Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts



I know you have all seen the U-Haul moving vans with the ad “An Adventure in Moving” on the trucks.  Though not in a U-Haul, I have been immersed in that Adventure.   The fine print reads that “adventure” does not always translate to “fun”.  An adventure can be an ordeal.  Unfortunately, my purchase, sale and relocation to my new home have been less than pleasant in most aspects.

We signed the contracts in late August, but for one reason or another, the closing had to be rescheduled several times, and I finally moved on September 9th from the city to a suburb about 8 miles down Texas 288.  The second ordeal was the move itself.  I was not at all pleased with my movers.  They could give the tortoise a run for his money in the slow department.  I had only a dining room table and china cabinet and bedroom (having sold most of the furniture with the condo) to move, but it took 5 hours!  In the Texas heat!  Granted, I had a lot of boxes, but…  All-Some Movers do not win my recommendation.  They also treated my fragile boxes like footballs.  I’m praying that my crystal and china are okay.

I love my new house, but I am giving her a little “facelift”.   I know it is always a mistake to try to live in a home you are renovating.   I might have stayed in a hotel, but I have a rather large and loveable cat to consider.  Spencer is very easy going, but he’s far too big to smuggle into a roadside inn.  So, here I am in the middle of chaos.  A couple more days, however, and it should be done.  Then I can actually straighten up (my clothes are in a heap on the living room rug), clean and settle in to watch my new TV.  Game of Thrones and Outlander, here I come!

The facelift includes new wood flooring in a rich hickory throughout, with the exception of the foyer, baths and kitchen, which are in tile.   The kitchen is a white marble-look shot with beige.   The baths are difficult to describe, but are called “Ginger”—not orange at all but tend a bit to the pinkish.   I’ll run pictures later.   The baths are the final touch, completed hopefully today and tomorrow.  Of course, they can only do one at the time because you are not supposed to walk on them for 24 hours.
Last night, I treated myself to dinner at Texas Roadhouse Grill—a small sirloin, salad and loaded baked potato.  I had to send the steak back once because it was overdone, but it was really good and I needed the energy, having neglected things like food during this Adventure.

It has been fun replacing the furniture.   I bought a slate leather sofa and huge entertainment center at The Dump.  The kitchen is large enough to accommodate a black bistro table with white leather stools.  My decorating plan for the kitchen is “wine”, and I ordered cute wooden plaques with wine bottle labels for one wall.  One plaque I must have!  “I cook with wine.  Sometimes I even put it in the food.”

Yesterday, my son took me to a used office furniture place.  I found a nice gray chair with colored squiggles in the fabric and a cherry filing cabinet with bookcase at a very reasonable price.
Soon (fingers crossed) I should be all settled in.  I plan to have a housewarming party.  You’re invited!

Have an excellent weekend!!
Linda

On writing a western character


Since I have just finished my first western romance, I thought it would be nice to explore how much fun I had with it and give some background information on how it came to be. SPEED, LUST, AND A SECOND CHANCE is about a rodeo star who is riding high on the top of his sport until he crashes his racing plane and damages his hand. I wanted to add this element of a wounded hero to this novel and this worked out perfectly.

The heroine is the plane designer. While the hero has mastered riding a bull, he has little experience with women, especially those from places like Boston and with a MIT background. The major question on everyone’s mind is the crash and if it was caused by the designer or the pilot. I set this to cause the conflict to climb.

Like it or not, to save her reputation and his, they have to join forces again to sort it out and enter another race. The crash has caused one major problem for the hero—he has nightmares of the crash every night. The only thing that stops his nightmares at night is sex before he goes to sleep.

This book is about building trust and learning to accept people who are different from you. As in any relationship there has to be compromises and in this story—a lot of compromises.

I was actually born in Texas and always wanted to write a western romance. If my readers like this one, I think I can add others. But even in these western romances I will always add my signature suspense angle.

A year ago I went to Arizona for a month. After seeing this land up close for a while, I knew I had to write this novel. The jump from bull riding to racing grand prix racing planes was fun. I enjoyed the research and hope it made for a twist that I don’t think has been tried before.

The novel is currently for sale of the Siren Publishing site where you can also see other work of mine. http://www.bookstrand.com/speed-lust-and-a-second-chance   I look forward to hearing how you like this twist on a western romance.



Posted by Mama Mary.
The previous days of Jianne's trip across country are in previous posts, day 3 is above this one. They started in Florida and are heading across the U S to attend seminars.


We are amazed that her husband is still alive after 3 long days in the car with her, even driving through SNOW in Texas. Men aren't always great on road trips.

Day 4
We awoke to discover Tyler covered in a thick coat of fog.

Nevertheless, like the hardy frontier people we are, we ploughed ahead with our plans to travel to Amarillo. Three hours later, we marveled at the drastic topography and weather through which we had traveled. Fog gave way to the famed mammoth cattle ranches of Texas and winds, which blew the layers of the snow blanketing the fields into a blinding fury for the DH

Then came blue skies and sun, lush green landscapes drifted into scenes of shrubs and low brown grass and oil wells.

To my delight, we bumped into my first ever Saloon! With hunky cowboys and people y’all -ing each other left, right, and center. We watched a boot shod, Stetson-wearing guy snap back a shot of tequila and it was barely noon! I so wanted a photo of the saloon with the name that I agreed to pose in front of Bono’s Saloon (I hate taking pictures). Twice I reminded the DH to make sure the name was in the picture.

The outside temperature dropped and dropped, and went from a balmy forty degrees to thirty-two as we hit Amarillo. The hotel we stayed in, The Ambassador, had free hors d’oeuvres and a happy hour for the couples staying with them for Valentine’s Day. What a lovely surprise at the end of a long seven hours of traveling.

CENT Days 5 & 6

Amarillo to Santa Fe 1

On Valentine’s Day we traveled from Amarillo to Santa Fe, our first long stop in the journey to the Grand Canyon. Man, we’ve been through every form of weather short of hurricanes, cyclones, and tornadoes. First the snow, then sleet, then freezing rain with the temperature dropping every mile or so it seemed. But, it was a short day of travelling (after 7-hour days, 4 was a breeze), and Santa Fe is absolutely charming and wonderful and OMG so quaint!

Santa Fe with a population of only 60,000 has its own opera house - spectacularly located on the top of a mountain with a vista of valleys and canyons. The art here overwhelms the senses. Even the overpasses on the highways are decorated (and not with graffiti!).

Taos to Santa Fe Overpass

The Rio Grande flows through the town and the adobe architecture blends into the landscape perfectly. This is a state where Mother Nature and humans meld instead of warring.

Now, we never celebrate Valentine’s Day. Never - I hate the way the price of flowers jump astronomically for that date and the DH and I just wandered into a non-Valentine’s thing over the last 33 years. So blow me down when I get gifts and a card on Sunday morning. Sheesh! How to make a person feel bad and good all at once.

And then he arranges for us to have dinner at Geronimo’s, a 5-star restaurant I’ve dreamed about for ages (I loooooove good food). We had a table by the fireplace, and, yes, the pic stinks, but it gives you an idea of the setting - an adobe-style ranch house built in 1678. The food was incredible, eclectic and delicious, the ambiance perfect, and, of course, the DH stands the test of time, much like fine wine aging.

Geronimo 3

We had a great day and night and the following morning decided to visit the outlying city of Taos, about 70 miles north of Santa Fe (as if we hadn’t driven enough in the last 4 days - yeah we’re certifiable). I swear we had the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had in my life at a hotel on the Taos plaza. You know what I mean, coffee that tastes the way it smells.

Charming city, but the drive along the Rio Grande was the highlight of the trip. The sheer cut of the river between the mountains took my breath away.

I cannot get over how astounding and beautiful this country is!

When East meets West, Cultures Collide, Passions Sizzle…

email: jianne@jiannecarlo.com

url : www.jiannecarlo.com

latest release:

books: Manacled in Monaco, T is for Temptation, D is for Desire, Notorious in Nice, White Wolf

Stay tuned for more installments and see if she and her DH are still speaking to each other.

Jianne Carlo's Road Trip Continues

Posted by Mary Marvella | 12:54 AM | , , | 4 comments »

Jianne Carlo continues the tale of her trip cross country with her husband, bless his heart. Early installments can be found on this blog.

We decided to move south the day I was stranded in a field in the middle of nowhere in my first blizzard. That was 32 years ago.

The last time we were in Dallas there was a Coup D’état in the country we were living in. For those of you who don’t know the term (I wish I didn’t) - a coup d’état means that factions of the army try to take over the country and establish a military dictatorship - Cuba, in other words.

So when day 3 of the CENT tour began with - don’t let the weathermen fool you - it was a blizzard not a ‘snow storm’ - us driving through a blizzard to get to just outside of Dallas, TX, the superstitious bent in me started ringing like alarms at a nuclear site. (You caught the location, I hope.)

Turns out it wasn’t as bad as we expected. We had a couple of hours of driving with bad conditions but we eventually reached Tyler, which is a sprawling southern city with not a lot of charm and a ton of snow, which they don’t ever get. The electricity was out everywhere and we arrived, after 7 hours of driving, around 6:30 p.m. starving and a tad on the cranky side.

Did I mention we have bets about whether we’ll still be speaking to each other after 30 days on the road?

The hotel was overrun with locals who had no power checking in to stay warm, and there was an hour wait at any restaurant we found. Luckily, I spotted a little fish place with a sign saying - The Crawfish Are In.

Aaaah, nothing switches a cranky mood to ecstatic like hot gumbo, steamed nitro-spicy crawfish, and a couple of local brews. We ate like pigs, came back happy and warm and full, and topped the night off by watching the start of the Winter Olympics.

We lived in Vancouver for a couple of years and felt very proud of that grand opening.

Today, we’re off to Amarillo, Texas.

Too bad Vancouver’s not getting the snow we are in the south!

Cheers,

When East meets West, Cultures Collide, Passions Sizzle…

email: jianne@jiannecarlo.com

url : www.jiannecarlo.com

JC_ValentineVoodoo_coversm

books:
Valentine Voodoo, Manacled in Monaco, T is for Temptation, D is for Desire, Notorious in Nice, White Wolf