Celebrating Life

This has been a long week - we received news of a death in the family on Saturday and made the trip into the neighboring state to celebrate a life well lived.

God speed, Mel.

Mel was 87 years young, and although the last couple years of his life have been a little confused, he has been a vibrant man for most of those years. Some of my favorite moments have been listening to his unique dialect. He liked to tell stories, and there was a time a few years back when I was visiting, where I had planned to do some writing. I set up my computer - correction, my husband's computer - and when I went to log in, found I didn't know what the password was that he'd assigned to me. I sat there in frustration when Mel sat down at the table with me and began to tell me stories. One of my deepest regrets was that I could not access the computer at that time, not because I wanted my writing escape, but because I was so entertained by his unique phrasing that I desperately wanted to transcribe some of his "Mel-isms." I began to see him as a colorful character in one of my novels, using phrases like "jeepers cats," or watching him lean across the table and point his finger and say, "you know, that outfit over there with that woman, you know the one I mean, who was married to the guy in charge of the whole gol-durn outfit."

So although I've lost several days to "work" work and book "work," it was time well spent with family celebrating Mel's life and the legacy he's left behind. Thanks to all 15 of you who were tucked into nooks and crannies of the old homestead, filling it with love and memories and support for one another.

The Goodreads.com Giveaway has ended and for the five lucky winners, autographed copies will be going out in the next couple of days. For those of you that didn't win, please feel free to purchase Living Canvas or one of my other novels at Amazon.com or BN.com. Details in the margin to the right.