Guest Blogger - Are We Walking To Alaska

Franni has asked to be a guest blogger and tell you about my book.

When I was six our family moved from California to Southeast Alaska (the part that runs down beside part of British Columbia).

It was a huge change for our whole family and this book is the true story of our first years in Alaska - in the 1950s - before Alaska was a state. The book is "Are We Walking To Alaska" - it is family friendly and enjoyed by all ages.  So without further delay - here is the post I wrote on my blog.  Thank you for taking the time to read it.

Time for thinking of Christmas gifts - so I thought I would give you a few hints as to lovely things you might buy for those friends, neighbors and loved ones on your list.  Someone hard to buy for?  I have the perfect gift.

  1. Great Aunt Tildy - Book from Amazon.com - Are We Walking To Alaska? she loves true stories of children from Alaska, as she was a child there a long time ago. And this is a true story.                                          
  2. Bertie and Sally - the twins - they are reading chapter books now  - Are We Walking To Alaska? - from Amazon.com - they will love the adventures in this true story - bears, whales, deer, and a squirrel that comes indoors to play                                                      
  3. Dad - Are We Walking To Alaska?   - from Amazon.com -   he fished in Alaska as a young man and will enjoy the fishing stories                                                                                            
  4. Uncle Stubbs - Are We Walking To Alaska?  -  Uncle Stubbs can tell a story like no on else - and he'll get a big kick out of the stories in this book                                                                   
  5. Paper Girl - Lawn Mowing Boy - Are We Walking To Alaska?  - plus a bit of money put in as a bookmark - they both do such a great job all year and now they can relax and go on a true story adventure in the wilds of Alaska in the 1950s                                  
  6. Cousin Sally - Are We Walking To Alaska?  - she's brave and would love to have an adventure in the wilderness, and things that happened in the book will intrigue her.                                     
  7. Sisters and Brothers -   Are We Walking To Alaska?   - reminders of their time growing up in Alaska - they will pass this book on to their children                                                             
  8. Next Door Neighbor, Mrs. Benson -   Are We Walking To Alaska?  - Sweet neighbor is by herself, she'll enjoy the company of a young girl in Alaska, learning all about the new and different way of life.                                                               
  9. Mrs. Stilton -  Are We Walking To Alaska? - a school teacher for years in  Alaska - this true story will remind her of all the wonderful children she has taught.                                                    
  10. Mrs. Van Pelt -   Are We Walking To Alaska? - grandson's teacher, she might even want to read the book to her 4th grade class.

And so many others - just think how they'll enjoy this book - available in Kindle and print - makes shopping easy.



Others on your holiday lists  -  -  -  


  • Mail Carrier - a break from every day life
  • Friends in the Quilting group
  • Neighbor who stops by to chat most afternoons
  • School Libraries - donate a book in your child or grandchild's name
  • Public Libraries
  • Convalescent Hospitals - the residents will enjoy the true story of a young girl in Alaska
  • Care Homes
  • Baby Sitter
  • Co-Workers


Hey - I'm not a bookmark!


One stop shopping - and if you have Amazon Prime you can have the print books shipped right to each person - or if you order Kindle it will be delivered to their Kindle for instant reading.

If you'd like an autographed copy, there is still time - leave  a message and a way to contact you, or email me at joann.bayne@gmail.com and we'll work out the details.  I'm always happy to autograph a book.  The autographed books have to come from me, as none at amazon are autographed - I have a good supply handy this holiday season.  If you want it autographed and sent as a gift I'll even include gift wrapping free.




Thanks for shopping - and thanks for stopping by - and thanks to Franni, for inviting me to be a guest blogger so I could meet her wonderful friends.

Wordless Wednesday - Rest in peace my little Rocket man


1999-2013

What a mess!!

I haven't been in the mood to post in so very long. Its hard to be happy and crafty when you are feeling like crud. For those of you who don't know me well I have Common Variable Immunodeficiency, it is a primary immune disease I was born with. Your b cells are few and don't function well. You have problems fighting off bacterial infections. So you get antibody replacement. I get mine weekly. But anyhow before this was diagnosed I had a lot of bronchitis and pneumonia, which created bronchiectasis in my lungs. This was all diagnosed when I was 17 but treatment didn't begin until I was 24.

Just about 2 years ago I started working in a small insurance agency. Not too much people contact which works for my health. Running the office and filing and stuff like that. The first year I think I did very well but then my health started tanking. I stopped stitching, sewing, embroidering, playing with the dogs.

I finally lost that job due to my declining health (I was too stupid(determined)not to give up). That was early January. It took some ranting from my lung dr. to get me back on track with meds and sleep and such and finally last month I started to feel better. I mean seriously better.

I have reopened my online shops, haven't really stocked them there is a group that buys felties from me that keeps me quite busy. I have been doing some custom work when people ask. I restarted working on my hexies for my someday grandmothers flower garden quilt. Saving so that I can hopefully get to New Hampshire this summer to see my baby girl who moved there in November for an awesome job at Dartmouth. This is the only good pic I have of the 2 of us its from 2010. I really miss her soooooooooooo much. Hopefully my run on imitating an healthy person keeps up and I can start stitching embroidering and blogging even more. (I have already started playing with the dogs more)

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Happy New Year!

Ok, you know me better late than never. Last year was NOT a spectacular year. I don't even think it was a good year. Bye Bye bad year. Cya, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out!!

The only good for me (others in the family have had good, but we aren't going there today) is that the man and I were out bed hunting (our bed has been hurting our bodies for about 2 years now) and ended up in Rooms to Go (RtG) where we bought our original bed about 8 years ago. We talked to a manager who told us the mattress was under warranty. So they sent out a service man who did some measuring with a string and he told me the dip in the bed was 1 3/4 inches. 1 1/2 is allowable. A couple days later customer service calls and said the bed is defective and we have a store credit for the full amount we paid for the bed.

So back to RtG and of course I want memory foam, and I want adjustable. OF COURSE. Sometimes with COPD you just can't sleep laying flat. Even laying flat with o2 hasn't been much help.

The decision was left up to me. Ugh I hate decisions. But since I deal with the bills and part of it had to be financed, it became my choice. 0% interest kind of made it a no brainer so I went for it.

The first 2 days of 2013 were nothing special. Yesterday the bed was delivered, I had so much fun playing with the buttons on the remote and seeing how each adjustment felt.

Looking for twin xl sheets on the other hand was a bit of a pita. I ended up in bed bath and beyond and spent way too much on jersey knit sheets. They are ok but not what I wanted.

Last night I went to bed about 8:30 and was sleeping before 9. I woke up about 10 am today. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH the best sleep in a long time!!!

Couldn't find a picture on the web so you are stuck with a pic from my bedroom, just ignore all the junk on the other side of the bed. This is my favorite position that the bed goes in. Just hit the button and it props you and your legs up for using your pc or watching tv in bed.