"Roundheads and Ramblings"

Vacation

A Break in the Action

Posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2015 4:42 PM

It's time for me to quit messing around on the computer and go pack a suitcase. I'm off in the morning for a brief trip to Charleston with a couple of friends. But somehow I find getting ready difficult. {Probably because the last time I was getting ready to do this, I ended up in a nightmare of ambulance rides and hospital stays. )

Anyhow, I'll only be gone for a few days, and I'm hoping the cats won't notice. They usually love having the catsitter around instead of me because she plays with them and never makes them get off the keyboard. They get to eat more, too!

I'm not going to try any blog posts while I'm gone because I only want to carry my phone and an iPad mini. Even library note-taking will be limited to one small moleskin notebook. I'll try, however, to get some new and interesting pictures.

Charleston friends, where is the life-size statue of Wade Hampton? Is it right there on Meeting Street? He's featured in the book I'm working on, so would like to get a shot of him.

Hold the fort while I'm gone. Tell your friends to read "Damned Yankee" in preparation for a late fall release, and we'll chat next week.

(Lisa and Will: I'm hoping my South Carolina venture turns out to be less exciting than yours has been, but I also know it's not going to be as sweet and beautiful. )

Temporarily Unplugged -- Gone Fishin'

Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2014 4:39 PM

For the next several weeks, I'm unplugging this blog. The Katzenhaus website will remain functional, and I'll post any new developments there. I'll still be bouncing around Facebook and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Pinterest. But for now, I'm taking a break from blogging. When I return, it may be with a whole new approach and a new project to which a blog can contribute. But for now, thanks for reading. Check out the rest of the website, and let's continue our conversations elsewhere.

Keep Calm and Move South

Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2014 1:29 PM

Today is full of last-minute chores -- arranging matters for the cat-sitter -- and packing -- and re-packing. But I've found a new slogan to keep me focused on the job at hand. It reminds me that I'm headed for a few blissful days in some of my favorite towns -- where people are gracious, the weather is soft and warm, the houses are gorgeous, and the food is innovative and delicious.

Here's a "heads up" for my South Carolina followers -- those lucky folks who live where I only get to visit. After a couple of nights pretending we are guests of the Vanderbilts in Asheville, we head to Charleston, where we'll have two days to wander the Market, eat at FIG (Food Is Good), and maybe visit a wonderful plantation or two, like Middleton Place.

On Wednesday, we head to Bluffton, just outside of Hilton Head, where a local women's club has invited me to a tour and luncheon in an 1850s mansion -- along with the chance to talk to their Book Club members who read The Road to Frogmore and introduce them to Damned Yankee.

The next day we move to Beaufort, which many of you will recognize from reading Beyond All Price and the other books in that South Carolina series. On Thursday afternoon I'll be talking about the new book, Damned Yankee, at the Beaufort County Library. We'll also be talking about the difference between history and historical fiction and how the two tend to collide and stir themselves together.

I have a few designs on the local National Cemetery, the burial grounds for both Union and Confederate soldiers. And on Friday, I'm scheduled to visit book outlets on St. Helena Island -- the wonderful store called "What's In Store" and the Museum Bookstore at the Penn Center. But after that, our plans are vague. Beaufort is one of those places seems to invites visitors to poke around. No matter where you happen to look, there is bound to be something fascinating.

This trip is part "Book Tour" and part "Research Trip," although at this stage, I'm not sure what I might end up researching. I'm just ready to let South Carolina wash over me again and set my mind to wandering. If you happen to be at any of the same places, wave and say "Hi." South Carolina makes friends out of strangers.

Too Much Happening! No Time to Sort Thoughts.

Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2014 2:07 PM

This is a crazy time of year --always has been. For all those years I spent in a classroom, I knew that May would be consumed with finals and grading and farewells, and graduations. And now that I' supposedly safely "retired," I thought my schedule would slow down. Apparently not! I'm in such a habit of forging ahead that once the weather turns to lovely spring, I simply stretch my days to match the lengthening sunlight. The result? Blogging -- that contemplative bit of self-indulgence in my life -- suffers.

So what's been happening? Well, on April 27th, we sent the last of our conventioneers home, cleaned out the hotel rooms we had been using, and headed home ourselves -- to a whole list of things we had to catch up upon. About all I can do here is whip them into some sort of RBOC list.

Top of the list: I launched Damned Yankee on May 1st and have been having fun ever since watching sales numbers and promoting the book to everyone I talk to. (So far, it seems to be working.)
May 2nd -- an end-of-the-year party for my old history department and a celebration of a dear friend's retirement.
May 3rd--"Sight Night"--a celebration and awards banquet sponsored by the World Cataract Association.
May 5th -- my birthday, capped by a gift of the new small Laptop Air computer (which I just can't stop playing with because it's so cute!) and an indulgent dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant.
May 6th -- An "After Hours" cocktail party at our local bank sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce for chamber members.
Today, May 7th-the official formal retirement party at the college for same dear friend.

And from here? Well, we leave on Friday for a ten-day vacation combined with a couple of great book events in South Carolina. More

on those later. For now, I need to finish whipping the house into shape for the cat-sitter, and start making packing lists.

If This Is Tuesday, I Must Be In . . . . .

Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2013 1:54 PM

We have a couple of crazy weeks coming up -- no, make that three weeks of crazy. Among our scheduled activities are a meet-up with an internet friend, a learning forum with Lions from all over North America, a convention of writers who also have connections to the military, and a reunion of Tennessee Lions who have held high offices in the state. Oh, and I must not forget visiting local markets along the way to pick up early Ohio apples, the new crop of southern sweet potatoes, and the last of the Ripley tomatoes.

It's times like these that make me very grateful for our cat-sitter. Without her, we would be facing one of two scenarios. (1) We could leave the five cats alone with self-feeders and come home to absolute destruction. (I tried that exactly once, with just two cats, and came home to discover they had taken down all of the curtains and piled them in the middle of the floor.) (2) We could take all five to the nearest boarding facility and then take out a second mortgage to pay their bill. (It would be cheaper to get them a couple of hotel rooms!) I suppose some would say we should just put them outside and let them catch mice, but I wouldn't relish coming home to scrape cat carcasses off the street.

So a cat-sitter, it is. The cats are happier, and so am I. Our sitter is infinitely patient with our schedules, even when I tell her things like "We don't need you Monday night but we'll be leaving again on Wednesday" or "We'll leave the full garbage can at the curb on Tuesday, but you'll have to bring it in by Wednesday morning."

I'll try to post once in a while, whenever we're home for a day or two, or whenever I can get a reliable internet connection and enough time to pound out a blog. The bad news is that you should not count on anything like a regular blog schedule until sometime in October. The good news is that when we're back for good (and "good" is a relative term, since I also have a book tour scheduled for November), I should be ready with an announcement of the official releases of the second edition of "Left by the Side of the Road."

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