The National Cathedral

We’ve just returned from two weeks on the East Coast and all I can say is – wow!  In two weeks, we visited or drove through a total of nine states, spending most of our time in Vermont, Washington D.C, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

We’ve faced 94-degree weather and thundershowers, long lines, heavy traffic, a chirping GPS, really good pizza, really cranky innkeepers (not ours, thankfully!), clam chowder, pomp, circumstance, and big giant robots.

And no, I’m not kidding about the big giant robots.

My favorite part?  Visiting the National Cathedral (above).  I took 174 photos there – and about 1,000 for the entire trip.

I think I’ll be sorting through photos for a while.

Also discovered this –

They know ice cream in North Carolina.

It’s the lovechild of the bowl and the waffle cone – the waffle bowl.  I love the idea.  Tricky to eat, but sometimes that’s the way conceptual art works.

The best news?  Simply Sara is done.  I know I said she was done before, at least I think I did.  But now she’s really done, going to print done, completed acknowledgements and final edits done.  I’m a little delighted.  And VERY excited thinking ahead to the next book – I’ll keep you posted on that!

So the big giant robots?  Well…I don’t have pictures.  They confiscated my camera at the BMW factory in Spartanburg, SC.  But they were big, and giant, and they threw sparks when they welded, and I won’t ever, ever forget them.

I did get this photo in the museum though –

A BMW airplane engine.

Thanks again for all of your entries for the Simpy Sara Baking Contest!  They were tons of fun to look through, and I absolutely love Rhonda’s winning recipe – I can’t wait for you to see how it works in the book!

That’s it for now – I think my sweet hubby’s woken up from his nap

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When it comes to Thanksgiving, the Amish take a cue from the Pilgrims and fast.  The fasting begins after dinner the night before, and lasts until the big meal, usually served around noon.  The women prepare the meal during that time – no tasting allowed!  The fasting applies mainly to the baptized church members.  For children, the fasting is optional.

November is wedding season for the Amish, so sometimes Thanksgiving celebrations are rolled into wedding celebrations.  If there isn’t a wedding going on, families and friends will often gather to celebrate together.

Before eating, the Amish family gathers together in the morning for devotions and talks about what they’re thankful for.

A roasted turkey is often the centerpiece of the meal; rather than purchase frozen birds, many Amish raise their own or purchase them from neighbors.  They may also serve mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables, salads, breads, noodles, and pie.

After dinner, it’s not uncommon for the Amish to sing German hymns, taking time to give thanks to God through music. Remember that sung music is the one kind of music allowed by the Ordnung – there are no instruments in Amish homes or churches.

American Christmases are busy, and Amish Christmases can take just as much preparation.  Amish students will prepare recitations, a play, and songs to be performed on Christmas Eve.  Amish families may gather together to make their Christmas cards, to be given to friends and family.  Amish women will make cookies and candies.  Decorations, if any, are kept to a minimum.  There are no Christmas trees and no Santa Claus.  If there’s snow, though, Amish children may entertain themselves by making snowmen.

Celebrations vary among Amish groups – some spend Christmas day in a more somber celebration, saving festivities for the day after.  Others exchange gifts on Christmas Day, returning to work and school on the 26th.  Either way, Christmas is still an exercise in simplicity.  Children know to only expect one gift from their parents, and gifts are often homemade.

An Amish New Years Eve is marked with a church service, hymn-singing, and a pot-luck.

One tradition I discovered was Old Christmas, celebrated on January 6th, a date traditionally also known as Epiphany.  Businesses will close on this day, and families will celebrate with food an visiting, much like Christmas Day but without the gifts.

Oh – and it should go without saying that the Amish don’t do Halloween.

How do you and your family celebrate Christmas?  I have to say, the day is not coming when I hand-make each and every Christmas card.  We sent out postcards of a beautiful snow photo I took last year, but that’s as crafty as it’s going to get in this household.  I also enjoy a good cookie swap, as well as getting in the car, putting on Christmas music, and looking at Christmas lights.  Last Christmas was pretty stressful, not just because of the tree.  I’m looking forward to a do-over this year.  What are you looking forward to?

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When my editor and I discussed the idea of the putting the chapter in a few months ago, I kind of panicked. The thought of having the chapter done and ready in any time frame was too much to think of after working so hard to bring Jayne to completion.

But when it came up again a few weeks ago, I bravely promised to have it churned out in a few days. When I started working on it, though, I realized I had a problem – the first chapter of a book isn’t the sort of thing you want to rush through!

Not only do you have to set up the premise of the entire book, but you want to make it fun and interesting and preferably well-written. After an additional couple days (I have a gracious editor), I was very pleased with the results.

I have to admit that a part of me sees clever writing as an un-renewable resource. Whenever I start a new project, I fear that this is the one where I realize I’ve used all the good words, the best jokes, the vivid characters, and there’s nothing left…

…until I come up with a really good idea, followed by another idea, and oh, wasn’t that a funny line? And I’m back to normal. The best part is, writers like Anne Lamott feel the same way (I found her Bird By Bird to be very reassuring). We’re all a little odd, a little fearful. I suppose that’s what happens when your job is to write down the voices in your head.

In other, less philosophical news, I made really yummy scones yesterday. We’re surrounded by blackberry bushes in our neck of the Pacific Northwest woods, so this is the time of the year when you see people wandering around filling various containers with free berries.

My husband and I went blackberry picking last weekend. Danny’s the best person to pick with because he’s even taller than I am, has very long arms, and doesn’t like blackberries, so he’s not eating and picking at the same time. We gathered about 10 cups of berries.

After two batches of cobbler, I decided to get a little creative.   I used this recipe and altered it for my purposes. I omitted about 1/4 c. sugar and the raisins (blech!) and added the zest of 2 1/2 lemons (basically, the amount of lemons I had on hand), 1 c. blackberries. When they cooled, I gave them a thin coat of lemony icing, using fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar (no particular amounts here, just start with the sugar and add lemon juice until it’s where you want it).

I worried about the dough because you’re not supposed to over-handle it, but it was so loosey-goosey I kind of had to manhandle it into submission, and getting the blackberries in took some work. I worried I’d made them too tough, but they came out perfectly. One note – I froze my blackberries so they’d keep their shape when I worked with them. Realize you’ll have to bake scones longer if you insert frozen berries into them (I didn’t, and had to keep putting them back in the oven).

If you live in a part of the country that’s lousy with raspberries, they would certainly work well too. Blueberries would be fine, but blackberries and raspberries are a bit juicier for this sort of thing.

If you try the recipe, let me know what you think!

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Next, I’ll be editing the manuscript.  I had a friend ask me why I was editing – isn’t that my editor’s job?  The answer is that a draft is just that.  I like to go through myself and get the book the way I want it before passing it on.  Even before I finished, there were several things I knew I needed to tweak before handing it in – it’s just part of the process.   My mom also checks for grammatical and continuity errors, so that a fresh pair of eyes (with an English degree) can point out things I would have missed.

In other news, we have an official title for the next book – Simply Sara!  

Looking forward to doing the research for Simply Sara. After researching Plain Jayne, I made the decision as a writer that I wanted to learn something new for every book.  For Plain Jayne, that meant learning to ride a motorcycle.  For Simply Sara, I want to learn to sew.  I tried last spring, with mixed results.  Mixed, largely because I tend to get ambitious when it comes to textiles.  When I knit, I can rip things out when they don’t work.  Sewing – it’s a bit more complicated.

So – for the rest of the month, I have a LOT of editing to do!  So far I’m on Chapter 4 of 38.  I thought I might try to get out of the house to edit today, but it’s Monday, and Monday means laundry.  Speaking of, I need to do a load of darks before getting back to the draft.  Will update more later!

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