And NOW -- something different -- A COOKING LESSON

 Want to know how to improve your sandwich-making skills?

The first -- and most important -- step:

Spread what will be the inner side of two slices of bread with room-temperature butter. Go clear to the outer edges. Scrape the knife over the surface to remove any excess butter,

Proceed with the other ingredients of the sandwich, maybe mayonnaise or mustard. The tiny bits of butter just on the surface of the slice of bread will protect the bread from becoming soggy until lunchtime comes and you are ready to eat it. 

Radio Garage Sale

 The Radio Garage Sale in Lawremce was cancelled, to my great dismay. I was looking forward to meeting some Douglas County hams. It may be re-scheduled to September.

The Pandemic, Covid-19 variants, seems to be coming back with a vengance. All the more reason to contniue encouraging sidewalk sales. I can see a sequel in the making. The most recent reviewer, someone identified as 'Drome' (sic), wrote "An enjoyable and fun book to read. At the end I wanted more."

Sidewalk Sale Across America

 Sidewalk Sale Across America was not the original title. While working on the manuscript, I referred to it as The Queen, by which I meant The Queen of Sidewalk Sales. I'm not exactly superstiticious, but I prefer to use a working title prior to completion. It was my co-editor, Britt Nichols, who gave the book the official title. It took me about six weeks to pound out the framework, and together Britt and I spent probably another six weeks polishing the work. We've entered a few writing contests which have off-year deadlines. Most writing contests involve the entire calendar year. We won't be able to hold our breath that long.

Good Day on Saturday

Saturday was a very good day. Sold some books -- Sidewalk Sale Across America --  gave away a lot of bookmarks during a "special event" at Ensorparkandmuseum.org . The event was to mark the 80th anniversary of Marshall Ensor receiving the Paley award for activities in the field of amateur radio. Operating from the Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club trailer, club members made contact with other hams in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

It was just a fun activity, a chance for brief ragchews, practice for having equipment in good working order, ready to provide emergency communications. Disasters are unpredictable. What is predictable is the readiness of amateur radio hams to provide critical communication capabilities.

100 Hits on Kindle?

 I wish I knew how to interpret Amazon's reports on book sales, but it looks like Sidewalk Sale Across America got over 100 hits on one of the days over Memorial weekend. That's a lot of people. I wish I knew who some of them were. It's a short book, maybe a little over 50,000 words, but there are several stories woven through the pages. With so many people working from home, will Harold be able to keep his job with the vending machine company? Can Sabrina save her yarn shop? Will the neighbor who volulnteers to help when Sabrina is in quarantine -- whose late wife was a quilter, not a knitter -- ever learn how yarn is measured? And the unfortunate raccoon, who the amateur radio hams reported being hit on the Overpass, will the poor creature reover enough to be released back in the wild? Quirky and endearing characters one reviewer said.

SIX -- count 'em -- SIX

 SIDEWALK SALE ACROSS AMERICA now has six 5-Star reviews. The headline on the last one is "The ingenuity of the American spirit shines through".

The headline before that is "Ordinary People Striving in Extraordinary Times".

Please, if you have read the book, let me hear from you.

Why Did I Marry a Journalist?

 I first read The Front Page, that landmark stage play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, in high school as a printed script, and it was not an assignment. I had to go to a lot of trouble to get a copy. I was mesmerized. It was decades before I saw the story as a movie. Since, I have seen it as a stage play twice and several movie versions. The first time we were in London, my daughter insisted we would see the stage play, 'The Windy City'. I balked. Drug my feet. Why did I go all the way to London to see a play about Chicago? When the curtains opened, I knew -- it was The Front Page! So why did I go and marry a journalist? There must have been a reason.