Fairs and Reviews, or Fair Reviews

"It is a happy talent to know how to play." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Originally, DD and I were going to attend the Deerfield Fair on Friday because it's "bracelet day" -- which means I can buy her a bracelet for $16 and she can ride rides on the midway until she pukes.

Sadly, it's going to rain on Friday (I've checked six different weather sites, and they all agree -- a very unusual happening, which leads me to believe that it is, indeed, going to rain on Friday!), so we'll be going today. This means I can buy $20 worth of tickets for DD and she can ride about 6 rides. Stinks, but there you are.

She's happy -- she'll still get cotton candy (she gets it once a year and looks forward to it all year long!) and curly fries and will be able to watch horse shows until she doesn't want to see another horse. We'll walk until I'll feel like crying and then we'll come home and I'll collapse.

Dakota will be in doggy day care, since DH won't be home (he would have been home on Friday -- but he doesn't like the fair, so would have stuck around to dogsit). In any case, I'll most likely be a vegetable for the rest of the day, so planned ahead and already have dinner done. I just have to pop it into the oven for an hour.

Here are some pix of the fair last year (most have the front of DD in them, so I can't post):

DD the crazy girl:


DD and SIL patting a baby cow:


If I'm incoherant on tomorrow's blog, you'll know why.

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Two new reviews for "Kitchen Matches" -- again, they like my voice and Cori, but the hero, Micah? Not so much. **sigh** Here are excerpts of the reviews --

From CK2S Kwips and Kritiques (3 1/2 clovers):

While an enjoyable read overall, I see potential for improvement with Kitchen Matches work had it been expanded to a longer format, thus allowing for more depth of character development and more chances to experience some of the earlier kitchen encounters that offer the promise of some great slapstick humor. Marianne Arkins is a new author worth watching for.

Aside from the fact that I don't really feel like a new author (I feel like I've been doing this for fifty years...lol), at least she liked my writing.

And from Book Utopia (37/50):

When I read the excerpt for this short novella prior to buying it, I laughed. In a good way. So when I bought it, I had high hopes. Not every story can maintain a level of charm and wit from start to finish, but happily, this one does. Cori is sharp and intelligent, and if she’s a klutz in the kitchen, that just gives her an imperfection that’s relatable. The events of the class are played for laughs, but it’s not over the top, not unbelievable. Add in the fact that the dialogue sparkles when Cori and Micah are going at each other, or when Cori is with her family, and reading this was fast, fun, and furious.

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