Oct. 31

Happy Halloween!!

I had four children come to my door. I'm used to at least 100 children. So now what to do with all the candy...

One of the women I work with said her 6-year-old and her class were donating all the candy they collect to soldiers in Afghanistan. When the woman asked her daughter if she didn't want to keep some of the candy the little girl said- "No. Those guys are out their protecting me. I can give them my candy." How sweet is that? It made tears come to my eyes. As a Vet who was overseas- even if it wasn't in a war zone-to know people at home think about you is important. So is a taste of home.

I'm going to take my leftover candy in to work and ask her to give it to her little girl to take to class...

Heroes come in all sizes and ages. Cheers~

Oct. 28

Happy Birthday to my sister Kathi. I hope it's a good one!

I have no idea how it got to be Friday- or the end of October. Halloween is Monday - and the time changes next weekend, November 6th. I've noticed the tiny changes in the season but seriously the actually days of the month are crazy. People keep asking me about Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mind whirls. All I have to say is that I'm glad I graduated in June. If I graduated in January with most of my classmates, I don't know how I would have been able to get it all done.

The people at work of India descent told me that this is Dawali - their Christmas/new years celebration. I am always excited to learn about a new culture and celebrations. We grow up thinking everyone has the same traditions and holidays as we do. Then we become grownups and learn that the traditions/foods and holidays are as diverse as the people. Celebrating that is the most fun of all.

What special celebrations/traditions to you celebrate at your house?

Oct. 27

How many of you will be doing nanowrimo? That's the contest where you try to write a book in the month of November- or at least hit a set number of words say 50,000. It is used by writers to motivate them into finally finishing the book. I think Nano can be great fun, although I've never done one personally. I do like to see everyone joining in on-line and supporting each other. The truth is that in "real life" there is no one motivating you to do a job- even a job you love. so there has to be a certain level of self motivation to get a book written.

Let me know if you are hoping to knock out words next month. Cheers~

Oct. 26

It smelled like snow outside today. I think it was just the wind talking as the temperature was 50 degrees F - the sky was gray and completely covered in clouds. Little dog and I are walking in the dark these days. I think I want a walking stick. I worry about coyotes popping out of the tall grass. Seriously the conservation area we pass has slough grass that is as tall as me. Sometimes even little dog gets spooked when it starts to rustle.

We have all the last minute stink bugs/squash beetles clinging to the outside walls and doors trying to find a place to stay warm. This morning there was a group of mallard ducks along the pond. They all slipped into the water as we passed by. Little dog is great. She never barked once, although she wanted to chase them very badly.

How is your weather?

Oct. 25

Happy birthday to my nephew, Jared. Hope your day is big fun!

I can't believe I didn't write a blog post yesterday. Ugh. I thought I was all caught up. No wonder I finished so early-here I thought I was being more efficient.

So, how is your week so far? I took cookies to work yesterday and they were a big hit. I now have a group of people I can bake for who can eat it! That's always fun. The thing is they all decided that the gluten-free oatmeal tasted better than the "regular" cookies. I was surprised, but then I got to thinking about it. For the gluten-free cookies I could taste the batter and the cookies to ensure they were good. The others I couldn't. Perhaps tasting really does make a difference. What do you think?

Oct. 20

They say October has the most birthdays of any month. In fact October 5th is the day with the most births. That is not hard to imagine considering that February is the conception month. When it's dull and grey and there's nothing to do well... babies are conceived.

Its something to think about when writing your characters-whether you set it in February or October.

What else causes a bump in births? Blackouts. Blizzards. War? Can you think of more? Cheers~

Oct. 19

Today was cold, windy with rain that fell thickly. Trees waved in the wind. Leaves swirled in tiny devils on the ground then stuck flat and wet to windows and doors. Birds hid in the remaining leafy trees and sang a song to brighten the day. A lone tree held tightly to its bright red leaves, the top most branches having lost their battle stood bare against the silver thick sky. The earth absorbed the water while the tiniest of creatures scurried to their winter dens.

Here in the USA we call this football weather or turkey weather. Time to gather inside with the warmth of the oven roasting full meals and the television blaring over the top of family chatter. We visit and root for our teams. We bake pies and cakes and goodies. We tell ghost stories and share our bounty. Deep fall is the storm before the cold when we are happy for the change of season before the darkness gets on our nerves and makes us dream of summer once more.

Oct. 18

Today's sky reminded me of winter. It was gray and thick with clouds. Winter clouds aren't like summer clouds-they have a silver quality to them that speaks of snow and cold. Lucky for us the surface temperature was too warm for snow. We had rain instead. It is only the middle of October, but the weather is showing warning signs of the weather to come. I heard it's still 100 degrees in Arizona. Funny to think they are still in the throws of summer while we are on the edge of winter. After living in the south Pacific for nearly two years I kind of like my four seasons. I may complain come March when it's still snowy, but I'd rather have four seasons than only one. How about you? Do you dream of a tropical island where the weather never changes?

Inquiring minds want to know. Cheers~

Oct. 17

I spoke to a dear friend this weekend. She, too, experienced a weird week last week - having seen both trouble with electronics and communications between people. So I know I was not the only one, and she lives hundreds of miles from me so it wasn't regional, either.

I spent the weekend having the most interesting time at a large tradeshow for my new job. The show itself was fun, it was the getting to and from that was interesting. I learned very quickly how to hail a cab. Having never done it in my life~ I can now say I'm no longer a beginner. Perhaps it was easy because I'm relatively tall and a red head with long arms. One God-send of a cabbie caught me running down a flight of steps and across a parking lot and still got me where I wanted to go. Now that's an eagle eye. I tipped him well.

In many ways I am Marlo Thomas in the big city. It is not safe for me. I'm too approachable- if that's possible. We won't talk about the lack of umbrella or raincoat as I ran from one train station to another downtown in a suit and heels. I feel so urban now. I wonder if I look "cool" and "polished," too~ LOL.

Nope I'm still me. What adventures did you have this weekend?

Oct. 14

Full moon week, is anyone else experiencing technical difficulty? Work computers have been on the blink. Communications with vendors is rough. Communications between people has been rough. Communication with my characters has been rough. I wonder if it's a sun spot or a planetary alignment or something. It is almost as if we are all in the Tower of Babel and something happened so that we are unable to truly understand each other. Or maybe this is the universe's way of making us all stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and come at things from a new and better angle. I like to order the chaos that is life. Reality doesn't allow for order, but I pretend that it does and that -like a story- life has it's own pattern all I have to do is figure it out.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Cheers~

Oct. 13

Today I walked little dog in the damp misty darkness. I noticed that the water droplets hung from the needles of the pine trees like tiny jewels. We arrived home damp but happy. I'm writing. Unfortunately I'm averaging three pages a day when I usually average ten. I suppose I should cut myself a break, but I find that I'm editing half of what I write-worried about my protagonist's "likeability." She is a bit snarky. I don't know if it's her or me but we are having trouble finding our rhythm. I find when this happens if I just keep at it, it does finally take care of itself.

How are you doing? Did you have a rainy day or sunshine? If you are a writer, how is the writing going for you? Ever have trouble getting started?

Cheers~

Oct. 12

Do you want to hear about my new job? I work with scientists. Yesterday they ran an experiment and I got to witness and photograph them as they did baseline drug testing, then "spilled" or in this case "poured" a powerful liquid drug on their hands and waited sixty seconds. Then they washed their hands carefully and after an two hours took a second drug test. Why? Because someone was using the reason they failed their drug test as they spilled the drug on their bare hand. As scientists, my employers didn't say- "that's ridiculous." What they said was, "Let's see if that could be true." Was it true? I don't know yet as the testing has to be done. All in all it makes life interesting when you work for people who say, "let's prove it."

Now, I'm wondering how I can write that into a book~ lol.

Do you know someone who's job is interesting to watch? Say a fudge maker? Jeweler? Painter? What do you like about watching them work?

Oct. 11

My poor pitiful attempt to follow back and comment has been squashed by the hours I spend at my new job. Yes, my friends, if you haven't heard, I am now employed full time. I love my new job and it is very rewarding, but the hours I can spend on-line have been scrunched down to nearly none as I am writing my new series. I will keep posting as best I can. I want to keep in touch. If you have any questions or comments that would be great. I would love to know what you want to read about or what you want to know about me or my books.

I will try to follow and comment as much as possible, but I'm hoping that my books will speak to you more than my daily blog.

Cheers and thanks for reading!!

Oct. 10

Tonight little dog and I went for our walk later. The moon was out and it was huge and round and bright. I would call it a harvest moon. The street lights started to pop on one by one. We walked across a bridge where the sound of frogs singing filled the cool air. The ducks were all off somewhere else, leaving the marshy smelling pond with the perfect twin logs sticking out of it empty. The leaves are falling fast and thick. They are close to four inches deep where they were blown off the sidewalk and mounded up on the grass. Little dog loves the wide variety of smells the mounds contain and happily ruins the piles searching for bugs and other secrets the leaves hold.

I see the vast array of birds flying high above me across the moon, heading south. It makes me wonder why we, humans, don't migrate south in the winter? Unless we're retired that is... lol. Cheers~

Oct. 7

I'm afraid I've been a bit boring lately. In part because I've been crazy busy. I'm writing and that is important as well as watching the leaves fall in an alarming rate. The grape vine has given up and is half gone. Sometimes I talk a lot about the little things because there are so many big things going on and it is the little things that get lost in my head. I pay careful attention to them. If you are keeping a season's notebook don't forget to add Indian Summer to your descriptions. Those are the perfect Autumn days when it is neither too hot, nor too cold. The original term was used after the first frost-if we had a warm up we would get a second or "Indian" summer. I forget about this part of the season when I'm writing. So it is a good detail for the notebook.

I'm glad you visit me at this little blog. Comments are welcome I hope you have a fabulous weekend. Cheers~

Oct. 6

It is an absolutely perfect day. The weather is warm. The sky is blue and the trees are bright fall colors of red, orange, yellow and senna. With all the vibrant colors to the leaves against a blue sky it nearly hurts your eyes. I had to go outside and soak up the sunshine while it was here. People were out eating their lunches on park benches or where ever they could find a seat. My lovely cousin said that she was enjoying our Indian summer. I agree. Savor these days as winter comes quickly.

What do you like about this season?

Oct. 5

Today I was talking with a wonderful gal at my Doctor's office about reading. She told me she has my book but hasn't gotten to it yet as she has a stack on her night stand. I laughed and told her I have the same issue. She loves to read but can only do it in spurts. I agreed. For me though if it's a time issue, than writing comes first, reading second. I received a new stack of books today that my friends have out. Some I will take to get signed, but most won't get read for at least three months. I used to be a one book to the bitter end kind of reader-good, bad or indifferent I would not start a second book until I read the entire contents. But as I've slowed down on my reading, I've gotten to the point of selection. If I'm not the audience for the book, I won't finish it. Or I'll start another and mix it up. There are times when I have a book in every room. You can tell how much I enjoy the author by whether it is a living room book, a kitchen book, a bedroom book, a laundry room book or well, anywhere else.

Are you a one book at a time reader or a book in every room kind? Did that change over time?

Oct. 4

Today's subject is the horror of not finding chocolate chips in the cupboard. (Just kidding, I'm sure there are far worse horrors in the world. So let's say- the complaint...) What happens when I want a gluten-free cookie and it's 9 pm? Well, I make them, of course. The trouble is that I didn't have any chocolate chips. This almost never happens. Anyone who knows me, knows I always have chocolate in my house. But alas, not tonight. So what did I do? I made trail mix cookies. I used the chocolate chip cookie base but instead of chips, I added the same amount of dried cranberry, white chocolate, walnut trail mix. The result? A cookie jar of yum!

What good things have you come up with in a pinch?

Oct. 3

This weekend I harvested the grapes. It was over two hours of cleaning and sorting them into a big pot where I cooked them down to juice. The juice was then twice strained and frozen. We got a gallon and a half off of one grape vine. The next time I have a large section of time I'll make jelly with the juice. The juice is darker this year. We waited longer to harvest the grapes. I hope the jelly has more flavor this year. It was good last year, but delicate. I prefer more grape flavor. We will see.

What did you do this weekend?