Wintertime Pastimes—Open Book Blog Hop

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where you can find out more about this ever-shifting collection of authors.  This week we're talking about our favorite winter pastimes.

I grew up in Pennsylvania where the winds of Lake Erie made the winters colder and snowier. That didn't stop us from going outside to play. Sure, we had to wear sweaters and jackets and several pairs of pants and hats and gloves and snow boots, but that was all good. Better than being stuck in the house.

Living in the country, we had the opportunity for lots of winter activities. There were the traditional snowball fights and building of snowmen, but we also built forts and in really snow years, made snow tunnels. Although we had a collection of sleds, we didn't limit ourselves to those. There was an old porcelain-covered wash bucket thingy that was just the right size for a medium-size kid to sit in that was great for going down small hills. Or there was the year that our neighbors had an old car hood that we used to slide down the large hill in their cow pasture. Imagine an over-sized toboggan with no steering. I think we had six of us in it at a time. The cows weren't too impressed, but we had fun.

After I got married, my husband introduced me to the joys of tubing. Yep, just like it sounds. Take an oversize inner tube (you know, like you use to float down a river but bigger), sit in the middle, and slide down the side of a mountain. And pray you don't find any rocks hidden under the snow with your rear-end.

Then, for too long, we moved to where there are no real seasons. "Winter" was another day on the beach. The first year or two were okay, but I missed snow. Crazy, I know. But we've made our way back to a part of the country where snow can happen as early as September and as late as June. And I love it.

My activities are much more sedate these days. Shoveling snow, the occasional mini-snowball fight, driving through snow-covered mountains, drinking hot chocolate in my warm house while watching the snow fall outside, taking pictures. Lots of pictures.







To find out what Tracy Krimmer's favorite winter pastime is, you can check out her blog HERE.
Don't forget to see what's she's been up to as far as writing while you're there.

Jay Walking

Chelsea Wyatt, a single mom trying to build a life for her and her son, is sick of the body she sees in the mirror. A daily diet of Cookie Crisp cereal is not doing wonders for her mood or her figure, and it’s time for a change. Setting out to get fit, she commits herself to a daily walking plan, forcing herself to give up her all-sugar and carb diet, a difficult task at her donut obsessed job.

But her plan goes sideways when a stumble on the ice puts her in the arms of Jay, an attractive young man out on a run. They grab coffee together, and Chelsea finds herself thinking about him long after their short meeting. The thought of dating again hadn’t crossed her mind in years, and she doesn’t even know if Jay is available, or if he would be interested in her despite her unfit body.

Just when she has a handle on her new routine, her past catches up with her, throwing her blossoming relationship with Jay and the rest of her life into chaos. Can Chelsea hold onto the people she loves most, or will a wrong turn set her up for failure?


Dec. 9 – Dec. 15, 2015 - What are your favorite wintertime pastimes?
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And we usually don't promote ourselves, but I couldn't resist. My new book, Wolves Knight, will be available December 17th. I hope you'll check it out! (You can check out my earlier post about it HERE