Engaged in Heritage View will be live on Amazon May 24th.

After a mellow first half of winter in our neck of the woods, we have gotten "the real thing" this past week. More snow coming, too.

Snow blowers whirring, snow shovels scraping, snow brushes . . . well, making whatever sound they make as people brush of their cars.

In any event, I am pleased. Pleased? Yes, pleased. I can point to all the coziness of winter while others complain about the cold and the mess, and they are probably right. But I remain . . . pleased.

There is something about having this period of proper winter that makes me feel somehow that spring and summer will be all the sweeter for having had it. My very nature craves the change of seasons, the sense that different activities celebrate the different times of year. I enjoy it. It sets me right. I feel a part of the natural rhythm and pulse of everything.

I don't ski (well, not since high school), and I don't have any particular winter sport that I engage in or activity that is distinctly snow dependent.

But, I have the birds. Oh, to tromp around in the snow filling feeders and scattering bread, and filling baths with warm water from the tap to break and melt the ice, if only for 20 minutes' time.

Lovely. Rosy cheeks, snowy cuffs, and some deep satisfaction that comes with basic, good, well-done chores. I could have picked a fancier adjective no doubt, but "good" feels most appropriate. It is solid. It is unpretentious. Unfussy.

And the birds react so merrily, with pure enthusiasm.  Bird lovers know the flitting and chirping that accompanies an unhurried bird meal. They know us after all these years. They are assured that we will come again and again.

They peer at us from junipers and rose bushes and rhododendrons with leaves curled in frigid air. They peep to each other as they watch us trudge about in the snow and only skitter away a cursory distance. We are the puffy-jacket clad upright animals that bring them their daily bread.

That's good. They say we can't live on bread alone, but bread and the chirping of birds might just about do it.

Be well, be healthy. Be happy.

Best,
Annie

Happy Monday, friends.

​https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/13961774-pumpkin-everything-yea-or-nay

Grab your coffee and visit with me here:

C.D. Hersh's "Wednesday Special Spotlight"

​LINK:   http://wp.me/p1tsn7-1b6

And mosey on over to Goodreads after that:

LINK:   https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/13826500-summer-is-growing-old


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​https://t.co/LaKm5Spykr

I read through Catherine Bybee's Weekday Brides series so fast last summer, it wasn't even funny. If you haven't read them, do yourself a favor. (Or anything else she's written, for that matter). Delicious fun, with a healthy dollop of glamour that reminds me of the good ole days of contemporary romance.  Perfect for when you just want to be entertained. Bybee delivers, with a quick wit and distinctive voice I really enjoy.

I don't know about you, but I love a good dose of old-school fancy clothes/fancy houses/fancy jewelry/fancy what-have-you in contemporary romance for that escapist thrill. I get enough cleaning the lint trap and pruning the junipers in real life. Sometimes a gal wants some glitz. After all, I always say that there is a little Scarlett O'Hara inside every Melanie Hamilton.
Do you have any other recommendations for a little bit of fun, swanky contemporary romance?

​Or are you a lover of books that are very true-to-life, complete with messy houses, cars that break down, and bills to pay? People have differing opinions on glamour and realism. Thank goodness we have so many books to glom, er, read.

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