Friday, July 06, 2007

Back from ND

We made it safely back from North Dakota in one piece. Got back Monday at 12:30 am after driving 20 hours straight and I actually went into work. I must be crazy. (yeah, I heard that)

The town centennial celebration was lots of fun, sort of. The parade down main street was great except for the huge thunder storm that blew in right in the middle of the it. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain and there I was standing under a tree. And so was everyone else and no one was concerned that lightning was striking all around us. The town water tower and grain elevator have lightning rods at the top so they all figured we were safe but I was a bit nervous about it. The storm only lasted about 20 minutes, then the sun came out and evaporated the rain. Up went the temperature and the humidity and the mosquitoes found us.

I brought lots of books along and decided to include a couple Westerns and that turned out to be a brilliant idea. Montana is a beautiful (but too freaking big) state with its mountains, rugged rock formations, plains, and rolling prairie grass bringing my imagination alive with thoughts of covered wagons, cowboys, buffalo, Indians, and women in prairie bonnets. And there I was reading High Plains Bride by Jenna Kernan (B+). Wonderful, but not for sissies. Emotional book which deals with a difficult subject. Heroine's twelve year old daughter is kidnapped by the Sioux and Kernan doesn't gloss over the brutality of her treatment, but it stops short of being too graphic. I also read The Preacher's Daughter by Cheryl St. John (B) which turned out to be a very gentle book in comparison to HPB. It was good but not one of my favorites by CSJ. I also just finished a Contemporary Western - Salvation, Texas by Anna Jeffrey (B+) and really enjoyed that one as well.

The rest of the books I finished were:

Robber Bride by Deborah Simmons (B)
Wife for Hire by Janet Evanovich (B)
The Kissing Blades by Jessica Hall (B+)

I'm trying to get caught up with all my favorite blogs but the neighborhood 4th of July picnic in my front yard distracted me. I think I may have missed the latest train wreck / author war or something because I saw some people mention something but I can't figure it out. Which drives me nuts cuz you know how I love to rubberneck.

Need to find out about the book haul from all the Canadian Romance Blogger Convention attendees :). Turns out Devonna and I came very close to having a North Dakota Romance Blogger Convention. She visited a town (Tioga) near Noonan but we missed each other by a day or so. Good thing, I guess, because there isn't a bookstore within about 100 miles of these towns.

7 comments:

CindyS said...

Woohoo!! You're back and blogging!

I have a thing about lightning also, which you might remember - something about dogs being let off leashes when I saw the first lightning strike and ran my butt off to get back to the car (with dog leashes?) Yep. Fun times ;)

I have the Preacher's Daughter on the pile and I figured it would be a sweeter book in tone to what I usually like to read.

In all honesty, it started at Karen Scott's blog (that's where all the good rubbernecking stuff starts ;))

Yeah, did you see Jaid Black's interview with Jaynier about her husband. Who's a convicted murderer? Yeah, I'm sure you could google that one. I think there was another but it wasn't popcorn worthy or I would have remember just for you!

Love you!

Cindy

Tara Marie said...

Welcome back.

I wouldn't mind a drive through Montana, obviously it's a good place to read :)

The Jaid Black interview was definitely popcorn worthy, but full of way TMI.

Kristie (J) said...

Hey! Welcome back. Glad the trip went well - and B reads! That makes it even better.

Rosie said...

Welcome back! With temps over 100 here just the thought of green and mountains sounds heavenly. We were in Montana in late June last year and loved it. My Dad has a place up there.

ReneeW said...

Cindy: I've been scared of lightning since I was a little girl so it wasn't pleasant. Yeah, TPD is sweeter than I like too, but it's good and a quick read. I figured it was something on Karen's blog, she likes to stir things up, love that girl! Whoa, I didn't hear about that interview, must google that. Missed you bunches and I need to comment about your book haul.

Tara: I definitely recommend Montana for reading Westerns. It really gets you in the spirit.

Kristie: I'm glad to be back, but now you're getting ready to leave town. I'll be watching for all the details.

Rosie: Montana and ND were unusually green so they must have had lots of rain. Water was standing in the fields. It was also cooler than normal too. In the 60's and 70's. It was warmer at home in Seattle (in the 80's). 100 degrees sounds way to hot for me. Montana is such a beautiful state when it's green like it was.

nath said...

welcome back home! sorry I'm a bit late commenting, but I'm behind on my blog-hopping ^^;

ReneeW said...

Nath: Oh, me too. Way behind. Thanks, great to be back.

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