KarenMusserNortman
  • Home
  • Frannie Shoemaker Mysteries
  • The Time Travel Trailer Series
  • Mystery Sisters
  • Karen's Blog
  • Large Print and Audible
  • The Newsroom
  • Coming Events
  • Borrow My Books-KU
  • Camping (when it isn't murder)
  • Giveaways and Stuff
  • About the Author

Bikes and Babies

7/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
We were so relieved to have a cool north breeze and lower temperatures on Thursday and the rest of the week. Thursday, we kicked back and enjoyed the weather and finished off with a true camping potluck: pork stir fry cooked over the fire, grilled turkey tenderloins, and fresh Iowa sweet corn. Pat, Jill, and Jack joined us, as well as the Walker brothers and wives.

Picture
Friday, our camping cohorts left for home because of weekend commitments and we took a bike ride toward Des Moines. Part of the popularity of this campground is due to the great bike trails going north to the High Trestle bridge at Madrid and south into the center of Des Moines. When we returned, Pat and Jill came out for a visit and then we all had tacos at Brooke and Nick's giving us time to bounce that baby some more.

The new camper is everything we hoped as far as far as layout, but we are still waiting for the replacement awning and carpet. AND there is a chance that I will take a hammer to silence the alert beep that is supposed to warn us of full holding tanks but goes off a random just to annoy me.

Meanwhile, I am working with readers for three more audible versions and plodding along with the new Frannie, The Space Invader. Cover reveal coming soon!

0 Comments

Lady in Waiting

7/27/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
After a two-week from hiatus from camping, filled with county fair, family visits, a short trip north with old friends, and lots and lots of heat, we are finally back camping. Since I claimed to be the Queen of Everything, oldest granddaughter Brooke is the Princess of Quite a Lot,  Jessi the Princess of Some Stuff, and Sophie the Princess of Whatever's Left. (Sorry, Soph.) Now there is a new Princess, Brooke's daughter, so I need to work on an appropriate title. May have to take some of Whatever's Left away from Sophie, but that's life.

Meanwhile, we are camped at Cherry Glen Campground on Saylorville Lake near Ankeny and the new baby. Cherry Glen is very pretty, although the campground roads are so twisty, I have trouble keeping my bearings. Last night, after setting up, we had supper at the nearby Saylorville Marina on a nearly perfect evening.

Today, our son Pat, the new grandpa, and family arrive from Dallas and we will be granted an audience.  Another warm day with some rain hovering over around Omaha, but once we make it through today, the rest of the weekend should be great. And as far as the new royalty, I remember a baby card I saw years ago: Into each reign, a little life must fall.


3 Comments

A Look to the Future

7/17/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
When I started the first time travel book, I was motivated by a wish to have known my grandparents in their younger years. Like the old story of the Blind Men and the Elephant, we only know out grandparents as middle-aged and older and therefore never know the whole person. Photos aren't much help to my generation because most pictures taken in the early twentieth century are of posed, unsmiling people who look like they never had a fun day in their lives, never misbehaved, never showed any emotion. And I know that wasn't true, so it was fun to have Dinah McBriar meet and hang out with her great-grandmother.

Fast forward to the present. This week we were presented with our first great-grandchild, Olivia Jane. I love the name and am glad her parents weren't determined to name her something unique like 'Paper Cut' or spell her name in a way that would cause confusion  between her and every teacher she has. She is healthy and her mother is doing well too and we are thankful for that.

But I can't help wishing I had a time travel camper that would carry me forward to see her future. She will be my age in 2089. What events and changes in the world will she have seen that we can't even imagine? Will she look at old photos of her grandparents and wonder what they did for fun or if they had nicknames or what kinds of food they wouldn't eat? What bits of culture will she see in those photos that she doesn't understand because they have completely disappeared by that time? Will her life be easier or more stressful?

The Circle of Life.


1 Comment

More Camping/NotCamping

7/10/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Our trip here to Thomson Causeway on the Mississippi was instigated by an authors' book signing/roundtable discussion at Deanna's Java Cafe in nearby Clinton. The journey here was a comedy of not-so-funny errors--lost tools, skipped steps, and forgotten items. You'd think we'd get this down eventually. Anyway, it has been a great weekend.

I noticed a couple of days before that the site I had reserved was a shared site with another pad right next to it and a joined campfire and picnic area. So we could have had complete strangers next door and been right in each others laps, which certainly wouldn't be the end of the world, but it was nice to have the complete space to ourselves. Maybe it was the "Beware of the Pitbull" sign.


Picture
Friday was extremely windy and we watched a poor pelican trying to make progress into the wind over the river. We gained a lot more sympathy for him when we took a bike ride around the other loops of the campground and hit the open point jutting out into the river. Friday night after supper, lacking dessert makings, we drove into Thompson for some of Bear's ice cream--an excellent choice.

Saturday we headed into Clinton with bags of books and spent a pleasant couple of hours visiting with readers and other authors Misty urban, Teresa LaBelle, and Dionne Witt.  Afterwards, we had a great lunch at the Candlelight Inn on a deck overlooking the river before taking in a matinee performance of South Pacific at the Clinton Showboat. What a fun venue--it's like having a play performed in your own living room. The theater (named for Clinton native Lillian Russell) is small enough that microphones are not necessary and it was very well done.
Picture
By the time we got back to the campground, we were still full from lunch so opted for a light supper after a bike ride and enjoyed another beautiful sunset and a lovely fire. Another one for the books.

1 Comment

    Author

    Some random thoughts about writing, camping, and eating.

    Archives

    February 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    December 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly