Winter 2012

Can't believe it's been a year since my last post!  Once again I am retreating into the hibernation phase of Mt. Gretna.  No more theatre, music, art show, jigger shop - now long quiet walks with Moonlight (dog), reading by the fire, working on my various activist projects, and getting back to the archives from my mother's family which will ultimately form my next book.


To catch up - here's a grown up Moonlight:

And from my porch on Veteran's Day:

My first cousin - 1Lt. William Herr Myers was lost in a WW II C-47 crash in Malaysia; with friends from around the world we are working to get the crash site recovered by JPAC.

Fall 2011

As the summer ends in active Mt. Gretna I will find time to get back to writing. Several projects are in the mill - topics are politics, family letters, and fiction about Mad Women of the 70s (us).

DEAR COACH: Letters Home from WW II

Finally, after 7 years, I've published Dear Coach. It's now available at the Elizabethtown College online bookstore (www.etown.edu) and will soon be on Amazon. Very exciting but sometimes eclipsed by campaign activities. I think my parents would both be happy with the book. I'm looking forward to getting together with some of the letter writers and their families at the College Homecoming on October 17th. We'll read some of the letters that day - the stories are so moving. Here's one of the blurbs that was written for the cover:

"More than just a collection of letters, Dear Coach is the scrapbook of an extended family - a coach and his kids - dealing with a war that forced a generation to grow up overnight. The warmth between Coach Ira Herr and his kids shows the positive impact that caring educators can have on students' lives and how supportive mentoring can reach across oceans and continents to help sustain young people as they face the challenges of adulthood, The book's intimate correspondence, set in the context of a traditionally pacifist Christian college community also offers a glimpse at idealist souls wrestling with the tension between a commitment to non-violence and the need to combat Axis evils." Jim Kushlan, Editor and Publisher of America in WWII Magazine.

campaigning

I'm actively campaigning for congress again. Right now it's mostly fundraising but other exciting events come along, like the Netroots Nation event in Pittsburgh this week. I'll be driving out to be at the WCF (Women's Campaign Forum) booth helping others who are thinking of running for office and going to the candidates night event as well. Beth Becker introduced me to some of the bloggers recently and I'm looking forward to meeting more of the netroots folks.

Home again

Arrived back in New York early on April 26th - good to see the US flag flying on the Queen Mary 2. Back in Elizabethtown Spring was well underway as the dogwoods on the Elizabethtown College campus attest. I took this trip, after a difficult year, to open my mind and heart to new possibilities, new friends, new information, new directions, and new opportunities. I saw the world the old-fashioned way - by sea. The trip was worthwhile in every way.

last day at sea

correction: when I posted last we were 1000 miles from NY. Now we're just22 hours away. Calm seas again.

Transatlantic Crossing

Now 3885 nautical miles from Southampton and only 665 from NYC. Closing days of trip being spent comfortably aboard QM 2 in spite of at least one night of rough seas. Enjoying “old” friends from the Queen Victoria - the captain had a party for the 240 of us continuing on to NY from England (there were 750 on the QV portion of the world cruise). Not spending as much time in the gym/spa here but enjoying the opportunity to play golf on a simulator. Tomorrow I’ll be playing the Maui Kapalua Village and Bay courses! Also spending time going over the close-to-final copy of Dear Coach. Then, of course, it will be time to pack for one more time. Looking forward to seeing friends at home.