Day #435 Church Hams

Don’t ever plan a book-signing on a day when a local mega-church is giving away 5,000 hams. Last Saturday a local church – one of those that has a sanctuary that looks like a football stadium and holds almost as many people – booked the local ballpark for a giveaway event. Drive through, open your trunk, and church volunteers will put a Honey Baked Ham in there.

It sounded like a very good idea. Even I, with no TV, heard about it, because I saw an article placed prominently in the paper. And I was glad that families who couldn’t afford a big holiday meal would, like Bob Crachit’s family, delight in a feast.

The trouble is, Books for Less was holding an Author Gala that day, from 1:00 to 4:00, with eight local authors signing books, a band providing music, and lots of goodies to eat.

The roads were so jammed for five or more MILES around the stadium, nobody could get to the store. The band never made it. One author showed up three hours late, and another one got there only because her husband drove her in their golf cart along the sidewalks! For the first hour and a half of the signing event, we authors were the only ones in the store besides the staff. The good news is that we all had lots of goodies to eat.

Interstate 85 was, I heard, at a standstill for 15 miles south of the exit.

That’s ridiculous. I’m very happy that the church leaders wanted to be so generous. But whatever happened to the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing? Isn’t that the way charity is supposed to work?

Businesses were badly hurt by the fact that for an entire day people simply couldn’t reach them. People waiting in line with their engines running for two, three, or even four hours, probably spent more on gas than they would have paid if they’d bought their own ham. And several people who did make it into the store told us that there were more luxury cars in the ham-line than there were the old clunkers you’d expect people to be driving if they were truly needy.

So, next year (when the church has said they’re going to give away 10,000 hams, since this event was so successful), I wish they’d quietly give those hams to other churches, to the Salvation Army, to the various food banks around the Metro area, and let them distribute to those who truly need the food.

And let the bookstores have their customers.

BEEattitude for Day #435:

       Blessed are those who refrain from robbing the hives of other bees, for their consciences shall be clear.

p.s. from Fran: Today is the first day of the last year on the Mayan Calendar. Just thought you'd like to know.

Happy Solstice!

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The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

Day #417 Telling it again and again

It’s funny how often I run into people who haven’t heard yet that I had to get rid of my bees. These are folks I don’t see often, or people I do see regularly but don’t have frequent conversations with (like the whole soprano section of the Gwinnett Choral Guild). Every once in a while after rehearsal, one of them will ask, “So, how are your bees getting along, Fran?” And I have to explain the whole rigamarole all over again.

I do wonder when telling that story will cease to feel like such a loss.

The good news is that I’ll get to usher Bob (the husband of my main character, Biscuit McKee) through the process of getting bees and learning to deal with them through the next few books in the series.

You can be sure I’m not going to write him with an allergy to them.

That shouldn’t happen to more than one of us.

BEEattitude for Day # 417:

       Blessed are those who eat what is best for them, for they shall glow with good health.

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The teeny details:

BOOK SIGNINGS

Dec.   3   1-3 p.m.  Books for Less, Buford GA

That’s Today!

Come on by if you’re in the area.

Dec.   4  1-3 p.m.  Humpus Bumpus Bookstore, Cumming GA

Dec. 10  2-4 p.m. Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA 

my print books:  http://www.franstewart.com

Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006AA0I4M

Day #406 When Bees Go Robbing

Yes, bees can be larcenous at times. If they find a weak hive, undefended by many guard bees, the stronger bees are quite likely to head inside and rob the stores of honey.

I can understand it in bees. It’s called survival instinct.

I have less tolerance for humans who do that sort of thing. If you’ve tried to buy my e-books on Smashwords any time in the last two days, you’ll notice that they’re not there.  What does this have to do with bees?

I’m glad you asked.

As I said, I can understand why bees would try to get away without paying for the honey they rob. But Smashwords.com has a policy of allowing anyone to download e-books with the understanding that they will be honorable and will pay for the books they download.

I was looking over my royalty statement from Smashwords and found that for every book someone bought (and they were only $3.99), between 50 and 80 people downloaded that same book without paying.

Now, I’m really happy that folks want to read my books, but why on earth would I want to put my books out there just for the few honest people who understand that writing is a job, one that supposedly supports the writer?

If you want to get my books for your non-Kindle, maybe there’s a way you’ll be able to find them, but until I can figure out a way to prevent the piracy, I’m going to leave my e-books off of Smashwords.

I’ll let you know if I solve this quandary.

BEEattitude for Day # 406:

       Blessed are those who act in accordance with the highest thought, for they shall contribute to a better life for all.
 

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The teeny details:
BOOK SIGNINGS
     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-4 p.m.
     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA      1-3 p.m.
     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA      2-4 p.m.

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy print books from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

Day #404 Deathless Address

Yesterday was the 148^th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

Lord, what I wouldn’t give to be able to write something even half that memorable. It seems apt to post the text—although I probably should have done it yesterday, but yesterday I was busy wondering about bugs.

You probably had to memorize this speech when you were in high school. But do you ever pull it out and think about what it’s saying? This is a lot like the Declaration of Independence, one of those documents we know about, approve of, but seldom consider at any depth. I read the Declaration of Independence every Fourth of July, as I’ve mentioned before in this blog. I think it would make sense for me to read Lincoln’s words every November 19^th from now on. I’m gonna do it. Will you join me, even if we’re a day late this year?

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

BEEattitude for Day # 404:

       Blessed are those who plant windbreaks for our hives, for they shall sleep well, knowing they’ve helped us bees to survive the winter.

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The teeny details:

BOOK SIGNINGS

     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-3 p.m.

     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA      1-3 p.m.

     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA      2-4 p.m.  OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH for VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats):  http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Fran+Stewart

Day #401 Oh Oh Oh! See Spot Run! Bees Are Smart!

You know, if we humans were judged on our ability to breathe underwater (without the benefit of SCUBA), we’d all fail.

It seems that scientists have just recently discovered that bees know how to fly efficiently and how to find the best possible routes to and from nectar sources, despite the fact that their little bee brains are “the size of a grass seed.”

I’m quoting an article posted last month on TG Daily by David Gomez. Here’s the link in case you’re interested in reading the whole thing:

http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/52224-bee-brains-calculate-better-than-expensive-computers?mid=52

The title should have warned me what was to come:

“Bee brains calculate better than expensive computers”

Do tell.

“Bees could now be in the running for the title of most efficient being known to man. A new study has found that our honey producing friends are better at mathematical functions than today’s most powerful computers.”

Gomez, it appears, was expounding on an article in Natural News. I went to the source and found this ending paragraph:

“Previous studies have found that bees have amazing memory capacities for their size. Their incredible olfactory senses are also amazingly powerful at discerning and remember different smells and aromas.”
            -- http://www.naturalnews.com/030192_bees_computers.html

The article could have used a good editor.  Besides having questionable grammar in that second sentence, aren’t smells and aromas pretty much the same thing?

Still, it is nice to know officially that bees can navigate and smell. Just how did those scientists think bees have been finding flowers for millions of years?

The study, according to Natural News, says “bees are able to quickly calculate the shortest flying routes among their network of flowers and plants in order to minimize flying time, a feat that even the speediest computers take days to solve.”

The reason for the study? So computers will be able to figure out how to route traveling salesmen in the most efficient ways. Of course, what they don’t take into account is that bees can travel in relatively straight lines, dodging around trees and soaring over buildings. Traveling salesmen will never be able to travel like that.

Gomez condescends to admit that:
     "The intelligence paradigm for small creatures has changed. Studies have found that bees … have amazingly powerful brains for their diminutive size. Animals that we once thought to be simple are turning out to be far more complex than anyone could have imagined."

Excuse me, Mr. Gomez? Bees have been around for more than 140 million years. They are the only insect that produces food that is good for humans. They produce it whether or not humans are around to steal the honey from them. They produce honey still, despite the fact that we as a race are polluting their world. Who’s this “we” who once thought bees to be simple?

Bees – simple? Ha! They should have read my blog for the past 400 days.

BEEattitude for Day # 401:

       Blessed are those who study (and appreciate) the wonder around us, for they shall live in awe of Mother.

p.s. from Fran -- I truly am glad that people are discovering the wonder of honey bees. Just had to vent a bit at the tone.

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The teeny details:
BOOK SIGNINGS
     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-3 p.m.
     Dec.    4      Hunpus Bumpus Books, Cumming GA   1-3 p.m. (not a firm date yet – I’ll let you know)
     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA      1-3 p.m.
     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA      2-4 p.m.  OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH for VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST
 
my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.
my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart
my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats):  http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Fran+Stewart

Day #400 Immune Systems and Weeds in the Front Yard

People have internal immune systems.

If we ingest something that’s bad for us, or if a germ gets inside us, we have all sorts of little processes that go to work to protect us.

If we’re relatively healthy and relatively free of the toxins that seem to pervade our culture, we have a pretty good chance of staving off whatever it is that aims to take us down.

Bees do not have internal immune systems. All their protection is external.

Think about that next time you’re tempted to spray some toxic chemical on your lawn to get rid of unsightly weeds.

Why don’t we change our definition of “unsightly?” After all, our lawns would probably be healthier and last longer if they were made up of those thriving local plants that lawn maintenance companies (and homeowner associations) like to call weeds.

I admit, this would take some major reeducation.

But think of all the bees it would save…

BEEattitude for Day # 400:

       Blessed are those who avoid poisons, for they shall pass a healthier world on to their children.

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The teeny details:

BOOK SIGNINGS

     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-3 p.m.

     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA                       1-3 p.m.

     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA        2-4 p.m.  OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH for VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats):  http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Fran+Stewart