I remember when Fannie Flagg was a stand-up comedian—a flaming red head with a thick southern drawl and a passel of funny jokes. Then came Flagg’s novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café and the hit movie version. Flagg’s talents also lay in writing. I thoroughly enjoyed another Fannie Flagg novel, Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven with its upbeat outlook on life (http://thirdagetraveler.blogspot.com/2006/12/cant-wait-to-get-to-heaven-hellava-book.html), so when I spotted A Redbird Christmas, the bookstore racked up another sale.
Fannie Flagg’s A Redbird Christmas is a wonderful feel-good book. It is filled with her signature quirky characters living in a small-town southern setting. She skillfully describes Lost River bringing the reader right into this out of the way community. Before long I knew its history and its inhabitants. They have real longings and real problems. They may be idiosyncratic, but I became involved with them and wanted to find out what happens to them. Flagg involves her readers, and her books are the curl-up-and-read-in-one-sitting kind.
Her main character, Oswald T. Campbell is a sympathy-invoking soul alone in Chicago’s wintery cold and snow when he receives a sad diagnosis from his doctor. He is dying, and in order to extend his life as long as possible, he must leave the Chicago climate in favor of someplace warm. Through a peculiar turn of events, including his seriously short supply of money, Oswald ends up in Lost River where, although be tries to avoid it, he cannot avoid becoming part of the community. In a small town where there is a real shortage of eligible bachelors and an abundance of single ladies, Oswald is drawn into the social life. He soon meets the central figure in this tale, a redbird named Jack, owned by Roy, the local grocer. Jack somehow draws the community closer and affects many of Lost River’s inhabitants, including Oswald.
One wonders whether life is filled with a series of coincidences that twist and turn us until we find our destinies. That is a question Flagg often raises in her books. Whether you believe in these convenient coincidences or not, you can’t help but come away with the feeling that going through life with one’s eyes open to new possibilities cannot help but make new possibilities appear. That’s a very positive message. I believe it’s true.
A Redbird Christmas is charming. I read it with a smile. I read it right after the Christmas season, and I suppose it might be described as a Christmas tale. But Fannie Flagg’s book, a New York Times bestseller, will charm a reader regardless of season.
Fannie Flagg’s A Redbird Christmas is a wonderful feel-good book. It is filled with her signature quirky characters living in a small-town southern setting. She skillfully describes Lost River bringing the reader right into this out of the way community. Before long I knew its history and its inhabitants. They have real longings and real problems. They may be idiosyncratic, but I became involved with them and wanted to find out what happens to them. Flagg involves her readers, and her books are the curl-up-and-read-in-one-sitting kind.
Her main character, Oswald T. Campbell is a sympathy-invoking soul alone in Chicago’s wintery cold and snow when he receives a sad diagnosis from his doctor. He is dying, and in order to extend his life as long as possible, he must leave the Chicago climate in favor of someplace warm. Through a peculiar turn of events, including his seriously short supply of money, Oswald ends up in Lost River where, although be tries to avoid it, he cannot avoid becoming part of the community. In a small town where there is a real shortage of eligible bachelors and an abundance of single ladies, Oswald is drawn into the social life. He soon meets the central figure in this tale, a redbird named Jack, owned by Roy, the local grocer. Jack somehow draws the community closer and affects many of Lost River’s inhabitants, including Oswald.
One wonders whether life is filled with a series of coincidences that twist and turn us until we find our destinies. That is a question Flagg often raises in her books. Whether you believe in these convenient coincidences or not, you can’t help but come away with the feeling that going through life with one’s eyes open to new possibilities cannot help but make new possibilities appear. That’s a very positive message. I believe it’s true.
A Redbird Christmas is charming. I read it with a smile. I read it right after the Christmas season, and I suppose it might be described as a Christmas tale. But Fannie Flagg’s book, a New York Times bestseller, will charm a reader regardless of season.
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southern nostalgia, christmas, friendship, fannie flagg, southern fiction, alabama, dogs, southern lit, laughter, travel books, Third Age Traveler
I add for the sake of fairness, the state of Alaska cannot pave this road because the heaving atop the permafrost makes it impossible. Truly this is another world. So with booklet in hand, a hopefully carefully maintained coach from Princess, and faith in our driver and excellent tour narrator, J.J., we embark. J.J. has us play a game. We will count every vehicle we see on this journey. I’ll tell you the number at the end of this post.
Our heavy coach crosses the Susitna River driving over a 1.326 foot wooden bridge made of black spruce. 
At some points we drive over 
We stop for lunch in the 
We dine on a hearty chili, a delicious soup, a thick, dense bread (all the bread up here is thick and dense; I guess it’s left over from the hearty sourdough breads). Our cutlery is plastic and our dinnerware courtesy of "Solo." It's fine with us and it somehow fits with the warm, homey atmosphere that is the McClaren Lodge. I imagine how wonderful this must be for some snowmachiner or dog musher, the only passerbys in the winter, here on a dark, snowy night becoming part of the family, sharing the stew and watching one of the dvds. Then he'd delight as we did in a nice slice of McClaren berry pie, a combo of strawberry, rhubarb, apples, raspberry and blackberry. Pretty darned good!
The Denali Highway ends at Paxton, a town founded in 1906 and now boasting a population of 43. We make a pit/snack stop in the Paxton lodge before heading down the Richardson Highway to our destination, the Copper River Princess Lodge.
Berries are a staple, for the people as well as for the animals, and we see animals foraging in the distance, swimming among the waves, their bodies appearing and disappearing. 
These are Dall Sheep high up on the tundra.
During the day there's action and music on shore and views of parasailors, windsurfers, hobycat sailors, and of many other water activities. The music at the fun pool is loud, happy, and spans decades and music styles. It begins early, but then it is New Age morning music. It changes throughout the day, and it's great. 
Early mornings bring glorious sunrises, and evenings bring the lights of Isla Mujeres out in the distance and lights of two dinner cruise galleons from farther down in the Hotel Zone. 
