Out of Thin Air: March 2018

Monday, March 26, 2018

Spring Break: Books, Soldiers, and Peanut Blossoms through the generations

Although we are in different school districts, my granddaughter and I lucked out and had our spring breaks at the same time this year. To celebrate, she spent the night. When my granddaughter spends the night. We have a routine that is almost inviolate. We read stories and play games, take walks, and always, at her insistence, we bake cookies.

Last night, when I asked her which book she wanted to read, I wasn't surprised when she said "Nana, I want the one with the soldiers and the squirrel." Miss Suzy is an oldie, but a goodie, and it's one of her favorite books. It was one of my favorites when I was a child, and my sons enjoyed it a generation later, so it's no wonder my copy is falling apart. A book that's been handled, read and loved for three generations is a real keeper.

My granddaughter at my son's graduation from West Point, 2015

I think one of the reasons my granddaughter loves Miss Suzy is because of the brave toy soldiers who run off the thuggish red squirrels who had invaded Miss Suzy's home. My granddaughter loves soldiers, or more accurately, one soldier in particular: her Uncle John.

When my son graduated from West Point in 2015, my granddaughter was quite taken with his uniform. She gazed up at him and said "You are my tin soldier, and I am your ballerina." This grandma was proud, not only for her son's accomplishment or the love between family members, but for my then three year old granddaughter's ability to make literary allusions. I'm sure Hans Christian Andersen was smiling down from heaven.

The author and her Uncle Jerry.

This grandma understands a young girl's fascination with a man in uniform because she had her own love for a soldier, and like my granddaughter, my love was for an Uncle. My Uncle Jerry, my father's younger brother, was a bigger than life character to me. He was handsome and dashing, with a big laugh and a great sense of humor. He told fabulous stories and always seemed to be getting into situations that were both hilarious and a bit frightening. He was rough and tough, but gentle and sweet at the same time.

Unwrapping the kisses.

This morning we made a batch of Peanut Blossoms. Like Miss Suzy, these cookies have stood the test of time. They won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1957, and have been loved by generations of cookie fans. They are the favorite cookie of both my granddaughter and my soldier son. She made them for him while he was deployed, but just because he's returned to the states doesn't mean she'll stop making them for him. She'll be taking some home with her for her mom and dad. Some will end up in my husband's cookie jar and lunch bag. And some will be mailed to Fort Hood, where my son is currently stationed. I hope that you'll enjoy them, too. Oldies but goodies need to be shared.

Peanut Blossoms

putting on the kisses

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Mix all ingredients in a mixer at low speed until a stiff dough forms. Roll into 1" balls. Roll in sugar and place 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven press a chocolate candy kiss into its middle, but not so hard as to split the cookie. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack long enough for the kisses to reharden.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

An Interview With The Author

Recently a high school student sent me an email requesting an interview. She needed to talk with someone who worked in a field in which she was interested. Here are her questions, and my answers. Let me know if you think I didn't explain the writer's life well enough. I'd love to learn how your answers would vary.

1. What made you decide to become a writer?
I don't think anyone decides to become a writer. Writers are compelled - driven by the stories that keep playing in their heads. They can't help themselves, and if they deny their writing it drives them crazy.

I started writing really young, like middle school, but I didn't start taking it seriously until I was a stay at home mom. Writing enabled me to go far, far away without having to hire a sitter.

2. I know becoming an author is a tricky job financially when you just get out of school because of getting your name out. Do you think newly graduated writers should work part time as a writer or submerge them self in their work?

I don't know anyone who was able to just submerge him or herself in writing. You either have to keep a day job, or find someone who will support you, or perhaps win the lottery. The exceptions to this are people who go into commercial writing, like copy editing, advertising, or journalism.

You mentioned an interest in editing, and that's a great way to break into the field, especially if you're willing to move to New York City. These days editors get paid a piddly salary to start out, but they make a lot of contacts and they're close to the big movers and shakers. Many editors write books to fill the "gaps" in their house's line, so they are both editors and writers.

3. What kind of experience did you have, or recommend, before going to college?

Live fully, travel widely, love deeply. And take lots of pictures to help jolt your memory later. I regret I did little of any of this before going to college.

4. How do you get out of creative blocks?

I've never had one. I've always had way more I wanted to write than time to write it in.

5. How do you pull yourself out of procrastination?

I usually don't. There's usually a reason why I'm not writing, and I respect that and do other things until I'm ready again. The story will start to beat on the inside of my head if I ignore it awhile, and usually when I procrastinate what I'm really doing is other stuff I need to get done (like laundry and weeding) while working out kinks in the plot twists.

6. What is your favorite genre to write in and why?

I love historical fiction, because I love researching the period and learning what was going on, how people lived, how they thought, and what they wanted. Some human feelings are universal. Others are not. That's always a surprise when I read primary sources.

7. Do you think living in New Mexico impacts your writing?

New Mexico is a cultural backwater in some respects, but the internet has opened the world up so much that it doesn't matter as much as it used to. And there's so much beauty here and so many untold stories. I think just looking out the window is inspiring.

8. Do you expand your creativity from just story book?

I'm not sure what you're asking here. Do I do other creative things besides writing? I'm a pretty fair cook, and I sing in the church choir but am not a fine enough talent in either to make a go of it professionally.

9. Are you self employed or do you work under a company?

Most writers don't work for companies. They are freelance, and when they've completed a novel (or other kind of book, fiction or nonfiction) they send it to editors of publishing houses and agents. Or, they self publish, which is what I do, because I gathered over 1,000 rejects and finally decided I didn't want to wait anymore and play the game. Getting published is hard. For every 10,000 manuscripts a publishing house gets, they're going to make an offer on one or two.

10. Do you see writing more as a serious or a fun job?
I have yet to have a serious job in my life. I won't do it if I can't find the fun in it. That being said, writing is rarely fun. It's hard work. Editing and rewriting is even harder. And getting rejected hurts. Deeply. But if you're meant to be a writer you do it anyway. And while not always fun, it can be thrilling and deeply satisfying.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

A Fort With Many Functions

My husband and I with Rocky, one of the historical interpreters at Ft. Bayard

As some of you know, my husband, Hank Bohnhoff, is a judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and he has to run for election this year in order to keep his seat on the bench. Part of running for election is getting out and meeting constituents, and so we've been doing a lot of road trips this past year.

Last month we visited the southwestern part of the state, and I had the joy of getting to make a short stop at Fort Bayard. I am always grateful when a trip includes a little history.

The Fort was named for General George D. Bayard, a West Point graduate who had been killed at Fredericksburg. Begun in 1866, the first fort constructed on the site was a collections of tents and crude adobe buildings thrown up by Company B the 125th United States Colored Infantry. Many of the soldiers stationed here were Buffalo Soldiers.

US soldiers were still using the heliograph in 1898, when this photo was taken.

The fort protected settlements in Southern New Mexico from raids by the various Apache tribes who roamed the rugged mountains of the Gila. It was also one of 24 heliograph stations, which relayed messages between forts by means of the sun and a mirror that was used to flash out Morse code signals. Although less technologically advanced, the heliograph system worked better than the newly installed telegraph system, because the Apaches could cut telegraph wires but they could not meddle with the sun. It is of interest that the man charged with establishing the heliograph stations was a young Second Lieutenant named John J. Pershing, who would go on to become the famous Blackjack Pershing.

Some of the officer's housing.

Once the Indian Wars were over, Fort Bayard became the first military sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis. Doctors at the time believed that high elevation, clean air, abundant sunshine and low humidity were all beneficial to the treatment of this disease. The Fort's population grew during World War I, when soldiers who had suffered from poisonous gas attacks crowded the wards. The nurses' quarters, which housed a matron responsible for the moral well-being of the women who tended the sick and injured, was relocated a distance from the other buildings after many nurses fell in love with patients.

During WWII, German Prisoners of War lived here, repairing buildings, tending the orchard, and caring for the burial grounds that became a National Cemetery in 1976. The fort continued to serve as a long-term care facility for veterans and civilians alike after it was transferred from Federal to State control in 1965. Finally, in 2010, a more modern medical facility was built just down the road.

Fort Bayard is set in a beautiful, mountainous setting, with wide, blue skies and big vistas. The buildings are in disrepair but to me, it is a glorious place, filled with historical narratives. It could be the setting for a "wild west" story, a love story between a young gas victim and a nurse, a story of longing for home by a young German POW. The possibilities are endless.