And Now the Rest of the Story!

Yesterday's Blog post shared the dreams and frustrations of creating a book. The book was ready, but printing it had turned out to be a challenge.

On Friday I went 'back to market'. This time I hit the jackpot. Warren and I were doing some errands in Ft. Dodge and our first stop was the Office Max. It was my last chance. If this didn't work I would have to start from scratch and this would end up a Christmas present. (I wasn't prepared to quit after all the time I've put in already!)

The book still didn't print out quite right the first time and I was feeling defeated but this girl wasn't ready to give up. I showed her what I had done and how I did it on the printer at home. 'We'll figure it' out was her attitude. (Isn't it great when someone really helps you?) It took her several tries, but (Oh Happy Days) finally IT WORKED!!!! A short time later Warren and I walked out of Office Max with a book, complete with color pictures, printed on cardstock and spiral bound. My project was complete! I had written my first book.

In the car I told Warren about the book and showed it to him. Great kid that he is, he wanted me to read it right there, so I did. As we did the rest of our errands "Warren's First Bird Book" went everywhere we did. But the best reward of all was after we climbed back in the car at the end of our errands. "Thank you for my book, Granberry. I really love it." Wow! Special moments don't come much better than that.

Oh yeah. At his house he carries my Field Guide to Birds outside when we go out, so for his birthday I DID give him the simple photo book of bird pictures (titled "Warren's Field Guide to Birds") that was the original seed for the whole project. Little seeds to big turnips. It was all good. I'm just glad I got the whole turnip to market.

And now you know the whole story of what I've been up to!

Perfect Sunday Afternoon

October is the one month you can really relish a perfect afternoon. Today, the air is cool, the sun is bright, the sky is blue. As the sun sets the hillside glows like it only can in October.

Today as I sit on the deck I feel good about the completion of a job--the yard is freshly mowed. I wear my Ronde Barber football jersey. It is just the right weight and coverage for the temperature. In Florida it was too hot to wear it.

I sit and read a book in the late afternoon sun with an amply fortified screwdriver (that's beverage, not tool).

There is only one problem that crosses my mind.

When I moved here my goal was to read the unread books on my shelves and remove them one by one. The goal was to have only a few boxes of books to take with me the next time me moved. But the local used book store, Barnes and Noble, and my book club are conspiring to introduce me to enough really good books that I want to keep them.

Today I am reading one of them. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society has me laughing out loud, loving the characters, and marveling at what people go through in times of war.

I live in a place where the proximity of war is unknown. I am grateful.

My shelves will have one more book to protect.

And I have one more perfect Sunday afternoon to remember.