Benjamin McTish Xmas- part two- the Den

The second installment….at the home of Author June M. Pace…inspiration and magic of the holiday season….enjoy!  ps. this one is shorter…just getting this process down..thx for your patience and support!

Benjamin McTish Xmas

Sharing some of the inspiration and magic of the holidays with my McTish fans…enjoy!

BOOK TWO...THE WIZARDS OF CORANIM

Just wanted to share a small preview of the new cover for the second book in the McTish Series coming soon...working hard to get it out by the holidays...loads of people waiting patiently to see what happens next to the Muskydeer....keep the magic alive!

So enjoy!!  I got to get back to writing...time is moving much to quickly around here! xox juner

The Benjamin McTish Series: BOOK EVENT

The Benjamin McTish Series: BOOK EVENT: Tomorrow...Saturday, Nov 16th..."Friends of the Scotts Valley Library" are hosting a book introduction and talk by...me...from 3-5...(see more)

CATCHING UP!

So as usual...I'm catching up with you again...such is life.
Well, considering I had a wedding and am promoting a book, and writing a new one, and Xmas is tomorrow...I think I deserve a break!

So the last bit of travel had us down to LA where we got to see our daughter for a couple of days...great visit..just the three of us.  She's really an amazing teacher with her little babies learning about art...we enjoyed being flies on the wall for a bit and watching her at work...very proud we are!

And we got to stop by for a quick 40 minutes to visit with my oldest and dearest of friends Lin, and her hubby Alan and gorgeous daughter Brit, to thank them personally for the tremendous wedding gift of two nights on the beach in Monterey, yes that was from them and that spectacular stay was shared a post ago in case you missed it...whirl wind visit, but great non the less....so many many years we've known each other, since we were 15, inseparable back then up till our thirties...all that history....and we hadn't seen each other in twenty some odd years..so wow!

And a GREAT lunch with another good old friend of mine Rona...what fun we had dishing over a nosh at the Daily Grill...my family really got a kick outta her...she's one of the best!

The book is going full barrel right now...Got a huge event planned this weekend to introduce the book to the community, posters out and word buzzing...loads going on to promote this project.  Then the featured article about the series on the 21st in the Good Times...now THAT is big!  Really looking forward to generating some serious momentum from that...wish me luck.

Almost finished with the book cover for the second book...the Wizards of Coranim....hoping to have this book published before Xmas..HA!!  Why why why is time moving so freaking fast!!

Then we had Taylor's 21st birthday..our youngest son's girlfriend..so she's our daughter too..hosted a bunch of kids at the house here, while we hid away in the den..pretty tasteful all around...she had a great time..we really love her!

And last but not least...the chickies...they are truly growing...look at the difference!  ps. something just went haywire and I can't enlarge the text on the bottom few photos...sorry for the minuscule reading folks...put on your reading glasses!  and just in case you're wondering the word is schnuggie..it means cuddle around here...later.

GORGEOUS! Right? (yeah, both of them)

she is an artist, with an artistic home...
one treasure that I LOVE

this one with her biker boots and curly orange hair...
reminded me of someone...oh yeah!
my favorite character in my book...Mathilda!

intriguing..yes?...ha! you'll have to wait!

Beauty Queen

who let the old broad in?

the big birthday dinner the night before with our other kids

My baby...can you believe this gal used to fit in the
palm of my hand?
She's magnificent...seriously..huge, fluffy and all chicken...Petunia!

and this little gal...Marilyn...
her head is almost grown in after her
scalping a few months ago..
she's so freaking cute...
a little ball of fluff...just like her namesake

aww...she's just the most amazing hen
you've ever seen in person..giant feathered perfection!

Winnie...not as fluffy as I had assumed she'd be...but look at those feathers,
a living piece of art!

And last but not least Maxine..the epitome of what a hen is supposed to look like
black and white stripe with a big red comb..she let's me pick her up to pet...we call is schnuggie

So hope your life is going along smooth and the change in seasons is making you smile...I  LOVE Autumn...in the meantime, keep warm and close to your loved ones...it's the best thing ever!
Mucho love to my besties...xoxo juner

FINAL LEG OF HONEYMOON

So I'm finally getting around to sharing the last weekend of our honeymoon month...ha ha.  Unfortunately, on our way home from Monterey we got a call that my cat, Frankie was sick....long story short, he almost died that night and had a two day hospital stay...he's still with us and being the cool cat that he is...however, had another emergency visit a couple days ago as he's still bleeding a bit and stressed, so here he is with me today, on some serious kitty meds that I had to sign for since they are narcotics!  So hopefully he'll make a full recovery soon...since we're leaving this weekend for a couple quick days in LA to take care of some business and visit our daughter, he better perk up before then or I'll be stressing the entire time...I'm traditionally NOT a cat person...but this guy is something else...I really love him.

So here goes, the Hotel stay from Heaven, and by that I mean the Barmapers...what an amazing place to stay.  Right on the beach, your own little suite with a fireplace and big screen for Sunday football, we were lovin it!
They give you a golf cart to keep things quiet for the guests...so that wasn't fun or anything..I did all the driving..ha ha...then wouldn't you know it, but the whales were migrating that weekend...so we stood for a while and watched as blow hole spray went up everywhere...

view from our deck

                            

that black spot in the middle is a whale breaching,
 it was so cool to see his head popping out of the water

and the sunsets weren't bad either...

Next day we went off and explored Monterey and had fun bar hopping and Ray tested different beers and that evening we went out to the bonfire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores...my first ever by the way..you know I never liked chocolate, so I had mine without...a little side gift from our hosts...

not a bad place to hang out for Monday nite football!
We stopped and brought in some food and lounged on the sofa.

 So after a nice visit sitting on the cliff overlooking the ocean the next morning, we headed on out to Carmel for lunch. And if you've never been, it's like being at Disneyland...it's all gingerbread houses and quaint little shoppes with perfectly planted flowers on the sides of brick lined roads...it's like visiting another world...and we found the perfect place to hang for lunch and say our good byes...

 So thx to our dear old friends, Linda, Alan and Britan for giving us such a lovely gift, and a great way to end our month long honeymoon round one...ha ha...off to LA like I said, but this really isn't a visit visit, it's more about work..however, we'll soak a little honeymoon vibe out of it...it's just another excuse to celebrate!

The happy couple...Mr. and Mrs. Schneider....I like the sound of that....enjoy!! mucho love to all!!  xoxox juner

MINI HONEYMOON TO TAHOE

Okay, so I woke up last Monday (or actually the one before this past one), one week after our wedding, and still had the doldrums...we both did.  I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that half the party was still laying around our house and yard..my dress was hanging on the door, staring at me, taunting me...so I finally put it in the closet....out of sight out of mind.
Amid my tears I sat in our bed and talking to my husband I realized, what are we doing?  This is probably why people leave right after their wedding...it's too much emotion to just sit in it.  So I said, "let's just go to Tahoe today...just stay one night..."  

His best man had given us the money to go as a gift, however, after the explosion of cash that went out, we were less than willing to spend anything more, gift or not.  Which is why in the beginning we decided, we live in a great little town with plenty to see and do...let's just tool around here...so we did, for the first few days...but now it wasn't enough..it wasn't working for us...so he looked back up at me and said, "Seriously, leave today?" and I said, "yeah, just go, what's really stopping us...we have this money, we'd spend it here anyway on going out to dinner and such...let's just get outta here...besides, Mark really wanted us to go.."  So he looked at me like I was crazy for about a minute and then simply said..."Okay, let's just get out of here right now." 

And so we did...and let me tell you...two days in Tahoe works miracles!!

Someone else had left this in the sand for us to
stumble upon...how fortuitous !

Fallen Leaf Lake...like home to me...

Not for me in Sept....brave man

Hubba hubba hubbie of mine

Works for me....(a nod to my niece)

So thx Mark for the lovely gift and we're so happy we did this...it really felt like more than two days...we stayed at the lodge in Camp Rich and enjoyed ourselves immensely!!   So the next day we got home I got a cold and it's still here a week later...so not like me...however, all the months of stress and no sleep finally caught up...so now I need to get healthy for round two of our mini honeymoon month with a stay at a resort on the beach in Monterey...another gift from my old friend Lin and her husband Alan...so until then...we're still in honeymoon phase over here..can't be less than a few minutes away from each other...marriage changes a lot...and in our case...wowza!  Hope this lasts forever, it's a tremendous feeling!!
Mucho love out there...until next time...xoxo juner