Beth Carpenter Books

Happy Leap Day!  In celebration of the twenty-ninth day of February, my peach tree took a leap of faith and opened its blossoms, which may well mean it won’t be producing any peaches this summer. Optimism is a risk. Too many warm days may have lured the tree into blooming, but it’s too early to not to expect more frost. Still, the first bee of the season was hard at work, pollinating the flowers. Maybe Mother Nature knows something I don’t. Maybe we’ll have a bumper crop of peaches. And if there are no peaches this year, the tree will try again next spring. Releasing a book is a leap of faith. It’s always scary for writers to let go, to let their babies out into the world of agents and editors and readers. Maybe it’s too early. Maybe it needs more work. Maybe everyone will hate it. But if we never bloom, we’ll never bear fruit. And if it that story doesn’t make it – if we’re met by nothing more than frosty rejection, we can learn from our experience and write another. 

I just returned from a week in London, and despite jet-lag, sore feet, and blustery weather, it was fun. The temperatures were relatively mild, with spring flowers in the parks, but the gray skies and strong wind made it hard to spend time outdoors. The sun peeked out a few times, but quickly hid behind the clouds. I guess there's a reason it takes so few frequent-flyer miles to get to London in January.  Fortunately, the museums are indoors. My favorite exhibits are in the Victoria and Albert, but I can't resist the Natural History Museum, with its warm stone arches and the giant dinosaur in the entrance hall.  And of course there's the British Museum. Touring it properly could take weeks. We saw movies and a play, toured a clipper ship, saw how Beefeater Gin is made, and of course we ate. Full English breakfasts, cream teas with scones, chicken tandori, fish and chips, pasta - I don't know why the British get such a bad rap about their food. Yum. Having always