Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Five Greatest Moments in My Life.

  By Julia Barrett | August 31, 2013 - 9:42 am | , , , , , ,
25 Comments

1. The birth of my son.

2. When the love of my life appeared at my door, out of the blue, after we had not spoken to each other in six years.

3. The birth of my older daughter.

4. The birth of my youngest daughter.

5. Big Game against our cross-town rival. We were up 1-0, 2 outs. Bottom of the 7th. (Seven innings in fastpitch softball) My youngest daughter was starting at catcher as a freshman, having battled close-minded small town sports politics her entire softball career. The game was on the line. My daughter’s arch-nemesis was on second base. A ball was hit to deep right center field. The crowd rose to its feet.

Her arch-nemesis blasted off second and rounded third. My daughter stood up the first base line, off the line, waiting for the throw. The right fielder threw home.

Just as the ball reached my daughter’s glove, her arch-nemesis dived, head-first, for home plate. Ball in her glove, her right hand protecting the ball, my daughter hurled herself backwards into the path of the diving runner, blocked her from the plate and tagged her out. My daughter held up the ball for the umpire to see. Game over.

Yeah. That was a great moment.

Blog much?

  By Julia Barrett | August 29, 2013 - 4:08 pm | , , , , , , , , , , , ,
19 Comments

I tried to stop, to kick the habit, but as you can see here I am.

Anyway, what I want to say today is this- A few dear friends and family members are going through some pretty tough times.

I won’t mention names, but please know my thoughts and prayers are with you every day.

Coming soon - thoughts about fall. Maybe we’ll talk football, books, blogging, education, food, dogs and cats living together… This is a really weird time in history, folks. I hope there’s a future for my children, and if I ever have them, grandchildren. Your children too, of course.

Frankly I’d like to stay the hell out of Syria. That is a door we do not want to open.

You know, once you open Pandora’s Box it’s pretty hard to stuff all that shit back in.

Okay, enough politics. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Dog Days of Summer.

  By Julia Barrett | August 28, 2013 - 10:56 am | , , , , , ,
18 Comments
Jake as #28, Buster Nosey!

Jake as #28, Buster Nosey!

So Jake donned his catcher’s gear and we saddled up for the hour+ ride to San Francisco and AT&T Park for Dog Days of Summer.

Jake hung out with 500 or so other dogs outside of the stadium, some big, some small, all well-behaved.

Waiting for the judges...

Waiting for the judges…

He paraded around the ball field with his dad:

Jake can always hear my voice! In Left Field.

Jake can always hear my voice! In Left Field.

He had his own reserved seat in the bleachers along with all the other dogs, but he chose to lay on the cement at our feet. It was a hot day, or a relatively hot day for San Francisco, so we kept him wet, even poured water on the cement so he could stay wet. Nobody minded when he shook off, spraying water everywhere. We bought him a hot dog, which we ended up eating. He kissed a couple of little kids because they love him and he loves them. But by the fifth inning he’d had it. He stood up and said, “Let’s go home.”

It was okay. We’d had enough Dog Days. It was fun, but it was a long day for all the dogs. Chances are we won’t do it again, but we can say we did it once!

And the Giants won. Amazing, I know. My losing streak is over — this is the first game I’ve attended in two years that we haven’t lost. Jake made all the difference!

Today’s Harvest!

  By Julia Barrett | August 26, 2013 - 7:29 pm | , , ,
11 Comments
Thai chilies, beets, potatoes, Japanese eggplant, black satin eggplant, Costa Rican sweet pepper.

Thai chilies, beets, potatoes, Japanese eggplant, black satin eggplant, Costa Rican sweet pepper.

The beets got mixed with some previously frozen mustard greens- from this spring’s garden. The potatoes and the Costa Rican sweet pepper were made into scalloped potatoes with fresh rosemary and sage from my herb bed. Served with grilled boneless beef shortribs. Yummolicious!

Admit it, Julia! You pandered!

  By Julia Barrett | August 24, 2013 - 1:08 pm | , , , , , , , , ,
19 Comments

“No, I didn’t!”

“Yes, you did! You pandered big time! You sold out! You prostituted yourself!”

“No, really. I didn’t. I swear it.”

“Oh yeah? Explain.” Foot tapping. “I’m waiting…”

“Well, you see, it’s like this… Come Back To Me was always a New Adult book.”

“Oh yeah? Really… This I gotta hear.”

“Yes, really. I’m not messing around here. The story follows the heroine for ten years- from the time she’s 12 years old until she’s 23 years old and already a young single mother and a graduate student. It’s just that the New Adult label or designation or sub-genre didn’t exist when I wrote the book. When the book was first published, it was considered a contemporary romance and it’s not even that!”

“Oh? And why not?”

“Because, you bee-yotch, it takes place decades before contemporary times, like… like… in the late 1960′s through the late 1970′s. Things were way different for new adults back then. So it can’t be considered contemporary by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Well, I don’t know…”

“Besides, it’s not your typical romance. The hero and heroine barely spend any time together and she’s, I mean the heroine, Cara, is a major fuck up. She is so messed up you can hardly call her a romance heroine. She’s weak. She has a horrible self-image. She’s a victim, a drug user, a geek, and even worse, she’s promiscuous, and the hero (he’s a great hero), James, gives up on her after a while. He totally gives up on her because she stomps on his heart and destroys his world.”

“Promiscuous? A hero who jumps the shark? Those are big no-no’s in romancelandia.”

“Hey, Miss Know-Nothing- she has her reasons, he has his, and they’re damn good. You should give the book a chance before you jump to conclusions. I didn’t sell out or pander to this labeling craze. I finally found a label that fit this particular story! For crying out loud, it took years to find the right category!”

“I don’t know… You’ve always avoided labels and branding… This is making me kinda nervous.”

“True. I know, you’re right. Point taken. But in this case, well, if the shoe fits… Give the book a try. See what you think. The New Adult label fits Come Back To Me like a glove. Besides, the conclusion makes me cry every damn time I read it.”

ComeBacktoMe_432

Come Back To Me, by J.R. Barrett (That’s me!)