Brodie update

Here’s my adorable niece Jessica, giving Brodie his favorite thing: a belly rub.  Turns out the Devil Dog is amazingly good with children.  Who’d a thunk?

Brodie is finally settling in.  He’s a rub junkie and will melt into the floor with a moan of ecstasy if you pet him.  He’s so incredibly cute that it’s hard not to  pet him, a genetic adaptation that clearly serves him well.

He’s still digging a bit in the yard but hasn’t eaten any plants lately.  I think he’s bonded enough with us at last that he cares about our opinion of his actions.

“Come” is still an alien concept to him, but he’s doing much better on “heel”, especially since we put a “gentle leader” halter on him.  Works like a charm.  He even goes jogging with my Darling Daughter now that she’s home from college.

Truly, Brodie is such a sweetheart.  Our home would be empty without him.

You know you’ve arrived when…

…you find your book being quoted in someone else’s book.

I was delighted to discover that Michael Aaron Rockland devotes a page and a half to my first novel A Bridge to Love in his book about the George Washington Bridge.  Mr. Rockland’s book The George Washington Bridge, Poetry in Steel is “a well-rounded tribute to a national landmark”, according to one critic.  The book “weaves together history, popular culture, behind-the-scenes tours and personal insight in his living portrait of a modern marvel.”

“Popular culture”  is where A Bridge to Love comes in.  A whole chapter is devoted to the GWB “in literature” and my novel appears on page 110. 

Because he’s a college professor and therefore a very serious thinker,  Mr. Rockland throws in the usual snarky remarks about the traditions of the romance novel.  However, he goes on to say, “The George Washington Bridge is more central to this novel than to any other I’ve found,” and that “Herkness, a resident of New Jersey, obviously did some research on the nearby bridge,” which I think he meant as a compliment.

He then quotes extensively from my book,  picking out some of my own favorite lines in reference to the great  bridge.  My novel and all the pages referenced appear in the scholarly notes at the back of his book.

Wahoo!  I’m a source!

Out of the mouths of babes…

My Darling Daughter brought home a literary magazine from Kenyon College called Hika, An Undergraduate Journal of Arts and Letters.  Following is my favorite poem from the journal.  The poet speaks of  a truly universal truth.

Procrastination Takes on Newton’s Laws of Motion in a Cage Fight and Wins

I have yet to find

an oppositional

force equal to

my desire to

not get things

done.

                                      – Katharine Parrott

Going back, going back…

I just returned from my mrmph-th (that’s the sound of me muffling the number of years since my graduation) college reunion.  It struck me that no one would truly believe what a major, insane production my college makes of reunions if I didn’t show you some photos.  So here they are.

My outfit.  This is my suitcase.  Do you detect a theme?

More on the outfit.  Nail art by my darling daughter.  Did I mention my school’s mascot is a tiger?

The decorations in the reunions tent, one of many mushroomed through the campus.

The Prade.  Every alum and their families, including dogs, marches down the center of campus being cheered by all the other alums and their families and dogs.

Here’s my class watching the older classes go by in the Prade.  Of course, we were also talking, catching up on mrmph years of news.

Here’s my favorite outfit in the marching band.

My class float.

Here’s my view once my class started marching.  A lot of folks came back.

Finally, as embarassing as it is, here’s a picture of me in my class costume, looking as ridiculous as everyone else in the Prade. 

Feather boas are really itchy so I turned mine into a hatband.   It had the added advantage of weighting my hat down when the breeze got brisk.

Prize: Although there are major clues scattered all through my post, you may have noticed that I don’t mention where all this insanity took place.  If you can guess what college I attended, send me an email at nancy@nancyherkness.com.  Put “Reunion” in the subject line.  Everyone who guesses correctly will be entered in a drawing for a prize.

Note: this morning, I went through my closet to find something to wear and realized I had chosen beige from head to toe.  I’m thinking it’s an antidote to my weekend wardrobe.