The Annual Chincoteague Fire Department Pony Penny Swim in a Few Minutes!

Good morning! It's 7:30, been up since 6:30 waiting for word about the Pony swim. What they do is the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department is in charge of a local thing around here called The Annual Chincoteague Pony Penning Roundup. What they do (and we're supposed to get 40,000 to 50,000 visitors over there on a 5 mile island...ack) is round up the ponies on Assateague and send them over the channel and onto Memorial Park here on Chincoteague. They've just sent off the flare which means the ponies are getting ready for the swim! What they're doing is running them down the street and onto Beebe Street which is the next road down from us so what Melissa and I are getting ready to do is grab the bikes (I've had plenty of coffee!) and head over there. What I want to do is get pictures of the ponies running down the street on the way to the carnival grounds. Gotta run, but this ought to be fun! I'll take pictures!

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Drive-Thru Post Offices?

I had returned the rental van (read all about my adventures in Busch Gardens with a puking daughter and 104 degree heat wave here), and I decided to go over to the post office to find out what I had in the mail.

The line was long and this woman standing beside me said, "Why don't they come up with the idea for drive-thru post offices? They have drive-thru everything else."

I agreed with her. How neat it would be to not have to get out of your car in a heat wave and get your mail? Call me lazy or whatever all you want, but I see something really good coming out of that. I turned to her and said, "I hope you're seeing in the future because that's a wonderful idea!" Even the postmistress, Mary Lou, agreed with us.

Mary Lou and I go way back. Wasn't it neat that she ended up being the postmistress here in Chincoteague? Her daughter, Rebecca, and my daughter, Melissa, were not only cousins, but they went all through kindergarden, grammar school and high school together.

So, Mary Lou gets my mail and asks me just what I do over the Internet. I guess the packages she was handing me from Random House peaked her curiosity a bit.

"I take authors on virtual book tours." I could see she didn't know what in the hell I was talking about so I explained further, "You know how authors go on book tours? Well, it's the same thing, only with the gas prices as high as they are, authors are seeing the value and the convenience in promoting their books online."

"Oh," she says, but I can tell she is catching my drift. Then, she says, "Isn't that nice."

Mary Lou is the real McCoy. I can tell when she says "Isn't that nice," she really means it and isn't brushing me off like others when I say, "I'm an author," and they say, "Isn't that nice," and they don't really mean it. Yeah, it happens. Today being an author isn't like it was back in the day, believe me. It seems everyone in his mother is an author these days.

Anyway, I tell her good day and I head back out into the heat and jump in my car and go home.

But, it does make you wonder whether it would be better having a drive-up post office where you didn't have to get out and didn't have to talk to anyone would be a better deal than having to go into a place where you actually do get to get to meet your neighbors and even talk about what your business is all about.

Actually, I think I like getting to know my neighbors and talking about my business and I believe that's what good living is all about. Which would you choose? The convenience or the chance to get a word or two in with your neighbors?

Conversations From My Front Porch

"Anna, do you see the clouds over there? They're making shapes. Do you see them?"

"Where, Daddy?"

"Over there. I see a dog and a bear. Ohhh...I see a racoon."

Living in a tourist spot really gives me great fodder for blog posts. "Anna" and her daddy are visiting the couple next door. Not sure what the relationship is to them but they're obviously family or very very good friends to let them use their condo for a week.

It's a little after 9 p.m. The sun has just gone down and there's still a faint bit of blue left in the sky with some kind of ominous black cloud formation over in the distance. And the cool part about it is that there's lightning (can't hear the thunder) among the dog, bear and raccoon clouds.

Anna is a little girl of about 3, I think. I saw them walking earlier on our dock. I don't know if this is their first time or their millionth time, but they (along with other people renting out the other condos) love our dock, no trespassing sign and all.

It's okay. I'll share.

But I was sitting just now out on the deck and watching and listening. Little does dad next door know, but he's just made a memory for Anna. She'll look up at the sky one day with her kids and tell the same story. Maybe she'll remember coming to Chincoteague when she was but three years old and watching the clouds forming animal shapes with her dad on a beautiful summer night. Maybe she'll even write about it, much like I'm writing about it now.

Speaking of kids, I heard from Abraham's mother today! Rose filled me in with all that's going on in Floyd, Virginia, and wants me to come visit. The area sounds beautiful. She lives right in the mountains and has bears and everything. Life is good for them and they sure do deserve it after they have all been through. Abraham is cancer-free now and living life to its fullest. I can't help but to think their new life has something to do with it.

Life is great.

Message from Judi Moreo

Judi Moreo toured with us at Pump Up Your Book Promotion a few months ago. I'd like to share an email she sent to me a few minutes ago:

For those of you who may want a little extra motivation......a new inspirational slide show to put a little lift in your day...

http://www.youaremorethanenough.com/slideshow-oyster/download/index.htm

Enjoy!

Judi

http://www.JudiMoreo.com
http://www.YouAreMoreThanEnough.com

Get a FREE $500 Goodie Bag from Lisa Daily Today!

Get a goodie bag worth $500 today when you purchase one of the funnier beach books of the summer.

Fifteen Minutes of Shame, a novel from bestselling author Lisa Daily, is a romantic comedy about what happens when America’s favorite TV love guru finds out her husband is cheating – live, on national television.

Not only is the most humiliating moment of Darby Vaughn’s life splashed across every supermarket tabloid and celebrity gossip show, but fans are turning on her, and her love life is fodder for late-night comedians. If Darby breaks her own zero-tolerance policy for cheaters and takes her philandering husband back, her career will be over. But if she sticks to her own rules, she’ll lose the only man she’s ever loved.

Praise for Fifteen Minutes of Shame:

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To get the free $500 goody bag, purchase Fifteen Minutes of Shame before 12 midnight PST on Monday, July 14 at Amazon.com (where it’s currently bargain-priced around $10) and email your receipt to swagbag (at) lisadaily.com.

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Conversation Off My Deck

Conversation off my 2nd floor deck where I do most of my contemplating and rocking:

Father and son (possibly five or six) casually riding by on bicycles. Son has helmet on and is behind father.

Son: I could live here the rest of my life.

Father: Wouldn't you be bored?

Son thinks for a minute and says, "No."

Friday Funny of the Week

I love this video....

Boomer Babes' Maria Grazia Swan is Giving Away Book Today at The Savvy Boomer!

Maria Grazia Swan, author of the relationship book, Boomer Babes: True Tales of Love and Lust in the Later Years, is having a contest at The Savvy Boomer! Looking for some outrageous inspiration to kick start your love life? Or some sizzingly salacious gossip about the woman who could be your next-door neighbor? It’s not surprise that the generation who burned bras and brought about The Summer of Love continues to redefine the way the world thinks about sex. Long-term lovers or one-night stands, there’s nothing these women haven’t tried. And now they dish on some of their dirtiest secrets.

Anyone who leaves a comment at The Savvy Boomer is eligible! Hurry...special offer runs out at midnight tonight!

Guest Author: BOOMER BABE'S Maria Grazia Swan on Virtual Book Tour

I have a special guest for you today! Okay, she’s a boomer chick. I’m a boomer chick. She’s a relationship expert. I’m a relationship expert (well I am!). She writes about the exploits of boomer babes who talk about living life to its fullest. I live (or try to!) my life to its fullest. But, there’s one thing I envy about her. She’s got the inside secrets of boomer women divulging well, you know, INTIMATE secrets. Is that enough to make you want to run out and buy this book? No more are women of the certain age doing, thinking, acting like they did back in your grandma’s time! They’re vital, they’re still exploring and they know how to put love and LUST back into the bedroom (or anywhere!) where it belongs. I’m talking about the wonderfully talented author, Maria Swan, author of BOOMER BABES: TRUE TALES OF LOVE AND LUST IN THE LATER YEARS.

I’m telling you this book is hot, hot, hot!

And guess what…I got a chance to interview her! Is that cool or what? So, sit tight folks, you’re in for a treat. I give you Ms. Maria Swan…

Thank you for this interview, Maria. I’m so excited to have you here today. I have so many questions; I don’t know where to start. I guess we’ll begin with you telling everyone what exactly is BOOMER BABES: TRUE TALES OF LOVE AND LUST IN THE LATER YEARS all about?

Now, Dorothy, you know exactly what the book is about, Love and Lust, in my own neck of the woods, love+lust=fabulous sex, how about yours?

LOL! I love your sense of humor! Tell me, at what point did you say I'm going to write a book and give the juiciest details I can of about boomer chicks everywhere?

I already had the stories, at some point I figured out no one wants an How To that reminds them of 'paint by numbers' so I decided to go the 'show, don't tell route'. How is my show?

Oh, honey, I've read your book and it's fantastic!!! Okay, I have to ask…I already know, but for my boomers who read this blog, what kind of intimate things did you divulge in your book? And these were your friends’ secrets, am I right?

Yeah, 'were' is a good word choice. Some of my friends haven't read the book. They call and tell me they are coming to my next booksigning and I keep telling them, "Look, with the price of gas you ought to wait for a closer to home booksigning." I may have to move, how is the weather where you are?

LOL, hot, hot, hot! Did you use their real names and did they have a problem with that or did you use fake names to protect the innocent?

I used fake names. What innocents? Oh, you mean the totally guilt?

I am cracking up. You really should be a humor writer! Anyway, next question...you have a group of friends who you get together with called Boomer Babes. Can you tell us how this started?

The group that gave me the original idea it's Body Buddies, georgeous women, boomers, long legs, long hair, long nails, probably have men with long...beards.I met them at a boutique gym, I know it sounds so snob. It is. So I started to work out with them and their leader, the Kathy Evenson-Howard chick I thank in my book. They welcomed me and got me in great shape, I still had to go and hunt my own prey, but it was great. I stop going there when I sold the book, not because of the women, but because I felt I needed to go undercover in case I became famous. LOL

How do you think women have evolved over the years, in your own experience talking to women of boomer chick age? Do you think they’re happier than say our mothers were at that age? Are they more adventuresome? Are they willing to settle?

The number one factor is this; today's women have their own money. That changes everything, including who gets on top...of the ladder, I mean.

*snicker* Tell it like it is, sister! But on the serious side, I so agree with you on this. I think the boomer generation has probably the highest amount of women who are self-sufficient than any other generation. Interesting, huh? Maria, I have to tell you, your book is the most enjoyable book I've had the pleasure of reading. What are your plans for the future? More boomer babe books?

I'm writing; Old Flames Burn Hottest-True Tales of Lovers Lost and Found. Actually, I'm soliciting true stories on the subject of Americans' new obsession, old lovers.

Really. How can people submit to this?

I can be reached through my website and we can take it from there! I’ll let you know if I get some great story.

Thank you for this interview, Maria, and good luck on the rest of your virtual book tour!

Marie: Thank you Dorothy, nice looking son you have. I looked at the birthday photos. By the way, have you heard of 'cougars'?

No, I haven't. What are they?

Cougars are the ‘older women’ also known as Boomers; they love chasing younger men like your son.

LOL, well, he is single! Bad Maria! I'll leave you on that note! You can visit Maria on the web at
www.boomerbabesbook.com or purchase her book at fine bookstores everywhere!

Oh, stay tuned to Boomer Chick. Maria's going to give us a quiz on July 29 to see if you're a trailblazer, lover or diehard!

Also, don't forget to leave a comment for Maria below because guess what? Since we are taking part in Maria's virtual book tour, anyone who comments could win a virtual book tour for themselves or if they're not an author, they could win a $25 Amazon gift certificate! Is that cool or what? LEAVE A COMMENT PEOPLE! DON'T LET THIS OPPORTUNITY GO BY!