HOT SUMMER DAY - Poem for June

Hot Summer Day

The rustle of ivy

against a cool brick wall.

Wisteria and clematis

spider out

of hanging baskets

on a white-washed porch.

Lazy kittens stretch

in shady sunshine

licking their paws

beside a cistern

of rain water.

Mozart

is subdued

by a whirring fan.

PAT'S COLLECTIBLES (New Book)

PAT'S COLLECTIBLES



In the short stories, The Crazy Jug, The Pink Victorian Lady, Frogs, Gnomes, Hikers and Bottle Miners, The Conjurer, and The Rescue, Gert Carver and Nina Westacott meet an eclectic variety of characters as they trade-off collectibles and old bottles at flea markets and solve gentle mysteries involving neighbors, relatives, past students, farmers and hicks in and around the upstate New York community of Indian Falls. Gert and Nina are likeable protagonists, and Patricia Crandall has revealed a life unknown to most city dwellers. The following is a quote from a past review in the New York Times Sunday Review of books: "In the wake of 9/11 (and the terror attacks that have followed; e.g. Aurora, Boston and others too numerous to mention), Americans seem to crave the reassurance of straightforward tales about good people trying to live good lives, who believe in love and friendship, work and honor and charity, the prosaic but immense forces that dignify most of our lives." Beachfront Press publisher, Peter David Orr, says, "Author, Patricia Crandall, has whipped up some real, down-home cooking, brimming with friendship, and served with three sides of simple adventure." Join additional down-to-earth folk in their pursuits for justice and happiness: Clive Mason in The Willowbrook Inn, Julie Keel in The Wedding Reception, Federal Agent Tony Barlow in The Bogus Man, Lew Golden in Not Suitable Viewing for Children, Hattie Perkins, a.k.a. Tia Gale in Love Interlude and, Maya Bull in A Catty Arrangement. All things considered, you are guaranteed a good read.

Bio:

Patricia Crandall is the author of The Dog Men, a tale of animal abuse and rescue; Melrose, Then and Now, a local history; Tales of an Upstate New York Bottle Miner; and a book of poetry, entitled, Passed This Way. She lives with her husband, Art, at Babcock Lake in the Grafton Mountains near Petersburgh, New York.