Busy, Crazy, Insane Weekend and a New Book

Holiday Marketplace at Tides Inn

Combining a book signing with an art event is trying, cumbersome, and exhilarating. For as long as I can remember my first love has been both, and try as I might I can't seem to change that. The love of color and form is far too strong to separate myself from art, and my love of words is equally compelling. It has reached the point that when I didn't still have the painting that became the cover art for Jungle Jeopardy, I had to create a new painting to show with my book. There it is, far left, in the photograph.

Earlier this week, I received the first copies of my latest book, A Rainbow for Christmas. This is my first western. It's a sweet romance set in 1869 on a wagon train traveling from Missouri to Denver, Colorado. During my research I read the dairies of many women who experienced the hardships of crossing the prairie amidst all types of challenges. I was intrigued and lost in the journey of my heroine as she careened along a rough wagon train trail learning to drive a team of oxen along the way. It was thrilling to sign the first copies of my book in the middle of a festive room at Tides Inn filled with artisans of all kinds, including jewelry-makers, painters, potters, and two writers.

Crazy, busy! I love the excitement. Art and writing. I live for the confusing mixture of the two!

Tid Bits from Friday - the Demise of Cursive Writing

After my concern earlier this week about the demise of handwritten notes, you can imagine my shock when I heard this morning that a school district is considering dropping cursive writing from its teaching curriculum! Plans are to replace it with extra instruction on computer skills.

Soon we'll be unable to write and heaven help us if something happens to the calculator! This was on one of the news shows this morning. I didn't catch the name of the school division and don't think it really matters where this is happening. But the idea of not teaching cursive writing does matter.

As an art teacher, I always have my students sign their names on their art work when they create it. When these children first learn cursive writing, they are always excited and ask to sign their art in cursive!

Cursive writing is an art. It's a skill that should not be put aside and lost.What do you think?