Dear Reader,
Today’s guest author, Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee, and a former freelance writer and editor. A lifelong devotee of historical novels and adaptations fueled by her passion for history--plus weekly doses of PBS Masterpiece--Celeste loves reading and writing about women who don't always do as they are told. As such, it was only natural that her first Regency-era mystery, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, features a heroine who feels that a true lady accomplishes her goals by following her instincts, never the rules.
Reach out to Celeste, welcome her to the book club, and you'll be entered to win one of three copies of "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord." Email: [email protected]
Welcome Celeste...
My No-Name Northern Cardinal
Throughout my life, I've been known for naming any living thing that chooses to be near me--and, in my youth, even some things without a heartbeat.
Let's just say that to this day, my parents still call the robotic pool cleaner that chugs around their pool "Charlie." When I name things, it sticks forever.
I've been lucky enough to have many animals in my life, all of which I've loved fiercely, and all but one I've named myself. (My pony, Peter Pumpkin, came named and it fit him like an orange-hued glove.)
While currently I am without a pet of my own, I have been adopted by a feral cat I've named Tristan, after my favorite character of the same name in James Herriot's 'All Creatures Great and Small.' He's as cute and mischievous as the literary Tristan Farnon, and just as charming, too...when he wants to be, at least.
But for the past three-plus years, I've also had a Northern cardinal who comes to visit me, chattering up a storm and letting me know when I haven't refreshed his birdseed.
Yet here's the thing. My cardinal has defied a name. I've tried a thousand times to give him a moniker, but nothing sticks. Thus, I simply call him my buddy--lowercase; as in the term of endearment for a friend.
"Hi, buddy," I call out when I hear him nearby. He'll fly over to my climbing rosebush and chirp at me, to which I respond with things like, "Really? You don't say!" and, "I know, right?"
Why? Well, because when I don't give his thoughts their due, he is not happy, let me tell you. I get fussed at, with his chirps getting sharper and louder, only subsiding into mollified levels when I talk to him as he digs into his birdseed.
There are many who believe that when a cardinal comes to visit you, that it brings the love of someone you lost with them. That seeing a cardinal represents a loved one watching out for you. I've always found this to be the most lovely sentiment, and the part of me that allows for belief in such beautiful, mystical things sometimes makes me wonder if this is the reason my cardinal defies a name. Because he brings with him the love of all my grandparents and other special people I have lost, and he thus may have many names.
And if that might be the case, I'm very happy not to live up to my name-giving fame.
-- Celeste Connally
Reach out to Celeste and welcome her to the book club (or tell her your opinion on cardinals) and you'll be entered to win one of three copies of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord.
Email: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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