Flight of a Snowflake

They say I’m different from all the rest.
Don’t know if I’m worser, or maybe best.
We’re each all pretty, we at least hope so,
Because in a few minutes, we’ll just be snow.

The Day After Christmas

After all the presents are opened and the day has moved past the night
The day after Christmas and all its mess begins at the first break of light.

The tree now looks so lonely and bare, the presents guarded now gone.
Ornaments not quite so cute, the lights not so bright; if we turn them on.

Space in the living room is at a premium, how long to keep this stuff?
The wreathes, the knick knacks, the little displays. Enough is enough!

Tradition states, we recall, that all must remain at least to New Years Day.
It’s a whole ‘nother week and then, the work begins to put it all away.

Each year I swear as I pack up each and every Christmas Decoration box
I won’t do it again next year, no I won’t, I don’t like it, “not even with a fox”.

Not a light to hang, not a Santa to play, not even a ribbon or bow
Next year, I’m not even going to hang any advantageous Mistletoe.

But the year rolls on and the seasons change and while I eating the Bird
I get excited to go outside and decorate, to light my little part of the world.

Oh the Season is the Season and I can’t help but to play and participate.
I think, however, I need to remember, It’s only the Day After that I hate

The Day After

The house may be a mess for days on end but outside, this morning, everything was just as it should be.
The new year officially starts next week, but the day after Christmas seems to be the real start.
Good Morning and Happy New Year.

Brrrrr! Very Vermonty!

Maybe the start of a new Christmas Tradition? Maybe. I really enjoyed my quiet time this morning in the 10 degree air frying bacon for breakfast sandwiches.

Christmas Bacon. I don't know, but it has a ring to my ears.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Feeling Chilly?

Maybe the memory of the backyard fire can warm up the otherwise frigid temps around here.

Cookie? Cookie for me? (1st Ever Guest Blogger)

Yeah. I admit it. I'm a sucker for cookies and well, pretty much anything baked, fried or otherwise sweetened to unhealthy proportions. But especially cookies.

Although a bit blue, literally, I do like to consider myself somewhat of a ladies monster, and when Charley walked in with those Monster Cookies, which my inside information had already told me she likes to bake, I figured I had this lady already caught in my magic.

A few cookies later, and gushing with all the information she needed, it didn't take much of a sugar rush to figure out that I had been duped. Charley did this to all her information saps. I just happened to be the latest victim. Rapport some call it. A way to build trust. It worked on me, that was for sure. I think it's sneaky. But what the hell, I got Monster Cookies out of it.

As a last ditch effort to save some face, I yelled out to her as she turned to leave with the now empty crumb filled cookie platter.
"Hey! How about at least a good night recipe before you leave."

She laughed.
"If you ever unhand those last two cookies grasped in those furry fingers, you can get it from me next time; I'm in the book."

I was nuts for the girl, and her cookies, and after a number of harassing emails, calls, and a pending restraining order, she finally gave it up to me. The recipe, that is. And here is that address if you want to make your own:

http://www.deniserobbins.com/books/connectthedots.html#recipes

And if you happen to see her, I've got some questions I'd like you to ask her for me. Like:

What CIA approved "enhanced interrogation technique" does the heroine witness in Connect the Dots?

and

Why does she not approve?

If she won't tell you, check out bookobssessed.wordpress.com tomorrow and I'm sure you can find the answers there. But just know that it'll just lead to more questions.

Until then, I'll be over at Denise Robbins' blog, begging for cookies and learning more about her new book Connect the Dots. Make sure you meet us there and bring your answers with you. I hear she might give out more than just cookies to those who post them.

I am; therefore I think

I love the freedom of thinking.

I know that might sound ridiculous but what a powerful, liberating, wonderful thing thinking is. I can think of anything at anytime and there is no one or no thing that can stop me.

I can think of going to, say, France. Boom! I'm there.
Bonjour!

I can think of my old friend when I was just 5 years old. There he is.
Hey Bobby! Is Speed Racer on yet?

I can feel the cold of the river and the grip of the flyrod.
Fish on!

To be able to escape where I care to go, see whoever I care to see, and imagine any thing I can possibly imagine, and all within a fraction of a second. It is a power and an ability of which I am in awe.

I believe this is my attraction to writing. I get to go to places and see people and during the detailed thoughts that make up the writing process- I escape even more throughly and for longer periods of time.

Hopefully as a reader, you, one day, can come along with me. I know you also have the freedom to imagine even my descrption of my thoughts in your own way (which is more than OK with me). In fact, you might even do a better job at it and even conclude that I must be a better writer than I actually am (with which I am also more than OK).

It's really the only way I get to take passengers along with my thoughts and sometimes it's just nice to have the company.

Samuel Goldwyn Said...

I don't think any one should write their autobiography until after they're dead.

Just When You think You're So Smart

Doesn't locking your keys in your car just blow?!

They're right there, hanging in the ignition. Just what? A foot away but yet a million miles. Hanging there, unaware of the dilemma unfolding on the other side of the glass.
Do you call for a lock smith? Disrupt the home morning operations so keys can be brought to you? What? What? What?!

And do you admit it? No way!

My natural reaction is to not let any passer-bys see that anything is wrong while I scroll through my mind the options available. I take sneak peeks to see if the keys are really in there. Casually I feel through each and every pocket, hoping that they are magically not where I can see them but really just in one of the many, rarely used, coat pockets. Laughing, trying to convince myself this is all so funny. I try all the handles again and again, wishing for one of them to realize they are actually unlocked. All while chuckling that stupid false laugh.

This all, of course, makes me look even more like I'm up to something and people look like they want to ask but, thank God, they don't.

So finally, I took the proactive approach and just got on the bus to deal with it later.

I'm such a dumb ass.

Cursing the Cougar- A Review

Cursing the Cougar by Levi Montgomery

On the heels of the blog entry yesterday and again today by Levi Montgomery on self publishing, I was reminded that I had yet to make public my opinion of Levi’s novel Cursing the Cougar, which just happens to be self-published.

The story was a slice of Americana Pie, which naturally appeals to me, centered on a tow truck driving single dad and his intelligent, pretty, coming of age daughter. I loved the commonality they shared in the love of old trucks and the tools and work it takes to fix them, a believable connection, and the conflict of each trying to find their own companionship with and without each others’ help. It served up well and I enjoyed and could relate to so much of the story.

Levi writes in a style that draws you in with a flowing stream of detail that sets the scene and lets the mind relax and enjoy the story unfolding. I easily get lost in too much detail and settings usually become a disjointed array of backdrops that rarely have anything to do with what the author intended and ones that would make anyone other than Dr. Seuss dizzy. Yet with Levi’s writing, I always felt I saw what he wanted me to see but never overwhelmed. The story drew me from chapter to chapter and kept the pages turning with curiosity and interest in the well developed characters and their storylines.

About the three quarter mark, however, Levi had teased me enough with what I knew had to be coming towards the end of the book that I felt the story drag just a bit. I wanted to get to the finale. When it did finally come, it was extraordinarily well set-up and the action perfect. I found myself yelling in my own head “No! Don’t get in the shower!” “Don’t go in there!”, etc. Being led and emotionally manipulated as a reader should be in a thriller ending.

My only complaint of the overall story is that I wanted more of that story. I felt like, going back to the feelings of young love, like that first date where everything is going great, the dinner went well, the conversation is perfect, laughing and joking, each anticipating that moment on the front porch and then, for some inexplicable reason, someone starts in on one more story of how so and so did such and such in History class only then to now have to rush to finish as the porch light flickers on and off and the date is quickly cut short with a solitary, hurried, good night kiss. The kiss was great and all but the evening ends with a wish of having spent more time with the last part and less with the preliminaries.

Such is how I felt with this story. It was great and I look forward to the next one I read from Levi, but man I wish the story had spent more time on the “wow” ending. But hey! Always leave them wanting more, right? The true test of a great story, however, comes after the book is closed and sitting on the shelf. Do I find myself thinking about it?

The answer for this story is yes. Placed with other books in my office, I find my eyes drifting onto the book’s spine and reading the title several times a day. I know what it means and I find its meaning apt in many situations throughout the day. The underlying message resonated with me and meant something beyond the setting and characters and the reading candy that make a book enjoyable. After reading the book, I found a way to apply its meaning to me, to better my approach to life. That makes a great book in my world.

Enjoyable, well written and life applicable, Cursing the Cougar is a book I not only recommend but I am thankful, yes actually thankful, that I spent the time reading. It is available from the author’s website Levimontgomery.com as well as Amazon.com. I look forward to exploring Levi’s other titles, such as his latest released title Stubbs and Bernadette, in the near future.

Goms is Smog Backwards

I know that there are very few good things to say about smog but I will say that the sight of the moon setting into the far west horizon this morning was gorgeous! Thanks to the smog layers, the moon glowed as a beautiful hazy red orb slowly sinking out of sight.

It even caught the attention of my 14 year old son who asked "What's wrong with the moon?"

"That's the plus side of industrialization that no one wants to talk about, son!" I explained proudly.

I'm not saying that we should keep it around all the time, but the next time I hear someone bashing smog- by damn, I'm not taking it anymore!