The July/August issue of AARP's The Magazine finally reached members in California and my e mails doubled as people wrote to say they had read the article and were going to buy or had bought their first ladies' book or books or had gotten them from their libraries. Some of you signed on for this newsletter as a result of the article. Welcome! It has been a pleasure to hear from all of you, and I hope you will have many hours of pleasant reading.

Some of you have written to ask whatever happened to book #6 of the Covington series called The Seasons of Covington. My publisher decided to change the title to Two Days After the Wedding. The 7th book was called An Unexpected Family. It seems the next book #8 in 2008, will be also have a different title with Covington in the name. I would have preferred to use Covington in all the Covington book titles. It feels odd to me to have these different names, but I don't have much say in this matter, and they have agreed to include the words A Covington Novel somewhere on the cover so keep your eyes open, those of you eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. The series goes on, regardless of titles.

For those of you who are Red Hatters, this year's North Carolina Red Hat Convention will be held in Asheville, North Carolina on Nov 7, 8 and 9th. 2008. I will be giving a talk, perhaps at a tea. Some of you know that I am a Red Hat Queen of a very small group of writers with the unromantic name of Mountain Word Sprites. We are hardly sprites, and we meet each month in the quietest restaurant we can think of, have lunch, and catch up with one another. I am sometimes invited to speak at Red Hat luncheons, usually at a country club, and am always delighted to do so. If you are a red hatter and live within a 3 hour drive of Asheville, in any direction, and can gather your Red Hat chapters in your community for a luncheon, I'd be happy to be your speaker. Just e-mail me at jmedlicott@mindspring.com

Recently, I was invited to speak at a Women in Community Conference at our University. Diana Leafe Christian, a fellow author, and I shared the podium. She is an expert in building communities, and she and I plan to write a non-fiction, how to book on how to find and successfully share a home, either rented or owned by all, or only by one. I will write the fiction part, starting with a woman asking the ladies to help them find two others to share a house. At this conference, I also led a discussion group of seventeen women seeking to open themselves to others. Following that, ten ladies came to a potluck at my home. In September we will gather again and share a meal at the home of one of those ladies'. It takes time to build a meaningful friendship. Some of us at this age are afraid to open ourselves to the possibility of a new, intimate, meaningful friendship for fear the person will move away or pass away, and we will suffer the pain of yet another loss. And that's possible. It's happened to all of us at one time or another. I hang on to the old saying "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." After I lived here for about 7 years, I met a terrific woman while volunteering at our Art Museum, and we became very close friends. We celebrated holidays together, shared our live and families. My friend, Dianne, and I talked on the phone for long periods of time. The men would say, "What have you two got to talk about?" We never lacked for something to say. I loved her, and then circumstances led to their moving away, and I was bereft. I understood why she moved, but it didn't make to easier. Would I exchange those five years of laughter and caring shared with her because it hurt and still hurts that she's gone? Not one moment of it! I am happy that we had that relationship, that we gardened together and shot photos together, went to the theater together, and well just shared our lives. I wouldn't have missed it for the world and consider that friendship one of God's greatest gifts. Will I take a chance and open my heart to another friend? You bet I will.

I hope you will also.

This year I will be a young 75 and my husband an equally young 80. Our kids --between us we have 5 -- are celebrating these events in September with a luncheon bash for family and good friends, including my husband's sister and brother-in-law, who are also good friends from Arizona. We will have out of town guests, and I will be busy as this bash will take place at our home, which is another reason that I have I combined two months newsletter.

I wish you all a very happy birthday, whenever that may be.

AAA sells a book that lists every motel and hotel in every state that will accept pets, and they range from two to four stars. This winter, I hope to go to Florida to stay with friends who welcome my thirty-pound Daisy. I hope to go to the Opera also. Opera is magnificent in South Florida. And the colors of the tropics will be a real treat. Since the ladies will be getting not one but two puppies in the 2008 book, they're interested in all things about and for dogs.