Murder, Mayhem and Radio: I Knew I'd Like Her

I was once the executive producer and co-host of a radio magazine program. The program ended about ten years ago (after a run of about ten years) and was a combination of music, news, public interest, interviews and other short pieces. I interviewed a lot of people over the years, from Ann Rice to Hilary Clinton to people you've never heard of.

One week I had the pleasure of interviewing two mystery writers that had come into town for a book signing, one a seasoned pro and the other a relative newcomer. The interview with the pro was fine, but the newcomer and I clicked. She did good radio. We stayed in touch over the years, and her career blossomed. She's received at least ten awards and published twenty-six mystery novels. I'm really proud of her and I really like her novels.

She was in town recently for Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery and crime-fiction convention (that I'd somehow never heard of), and was part of an authors panel at Left Bank Books so I decided to go. I went to have the opportunity to say hello again in person to a long-time acquaintance. If she hadn't been there, I probably would not have gone. Even though I enjoy mystery novels, I didn't know any of the other authors on the bill. I did, however, relish the thought of being able to see her in person again after all these years. And while keeping in touch via social networking is great, nothing beats having someone be right next to you when you're talking. I thought it would be an interesting couple of hours.

It was nice to hear the authors speak about their work. They were: Neil Plakcy, Greg Herren, J.M. Redmann, Jeri Westerson, Ellen Hart, Jeffrey Ricker, Rob Byrnes, Michael Dymmoch, and Val McDermid. Hearing them talk about their work made me want to finish the mystery stories I've started and abandoned over the years, so that turned out to be a bonus for attending.

I recognized Ricker, the local boy, as the friend of a friend we'd had dinner with once, not as the soon-to-be-published novelist that he is. I'd had no idea he was a mystery writer. His friends were there, so I didn't have a chance to say hello but I was able to at least wave at his partner before the event started. I didn't know any of the other authors except Ellen.

During the Q and A I asked the final question of the evening and then everyone broke up to chat, peruse books for sale, and obtain autographs from their favorites. After it seemed that most of the books had been signed, we chatted for a few minutes. She got me caught up on the seasoned pro I'd interviewed years ago (Sandra Scoppettone now retired, but her books are apparently coming to eBook soon, which is nice to hear) and told me that she was absolutely crazy about Val McDermid's wife. Ellen was happy to hear that I was writing and encouraged me to keep it up.

When Ellen introduced me to Val, I had a feeling I'd like her. She's originally from Scotland but lives on the northeast coast of England now. My Dad always said that our family was from Scotland even though I've seen no proof, but maybe there's some truth to it. Val had a look about her that reminded me of my great-grandmother (years ago, when my great-grandmother was about my age!). It turned out that Val loves doing radio and does pieces for the BBC. I would have loved to chat longer with her about radio but I had to leave to meet my partner.

A few days later I caught a piece that Val did on the Chalet School novels, and guess what? She does good radio.

I knew I'd like her.

Less Than An Hour From Now

The big milestone birthday is here and in less than an hour I will have lived on this earth for a significant amount of time. Well, significant to me but completely inconsequential in a cosmological sense. So, I'm having a cup of tea in the "Warning! Today you are as young as you will ever be for the rest of your life" mug that was a birthday present from a friend. It's nice to have a reminder that every day I'm young!

Lynxter is taking me out of town this weekend for a birthday surprise but until we leave this afternoon I have more time to write in my blog, say thanks on social media for all of the birthday wishes, and to read.

You see, in addition to the soul-searching that I have been doing about my purpose in life, I've also been obsessing about bees. I know. So much obsession in one little head, right? This is how my brain works. I get interested in something and then devour as much knowledge as I possibly can about the topic. As a result, Lynxter might very well find me maddening to live with, but she handles it graciously. And as maddening as that might make me to live with, you should try being inside my head.

When I first read about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), I thought that keeping bees was a good idea for the sake of trying to help pollinate and re-populated bees as pollinators. It didn't go beyond the thinking stage because I thought I'd need a lot of space to keep bees. That thought went back into cold storage like so many others.

Then I went to Huckleberry's sixth birthday party.

Huck's parents are good friends of ours and they throw great parties, which we are always grateful to be invited to. At the party, one of their neighbors mentioned her husband's beehives and I started asking questions because less than a week earlier, I'd run into someone I hadn't seen in years who has a beehive that she said she was having to feed sugar to. That seemed odd to me in the middle of summer, so I discussed it with my friend's neighbor. Learning in the course of a week that two people with very small, very urban yards were raising bees yanked that thought right out of cold storage and right into the part of my brain where obsession thrives.

I learned a fair amount about bees from my friend's neighbor and came away from the conversation wanting a hive of my own. Knowing that I already live in a house filled with way too many pets to care for, I wanted to research how much time and effort bees would require before I committed to them, but I was already thinking about where in the yard I could put hives that bees would want to live in. If I got a little honey in the process, so be it, but for me, this was all about the bees. So I started reading on the internet and almost immediately discovered Warré hives and natural beekeeping. This is my kind of beekeeping. You mess with the bees about twice a year - once to harvest in the fall and once to add hive boxes when winter is over. Other than that, you leave them to do what they do best - not interact with humans unless absolutely necessary.

There is a ton of information on the internet. I even found plans to build my own hive. I emailed one of my closest friends who lives out of state because she's a wood-worker and I wanted to know if she thought the Warré hive plans I found would be difficult to build. She emailed me back that she'd built one of them already and that she thought I could certainly do it, especially with the right tools. Too bad she decided she had too much on her plate and gave the hive away or I could also pick her brain about keeping bees in this kind of hive.

I remembered that a longtime friend's father has kept bees for years and I learned that the local beekeepers association meets at the same location as my caving grotto (but on a different night). On their website I learned that a caver I've met who lives the next town over is a beekeeper and he said he'd be more than happy to answer any questions about beekeeping that I might have.

Lynxter said that before I put up the hive, I need to build and install the bat box we've been talking about for a couple of years. We might have too many trees for the bats to feel safe, but I'll do it. And building a bat box will be good practice for building a hive. The construction isn't very similar except it will involve measuring, cutting and attaching wood to create boxes. I found a bat box plan on the internet too - one that looks a lot easier than the one I gave Lynxter's son for his Eagle scout project.

The timing for this is perfect. I'm getting started while I'm young.