It's Snowing--Again

~~I remember winters like this one. When I was little, we had snow off and on several times a winter. But it's been years since its been like this. Droughts and warm winters have been the norm for at least ten years. The last year we had a big snow was 1993 and the blizzard. Now, winter 2009-2010 will go down as a big snow year. It's snowing again today--March 2. That's four this winter.
~~This winter will go down as a cold, snowy one. All I know is, I love it. I love watching it snow. I love thinking about it in the forecast and I know many of my fellow Southerners agree--snow is fun. We're just thankful that it goes away quickly and we can get back out and into the warm again. In fact, we are expecting the temperature to rise quickly. Sunday should be above 60. I foresee sitting on the deck basking in the sun--the deck that is covered with snow at the moment. ; )

What a Weekend!

~~I've decided that this weekend is the best ever. I mean it. ; ) It started on Saturday with the mail. I received my official notice that I'm a nominee for Georgia Author of the Year. The GAYA is the oldest literary award in the Southeast and the Georgia Writers Association administers it. Go to www.georgiawriters.org for more info.
~~Sunday morning brought the Times-Georgian to my door with the article that Spencer Crawford wrote about my books and my journey in writing. He does such a great job helping members of CCWC promote their work. Here's a link to the article-- "Author uses religion as a foundation for her writing."
~~All I can say is, a few more weekends like this one would be more than I could stand--NOT! ; )

Three, Two, One

Three white balls of snow stacked up just so in the classic snowman form.

Two bounding barkers bouncing around in the flakes that nearly rise to their bellies.

One Southern Snow Storm of three and one half inches deep, lovely and white.

~~I know that it's not a lot of snow by northern standards, but it's wonderfully heavy for north Georgia. Of course, it is a strange winter with this second snowfall on Friday, February 12 and another expected late tonight and into tomorrow. Talk about a Valentine's Day Gift! ; ) Our puppies loved it. After an initial caution, they bounced and bounded so fast that we didn't get a photo of them. When you are only ten inches tall, snow of three and one half inches is a bit of a challenge. Add the snowman--the intruder in our midst--and you have a noisy, fun time.
~~John and I have never "rolled" a snowman before. All our past attempts have been the mounded variety. Either we haven't had this type of wet, heavy snow before, or we have waited until the next day when the drier air has stripped it of moisture...But this time, the snowballs rolled into the perfect sections for a lovely snowman. Add a red hat, green towel scarf, carrot nose, and two broccoli floret eyes and you have it.

~~Enjoy the photos of our latest, but not last snow. ; )

Do You Have A Website?

~~"Do you have a website?" and "Can I buy it online?" Well, as a matter of fact, I do and you can--Now. After having to answer these two questions with a negative over and over as I told people about my new book, An Easter Walk, I got the message. I needed to get more than a blog going. With two interviews planned, it became more important. In fact, I have just finished the first interview with Spencer Crawford for the Times-Georgian on Wednesday afternoon. So, on February 21, readers will get an article about me as a writer and about the book and will be able to buy it that day. ; )
~~After deciding to get the website started, I had to figure out how to do it. Since my only foray into programming was way back when I created mimeograph worksheets for my students with basic run/print statements on my Apple IIc, I couldn't create a website from scratch by myself. I do love Diana Black’s web designs, but I couldn't to use her wonderful services on the meager profit I'm making so far. Diana encouraged me try to find a web host with a template to use. She thought I could manage that. ; )
~~First, I looked at Intuit.com and their small business website builder, but it was still too rich for my pocketbook. Beautiful templates, though. John suggested I hunt for a list of rated web hosts and I found one. I figured I'd start with the top. There was one problem--I had tons of questions about just what the things listed on their service meant. I took me two days to get a person on the support line and then I couldn't understand him at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm very good at understanding accented English. Maybe it's because I speak with a strong Southern accent myself. Only the young man had the thickest, most rapid British accent I've ever heard. I'm sure he thought my questions were ignorant and stupid. He answered me like he assumed I was "a hick from the sticks" and "dumb as dirt." I take exception to both assumptions. That told me to keep searching. Add the fact, that he didn’t send me the link to the sample templates just made the decision to go elsewhere easy.
~~I went to the second site in the list—iPage.com . They did assure me on their homepage that all their agents were in North America. I figured there wasn't an American or Canadian accent I couldn't understand and Mexican wouldn't be too bad either. ; ) I was right. Not only did the agents I've talked with help me, they didn't talk down to me either. The templates were simple Drag-and-Drop and there were several I liked. The challenge then became how to link my favorite image of a tree-lined walk in autumn to what I write. Once the title "Walk Among the Leaves With Me" with its lovely double meaning clicked, I was off. It has taken me a week to create the five webpages and publish.
~~So, if you have a minute, take a look at http://www.zanmariesteadham.com/ . I welcome all comments and suggestions. Many of you know so much more than I do about this. For those of you in the dark like I was, let me encourage you--you can do it, too.
~~Now to find the courage to try facebook and connect with my thousands of former students...

It's Getting Better. I Promise!

~~My mother-in-law, Helen, had hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. It's been a long time since she fell in August, but finally we are moving in the right direction. The first problem was the fall, followed by the screws that were to hold the fracture in place didn't, and finally a new fracture appeared. It's a new fracture or one that wasn't found to begin with. We'll never really know.
~~What we do know is that the new doctor from Emory Orthopedics has replaced the bone that was inflamed around the screws and the fractured ball that was also inflamed. She stood up for the first time in over two months the day after surgery. It's a relief. She can now get better and have a life that is easier on her and her sons.
~~Keep us in your prayers.

Snow! And It's Still Here

~~Okay. I know the usual comments. "You southerners don't know how to drive on snow." Heard it a thousand times. No, wait. It hasn't snowed a thousand times in my whole life. ; ) All I have to say is, we never have just snow. It always has a layer of ice with it. This time, even some of the northerners I know agree, my area of Georgia got whacked. A twenty-nine car pile-up that was covered on national news is proof. No one is saying we were alarmist this time.
~~I thought I'd share a few photos of the snow. Of course, the boys are in one. ; ) The front walk with its people and puppy tracks is here twice--a week apart. That's right, we still have snow on the ground. At least the temperatures have rebounded into the average range instead of the highs being below the average lows like it was for nearly two weeks. So sit back and enjoy a view from your warm computer.

What's In A Name?

~~What's in a name? I should know. I have to be the world's record holder for an interesting name and multiple nicknames. For the record, my first name--Zan--was my father's fifth grade girlfriend's name. I'm not joking. ; ) He always said she sat by him for about five weeks then moved. The teacher called her Zan and he didn't remember if her name was short for Suzanne or Alexandra. He just liked the name. When my sister was born, Mother named her for a character in a book and Daddy added the middle name. She's Thea Sue. Then I showed up. Daddy named me Zan and Mother added Marie. They were going to call me both names, but my sister, all of three and a half couldn't pronounce it and said, "Jamboree." Mother was worried about that and quickly taught Thea to say Zan by itself. And my first nickname was created. I've since gone back to using both names. Cuts down mail addressed to Mr. Zan.
~~Over the years I have seemed to collect new nicknames often. Things like Messeroo which never made sense to me. I wasn't a messy child. School nicknames included Banana-Nose, Zan-i-mo-mechan-i-mo, Zanzibar and Zanabanana. None of these make any sense either, but I guess you can chalk it up to the source of many of them--my fellow classmates. For the record, the best nickname is still my first. I like Jamboree. ; )
~~Besides being asked if my name is short for another name and where did it come from, I guess asking "What does Zan mean?" has to be a national sport. ; ) It's taken me years to figure out the answer. I've looked in every baby name book I've come across for years. Some mention that Zana is the Russian form of Jane and others might mention that it is a short form of Suzanne or Alexandra, but none of that really satisfied me. After years of searching, I finally found the real answer. In Bruce Lansky's 100,000+ Baby Names, I finally found it. Zan is Italian for clown. When you add Marie, the French form of Mary, you add bitter from Mary's Hebrew origins. So there you have it, the real meaning of my name. I'm a bitter clown. Well, that's about half right--I can be a clown! ; )

Watch Pocket Puppies

~~And they're off! Into the back of the house, standing at the low solarium windows, two puppies watch for the intruders. Barks ring out and we cover our ears. Is it a walker out exercising in the parking lot next door? Or a random squirrel or stray cat? The ever popular errant leaf? This time it's Daddy working in the yard. It certainly doesn't matter to our watch pocket puppies. They are always on patrol. ; )

~~As John said the other day--we thought having two puppies would be good for them, company for each other during long afternoons. They are. But they're also far more than twice the noise and activity of one puppy. All I can say is--Bark On!