Never having owned a beagle, when people asked if puppy Nemo had found his voice, I found the question odd.  Yes, Nemo growled, and barked–or something that passed for one.  And sometimes, Nemo even howled.  This last was charming, a serenade similar to the one our Australian Shepherd used to warble when he sang along at birthday parties.

Then Friday night, as I was getting ready for bed, I was jostled from the bathroom sink by the most ear-piercing, soul-rending, neighborhood-enraging sound I ever hope to hear.

Now I understood the questions.  Nemo, on a stroll down our street with my husband, had found his voice.

We have an interesting mix of dogs on our block. Onie and Raven are schnauzers who flank our house like twin sentinels.  Across and down the street are look-alike poodles, who make it clear that any other dog had better keep its distance.  At the farthest end are three mini-residents who yap for hours when grass rustles in the wind.  

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“Tomorrow March 25 between 9:30 and noon, CBS Paramount pictures will be filming a TV scene on the Potomac River near the Key Bridge in which special effects (loud noise and fire) will simulate a small water vessel being blown up.  This will be a heavily monitored and controlled event lasting only a few seconds.  There is no cause for alarm.”

Well, I’m awfully glad my county e-bulletin just cleared that up. Because tomorrow, there I’d be, close enough to Key Bridge to feel the rumble,  in the midst of introducing a brand new character, who will add enough intrigue to Fortunate Harbor to shake little Happiness Key to its foundations, then. . . 

KABOOM!*%$# 

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At what moment does a book become real to its author?  Tonight, surfing the Internet, I saw my upcoming July book, Happiness Key, on Shelfari, the cover bright and sunny, smiling happily at me from my computer screen.  I moved to Amazon, and there it was again. My baby.  Soon for sale.  Too cool. 

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I absolutely promise to be insightful at a later moment.  I’ll be witty and profound, as well–as soon as I remember how.  But in the meantime, a few announcements.  Please, bear with me. 

First, on the beauties of having a Facebook page. The moment I thought I’d figured out how to use this wonderful tool, Facebook decided to throw the proverbial wrench.  They completely changed the look of their pages and how to manage them, and the moment we figure this out, they will change them again.  It’s inevitable. 

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One of the reasons I’ve so enjoyed writing the Shenandoah Album novels has been the chance to design quilts with words.  Never mind how hard they are to actually construct.  I can sew my quilts with sentences, choosing colors I love and imagining the result.  Early on, of course, Leisure Arts blessed me with real quilts to go with my images, in the form of the Quilt Along With Emilie Richards companion volumes.  Real and imagined quilts.  The best of all possible worlds.

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A story begins with a dream.  Not necessarily the kind that involves pajamas and firm mattresses, but the kind we all have, that waking moment when our minds go spinning into outer space imagining what could be instead of what is. 

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Nemo and I take a morning walk almost every day.  Nemo’s particularly fond of snow and ice, and Emilie is not.  Despite this, we find ways to cope.  A regional park not far from my house offers trails through the forest, as well as a wide road that’s plowed at the first sign of snow.  On snowy mornings I walk the road and Nemo prowls the woods as far as his leash will allow.

Our park offers more, as well.  Deer are a common sight, deer not afraid of humans nor rambunctious beagles.  In the past Nemo has studiously ignored them, turning to look the other way, as if to say, “I need some time for rest and mediation, thank you.”  In fact Nemo, who was clearly bred for hunting, ignores nearly every living thing except people and insects.  He is as brave as a lion when his prey is a cricket or moth.  Squirrels are fine as long as they’re already heading up a tree.  Squirrels on the ground?  Rabbits?  Not so much.

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Are you participating in the block of the month project I’m doing with Pat Sloan?  Are you considering participation?  Or are you simply interested in what quilters do?  Then read on.  If not, there are lots of blogs below this one to entertain you while I show the block of the month participants how to make a crazy patch.  And be sure to stop by in a day or two for a regular, more general post.  Now for those crazy quilters. . .

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I promised one more blog on my Guatemalan trip.  When I dream of my time there, I will always dream in color, because no country I’ve visited has more to share.

There was color at the market place, where men and women arrived early, walking for miles on narrow mountain roads, wares on their heads and babies slung across their backs in handwoven fabric. Or they arrived crowded in the back of trucks
, ready

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