Hello, Everyone!

Thanks so much for hopping over to the Welcome Letter. Our beautiful summer weather is holding here on Cinnamon Ridge. We’ve had a perfect July, enjoying warm days with a hint of a breeze, and long, balmy evenings that entice us to sit up far too late on our deck and gaze at the night sky. This far away from the lights of a town, the heavens put on quite a show. The stars sparkle and shine like fine diamonds scattered over black velvet, and appear to dance around the full moon when it makes its monthly appearance. What a setting for a writer!

I spent several days in Denver at the RomCon convention in early July. This is their inaugural year, and if the enthusiastic response from everyone I met is anything to go by, it will be the first of many more RomCon conferences. The organizers did a fantastic job. Every author I spoke with enjoyed the chance to meet with readers in a warm, relaxed, friendly setting. Readers were delighted to find that, at this conference, their favorite authors were very accessible. Workshops were well attended, and most had a terrific give-and-take between authors and readers. Wonderful contacts were made, firm friendships formed, and readers were ecstatic about having a chance to get acquainted with their favorite authors. The conference was attended by both well-established authors and the stars of the future. Mark your calendars for next July and plan to be in Denver. I am!

I wish I had had a chance to do more sightseeing while I was in Colorado, but my schedule didn’t permit it. All my time was spent in the hotel except for a few hours on the first evening when I played hooky. My editor, Ellen, took my assistant, Julia, and me to dinner at a wonderful restaurant called The Brokerage. It is located in the historic part of town, and the setting is an underground 100-year-old converted bank vault. It was easy to close my eyes and imagine I smelled money instead of the mouth-watering culinary offerings. Before leaving the hotel, I tried to fit my camera in my evening bag and couldn’t. I wish now that I had changed purses because the restaurant entrance, a huge, steel vault door, was phenomenal, and the interior was absolutely beautiful. I would love to have pictures of The Brokerage to share with you.

Remember me telling you last month that I thought my canary, Saffron, had found true love? I think it’s mutual. His little friend visits faithfully every day, but a couple of weeks ago she scared both Saffron and me to death. I was sitting in my office working at the computer when I heard a whacking sound. I looked up just in time to see a small feathered mass careen off the window and hit the deck. She’d flown into the glass!

Saffron hit notes above High C that haven’t even been invented yet. As for me, I don’t think I’ve gotten up that fast since one of my now-grown boys yelled that the other one had put a snake in the toilet. I was convinced I would have to find a box to use as a makeshift casket and preside over a bird funeral service, but just as I burst through the door and my feet hit the deck, the little fluff ball lifted her head, blinked dazedly at me, and stood up. I slithered to a halt, hoping against hope that she was all right, and a moment later she shook her head and flew to the deck railing, where she proceeded to preen her feathers and give me dark looks that suggested she was holding me personally responsible for her undignified accident. I guess it was easier for her to blame me than to admit she’d succumbed to Saffron’s overwhelming charm! (I’ve attached a photo of Saffron)

Because of the snow and accompanying icy winter temperatures at this elevation, it’s difficult to get many different kinds of plants to grow. Finding plants that deer don’t find palatable is also a challenge for us. This is hard on Father Jim, a family friend of many years’ standing who now lives in Sisters, Oregon, with equally harsh winters, and still manages to have a backyard that looks like a postcard for an English cottage garden. (Before becoming a priest, he earned three degrees in horticulture, so I console myself with the thought that he has an unfair advantage. ) He’s tried, often, to introduce more blossoms to us on the Ridge, but I’m afraid most of his gifts quickly become gourmet treats for the forest residents or expire because of my admittedly black thumb. This year, however, I am able to point triumphantly to my peony bush, which is exploding with pale pink blooms. It has not only survived, it’s thriving. There are so many huge blossoms that it looks like a weeping shrub. I may get some more, in a variety of colors. For some reason, deer don’t seem interested in peonies. Maybe they don’t like the taste. I’ve had other plants disappear overnight! So far, my chives are still beautiful, but I’m sure this year’s crop will go out just as last year’s did, becoming salad for a gorgeous, five-point buck.

And speaking of deer, we’re crossing our fingers right now. For years we’ve put out food for the deer in the area, and many of them have become quite trusting, even bringing their babies to show us in the spring. A few days ago we were absolutely horrified to see a severely emaciated doe approaching the feeding station. She had hideous scars on both shoulders and across her throat, and she was so thin that counting her ribs from a distance would have been easy for a blind mole.

We were out of deer food, so I grabbed some oats from the pantry and approached with caution. I was afraid she might flee, but she had to be one of our babies from years past because she stayed. I put the food down and she began to gobble it, without moving away even while I gave her a fresh bucket of water. Obviously, she knew me and trusted me. I teared up as I retreated slowly toward the deck where Sid was waiting. He was sure she had been attacked by either a cougar or a bear. It had to have been something enormous to leave scars like that.

We can’t call a vet. How would we catch her? All we can do is feed her, and pray she pulls through. What happened to her? Did she have a fawn? Was she injured trying to protect it? We’ll never know. I have a fervent but unrealistic wish to be able to protect all wild creatures, but I know there is a natural balance. I just hope that this particular sweet baby makes it. I have named her Miracle Girl. We’re going to do our best to get some conditioning on her before autumn sets in so she will be able to survive the winter. I’m happy to report that she has visited five days running, doesn’t seem to have internal injuries, and her wounds appear to have healed. She is starting to gain some weight and doesn’t seem to be quite so weak. I think she has a great chance of building her strength back up and making it. You can see photos of her in the front page letter and also visit my Facebook page to see more, including some shots of tiny spotted fawns who visited just this morning.

My son John, who had surgery earlier this summer, was finally told he could get rid of his knee scooter and substitute with the use of a walking “moon boot” for a few weeks. I thought this was terrific, and that John would be able to navigate semi-normally while continuing to mend. John thought this was terrific, too, and he decided this gave him a free pass to go horseback riding, camping with his son, and running races with him. On alarmed inquiry, I learned that John’s doctor had told him that he could ride horses as long as he could get his foot, with the moon boot, into the stirrup. The moon boot won’t fit into the stirrups John has, but I suspect he plans to simply buy a bigger stirrup. On that same visit John raced his son out to his pickup, hopping on the injured leg as I gaped at him from the front porch. He ignored my shouted pleas that he desist, and he and Joshua happily jumped in the truck and took off to go camping near the Wickiup Reservoir. I’m relieved to pass along that John has, so far, been healing well despite his activity level, and that the camping trip was a great success. The moral of this story is that you can’t keep a cowboy down.

I hope all of you are having a fabulous summer, and that you’re finding lots of terrific books to read in your free time. My next new book , HERE TO STAY, will be a February, 2011 release. Please keep in touch. I love hearing from all of you.

All the best,

Catherine