Two sons. Two lovely women. Two weddings.  Right here at LakeWatch.  Five weeks apart!  Tents.  Caterers.  Flowers.  Cakes.  Music.  Chaos.  An eclectic gathering of families, friends, children, and even dogs—all times two.

Did I mention these amazing celebrations took place five weeks apart?  My sons had thirty-four and thirty years to find the love of their lives, and what do they do? They meet two remarkable women within a few months of each other, propose to them three years later within seven weeks of each other, then marry them six and seven months later. (Rumor has it there was a brotherly … discussion as to who would propose first, which the elder son apparently won.)

LakeWatch wasn’t exactly looking its best when the two happy couples showed up en masse and asked if they might have their weddings down on the beachfront.   It was mud season, you see, and everything was rather battered and bleak-looking from the winter.  My first thought was: “What will the parents of the brides think when they come check out the venue?”  My husband’s first thought was: “Wow, I have some highly-motivated free labor to help me whip this place back into shape.  Heck, with four able-bodied people onboard, I can even add a few extra projects to the roster.”  And off he went to talk to a man about a bulldozer.

Whenever I dared peek out the window in April, May, and the first part of June, (Hey, I had a book to write!) it was to see five adults, two excited children, two clueless dogs, and a faded green tractor straightening fence posts, cutting broken branches off our towering maple, oak, and pine trees, lugging said branches deep into the woods to fashion brush-pile homes for various critters, arranging (and rearranging) a diabolical puzzle of docks, revitalizing planting beds, mowing, raking, and painting.  And yes, one day I saw Robbie sitting on a bulldozer … rearranging dirt.

By June 15^th, when the first tent went up on the beachfront, (one week after I turned in my book!), LakeWatch was almost as beautiful as the two brides about to call it their home.  (Have I mentioned I can throw a rock from my porch and hit either of my sons’ homes?  Oh, they dutifully went out into the great big world, but they came back—for the lake, of course, not us.)  The second tent went up on our bright green, perfectly mowed front lawn on July 18^th, with chairs set out on the beachfront for the ceremony. (Son number one and our new daughter-in-law’s ceremony actually took place at a bed and breakfast up in the mountains overlooking Moosehead Lake, which they celebrated with family and friends the following weekend here at LakeWatch.)

Yes, this veteran romance writer cried—at both ceremonies—quiet sobs of sheer joy.  And I nearly lost it again the day after the first wedding, when I went on FaceBook and caught myself wracking my brain trying to remember who Jessica Chapman was only to suddenly realize she was my new daughter.

The tents have disappeared as mysteriously as they arrived, all the guests have come and gone—for the second time—and the three mailboxesat the end of the driveway now all bear the same name.  And so six adults, two children, two dogs, two cats, and fourteen laying hens are all nicely settled into happily-ever-after and eagerly waiting to see what the universe has in store for us next.

Wait!  Are babies as contagious as weddings?

Speaking of the universe, I have to appreciate its impeccable timing.  Disaster was surely avoided when the universe obligingly kicked my writing muse in the butt so I could finish my book in time to enjoy a summer of festivities—while nicely saving me from having to straighten fence posts and paint.  And then it thoughtfully brought this amazing summer to a close by releasing Jess Sinclair’s love story, It’s A Wonder Wife, on August 25^th.

Oh yeah; definitely lots of loving going on up here in Maine!

I was having a little discussion with some of my friends the other day, and I mentioned that my previous poll (eighteen months ago) on what my readers are using to read my books showed that 39% of you use e-book readers and 60% read  print.  Around 1%  listen to audio books.  But since only two of my books are in audio, and I’m asking how you read MY books, I’m not offering audio as an answer this time.

Anyway, I told my friends that the numbers have to be closer to 50-50 now, what with all the tablets that have been and are being sold. Because really, who wouldn’t love being able to carry a hundred books in their purse?

So help me out, would you?  Because these particular friends are certain a new poll will still be largely in favor of print books.  Thanks!

This is to announce that Alec and Carolina MacKeage are the proud parents of Lachlan MacKeage (middle name to be disclosed in future book), born in the basement of a church in Spellbound Falls two weeks before his parents were married. Thank you all for helping me choose a name for the mystical little bugger. I can’t wait to see what havoc he wreaks!

Meanwhile, check out the maps of Bottomless Sea and Spellbound Falls.  You’ll find them under the Spellbound Falls tab on the menu bar above.  And I’ve updated the Genealogy Chart all the way up to THE HIGHLANDER NEXT DOOR.

Oh, and before you leave the site, don’t forget to vote.  I’m very curious if I should be Tweeting regularly, because I suspect Twitter is mostly authors following other authors rather than readers following us.  But if enough of my readers want me to Tweet, I will give it a go at least once a week but probably more.  I’ll likely post pictures of what’s happening around Maine in general and LakeWatch in particular.  Then again, I guess I could also post those pics on FaceBook.  But Tweeting is so easy, I’m more likely to do it more often.  I already have a Twitter account: JanetWrites. (I have no idea if there’s suppose to be a hashtag included because I have no idea what they do.) So, I guess I’ll leave the decision up to you.  Vote!