Catching Up

Happy New Year to everyone! Hard to believe we are in the second month of a new year! I’m ready for new and exciting challenges in 2010.

Dick and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary in January. How fast did that go by? We are looking forward to our annual celebration weekend up north. This year, we will be spending three nights at the Suites at Eastern Slopes Inn. I’m excited about being right in the center of town and within walking distance of my favorite places. I’m sure it will be busier than it was in early December when we were last there. Looks like they got some snow from yesterday’s storm. We don’t ski. We shop, eat, hang out and enjoy the scenery. The snow will make for some beautiful pictures.

Disney: Volunteer Program

I recently participated in Disney’s “Give A Day, Get A Disney Day” volunteer program. I volunteer at North Shore Elder Services (NSES) in Danvers. NSES is a registered participant of the program. In early February, I worked a day on a special project for them. Yesterday, I received a voucher for my one day, one park ticket. It was fun being part of this wonderful program. Can’t wait to redeem my voucher in May! You can be part of it by going to http://www.disneyparks.com/, finding a registered participant and volunteer project that suits you and signing up. Please read all the rules and instructions. It’s a bit complicated.

On My Writing: Carousel Kisses

I have exciting news about my book, Carousel Kisses! As most of you know, I wrote and self-published the book in 2005. In October of 2009, I met with my friend, Cindy Oldham, co-author of Kaleidoscope Memories, a book of short stories celebrating family life that she wrote with her two sisters. Cindy is the owner of Tide Dancer Publications in Kissimmee, Florida. We talked for hours about our families, our books, writing and publishing. She encouraged me to go further with my book. As usual, I had to ponder every aspect of such a project.

I am thrilled to announce that I finally made a decision to go global with Carousel Kisses and that Tide Dancer Publications is going to publish it!

Once I made up my mind, I worked hard on revisions that I believe will enhance the book. It still has the same stories and poetry as the original version, but I have added two new stories, one poem and lots of photos. If you read the original version and liked it, please tell your friends and family about it when it comes out. It will be available on Amazon and Barnes & Nobel.

I am in the process of creating a website specifically for the book and working on my next book, Sweet Violets.

I will let you know more on all of this as soon as possible.

On other writing news: I write a nostalgia column for North Shore Elder Services in their monthly newsletter, The Shoreline. The newsletter provides great information on health issues and services available to seniors and elders on the North Shore. I also post a link on Facebook.

Thank you for reading my blog.