Texas Hill Country and My BFF

A little while back, I made a trip out to Texas to visit my best friend from high school. She lives in Boerne, just outside of San Antonio. When we were planning the visit she asked if I wanted to go downtown to the River Walk and the Alamo.

“Nah, I’ve already seen those. You live there so you pick,” I replied.

And did she ever. There is a reason we are best friends. Instead of dragging me downtown to the noise, traffic, and crowds, she took me to some of the small towns around Boerne. Her maroon Ford F150 rumbled along the backroads to places like Sister Creek, Comfort, Fredericksburg, Bandera, Hondo, and every wide spot in the road along the way. We even made a stop at Luckenbach. That’s right Luckenbach, Texas. We talked, swapped stories, and caught up on each others lives. We also traveled long stretches of road in companionable silence.

Here are some of the highlights:

Sister Creek Winery

Cotton gin, winery. Same thing?

Our first stop was Sister Creek Winery. It’s a re-purposed cotton gin. The folks there are friendly and love sharing information about their wine. We walked through the wine making area and ended up where the white oak casks are stored.

Can I take one home?

Luckenbach, Texas

We drove through Luckenbach on the way to the parking lot behind it. I think the parking lot is actually covers more ground than the town itself. We didn’t see hide nor hair of Waylon (good thing I guess) or Willie (I’ll pass anyway), but there were a lot of boys there, on motorcycles, at the bar, and standing on the porch in front of the ramshackle wooden building that serves as both store and post office.

Luckenbach store, bar and post office. The only thing bigger is the dance hall across the street.

The Cabernet Grill

Several miles down the road we came to Fredericksburg. A few miles from the town center is The Cabernet Grill, another re-purposed cotton gin, converted into a fine dining restaurant. As the name suggests, wine is a big part of the experience, especially Texas wines. We had a delicious bottle of Riesling from Becker Vineyards. Our waiter, James, was pleased to bring out a bottle of white wine so he could use their brand new wine buckets for the first time.

Texas-sized wine bucket!

Fredericksburg

After some wine and a delicious meal at The Cabernet Grill, we went back into town for the show at The Rockbox Theater. We were early so we walked along the sidewalk on Main Street, looking in the window of the small shops and boutiques. We passed a couple of  shaded “biergartens” along the way, where people were enjoying the mild weather and some live music. One of the things I noticed about every town we went to was the number of small restaurants available. Most of them had outside seating, too. That’s something I wish we had more of here in Alabama.

Fredericksburg is surprisingly the home of The National Museum of the Pacific War, also known as The Nimitz Museum. It’s housed in the former Nimitz Hotel on East Main Street. It was closed when we were there, but would be worth a visit sometime.

Alabama has its share of quirky citizens, but one lady strolling the sidewalk that evening proves that Texas is no different. She was carrying her pet with her, which isn’t really that strange. Women carry little dogs in their purses all the time.  Her’s was a bit different, however.

Wall I’ll be darned. It’s a wallaby!

The Rockbox Theater

We were front and center for the show at The Rockbox Theater. It started with a Barney Fife impersonator. He nailed it. The musical production explored the roots of rock ‘n roll from the Fifties up to the Eighties. The contributions of Texas artists to the genre figured prominently. It was fun, family friendly, and entertaining. The show wrapped up with a moving tribute to veterans, past and present.

Not the end of the road…

When the show ended it was time to head back to Boerne. This was just the first day of my visit. It was packed with fun. new places. There’s a commercial on TV that says, “Texas is a whole other country.” After being there for just a short amount of time that is so obvious. They have their own way of life that doesn’t look to New York or Los Angeles for approval. In all those small towns, people are prospering in spite of the bad news on the national level. They are proud to be Texans and reinventing themselves while staying true to their roots, just like  the re-purposed buildings I saw. Texas is full of energy and resourcefulness, both in the land and in the people who call it home.

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Wolf Creek Farewell

Last Saturday, I sat on the verge of a muddy road at Wolf Creek Hunting Club. It winds around places called Goat Pen, Round House and Swivel Chair. It was the last Saturday of ‘dog season’, and I was hoping Kate, the Bluetick hound, would jump a deer and chase it in my direction. I could hear Kate and her ‘driver’, Jerry, in the pine thicket. Jerry whooped. Kate bayed. Honestly, it sounded like they were copycatting each other.

Looking toward Swivel Chair.

This is the second year my husband, Rick, and I have hunted at Wolf Creek. Deer hunting with dogs is unique, some might say dying out. People have been hunting cooperatively using dogs since before the dawn of time, so I think it will go on somewhere. It’s been updated with technology, just like everything else. Pickup trucks take dogs, drivers and standers to their spots. Hand-held CB radios keep everybody in touch with what’s going on. Tracking collars help the drivers find the dogs. Rick and I can text each other while we’re in separate locations.

This ain’t your father’s Mammoth Hunt!

It’s been a lot of fun getting to know the members, and the dogs this past year. Some of the hunters at Wolf Creek have become friends. The club, just like any, has its factions, but they all seem to get along. The end of this season was especially poignant for us. Our relocation to Dallas, Texas, will make it just too much of a commute. I doubt we’ll be able to find anything like it out there.

Since I knew this would be our last season, I took a lot of pictures, some of which I’ll share below.

Seven-year-old Destiny hunted the stand with her great grandfather.

Jerry and his grandson, Tanner, on the way to a stand.

On this drive, I actually got a shot, even though I was imitating a beacon on a hill.

There were misty days.

There were sunny days

 

Kate, the Bluetick, became Rick’s special friend, mostly because of the granola bars in his pack. He helped her put up a Facebook page late in the season.

Rick played pipes at the memorial service for one of the club members who passed away.

Rick and Anna Claire warming up by the fire in the club house.

Wolf Creek Panorama

Hunting deer with dogs has been an enjoyable experience, and one I’m glad I didn’t miss. The Club may be facing some challenges as the requirements of the land owner change, but I hope they’ll be able to continue this traditional way of hunting for many years to come.

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Call of the Wild

A good number of people in Alabama are hunters. While they are concentrated mostly in rural areas, some of us suburbanites hear the call of the wild, too. My husband, Rick, and I are just such people.

I’ve been off work this week, and was able to head down to Wolf Creek Hunting Club with Rick Wednesday afternoon. Most of the vibrant leaves of autumn have fallen, leaving a crunchy carpet. It made for a noisy walk back to his ladder stand on the creek.

It was nice sitting there, but I didn’t see anything, not even a squirrel or coyote. As it started getting dark, I realized the only flashlight I had was on my iPhone. Now, I have a pretty good sense of direction, and my husband wouldn’t let me stay lost in the woods for long, but I pulled out my trusty iPhone, using the compass app to gauge the general direction of the road, just in case. Things have changed a lot since I was a Girl Scout.

On our way home, I remembered that I needed to pick up a bottle of wine, so Rick turned into a supermarket close to our house. The parking lot was packed. I got out and went in, leaving him to find a spot to park, or circle around until I came out.

Let me tell you, there is nothing that will stop conversation in a suburban grocery store quicker than a woman walking in, wearing camouflage. It’s not like you could hear crickets chirruping, but the din died down significantly. Not one person would look me in the eye. People shifted their gaze, staring intently at the floor or studying their manicures. Bambi killer, I could imagine some of them thinking, (not that I’ve been that lucky) but hey, aren’t you having ground beef for dinner?

The cute young girl at the checkout asked if I was old enough to buy wine. Ha! I took off my cap to showed her the grey hair.

“Highlights,” she said.

I told her how old I was, and, bless her, she said I didn’t look it.

“It’s the camo.” I replied.

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The Next Big Thing

I got a nice surprise a couple of weeks ago when fellow writer, Debra Goldstein, asked me to join the blog chain The Next Big Thing. It’s an ongoing round of blogs that pose ten questions to women writers about their current title or work in progress. Debra’s debut novel Maze in Blue won the 2012 IPPY award, and she’s currently working on a sequel. You can read all about it on Debra’s blog.

I don’t have a published novel, yet. My manuscript, Killer Tunes, is currently being read at Carina Press, a digital imprint of Harlequin. I’m hoping to hear back from them soon, but in the meantime, here are the questions and my answers:

What is your working title of your book? Killer Tunes

Where did the idea come from for the book? The idea for Killer Tunes came from places around the community I live in, also from my obsession with all things Scottish and Irish, especially music. My husband has a fiddle that was found in the back of a music store and refurbished. I used to wonder where it actually came from, and what its story was.

What genre does your book fall under? It’s cross genre, a paranormal mystery.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Bailey, my protagonist, would be played by Nicole Kidman. Her friend Joe would be played by Ben Affleck. Angus would be played by Gerard Butler. I think Tom would be played by James D’arcy.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Bailey MacIntyre thinks she’s going crazy when a ghost appears, and wants her help to find his daughter, who disappeared after the Civil War, during the chaotic period of Reconstruction. When Bailey’s cousin is murdered, and his daughter goes missing, she, and her friend, Joe, follow clues that lead down a path of greed, witchcraft, and a century-old curse that has been unleashed.

Okay, it’s two sentences, so sue me.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I’m sending it out to digital publishers, and may pitch it to a couple of agents whose blogs I follow. The whole process of publishing is in a state of flux right now thanks to Amazon. As much as I would love the validation of being traditionally published, my manuscript doesn’t fit neatly into any of the usual genres. That doesn’t bode well for its chances. If it hasn’t found a home by the end of the year, I’ll self-publish on Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? The first draft of Killer Tunes took me over two years to write. I was working two or three jobs then, so my time was limited. I was also writing by the seat of my pants, which takes me longer. For me, things move much faster if I have a road map, aka outline.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? The closest I can come to that are books by Barbara Michaels. They are mostly mysteries, but all have a paranormal element in them. In Killer Tunes, the normal and paranormal elements are about equal. It’s really two stories that merge into one outcome.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? The history of the beautiful area I live in got me started. The orphaned fiddle, and my love of Celtic music provided the threads to weave the tale.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? There’s some history from a point of view that isn’t in lockstep with what you learn in school. Also, it was fun for me to explore the magical/ghost story side of things. I hope that will be just as enjoyable for readers.

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Our Haunted House

When we first moved into our house ten years ago, we were so busy fixing it up, we didn’t notice anything unusual. Or, maybe it wasn’t here then. Sometime in the middle of all those years, a presence arrived. It’s unpredictable, and we’ve all had brushes with it.

The first thing I noticed was that our dog, Daisy, would sometimes look intently at the stairs, her eyes wide and ears laid back, like there was somebody there. Then, I started seeing things at the edge of my vision, mostly when I was in the kitchen.

My husband was home sick one day, taking a warm bath. He heard somebody come up the stairs, and walk down the hall, past the bathroom. When he called out, thinking it was me, nobody answered. He got out of the tub, and searched the house for an intruder. There wasn’t one. He called me at work to make sure that’s where I was.

One night, when I was alone in the bed, I woke up to somebody stroking my back.

We’ve had other strange things happen, too many to mention. So, the question is: who’s haunting our house? The presence seems benign, other than the stroking, which hasn’t been repeated.

Two things we know: the house was a parsonage for a local Methodist church for a while. It was also a rental house.

My husband and I think it may be the ghost of the man who originally owned the house. He died a few years after we bought it. Maybe part of him came back here. We know he fell down the stairs a time or two after he lost one of his legs to diabetes. Could that be why most of the activity seems to be centered on the staircase?

Have you ever had anything unexplainable happen in your house?

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Witchy Research

When I started researching witchcraft for Killer Tunes, I didn’t like any of the resources I found online, so I turned to my local library for help. From their online database,  I found a couple of books that looked like they might be informative. Since they belonged to another branch, I ordered them, and waited for them to arrive at my local library. When I went to pick them up, they were wrapped in brown paper. My name was on a blue sticky note attached to the spine.

All was well until I took them to the circulation desk. When the twenty-something librarian ripped the brown paper off, there was no doubt they were about witchcraft. She looked shocked for a second, then kind of disgusted. After checking them out, she shoved them across the counter without making eye contact. I started to protest that I was just checking it out for research purposes, but something shifted in my psyche.

I thought, I am fifty-one years old. If I want to check out a book on witchcraft, that’s none of your business.

That experience helped with my research as much as reading the book did. When the time came to write the scene where my protagonist, Bailey MacIntyre, is looking for clues in the disappearance of her young cousin, who is dabbling in witchcraft, she’s afraid of the same kind of prejudice from the workers in the bookstore, as well as any of her mother’s church friends who might be lurking about.

Everything is fodder.

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New Blog home!

When I switched over to gmail, my Blogger blog wouldn’t let me in, no matter what combination of user name and password I tried. So, after a blogging hiatus, I’ve decided to try out WordPress. It’ll take me a while to get used to the new home, but I hope to share some of my thoughts and experiences here, in both writing and in pictures.
I hope you’ll enjoy both.

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