Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s lovely here in the NC mountains despite the clouds and occasional rain. A fresh breeze is blowing off my parents’ deck, and the Blue Valley below is its usual mercurial self, revealing shades of Prussian blue and smoky grey as the sun flirts with the cloud cover. Inside, the hum of voices and laughter blends with the smells of roasting turkey and favorite dishes wafting from the kitchen. Frack has created the folk art turkey from a gourd rescued from the porch display, while Frick and his father are discussing musical tastes and their mutual disdain for classical. I have a cocker spaniel at my feet (borrowed; Buc belongs to my sister) and the promise of a good meal ahead. Best of all, I have a family I love--some of whom are celebrating in Florida, like my Mama, sister, brothers, and their families--and friends who are steady and supportive in good times and bad.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.

Norman Rockwell, “Freedom from Want”

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The Dinner List

I’ve been laughing with Steve Martin since I was in junior high school. That would be during the arrow-through-the-head years. Turns out there’s a lot more to the funny man than “King Tut.” He’s a writer with a wry look at the world (if you haven’t read Shopgirl, please do), a playwright, an art collector, and a Grammy-winning banjo player. Steve Martin lines about everything from Googlephonics (“the highest number of speakers next to infinity”) to McDonald’s (“sluuuurp...hamburger...sluuuurp...malt...”) to dentistry (“You’ll be a den-tist! You have a penchant for causing things pain--AAUGH!”) crop up with regularity in household conversations. Plus, he’s not ashamed to dress up in cowboy clothes and plan a stickup with water pistols (the above scene from the Ron Howard movie Parenthood, filmed practically in my back yard). Yep, just about the perfect dinner guest, I’m thinking.

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Fence Sitting

This year, baby sister has been brave enough to take the NaNoWriMo plunge, and I am happily cheering her on. From the sidelines, it seems. Although I have ideas in abundance, I have revising to do. I have no business trying to write my own headlong draft when I have other responsibilities. No reason to start playing around with the YA story ideas. No...dammit, I have plenty of reasons, but perhaps I lack the will. We’ll see. At any rate, I’m already in the hole a week with no production. Madness to start? Perhaps. Then again, I did win NaNo my first year with an orgy of words on the last day--more than 12k of them, to be exact. Never say never...

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