trouble viewing, press here.
Please Don’t Put Somebody’s Eye Out
What is it Girl?
As many of you know, I like to work in a supine position in my bed-desk. I think best while lying on my back, for some reason, and need to have my books and food and dogs and beverages all within reach. There’s just no desk big enough for all that. The big dogs know that it’s not nice to beg for food that I’m eating in bed, but Holly hasn’t learned this yet. I made the mistake of letting her lick the inside of a yogurt container once and now the container-lick is to Holly, what the crack-pipe is to an addict.
Just Don’t Lose Your Head
A few things I have learned so far in my EMT training:
1) The heart really is a lonely hunter. It’s the only organ that has “automaticity” – the ability to generate an impulse on its own. It doesn’t need another organ or hormone or nerve to start it up. It’s self-generating. I didn’t know that. It’s a rather basic form of plumbing equipment designed to pump fluid. There are some important valves, nodes, chambers and pipes, all in a sleek, ever-pulsing container. Yet it’s full of electricity and has built-in pacemakers. And if it breaks, you can meet somebody new and fall in love again, or if it really breaks you can call 911 and get a rapid response from an EMT and paramedic crew and hopefully get it restarted.
Blog Quiz
1. I haven’t blogged for several days because:
a) I’ve been doing a press junket for the multi-cinema release of “Ghost Girl.”
b) I’m hemorrhaging
c) There’s nothing to blog about
d) I had several important events this weekend
2. Which regular blogger attended the ASAP Celebration of Young Writers this past Saturday and drank so much that they heckled my husband?
a) Alan
b) Aislinn
c) Bev
d) None of the above
3. I attended the prestigious Old Salem Horse Show this weekend and received a fourth place ribbon in the following class?
Just Keep Telling Yourself, It’s Only a Movie
My daughter has forbidden me to post it. My son has left my home in shame after having viewed it with a friend. Still, this is America, where we have freedom of expression and I have made a film so frightening yet empowering, so controversial yet provocative that, though it has been banned in my home, I am going to screen it here, for you, my blog readers.
