Hi folks,

Just a quick note to all of you as I celebrate my 1,001 publication on this website.

Yep, I’ve been busy here for a while now, four novels, six non-fiction books, and 119 original short stories about the little town that no one can seem to find on a map, Carding, Vermont.

Not to mention the photographs that record life in the slower lanes of my beloved Vermont as well as occasional forays into New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

Yep, I do love New England.

This little celebration accompanies an announcement about my next novel, a prequel to the four contemporary Carding novels: The Road Unsalted, Thieves of Fire, The Dazzling Uncertainty of Life, and Lights in Water, Dancing. So far, the new book has two speculative titles, The Daughters of Mariah Kincaid or A Long Enchanted Way.

It could end up with either title or something else entirely. We’ll see.

Anyhow, my writing notebooks are filled with biographical and historical notes on the people of Carding, where they came from and how they all ended up in this beautiful place built in a twist of the Corvus River, stuff that’s just been hanging around waiting for some attention.

So my plan for the new book is to move back in time and see what happens.

However, this does mean taking something of a sabbatical from the Carding Chronicles so I can devote more time to the new book. The Chronicles will still be here on Thursday mornings but they will be a selection of favorites (yours and mine) from years past.

PLUS, there will be occasional updates and excerpts from the work in progress. And there are always new photos.

Speaking of photos, my husband and I were on a cruise last week on the schooner Mary Day. All of the Windjammer cruise ships compete in a daylong race in Penobscot Bay in Maine during the week of the 4th of July.

We’re not talking motorboats here, folks. We’re talking big boats (ours slept 30) canvas and rope and wind!! Some of these ships are 19th century national historic treasures and as far as I know, this is the only time and place in the world where you can participate in and enjoy this type of sailing.

Yeah, it’s pretty magical.

So here are a couple of photos from Race Day in Maine to help you smile on a Monday morning.

Don’t forget to share a little kindness today!