Jan 29, 2013 |
I love driving at Twilight. I’d forgotten that until I started working again. Driving home in the near-dark with Sinatra playing through the speakers is a nightly experience I consistently relish.
In the Winter rains, the fresh air and delicate winds bring a certain feel with them.
There’s something quite magical about the mix of neon and starlight, of headlights and stoplights reflecting off the hard pavement and sidewalks.
When I was otherwise unemployed, my driving was nearly confined to only the sandy desert roads less maintained by the City. Now I traverse Main Street each day. With Winter on its way out and Spring starting to show (at least trying to nudge an appearance now and then), the sky isn’t as dark as early.
Winter Sunset
Just a few minutes can make all the difference in the world. Soon I’ll be staying at work just a few moments longer to avoid blindly driving into the Western Sun. In a matter of weeks my Twilight excursions will be a memory for nearly another year.
It’s a bit ironic that my favorite music is “New York, New York” which I blast while driving between single story buildings surrounded by Joshua Trees and the occasional Coyote.
Someday I’ll get to New York. Until then, in the Twilight and even in the summer, Sinatra sings me home.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
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When I Get To New York
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Dec 28, 2011
Yesterday, I posted My New Reading List for 2012. To make sure I keep up with my List, I already started “The Magician’s Nephew” by C.S. Lewis. By the time you read this post, I should have finished that book and moved on to “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe”. I’m highly excited. I love writings that are so well done, you forget to breathe while writing. That’s how I aspire to write.
I know my List is not nearly exhaustive, but of all the books I have at my house, those are the ones I want to read. Of all the books I have…
So you know where this is going. This post’s title and that one half-sentence say all you need to know. This post is a list of books I will someday have in my Library.
Louis L’Amour. Any and all. Except for the one short story collection I already have and treasure. The one that inspires me again and again to keep writing. He is so magical, so descriptive with his words. He is someone I would have loved to have met. 89 novels, 2 nonfiction works and 14 short-story collections. 105 books! Now there’s a writer!
The Oz series. Recently I watched “The Origins of Oz” on the Smithsonian Channel. All I can say is, “WOW.” I’ve always loved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and can’t ever remember not having a copy (or two!) on my bookshelves. But after watching this show and realizing what I’ve missed, I’m more interested than ever in reading all the books, not just the first. Yes, indeed. All 16.
Charles Dickens. I humbly admit I had never read A Christmas Carol until this year. December 21st, as a matter of fact. And I read it all in one day. It was stunning, and much better than any movie portrayed. Now I’m anxious to read all his works. In addition to 27 novels and novellas, his was also the author of many shorter stories and essays.
My teen daughter tells me I still need to read her Twilight and Harry Potter series of books. She also received the Hunger Games trilogy for Christmas. There’s 13 right there.
Claudia has reminded me that Ray Bradbury is always a good read. He wrote a plethora of short stories and novellas that would be hard to put down. I’ve tried googling his bibliography but can’t come up with a number because all articles point out that most of his creative writings were either magazine articles and/or adapted for stage and screen, like Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I wrote about in my post, Why I Don’t Go To Carnivals in October. As best as I can figure, there’s a good 20 books at least.
At the proposed rate of one book every two days, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to read all these books in one year, even if I had them in my Library. But it gives me something to look forward to for 2013. I guess I better get reading …
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Nov 17, 2011
As I write this, I’m preparing for a Girls Night Out with the Dot and our Second Family.
We’re going to do what has now become a tradition: we all get together for the midnight premiere of whatever spectacular movie is being released. Tonight, it’s Breaking Dawn, Part 1.
And I’m so stinkin’ excited.
Now, I haven’t read the books. I don’t really know how it will end. I know enough. It can’t be avoided when the instant media posts all the spoilers and traps and rundowns… and I live with a teenager who chats it up with her friends. But still… I don’t really know how it will end.
That’s only part of the fun.
Another part is, well, being with the VIP and Second Family. The VIP is my best friend, Julie. “Best friend” sounds so Junior High, though. Our friendship is so much more than that. As close as we are, we keep ourselves so busy we don’t get to see each other but once or twice a month, and even then distractions like family and chores and schtuff like that tends to interrupt. We can talk for two hours on the cell phones, and the only reason we hang up is because the batteries are going dead.
Then we call each other back within five minutes just to say, “Oh, I forgot to tell you…”
I love her kids like they were my own. And they love my daughter like she’s theirs. We’re so close, that when my daughter and I have a serious discussion and I reach for the phone, she says, “Mom, please don’t call Julie now.” But I do. I get her feedback. I treasure her advice.
Julie introduced me to the delight of jalapenos in my popcorn (boy, that’ll clear out any sinus issues you may have!), and the neccesity of Isabella (my KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer). Yes, I name my appliances… what? Is that weird?
Her oldest is my Second Daughter. Our girls are twins, separated at birth and by five years. Elisa is the role model I would have chosen for Hannah, but I didn’t have to. They met at school and became friends long before I ever met Julie.
Turns out our worlds collided several times before we finally figured out we were supposed to be friends. I was the consultant at a scrapbook party they attended years ago. Julie was the choir director at my church for a few months when I was toying with the idea of re-joining. Our kids know the same people.
The week after I met Julie at bunco (we had no idea we’d met before), she saw me again at the high school football game and came over to chat. I was so embarrassed; when she left I had to ask my daughter, “Who was that?”
Julie always has a story to tell, always has a prayer to offer. She is, in her own words, “fiercely protective of family and friends”. And always, always, always corrects me when I place myself in the “friends” category. No, she corrects. Family. Always, always, always Family.
Julie keeps me grounded. I’ve learned to slow down, and when in doubt, call her first. Especially when it comes to our kids. Because I, too, am fiercely protective. But that’s not always what my daughter needs. Julie’s taught me to step back and breathe. And talk more, act less.
And that’s why I love her them. They keep us grounded. They keep us involved. They keep us in the family. No matter what.
That, and we do so much together. We don’t spend every day together. But the moments we do have, we make count. Like go to midnight movie premieres. And laugh at the same things. And watch sports. (Okay, I’m not quite as much into hockey as they are, but I’m learning. Go Maple Leafs!). Julie even rooted for the Yankees this year. That’s a big deal for her!
I look forward to these Girls Nights Out.
We don’t have to get all dolled up. But we will. Because it’s fun.
We don’t have to pretend to be anything we’re not. They love us anyway.
And the best part of tonight will be, we each have our favorite Guy Character. So there won’t be any competition (I’m all about Carlisle, just in case you were wondering).
Just a lot of great togetherness. Girl chatter like we haven’t talked in ages. And jalapenos in the popcorn.
What are friends for?
