Marilyn's Musings

Besides being big news--the fires in California touched me in several ways. Here in Springville we had our own fire. At the time we had no idea that so many other fires would follow. The smoke got so bad that hubby and I sent to Porterville to stay with friends for three days. The kids remained at our house determined to battle the fire if necessary, mainly because we had so many animals that would be impossible to move. It was scary, but we were so fortunate compared to those living in the way of the fires to come. Though the fire came close what saved us was the fact that we didn't have the horrible winds that fanned the flames in other areas wiping out whole neighborhoods. Ventura is a place close to my heart. We go there at least once a year, and the fire burned down so many homes. The fire began in Santa Paula and burned down a KOA we'd visited last summer. It surrounded the town of Ojai where an old friend of mine lives, and burned into t...

There may be a real town somewhere called Bear Creek--and I'm sure there is--but the one I'm writing about though based on the town where I live, is not an actual place. My Bear Creek, the mountain community where Deputy Tempe Crabtree lives and works, is located in the Southern Sierra at about the altitude of 2000 feet. The town itself is on both side so the highway that leads into the mountains with the river it is named after running through. Though the town itself only has an Inn which years ago was a stage coach stop, it doesn't have much else in the way of eateries. There's the Cafe' which is the best place to get a great hamburger. Only one grocery store with a gas station is the only place to gas up and get supplies. Of course there's a post office, though not much has been said about it. One of the most important places is the fire station. There is a paid Fire Captain but everyone else is a volunteer. Volunteers are only paid when they actually...

My sis, Margie, is five years younger than I am. While we were growing up, she was more of a pest than a friend. She was messy, I was not. (I'm messier now than she is.) We shared a room at times, so the messiness was a problem. She liked to search for my diary and read it--sometimes spilling the beans to people I had crushes on. As time went on, the age difference didn't matter much. We both got married young and began having children right away. I had two kids and thought I was through. Then sis got pregnant, and a couple of months later so did I. A few years later same thing happened. And again. She never told me, I didn't do it on purpose. In fact I never planned to have five children. She stopped giving birth at 3--but adopted a wonderful baby girl who is all grown up and has two children of her own. We didn't live near one another until after we moved to Springville (where we live now) and she moved here too as did her children. We had a great time doing things t...

I'll begin with the Etc. After I finally was able to print out the writing job I'd been paid for (Word was giving me a hard time with page numbers--it was like a gremlin was at work busily changing numbers like crazy) and getting it ready for mailing, I headed down to Porterville to take care of some business. I was so frustrated I needed to get away from my computer for awhile. (I have three more writing jobs pending plus a ghost writing gig that may or may not come through. I need to get started on a new Rocky Bluff P.D. book. I do have ideas racing around in my head.) Today I'm headed to Russo's Books on Ming in Bakersfield for a book signing from 12 to 2. As I've stated before, bookstores are my least favorite places for promotion. However, I love Russo's and lovely independent store. I try to do at least one signing there a year. I've sent out lots of email notices and a few snail mail letters. We'll see how that works out. Next weekend I'll be ...

To let you know how exciting things are in the part of California where I live, the Jackass Mail Run made the front page of the local newspaper--complete with photographs. The photo was of the posse that rode into town, guns a blazing, before the mail wagon's arrival. It they'd taken the photo just a bit lower, my booth would have been there, complete with my books and right in front of the dentist's office. Not only that, an article about the Mail Run was on the second page of the Fresno Bee--with another photo. Oh, yes, there's plenty of bad stuff that goes on, but it's refreshing to read about something so family oriented instead of robberies and murders. Well--mostly family oriented. We did have a group of dance hall "girls" strutting around town (middle-aged girls), and some belly dancers who performed in front of the pizza palace. Actually, the whole event is pretty mild compared to the "old days." Twenty plus years ago when we first moved ...