I spoke with my folks who live in Connecticut. They have the most beautiful yard (my stepmom is both an artist and a gardener, so you can imagine how lovely). According to them, the birds are chirping, the bees humming, the blossoms plentiful and large. Spring in full bloom!
Meanwhile, here in Montana, we still don’t have buds on our trees. To be perfectly honest, I’m uncertain the trees are even alive. We moved into our home at the end of last year’s smokey, drought-sabotaged summer and could hardly escape the house because of the air quality (check my Instagram account for photos—it was bad!). I do recall leaves on the trees then, so I’m hopeful we’ll see something…eventually. I really can’t complain, though, because despite the lack of blossoms and leaves, I found a HUGE bumblebee in the dog’s water container, and the most vividly colored bluebird I’ve ever seen has taken up residence in the bird house along the paddock fence. Spring is coming, I know it! We just have to be a little more patient.
Speaking of growing plants, it has always been my husband’s deepest wish to have raspberry bushes on our property. I planted blackberry bushes for him while we were in Germany, but we PCS’d back to the states the second summer just days before the berries were ripe enough to eat. So sad. Anyway, back to the story… Being a loving spouse, I found both raspberry and blueberry bushes at the local garden center. Obviously if they’re selling them around here, they must be suitable to the climate—right?
Erm…
After a week of tenderly caring for these bushes, I put them out on the deck to soak up a little sunshine. It was balmy 50-degrees out, so I figured they’d be fine for a few hours.
Whoops. My husband is not happy. But I’m not giving up! A little window time, some snipping of dead branches, and I think these poor abused bushes might spring back to life. Maybe.
On the writing end, I’m giving Predator a quick run-through to check for snags before sending it out (again) to my beta readers. Then I need to work on the cover. The temporary image you see on this website and on the pre-order link on Amazon is fine, but not great. We must have things perfect! Or as perfect as possible.
I hope you’re excited for the book’s release in October! It’s a fun one. Lots of animal references, similes, and metaphors, since the MC is a future veterinarian. Great chase scene in there, too. Hmm… Thinking about chase scenes is giving me an idea for another book…
Looks like it’s time to get back to work! All the best and happy reading.
