It's approaching mid-May, and the 'stay home-stay safe' order continues in Michigan. In many ways it was a typical Michigan April: now cold, now warm, with snow that didn't stick to the ground, some rain, and some sunshine.
In another way, it was unique. I haven't ventured off my property in seven weeks. Because April was so painfully uneventful, I decided to combine April and May news, what little there is, in a Spring newsletter.
I just looked at my April calendar. My only notation was a reminder to give Layla her medication. I didn't have a single appointment. Nothing happened except that my hair grew longer. I didn't finish
In the Greenwood He Was Slain
, although I'm past page 300. I used to long for days when I could stay home and write.
Guess what? I'm now at the point where I'd like to go out--anywhere. Even the corner drug store would be a welcome excursion. I'm just glad I have a pleasant home and lovely backyard that is turning green practically overnight.
But I stand with our governor, Gretchen Whitmer, "that woman from Michigan" as she has been called. Anything to keep me and my family, friends, and fellow Michiganders safe.
Most of us are making the best of a bad situation. Conference calls replace dinner get-togethers; people attend virtual showers and communicate by e-mail and on Facebook. They order their groceries delivered, if possible. It's an entirely different world, and we all have to adapt if we want to survive. And not one of us doesn't hope that we stay free of ailments unrelated to the virus and that essential machines like washers don't decide to malfunction.
Fortunately the book business goes on.
The
Dog
Who
Ran
with
the
Sleigh
will be released by Wings ePress on June 1st. Since time is all jumbled up, no one should think it strange to read a Christmas-themed book in the summertime.
Look for the first chapters of my June book and
Challenge
a
Scarecrow
on my
website
.
I'm reading twice as much as I did before March. For me, reading and writing have been lifelines. I was especially delighted to reconnect with Jodi Taylor's time traveling historians in
Plan
for
the
Worst
--which follows
Hope
for
the
Best
.
I've also enjoyed Victoria Thompson's new gaslight series addition,
Murder
on
Pleasant
Avenue,
which landed on my Kindle. I especially like to pre-order a book from a favorite author and be pleasantly surprised when it arrives unheralded on Kindle.
Another series I love is Donna Ball's Raine Stockton Dog Mysteries, the latest of which is
Murder
Creek
. My only disappointment is that the heroine didn't choose the right man, in my opinion. And special thanks to Amazon for advertising it alongside my Foxglove Corners series.
I was intrigued to find a book on Amazon by Kristy James titled
Enza
, which deals with the 1918 pandemic. Many of my relatives died at this time. I gained two aunts and three cousins when my grandmother and her second husband each lost their mates to influenza and married each other.
Anyway, I whole-heartedly recommend Enza. All of the characters seem like real people to me. In the first half of the book, World War I is raging; in the second half, Enza, depicted as a bird, flies in the window of many of the people we've grown to love. ("In flew Enza."). The story line sounds depressing but the novel also contains humor and ends with hope for the future.
And here's hoping for that elusive bright line at the end of the tunnel, in other words, June and an end to the virus nightmare. Or will it be July? We'll have to wait and see.
Dorothy
