Put on a happy face with a DIY pumpkin mask

Fall's palette of red, orange, and gold is beginning to show on the trees in our neighborhood and with every breeze comes the scents of the season; apples, pine and pumpkins. A trip to the apple orchard is on the calendar as well as one to the pumpkin patch. 

Pumpkins are great because they can not only be used to decorate the porch - along with a couple corn husks and a basket of yellow mums - but they can be carved, cooked and gutted for use in making a DIY at-home pumpkin mask.

This month's issue of Good Housekeeping magazine features a recipe for the orange goop created by Erika Katz, beauty guru and author of Bonding Over Beauty. Apparently pumpkin guts are full of exfoliating enzymes that leave the skin looking bright and fresh rather than dry and scary.

Just ask anyone who has been fortunate enough to experience the Pumpkin Perfecting at the Eau Spa at the Ritz Carlton Palm Beach. They'll tell you it not only smells delicious but contains a pumpkin patch of super-ingredients that are good for the skin including zinc, beta carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A. 

Try these recipes and let us know what you think. 

PUMPKIN FACE MASK

2 teaspoons fresh (or canned) pureed pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon heavy whipping cream

In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients and set it aside for 15 minutes. You could apply it to the face immediately but pausing for a few minutes allows the ingredients to get acquainted. Before you apply the mask, be sure you're comfortable as you need to leave it on for 10 minutes. Load the computer with a few good tunes, kick back and relax. When you're done rinse it off.

What it does: I'm hoping it will be refreshing. It's also been known to reduce lines and wrinkles. The honey is supposed to be a natural moisturizer and combat against flaky skin.

PUMPKIN SCRUB

1/2 cup fresh (or canned) pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon of honey

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and set it aside for 15 minutes, as with the facial. Then apply it to your skin and rinse it off.

Put those pumpkins to good use this fall

If the bumper crop rumors are true, this Halloween we'll be seeing some great pumpkins, Charlie Brown. The sad thing about pumpkins is many of them get tossed into the trash once the monsters disappear and Halloween is over. What a waste. As gourds and members of the squash family, pumpkins can be so much more than jack-o-lanterns:

* Bowl of plenty. Pumpkins can be used as bowls to hold soup, punch, fruit and even dips. Just cut the top off and scoop out its pulp, seeds and stringy flesh. Once it's clean rub the inside walls of the pumpkin with oil to keep the inside shell from drying out and caving in. Then fill it with your food of choice. 

* Pumpkin face mask. Set aside some of that puree in a bowl. Then add some brown sugar and a dash of milk to create a vitamin-rich facial mask rich in vitamins A, C and Zinc.

* Pumpkin centerpieces. Clean out a pumpkin and fill it with soil - only this time do not worry so much about the stringy flesh as it serves to fertilize the potting soil. Once filled with soil add your favorite flower be it a mum or tropical indoor plant. When the pumpkin starts to show signs of rotting, just transplant the whole thing in a traditional flower pot or, if it's a perennial plant, straight into the ground outside.

* Pumpkin soup stock. Most people use chicken and beef as a source of soup stock but the guts of a pumpkin make an excellent stock for vegetable soups. Just remove the seeds from the guts of the pumpkin and put the guts into a pot and fill it with water. Now add the veggies: celery, carrots, whatever other aromatic vegetables you like. It should boil for approximately 30 minutes. When the stock begins to change color, pour it through a strainer. The stock can be used for soups, sauces and a variety of other recipes.

* Pumpkin candles. Mini pumpkins make for great candles. Just hollow them out and add a candle or fill it with melted soy wax, beeswax or the gel type of candle wax sold at most craft stores. Once the hot wax is in the pumpkin, add your favorite scent and a wick (also sold at most craft stores).

* Pumpkin compost. Because they are rich in zinc and vitamins A and C, as well as other nutrients, instead of tossing your rotted pumpkins into the trash toss them into your backyard compost bins to further replenish the soil.

* Pumpkin puree. From baked goods and soups to pie and cheesecake - pumpkin puree can be used in a variety of recipes. To make pumpkin puree, follow the same directions previously given, only once it's cleaned out turn it upside down and place on a cookie sheet. Pour a little water on the pan and bake it at 350 F for about 90 minutes. The skin will become tender and easy to peel from the flesh. Toss the skin in the trash and the flesh into a food processor and blend until you have puree. If you plan on making puree, however, you'll want a sweet-tasting pumpkin rather than a sweet-looking pumpkin such as those in the pumpkin patch. Ask for sugar pie, red kuri, cheese, rouge or blue Hokkaido pumpkins. 

* Pumpkin cauldron. Take your jack-o-lantern one step further by turning it into a spooky billowing cauldron. Simply carve your pumpkin and set a large glass jar into the center of it. Then add dish soap and hot water to the jar along with a piece of dry ice. Kids will love the spooktacular effect created by the bubbles and smoke that will come pouring out.

Gina Joseph is a reporter and columnist for The Macomb Daily. Send comments to gina.joseph@macombdaily.com, follow her on twitter @ginaljoseph and visit her beat blog at macomblife.blogspot.com.

Beauty queen treatments that won't break the bank

If you had one beauty wish what would it be?

How about hair that remembers what the stylist did. Like one of those memory foam mattresses, it springs back after you take a shower. No bags under the eyes and how about no wrinkles anywhere? Any one of these would be nice, but when it comes to looking our best most of us (who do not have a makeup artist on the payroll) are on our own.

Even then it is easy to spend a fortune on manicures, pedicures, hair style appointments and bubble bath.

What's a person to do?

Below are a few ideas on beauty treatments that can be done at home.

• Consider DIY manicures. Instead of shelling out money every month for a manicure put some of it toward supplies you can use to do your own nails. This would include a bowl (for soaking), moisturizing lotion or cream, a scrub or foot file, cuticle remover, nail polish remover, cotton swabs and some cool-looking nail polish. Once you have a manicure set clean your nails, then file or cut them into shape. Now let those fingers soak in a bowl of warm water for about 3 minutes; toe nails are going to need more time. While the skin is soft, push those cuticles back and trim any excess. Then apply the moisturizer. If you're doing a pedicure this would be a good time to scrub the ball and heel of your foot to remove dead skin. Now pull out your polish and go to work: apply one base coat, two coats of color and if you really want them to shine, a final top coat. What you spend on tools up front will save you money in the end.

• Don’t neglect your hair. A recent survey conducted by AskMen.com found that one in three men admitted to being put off by their wife or girlfriend's dandruff issues. Of the men surveyed 95 percent also said they would like their mate's help when choosing a product that will rid them of their own dandruff issues. Among those recommended were multitask products such as Suave Scalp Solutions, as they fight flakes but also leave the hair looking shiny and manageable instead of frizzy.

• Budget your beauty needs. Visiting a spa or salon and having a professional take care of one's beauty needs is good for the psyche but bad for the budget. So, consider spreading things out. Look at calendar and put a star next to dates where only a professional look will do. Now fill in a few of the days in between with beauty treatments you can do for yourself. Fill a hot tub with oil beads or go online and find a recipe for a homemade mud mask or scrub. If you’re considering ingredients for your own exfoliating scrub: red raspberries contain loads of Vitamin C (great for a healthy glow) and honey is known to be good as a moisturizer and to guard against acne.

• Rent a spa! Knowing how busy everyone is these days, fitness centers and community recreation centers offer day passes for non-members. Clinton Township’s Metro Family Fitness, for example, has a sauna and pool. For $15 you can use both. But instead of going alone, invite a couple of close friends to join you. Create a game plan, like meeting for coffee and riding together. Then hit the pool, the sauna and top the morning off with a healthy lunch.  

TODAY'S MUSE
If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library? -- Lily Tomlin

'Girls Taking Over the World' tour lands at Barnes & Noble in Northville

It's a grand day for Michigan authors, particularly Lara Zielin. Her new novel for teens, "The Implosion of Aggie Winchester" (Putnam Juvenile, $12.60), hit bookstores yesterday, and her book tour, "Girls Taking Over the World," starts today.

Michigan author Lara Zielin

"I feel like it's a literature fest, an embarrassment of riches," said Zielin, who resides in Ypsilanti with her husband and has been writing since the age of 7.

"I'm still growing and evolving, but happily I have some novels under my belt (including 'Donut Days' and 'Make Things Happen: The Key to Networking for Teens')."

One of the first stops along the GTOTW tour is a panel discussion and author signing at Barnes & Noble of Northville, 2 p.m. Aug. 7.

The event is for everyone, but it is the girls of the world who are most likely to be geeked about it. They not only get to meet one of their favorite authors (Lara Zielin), but three others who are part of the mega-woman tour. They include: Rhonda Stapleton ("Stupid Cupid, Flirting with Disaster, Pucker Up"); Christine Johnson (“Claire de Lune" and "Nocturne"); and Saundra Mitchell ("Shadowed Summer" and "The Verspertine").

Author Rhonda Stapleton

The authors organized the summer tour of bookstores and libraries in the Great Lakes area not just as a means of promoting their novels, but also to reach out to young women about important issues such as making good choices.

Author Christine Johnson

"Most of the young women in popular culture today, both real and fictionalized, seem to be popularizing really dangerous choices, from drug use to promiscuous sex to dropping out of high school and Botoxing their face into a plastic mask," said Zielin. "Now ... I'm no nun, so I get that girls do stuff and it's totally possible to recover after engaging in many of those activities. But I think the average girl out there might hear all these messages and think that risky behavior is what all girls do."

Author Saundra Mitchell

Zielin said she hopes to encourage girls to be more thoughtful when they come to forks in the road, to disregard what society says or what's portrayed as cool in magazines, and listen to the small voice inside telling you who you really are, instead.

Johnson wants girls to know they can do anything.

"I grew up hearing that," she said. "Now I'm doing what I want, writing. One of the best things about my job is that I get to create worlds and strong girls who live in them, too. There's no role a girl can't fill. Heroine, villain, love interest, they aren't nice or mean or strong or romantic or hateful, they're everything. All of it, in bits and pieces."

Stapleton said the GTOTW book tour is exciting.

"How often do we celebrate the strength and resilience that comes from being a girl? And where else is that strength and resilience tested more than in publishing?" Stapleton said. "I love supporting female writers. I love reading (about) female protagonists. Girls are hungry for stories featuring heroines who are flawed, realistic but grow into a sense of empowerment and inner beauty."

"If nothing else, I really hope that just one teen walks away from this tour believing that she can actually reach for her dreams," said Mitchell. "It may seem like you have to live in New York and wear black turtlenecks to be an author, but it's just not true."

Even the tour itself is an example of girl-power.

"No matter what movies and TV tell you, most authors don't get a book tour," said Mitchell, who is working on the final installment in her paranormal trilogy with Harcourt, "Aetherborne." "So we decided to put one together ourselves."

During the tour, special guests will be invited to stop by, including Aimee Carter, author of "The Goddess Test," who will attend the event in Northville, New York Times best-selling author of "The Iron Fey Series," Julie Kagawa and singer Sara Bennett Wealer.

Books by the authors will be available for purchase and signing at each stop.

"It's going to be a great," said Betsy Storrs, community relations manager for Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Barnes & Noble is at 17111 Haggerty Road in Northville.

"Girls Taking Over The World" books

The Implosion of Aggie Winchester 

(Putnam Juvenile, $16.99)

At the outset of the novel Aggie is angry and frustrated. She's dressing and acting in a way that makes her appear tough, but it's also self-protecting. She's got a boyfriend situation that's complicated and she’s not getting along with her parents. Just when Aggie is ready to implode, a sudden situation serves as a catalyst for change. Click here for more on Lara Zielin

Stupid Cupid (Simon Pulse, $9.99 paperback)

Felicity Walker, who believes in true love, applies for a gig at Cupid's Hollow, a matchmaking company. She gets the job and, to her surprise, not just the title of matchmaker, but a real cupid. Armed with all of today's techie tools, including a pink tricked-out PDA, she works to meet her quota of successful matches. However, when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend with three boys at once, disaster strikes. Can Felicity come up with a plan to fix things or will she lose her cupid title and best friend?

Click here for more on Rhonda Stapleton

Claire de Lune (Simon Pulse, $9.99 paperback)

Claire is turning sweet 16 but everything in her life is going sour. The town is in a panic over its sudden werewolf problem, and just when her high school's soccer god and son of world-renowned lycanthropy expert takes notice of her existence, she learns that all werewolves are female. Worse yet, she's the latest in the long line of wolfies that have inhabited her town for centuries, but have, until recently, been tame. Now Claire has to figure out a way to keep her lupine identity a secret from best-friend, love interest and his father, who is leading the hunt for the rogue werewolf.

Click here for more on Christine Johnson

The Vespertine (Harcourt Children's Books, $16.99)

It's the summer of 1889 and Amelia van den Broek is on the verge of womanhood when she is sent to live in Baltimore with a stylish cousin, Zora, who has been asked to show her the pleasures of city life and help her seek a suitable husband. She's having a great time when the gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions that turn out to be glimpses of the future. When people learn of her gift, she becomes the sought-after prophet of the community. Then, just when she's getting used to her new life as "Maine's Own Mystic" she becomes intrigued by a young artist with his own powers. While she has no trouble seeing the future of others, she cannot predict whether there's a future for the two of them. Just when things could not be at their worse, one of Amelia's darkest visions comes to pass and those around her start to question whether she's the seer of dark portents or the source of them.

Click here for more on Saundra Mitchell

DAYTRIPPING

Looking for other family-friendly events going on in the Detroit area? Check out our listing here:

Mount Clemens car cruise still hoppin’ after 20 years

It’s the 20^th anniversary of the Annual Bud Light Classic Car Cruise in downtown Mount Clemens. Hosted by The Friends of Mount Clemens, it is considered by some to be the granddaddy of all municipal cruises – even predating the founding of the Woodward Dream Cruise by three years. It runs from 2 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 6.

Shown here is an updated map of the participants and where to find them along the route.

                                                                                                          

The children’s area was organized by ABC Magic Shop of Mount Clemens and can be found on Macomb Place between Main and Walnut Street. It will be a fun zone featuring everything from inflatables to a motorized ride. Be sure your child enters ABC Magic store’s Car Cruise Coloring Contest.

This event attracts cars of every make, model and year. “Starting at 2 p.m. North Main Street will be open to northbound traffic only, but it is narrowed to one lane of traffic. Car owners are encouraged to take their rolling steel babies out for an actual cruise… so the cars on display are always changing,” according to organizers of the cruise.

Michigan movie classic

The Redford Theatre's presentation of "Somewhere In Time," starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer, will feature a guest appearance by Jo Addie. Addie had a role in the film and is the president of the International Somewhere In Time Fan Club. Tonight's showing begins at 8 p.m., doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday shows are a 2 and 8 p.m. General admission tickets: $5

The Redford Theatre is at 17360 Lahser Road (just north of Grand River), Detroit. For more information visit  Redford Theatre

Discovery Cruises

Summer Discovery Cruises explore Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair Flats, departing from Metro Beach Metropark; 13 different educational cruises around such themes as fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, shipwrecks, lighthouses, weather and shipping. Selected times and dates through Sept. 10; fees for 2-1/2 cruises $20 adults, $10 ages 6-17, for longer cruises, $25 adults, $15 ages 6-17. Vehicle entry permit, daily or annual, required for Metropark entry. Click here for Metropark news or call (800) 47-PARKS.

Village art

Fine art and crafts show with works by 100 artists from around the country, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Aug. 6, noon-6 p.m. Aug. 7, at The Village of Rochester Hills shopping center, 104 N. Adams Road at Walton. Free parking, admission, entertainment, children's activities. Outdoor food court available.

Frog Masquerade

New Orleans-inspired Frog Masquerade benefit for Detroit's Matrix Theatre Company, 9 p.m. Aug. 5, at The Magic Stick Lounge, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Party features music, street performances including tarot readings, fortune telling and circus acts; cover $5. Proceeds benefit theater's environment youth festival. Call (313) 967-0999.

Fishing clubs

Vanguard Trout Unlimited for fishing enthusiasts meets 7:30 p.m. second Thursday monthly at Rochester's Dinosaur Hill. Also, Fishing Buddies Fishing Club gathers 6:30 p.m. third Tuesdays at Rochester Hills OPC, 650 Leticia Drive. Call (248) 375-1931.

Free concerts

Lake St. Clair Symphony Orchestra string player Lindsey Reich performs 7 p.m. today at Wahby Park at Blossom Heath Inn on Jefferson south of 10 Mile Road, St. Clair Shores. Free; guests should bring own chairs and/or blankets.

Warren Cultural Commission presents Thomas H. Carey "Concerts at the Square," 7 p.m. Sundays, at Warren City Square, east of Van Dyke and north of 12 Mile Road. Schedule includes: Aug. 7, Motor City Brass Band; Aug. 14, The Under Pressure Band; Aug. 21, Warren Concert Band. Bring lawn chair or blanket. Call (586) 264-0959.

St. John Hospital and Medical Center's The Plaza Jazz Concert Series, continues 7 p.m. today at The Village Festival Plaza, Kercheval and St. Clair, Grosse Pointe. Free. Call (313) 886-7474 or visit www.thevillagegp.com.

Uptown Friday Night Concert Series at The Fountain Stage, on Macomb Place between N. Walnut and Pine streets, in downtown Mount Clemens, 9:30-11 p.m., Aug. 5, The Allies. For details, www.DowntownMountClemens.com or (586) 469-4168.

Concerts by live bands and dancing at Thomas S. Welsh Activity Center at Metro Beach Metropark, 6:30-10 p.m. Sundays through August at the Harrison Township park. Music, dancing free, vehicle entry permit required. Information, (800) 477-3172 or www.metroparks.com.

Rockin' on Riverfront

Free Chevy Rockin' on the Riverfront concert series continues 8-10 p.m. Fridays through Aug. 12 at Riverfront Plaza in downtown Detroit. Schedule: Aug. 5, Leon Russell and Mitch Ryder; and Aug. 12, Bachman Turner. Parking available $5 at GM surface lot at St. Antoine and Atwater adjacent to GM Renaissance Center. Viewing space on first-come, first-serve basis, with own lawn chairs or blankets. Food concessions available; coolers not permitted. 

Bluegrass Festival

Annual Harsens Island Bluegrass Festival, noon-9 p.m., Aug. 13, at Harsens Island Schoolhouse Grille, 2669 Columbine Road. Tickets $20, roundtrip ferry ride $7. Festival benefits local charities. Visit www.2011harsensislandbluegrassfestival.eventbrite.com.

Go Comedy's PJ Jacokes and Tommy LeRoy

Go Comedy!

"ROGOCOP! The Musical," a parody of the movie "Robocop," presented 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays through Aug. 26, at Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 Nine Mile Road, Ferndale. Tickets, $5-$15, available at Go Comedy! or by calling (248) 327-0575 after 6 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays.

Vintage Baseball

Regular Base Ball Club of Mount Clemens plays 2 p.m. at field on east side of Romeo Plank Road north of Clinton River Road: Aug. 21 vs. Midland Mighty River Hogs. Visit Mount Clemens Regular Base Ball Club

Rochester Grangers Vintage Base Ball Club plays at 1 p.m. Aug. 28, at Halbach Field in Rochester. Free admission. Visit www.rochesterhills.org or call (248) 656-4663.

Zoo music

Wild Summer Nights concert series at Detroit Zoo, 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesdays, through Aug. 31, free with zoo admission or $5 after 5 p.m.; animal habitats and Dinosauria open until 8 p.m. For schedule, visit or (248) 541-5717. 

TODAY'S MUSE

When it comes to advice on raising girls: I don't have advice so much as I have reassurance. The news is full of stories about how mothers are ruining their children by doing X or not doing Y. I feel confident in saying that if your kids are clothed, fed, surrounded by books and people who love them, you're doing it exactly right -- Saundra Mitchell, author and mom.

Get a ‘scents’ of home sweet home

The aromas at home change every day. As a child, I could count on smelling fish and hot oil on Fridays or any day during smelt season, and pot roast on Sunday. If it was someone’s birthday, it was the sweet smell of cookie dough or cake batter that carried me through the door after school or following a day of play outside.
 
The scents differed with the weather. When it was cold and rainy, our house smelled of chicken noodle soup or grilled cheese sandwiches, both  comfort foods to me. On Saturday mornings, there was always a hint of ammonia, linen and lemon oil because that’s when chores like laundry, dusting and washing the floor were done.

I always enjoyed the aromas in the kitchen and even the smell of a clean house. But when it comes to the case of smelly socks, dirty laundry and the litter box, all of us do what we can to mask the scents. In fact, 64 percent of us go to extreme measures to rid our homes of pungent odors such as replacing a rug or carpet, purchasing new trash cans and even replacing a couch or another piece of furniture, according to a recent survey by Filtrete Filters from 3M.

Odor free is naturally easier on the senses.

But what if you’ve become immune to the smells? Aside from asking visitors the honest truth, it can be difficult to know if your home is odor free.  Healthy Living expert and building biologist Lisa Beres offers the following solutions to creating and maintaining a fresh-smelling home naturally:

* Start in the kitchen. The biggest culprit for foul odors is the refrigerator. Remove any left-leftovers, that is, dishes that were reheated more than once or no longer resemble food. Then take a wet cloth and remove foul odors and stains that build up on the shelves and in the drawers. For a natural cleaning solution, here’s Beres’ recipe: Add a few drops of natural dish soap to a bowl of baking soda and stir until it creates a thick paste to use as a cleaning agent. Your mom’s old trick of storing an open box of baking soda to eliminate odors still works. Just be sure to replace the box every three months.
* Candles and air fresheners are nice, but not natural, and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can contain synthetic chemicals such as formaldehyde. This can irritate eyes, skin and throats. Instead of those, use all natural candles or a homemade concoction like 10 drops of essential oil (maybe lavender or eucalyptus) in 2 cups of water. Pour it into a pretty vase and add a reed diffuser. You might also go online and find a recipe for natural air fresheners or homemade candles. How about a bowl of fresh lemons or a bouquet of real flowers? Even opening the windows is a good idea.
* Resist using repellents. “Pesky ants and other insects can make their way into your kitchen pantry when they’re on a mission to find food, but dousing them and your kitchen’s surfaces in toxic repellent isn’t a healthy solution for the home or the family,” Beres said. “Instead set a line of coffee grounds, lemon juice, cinnamon or cayenne pepper around doors and windows to create an effective barrier they won’t cross.”
* Filter out the smells. There’s a reason you have a fan over the stove. Filters such as the Filtrete Odor Reduction Filter are designed specifically to prevent unappealing cooking odors (such as fish) from spreading and lingering throughout the home. However, like the box of baking soda, they need to be replaced now and then.
* Pick up those wet towels and bathroom rugs. You would be amazed at how quickly mildew can develop and remain if the towel is not washed properly. “To rid towels of the mildew smell, first wash them once in hot water with a cup or two of white vinegar. Then wash them again with a natural or eco-friendly laundry detergent,” Beres said.
Of course the trick to avoid the mildew and associated smells in the future is to get your kids to hang the towels up immediately to ensure they dry thoroughly, instead of plopping them on the floor.
 
For more tips on eliminating smelly odors in the home, Filtrete Home Filtration
For questions or comments, email gina.joseph@macombdaily.com.

My interview with Elmore Leonard made me a fan

Macomb Daily file photo/David N. Posavetz

It is a sad day for writers, but also TV fans, readers and students – anyone who has been entertained by the words of Elmore Leonard. The Michigan native and crime novelist,  whose books have launched many Hollywood movie and TV series, died Tuesday morning at his home from complications of a stroke he suffered a few weeks ago.

When I met him three years ago he was two months shy of 85.

It was the inaugural year of the Elmore Leonard Literary Arts and Film Festival and I was granted an interview with the author -- although I don’t think he would have denied anyone a chat provided they were seriously interested in his work. 

Admittedly, I was excited to meet him. 

I considered the menagerie of characters that Leonard created over his nearly six decade writing career. If audiences were not being introduced to them through his books (44-and-counting) or novellas they are discovering them on the big screen. There was always some ambitious director or screenwriter plucking a villain or hero from Leonard’s circus of feisty true-to-life characters. His words inspired almost 30 films and TV movies including “3:10 to Yuma” (based on a shorty story he sold to Dime Western magazine for 2 cents a word). This September, I was hoping to chat with him again about a film debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival that was based on his book. For Leonard’s festival, organizers featured a special showing of the pilot episode for the hit FX Network series, “Justified.” Though not a direct adaptation, at the heart of the TV series that spawned a new generation of Leonard fans, including my son, is Leonard’s beloved character U.S. marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant). 

As excited as I was, I was leery, too. A few people who had met him when he was younger gave me the impression that he was aloof and difficult. So, I went to the interview expecting him to honor his commitment to the festival but nod for a handler to give me the old five-finger warning (meaning you are outta here in five minutes).

Instead it was just him who answered the door.

As luck would have it, he was in the middle of writing. After a cordial greeting he ushered me into his office. It was an area in the great room sectioned off by a wooden desk facing a wall of windows overlooking his garden. On his desk was a burning candle, no doubt trying to mask the smell cigarette smoke, an electric typewriter (not quite an antique but definitely not modern) and a stack of paper. As he showed me later the canary paper bludgeoned by pencil corrections were pages of his new book about U.S. marshal Givens.

Following a quick session with our photographer David Posavetz, which included Leonard offering to pose with Poz, he and I settled into a casual conversation about his career and his family. He is the father of five children, and his son Peter, who lived nearby,  followed in his footsteps, going into advertising before achieving his own success as a novelist in 2008. Elmore was gracious and kind, not only in the manner in which he responded to questions but in carrying the conversation onward. For hours we spoke about writing. I learned that while he drafted a screenplay – it was not fun for him.

At one point during the interview, he saw that I was staring at the sheets of yellow paper strewn across his desk. I was straining to read the straightforward and believable Leonardian dialogue that made him famous.  So, he grabbed one and read the words aloud, like they were all new to him. After reading a sentence or two, he put the paper down and made a correction, then read to the end of the page. “I always write in longhand first,” he told me. “I cross out what I don’t want and then just keep adding to it.” When he felt the page was done, he would complete a polished version. It was done, not on a computer, but on his trusty IBM Wheelwriter electric typewriter. 

When we both needed a moment to stretch, he gave me a quick tour of the kitchen and living room (adorned with photos of his family and works of art). We rounded a corner and entered a small room where his wife was working. Stacked on several shelves in the small room were the books he had published over the years. With one children’s book to my name, I can only imagine how proud he was of his 44 titles. He did not gloat or brag but proceeded to tell me a story about several of them including his newest title at the time, “Djibouti.”

By then I could tell by the shadows on the wall it was time to leave, or invite myself to dinner. Even then, he did not rush me out the door. Instead he eyed his collection of books and picked a stack of titles that he knew my teenage son would enjoy.

My time with Elmore Leonard that afternoon could not have been better. I was inspired. I was entertained and I felt enriched having met him.  

One final note
If there was one Elmore Leonard quote I'll remember it's this -- as I am a vacuum when it comes to interesting facts ...
 
“Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're ­Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language.
You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.”