New Parish is the name of my new book, which isn’t published yet, but it’s also a place in the book. The place is fictionally created in and around the place where I live, and the surrounding areas. I love exploring the wonders of Arizona and Utah, I also love learning the history, culture, and adventures that have happened here.
The ruggedly beautiful land, the uniquely different people, and the intriguing history are all fascinating to me. I have a long list of re-visits to do soonish… I want to go back to Pine Valley, Pipe Springs, Kanab and many other places when time and weather permits. It’s been so hot here lately, I’ve spent most of my time indoors. I guess that’s what you get when you live in the desert. Any who, back to my revisit list – Pine Valley is a great place to set some awesome scenes for the book I’m writing now. I think there will be at least one fun picnic in my story that’ll be set there. There are tall trees and there’s even water, which makes it an unusual oasis out here.
I want to revisit Pipe Springs for several reasons, 1, it’s beautiful, 2, it’s loaded with history, and 3, I get the feeling of walking where a lot of other very brave women walked. I can imagine how they longed to be with their husbands and family, and how exiled they must have felt… it’s a sort of solemn, almost a reverent place.
I also have several reasons for wanting to revisit Kanab, the cowboy lore that still lives there, the museum that has old cowboy movies sets, and I found out about a special section in their library that has some local history I really need to dig into.
Research, research, research…