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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