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Whew. That was wild with the Weekend Three-Word Story! I pulled the whole family in to draw numbers. Saturday! For the PAX t-shirt: comment #69–Cheryl S! Five winners of an autographed backlist book: #25 (Carol), #207 (Elizabeth), #30 (Amber), #84 (Juanita), #150 (Teresa H). For Sunday! For the PAX tote bag: comment #312 –Robyn! Five winners of an autographed backlist book: #362 (KimW), #307 (Shari), #300 (Estella), #316 (Wanda), #404 (Marcy). (Winners: email me with addresses and backlist picks!) A special contest for today below….but first…..
As mentioned before, for those of you with your own blogs, if you read The Beast Within and I catch you talking about it on your blog, I’ll highlight your blog here and send you your pick from my backlist! Today: two catches! Lynn, who has a blog called A Jolt of Reality! “If you’ve been thinking about picking this one up, I highly recommend it. The interaction between the hero and heroine is heart-wrenching because of their history, and I found myself begging them out loud (yes, it did get me some strange looks) to find a way to deal with their inner conflicts and reunite.” Read Lynn’s entire discussion of The Beast Within here. (And Lynn–email me with your pick from my backlist!)
And! From the blog of Margery Scott: “If you’re a fan of paranormal romance, this book has it all. And even if you aren’t (I don’t usually read paranormals), if you’re in the mood for a hunky hero/werewolf, a strong heroine, action, suspense, and tons of sexual tension, walk, don’t run, to your nearest bookseller. You won’t be disappointed.” Read Margery’s entire discussion of The Beast Within here. (Margery, email me!)
Happy Fourth of July, for those of you who celebrate it! I’m not doing much today. We’ll have a barbeque in our backyard and we’re loaded up from the fireworks stand so our kids can have some fun tonight. Mostly, that’s how our holidays are…..pretty mundane. But things were different the year I was six. We lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It was the early 1970s.
My mother wrote this memory down and it appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last year when they invited readers to send in their most memorable Fourth of July experiences. So now, in my mother’s own words…..
Washington, D.C.
We left home around five o’clock and found a good parking place at Vermont and K Streets, about a 20-minute walk from the Washington Monument where there was going to be a Bob Hope show before the fireworks. According to later reports, the crowd eventually grew to over 400,000 that night, but when we arrived there were still people sitting on the grounds, picnicking, and we were able to get a spot right up front just behind the fenced-off area for special attendees. The girls had seen Bob Hope on TV and were very excited to see him in real life.
Just as the show started, there was a huge uproar from the back of the crowd. We couldn’t see what was happening, but we did see police beginning to work their way through the crowd in increasing numbers. We could hear fireworks going off, but it wasn’t time yet for the National fireworks display. There was a lot of yelling, and then we could see cherry bombs dropping in the crowd behind us. People began pressing forward and there was no way for us to get out. Bob Hope and the other entertainers continued the show and nearby police assured us that we would be fine and that it was just some anti-Vietnam war protesters.
Then we heard people screaming and were told the protesters had thrown tear gas into the crowd. A moment later, it reached us. At first, we couldn’t move, then it was as if the entire crowd ran at once. Some people fell and couldn’t get up–people were just jumping over them. It was so hard to keep going and not stop to help, but we had two screaming little girls in our arms with their skin on fire, so we kept running. I wondered how we’d find each other, but amazingly we ended up on the same street where picnickers were passing out ice from their coolers to try to help. They only gave us two pieces and we rubbed the girls’ faces with them then let them put them in their mouths even as we wished we could have them for ourselves, and then our frightened children only wanted to go home. It was a July Fourth we would never forget.
Now for today’s giveaway……… I don’t consider myself a really patriotic person (I don’t fly a flag outside our house or anything) but I love living in the United States where there is a fast food restaurant and a bookstore on every corner. We moved to North Carolina last year (from Texas) and what I love about North Carolina are the lush trees and (mostly) mild weather and the beautiful Outer Banks beaches. I’m so happy to live here.
Leave me a comment today and one name will be drawn to receive their PICK of the PAX gear (one item: either the t-shirt, the mug, or the tote bag–Winner’s Choice!).
Where do you live and what do you love about it?
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on July 4, 2005
7:24
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Happy Fourth! :bananadance:
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8:22
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I lived for about 15 years in Manitoba and though it was sometimes bitterly cold, on a clear, sunny day -30 could be downright exhilerating. On a bad day…well, let’s just say that I was glad to make it home after walking more than 2 miles with the last quarter mile straight into the north wind.
Ontario can be pretty cold too but you mostly have humid days. Ontario has a much more varied scenery than Manitoba–Niagara Falls, Agawa Canyon, lakes and lakes and more lakes. Some of the oldest rocks in the world. Beautiful provincial parks and farmland. It has almost everything imaginable. And it’s big enough to fit in at least 50 or so other small countries.
Have a Happy July 4th, y’all!
8:46
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Hope you have a wonderful fourth of July!!:hyper:
9:14
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9:17
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I live in Missouri. Hot humid summers. I love it here, most of our family is here, but we do plan on retiring some place warm and sunny. But that’s sure a lot of years off…
9:19
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Oregon is one of the prettiest places in the world. We have the ocean, lush forests and hight desert—-now tell me, whats not to love.
9:24
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That was a scary Fourth of July! Things like that shouldn’t happen!
I love living in Pittsburgh. We have great fireworks every Fourth of July and after some Pirate games. We have great sport teams, a very nice cultural center and three rivers where we can enjoy many activities. There is always something to do here! We are also a big medical center. It’s a great place to live.
9:26
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The state in which I live is also NC. We live in the middle of the state, which is the perfect location for visiting the breath-taking mountains and delightful beaches. Our state definitely has much natural variety, and gives us many choices of places to see and explore.
9:37
am
I live in central London and I love it! I walk to work through St James Park, I get to admire the gaslights, the ducks, wave to the Queen and look at nice men in uniform. I also can do my “Tourist Run”, this is a run from my flat past the Houses of Parliament, past Westminster Abbey, up Whitehall, past Downing Street, through Horse Guards, up the Mall, round Green Park, past the Palace, past Wellington Barracks and then the last bit home. This is better done in winter when less people but takes about an hour (and it’s healthy too!)
I can walk into a local restaurant and not have to book because I go there so often. I get a panatone at Christmas from my local Italian restaurant.
I’ll give you the tour when you come over (but I won’t make you run it!)
9:48
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9:52
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Now I’m in Winnipeg and the bugs are a pain and the weather has been terrible.
So what do I love about it… my house, which is big and spacious, relaxed yet elegant!! All the things I’m not LOL!!!:shock::lol:
9:54
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9:58
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There’s going to be a large crowd here in my downtown neighborhood to watch fireworks, but I’m planning to watch from afar! I’m 4’11 and fear getting trampled in large crowds if an incident were to break out. Nobody ever sees me.
10:02
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I’m from Canada and consider myself fortunate to be living here.
Happy 4th of July to everyone.:wave:
10:10
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Secondly, thank you for sharing your mom’s story. That was fascinating. Frightening, but fascinating.
Lastly… I live in New Jersey and what I love is the diverse mix of people that live here. A true melting pot. A daily reminder that people from all over move here to enjoy America’s ‘freedom’.
10:17
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The people are what makes it home. Everyone from business men in suits and ties to old hippies commune to make a diverse and interesting community. I am proud to live in a community where men can walk down the street holding hands and music flows from every street corner. People in my community pick up lost mittens and hang them on parking meters just so you will see it when you come back to find it.
I never lock my doors and have been known to leave my purse on the seat of my car, with the windows down, while running into a local coffee shop.
It’s a nice place to live. I just wish we had California weather to go with it!
I posted the view from my window on my blog.
Happy forth and happy first to all you Americans and Canadians!
10:27
am
When our first monster came along, it was time to move back home. So here we are back in MO and it is just as lovely as we remember. It’s like living in the country, even when we’re really near a fairly large city now. Best of all, our entire family (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins) mostly live within 1 1/2 hours of us!! We have some great family get-togethers. :fryingpan:
10:28
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10:33
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We are so proud of our veterans and the pride they take in themselves. Most are well up in the years, but to see them wearing their uniforms and waving their flags, still brings tears to my eyes. We are free nation, thanks to them.
10:41
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I near Tahoe and every day think I’m the luckiest person on the planet.
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11:24
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I live in Kansas, and while I don’t love the state, I do love our funky little college town where there’s a wide range of things to do and loads of quirky people to watch. :hyper:
Happy Fourth!
11:37
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Have a wonderful 4th of July.
11:38
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I live in Utah, and I love so many things about it. I love the mountains and the Great Salt Lake.
I also love the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, Utah. It’s always so professionally done.
Alyssa
11:43
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I live in Crystal Lake where there are two lakes that are so beautiful. That’s what I like most about the town. I love to take long walks with my husband by the water and watch the sun set from the beach.
11:50
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You see, I really, deeply, love where I live.
This post might just end up being a long one…
ops:
I live on the edge of the Lake District in northern England. There’s so much I could say about landscape and history, people and customs, my home and my village, but let me condense it all and just describe my drive home from work.
At the start the road’s new enough, a great artery running towards the coast, dual carriageway in places. But I always glance to left and right to catch a glimpse of the old coaching road here and there.
The land is rolling, moor and forest, a thousand odd years of peat overlaid with last century’s spruce and pine. But soon the dark bulk of the mountains ahead are looming – the whale-hump of Blencathra; Skiddaw’s great broad shoulders; the knuckles of Causey Pike and Red Screes.
The road climbs, the mountains lift to meet it, and soon I’m running between oaks and ash at the very foot of Blencathra. This whale has teeth at its front, sharp, ice-cut ridges in pale grey slate, only lightened by a clump of yellow gorse or verdant bracken.
Down along the side of the valley, watching for the first close sight of Skiddaw and the ancient woodland at its feet, like a soft and indulgent foot muff.
We slip between the fells here – across the bridge, across the river, and down the hill to turn around the base of Skiddaw and follow the eastern shore of Bassenthwaite Lake.
Only we can’t see it yet. We’re in green fields and scattered trees, bounded by grey stone walls. Some were built two hundred years ago. Some five.
The lake is down to our left somewhere. I can see glimpses of the faded gold of the reed beds where the river splits and fills the valley. There were Vikings here, I know. And before them Romans. And long before them the same stone-age families who made stone axes and arrow-heads by the thousand not many miles away.
They saw the same stone, the same mountain, the same lake. Different, but the same.
Now – there! There’s the Lake, still and blue beneath the cloudless sky, with fields of brightest green running gleefully down to its wavering shore.
Keep going. One hand on the wheel, one on the gearstick, because this is the fun drive, now. The sweep of corners and sudden dips. Slow for the hamlet with the silent church, slow for the old packhorse bridge over the stream. Then fast again, past Castle Inn, onto the long, straight road that the Romans marched on.
Nearly home. The fields are larger, the mountains are behind us. Another road takes us down the last hill till the Solway Plain opens up before us – a view to take the words from my fingers. Flat farmlands, quiet villages, the sea… and beyond it Scotland.
Look! That cluster of white houses over there, sheltered against the rise? That’s where I live. Take the last road, careful for the man and his daughter walking their greyhound.
Crawl through the village – the children play on the green outside the school, and the bridge is narrow and blind – past the Grey Goat pub and the rows of narrow Victorian cottages.
Up the hill under the giant Sycamore.
Over the hill and there’s a glimpse of the white-painted stone bulk of my house, a splash of orange where the rose overshadows the door, a shadow of blue where the seat hides behind the flowers in the front garden. There’s peace here, and contentment.
And, more often than not, a sleek black cat leaping up on the wall to welcome you home.
11:53
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12:28
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12:37
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Now, idealism and world vision clashes with thankfulness and selfish focus. On a day like today it’s so easy to ignore all the social ills, but tomorrow the knowledge returns.
I live in Nebraska now, where summer means heat and baseball(college world series and triple A ball). We live the Norman Rockwell slice of life here, and I love waking to nature’s July 4th fireworks, then hanging with my kids and setting off fireworks with my husband’s entire family later. BBQ obligatory of course!
12:38
pm
I live in Oklahoma, and I love it because no matter where else I’ve traveled, this is where I belong. I was born here, raised here, and I have roots.
The pace is decidedly slower than other states. There are highways you can drive for miles and admire the trees. The people are friendly (for the most part). heh
When bad things happen, our people pull together and help one another. And it makes me proud.
Grins*
12:42
pm
I live in a small town in northeast Arkansas and right at the moment I can’t think of much I like about it. :rolleyes: Well, okay, it is pretty and green in the spring and the leaves are gorgeous in the fal. There.
Now, how many of us are going to descend on Biddy and see London? Then it’s on to Anna’s to see the Lake District!
2:22
pm
I live in the 4th largest town in SD (LOL our pop. is only about 15,000) But it’s a friendly town, with a university, a lake, a river, a Cabelas (lol) and the Corn Palace, among other things. The main thing I love about this place is this is where my SO lives,:love: and me too for the past 4 1/2 years now. Another thing I like is that we don’t have NEAR the extreme tornado weather as we did in the TX panhandle!!! Compared to there, up here it’s nothing.
I hope everyone has a wonderful July 4th!
2:30
pm
Anna and Biddy, brace yourselves for the American invasion!
I live in Colorado, at the base of the Rocky Mountains. It’s usually neither too hot nor too cold, much to the surprise of people who only know us for skiing. I can’t imagine living anyplace else, as nice as other places have been, this is where I want to live. However, it would be nice if all the Texans and Californians stopped moving here. Go away, people crowding up my beautiful state-it sucks here… really, it does!
2:42
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2:48
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Next year, it’s back to California.
I cannot think of anything I like about Phoenix, so I won’t say anything about it at all. Las Vegas was ok, and I loved Los Angeles because of the beach and so many things to do.
My favorite memory of the 4th of July is when I was small. We always had homemade ice cream, made with a crank type machine; lots of family over, sparklers to play with, and a trip to see the fireworks that night. Aren’t traditions wonderful? Have a great 4th! :grin:
4:03
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4:47
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I live in southern Florida. I love the warm temps, year round flowers, walking on beautiful sand beaches, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets and meetig people from all over the world. No more SNOW OR FREEZING TEMPS for me…I grew up in Wisconsin.
5:50
pm
I live in Nebraska, have all my life. Our motto is “Nebraska – the Good Life” and that’s true (for the most part). I grew up in the western end of the state (a few miles away from Wyoming) and the best part about living there was the ability to watch the storms roll in on the plains. I still like to go to my Dad’s house (it sits right in the middle of the prairie) on a cool summer evening and watch the clouds. I live in the eastern part of Nebraska now, in the city, surrounded by houses and trees. I love living here because of the vitality of the city, the things to do, and the wonderful mid-western attitude.
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10:23
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Anna – I love the description of your ride home. I can see it all through your eyes.
I live in SW lower Michigan between Kalamazoo and Lake Michigan. *waving at Elizabeth* I live in a small town with friendly people, but I didn’t end up here because of them…it was the house that grabbed me first. Two-story brick Victorian with hardwood floors and 11′ ceilings. The town was a bonus.
Hugs,
Marcy
11:28
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12:02
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I live just outside of Edmonton, Canada. Why do I love it here. Well we do have the world’s biggest mall just twenty minutes away: West Edmonton Mall. When there actually is an NHL season we have our beloved Edmonton Oilers…we have a lot of trees and beautiful scenery (the mountains) is just a short drive away. Not too mention we have a lot of cool summer festivals. The only downside is the cold cold cold and long winter
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12:35
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1)the Dairy Queen
2)the public library
In the summer,I like to read and eat ice cream!!!!:smile::smile:
12:59
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But before I go, I had to mention what a horrifying memory that must be.