Joel Frey

Sold Out

My vendor rep at Barnes and Noble, April, ordered a couple more copies of Cypress Walls today. That's the good news. The bad news is that it is currently out-of-stock at barnesandnoble.com. Thanks though to April's great customer service that should be remedied in the next few days. If you need of a copy in the meantime, send me an email and I'll take care of you.

I heard from my friend/Cypress Walls character Ruston today, a resident of Houston. His family survived Ike AOK. They were in Vancouver when the storm hit and had a more difficult time getting home than getting their power restored.

Good evening from sunny El Paso, where the weather has been absolutely stunning the past few days. Heather and I are hoping to attend the Whole Enchilada Festival in neighboring Las Cruces over the weekend. Drop me a line if you'll be there too!

237,958

I'm overdue on a couple of thank you notes. First, an "appreciate 'ya" to Jamie Jurek and her grandmother for being the latest to purchase a copy of Cypress Walls. Jamie recently moved to El Paso to teach the first and second graders at our church's Christian day school. As a youngster growing up in Saginaw, Mich., she took piano lessons from my Grandma Frey and, years later, occasionally bagged Grandpa's groceries at the nearby Kroger. Before G&G passed away, Jamie's grandmother also happened to be their next door neighbor. Yes, the world is that small.

Thanks also to Matthew Rosenberger, the publisher of the ABC Travel Guide to Kids, for being the first to purchase my book from the Barnes and Noble Web site. Cypress Walls now ranks #237,958 in sales at B&N.com. Break out the bubbly!

Finally, Barry Sokol posted the latest Barnes and Noble review and was very complimentary. Barry, you rock for taking a few minutes to share your thoughts with the Internet!

Oh, and thanks to you for stopping by. Our dogs, Cinder and Schuster, just paid me a visit and it's time to play ball and chase the doves in our backyard for a little while!

Cypress anniversary

Why is it that certain numerals on the calendar stick with you over the course of your life? I'm not talking about birthdays, anniversaries, or significant dates in history. Rather, I'm referring to ordinary days like today. While major events have been documented on September 16, my brief bit of Internet research did not reveal anything too fascinating. Though I'm sure millions of young ladies under the age of 17 sent happy birthday wishes to one of the Jonas brothers today. 

On September 16, 1996, I began my foray into the everyman 9 to 5 as assistant editor of a family-owned trade publication dedicated to the advancement of the forest products industry. Once I firmly grasped that my first "real job" was unimpressive to anyone else who happened to have one, I just told people who asked that I wrote about wood - as in hardwoods, softwoods and those varieties that were imported and/or exported. Writing about wood never became a passion, but I did learn a lot about self-deprecating humor, office politics, nepotism, retirement planning, and the art of CYA. And little did I know then, but my experiences writing about wood, would play a central role in my first published book.

A couple of days ago, a recent college grad who is about halfway through her reading of Cypress Walls asked me about the wood magazine. I chuckled and gave her the most recent updates I had on my former colleagues, now characters, while wondering if my stories were hitting home with her. At the time, the 12-year anniversary of my first day at the wood magazine was not on my mind, but my memory was jogged this morning when I consulted Outlook. A minute or two later, I called up the Web address of my former employer and spent a couple of minutes catching up. I noticed that several of the people that I met on my first day are still faithful employees. Though I seriously doubt any of them have read Cypress Walls or read my blog, I wanted to thank each of them on this day for remaining dogged in their pursuit of the advancement of the forest products industry.

Hurricane II

While Gustav had us thinking about New Orleans, Ike turned our attention toward Texas, specifically Mom's hometown of Edna, a farming community exactly 100 miles southwest of Houston. Though not in the direct path of the storm, Edna certainly felt its affects. We hope and pray that it didn't wreak the same sort of havoc there that it did in Galveston and parts nearby earlier this morning.

You've heard about places like Edna. Wal-Mart came to town 25 years ago and the local shops in and around the square couldn't compete and many of them folded. Wikipedia has a couple of recent shots that speak to this transition. I haven't been there since my Grandma's funeral in July, 1991, but Mom gives me updates from time-to-time. She has a cousin who still calls Edna home and I'm sure they've been in touch over the past couple of days as Ike bore down on the region.

I look forward to returning to Edna with Heather someday to show her the old family farm we traveled to on many occasions with Mom and Dad as kids, the church where we worshiped, and, yes, that Wal-Mart right off of Highway 59. There's a Whataburger too, if I recall correctly. If you're interested in reading more about Edna, check out pages 211-213 in Cypress Walls. All of you can probably recall a similar Christmas to the one I described in an essay that I submitted to a writing contest that I didn't win.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you on the Texas coast. Drop a line and let us know how you're doing when you have a sec.

Hurricane

Those of you who have read Cypress Walls know about the spell New Orleans cast upon me when I was a child. Since our family moved away from the area more than 21 years ago, we've traveled back often for Mardi Gras, oysters, crawfish, beignets, Saints games, the French Quarter and the hurricanes you drink. I recounted several of those trips throughout the book, all with fondness.

Over the course of our ten-year residency in the Bayou State, we weathered several of the hurricanes that force evacuations, but thankfully nothing comparable to Katrina. On the eve of her landfall three years ago, I was in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on a business trip, months away from completing the first draft of Cypress Walls. That evening, I returned to my hotel room and sat down to write. With New Orleans on my mind, I clearly remember typing a couple of pages about how tortuous it was to be a nine-year-old Saints fan in the mid-80s. If any of you attended the Monday night game versus the Jets on Nov. 20, 1983, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Though that entry was eventually cut, those memories were of comfort just a few hours before Katrina's wrath.

Last week, as Gustav approached Southeastern Louisiana, we all wondered if our former home was on the cusp of reliving Katrina's horror. We tuned into the Weather Channel. We contacted friends and loved ones. We speculated. We hoped. We prayed. We smiled as LSU put a whoopin' on Appy State two days before the storm. We held our breath. We crossed our fingers. We prayed some more. We watched and then, finally, exhaled, realizing that Gustav was no Katrina.

The lights did go out, but most everyone came home. And then the Saints beat the Bucs on Sunday.

Peace ya'll.