Christmas in July

A potential non-fiction project came up unexpectedly, so I went out and did some research for the proposal today.  I was able to read some tonight, and here's what I posted about it on the WesternPulps group a short time ago:
 
I know it's almost as far away from Christmas as you can get, but tonight I read CHRISTMAS AT THE RANCH, a collection of three autobiographical essays by Elmer Kelton that was published last year by McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.  When I was a kid the local TV stations showed Christmas movies at any time of the year, so it wasn't at all unusual for me to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street" in the middle of summer.  So it's no surprise to me that I enjoyed these essays very much, too.  Kelton writes about childhood Christmases spent on the ranch where he grew up and where his father was the foreman, as well as other holiday seasons spent at his grandparents' ranch.  The middle section of the book concerns the Christmases of 1944 and 1945, the one just before he shipped out for Germany as a member of the U.S. Army and the one he spent in Austria with the family of the girl he wound up marrying.  In the final essay he describes a holiday trip he and Ann took back to Austria in the Eighties.  As always with Kelton, the writing is clean and unadorned with any pretentiousness, with a poignancy and beauty of its own.  Those of us lucky enough to know and to have spent time with Elmer can hear his voice in the words.  It might have seemed even better had I read it at the proper time of year, but it's still a fine book regardless of the season.  Highly recommended.
 
On a weather-related note, I don't know what the official temperatures have been, but where I live it's been 100 degrees yesterday and today.  Summer is definitely here.