mary e. pearson

 . . . and a world practically right in my backyard that I didn't know existed.  Yesterday I met newport2newport for lunch in San Juan Capistrano.  We had a wonderful time yakking and eating.  She has a fun slideshow and all the delicious details here.  And believe me, it was delicious.  How did I not know about this place?

I've been to SJC a zillion times at least.  I used to live nearby in San Clemente and SJC is also where I went on my first date with my husband.  It's a good halfway meeting point too,  for me and all my family and friends who live up in Orange County.  But in all the times I've been there I have never been down to this one tucked away and completely enchanting little street named Los Rios.  It is old and artsy and funky and eclectic with rows of old, old houses that are beyond adorable.

And it is not too often where you go to a restaurant and they have a rack of hats for you to choose from.  We made good choices, don't you think?


Yes, there were fresh roses on the table from their garden, and there were even edible roses that came on our plates alongside our heart-shaped scones. We even nibbled on a few petals. I had peach fruit tea and my teapot came in a pretty floral teacozy.  Is that what it's called?  I'm new to this tea world, but I like it.  I felt a bit like I was in Wonderland.
 
You never know what might be right in your own backyard.

I'm getting a slow start to Monday.  I am usually a pretty early riser but I slept in a bit this morning. Yesterday I went on a beautiful five-mile hike along the beach and at Torrey Pines State Reserve.  It pretty much wiped me out--not so much because of the distance but because of the incredible humidity.  We don't have a lot of that in California, but with the monsoons stirring up from Mexico, we've been getting our share lately. The first part of the hike is through the hills and towering cliffs next to the beach, and the last part is along the sand and shoreline.  The flat part along the shore is the reward after hiking up that endless hill. 

But we took a different route than we usually take and finally, to get back to our car, had to traverse a shallow inlet or backtrack to get up on the trail.  Tall hubby said, lets traverse.  Short me was dubious.  He went first and only got wet up to the tops of his knees.  Even still, I knew that didn't bode well for me being a whole foot shorter, but I crossed anyway, holding my shoes over my head so they wouldn't get wet, and sure enough I was soaked up to my waist.  So much for "shallow" but the water was very warm so I didn't really mind.

Other busyness this weekend:

marperez 's newest book, The Comeback, came out this past weekend.  I LOVE the cover of that book, and the inside is just as fun.  I really enjoy characters that you love and want to slap at the same time.  Sophie is that and more, and as always, Marlene's wit shines.  Congratulations, Marlene!

More news . . .
My editor's assistant is always sending me these lovely suprises in the mail--foreign editions, catalogs, cover flats--and this past weekend she sent me this:



A few copies of the REAL thing!

This is my fifth book and I have to say it is still a hurry-and-rip-open-that-envelope thrill.  And it really did turn out lovely.  The first thing I did was run my hands over the title. You can't see it here but it is raised type.  Very cool.  It's the little things in life, right?  And then I pulled off the dust jacket--yes the surprise was there!  Another cool moment.  Even cooler than wading in the ocean up to my waist--with clothes on!

Hope you all had a good weekend too.

Stockton rocks.  The drive from the airport to Stockton was beautiful. On the way I passed olive and almond groves, vineyards and pastures.  And the weather was perfect. 



Librarian Goddess, Miranda Nighbor, arranged all the details for the day and was also my escort, getting me where I needed to be.  She is amazing.  Thank you, Miranda.



Our first stop was Ripon High School.  We couldn't fit everyone into one picture so we took two.  The students were wonderful, asking lots of great questions.  After my presentaion I had a little bit of time to talk to students individually.  I love that.  They give me back energy. 


 
Here I am with librarians Alicia and Miranda, and teacher Cameron (?)  I hate it when I forget names.  I met several teachers that day and I may be mixing up her name with another, but I am grateful to them all for sharing
YA books with their students.  (l to r: Cameron?, moi, Alicia, Miranda)


Nest stop was Franklin High School.  Another wonderful crowd. (Did I say, Stockton rocks?) Sometimes large auditoriums can get a little restless, but I couldn't have asked for a more attentive and thoughtful audience.  I was way impressed.


My last stop was the Chavez Public Library.  What a fun group of librarians.  I wish I would have gotten a picture with them--enthusiastic with wacky great senses of humor.  A "volunteer" even did an impromptu puppet show for me while I waited in the office for my talk : ) Loved it.

My audience was a mixed group from teen to adult.  It was smaller audience so we had more time for some personal interaction--and food!  The Youth Advisory Commission posed some discussion questions to everyone about The Adoration of Jenna Fox.  It was interesting to hear various thoughts--one thing about AJF is there are lots of poles and opinions.  Here I am with some of the YAC's.  Joseph, the teen towering over us shorties, read a passage from AJF for everyone.  I have never heard someone ELSE read my book to an audience before and it gave me chills to hear it that way.


Thank you Miranda, Stockton-San Joaquin PL, Ripon, Franklin, Chavez and the YAC's for a fantastic visit.  You are awesome.

Thankful Thursday seemed like a good day to wrap up my California road trip. As I mentioned in my first post, I love California. It is the melting pot of melting pots, from people, to landscape, to culture. And driving through it on vacation left me in awe of it all over again.

Of course, there is the jewel of California, Yosemite. We hadn't been there in a few years and it was wonderful to float down the Merced River that flows through the valley and enjoy the beauty.



Of course the water is like ice so we didn't take a dip, but floating down is postively the most soothing relaxing thing to do in the world. Well, except when we passed by some people who thought we needed a little splashing. Next time I pack my water guns.

Less relaxing but just as beautiful was our hike to Vernal Falls. It wasn't a long walk, maybe four miles, but the first two is majorly up hill. Tiring, but well worth it.



As you get closer there is a constant mist from the falls that is wonderfully refreshing. We had lunch at the top where there are huge granite pools, and blue jays and squirrels. Yes, the beauty and grandeur of it all is plenty to be thankful for.

But this filled me with just as much awe:



Huh? Yes, I know you are scratching your head.

It is not much to look at but I was filled with pride and extreme gratitude as we drove for mile, after mile, after mile through California's enormous Central Valley.

As far as your eye can see is farmland, and of course, every now and then a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. And then depending on the crop, people who are harvesting it. This is the part of California that doesn't get a lot of press, but the Central Valley and its crops are the dominating feature of this state. It produces one quarter of the food for the entire country.

So yes, I am in awe of, and very thankful for all the people who live and work there. They're the ones who put the food on our tables.

whoops.

I was right in the middle of sharing my road trip when life got in the way. The nerve. I've been a bit under the weather this past week, plus I needed to get my revised manuscript off to my editor--which I did. So back to sharing a bit of California . . .

After Santa Ynez, we traveled a little farther north to the town of Paso Robles. We hadn't been here in a while and couldn't believe how many wineries have sprung up. Some awesome wines, like those made by Justin, Estancia, and Le Cuvier are produced there, just to mention a few.

We visited the Martin and Weyrich winery, which made us feel like we had been transported to Tuscany.



And we even walked through the vineyards. We were the only ones there besides this fluttering visitor admiring the view from a nearby flower.



They grow a lot of different grapes there including sangiovese which we tasted. Very nice.



We had dinner in the center of town that evening and took a stroll and came upon this winery.



ha! Love it. At least they were honest in naming it. They were closed so we couldn't go in the The Midlife Crisis Winery but I like their style.

Hey, what is mid-life? Forty? Forty-five? I think I want to have one of those. I'm overdue.

Well! That sure jolted me out of deep lurkdom. I have family who live in Chino Hills where the quake was centered and they are shaken but okay.

I feel bad because this morning Hunter was pacing and panting and wouldn't settle down which is very unusual for him--he's my mellow dog. I followed him all over the house trying to figure out what was wrong. I finally sternly told him to lay down and he did. Is it possible he "knew" what was coming?

Just two days ago we were having warm, 75 degree spring weather, and then yesterday Valentine's Day brought us this little surprise:



Today it is gorgeous again. I live near the ocean in San Diego and I can see these snow covered foothills from my living room window.

Yesterday we woke up to calm which was almost eerie, but very welcome. Nothing was moving and when we stepped outside, everything was covered with a thick blanket of ash. Without the winds to blow it away, it is like fine snow falling. And the smoke was thick. Our house is closed up tight to try to keep the ash and smoke out, but we still have a fine layer covering furniture, counters--everything. I at least washed the patio off so the dogs could walk out to do their duty, but within a short time it was covered again.

We've been trying to stay inside as much as possible but yesterday I had to run out for a few supplies and within just a short time my lungs and eyes were burning. Most folks you see out and about are wearing masks. I have no idea where they are getting them because most businesses are closed, and how many people keep masks as a staple at their house? Maybe at the grocery store? If I run out today I will see.

But the point is, I am able to run out. The San Marcos fire which was closest to us is out, so we feel a little better about leaving the house. But new fires seem to keep popping up so we haven't unloaded the cars yet. Now there is a new one to the north of us at Camp Pendleton which has the interstate closed down. And of course the Fallbrook fires. And Palomar . . .

All schools in the entire county are closed for at least the rest of the week. That has never happened before, but the air quality is so bad even in non threatened areas, that no one should be out in it if they don't have to be.

One thing I have to say, is that for a county where half a million people have been evacuated and another 400,000 have been displaced, it is amazingly organized. Reports of kindness, generousity, and heroism are not in short supply. It is a trying, but proud moment for San Diego.

We got a reverse 911 call at 6 this morning and were given a precautionary evacuation order. I went outside and saw this from our balcony:



That is a bank of smoke--not clouds. And a few minutes later as the sun came up the whole sky looked like it was on fire:



Now, just a few hours later the smoke is overhead and the whole outside world is glowing orange. And the winds--I have never seen the winds blowing this hard and I have lived in CA all my life. I've been updating my computer, rounding up dog meds, essential papers, pictures, etc getting ready to load and go on a seconds notice. Where we would go I don't know because half of San Diego county is evacuating. From what I've heard the roads are jammed and no one is moving.

It's impossible to work--we're all just in waiting mode. So I am sitting here waiting for the call or for the winds to stop. But the winds are supposed to last until Thursday.

I always enjoy researching for my books, but sometimes it reaches new heights--or should I say colors? For my current WIP there is a scene with peacocks. I did some online research, including listening to a video clip of their call. I concluded it sounded something like
"Ya-ooooooooffff!"
I also learned that peacocks begin losing their feathers in June. It was about this time I remembered that the nearby Leo Carillo Ranch had peacocks and I figured since this is May, they might be in their full splendor about now. I was right. I love research.




Another fellow got a little disturbed when I joined him on the patio. Just watching the process of him lifting his feathers made my heart pound (plus I thought he was going to charge me--they have huge claws and beaks) Pretty awesome:



And in case I didn't get the message, he did a little dance and turned around so I could see his backside. It was almost as gorgeous as the front:




Just a short walk away was another fellow who couldn't care less who approached him. He was relaxing in the shade:



The restored rancho of Leo Carillo seems to be the perfect roost for these birds. Lots of room to roam.



Oh. And in person, their call sounds more like "Helllllllllllp!" to me, but I am not sure anyone would believe that.
Reality is stranger than fiction.

Or is it Fore? I don’t really know golf lingo, but this makes a great 18th hole, no?

Actually, this past weekend here in San Diego, the weather was a glorious 80 degrees and hubby and I got out and soaked it in. We went hiking at Cabrillo National Monument. The coastline down there is gorgeous.



A lot of other San Diegans were taking advantage of the summer weather too:



On our way home we stopped at Whole Foods and got a picnic lunch and stopped in Del Mar to eat it. We found a nice bench that looked out on the ocean, but we spent most of our time looking at this fellow who thought we brought lunch for him. Pushy little guy. (yeah, I finally caved and threw him a bite)



All in all, the day was a glorious taste of summer.
Now, before you New Yorkers start throwing snowballs at me, let me say that we are back in winter mode here. No snowflakes but temps are back down and we have had rain for the past two days. It was only a hit and run taste of summer to tide us over for the real thing.

Writing progress: In the middle of the night last night, almost in a dead sleep, I got the opening lines for my next chapter. Totally different than where I had been headed but just what I need. I think. A flashback. This is something that a lot of writers try to avoid, but it seems so perfect right now. But then again, things always seem perfect before you’ve written them. That will be the test. I delete as much as I write. Off to see now if it really fits in the light of day . . .

I almost hate to admit this, since so many folks here in California are miserable with the heat, but weatherwise, this has been the best summer in memory where I live. We’ve had gorgeous clear blue skies and temperatures in high 70's and low 80's. This is unusual for Carlsbad in June and July. Usually about this time we are all lamenting the lack of sunshine. June is our cloudiest month of the year, and July the second cloudiest.

I live up on a hill about a mile from the ocean. Most of the time that means I can escape the marine layer that hugs the coast, but not so in June and July. When the deserts to the east begin heating up, it sucks all the moisture in the entire Pacific Ocean right over most of San Diego County–and then some–so we don’t see sun until two in the afternoon, IF we are lucky. And that lasts only for an hour or two, and then the marine layer creeps right back in.

So being a person who loves heat and sun, these sunny June and July days are unexpected gifts. For my dogs too. I’ve been in the midst of revisions which means I can work with a hard copy so I’ve hauled it out to the patio to work. Hunter especially loves it. He’s an outdoor dog but he sticks to me like glue. So these past days he can stick to me and also be outside--the best of all worlds. He sprawls beside me and keeps an eye on the yard, his favorite pastime. He and the birds have a rollicking good time playing whatever game it is they play. He’s never caught one yet, thank God, and I don’t think he ever will, but it certainly entertains him. Brody, my other golden, has no interest whatsover in wildlife, and I think he actually worries a bit when he sees Hunter getting too close to a dove–the slowest of all the birds that visit our yard.

Lately we have had quite an amusing bird visiting us. At least, I am amused. I don’t think Hunter is. It is a Black Phoebe, the cutest little thing, and it has a lot of chutzpah. It lands on a wire fence that borders the patio, not six feet from where Hunter is lying, and chirps at us, sort of a “catch me if you can” chirp. Hunter has bounded to the challenge many times, but has finally caught on that this bird is playing him for a fool, and now mostly ignores him. So now it is Hunter, Brody, and this curious little bird out on the patio each day as I work my way through this revision. Of course the bird isn’t quite as loyal as Hunter and Brody. He chirps a few times to make his presence known, and then leaves, diving across the lawn to catch his lunch. I wish him well, and hope his favorite entree is mosquitoes.

RAIN . . .
California has finally broken its drought. It rained, it hailed, and yes, we even had a bonafide tornado in our area last night that lifted out a giant eucalyptus tree. I have a friend who was thinking about moving to California because of all the sunshine, so this serves as a full disclosure notice to her.

MY CLAIM TO FAME . . .
I was reading an interview of Joan Didion and she mentioned a book she admired and my eyes nearly fell out of my head when I saw what it was. The book is Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir, and holy mackerel, if it isn’t about Lakewood, California, the town where I grew up! I ordered the book and have been reading bits each night before I go to bed. It is a poetic, episodic book about this post war suburb where all these tiny two and three bedroom houses were built at the same time and they all pretty much looked alike. When the author, D.J.Waldie, described the doors on his father’s house, I thought, yes! Those were my doors! My parents lived in that house for 45 years and only gave it up when it became too much for them to care for. I love Lakewood still. It was predicted that it would become a slum, but the predictors were wrong. It grew into a beautiful town with lots of parks and close knit neighborhoods and few people ever move away. I lived there from birth until I was eighteen and got married (yes, I know that’s young, but that is for another post.) Oh! And yes, there is a real Lorelei street there!

OKAY, THE GOLDEN KITE . . .
I promised details. Lin Oliver called. It was a lot like one of those "first editor calls." It totally catches you off guard. When I answered the phone and she asked for Mary Pearson, I thought, hm, what is she selling. And then when she told me AROLS won the Golden Kite Award, my very articulate response was “you’re kidding.” I don’t remember a lot of what I babbled after that, but I do remember when she mentioned stickers. I love stickers. And I love shiny ones. Maybe I am part fish. Seriously though, it is way cool to be honored by a writing organization and writers who understand what it is like to face a blank page and make a story come out of it. I am invited to LA to accept the award this August at their National Conference and I will be doing a workshop too, so if you will be at the conference, say hello!

AN INTERVIEW . . .
I was recently interviewed by Liz Burns for Pop Goes the Library. If you have any favorite Seinfeld quotes I didn’t mention, tell me what they are. Oh, and one of my favorites that I forgot: Shrinkage! Ya gotta love, George.

WEBSITE . . .
I updated my website–God Bless, godaddy–they are my new web host and they are so much easier to update with. I had so many problems with AOL. Now when I update, it works first time, every time. It just might encourage me to update more often. Anyway, one of the pages I updated was my LINKS page and I added the Charity Navigator. It’s a very useful site to check out charities before you give to them. Oh, and I added Bookworm to the links page too, under “fun stuff.” Fair warning: It can be addictive. My all time best? 175,000 points. But usually I get cocky and rearrange letters so a hailstorm of hot tiles come down and I burn up. Oh, to live dangerously.

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