After finishing the patio area in our backyard there was an open area inside the arc of crepe myrtles that my wife said would be the perfect place for a picnic table. After much discussion we decided on a modification of a design we found on the net, shortening the length from eight feet to seven and making it eight 2x4’s wide instead of seven. The only place I could buy cedar lumber was at the other end of Knox County, a mildly inconvenient trip made more so by the pandemic. I bought two extra of both 2x4’s and 2x6’s, which turned out to be a good thing.

Greetings all! Because of the unprecedented situation we are in right now, I’m announcing a price change on all the books in my catalog that are available as ebooks. This new price will stay in effect at least through the end of April and as much longer as needed. All of my ebooks are now $.99; this includes the novels "Tango" and "Rock, Paper, Scissors," the short works "Journey" and "Glimpses," and all three books in the Boone series. The links are on my website www.housemountainviews.com; look for the catalog page.

Last Saturday night was the annual Burns Supper hosted by two friends of ours who live in West Knoxville but were born in Scotland. Every January on the weekend closest to Burns’s birthday (January 25th) they invite 35 or 40 of us to their home for a Scottish meal and celebration of the life and works of the poet.

As in past years, it was a fine evening. We saw friends we hadn’t seen in a while (some not since the last Burns Supper), there was pleasant conversation, toasts, and a Burns trivia game, but the centerpiece of the evening was the meal.

Knoxville TN: Local author Jim Hartsell will hold a book sale and signing at the Ijams Holiday Market Sunday December 9 for his Boone series of novels, Pushing Back, Matching Scars and Keeping Secrets. The books will be rereleased with new covers through a new distributor December 1. The genre is coming of age Appalachian Fiction.