Hi, everyone!
My last post was in June, just before leaving for Europe. Today is September 18,
My trip to Europe was all I could hope for, if you don’t count the discomfort of flying Economy for 14 hours each way. After a week of train travel on our own, my travel companion and I boarded the Viking longship Egil in Engelhartszell after being transferred to the ship from our original docking location in Regensburg, where the Danube was too shallow for our ship to embark.
Over the next week, we visited Regensburg, Passau, Krems, Vienna, and Budapest. Each city had its treasures and pleasures, and the Egil was a lovely, comfortable longship with excellent accommodation and meals. I took many photos and wrote many notes in my journal. I looked forward to sharing the details with you. Two days after returning home, I had a freak accident, pulling a grocery cart on top of me and breaking my hip.
As you can imagine, I haven’t been in the writing mood. Three days in hospital after hip repair surgery, then two weeks at a rehab facility and four weeks recovering at home with visits from nurses, occupational therapists and physical therapists while I learned to use a walker and gradually regained my ability to take care of myself. Regular visits from my grandchildren have helped me stay positive and work hard to get strong again.
Then a surprise from my publisher – my Organic Cooking reboot, which had been languishing in his office since I finished work on it a year ago, was nearing publication. You should have received an invitation to be an “advanced reader” and may have wondered what that was all about. Advanced readers have access to an early edition of the book and become members of a launch team who help me get the word out that Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families is coming soon.
The news that my book is ready for the world — well, it will be when we fix a few typos that advanced readers have found — has cheered me remarkably. I’m hobbling around my house now on my own two feet, and looking forward to the day when I’m cleared to drive again. If you have accepted the invitation to be an advance reader I thank you. As we get closer to publication date, September 30, you will receive more emails about things you can do to help me publicize the book. Please let me know if you shop at an independent book store that might be willing to host a reading or cooking demonstration. Or have any other ideas, for that matter.
In other news, my container garden survived the heat while I was traveling and indisposed, thanks to my kind neighbors and visiting friends, who have made my recovery bearable. I’m not quite up to bending or stooping yet, but I do enjoy sitting on my patio and watching the plants grow.
And for that, I am grateful.
Marlene
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Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s. Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will launch September 30, and she’s working on an update to The Book of Whole Grains while also crafting a cozy mystery, Death on a Sunny Afternoon – a Harriet Palmer Mystery.
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