Thursday, September 28, 2006

Doing the L. A. County Fair

My husband took me out to dinner and then to the L. A. County Fair on our first date. It was near my birthday, and after we married four years later, the Fair became a birthday ritual.

Yesterday we did the Fair again. It's only a fifty minute drive from our home, and the weather was glorious--clear and mild. Most years it's been unbearably warm. It covers a lot of territory, and we've learned as we've grown older that sitting on the benches or a low wall around the trees needs to be a frequent pastime.

This year they'd changed the special features signifcantly. The barnyard was beautiful, with animals in almost zoo-like enclosures. One of the highlights was Asian water buffalo. Their gigantic horns are as wide as a man is tall. While the buffalo were dark brown, their horns were a striated buff color. There was no missing them!

And the Budweiser Clydesdales were back. I just love them...such huge animals. I especially love the fluffy, pure white fetlocks and the short, black tails. It was feeding time, and I was amazed that the man who fed them walked right into their stalls and left the door open. The horses knew the routine and waited patiently until he'd hung thir buckets of mash in the feeding trough. These draft horses each drink 30 gallons of water a day.

The dalmation with his red collar was following the man down the line, but he stayed out of the stalls.

There were lion rabbits I'd never seen before, in lion color with huge ruffs around their faces. There was a Zonkey...a zebra crossed with a donkey, and a hybrid Zorse...a horse crossed with a zebra, if you can imagine that. I don't know. The idea turned me off just a litle.

We saw pheasants of all types, some of them in gorgeous colors.

I'd been given money for my birthday, and I spent it on a lightweight pair of binoculars and a pair of earrings from two of the many booths. The orange earring "stones" are from the Spiny shell, and they're set in sterling silver with a patina finish. I just love them. Great color for fall.

We ate hot dogs and barbecued chicken, fat ice cream bars dipped in chocolate and nuts, drank milk and split a Cinnabon topped with yummy frosting while we watched a high dive act. It was evening, and the live bands were playing. I'd visited a retired fire watch tower in the Smokey the Bear encampment, but we were too tired to wait for the magic show. It was night by then, and we'd been there eight hours.

Time to head for home.

On my website soon I'll post my interview of the editor of Mysterical-E, the e-zine developed by writers of mystery for readers and writers of mystery.

Have a great day...or a good night,
Dee Ann

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

IT'S A PARTY!

Join us for the Sisters in Crime Launch Party for "LAndmarked for Murder," October 21 at 5:30 p.m. (not 5 p.m. as orginally published) in the Mystery Bookstore, 1036-C Broxton, West Los Angeles. No charge, just join us. Editors and authors will be there to autograph your books.

Read books! Watch your backs!

Dee Ann

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

"LAndmarked for Murder" debuts at West Hollywood Book Fair!

Thanks to much work by Michael Mallory, a co-editor of this Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles anthology, the chapter had enough copies for this event on Sunday 9/17. The books arrived at his house direct from the printer via FedEx two days prior.

Whew! Anticipating a release in August, the Fair venue had been planned as a day to promote the new book, but in publishing you never know what'll come down the pike to rearrange all your plans. Thanks to Michael, the chapter made it by the skin of our collective teeth.

The Fair celebrated the 20th anniversary of West Hollywood as a city, and was held in the pleasant West Hollywood Park. The Sisters in Crime/LA booth was right in front as you entered the gate.

Attendees could visit panels on various aspects of writing and publishing, meet authors, browse through their books, and enjoy a spot of coffee or eats from the food booths. You could even enjoy a play there. Either the library or the Friends of the Library were holding their annual book sale. They had hundreds of discounted used books in bookcases. People were carting away bags of books. Now, everyone loves a bargain, but I hoped some of them contained a few new books as well...especially those from the SinC/LA booth.

"Marathon Madness" was my contribution to "LAndmarked for Murder." It involves a murder along the route of a Los Angeles marathon, and since I've run L.A. several times, I can vouch for the authenticity of the course I wrote about. A murder not connected with the race did occur one year near the start of a marathon. My murder, however, came entirely out of my imagination.

My hour to sign was from 11 a.m. - noon, and it was excruciatingly hot. I was wearing several marathon finisher's medals and my running shoes with the red velcro chip attacher I mention in my story. I displayed a picture of me finishing my first marathon. I finally put it away for fear the sun would fade the color. No one noticed my medals. No one noticed my shoes. I finally put on a hat to keep the sun off my face. Now no one noticed me either. Between sunglasses and hat, I was incognito.

Then I forgot the sweater I'd slung over the back of my chair in case of chilly weather. Hmmm. What weather channel was I watching?

And there's just something about SinC/LA events...I always seem to leave something. President Sue Ann Jaffarian can vouch for that.

At our table, Gay Toltl Kinman, who writes marvelous plays and mysteries for youth, was seated to my right, and Kate Thornton, whose stories have appeared in three of the anthologies produced by the chapter, including "LAndmarked for Murder," was to her right. Kate and I signed our share of books and enjoyed getting acquainted. Gay's always delightful to visit with.

Award winning author Rochelle Krich was signing at the table at right angles to ours. I had a chance to compliment her on her interview of Jan Burke, also an award winning writer, at one of our chapter meetings. In her usual, gracious way, she thanked me for letting her know.

I enjoy the people in this chapter. If you live in the L.A. area, check out our meetings at www.sistersincrimela.com.

For a copy autographed by me, email me at badace21@earthlink.net for price details. Write "Marathon" in the subject line. Include your snail mail address.

Later, I'll share about the book fair I attended the day before. Between the two days, I drove over 300 miles for these events.

Take care. Read books!

Dee Ann

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome!

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