Beth’s Blog

You never know what you’ll run into when you go scooting. Nature is always obliging with breathtaking beautiful sites… if you’re looking for them:

Huge patches of lily pads… no flowers, though.

The water’s amazingly clear for August.

As always, click the pic for a bigger view.

(Click the pic to see the nuzzle love in action.)

Bet ‘cha can’t find my dear son’s face. (Click the pic to make ‘er bigger.)

You can’t beat the open road when it comes to scooting. And Kandiyohi County is full of ‘em.

(Click the pic to make ‘er bigger.)

The annual Kandi is Dandy days is in high gear today. The parade marched directly in front of our house and we gathered a half bag (Walmart sized) of candy. That’s what you get when you combine more parade people than spectators.

Yum.

My favorite? The kite flying.

After the parade, my husband and I ran down to the old elementary school to watch the kite flying competition on the ball field. Jake the Min Pin and Rudie the Doxie Cross accompanied us.

Being part bird dog, Rudie seized the opportunity to roll in any and all bird droppings. Poor Jakie felt a little stiff after a run in with a big, mean Labrador last night. After a quick vet visit and half a pain pill, he’s on the mend.

But Kandi is Dandy days are small town life at its best. Idealistic seminars teaching how to play a button accordion is followed by Irish music, followed by a street dance.

Should be a fun night!

Talk later,

Beth

It’s been quite a few weeks. First my desktop computer has a “fatal cascading Windows error.” Then we get Linux up and running on it. Then I can’t get into my websites because my software won’t work in Linux.

Next up, “PeeWee,” my wonderful laptop doesn’t quite have the oomph to push my website software.

Hence, I ponied up the dough to purchase a new laptop. A little Dell, to be specific. Feels good. Keyboard clicks well. However, it’s a Vista machine and I’m not quite sure about it yet. So far my sound recording software has frozen it. Twice. 

But I have to admit other than that, everything seems to work fine.

However, I’m torn.

I love Linux. I’m enjoying Vista. But they don’t seem to cooperate as well as I’d like.

So, I spend my days writing, recording, running little jump drives between the two computers.

Makes for an interesting day.

Seems like I’ll need to choose one operating system… eventually.

I’ll think about that tomorrow.

My favorite novelist has passed on to the next life. It is with deep sadness that I announce Minnesota author, John Hassler died on March 20.

Known as “Mr. Hustle-Brain” to his English students (my mother was one of them), this delightful author captured the gentle essence of life in Minnesota in a most compelling way. My mother remembers his teaching style as quiet and unassuming, yet he held the class in rapt attention, sitting “in the palm of his hand.”

While his stories took their time to unfold, he could weave a tale like no other. Rumor has it that he completed his next novel just a few days prior to his death. I hope it’s true.

He will be sorely missed.

Here’s a link where you can get more details.

http://home.comcast.net/~ktebo/

Best,

Beth

How cool. This blog is now a “Plog” as well. Go figure.

I want to thank Amazon for opening up their site to my blog. That’s a generous and wonderful thing to do. I’m looking forward to working together.

It’s March 21 and it looks like Christmas outside. We received around nine inches of snow last night and it’s still going strong. It’s a perfect day to write like mad.

So, that being said, I’ve got some great plans for the rest of ‘08. I truly value everyone who reads what I have to say and welcome your comments.

More later because I’m off to spend some time with PeeWee… my “writing” computer!

Best,

Beth

Hey guys. It’s been forever since I’ve posted here. That’s because I’ve been working on my website and have moved the blog! You can check out all the cool, new stuff right here:

http://blog.BethAnnErickson.com

See ya there!