Carolyn Brown On Being 'Gracefully' Challenged

We have two copies of Darn Good Cowboy Christmas to give to two commenters today.

My guest is romance author, Carolyn Brown.


Hold on a moment while I have a brief fan-girl moment-squeee! Okay, I'm better now. 


If you have to ask me why the squee, then you haven't been reading her books. Not only is she a fabulous storyteller, but she has some the sexiest and fun loving cowboys this side of the Rio Grande--both sides, if you want my biased opinion. Her towns and citizens feel so real I just know all I have to do is find a map (trust me, I've been looking) and I can go visit with them. I absolutely love the way they talk and the expressions used. It would be fun to head over to the O'Donnell house for Sunday dinner and listen to the music afterward--I'd even put up with Colleen to do that, LOL! Carolyn tends to make me laugh--a lot.


Today, she talks about a glitch she faced not so long ago, that wasn't very funny, but how she tells it in retrospect, is.

Happy Holidays everyone! Thank you, Sia, for inviting me to stop by your site today! Halloween is over. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and after that Christmas. And I have a brand new Christmas book on the market, Darn Good Cowboy Christmas.

Liz has been raised in a traveling carnival and the top thing on her list has been a house with no wheels. Her Uncle Haskell gave her the house, a barn and twenty acres. The next thing on her list was a cowboy of her own. Will the very sexy Raylen O’Donnell be that cowboy?

A few years ago it was doubtful that I would ever write another book. Talk about a glitch that put me quite literally out of the deadline world for a while. I had one that writers shiver about.

It was all Husband’s fault. He had house shoes that he just slid his feet down in and shuffled along like an old man. Well, in his shuffling he kicked some of the air from the living room into the kitchen without telling me that it was sitting there, precariously at the end of the bar.

Now, realize that I am gracefully challenged and even a little bit of air that’s been moved from one place to another is a disaster and I tripped and fell! Splat! Right there in the kitchen floor!

My left arm is the stupidest part of my whole body. I say this because it thought it could hold all of me up and prevent me from bashing my brains in on the kitchen floor. The silly thing hit the floor and I heard a loud crack and saw a lot of blood.

Husband said that we had to go to Beloved Daughter’s house and tell her about the accident before we could go to the hospital. So there I was sitting in the passenger’s seat of the pickup truck with my feet on the dash while he tells her that he thinks my arm might be broken. No, he did not tell her that it was all his fault and that I was already cussing those damn house shoes. That’s when I pushed my feet against the window to get away from the pain and made the prettiest spider web cracks all over the whole window.

We drove twenty-five miles to the hospital with him looking between the cracks and worrying that I’d never be able to type again. He sure didn’t want to live with me if that was the case. He pulled up to the emergency room doors and I let myself out of the truck with my good arm, started through those big double doors (I understand now they lock them) and the receptionist yelled at me that I have to fill out papers before I was allowed back there.

“Tell Husband to fill them out. I have to get this fixed so I can write a book,” I told her.

The triage expert had the audacity to ask me why I thought my arm was broken. I figured he had cow chips for brains so I peeled the towel off and held up the bloody mess. His little eyes popped out and he blanched. Then he asked me how much I weighed. Again, not so smart! I lied by ten pounds or maybe it was twenty. I figured I had the right since my bone was poking out of the skin.

They took me to a room to wait for the surgeon and cut my favorite denim jumper and my shirt off my body. I told them I’d just kicked the windshield out and they’d best leave my new bra alone so they laid the scissors down and backed away slowly.

I went to surgery and that’s when they told me that the “knockout medicine” was given based on weight. And I panicked! I had lied about my weight and I’d wake up too soon! There would be a mess in operating room four that no one would ever forget.

Being drug sensitive, I went out like a light and woke up several hours later, looked at my arm and knew I’d never type again. But in six weeks the apparatus came off and the cast went on and I told my fingers if they didn’t type, they’d listen to me bitch until the undertaker laid me in the casket and crossed them over my chest. They believed me and hence, Darn Good Cowboy Christmas, my tenth cowboy romance and fifty-fourth book is now on the shelves.

• The heroine of my book, Liz, wanted a house with no wheels and a cowboy. 
• I wanted to be able to type again. 
• What’s on your list this year?

Darn Good Cowboy Christmas   

by Carolyn Brown—In Stores NOW!

 He’s One Hot Cowboy

Raylen O’Donnell is one smokin’ hot cowboy. He could have any woman he wants, but he’s never been able to forget a certain dark-haired girl who disappeared from his life. So when she suddenly returns to the ranch nexct door, Raylen’s not fixing to let her get away again…

And She’s Out for a Sizzlin’ Christmas

Raised in a traveling carnival, Lizelle Hanson thought all she wanted was a house that didn’t have wheels and a sexy cowboy for her very own. But settling down’s going to take some getting used to, and cathing Raylen, the hotter-than-hell cowboy next door, might just take a little holiday magic…Excerpt 

BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million Available in both print and ebook.

Carolyn Brown is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with more than forty books published, and credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She writes bestselling single title cowboy and country music mass market romances. Born in Texas and raised in southern Oklahoma, Carolyn and her husband now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma, where she is working on her next book, One Hot Cowboy Wedding, which will be in stores in April 2012.

For more information, please visit http://carolynlbrown.com/.

Hi-ho,The derry-o A NaNo-ing I Go

November is National Novel Writing Month, or as most call its, NaNo. This is my second year of Thirty days and nights of literary abandon--aka insanity.

I have on my author info the following: "Sia McKye claims, other than being insane to sign up for this, she's pretty normal. Sia writes paranormal and contemporary romance. She also has a successful Blog where she features various authors and their books. Sia should know all about writing, after all she's done, but when contemplating that concept, tends to laugh manically." 

I'm pretty much focused on meeting my writing goals and all my spare time is being used in doing so. If you don't see me on line or blog hopping much (the great time thief) you'll know why.

I'm mostly a pantzer, meaning I have a general idea of where I'm going and what will happen, but the specifics are subject to change as the characters develop their own mind and personality. I've had a few surprises along the way. I'm over 10k consecutive  words into this story. I've hit a few glitches and brick walls. Ouch. When that happens I've been known to pound my head on the wall and ask myself why in the hell do I put myself in this sort of position to begin with, LOL! But then a funny thing happens. My mind just skips ahead and I find myself writing other scenes that I will have to connect to the overall story later. I probably have another 15k of scenes like that. What I've discovered is I can come back to where I left off and I can move forward again.


I have a couple of writing buddies who take several weeks before NaNo to prep for their story. They get their research in order, figure out scenes, characters, and plot points. A couple of them will finish their 50k by mid month. They are leaps and bounds ahead of me and that's okay. 


I've been researching the background for this story for months. My research file over 8 MB thick covering history, languages, old legends, and the region of my setting--including maps--fauna and flora and the habits of such. While I've actually lived in the state the story takes place in and know it well, there was still much I didn't know. It was fun. But now comes the building the story and weaving the characters into the world. 


My goal is to achieve the 50,000 words. Me and the writing support critters are working hard towards accomplishing that.

• How about you? Are you a participant? How's it going?
• You can find me on NaNo site as Sia McKye. Buddy up with me!

This week's guests: Carolyn Brown-Wednesday and the Magically Delicious, Judi Fennell-Friday 


A couple of things to make you smile:

 

                                                

AN UNLIKELY PAIR

My apologies for the late posting. We hit a small glitch. 

Amanda Forester is my guest today and she writes about hunky highlanders set in the sweeping history of   14th century Scotland.

How people meet and fall in love is always fascinating. Amanda shares how her two main characters meet and shares with us how she and her husband met. A case of opposites attract.

Romance.  I love it.  Since I'm a romance author, this pronouncement is perhaps not surprising.  I especially enjoy hearing the story if the two people involved are an unlikely pair or come from different backgrounds.

 

Thus in THE HIGHLANDER'S HEART, my muse gave me a hero who is a Highland laird and wanted criminal in England, and a heroine who is an English Countess trying to escape an abusive marriage.  Here is how they first meet:

Isabelle stared at the barbarian before her. These would surely be her final moments on Earth. She tried to think of something worthy of her last thoughts.

I can see his knees. Isabelle groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. This would never do. Thoughts like that would send her straight to purgatory. She put her hands over her eyes and tried to think of something pious. Nothing but a mental vision of his thighs came to mind.

“No, no, no.” She looked up pleading. “Do not kill me yet, I am not ready.”

“Sassenach,” said the shadowy figure with disgust. “Get up English, I will no’ be killing ye.”

Not the most promising of starts, I grant you.  Lady Isabelle tries to use Laird Campbell to save her from her husband's guards, while he decides to hold her for ransom.  Neither of these plans is destined to succeed, and both are forced to work together to save themselves and their people from the threat of war.

I do enjoy watching unlikely couples fall in love.  Perhaps my own love story played a hand in that interest.  I always thought I would marry a person like myself, someone I met in graduate school or at church.  I am embarrassed to admit it, but I met my husband in a bar, actually it was in the parking lot outside the bar (oh, the shame).  Now obviously he was not a Highland warrior nor I an English Countess, but at the time we met he was an infantry officer and I was a PhD student in psychology.  He was cute, very cute I must say, but I couldn't see much of a future in it.  Fast forward to the present and we've been married for 14 years now, so I was (happily) quite wrong.

 

• So tell me how you met the love of your life.  Were you best friends since the 2nd grade or were you so different you might as well have been from separate planets?  Do tell - I'd love to hear your story! 

Comment on this blog for a chance to win a copy of Amanda Forester's latest release, THE HIGHLANDER'S HEART. A chance for two winners! 

HIGHLANDER'S HEART Available now ebook and print formats

Lady Isabelle escapes her murderous English husband only to be abducted by a Highland warrior and held for ransom.  Her determination to break free from captivity is exceeded only by the passion growing between her and the Highland Laird.  David Campbell plans to hold Isabelle for ransom as an easy way to line his pockets and return her back where she belongs, but he is unprepared for a feisty English lass with a penchant for finding trouble.  Caught between rival clans bent on claiming the throne of Scotland, Campbell must choose a side, and a bride.  Standing on the brink of war, Isabelle may be his only hope to save his clan, and his heart. Excerpt 

"[T]he plot never falters, and fans of Highland romance will appreciate Forester’s devotion to historical accuracy and effortless storytelling." ~Publisher's Weekly

 BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, Powels

Amanda Forester holds a PhD in clinical psychology and a Masters degree in theology.  As a psychologist, she has worked as a clinical researcher and a university instructor (what they call you when they don’t want to give you tenure).  None of which has anything to do with writing romance novels.  After trying for many years to stop the internal storylines floating around her head, she finally gave up and wrote one down.  Now when she is caught daydreaming and talking to herself she can just say, “I’m plotting a scene for my next novel,” which sounds so much better than, “I’m hallucinating and responding to internal stimuli.”

Amanda lives in the Pacific Northwest with her officer and a gentleman husband and their two remarkably active, naturally brilliant children.  They share their home with two fiendishly destructive cats and one lazy dog.

Find Amanda at her website, facebook, or twitter.

Lydia Dare Has a Secret

Pssst, I know a secret about Lydia Dare...

Lydia Dare is a writing partnership consisting of Tammy Falkner and Jody Pearson. My guest is actually Jody with Tammy cheering her on. Jodie shares with us a secret she's been burning to tell and so without further ado, here's Jodie.

It’s Halloween! And the perfect time for a paranormal author to reveal a little secret.  Or at least the perfect time for me - the Jodie ½ of Lydia Dare - to do so. For the last few years, Tammy Falkner and I have been writing Paranormal Regencies under the name Lydia Dare. We have seven books on the shelves and three more slated for release next year. 

But we weren’t always a team.  And before we banded together to write these fun stories, we were both on our own individual publishing paths.  Mine was always headed straight for Regency England. 

Over the last year, I’ve felt myself pulled more in the direction of my first love. Oh, I still love our werewolves, vampyres and witches. In fact, I can’t envision a future without them.  But every now and then, I feel the urge to return to a Regency England without magic or the pull of full moons.

So I did. I created a new brand and a new name for myself – Ava Stone. And I’m loving it! Every last second. My Scandalous Series revolves around the family and friends of the Machiavellian-like Viscountess Staveley, and it has been so fun to create and explore this new world.

Whew! I’ve been keeping that secret for a long time. It feels good to have it out in the open now.  (I am not good with secrets. I dance on my tiptoes, dying to tell someone, anyone who will listen.) But now I feel like a kid with a shiny new toy at Christmas…

And speaking of Christmas… (It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, right?) Tomorrow, November 1^st, Ava Stone’s newest Regency will be available - a short story in A Summons From Yorkshire anthology that is part of a bigger collection Regency Christmas Summons.  

At my website, you can find all the information about this book and the rest of the Christmas collection.

• What is the longest you've kept a secret? Or are you still keeping it?

~*~*~*~

A COUNTERFEIT CHRISTMAS SUMMONS

Lady Emma Whitton has decided its time to take her future in her own hands. She has been in love with Viscount Heathfield since she was in leading strings. Unfortunately, it's been almost that long since she's laid eyes on her brother's old friend and vice versa. Tired of waiting for him to remember her, Emma pens a holiday invitation (in her brother's hand) to Heathfield and waits as patiently as she is able for her one true love to arrive.
 Heath isn't quite certain what to make of the very strange summons he received, but his curiosity is most definitely piqued. He heads north to Danby Castle, only to find that his very orderly life is about to be turned upside down. Excerpt

BUY: Amazon, Smashwords

~*~*~*~

The author of several Regency Noir Romances, Ava Stone first fell in love with Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen and Regency England at the age of twelve. And in the years since, that love has never diminished. If she isn't writing Regency Era romance, she can be found reading it.

Her best-selling Scandalous Series is filled with witty humor and centers around the friends and family of the Machiavellian-like Lady Staveley, exploring deep themes but with a light touch. A single mother, Ava lives outside Raleigh NC, but she travels extensively, always looking for inspiration for new stories and characters in the various locales she visits.

Ava blogs regularly at LadyScribes.

Jodie Pearson:

writing as Lydia Dare

Never Been Bit ~ September 2011

The Wolf Who Loved Me ~ April 2012 

www.lydiadare.com 

writing as Ava Stone

Scandalous Series

Regency Christmas Summons ~ November 2011

http://www.avastoneauthor.com/

Life Really Is In the Details

It's my pleasure to welcome romance author Addison Fox, back to OVER COFFEE. This visit she's sharing her contemporary Alaskan Nights series. 

Her topic is one of interest--details. It's the little details that make characters all the more real to readers. The author's experiences in life also add a layer of reality to the characters.

  

As a writer, there are very few dreams that strike harder than the dream of being able to write full time.  It’s a common enough theme at writers conferences, with workshops abounding on “How to Quit Your Day Job,” “Writing Around Responsibilities,” and “How to Write With Children.” The imagined joy of being able to write all day fuels many an author through the long hours of doing the many things that can keep you away from the computer.

And while there are many authors who are able to write full time, I bet each and every one of them could still tell you all about the distractions that keep them from the keyboard.

The reality is, life is distracting. And being a writer (or any other profession), means you work around the craziness to continue performing at a high level. While these little ups and downs are a part of life, when you’re an author, they become fodder for whatever your imagination can conjure up. And there’s nothing more fun than taking a personal experience and twisting it to see how your characters would react to the same. Because of life’s little ups and downs, I know how my heroine feels when…

She gets rear-ended in a thunderstorm….or gets flirted with by a cute guy while waiting at Starbucks…or she has to walk up four stories because the elevator’s out in her apartment…or she watches a friend get married…or she gets a new puppy…or she loses a loved one…or she falls in love.

Or…or…or…

Whatever your “or” is, the experiences we have each day help to shape us. They make us who we are and add to the vibrancy of what we write.

So I offer up this challenge. Next time you see a butterfly on a flower or have a flat tire, chalk it up to research and file that moment away.  You never know when your characters might need it!

Come join us over coffee today and fill us in on some of the experiences that have shaped you. One lucky poster will win a copy of my new release, BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE.

Happy Writing!

Addison

Baby It’s Cold Outside

After a frantic call, Sloan McKinley travels to the heart of the Alaskan wilderness to be there for her best friend, who’s just inherited property in the small town of Indigo. The last thing she expects is to be lured by the town’s matriarchs into their annual contest to get their grandsons married off.

But Sloan can’t deny the appeal of the rugged local men-Walker Montgomery in particular. Soon she finds herself falling in love with the wild outdoors…and with one of Indigo’s most beloved residents. There’s just one question that remains: is the town’s most confirmed bachelor ready to get caught? A brief Excerpt

BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million 

                                                                                                                                    

Addison Fox can’t remember a time when words weren’t part of her life. An avid reader, her love of the written word started at the tender age of one with The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear (a poem she could recite by heart to any family member who would listen.) Dr. Seuss, C.S. Lewis, Judy Blume and a host of others quickly followed until she discovered THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR by Jean M. Auel while writing a paper at the library in the seventh grade. Although not a classic romance, Ayla and Jondalar’s love story moved her firmly into the romance section and she hasn’t looked back!

Her paranormal romance series, The Sons of the Zodiac, launched with NAL in March of 2010. The series recounts the adventures (and path to true love!) for an immortal band of warriors, granted the powers of their astrological signs and charged with protecting humanity. 

Beginning in November 2011, Addison will have a new contemporary series on shelves as well.BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE is the first in the Alaskan Nights series. Set in the fictional town of Indigo, Alaska, a couple of city girls are about to learn that the wide open spaces of Alaska just may hold everything they’re looking for.

You can find Addison: 

Website, Facebook, Twitter,

THE JUGGLING ACT

My guest is paranormal romance author, Sara Taney Humphreys. She's a debut author of the new Amoveo Legend Series of shapeshifters. What I found interesting is she published the first book, Unleashed, herself and it became a "word of mouth sensation for booksellers in a major national bookstore chain".

Sara has lead quite an eventful life. If you're a Soap fan you may have seen her face on one of your favorites, or you might have caught her in one of her A&E productions. She's been a teacher for her own after school theatre for kids and went on to be a national speaker for Monster's Making It Count. These days she's a wife, mother, and the Director of High School and Community Relations.

As you can imagine, she's a busy lady and she shares how she juggles the balls of glass and the balls that bounce.

Like many authors, I have a job and a family. Writing is a solitary activity but like most writers, I do not live a solitary life and there are times when juggling all of it becomes more than I can handle.  I write whenever and wherever I can find the time. I write because I love to create and I’ve realized over the years, that I must have a creative outlet and without one I get….antsy.

However, sometimes the writing simply has to take a backseat because of all the juggling that takes place. No matter how much I love to write, my children will always be at the top of my priority list. I’m sure that goes without saying for all of us.

I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Higgins Clark speak at a charity event and she said something that really stuck with me… “I have lots of balls in the air that I’m juggling. Some are made of glass and some are made of rubber. I try to only drop the ones that bounce.”

That really struck a chord with me. My children and family are the balls made of glass and they can’t afford to get dropped because they could indeed shatter. However, there are also balls made of glass at my job or within writing—meeting deadlines for example—that could also shatter if dropped.

So how can we do it all and keep everything in- tact?

The answer is quite simple. We can’t.

Sometimes we drop the ball and hopefully it’s a bouncy one. So which ones bounce? In my house it’s laundry and housework. First of all, let me say how much I loathe doing both. Laundry sucks. It’s always there. You do it and five minutes later there’s another basket full. I have four sons and a husband who generate ridiculous amounts of laundry. Good God. I can only imagine how much there would be if I had daughters.

Housework is equally crappy. You clean something and turn around to find a new mess five seconds later. My children do not take the sole blame in this—our dogs contribute significantly to the mess. Dog hair is the bane of my existence. It’s on everything. Ugh.

Sometimes, I have to turn a blind eye to the laundry, dog hair and dishes in order to write so I can meet my deadlines and not shatter that hard-earned glass ball of publication.  Those housework type things can be ignored because sadly…they are they waiting for me when my writing goal is accomplished.

The other day, I was beavering away on a manuscript right after I got home from work. I had finally found a way around a problem I was having with my heroine and was deep into the scene when my son Jack came over to me with a Yahtzee game in his hands. He looked at me with those big brown eyes and asked, “Would you play with me?”

How could I say no? I have to be honest. In that moment, I wanted to tell him…No..or…I’ll play with you later.  It’s tough to get into that rhythm of a scene and walk away from it but I did. The truth was that Layla and William’s scene would be there waiting for me when we were done with Yahtzee. So I saved my work, closed the laptop and rolled the dice with my son.

When the stress of juggling all of it starts to grate on me, I remember how frustrated I was when I didn’t have an agent or a publisher…and then I remind myself how lucky I am to have all of these things in my life.  I’ll take the stress of juggling it all over not having it all. I’m a lucky woman, mother, wife, and author.

• So how about you? What are you juggling? 
• Which balls are made of rubber and which ones are made of glass?

Dream on and keep juggling!

UNLEASHED

BY SARA HUMPHREYS – IN STORES OCTOBER 2011

What if you suddenly discovered your own powers were beyond anything you’d ever imagined…

Samantha Logan’s childhood home had always been a haven, but everything changed while she was away. She has a gorgeous new neighbor, Malcolm, who introduces her to the amazing world of the dream-walking, shapeshifting Amoveo clans…but what leaves her reeling with disbelief is when he tells her she’s one of them…And shock turns to terror as Samantha falls prey to the deadly enemy determined to destroy the Amoveo, and the only chance she has to come into her true powers is to trust in Malcolm to show her the way…

Get swept away into Sara Humphreys’s glorious world and breathtaking love story…Excerpt

Unleashed Book Trailer http://youtu.be/cvo-Z9AGE3o

Sara Humphreys has been attracted to the fantasies of science fiction, paranormal, and romance since her adolescence when she had a mad crush on Captain Kirk. An actress and teacher, Sara lives in New York with her husband, who is very considerate of her double life, and four amazing boys. 

For more information, please visit:

Sara's Website 

Sara's Blog

Sara on Facebook and Twitter

                

MONDAY MUSINGS—Where Time Stands Still

The other night I was on my way to pick up my son from and evening class in town. As I was traveling down our paved two lane country road leading to town (7 miles away) I saw a strange sight up ahead on the side of the road. We’re smack dab in the country so there is no street lights at all, although you’ll find a few houses with lights on their electric poles. When it’s dark, it’s really dark.

I only caught glimpses of the red blinkers as I topped the rises in road and it was about a mile away when I first noticed them. I couldn't really be sure what it was—maybe a one of the farmers in the area out checking on the cattle and parked on the side of the road. As drew closer I saw it was a couple buggies of my Amish neighbors on their way home (I believe these two groups are part of a construction crew). I don’t often see the buggies at night. I had no idea they had flashing red lights on both front and back—not really bright ones, but blinkers never the less. They also had some sort of battery styled lanterns to light the road. Naturally, I slowed down to about 10 mph and turned my on my low beams. I’m sure the horses weren’t thrilled to have headlights hitting their eyes. They were tossing their heads and I could see the lead man holding them in pretty tight. I certainly didn’t want to spook them. That would be disastrous.  

There was that moment of feeling like I drove through a time portal (cue the theme from the Twilight Zone).

Horse and buggies isn’t an every day sight in most areas, unless you live in the country and have Amish communities nearby.

Did you know that Missouri has North America’s 7th-largest Amish population, with roughly 10,000 Amish? I didn't.

Missouri has attracted many Amish settlements in recent years.  We’ve added roughly two-dozen new settlements over the past two decades, averaging more than one new settlement per year.

We have a large community of Amish in Seymour, Webster County. Seymour is about 70 miles (114 km) from where I live. Any time I would go to Springfield, Missouri we’d pass through the area which has various shops the Amish sell their goods in—from foods, to quilts and of course furniture. You’ll find many a buggy or farm wagon trotting along the (deliberately designed) wide shoulders of US 60/63. Good thing the shoulders are wide considering that the traffic zips along the four-lane highway at speeds of 70-ish on most days. I admire their horses. They’re beautiful, strong and definitely road savvy—I’d be nervous walking on the shoulders of that highway.

Missouri is also home to a high percentage of small Amish communities. Closer to home, we have a small settlement in Raymondville (about thirty minutes away), established in 1985. You’ll see handmade signs advertising livestock, harness and tack makers, foods, and services offered by the Amish. There are several Amish construction crews that work in our area.

This is before the mill was completely renovated and a new
hitching post put in. 

Recently, we had several Amish families move into our immediate neighborhood and about four miles down our gravel country road. The original couple (and I believe they’re Swiss Amish) moved there about three years ago. There are now several families living there and I’m sure there will be others. I see them at our grocery store in town and know a few of the women enough to say hi. It’s not at all an unusual sight to see several horse and buggies at the hitching post at the old mill on the property next to the parking lot of the grocery store. You can almost imagine what it must have been like a hundred years ago.

My Danes set up a bit of a ruckus when one of the buggies or farm wagons passes by our house with large wheels crunching gravel—and horses of course. They pass by the house at least three or four times a week and the Danes are growing accustomed to them. But to my Danes minds, the horses belong in the pasture behind them and not on the road. If I’m out in the yard we’ll exchange waves. I’ve gotten to know some of the families—at least by sight and vise versa.

I’ve mentioned, more than once, that I live beyond the back forty—I’m not kidding when I say that. We’re far enough in the country that you don’t hear the traffic from Route 63—a main artery cutting through this part of the Ozarks—except on a cold winter night you can faintly hear the jack brakes on some of the semi-trucks. If you listen closely.

Time seems to slow down out here.

Today, with the autumn sun drenching the landscape and the wind blowing through the gold and red leaves of the trees. Birds flittering in the brush and the high-pitched call of the hawks hunting prey—it somehow seemed fitting to see a horse and buggy drive by.As they passed we exchanged a smile and wave set to the music of horses clip-clopping down the gravel road.