About Anne Marie Jasper

I grew up in Auburn, New York during the 1960's. For those of you who think the 60's were a wild time for all, I'm afraid I wasn't privy to any of the behind the scenes shenanigans. It was long after I left my hometown that I realized what was going on in the world. And it took even longer for me to recognize the harsh realities of my surroundings.

The first place I went when I left Auburn was Rochester, NY. There, I met and married my first husband. A few years later, we gathered up our belongings and our two sons and moved to Camden, Arkansas, which, in those days seemed very primitive compared to the city of Rochester. No sooner were we getting eastablished than a massive lay-off forced us to move to Raleigh, North Carolina, where a new job awaited.

North and South Carolina beaches were just a few hours drive from Raleigh. The ocean was calling me. Many weekends and vacations were spent on those various beaches. I thought I loved Myrtle Beach until the first time I visited Bogue Banks. My heart found it's home in Carteret County, North Carolina and when my married life became a shambles, I moved there to seek solace near the surf on what I thought would be a permanent basis.

Not so! I met and married the man of my dreams. His job took us hopping around the world. We moved to Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia just in time for the Gulf War. Two years later, we found ourselves living in Cairo, Egypt. After five years, we moved to El Paso, Texas for a couple more years. Onward to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I stayed home in North Carolina for the short time my husband went to Alexandria, Egypt before we moved back to El Paso, where we currently stay. I tend to hop back and forth between here and Carteret County because that is what I consider my home.

Oh, I took vacations back home in the midst of all the assignments. I wrote books, stories and a whole lot of nonsense in order to entertain myself during those years of travel. I'm getting old now and the desire to go anyplace other than home to North Carolina has diminished. I'm looking forward to that last trek across the country to Carteret County, where I plan to retire and while away my time writing and enjoying nature's plans for our property as they evolve.

Did, I tell you that my other passion is for gardening? It is and wherever I go I have at least a few plants to make me happy. In Cairo, it was house plants; in Jeddah, it was house plants and a three foot stand of coleus, drip fed from the air conditioner that ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, year round. Here in El Paso, I'm challenged with the prospect of making my little portion of the desert green again. Rosemary, hibiscus, wisteria and bouganvilla are silently awaiting the spring to resume their trek up the fence in my back yard. Roses and some flowers I don't even know the names of are patiently awaiting the sun just beneath the ground in the flower beds near the house. There's even a cactus garden way down in the back corner. If we stay long enough, these plants could all reach maturity but that isn't likely.

No matter. I'll be happy to go back to my assortment of rosemary, lavender, flower bulbs and forsythia that I'm hoping have survived one more absence back in Carteret County. In either case, I'll do my part to keep Wal-Mart, Lowes and the local nurseries in business wherever I am.