See Our TV Splash

My apologies—the technilogical aspects of posting this last weekend didn't work out, especially when your sweet husband forgets to pack the wireless card! Ah, well.

We made it to Taunton, MA safely this year (last year was the road trip from hell) and arrived around 5 am on Thursday, Aug. 21st. It was still dark out. Our crew consisted of myself, hubby, college boy and middle school boy. Around 5:30 a group of carowners arrived as scheduled at the boat ramp on Lake Sabbatia for our debut on Good Morning, America.

The satellite truck and crew were already there. The lake was gor-jush that morning, just as smooth as silk. Here's the pontoon boat that the cameraman would later film from.

It was great fun to watch the TV crew set-up. I'm not sure why they wanted us there at 5:30 when they didn't air until 7 am, but it was entertaining none-the-less. Sam Champion showed up a little later. I hadn't watched GMA since Spencer Christian was the weatherman (yes, I know that was eons ago), so I had no idea what Sam Champion looked like. But I knew the second I saw him; he had the hair!

Watching him prepare for the broadcast was interesting. He had his little earpiece in, and stood there studying some papers, probably weather reports from around the nation. Then, out of the blue, he would start laughing or say some random comment, like, "Strawberrry Rice Krispies," and nod. I wanted to hear the other side of that conversation!

As it became lighter out, people stopped, attracted by the satellite truck and armada of amphicars. I heard several comments, "I'm going to be late for work," and "I was suppose to be there an hour ago."

A minute before air time, the producer, Darcy, would holler out for everyone to be quiet on the set and we all held our breath. And held our breath. And held our breath. Apparently we were waiting for the news to be read, then Sam jumped in with a ten second forecast. I was amazed at the amount of information he could rattle of in so little time. And that he could remember it all! There may have been a tele-prompter there, but I didn't see one. Even if there was, he didn't have time to look at it.

After the 7:30 report, we lined our cars up—12 in all—to get ready for our splash-in at 8 am.

During that time, Darcy had us surround one car and practice our group wave. Dorky, but fun. You can see a quick clip of that here.

I don't have a photo of the splash-in because I was obviously in the car. If I had one, you would see a large spray of water in front of the car, and water sloshing over the back onto my lap. This is not what other back seat passengers endured, only me!

After we splashed in, we drove around for a bit. Here's a great shot showing all four of the original colors the amphicars were sold in—mint green in the back, ivory, lagoon blue, and red.

Here's our boy Sam taking Ron Green's (International Amphicar Owners Club President) navy car for a test drive. He did okay, but really, he just went in circles.

After the shoot was over, we all drove around for a bit longer. Here were two of the best passengers of the day. Not the adults sitting up in front, but the two dogs sitting in the back seat. They were so good, you'd swear they were statues.

Then the real fun began!

Unfortunately, Lake Sabbatia has some type of weed growing in its waters. They wind around the props and make it hard to turn. Sometimes we drive out and the front bumper looks like a mustache, there are so many. We definitely remove those before we head north to New Hampshire. We don't want those growing around here.

By 9:30, we were on the road looking for some breakfast. Stopped at McDonald's and some people there recognized us from the show!

Have you read this far? Here's a clip from Good Morning America. Right after you hear Sam say, "They really do look like little cars out there," you will see us in our car. I am in the back seat (you can miss the white hair), middle school boy is next to me. Hubby is driving and college boy is co-captain. I'm sorry, I couldn't figure out how to imbed it the blog post. (Anyone?)

You can see more videos on my son's website, Amphicar Ventures, or on YouTube. I'll post more later about the rest of the trip.

But I'm a fan of Sam's now. The perfect hair and teeth belie the fact that he is warm and generous. Was it worth getting up at 1:30 am to drive there? You bet.

TV or Bust?

We're taking the family on the road and leaving tonight (tomorrow morning actually) for Taunton, MA for the 2nd annual Taunton Swim-In. What is a Swim-In you ask? It's where Amphicar lovers converge on an unsuspecting lakeside community and invade their waters with our bobbing cars. Great fun!

And this year, Good Morning America promises to be filming during the weather reports tomorrow (Thursday) morning. If you keep a sharp eye out, you may see my husband's car splashing in. It's baby blue (lagoon blue to amphicar aficionados) but there may be other baby blue cars so . . . .

If hope to blog all weekend, technology willing. Other activities will include a spin to Cape Cod, a car show, a pig roast and spectacular fireworks over the lake. If you want more amphi-information, go to my son's website at amphicarventures.com.

Two Challenges

The Pirate Code of Writing
The first challenge has been put forth by Laurie Halse Anderson. It's simple, merely write for 15 minutes a day for the month of July (or WFMAD). The whole idea is that it takes about 21 days before something becomes a habit. So our goal is to create a new, good writing habit. See more at her blog, Mad Woman in the Forest. I am happy to say that I've met my goal for today. I typically don't have a good track record for these kind of things but I keep trying.

Second Challenge
Cindy Lord has a challenge on her blog to show a picture of your city every day for a week. I know I'm two days late but I've included extra to make up for it. Here's a list of other bloggers joining in the fun. Enjoy!

Day1, Day 2 & Day 3
Here's three days rolled into one. I live in the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire. If you're wondering why it's called the Lakes Region, take a look at the aerial photo on the City of Laconia's website. The land is like stepping stones across an expanse of water. It was taken by Bill Hemmel of Lakes Region Aerial Photo.

Last weekend, which happened to be motorcycle weekend, my hubby and son and I when for a ride in the amphicar. If you don't know what that is, check out my son's website about it--basically it's a car that goes in the water. I know, how cool is that!

So let's go on a tour of Paugus Bay and up through the Weirs channel. The first photo is a shot of the Naswa Resort and their cabins. They are typical of the many resorts that line the Weirs Boulevard. The other side of the lake has beautiful large homes and condos.
Here's a photo of the Marine Patrol. They turned around when they saw us and followed for a bit. Sometimes they come to have a look at the car because . . . well . . . it's interesting!
Here's a picture of the helicopter that kept buzzing us. It was giving tourists a ride over the lake, but intimidating none the less to see it swoop overhead.
Here we are as we near the channel. Look how nicely that sky matches our car! (And Cindy, do you see that rubber ducky? He comes everywhere with us.)
Here we are just about to go under the Weirs bridge. You could probably walk across the channel on the boats. Hubby tells me it's wasn't busy that day. Usually they line up and have to wait to go under.

This is what you see as you come out from under the bridge onto Lake Winnipesaukee. The monument is the oldest monument in New Hampshire. In 1652, a survey party carved their initials into a rock and that of John Endicott, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, to mark the headwaters of the Merrimac River. The Massachusetts border was supposed to be three miles north of this point. (Thank God that didn't stick! Though by looking at the license plates . . . I wonder.)

Right around the corner is Weirs Beach and docking for the Mount Washington. It gives lovely tour rides of the lake, if that interests you.

Here is the famous Irwin's Pier at the Weirs. When I was younger there was mini golf and arcades. When my parents were in their day, they swung to the sounds of the big bands!

As we were heading home we saw the train that was bringing people up to the Weirs.
Well, all good things must come to an end. And so does this tour. Come back the next few days for some of my favorite historic buildings downtown.

Shall we give this another try?

For two years I've been promising to post something on my blog! Two years! So what have I been up to, you ask? (I know you didn't but thanks for playing along.)

Let's see, family wise, one son has moved on to college, and another onto middle school. No big drama there. The hardest part was learning AIM and how to add buddies.

Work wise, there are no new books in the publishing pipeline, but a few manuscripts are making the rounds. I've written an upper middle grade/younger YA novel about a house I use to live in that was built by circus performers. A circus theme playes a major part in the story line. Since I'm the queen of the 2,000 word picture books (that's too long for those of you that don't know) I decided to try a novel instead. It was a blast! Who knew I had so much to say? Okay, that's my family you hear groaning in the background. Cough! cough!

This summer I attended a workshop with Executive Editor, Judy O'Malley of Charlesbridge, on shopping around your manuscript and what editors are looking for. It was held at the Writer's Studio, owned by my friend Joyce Johnson . That was very enlightening and gave me the push I needed. Next, I attended a Writer's Schmooze at the Poland Spring's Campground, run by my writing friend Tami Wight. The Editor was Andrea Tompa from Candlewick who was delightful and very down-to-earth. Lastly, I'll be attending Kindling Words East at the end of January, a retreat for working writers, illustrators and editors. Should be fun.

Illustration work has been pretty quiet. I had a piece in the July 2007 issue of Spider, and illustrated a book cover for Random House. The novel is called "Love Me Tender" by Newbery Honor author Audrey Couloumbis and will be out April 22, 2008. I had great fun coming up with the Elvis figure. I also did lots of good work for a very large office supply company.

This is the newest addition to our family—an Amphicar! An Amphi-what! you ask? It's an amphibious car made in Germany in 1964. My husband was in search of a hobby and has wanted one one of these cars since he was a kid. He's been working on it for almost two years now and nearly done. In this photo you see the new white wall tires.

In this photo, you can see my husband's car in the center, along with two friends and their amphis. If you look closely you will see the dual propellors under the rear bumpers. These kooky . . . er . . . kool guys get together and go for swims together (called swim-ins), stopping traffic and causing accidents wherever they go.

My oldest son, college boy, has become First Mate to my husband, the Captain. Hey! I thought that was my job! He's also the videographer and webmaster. He's even bought a sweet sun umbrella that matches the amphi perfectly. A chip-off-the-old-block I'd say! Picture to follow on another day.

And here's my husband swimming (that's what they call it) with his car in our local lake. In case you were wondering, the car can go 70 mph on land and 7 mph in the water.

Take a peek at the website my son (the college boy) designed for more amphi phun—http://www.amphicarventures.com/. Some of the videos there have also been uploaded to youtube.

More catching up to follow.