Watermelon is my spirit fruit. (And other fun news from last week.)

It’s true, watermelon is my spirit fruit. But first, Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there in the blog-o-sphere. (Yes, if you are reading this, you are part of the blog-o-sphere ???. ) I may as well confess right off, this post really isn’t about anything in particular. It’s more of an update. Let’s pretend we are chatting over a cup of coffee, glass of tea, or whatever your drink of choice may be.

I won’t judge.

So what’s up with you? Tell me in the comments if you’d like.

In my world, a few really fun things happened last week.

Another Book Club

I was invited to my 21st book club for The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee. This one was held at Theo’s in Fayetteville. These lovely ladies not only read my book, but they treated me to dinner and wine and came toting great discussion questions. I believe they were all former teachers at Washington Elementary. So yes, Fayetteville royalty! This week, I’m attending a book club in Mississippi (via Skype). Fun!

My Favorite Daughter!

I got to see my favorite (only) daughter at Lake Norfork. She was there for our family lake trip (which I didn’t think I’d make because of Iceland). BUT when your favorite daughter is a mere two-and-a-half hours away (she lives in Austin and I don’t see her often enough), I couldn’t not go. So I drove over, spent one night, and we packed lots of fun in less than twenty-four hours. My trip was so quick I failed to get a picture together. But here’s a picture of the cliffs, also known as “Big E”. The water is sooooo high the cliffs aren’t cliffs this year.

This year:

A normal year:

Bad picture but compare the two and you’ll notice the caves are at water level this year. We were able to swim inside them.

 

A Brilliant Author ???

On the drive back to Fayetteville, I stopped at the Boone County Library in Harrison and met Cassie Selleck, author of The Pecan Man. I LOVE this book. I read and reviewed it HERE. The Pecan Man was chosen for this year’s If All Arkansas Read the Same Book program, which means Cassie has been traveling the state and discussing her life, book, and writing process.

Here’s the thing: I was a reader loooooong before I was ever a banker or wife or mother or author. And I will be a reader forever and ever, amen. So meeting Cassie thrilled me. I began stalking Cassie after reading The Pecan Man yet failed to get a picture with her. Seriously lacking photo-taking efforts last week!

As Cassie’s self-appointed Arkansas publicist (me) hear this: If you have not read The Pecan Man, add it to your summer reading list and then move it to the very top.

A Sweet Watermelon

One of my greatest summer (or late spring) joys is to drive through the Ozarks and stop at the most sincere fruit stand I come across. I bought a watermelon and a cantaloupe at just such a fruit stand in Yellville. I haven’t cut into the cantaloupe yet, but the watermelon may be the best I’ve had in years.

Truly, watermelon is my spirit fruit. There’s nothing better to me than the sound of a juicy watermelon splitting open, the sweet, straight-from-the-vine smell, and the taste of that first juice-dripping bite. This watermelon is all those things.

“When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.” Mark Twain

Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day. Summer’s coming, y’all! Here’s to a bright new shiny week filled with great weather for the farmers and lots of delectable Arkansas watermelon.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

P.S. You may not have heard this news—Tantor Audio has purchased the audio rights for my book. So Gracie Lee will soon be available as an audio book via Audible, Hoopla, and all over. Yay.

[tweetthis]Watermelon is my fruit spirit. And other news from last week. [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:
Cliff Richard, Here Comes Summer