MONDAY MONDAY

BYE BYE BEA BYE BYE...Until next year and thanks to the intrepid Jennifer, Vickie, and Heidi of Penguin Group and thanks to John Robison for sharing his photo with me.

Last full day in Norway and I am only cold at night and when I take off my sweater during the day.
From Bergen we took the train to Voss and I saw the farm where my grandmother lived. It is still owned by my cousin.

This is what it looked like as she went to school each day. I am told it was a six mile trudge.

And then another train ride -- this time half way across Norway back to Oslo through the mountains.

One trip to the Viking Ship Museum with artifacts over a thousand years old and recovered ships deeply buried in the clay soil of Norway.

I think I have enough scenery in my mind now to enhance a hundred novels.

So after looking to the past at my family and the rich history of Norway I look to the future with LOTTERY.
My first review is out in Publisher's Weekly and I am thrilled. I hope it bodes well for my book.
In the June 4 issue:
"Lottery
Patricia Wood. Putnam, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-399-15449-2
Perry Crandall has an IQ of 76, but is not retarded, as he'll have you know: his IQ would need to be less than 75 for that, and he knows the difference even if others may not. Perry, the 32-year-old narrator of Wood's warm-fuzzy debut, has worked at the same marine supply store for half his life and lives with his wisecracking grandmother Gram, whose gems of folk wisdom help him along. But when Gram dies, Perry's selfish, money-grubbing family members swoop in and swindle him out of the proceeds from the sale of her house-and then come a-knocking again when Perry wins $12 million in the Washington State Lottery. Suddenly everyone is paying attention to Perry, but who can he trust? Even his friends from the marine supply store behave differently, and on top of everything else, Perry finds himself falling for convenience store clerk Cherry, who has problems of her own. Despite his family's shenanigans and sinister maneuverings, Perry holds his own and discovers abilities he didn't know he had. The wisdoms here run more cute than deep, but Wood's light humor and likable narrator should have mass appeal. (Aug.)"
Hope.
Not expectation still.
But hope.
For the future and rooted in the past.