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Meet another of my fellow authors Jude Wiesner. Jude what inspired you to write your current short story in Romancing the Lakes of Minnesota Winter? Jude's response: My story was inspired by memories of my miss-spent youth when every year I went to a winter weekend retreat along the St. Croix River. The lodge had a big stone fire place where we sat and told stories, ate popcorn, watched movies, and flirted. The highlight of every weekend was the crazy winding road that we shot down on sleds and toboggans to shoot over the ice slabs. The night runs were the best and a little romance always blossomed on those hills.

Meet my co-author Rose Marie Meuwissen

1. Who are your favorite authors? Johanna Lindsey and Gina Robinson 2. What’s your favorite book of all time? Captive Bride by Johanna Lindsey 3. If you could be any fictional character, who would it be and why? Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone movie. 4. Where is your favorite place to write? Just about anywhere that is quiet 5. What’s your favorite Minnesota winter activity? Sitting by a fire watching it snow. 6. What’s the best thing about living in Minnesota? All the lakes, over 10,000 at least 7. If you could visit any warm weather destination in the winter to escape the snow, where would it be and why? I have made it a habit to escape to Cancun, Mexico for a couple weeks in January. 8. If you could pick anyone to play your characters in the movie adaptation of your story, who would play your characters? Scarlett Johansson and Christian Bale 9. What are you working on now? My Spring Anthology story that has a Scandinavian theme. 10. What literary character do you most resemble? 11. If you could choose one current author to mentor you, who would it be and why? Sylvia Day. She set out to write books that would make the US Bestseller list and she did it. Making 6 figures came along with it. 12. What’s your favorite Minnesota lake? Prior Lake 13. Favorite beverage to sip in front of a fire? Godiva Hot Chocolate 14. Why do you write romance? I have to have the happy ending! 15. What’s your favorite season? Summer 16. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen anyone do in winter? My friend did the Polar Plunge on Lac Lavon Lake in February one year. 17. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in winter? I drove from Minneapolis to Hayward, WI with my two daughters and ended up in a blizzard white out! Sound familiar? 18. How many winter coats/jackets do you own? At least 30!! I need to have one in each color and in each length. 19. What’s the most challenging part of living in Minnesota in winter? Driving. 20. What’s your favorite Minnesota winter memory? Going to see the Ice Castle that was built for the Winter Carnival 1992.

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I can’t believe its Labor Day. Amazing! Between vacations, photography trips UP North and college visits, I have put enough miles on my car to have three oil changes this summer. Can you believe it? I sure can’t. No pun intended it’s been quite a ride.

I am still working my way through photos from all my summer time adventures and with the hot steaming weather it is a perfect time to do so. Two of the photos I came across are both from the Grand Tetons National Park. Out of the five national parks, I have to say this was by far my most favorite. Don’t get me wrong each and every one of the parks we visited were gorgeous, but there was just something about the Tetons.

This photo was taken at Oxbow Bend at sunset in the Tetons. We went there to view wildlife, the only thing we found besides this gorgeous sunset was mosquitoes. Up until this point I thought Minnesota had the corner on mosquitoes, oh was I wrong! There were so many squadrons flying around our heads we retreated to the car to watch out the windows. While I was in the car I set my camera, connected it to the tripod, then when I thought the color was just about right I bolted from the vehicle, quickly taking my spot. I was only able to capture a few images before I found myself racing back to the car in search of refuge. We stayed at Oxbow until the sun went down completely, I think we did this mostly out of fear because we were camping this night and we were both afraid to make the break from the car to the tent.

This was one of the few nights we camped while on our adventure and this night was our 25^th wedding anniversary. I had chatted with the gate attendant, in order to find a campsite on the lake. Unfortunately there are no campsites directly on the lake but he did open a loop for us and put us at a site that was directly across from the lake. It was a spectacular to wake up, walk about 100 feet, sit on a log and enjoy our morning coffee looking out over Jackson Lake at the base of the Tetons. So peaceful and majestic, I almost didn’t want to press on with the rest of our adventure. But check out time was upon us and we were both looking forward to see what was beyond the bend.

                My son will be a senior this year! I can’t believe that it is time for my youngest boy child to leave the nest. It seems like just yesterday that he was born, I know that is so clique, but well, it’s true. With him entering his senior year, not only do I get to take his senior class pictures, I get to tour College campuses with him.

                Our search for him to find the perfect home for the next four years of his life has allowed us to spend quite a few hours in the car together road tripping.  I’m an adventurer at heart so this is right up my alley of top ten things to do. This adventurer also loves to sing along to the radio or play an air instrument if I don’t know the words. All this has brought several strange looks from my son and a staunch refusal to join my band. I am sure he thinks I have totally lost my mind at this point and is ready to put me in a home for the mentally unstable. But I digress.

                So far we have toured three colleges and we have two left to go. I have tried to make a point of finding fun things to do in each location, so that he not only has a feel for the college he might attend but for the surrounding area. I think it’s important to know what the area is like before you move there, I mean what good is it if you move to an area you hate. Exploring the world around you should be part of the college experience.

                We have bowled, gone to the movies, zip-lined and took a ride on an alpine coaster, enjoyed meals at some out of the way restaurants and seen some interesting sights. But the most fun to me is watching my son have a good time and seeing the light in his eyes brighten as he sees a world with endless possibilities.

Will it be work? Yes.

Will there be struggles? Yes.

But there will also be lots of fun an adventure as you start to truly explore your world as an adult, meeting new people, seeing new sites and trying new activities.  Yes!

I am very excited and happy for my son as well as all the upcoming 2016 graduates. You all have a bright future in store for you no matter what path you decide to follow. For some of you it might mean college, others it could mean technical school or the military. Others of you may already have jobs or plan on backpacking Europe or something. There are endless possibilities for your path and your future, and whatever path you decide to follow make it an adventure!

The Dogs perspective July 29th 2015

The Dogs perspective July 29^th 2015

My perspective:

                Two days earlier…Ouch! Son-of –a–bucket that hurt! You bit me! Stupid hornet. Die! I stomp you to death! My knee is swelling up. It burns. Ouch. Ice, Benadryl, ibuprofen…red, puffy, swollen, achy, knee for a day and a half all because of one hornet sting in the garage.

Today…

The Dogs Perspective:

                BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!

My perspective:

                Storm, knock it off! We’ll go out as soon as I get the groceries put away.

The Dogs Perspective:

                BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!

                Translation: Stupid human! Don’t you get it? HELP! I’m in trouble here. There’s a squadron of yellow and black stingy things attacking me! Help! Help me please! NOW!!

My perspective:

                Storm, knock it off! Just a minute baby.

The Dogs Perspective:

                BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!

                Translation: Now mommy, now! Please help me. They’re hurting me. If dogs could cry I would be bawling my head off. Help me mommy, help me….please…

My perspective:

                What is it baby? Oh, my goodness! Come here baby, let’s get you out of there. I can’t believe it there’s a hornet’s nest in your doggie door. Poor baby. Come here honey dog. I don’t see any parts of you that are swelling.

                Calling the vet…”Yes, I am not sure if she was stung or not there was just a swarm following her.”

                Veterinary technician replies, “Just give her some Benadryl and watch her tongue and lips for swelling.”

                I look at Storm, saying, “Poor baby, Mommy’s sorry she didn’t come sooner. I’ll make them pay.” I add as I go to the shop to get the hornet spray.

The Dogs Perspective:

                “You’d better be sorry. I was being eaten alive out there and you were yelling at me to be quiet. I know I bark at everything but this time it was really serious. I promise I won’t bark again until it’s important or until a leaf blows by, or there is a squirrel…Thanks for the little pieces of chicken by the way. They were good, but a little crunchier than usual are you sure they were just chicken?

                

The Dogs Perspective July 18, 2015

July 18, 2015 The Dogs Perspective

My Perspective:

                Ahhh…Saturday morning, the family is all home we are sitting around enjoying our coffee and talking about our plans for the day. A nice quiet family morning the way Saturdays should be. Besides it’s already hot and humid and no one is excited to head outside for the day. Amongst the chatter however I hear a strange sound. It sounds like well…a beak pecking my sliding glass door.

                Perplexed, because my deck is quite high, I look at my son and say, “Did you hear that?”

                “I did.” He responds in an equally perplexed manor.

                So, I put my coffee down, and head to the door, at the same time my husband says, “Did you see that?”

                “See what?” I ask. Now unsure if I should proceed without grabbing my camera.

                “One of the baby chickens is on the deck.” He responds with surprise.

                “We need to get them off now!” I demand, “I will not have them pooping all over my deck!”

                And with that, the four of head out to get little chickens off of our deck, dodging little piles of chicken poop along the way. You would think four grown adults would be able to wrangle six half grown chickens off the deck with no problem. I mean we are smarter, Right?

                Chickens flapping, feather flying, people laughing, dogs barking and 20 minutes later we finally are got them all off the deck.  Whose idea were chickens anyway? Don’t even get me started.

The Chickens Perspective:

                We still can’t believe it! This place is so big and we get to go anywhere we want! It’s scary out there though. Just look at those big black chickens. They sound like us, walk like us, but if we get too close they peck at us and don’t even get us started on those four legged, furry black things. Then there are they giant funny looking things they have neither feathers or fur, they bring us good things to eat, but they steal the eggs that our older friends lay. We are curious about them, but we don’t think we like them either.

                We are a collective, we go everywhere together and we like to explore. Each day we are getting a little farther from our home, but we always make sure it is in site and within an easy run if we need to get there in a hurry. The old ladies we live with like to go under the big flat coop in the sky. We think we will go and see what is up there. It’s got to be good, it’s so big. There is only one problem, we have to go past the big furry things. They always make a funny sounds at us, but maybe if we are very very quiet they won’t even know we are there.

***

                Wow! Look at the view! There is so much to see from up here. Nothing to eat or drink but the view. Amazing. We better leave a trail so we can find our way back. So everybody poop a little. I wonder what this big shiny thing is. It makes funny sounds when I hit it with my beak. I’m gonna do that again. That is so cool. Wait a minute. The funny looking giants are in there. They are coming this way. Run! Hide! They’re coming. They’re making funny noises. Flapping their big arms, they’re chasing us, right at the big black furry things and they’re making their funny clucking noises now. Run! Hide! Scatter! Stay together! We don’t know what to do! Poop! When in doubt poop!

The Dogs Perspective:

                Bark, bark, whine, whine, run back and forth. Don’t you people get it?  Let us out! We can help. This game looks like so much fun. We want to play chase the chickens too. We are bird dogs after all. Please oh please!

                Let us at ‘em. Let us at ‘em. Come on please…

                We have four legs we can run faster than you bipeds.  Please oh please.

                You people never let us have any fun! We can’t wait until we are 18 and can move out. Hu-ruff- …

My Perspective:

                Just another quiet Saturday morning.. I need more coffee.

2015 is a special year to me and my husband as we are celebrating 25 years of marriage! I still can’t believe it is possible because the time has just flown by. I am pretty sure the next 25 years will go just as fast. To celebrate our many years together we decided to take a little drive, 3800 miles and five states and five national parks later we arrived back home.

                Once I arrived home I began working on pictures right away. As a photographer, that can be a daunting task considering everything can be a subject, who am I kidding everything is a subject. I am also one of those people who suffers from, “I may never be back to this spot again” and “this (insert:  scene, object, whatever, here) will never look this way again so I had better capture it now” philosophy. I will have to give my husband credit he is extremely patient with me and never seemed to tire of waiting for me while I took “just one more shot.”

I did make sure my husband was armed with his own camera for our adventure, the man has a good eye and I could tell he enjoys capturing his own moments. I finally got him to upload all his photos so I could look at his pictures.  I mean seriously, I relived the whole vacation the same day we arrived home and here he is, almost a full month later, hoarding his photos on his camera. He does that with new clothes also. He’ll get a new outfit for father’s day, birthday, etc. and it will sit in his closet for a while, me I get a new outfit and I am wearing it the next day. Oh, well I digress.

I did notice a theme in his photos though, and I have to laugh.  What is that theme you might wonder? Well, it’s me taking photos. Yep, looks like all I did on vacation was take pictures. It definitely was a big part of our trip. 

 We also spent a lot of time hiking, horseback riding, looking for wildlife and of course exploring. This trip will go down in my memory as one of my favorites as it was something we have been talking about since we were married.

We have taken a few tropical vacations and I have loved them very much, however there is just something to be said about the beauty and wonder that is offered in the United States and within driving distance. I am astonished to think how it must have been for the early settlers to cross our nation. It is so vast and just plain big. They must have wondered if they would ever make it to their desired destinations. I think about how slowly they would have traveled and how that compares to us driving 80 through the Great Plains. I am already planning our next adventure to visit other states that we haven’t seen and I think a great goal will be to see all of our beautiful states by time we hit our 50^th wedding anniversary. So keep your bag packed and tires on the car honey, we have a lot more driving to do.

To View more photos visit: www.fotonicimages.com

So my husband wants chickens. After over twenty years of toiling over my organic garden, buying products from local farmers or from other quality sources, and while my husband has supported me in all this, I am not sure he had truly bought into my “Let’s be healthier, let’s know where our food comes from lifestyle.” That is until he said, “Let’s get our own chickens. It will be great, they will give us fresh eggs, and they will keep all the bugs out of the garden and yard. You’ll see.”

With some hesitation and several questions like, “What will I have to do? I’m not cleaning up after them! And “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I agreed and the process of choosing our little flock began.  The process started at the local library. I think I checked out every chicken book they had. Google even gave us some advice. We specifically looked for chickens that would be good for beginners. We decided on Black Australorps.

Decision made I contacted the local co-op to see about ordering chickens. “Of course we can order chickens for you, however if you order a specialty breed you need to order a batch of twenty-five.” The nice lady on the phone says.

“Twenty-five,” I blurt thinking what on earth we will do with twenty-five chickens. That’s about twenty-five eggs a day! “I’ll have to call you back.” quickly hanging up the phone.

I punch in my husbands speed dial, “Do you know we can only get this kind of chick in batches of twenty-five?” in my best ‘what are you thinking man?’ tone.

“Twenty-five!” he responds and I can hear him thinking, what the heck are we going to do with twenty-five chickens. “Well, we will have to come up with a new plan.”

“I agree,” relieved that I just dodged twenty-five chicken sized bullets.

He promptly followed it up with, “We’ll just have to find another place to order them from.”

Oh, yippee was all I could think to myself….

Of course you know this story will be continued J

The Dog’s Perspective: July 10th 2015

The Dog’s Perspective: July 10th 2015 

Hello, my name is Indy and I am in charge of this week’s Dog’s Perspective. I am in charge because my humans brought me home on the Fourth of July ten years ago and named me Independence. Since this is our country’s birthday month, and my name is Independence my mommy thought well, it was appropriate. They do that a lot, give their furry children names associated with events around the day we are brought into the pack. Take my sister Storm for example, she was adopted during a blizzard, if you can believe that. If only my humans knew how fitting her name would be they might have picked something else like, sparkles, peace or school’s cancelled. But no, they named her Storm and she has been living up to her name ever since.

Let me tell you about our annual pilgrimage out to the lake for the Fourth of July so you can understand what I mean. It started the moment Mommy backed the car out of the garage and Daddy put in the doggie gate in. Yes, my parents keep us in the back, they get the cushy seats and we have to sit on the hard plastic liner in the far back. I suppose I should be happy we get air conditioning, but they don’t understand Storm always crosses the line and touches me. I mean seriously, does this dog not understand that everyone gets a space in the car. There is no touching or crossing the line, just look out the window and enjoy the ride. Oh, sorry, I need to get back to the story.

Storm, now realizing we get to go too, starts bouncing. I mean this dog is vibrating in place, jumping and getting into Mommy and Daddy’s way while they are loading up the car. Me, I just grab my ball and lay on the porch and wait until they tell me it’s time to go, but not Storm. She’s jumping into the car, on the seats which makes Mommy yell, she tripped Daddy while he was carrying a big box of food and he almost fell because he couldn’t see her. Does she not realize that we can get going faster if she stays out of the way? She’s two now you would think she knows better.

***

After what seems like hours we finally get to the lake. I am so ready to be out of the car and into the water. The cool water feels so good on my old bones. I can’t wait to just chill on shore. I jump out of the car and start heading towards the lake when BAM! I’m hit from behind, it’s Storm. She is so excited to be out of the car she is running circles around me and trying to get me to play with her. I just want to cool off and sit in the lake. Mommy and Daddy are busy unloading the car so they don’t even see how she is behaving and I just know if I reprimand her, I’m gonna be the one who gets yelled at not her. Life is so unfair sometimes. Maybe just one little growl and a few bared teeth will settle her down…I’d better not, they are sure to hear, besides they will be down soon enough to throw the ball for a while. That will surely wear her out.

 *** 

The ball is not wearing her out! It sure is wearing me out though. But I must not show weakness, I must keep going. So, I yell, “Bark, bark, bark, bark.” Translation, “throw me the ball.” Stupid humans just yell at me, “NO BARKING!” But they throw the ball anyway. I know who’s really in charge here.

 This goes on for three days. I love the lake. Our boy sleeps with us out on the porch, all the little kids come and they don’t know how to hang on to their food, so we eat like humans. I love the things they call hot dogs, though I am really glad they aren’t covered in fur. Humans, how do they think of these names? The only downside to the Fourth of July is the loud sparkly things that fly in the air. Storm doesn’t seem to notice them but I hate them. They really scare me. My parents pet me and tell me its ok, but it really doesn’t help. I will be sad to go home, but I know we will be able to come back in a couple of weeks, it’s going to take me that long to recover from this trip. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

2015 June North Shore trip Day 3

2015 June North Shore Trip Day 3

On the third day of our glorious adventure up North, we did not get up early enough for sunrise. We were up in Grand Marais the night before which put us three hours away from home, then we stayed up late waiting in hopes of seeing Northern Lights. No such luck this trip. But the weather was great and we were ready to hit the trail, waterfalls and wild flowers look out we are on our way!

We headed back up the coast from Duluth towards Two Harbors, spending a great deal of time in Tettegouche State Park, I was fortunate enough to catch a rainbow at the waterfall there. It was a nice hike to get to the falls and there were a lot of people enjoying the sunshine, some were even brave enough to wade in the river. Water was a little too cold for me.

From Tettegouche we headed to Temperance River State park, where I donated a filter to the river. I have to say I like the effect and versatility my new VU Filter system offers, but I am not fond of the holder itself. The holder is supposed to allow up to three square filters and one circular filter that screws into the holder itself. There are three channels that hold each filter in and there are four little screws that tighten or loosen so that you can easily slide the filters in or out or position to meet the sky line when using a graduated filter.  The filter that I lost was my 100x150 graduated 3 stop Neutral Density Soft edge filter. It slid right out of the bottom of the filter holder, crashing on several rock ledges and eventually landing in the river a hundred feet or so below us. The sound it made echoing in the canon was amazing to say the least. My bargain trip just became expensive.

After leaving Temperance we went in search of a good place to catch the sunset. Unfortunately the sky became overcast and the sun dipped down fast, so we ended our days adventure at Grandma’s in Duluth. I enjoyed their wild rice soup and their raspberry salad, though I would recommend putting some actual raspberries in the salad versus just raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Back to the cabin, because tomorrow we are going to be up for sunrise.

To view more photos from this trip please visit:http://fotonicimagesllc.zenfolio.com/p2537120

Links to products I used for this adventure:

 

2015 June North Shore trip Day 2

After a long day of driving and photography, we drove to my father-in-laws cabin, which would be our home base for the next couple of nights. We arrived late after waiting for sunset in Ashland, WI. The sunset was pretty, but not the spectacular spectacle of light we were hoping for.

While we were up early, we took time for coffee, drying out the tent and a little conversation with our lovely hosts. We planned our day’s adventure and decided we would hunt for lady slippers and waterfalls. It was a glorious morning on the screen porch listening to the birds chirp, soaking up the warmth of the sun and looking over the gardens.

Upon leaving the cabin our first stop was the Superior lighthouse and then up the Scenic Drive towards Two Harbors landing us in Grand Marais for sunset and a wonderful meal at My Sister’s Place. At My Sister’s Place, we had absolutely great service and they offered Gluten Free selections which I was thrilled with. My friend Kim enjoyed one of their microbrews, which she stated was one of the best beers she’d ever had. This will definitely be a return spot and I can’t wait to take my husband.

 We did a lot of hiking that day and we managed to find a waterfall or two and some pink lady slippers that were on their last leg. But I have to say the highlight of this trip was making it to Grand Marais.

June 2015 My Journey to The North Shore

The flowers of the North Shore maybe short lived but they offer a spectacular display of beauty while they are in bloom. This past week I had the pleasure of visiting the shores of Lake Superior in the quest to find some of these beautiful gems along with some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. While I never found the elusive "Showy" Lady Slipper I did manage to find some nice pink ones, though they were at the end of their life cycle.

Another beautiful flower that I found was the western columbine and these cute little orange flowers known as Hieracium or hawkweeds.  These little orange flowers were everywhere and were often covered in these cute little orange months.

Our trip started out with a visit to Madeline Island, we had hopes of capturing a nice sunset and sunrise, though all we managed to get was wet. Yep, it rained before out visit and during the night. We still managed to drive the whole island, explore La Pointe and have a nice dinner at the Pub at the Inn.

In the morning we packed up the wet tent while enjoying our coffee. I payed extra for the electric set up so that I could use my electric tea pot instead of the camp stove and headed to the ferry. Of course we had to stop and take a few photos on the way out. The ferry ride is a short jaunt, about 20-25 minutes, and before we knew it we were back in Bayfield, WI. We enjoyed a quick breakfast and Gruenke’s. Gruenke’s is a cute little restaurant that is filled with nostalgia and quirky memorabilia, giving a diner lots to look at while you wait for your food.

After breakfast we headed up the coast towards Ashland, WI. This trip took us all day because we took many side roads to explore the country. We also enjoyed a nice hike up to Houghton Falls, which unfortunately had dried up, but if you are a fan of hobbits and elves this is surely where they live. Most importantly though we stopped to photograph Lupines. Lupines bloom over a two month period and come in a variety of colors, though we seemed to find them mostly in blue and pink. Some were so tall that a person could easily get lost in a field of them. They were truly a delight.

Arriving in Ashland we, dined at the Deep Water Grill, where I enjoyed melt in your mouth beef medallions and picked up a growler of Nut Brown Ale for my husband. The North Shore has quite a few microbreweries and while I myself am not a beer drinker I find that my husband likes the variety of microbrews that are offered on the Shores of Lake Superior, besides when they are empty I smile at him and say, “awe shucks, they’re empty, I had better go refill them for you.” He laughs because he knows I am ready to grab my camera and head Up North on a moments notice.

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