Ann's Blog
Ann McCauley is a Pennsylvania women's literature author, who wrote the books Runaway Grandma and Mother Love, both available for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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10/01/20
September has slipped away…
Filed under: General
Posted by: Ann @ 11:57 am
October sneaked up on me this year! September has been one of our best months since the Covid-19 restrictions changed our lives. Our family gathered to celebrate my birthday over Labor Day weekend; our first gathering since Christmas. We even included an Easter egg hunt for the great-grands, (plastic eggs, of course.) It was great to be together again. Not everyone could come but 22 of us had a wonderful day, and the others were deeply missed. Our large and wonderful family is safe and well; we are ever so thankful for that.
 
I love the cooler brisk weather. Fall has long been my favorite season, and this September has been more like the weather of past Septembers. The autumn leaves in Northwest Pennsylvania have been spectacular the last ten days - contrasts of yellow, orange and red juxtaposed with the evergreens make incredible eye candy, especially when the sun beams on them against a clear blue sky. 

We have visited our two college granddaughters at their campuses and taken them to dinner this week. They are such bright, creative and sweet girls. I’d love them even if they weren’t my granddaughters! They both lament, rightfully so, about so many of their classes being online. And all the regimented rules of order forced on them. But both find plenty of good to be happy about - and are finding their way in this crazy world. 

My ’sister‘ writing partners and I met three Saturday mornings in September. Our project is really coming along. We’ve all invested many hours into it and actually have a printed rough draft manuscript, much tweaking will be done and many more chapters will be written in the coming months. It is still very much an exciting project for all of us. We meet again this Saturday morning. We even have an editor and agent interested in our project.

Story Circle posted two book reviews I wrote this last month. The Other Side of Sanctuary by Cheryl Crabb. Toward That Which Is Beautiful by Marian O’Shea Wernicke. You can read them by clicking these links:
https://www.storycircle.org/book_review/the-other-side-of-sanctuary/

https://www.storycircle.org/book_review/toward-that-which-is-beautiful/.

WPSU’s BookMark taped my review of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. You can read or listen to it at this link:

https://radio.wpsu.org/post/bookmark-american-dirt-jeanine-cummins

I have read fewer books this month, because I’ve spent many hours winterizing my gardens, almost done, another two hours and I think I will have it wrapped up. All my patio potted plants were frozen by an unexpected heavy frost, I guess there were frost warnings but I was down a rabbit hole with my writing and missed it.

 Restless by William Boyd. Fiction. 2006. An exciting, layered and complicated novel with likable well developed characters. This is the first book I have read by this highly acclaimed, successful and prolific British author who lives in France, but it certainly won’t be my last. (It was a birthday gift.)

The Quiet American by Graham Greene. 1955. Fiction. A novel about Vietnam before while the French were still trying to liberate the Vietnamese. It was my first G. Greene novel. I was impressed it with how novel - writing has evolved since those days. It was a complicated and layered about two Americans in Vietnam. I recognized the plot after the first couple chapters. I saw the movie several years ago. The Quiet American was made into a movie in1958 and 2002. (It was also a birthday gift.)

Edith The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick by Andrea Friederici Ross. Biography. 2020. An amazing story of a poor little rich girl who died a poor old lady. A very interesting book, well researched and well written. A review will be posted on Story Circle next week. (Story Circle sent me Edith,etc. to review.)

We watched three good movies this month:
Anger Management. 2002, starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicolson. It was very well done and extremely clever with plot twists and almost slapstick humor at times. Just what we needed, we laughed till we cried at some of their antics. If you haven’t seen it. I highly recommend it.

We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. 2002. A Vietnam war movie. One of the best characters we have seen Gibson perform. The character development and plot twist made a wonderful movie despite the violent war scenes. A very worthwhile movie to watch.

Infidel. 2020. It was good to be back in a movie theater again with popcorn and Diet Coke. It was a gripping movie, with some violent scenes in which I closed my eyes. About an American married couple who end up in the crossfire of an international situation that almost costs the husband’s life. Tense and exciting to  watch. Good character development.

Till next time, keep reading my friends.
Later, Ann

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