FRIDAY FUN VIDEO -- Do-Re-Mi flash mob

So, the past couple weeks have been grand fun. The Homecoming hit the printed NYT list its first week on sale, then has managed to hold on for a second week, and as I write this it's #2 on Barnes and Noble romance bestseller list and #3 on Borders/Waldenbooks. And reviews have been lovely.

So, I was already pretty happy before I stumbled across this video of a flash mob in Antwerp, Belgium. Enjoy, and if you want to spread the Do Re Mi joy, pass it on. :)

A room with a view: summer garden color

When we moved to East Tennessee after thirty years in the Arizona desert, I knew nothing about what grew here. The first thing we discovered was that we had to do a lawn renovation. Something I'd never heard about because most Phoenix lawns were, in fact, some sort of decorative rock.

When I called a friend in Baton Rouge to tell her what the Scotts guy had told us, she literally gasped. Then said, "Oh, no! Not a lawn renovation!" I told sweetie that this could not be good.

But it wasn't bad. They killed off the crab grass posing as fescue, then reseeded, and in a few weeks we had a lovely green lawn. Which ushered more than a decade of on-going lawn wars with the neighbor across the street, but that's an entire blog by itself for another day.

About the same time, bulb catalogs began flooding our mailbox. Seduced by the gorgeous photography, and excited at the prospect of growing something besides petunias that would be burned to a crisp by Easter, I ordered twelve hundred daffodils, tulips, irises and hyacinths. Okay, maybe I didn't realize that planting all those bulbs in hard-packed red clay might not be the easiest thing, but I got them all in by Thanksgiving, and continue to add about a thousand a year. Since mulch has become my life, each year the bulb planting gets easier as that clay slowly, gradually, turns into soil. Honestly, finding earthworms while digging is more exciting than if I'd unearthed a diamond!

So far we've also added eleven trees to the fifteen we already had (two of the original have been replaced after splitting in storms, while another two had to be removed after succumbing to pine beetles), and hundreds of bushes. After having spent too many decades living with shades of brown, I really wanted year-round color. Spring remains the most spectacular season, thanks to all those bulbs, but even now, as lawns and gardens struggle under our southern summer heat, this is the view from our bedroom window. The tree is crepe myrtle, the white flowers which surround our back deck, are butterfly bushes, which attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds, and I can't remember the name of bush with the bright rosy red flowers (which unfortunately look a little rust-colored on my computer), but we have another two out by our mailbox, and the hummingbirds and I love them.

Fun Video: Will It Blend? Vuvuzela Challenge

Gotta love the World Cup, which succeeded in doing what no politician has managed to figure out how to do -- unite red, blue, and purple Americans into red, white, and blue, and have us pretending we actually care all that much about soccer. Not only did the U.S. guys definitely gave us a super exciting team to root for, there were some really hot guys to watch.



The downside was that our ears were continually assaulted by the din of those unbelievably annoying vuvuzelas. Which brings me to this revenge challenge video: WILL IT BLEND?

The Homecoming Release Day Fun! Win stuff!

One of the best things about writing is when author copies arrive at my door. Which they did last week.

Another cool thing that never gets old is book release day. Which would be -- yay! -- today!

To celebrate the release of The Homecoming, I'll be giving away various things at various places.

Today, Tuesday, I'll be giving away autographed copies of The Homecoming at both Romance Roll Call and Jessica Scott's blog. Jess is an author and Army officer recently back from Iraq. The blogs are the same, but I'll be giving three books away at each, so feel free to comment both places!

Wednesday, July 7th, I'll be at the Book Binge blog, where Signet has donated three more copies of The Homecoming to be given away.

Thursday, July 8th, I'll be at Borders True Romance blog, where three people chosen at random from readers who comment will receive a $25 Borders gift certificate. (Enough to buy The Homecoming, with extra left over for other books!)

And for an entire month, until August 10th, I'll be running my own contest, to Find Sax. Just email me at joann@joannross.com and tell me where you saw The Homecoming and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a box of chocolates from Oregon's premier Moonstruck Chocolatier, and a $25 gift card for either Borders, Barnes & Noble, or Books-A-Million. Reader's choice.

Here's an excerpt from one of my favorite scenes in the book. Trey, the heroine’s eight-year-old son, has lost his father at an age where he personalizes death. He watches all the natural disaster TV shows and worries about everything. He also always wears T-shirts he's outgrowing but refuses to give up, which say things like My Dad's a Marine. And He's my Hero. So, needless to say, he's less than impressed by Former Navy Seal Sax Douchett's hero status.

That starts to change when Sax takes him shopping at the lumber store, then afterward to the VFW for lunch, where there are many animals that used to be alive but are now dead and stuffed. And all the guys in the place start telling Trey about his dad.

Trey liked talking about his dad, which he couldn't do much with his mom because he was afraid he'd make her cry. And whenever his dad's name came up in front of his grandmother, she'd get a sort of pinched look to her face that gave him the idea that his father hadn't been her favorite person.

As if they knew just how he was feeling, other veterans got up from tables and came over to the bar and began telling stories about his dad. Stories neither of his parents had ever talked about. Like how he'd been an Eagle Scout, and the time he'd rescued a little kid, younger than Trey, who'd gotten caught in a riptide on the coast, and his dad had gotten a medal from the fire department for bravery.

"Your dad was a bona fide all-American hero," one guy wearing a black leather vest with all sorts of patches on it, said. His gray hair was pulled back in another one of those ponytails. "Semper Fi, kid."

"Semper Fi," Trey repeated along with the other Marines in the room.

And he suddenly realized, as he looked over at the snarling grizzly bear, and the mountain-lion head glaring down from the wall, and the rattlesnake coiled on the shelf holding the bottles behind the bar, that right now, here, in this very special place of warriors, he wasn't afraid of those dangerous-looking animals. Or of volcanoes, or typhoons, or tsunamis, or any other of the disasters he'd seen on TV that could kill innocent people.

Because every man in the room seemed to agree with Tim O'Riley and Sax: that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.

Semper Fi, Dad.

Proudly lifting his glass of root beer, Trey Conway joined in the toast to his
all-American hero father.


Finally, I have some lovely bookmarks to give away. If you'd like an autographed one, just send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to JoAnn Ross, P.O. Box 23153, Knoxville, TN, 37933-1153.

Baking the BEST Key lime pie

I sent sweetie to the grocery store the other day for limes so I could make a Skinny Girl margarita. Instead of the usual fat dark green Persians, he returned home with a bag of Key limes. Which are actually from Mexico, but that's a story for another day. So, what's a girl to do but make a Key lime pie? I've had a lot of Key lime pies over the years, and have fiddled with various recipes, and this, in my (and sweetie's), opinion is the best. I've included the recipe at the end of this blog.

First, do NOT use that horrid, tasteless cardboard masquerading as a graham cracker crust in the grocery store baking section. A crust can make or break a pie and this one is so easy, if you're actually going to bake a homemade pie, why not do it right?



As I said, there are a lot of different recipes for Key lime pie, but the one I prefer uses four large egg yolks.



While I was whisking the eggs, the assistant pastry chef began squeezing the key limes. It took an entire bag for a 9" pie. (Those spots of white paint you may see on his hands is from when he'd been priming the newly remodeled master bathroom walls earlier. Did I mention he's very versatile?)


Next I blended the whisked eggs with a can of sweetened condensed milk. I've tried the nonfat version before, and trust me, it doesn't taste nearly as good. So, my reasoning is that since a great piece of pie is an occasional indulgence, you might as well forget about calories.


Because I like my Key lime pie on the tart side, to contrast with the sweetness of the crust, and because it adds a lovely punch of color, I included a bit of grated zest from a brighter green Persian lime. Key limes, by the way, yellow as they ripen, but you can use them while they're still green for baking. A true Key lime pie bakes up pale yellow. As a pie purist, I'm not at all fond of recipes that suggest adding green food coloring or worse (shudder!) green Jell-O powder.


A short time in the oven, at least an hour in the refrigerator, and you're ready to serve. Some people prefer to serve it plain, savoring the unadorned glory that is a Key lime pie. Others top with meringue. Personally, I think that's overkill, and besides, Key lime is more a summer pie, and meringue can be tricky to make during summer humidity. So I opted for just a bit of whipped cream brightened with more zest I'd set aside.



Here, as promised, is the way simple recipe.

The crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs.
3 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

The filling:

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup lime juice. Takes around 20 Key limes, or 5 Persian limes if Key limes aren't available.
Zest from one Persian lime.

Preheat the oven to 340 degrees F. (Various recipes will tell you different times and anywhere from 325 degrees to 350. This is what works best in my oven.)

In a medium bowl, blend the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together with a fork. Mix until the graham cracker crumbs are moist and stick together. Press mixture into a 9 inch pie pan (mine happens to be Pyrex) with your fingers until it's evenly spread. You'll find recipes that tell you to use parchment and rice or beans to hold down the crust while baking. That's helpful with flour crusts, but I've never found it necessary for a graham cracker one.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Set on rack to cool.

While the crust is baking, prepare filling.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they're a light yellow. Then pour in the sweetened condensed milk, making sure you've scraped it all out of the can with a rubber spatula, and continue whisking until well blended. Add the lime zest and juice. Set the mixture aside for a few minutes -- while the pie crust cools to slightly warm or room temperature -- to allow it to thicken. While it's thickening, unless it's already there, boost the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Pour the filling into the pie crust. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a rack. When cool, chill the pie in the refrigerator. The pie will set up even more as it chills. Chill for at least one hour or overnight before serving.

Serve cold, either plain or garnished with whipped cream.

Enjoy, bask in the accolades, and you needn't ever tell anyone how easy it was to bake a fabulous Key lime pie!

FRIDAY FUN VIDEO -- Piracy Therapy

A writer friend, Toni Blake, shared this on Twitter. Although it's technically an ad for a conference, I thought it was just too funny -- and too close to the truth -- not to share here.

Enjoy. (Unless you happen to be an internet pirate -- who needs a new descriptive name since Johnny Depp made pirates cool. Which internet piracy is so not!)

Kids' Letters to Our Soldier

As many of you know, our nephew, Kyle Elliott, has served as a medevac in both Iraq and now Afghanistan. He also flew relief/rescue missions during Hurricane Katrina and Rita, so obviously, in our book, he's a true American hero.

He was due to get out of the Army and return to school when he was stop-lossed and sent to Afghanistan. Even then he stayed optimistic, looking forward to getting back home to Oregon in time for this year's fall semester at Oregon State University, which is also sweetie's alma mater. Unfortunately, he recently learned isn't going to happen because the military doesn't have enough medevac replacements to send to that part of the world right now.

Well, the good part of this story is that I have the best writer friends and readers in the world, because several have leaped in to help raise his morale by sending him care packages and letters. One FaceBook friend's eight-year-old daughter, Casey, has even gotten her classmates to write him letters. Here are two her mom sent me yesterday:




Thinking of Casey organizing the letter writing campaign -- and her friends jumping in to help lift the spirits of a soldier so far from home -- makes me feel really optimistic about the future of our country. (I told her mom we could even be looking at a future president. Fortunately she still has time to go shopping for an outfit to wear to Casey's inauguration.)

ABC news filmed Kyle's crew for a few days. Although he's not named, you can get a couple of quick glimpses of him prepping an IV and an oxygen mask and hear his voice telling the pilot about incoming fire on his side. Oh, although the reporter's absolutely correct about the team's courage, she does have one thing wrong. The flares aren't being used to light up the area (they have infrared spotlights for that), but to decoy missiles and ruin Taliban gunners' night vision.