A New Year

Some things to do in the New Year:

               Start a journal and write in it every day, or perhaps once a week, but regularly.  Record the weather.  Pen your thoughts. Write a story from your past.  Remove an emotional ache from your system.

               Vow to laugh out loud at least once each day, all year long.  You’ll feel better.  You’ll help others feel better.

               Take time to see the whiteness of fresh fallen snow that sparkles and glimmers and covers the grime and dirt of an earlier day.

               Watch the sun set when the temperature is below freezing and the sky is steel blue and turns black as the sun sinks away and the thermometer plummets.

               Listen for the silence of winter, when snow buries the land and the cold tightens its grip.  There is great beauty in silence, something that is in short supply these days.

               Stand in a snowstorm and watch snowflakes accumulate on your sleeve.  Each snowflake is different, each one special—a reminder of nature’s creative magnificence.

               Sit by a fireplace or a wood stove doing nothing except listening to the occasional pop of the fire and smelling the hint of wood smoke that sneaks into the room.

               Remember that doing nothing is sometimes the most important thing you can do.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Happy New Year!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 14, 6:30 p.m.  Whole Foods,  3313 University Ave.,  Madison. Excerpt from TV show, “A Farm Story,” and discussion.

January 17, 7:00 p.m. Fitchburg Library, Garden Wisdom

January 19, 3:00 p.m. (Writing Workshop) Northern Lakes Center for the Arts, Amery, WI

January 19, 7:30 p.m. Northern Lakes Center for the Arts.  Presentation and Discussion: The Ames County Novel Series.

SPECIAL  ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING  “JERRY APPS: A FARM STORY” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.)

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Blizzard

The storm came from the west, well announced but mostly ignored as there was Christmas shopping to do, parties to attend, people to see, places to go.

The schools announced they would close the following day even though not a flake of snow fell from the sky and the temperature was above freezing.  “Why?” people asked.  Many still not believing the forecast of a major storm coming our way.

But late that night the snow began falling, huge, wet flakes that gathered on the tree limbs and hung heavy on the electric wires.  And made the roads and streets a slippery mess. 

By mid-day the wind came up, and a blizzard was proclaimed, and the snow flew and gathered in five foot drifts.  The malls closed, the banks closed, the buses ceased running.  And the power went out for thousands, who for the first time in years sat in the dark, reading by flashlight or by candlelight, as no one in these modern times had a kerosene lamp to light their way.

 A powerful reminder from Old Man Winter, that we earthlings with all  our technology, and our feelings of power and control are mere mortals when seventeen inches of snow falls and the wind blows and the power goes out.

A reminder we all need from time-to-time.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Listen to Old Man Winter.  He usually has the first and the last word.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING  “A FARM STORY” DVD, AND MY NEW NOVEL “TAMARACK RIVER GHOST:”

Fund Raiser: Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI.

[Note that checks should be made out to Friends of Patterson Memorial Library]

Special pricing to benefit the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Jerry’s hometown!
Book The Tamarack River Ghost List $26.95
The Patterson’s price only $22.00 ($28.00 shipped)

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.0

0 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.)

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Thank You TV Viewers

A big thank you to all who watched the documentary, Jerry Apps: A Farm Story and sent me emails, wrote letters, called, stopped me on the street and told me they enjoyed and appreciated the show.  I was overwhelmed with the response, and gratified, too, that I was able to make some small contribution to recognizing farmers and farm life from an earlier time.

“We are all people of the land,” I often say in my writings and in the many talks I give around the Midwest.  Individually, a person may be two or three or even four generations away from farms and farming.   But each of us has a tie to the land through our ancestors, and through our need to recognize, appreciate, and revere the land for it is the source of our sustenance and the foundation for our survival.

So far, the show has aired three times in Wisconsin and twice in Minnesota. Additionally it is available on the Internet so people can watch it on their computers.  Now and again a person hinted that I must have made a “goodly” amount of money from the TV folks for doing the show.  Nope, not a penny.  Nor did anyone else associated with the show earn any money from doing it.  It was our contribution to Wisconsin Public Television, one of the state’s often under appreciated treasures.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Never, ever forget your tie to the land.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

(Next January’s events listed next week)

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING  “JERRY APPS: A FARM STORY” DVD, AND MY NEW NOVEL “TAMARACK RIVER GHOST:”

Fund Raiser: Patterson Memorial Library

[Note that checks should be made out to Friends of Patterson Memorial Library]

Special pricing to benefit the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Jerry’s hometown!
Book The Tamarack River Ghost List $26.95
The Patterson’s price only $22.00 ($28.00 shipped)

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.0

0 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. We will accept checks or cash, we’re sorry but we don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.

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First Snow

It came in the night, quietly, without fanfare—not at all like a thunderstorm that brags about its arrival with flashing lightning and booming thunder.

The first snowstorm of the season.  It slips in unannounced.  No loud noises, no flashes of light.  Just gentle falling snow.  Little flakes at first and then larger ones as daylight arrives and mid-morning approaches and snow accumulates on the lawn and the bare branches of the maple trees in my backyard, and the shrubbery in front of the house.

There are “oh’s” and “ah’s” from those who see it, who know that this first snow, better than any calendar number, marks the changing of the seasons.  That fall is now buried in white, and winter has arrived—quietly but oh so effectively.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  When asked what to do about the snow, answered, “Let it snow.”

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING  “A FARM STORY” DVD, AND MY NEW NOVEL “TAMARACK RIVER GHOST:”

Fund Raiser: Patterson Memorial Library

[Note that checks should be made out to Friends of Patterson Memorial Library]

Special pricing to benefit the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Jerry’s hometown!
Book The Tamarack River Ghost List $26.95
The Patterson’s price only $22.00 ($28.00 shipped)

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.0

0 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. We will accept checks or cash, we’re sorry but we don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.

Top of Form

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 15, 11:00 -12:30. Wisconsin Historical Society Museum, Downtown Madison.  Book Signing.

Fireside Books

For each of the past ten years, in early December, I have signed books at a fine independent bookstore in West Bend named Fireside Books.  This past Saturday was the day for this year—a balmy weather day with brief rain showers.  But a great day for buying books, and Fireside Books was busy as I talked about and signed copies of my newest novel, TAMARACK RIVER GHOST.

It is always fun visiting with friends, former students, and those who have never heard of me at these events.  It's humbling—we all can use a little humble pie from time-to-time—when I ask a person stopping by my table if she has heard about my books.  “Can’t say if I have,” a nice lady says.  “What is your book about?”

I talk a bit about TAMARACK RIVER GHOST.  “Oh,” she says, interrupting me, “I’m really not very interested in that sort of thing,” and she walks away.

A little while later, a tall, intense young man stops by my table.  “I’m writing a book,” he says.  “Can you tell me how to do it?”

I try to share some thoughts on book writing—mostly I say, “Sit down and write—a couple hours a day, every day, six days a week.”

“Oh,” he says.  “That’s it huh?  I’ll give that a try.”

I wanted to say there was a bit more to it—but writing a couple hours a day is how I got started.  Perhaps next year I’ll see this fellow’s book in the bookstore next to mine.

Bookstore book signings are always fun and never predictable.  That’s one of the reasons I keep doing it.

SPECIAL EVENT: Monday, December 3, 6:30, Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose.  Central Wisconsin launch of TAMARACK RIVER GHOST, my latest novel, with a setting in central Wisconsin.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  No matter if you are writing a book or painting a house, two hours of work a day on the project will make a difference.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 3, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose.  Reception and book launch for “Tamarack River Ghost.” 

December 5, 11:00 a.m. Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio.  Tamarack River Ghost.

December 8, 9:30-11:30, Sheboygan Falls Memorial Library, Garden Wisdom. Sponsored by Sheboygan County Historical Research Center.

December 15, 11:00 -12:30. Wisconsin Historical Society Museum, Downtown Madison.  Book Signing.