Pumpkins Big and Little

This was the year of the pumpkin in my garden. Big ones and little ones, both kinds perfectly formed. The little ones not much larger than a chicken egg. The big ones—well two of them made a wheelbarrow load.

The two varieties grew in the same row; the big ones didn’t bother the little ones or try to do them in. The little ones didn’t seem to mind that they were little. Big and little growing side by side, each doing the best it could. And each succeeding. A lesson here for the rest of us?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Bigger is not better. Nor is little better. There should be room for us all.


NEW NOVEL, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, NOW AVAILABLE: Check my website for further information. Check my schedule below for book signings and presentations.

Reviewer Christine Eirschele wrote: “A thread of determination is spun throughout the story of Blue Shadow Farms. While this tale begins with Silas, it is the women that emerge as the toughest characters, beginning with Sophia Reinert and ending with Emma Starkweather. It is not until 2000, when Emma uses Silas’s plan to ensure the survival of the farm, continuing the real importance Silas learned so long ago, saving the land.” See entire review at Suite 101.com.


COMING EVENTS:
Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Ames County Novels presentation

Sept. 24-25, Midwest Book Sellers Convention, St. Paul, MN.

Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participants. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles