Katrina

We are all upset about what Hurricane Katrina has done to so many people. Bailey and her friends plan to raise money by washing cars and weeding lawns to send money to the Red Cross. She hopes other families do the same.

Spamers

I was so busy eliminating spam yesterday on my blog that I forgot to post a new entry. It is a shame that people try to ruin things for everyone. Spam is the litter of the Internet, but it is less easily disposed of than by carrying a trash bag when we walk. So Bailey Fish got spammed, and as a result, it is now more difficult for people to post a comment. Sorry about that.
We went to a very interesting Civil War museum in Gordonsville today in a building that was the former Exchange Hotel, where many train travelors stayed. During the Civil War, or the War between the States, the building was used as a hospital headquarters for a major hospital. The exhibits are very interesting and included surgical instruments, uniforms, weapons, books and pictures.

Bird feeders

Bailey came by today to see how the clock is working. We sat in rocking chairs in my office until the cuckoo came out his little door and told us that it was 11. He is actually a little late, so we need to find out how to adjust his timetable, but we can even hear him outside and downstairs. Won't our company be impressed!
Then she helped me fill bird feeders. She was very interested in the nyjer seed that we put in the finch feeders. She said she will ask Sugar if they can put some up so she can watch the little yellow birds fly around her yard. She was very happy about my book signing on Friday at Lake Anna Florist. We had a number of girls her age who came to buy books, and sold a lot of copies that day. Everybody was so nice to us, and they liked meeting Chuck the Crow.

A wonderful present

Whenever I'm at Sugar's house I've admired her little cuckoo clock. Bailey and I like to watch the door open and the bird bob up and down as it cuckoo's on the hours. Well, today they drove up after one of their yard sale treasure hunts and guess what they had for me? My very own cuckoo clock, made in Germany about sixty years ago. It is brightly colored, almost like it was painted in Mexico or Costa Rica. Jim is going to put it up in my office today or tomorrow where I can listen to it while I'm working. The really fun thing is that we live in the Cuckoo voting district. So we vote for the Cuckoo supervisor and the Cuckoo school board member.

Saving Lake Anna

This morning Sugar went to the Friends of Lake Anna meeting--a group of people from both the warm and cool sides of the lake that is hoping to convince the nuclear power officials to find a way to cool the water from the proposed third and fourth reactors that will not further heat up the lake or cause a change in levels. The warm side of the lake--three cooling ponds that evenutally drain into the main lake--already record temperatures of more than 100 degrees, and even the cool side this summer has had reports of temperatures in the 90s. If the plant increases both the amount of the flow into those ponds by 60 percent and the temperature by even a few degrees, the impact will be tremendous and unhealthy for people and the environment. Sugar said there is a lot of information on the group's Web site, and that everyone, including kids, can express their views through the embedded petition. So I said I would help by posting the group's info. Linda

http://lakeannava.tripod.com/

Fan news

Marilyn Root, a writer for the Lake Anna Observer, e-mailed me that her eight-year-old granddaughter Alli said the The Wild Women of Lake Anna was her favorite read of the summer. That made my day. And Bailey and Sugar were very happy about it too. Linda

Friends of Lake Anna

Sugar called this morning to say that she has joined a new environmental group called Friends of Lake Anna. They are meeting Friday morning to get everyone around the lake involved in petitioning the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, local governments, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep the lake from getting too hot when new reactors are built in 20 years at the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant. The warm side of the lake, the cooling lagoons, are already as hot as a hot tub, and people are worried that the water gets much hotter in the warm and "cold" sides of the lake, it will be harmful to people and the environment. Sugar is going to help with the petition drive, she said.

New Characters

I am always amazed at how the books take shape. First the characters start to arrive, sometimes individually, sometimes in groups. It is like a theater. They take their names, though not necessarily immediately, and talk among themselves about what they have planned. I sit and listen. Right now, the characters for the fourth book, which doesn't have a title yet, are driving up almost everyday. They sit on my porch or at the table. I can't wait for you to meet them. Lot's of surprises. Linda

Check my links

I am so excited that my links are appearing, thanks to my daughter, Abbie Grotke, who has explained how to do it, but I am grateful that she is doing it for me. Some links are from The Wild Women of Lake Anna, others are from the No Sisters Sisters Club, and some are just for fun, such as Guinea Pig Theater at MuseArts. Bailey wants you to know that in addition to the classical children's literature, such as The Secret Garden she is also enjoying Harry Potter's books this summer. She reads very fast, and sometimes reads more than one book at a time. Linda

Mad at litter

Wow! Is Sugar ever steamed up. I stopped by her house this afternoon to have glass of fresh squeezed lemonade, and she showed me pictures she had taken of trash all over the county. There are bottles, cans and papers in along the roads, and the worst is a double trailer that is was trashed in someone's yard and has collapsed. She called the county but they haven't done a thing about it and she doesn't think it is safe at all. A child or animal could crawl in and get hurt. Funny thing is, it is near a big sign saying that littering is against the law. Sugar said it's time for everyone to pick up trash and make sure it doesn't fall out of hands, windows or trashbags in the back of a pickup truck or trailer. Bailey and her friend, Emily, were listening. Bailey said she thought kids ought to become part of an anti-littering campaign. Emily said she would help. I said I would too. My husband and I pick up trash every morning when we take our walk. People make such messes. The countryside could be so beautiful if it had less trash everywhere, Sugar said. I agree. What do you think?

Chuck the Crow

Wait until you see Chuck the crow. He appears in the No Sisters No Sisters Club and again in the third book, but he is sitting on my desk at the moment, cocking his feathery head. You'll never guess where I found him. At Jabberwocky Children's Book Store in Fredericksburg.
When I first saw him, Chuck wanted me to look at his tag from the manufacturer that said he was a raven. He said, "You know from book 2 that that isn't true. Crows are all black. Ravens have some orange on them." I told him I would remove the raven tag as soon as we got home. He plans to come to call my programs and booksignings, so you get to see him there.
Linda

Postmaster for a day

Bailey nudged me when she visited last night and said I had forgotten to tell you about being selected as Mineral Postmaster of the day on July 25, 2005. For about a month people were invited to put their names in a box, and mine was drawn. Of course I entered more than once because I really wanted to see what it was like to work in the post office. My grandfather, Clyde Metcalf Bailey was the postmaster of the Ashtabula, Ohio, post office probably about 100 years ago. Our family also has a mailbag lock from the Pony Express. Bailey went with me. We got to the post office by 6:30 a.m. before the big truck came in. Real Postmaster Bob Maher said that Monday's are a really busy day because they must sort and deliver the mail that comes in on Sunday, too. Everybody worked very hard, including Mr. Maher. We watched and asked questions. The rural carriers have to sort their own mail and organize it according to their routes. That took most of the morning. They have to deliver their mail all over the Mineral Zip code area, and sometimes in neighboring counties, and get back to the post office in time to meet the afternoon truck. All the mail for the boxes, like we have, is sorted and ready for customers by 10 a.m. (sometimes sooner). And then the clerks, and Mr. Maher, wait on customers at the front counter. Sometimes there is a line and sometimes not. Because Mineral is such a small town (about 450 people), the postal employees know many of the people, and even help some of the older residents across the road.
Bailey and I were glad we wore our comfortable tennis shoes. She was very happy that I was sworn in and received a certificate to take home. I told her she could take it to her school sometime if she wanted to. It was Bailey's idea to give Mr. Maher a copy of our first book, The Wild Women of Lake Anna. We are both impressed with all our friends at the post office. It was a great day! Linda P.S. Sugar said it was fun to come in for stamps and see us both in the back room.

Homeschoolers' Day

We just heard from Kim at Caledon that the times for our programs on Sept. 9 are 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Come by the booth and learn about the writing of the Bailey Fish Adventure series. Have your questions answered, and I'll even read from the second book--a sneak preview. I've been working hard this week to read and re-read the final draft of No Sisters Sisters Club because I want it to be perfect for you.

This morning on the way to town, where I am working out in a gym with Sugar, we saw the wild turkey and her baby running in the ditch near my house. She kept looking over her shoulder to make sure we weren't getting too close. I was surprised how gray their feathers were.
Sugar said the hummingbirds in her yard zoomed her when she tried to put more thistle in the finch feeder. So she decided to wait to add seed. We've had lots of hummingbirds, too, this year.
Linda

Meet the illustrator

Aren't the illustrations for my books just wonderful? I'm so fortunate to have the talented Christopher Grotke of MuseArts, Inc. working on them. I e-mail him suggestions from the text, he faxes sketches. I give him some feedback, and he works up the final drawings. Here is one from No Sisters Sisters Club. Linda

Book four meeting

While the No Sisters Sisters Club is getting ready for press, and the Thief at Keswick Inn is still being written, Sugar and Bailey asked for a meeting yesterday about Book 4. It doesn't have a title yet. They thought it was time we did some thinking about new characters and the mystery they would bring to it. We brainstormed for several hours and I think we have some good initial ideas. Keswick Inn will be finished and ready for boarders sooner than Mr. Will and Miss Bekka had expected, so the characters will be arriving at their door. I took lots of notes and we will meet again soon. You can tell us your ideas, too. Linda Salisbury

Culpeper area residents

I am excited about the opportunity to meet you at a booksigning at the Full Service Beauty Salan, 233 E. Davis St., Culpeper, sometime in September. I'll have copies of The Wild Women of Lake Anna there, and will be glad to talk about the new book. You can reserve copies of the book by calling 540-825-6892.

From Bailey Fish--I forgot

Some of you might not know what my first book, The Wild Women of Lake Anna: A Bailey Fish Adventure, looks like. So here's the cover. I'm one of the wild woman now that I've had my own adventures. Here I am trying to pan for gold in Contrary Creek with Sugar's pie pan. Do you see the eyes behind me in the woods? You'd better watch out! Bailey

Preview of next book from Bailey Fish

I'm so excited about the No Sisters Sisters Club that is almost ready to go to press. I thought you might like to see what the cover looks like. Lew Agrell has done a great job with the illustration, don't you think? There are so many scary things that happen in the book, but you'll have to read it to find out. Bailey Fish

From Bailey Fish: Little and big birds

I didn't want to hurt Sugar's feelings when I first came to her house, but I didn't think I would like living in the country. I used to go to the mall all the time with Amber or my mom and we had grocery stores--big ones--every few blocks, and tons of restaurants. But she has been telling me all about nature and almost every day we see something special. This week the hummingbirds, maybe ten of them, have been fighting over the three nectar feeders Sugare had in the yard. They zoom around and chase each other. And when we got up this morning, Sugar called me to the window. We saw a huge wild turkey in the front yard near the road, and its baby was following it. The baby was pretty huge too. It was about the size of a chicken. They stayed for quite awhile before walking on down the road. How neat is that? Bailey

Wonderful library interview

Sarrina Wood, who read The Wild Women of Lake Anna, interviewed me a few weeks ago for the library in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia. You can read her interview at http://www.answerpoint.org/reading_room/
Bailey went with me because she loves libraries. She told me later as we were driving back to Lake Anna that Sarrina reminded me of someone in the No Sisters Sisters Club: A Bailey Fish Adventure. Sarrina, a library intern for the summer, had a lot of good questions for us. It reminded me of my visit with fourth graders at Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria last spring. Their teacher, Natalie Willis, had been reading Wild Women to them and they had so many excellent questions about the characters. Bailey was surprised that they wanted to know how many books there would be in the series, and what they would like to see in them.

From Bailey Fish

When I took a walk with my grandmother, Sugar, today, we saw a deer standing by the side of the road. Later, when we came back two spotted fawns tumbled out of the brush, and hurried back into hiding. Then, we spotted a big box turtle in the middle of the road. I was going to pick it up, but it ran across the road by itself. We made sure it was well off the road. All the blackberries are gone now. We picked several quarts just two weeks ago. Sugar froze them and we will put them on vanilla ice cream. I can't wait to tell my best Florida friend, Amber.
Bailey

Attention Homeschoolers!

I will have a table on Sept. 9, 2005, at the Caledon Natural Area in King George, Virginia. Homeschoolers from around the state will be at the park for the day for a number of events. I will speak about the writing process, will read from the books, and have my first book, The Wild Women of Lake Anna available for sale. Homeschoolers, here's a little secret. Book 3, The Thief at Keswick Inn: A Bailey Fish Adventure, introduces new characters who are being homeschooled. Stay tuned. For information about the event, contact Kim Boshela at the Natural area, 540-663-3861