MARSHA WEST LOVES FALL IN VERMONT--FIND OUT WHY ON MY BLOG.

Welcome, Marsha West.

So, you live in Texas and and your season of Autum is very different from mine here in Pittsburgh, Pa and the New England states.


Well, it's October, the witching month, so instead of a hot drink, please have a tall glass of iced lemonade.


Now sit back, relax, and tell us about your October in Texas..


It's FALL! At least, it’s getting close. I’m an optimist. Here in north central Texas, we sometimes have summer clean into October! Frequently Halloween is shirtsleeve weather. Makes it fun for little trick-or-treaters who get to show off their costumes with nothing covering them up.

 

 We’ve had a hot summer, and it has lingered into fall, but I’m so grateful it wasn’t like the summer of 2012 or heaven forbid a repeat of 2011! We truly thought we’d died and gone to hell. 




Over seventy days in a row of 100 + temps. Now you may think you have high temperatures. Certainly west Texas, Arizona, and California have those, but not with our high humidity, which sucks the very life from you. And in some sad cases, this is literally true and not just figuratively. Elderly people and the poor are at great risk from our deadly heat.

You may be wondering why I’m writing about the weather. I mean it’s the weather, for crying out loud.
                                                                    

How boring. LOL For some, it probably is. But I’m very sensitive to temperature changes. I like to be in a state of what I call “medium”—not too hot nor too cold. Though if it’s a choice between the two, I’ll pick cold any day.

 I swear hot temperatures turn me into a mean, ugly person.  I have no patience for anything or anyone. I totally understand the reports from law enforcement types that murders increase in number when the number on the thermometer goes up. Heat makes me crazy. (Well, I’m a writer, so perhaps no one can tell the difference. 

I regularly check the temps on my iPhone for places I’d like to be. 

Here's one above. 

(the location in my first published book) and yes, the weather plays a role in the story).

Another is Red River, New Mexico, a site the family vacationed at in August when our daughters were young.

 

 Camden, Maine—the site of a couple of recent trips with my DH in what I consider my adopted state.  I confess not to have spent a winter in Maine. It is possible I wouldn’t survive, but I’m willing to give it a try. I for sure, wouldn’t burn up! LOL

Another is Red River, New Mexico, a site the family vacations. 

So back to FALL…we have temps all this week in the low 90s, but our lows are finally dropping into the low 60s! That means our mornings are really pleasant. 

 When we’re in the 90-100s and the nights don’t cool off below 90…well, IMHO, that’s no way to live.

In another life, I was an elementary school principal, and it never ceased to amaze me when parents sent their kids to school without jackets when a blue norther was forecast to come in. It didn’t matter that it was 65 or 70 when they came to school, by the time the left, we’d be in the low 40s AND UPPER 30S. All you have to do is listen to radio or the TV for 5 minutes to find out what the day will be like. (Of course, now it’s even easier. Put the weather app on your phone.) I know kids (and some adults) don’t like to mess with coats/jackets, but it’s a parent’s job to be responsible. Sometimes you have to make the tough decisions. Insist your child take a jacket to school.

Let me share two quick stories. One is when I was the hottest. Several years ago when I was still working in a school and (despite popular opinion), we’re not off 3 months in the summer! My car was parked out front in the sun. I got in, and the thermometer register 119. I kid you not! I cranked up the AC and rolled down the windows to let out the heat. Within a block I was drenched in sweat, and my head beat like it was about to explode. Dreadful 30-minute drive home. Eventually rolled up the windows, but I could’ve been sitting in an oven!

Now one of the coldest times I remember was when our daughters were in high school. 




 Both were cheerleaders, and we attended a typical Friday night game. Yes, cold temps and precipitation were predicted. I’m no dope. We carried blankets, wore caps and scarves with our coats. About midway through the game, the blue norther hit bringing with it sleet. Not sleet that fell on us; it sailed horizontally across the football field north to south. People shivered under their blankets, bunching together with people they might not know, just to add body warmth. The girls had on their leggings with their uniforms, but it was a miserable night. The football game continued. It was, after-all, Texas.

So how about you? Am I the only person out here adversely affected by temperatures? Are the meteorologists I the only ones who care? Or are you perhaps a closet weather watcher because you too want to be “medium” like me. I’d love to hear from you. Commenters will be eligible to win a prism and lavender sachet, which connect to the store in VERMONT ESCAPE.

 

Blurb

Two years after the murder of her husband, someone guns down Jill Barlow’s father, a Texas State Representative. The authorities suspect a connection between the murders, but can’t find proof. Jill longs for the peace she found when she visited Vermont after her husband’s death. With the perpetrators still at large, she flees to the small town of Woodstock. 

          The gambling syndicate, believing she has damning evidence against them, pursues her, shattering her dreams of peace. In an effort to protect her grown children, she doesn't tell them violence continues to stalk the family.

          Despite having lost so much already, with the lives of her family and friends at stake, will Jill be required to make more sacrifices, even the hope of a second chance at love?

EXERPT VERMONT ESCAPE:

Jill Barlow reached for her make-up kit and brushed against the one thing she’d been doing her damnedest to avoid. Her heart rate tripped into overtime.

The package she received days after her dad was murdered. One month ago, but she couldn’t face opening a reminder of the nightmare.

Pictures of her vigorous father mixed with recent images of his closed casket. Nausea hit. Again. Damn. Why would someone blow off her father’s head? She didn’t stay to find out. She ran.

She’d pushed herself on a four-day trip from Texas to Vermont. Emotionally and physically exhausted, all she wanted to do was unpack her pajamas and climb into bed. Habit required she clean and moisturize her face. Habit provided comfort when life was chaotic. Habit could get her through the worst. Or not.

 In the Woodstock Inn suite, her hand trembled when she removed the package and dropped it onto the bed where it lay on the white coverlet like a scorpion.

 Hands propped on her knees, she leaned over, drew in needed oxygen. A minute passed, and then she straightened.

“Okay, open this. Every time you’ve come across the thing, you implode, morphing into a quivering mass of mush.” 

BUY LINKS:

MIU  http://goo.gl/nJtaa

B & N http://goo.gl/1lR6D

Amazon http://goo.gl/qhzBm

BIO:

Marsha R. West, a retired elementary school principal, is also a former school board member and threatre arts teacher. She writes romantic suspense where experience is required. Her heroes and heroines, struggling with life and loss, are surprised to discover second chances at love.Marsha, who loves to travel, lives in Texas with her supportive lawyer husband. They’ve raised two daughters who’ve presented them with three delightful grandchildren. She admits to being at the beck and call of two dogs, who run her home. She’s sold a second book, TRUTH BE TOLD, to her publisher with expected publication date of Spring/Summer 2014. She’s currently doing research for her latest work in progress, the second in a planned series of four books.

 

SOCIAL LINKS 

http://www.marsharwest.com/category/blog for Thoughts on Thursday and Tuesday Author Chats

https://www.facebook.com/#!/marsha.r.west  @marsha.r.west

http://www.twitter.com/Marsharwest  @Marsharwest

       

 

              Tell us the climate you would enjoy all year round.

Moi? I think I'd love to live in Hawaii. lol. 

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