Sunday, Dec. 05, 2004 5:26 P.M.

The Race Is On!

This and the photo below both taken at “Tehachapi Mountain Park” the day after Thanksgiving, by Marcia.

The race toward Christmas, that is.

I just attended “Tiny Belle’s” birthday party. (I wrote about her in my October 29 entry.) Anyway, for weeks she has talked about little else than her upcoming birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. It was a fine birthday for this three year old, but it is now over and we are marching on toward the next big event.

Thanksgiving “happened” similarly. It seemed that we planned toward the celebration for weeks, especially as we were traveling up to the Tehachapi Mountains to my older son’s house for the occasion.

We spent a lovely two days with food, family and fun…then got a little caught up in the “Black Friday” shopping crowds before we headed back down to the valleys and home. It seemed that Thanksgiving was but a blurred memory as people sped out to jam parking lots with SUV’s.

Ah well. I’m not complaining, just observing. It is part of the fabric of life. It’s a rhythmic cycle, which brings continuity and completion to every year. It’s the golden thread, which weaves the generations together in the tapestry of life.

SOME THINGS I’VE BEEN DOING
Today has been rainy and very cool for So Cal. I have one of those clocks that also registers the indoor and outdoor temperatures, so I don’t have to go outside to check the temp.

After almost a week of clear days, but with gale force, north winds, the rain moved in and the thermometer has not climbed out of the 40’s today. This is homemade soup and book reading weather.

It has also been a week of several good visits with friends, interspersed with a little Christmas fiction I am reading by Mary Higgins Clark, entitled “The Christmas Thief”.

One new “electronic” toy I purchased last week was a little 7” portable DVD/mp3 player. I am loving it. These things mean a lot to me as I spend more time than the average bear, waiting in cars and other places where I have hitched a get away, while others take care of their own business/shopping. I was just watching a DVD of the “Rocky Mountaineer” train adventure across the Canadian Rockies from Vancouver to Banff. Now I know, that the probability is, there are NO “train geeks” in my readership. You probably all think this is majorly boring material. But I love it! Sometimes I feel like a reincarnated hobo from a previous generation, who would be very content to pack a bag (I have too much stuff for a knapsack.) and take off for parts unknown.

Speaking of books (Were we?)…I was mentally listing my favorite contemporary fiction writers this morning, because I like to check up on them periodically. That’s just in case they sneak a new book past my awareness. Anyway, the list of my VERY favorites is as follows:

1. Nicohlas Sparks (I have read everything he has written.)
2. John Grisham
3. David Baldacci
4. Rosamunde Pilcher
5. Bill Bryson
6. Tony Hillerman

Also, this week I have been preparing for a meeting with a group of women. I was invited to talk to them, and my subject is: “Some Things I Know for Sure”. (Yes, I stole the title…but not the contents…from Oprah.)

On Writing

Here is a quote from the most recent entry of the Real Live Preacher.

“Sadly, I don't really have any choice in this matter. I have to write or my heart will start to die. I'm serious. If I can't write, my heart will be like a sad little boy walking to school every day alone with no lunchbox, no hope, and nothing to look forward to. I think my heart WAS dying, and that's why I started Real Live Preacher in the first place. So, for better or for worse, I have to write now.”


I thought that was worth sharing.

Thanks for reading!

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