Fincastle, Last Night

As everyone knows, I'm in love with the architecture and design of the Town of Fincastle. I love its history, it's quaintness, and it's charm. Last night I took the camera and tripod into town to see what I might capture. Here are the results.

Christmas lights on the Voter Registrar building.

Christmas lights on Main Street.

Fincastle Methodist Church

The town from the Godwin Cemetery.

Fincastle Presbyterian Church from Godwin Cemetery.

The Courthouse from Godwin Cemetery.

Another shot of the town from Godwin Cemetery.

Thursday Thirteen #220

Christmas is almost upon us, so today I thought I'd offer up 13 ways to keep your sanity whilst trying to make everybody else happy.

1. Make a list. You might need to make several lists: who to buy for, and what, the food you want to purchase, Christmas cards, etc. This is the best way to make sure you get it all taken care of, and there's a reason why it's number one on my list.

2. Do what you can early. This one comes a little late in the season to be of much help, but generally speaking, if you can get the cards out early, or the presents purchased (and wrapped!) before today's date, or even by December 20, it makes things a little easier than if you wait until the last minute.

3. Say no. This is a hard one to put in place, because you don't want to turn folks down. But there is such a thing as too much - too many parties, too many nights out, too much time around people who don't really matter to you. Pick the most important events or activities and stick with those.

4. Do what you enjoy, and skip the rest. If you love to bake, then make cookies and cakes to your heart's content, but if that's not your thing, buy it at the market, put it on a pretty plate, and forget about it. If you like to make personal presents for your family, do it, but don't feel bad if you have to purchase something. While "it's the thought that counts" seems to have gone the way of partisan politics and world sanity, it really is the heart of the matter.

5. Turn off your internal critic. Give yourself a pep talk every day. Say things like, "I'm a good person," or make a list of your blessings. When you are annoyed, tell yourself that it will pass and tomorrow will be better.  Close your eyes, take a big, long, deep breath, and think about something peaceful, like a mountain or the ocean, for just a few minutes. It will help.

6. Change your environment. Sometimes it's enough to drive you crazy. If you're in the house all the time, get out and take a walk or go for a drive and look at the lights. If you're stuck at work, take your lunch break and enjoy the sights. Don't stay stuck there. Change your view and change your life.

7. Do what makes you happy. If you like to watch Rudolph, watch it! If you're into It's A Wonderful Life, make sure you have the DVD and make time to see it. Give yourself a little me time to do what you want so that you can recharge those ol' batteries.

8. Take care of your health. Unfortunately, this time of year is fraught with colds, flu, and tummy troubles. Wash your hands frequently, take your vitamins (maybe extra Vitamin D this time of year), and don't scrimp on sleep and healthy food. Exercise as much as you can. Don't skip meals or eat poorly because you think it will save time. You'll lose a lot more time than you'll save if you end up spending three days in bed with a fever.

9. Keep to your budget. This can be hard to do at this time of the year, but it is important for your overall happiness. First, of course, you should actually create a budget for the holiday, and don't forget to include entertaining expenses. Be sure to shop smart and hit the sales if money is an issue.

10. Help someone else. It's been shown that helping others helps you by lifting your spirits and giving you feel-good cooties. We all need feel-good cooties, so do a good deed. You can buy a toy for a child, do an angel tree, bake cookies for a shut-in neighbor, or just go out of your way to be kind to your spouse if you're interested in having a few of those feel-good cooties yourself. Of course, you can also just write a check to a few non-profits. It will give you feel-good cooties, too.

11. Meditate and/or pray. Praying and meditation is a good way to lower your blood pressure and heart rate, something we all need this time of the year. It promotes well-being, and who doesn't need that?

12. Be flexible. Sometimes your plans will change, and that's okay. You will still have a good time, so go along and enjoy it when your Thursday evening shopping trip turns into a sudden evening out with the office staff.

13. Use that mistletoe! In my opinion, in the United States, we don't have enough touch in our lives. We need to hug and kiss more. So pucker up, and lay one on your spouse. It'll do you both good.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 220th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

12,000

According to Picasso, which is a photo editor I use sometimes, I have 12,081 pictures on my computer's hard drive.

Is there such a thing as too many pictures?

Some of these go way back, as I have been using a digital camera since 2001. However, many of those photos are long gone. I have dragged a few along with me from computer to computer but not many.

Most of these photos have been taken since 2005 or thereabouts. While many of them are related to my former work as a newspaper reporter and photographer, others are family. Christmases past, for example.

None have been printed out and pasted in a scrapbook somewhere. They exist in the ephemeral place that is my hard drive.

Some of these pictures have been viewed by the 100 or so of you who read this blog on a daily basis, but close family has never seen them. And most likely, they never will, unless I do some serious scrapbooking.

I worry that an entire decade of our life - maybe the rest of it, since everything is digital - will be eradicated come the future. I mean, who is going to sit down and go through my hard drive when I die? Nobody. All of that work - everything I do - will be pitched out. It will vanish with a few letters: FORMAT DRIVE C.

Life is fleeting, and how many of us actually make an impact on this old world? The work we do on computers is evidence enough of how little it matters. How can it have any importance when with a touch of a few keys, years and years of toil and labor simply vanishes?

In the meantime, I am open to suggestions on how to manage all of these photos. What I am doing doesn't seem to be working very well.

The Moon and the Sun

This morning a big ol' fat moon shone brightly in the bedroom window as I was rising. After I wiped the sleep from my eyes, I padded into the home office and retrieved a couple of my cameras.

Standing outside in my robe was a bit cold, but I was pretty pleased with my early morning efforts.

This full moon, which greeted some folks Saturday morning with a lunar eclipse that the eastern coast of the United States could not see, is sometimes called The Cold moon or the Long Night Moon. It's also called a Christmas Moon, a Snow Moon, a Twelfth Moon, or an Oak Moon. I don't know how they determine which name to use.

Early Sunday morning, around 7:15 a.m. Shot with my Nikon D-40.

Around 7:10 a.m. Shot with my Canon Powershot.

7:10 a.m., Canon Powershot.

However, around the house, something else was going on. The sun, not to be outdone, was coming up brilliantly through the trees:

December 11, 2011, 7: 15 a.m., Sunrise, Nikon D-40.

Shopping Local

Today was my own personal "small business day," and I spent it shopping in little stores around my home.

We have a number of small shops owned by delightful women who offer many unique little gifts. Many of the items are primitive or country, with a generous helping of Boyds Bears, Vera Bradley, and similar line items.

So this morning I hopped in the car and sped off to take in a few of this little wonders.

Of course, I didn't take a camera. I wasn't thinking about blog posts, I was contemplating spending money! However, I have older photos of some of these stores on my computer from when I wrote for the newspaper, so I will use some of those.

My first stop was Blackberry Hollow on US 460 just a little south of the Walmart.

They offer primitives, including curtains and rugs. I came *this* close to purchasing a few scatter rugs not for giving away but for keeping, but refrained this time.

I did, however, purchase several gift items.

Next stop was Marcey's, located on Cloverdale Road (Alt. US 220). This is a lovely little store filled with all kind of unique gifts.

I made a purchase, there, too.

Next I headed to Tin Roof, also on Cloverdale Road. They have Vera Bradly and Boyd's Bear items galore, along with other collectibles.

From there I headed north on US 11 and into Troutville. My next stop was Cackleberry Ridge. This store has Jim Shore collectibles, along with Boyd's Bears and others.

They were having an open house and I sampled some cider that was positively wonderful. It was Murray's Cider, which is my favorite and the best, as far as I'm concerned (and also locally made). The mulling was terrific, too, with just the right spice.

Yes, I made a purchase there, too!

Cackleberry Ridge circa 2009.

From there, I went to Apple Barn II.

And of course I made yet another purchase.

By this time, I was tired and my foot was aching, so I had to head home. However, I will tackle other stores another day.

Other stops you could make include Read Mountain Mercantile, on Read Mountain Road, Southern Past Times, on US 11 just before you get to Troutville, WillowPod, in the Daleville Town Center area, Ikenberry Orchards, just past the Town Center on US 220, and White Oak Tea, which also has many gift items for sale.

Additionally, Buchanan offers a number of different items, and the county has artists like Ed Bordett, Dreama Kattenbraker, and Willie Simmons, just to name three, who would be glad to sell you something.

If you live within driving distance, I hope you'll check out some of these places and people for unique gift ideas. I'm sure your own area has many little lovely shops, too. Do frequent them, because it's a nice shopping experience and definitely different from the department stores.

Thursday Thirteen

I have computers on my mind this morning.

1. My computer, a Dell, has developed a hiccup. It has stopped reading my external hard drive and the fonts changed in Internet Explorer and I can't figure out why or how to change them back. When my computer isn't working right, I get very frustrated.

2. The first computer I ever used was a Commodore Vic 20. My mother bought it when they first came out, which was about 1981, and I immediately took possession of it. I learned a little BASIC programming on it and played a few games with it.

3. My next computer was a Commodore 64. This actually met my basic needs at the time; it ran a dot matrix printer and I had a word processing program that I used with it. I wrote articles for the newspaper on this computer. This was in 1985 or so. Oddly enough, in looking this up I discovered that there is a new Commodore 64 out, one that will run Windows.

4. My next computer was a Tandy T-1000, which was sold by Radio Shack.

5. That was followed by two computers that were built by a computer dude who had opened a local shop. This is probably the best way to go, but it is hard to find this as option around here anymore.

6. Then along about 1998, after the guy closed his shop, I bought an HP. I might have had two HPs, I can't recall for sure.

7. I know I had two Gateways somewhere in there. And then I bought the Dell.

8. I end up purchasing a new computer every three to five years, mostly because something starts malfunctioning. Either a piece of hardware stops working or the software configurations become frazzled that the computer thinks it alive and should get up and walk around the house. I don't know what happens to the darned things when all I do is turn them on and type on them.

9. Personally, I think I should still be using the Commodore 64 from way back when. Or at least my first HP. Shouldn't the things last longer than three years? I mean, that's about $300 a year when you get right down to it. I don't know about you, but I generally spend a $1000 every time I replace one.

10. At the moment, I have my old Gateway computer with Windows XP on it sitting on the floor of my office. I have a Toshiba laptop in a closet, and a Gateway laptop sitting on my desk. I have a Nook Color in the living room, and I'm writing this on the Dell. My husband has an HP computer in his home office. Shouldn't that be enough technology for two people? Shouldn't this damned Dell work right?

11. In spite of all of that, I do not have a smart phone. I have a six-year-old Nokia phone that doesn't take pictures, have a keyboard, have applications, or any of that stuff. I could text on it if we were signed up for that, but we're not. All I do is talk on it and I don't do much of that. We have lousy cellphone reception in the house so the phone stays in my car and I mostly use it for emergencies, like calling home to see if I need to stop and pick up a loaf of bread. My husband and I have 550 rollover minutes between us and we roll about half of those over every month.

12. I suspect if I bought a new phone, it would work better in the house. Other people's phones work okay when they are visiting here. I know because they came to see me and then sat and played with their applications instead of having a conversation. Which is why I have resisted purchasing a smart phone. I prefer to interact with people face to face.

13. This is a lame Thursday Thirteen, but what do you do? When you have something on your mind, it's on your mind.

Damn computer.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 219th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Forecasting Snow

Snow in 2009

The weatherman is calling for snow later in the week.

We had our first snow early, in late October.

My ideal snow would come late on December 24 and melt by 1 p.m. on December 25. However, I doubt that happens.

Have you found your snow boots, coat, hat, and gloves? I'll be looking for mine!

Nobody's Stopping You

This is a rant. Read at your own risk.

***************************

It's the holiday season, and every day on my Facebook wall, someone posts that they are going to say "Merry Christmas" no matter what.

Well, I don't know who's stopping you if you are a United States citizen. I am unaware of a single instance of someone in the United States being killed or maimed because they walked up to somebody and said Merry Christmas.

Now, they might be told, "I'm Jewish, and I don't celebrate, but Happy Hanukkah" or "I'm Muslim, and I don't celebrate," or "I'm atheist, and I don't celebrate," but they aren't going to jail for wishing someone a Merry Christmas. Not in this country. At least, not yet, and I don't really look for that to change.

You have a good chance of being jailed for holding a sign saying, "I'm in the 99 percent," though.

Nor is it wrong to say "Happy Holidays," which, by the way, is simply the modern way of saying "Happy Holy Days." If you take offense at that and you're Christian, then you're just ignorant.

As far as I'm concerned, if you're one of those Christian people in the United States who are feeling "persecuted" over your religion, you're making a big something out of absolutely nothing.

Because it is Christmas everywhere, and it has been since Halloween.

If you want to feel persecuted over your religion, then I urge you to visit another country, or change your religion, and then see how it feels to live here.

Because in other countries that are not predominantly Christian, people lose their lives over their religion.

Yeah, they die.

They don't get to post on Facebook that they're indignant because they heard some rumor that somebody doesn't like their religion. They don't get to post false rumors about the President of the United States and what he does or doesn't do about the holiday.

Because any of that would get them killed.

If you want to see something interesting, go to this website and take a look at it. This details real Christian persecution.

Guess what. Saying "Happy Holidays" is not on the first page. At the moment I write this, the front page talks about a church bombing in Nepal, a prayer meeting interrupted by Hindus in India, Christians being murdered and churches being burned in Nigeria, etc. etc.

There is no public battle over Christmas here. It's all a gimmick to make you indignant so you'll go out and buy another decoration or a bigger toy for Johnny. Nobody is telling you not to celebrate your holiday, to worship your god, or do whatever you want. By all means, go and do that in whatever way you think is best.

However, some people are telling you that Christianity doesn't belong in government sanctioned areas, and it doesn't. Think about how the Christians in other countries feel, the ones who are watching their loved ones die. Do you suppose they are worried about a Christmas tree on the front lawn?

I think not.

Besides, the Christmas tree belongs to the pagans anyway. Maybe the Christians should give them back their trees.

Christmas has become nothing more than crass commercialism, and all of the uproar is to keep people shopping.

I grew up in a fairly non-religious household. If you want even an inkling of persecution, try being in the fourth grade and left to yourself in the library while other children go to Bible study every Friday. Yes, that happened in the 1970s when I was growing up.

I attended those classes for the first six weeks. We were given booklets to study and fill out with church attendance.  My church attendance was blank, because my family did not attend church. You see, my mother was Baptist and my father was Catholic, and when they married in 1962, they were tossed out of their consecutive religious establishments for not following the rules.

Anyway, the Bible teacher, checking the booklets after six weeks, held mine up for everyone to see. "She doesn't go to church!" she cried out to the entire class. "What a sinner."

I cried for days.

After that, my parents told the teacher I was to leave the room during Bible study and go sit in the library. And that is what I did, year after year. I was joined by a couple of other outcast kids. The other kids made fun of us. Every week, once a week, for three years.

That's a type of persecution. It's not like losing your life, but it left scars.

And those scars didn't come from the state. They came from the Christians.

Happy Holidays.


P.S. Before you call me a sinner and all of that crap, (a) I celebrate Christmas, (b) I've been baptised,  (c) I'll put my morality up against anyone else's, and (d) I'm as entitled to my opinion as you are. You want to post about your imagined persecution, I have the right to complain about your imagination.

And if you leave a bad comment, I'll delete it.

Out the Window

Someone told me the other day that he didn't believe the deer came close to my house. They would be too skittish, he said.

Somebody doesn't know what they're talking about.

Just sayin'.

Pink Sky At Night

Last night, we had a pink sunset.

Jet plumes streaked across the sky.

 The half-moon was a little bitty dot in the midst of swirling pink clouds.

I thought I might reach out and grab it!

O Christmas Tree

On Sunday, we put our tree up in the living room.

This is rather unusual for us. Usually I do not put the tree up before December 10, but we had a little time after Thanksgiving and it seemed appropriate to move ahead and get this done.

For one thing, I have a huge final exam to prepare for and take, so time might be a little tight later in the month.

As you can see, I already have one package beneath the tree.

Now I need to wrap the things I have already purchased, address my cards, and get them in the mail.

Thursday Thirteen

This year, on the first day of every month, I have used my Thursday Thirteen to look over the last 30 days and count my blessings.

Since this is the last month of the year, I will look back over the last 11 months and offer up the best of those wonderful happenings. It is good to remember the terrific things, large and small, because it is so easy to forget that life is bountiful and good when things are not going quite as well as one might like.

So here we go! Thirteen things I am thankful for in 2011:

1. First, I am thankful for my wonderful husband. He's had a tough year; it was his first year without his dad. His father's passing left a huge hole in his life, because they worked the farm together and jointly operated a septic tank installation business; they were also best friends. He has had to find a new rhythm to his life and new methods of doing what used to be routine. I am very proud of him for his hard work. He's also a battalion chief with the city fire department, so he's a very busy guy.

2. Family. I went in May to watch my niece at her dance recital; my husband had relatives in during June; my aunt came to my rescue when I was ill this fall; my brother gave me some good advice. It is good to have blood relatives, even the ones you don't particularly like. There is something about those ties.

3. Old friends. My friends have been very supportive of me as I've thrashed about trying to figure out a new career for myself. They have applauded and cajoled, as necessary, in order to help me move forward. I am very grateful for their love and support.

4. Learning. Going back to college is always good for me. I love to learn, and there is nowhere I want to be other than Hollins University. The campus makes me feel welcome and the professors are supportive. The environment there is like manna and I have fed on it for three semesters.

5. My health. This is the year, I think, that I will look back on and say, "that was when I learned," when it comes to health. I have gone on a diet and lost 25 pounds (still need to lose another 70, but it's a good start), but also I have had to come to grips with the fact that I am not, and never will be, the healthiest of people. Issues with asthma, blood pressure, my immune system, and a broken bone in my foot have all let me know that I am aging and need to take better care of myself. When people say that if you don't have your health, you have nothing, they are right.

6. Writing. At the moment, my work is frustrating me in ways I never imagined, but I am so grateful that I can string words together and occasionally make sense. I may never publish a book or another article, because who knows what the future holds, but I have had a good career even if that happens. I am a writer even if I sometimes wonder if I ever will be a writer - that shouldn't even be a question. I've published extensively and won recognition for my work, and that's more than many people can say. I may be moving on to a new chapter, but who's to say it won't include writing? At the moment, I don't know, but I am looking forward to finding out. But I did publish a few articles here and there in the last year, and wrote a couple of good papers for my classes.

7. The ability to read. I cannot imagine being unable to read. I know there are a lot of people in this world who can't, and illiteracy is something that should be fought at every turn. Being able to read opens up worlds; it expands the mind, it offers insight, it is one of the best ways I know to find God, however you wish to define that entity. Where would I be without story and narrative, without the threads that tie the tales together? Some of the best books I read in 2011 were The Way by Kristen Wolf, which I highly recommend; Brava, Valentine, by Adriana Trigiani; People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks; and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Ablom.

8. My high school reunion stirred up a lot of sentiment and memories, all of which I am grateful for even if some were hard to relive. I worked on the reunion committee a little bit and it was nice to get to know folks all over again. I enjoyed seeing old pals and catching up. Many are now Facebook friends and who knows what will come of these renewed relationships.

9. I took time to appreciate nature. Living on a farm, with it all around us, sometimes it's easy to overlook all the cool things that happen in the back yard. We have wild turkey, deer, bear, rabbits, coyotes, skunks, raccoons - all sorts of wildlife - and an abundance of trees, flowers, and grasses. One could spend an entire life examining an acre of the place and never see it all.

10. We are surviving the recession despite the fact that I lost my major client in 2009 and never regained my footing and despite the reality that my husband's other job as a septic tank installer has, well, stalled. While we have had to cut back and make some changes, we are doing better than some folks and I am really grateful that we are managing. I wish I could make it better for others.

11. I'm grateful for little things, like chocolate, Pilot G2 ink pens (extra fine), cheap spiral notebooks, portable heaters, and yellow highlighters. They might not seem like much but they make life a little better.

12. Volunteering. I just finished up a nine-year stint serving on the county library board. I have always volunteered somewhere and I will miss that particular position. In the new year I will be looking for another cause to donate my time to, but for now I am very grateful that I played a small part in helping the county library move forward. During my time there we added on to one library and built another, and these are not small accomplishments for a rural community. It is good to give back and I am grateful I had that opportunity.

13. Last, but certainly not least, I am grateful for you, dear reader, for sharing a small part of your day with me. I hope that 2011 has been and will continue to be a good year for you and that 2012 will bring you much joy and laughter. But if you should find tears and heartache, then I hope you will find the strength and courage you may need in the coming day. Life can be tough but each day is a new promise; so I wish for you all the ability to embrace that hope that each new day brings.

Blessings to you all as we start out on this last month of the year!


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 218th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Technologied Out

Diane over at Blue Ridge Gal posted about a change Google is making that could impact my blog, and maybe yours. I strongly suggest you read it if you're a blogger interested in traffic and the social networking impact of your blog. Di is really up on the blog stuff and her thoughts and opinions on these things seem to be spot on.

The idea, I gather, is to urge users to head over to Google+ and things will integrate that way.

I personally don't care for Google+, and I think it ultimately will fail like some other Google products. For one thing, it doesn't have a catchy name. Google+ is not even as good a name as My Space or LinkedIn. It's more like a product placeholder name until somebody comes up with something better to call it. I also do not like the interface. It also doesn't have a good feel to it; it does not seem friendly. I am not quite sure how to explain that.

The Roanoke Times this morning offers an article about a junior at Hidden Valley High School who is unplugged - she doesn't have a Facebook account or a cell phone. She knows how to use a spinning wheel. She sews, creates, and is otherwise engaged in the world.

Good for her. Because I am starting to think too much technology is not a good thing. And the changes are coming fast and furious.

Way back in 2002 and 2003, when I first started working in earnest on my master's degree (yes, it is taking me a long time), cellphones were not as hooked into the Internet as they are now. So when we took breaks in class, my classmates talked to one another. Some went outside to smoke, others went to the restroom, but always at least a few of us stood around and discussed the world.

Fast forward not even a decade and I find it is completely different. I was struck by this last spring when I returned to Hollins University to try to complete this degree.

During breaks, people do not connect. They get on their cellphone. They check Facebook. They text home and make sure the kids are doing their homework. As they walk out to their cars, they text, they talk on their phone. They rarely talk to each other. Not even in the bathrooms!

The people from class that I now call "friends" . . . found me on Facebook. We're Facebook friends. But are we "Let's go out and grab a cup of coffee after class" friends?

To be sure, those classmates with whom I am friends on Facebook will probably be my friends longer than some. Most likely, they will be in my line of sight on the computer until the day I hop off the technology bandwagon. Or they "unfriend" me, whichever comes first.

I have made friends from this blog, including Diane and a few others, and I am very glad of that. But do I have the time to Google+, Facebook, blog, be LinkedIn, and still fix dinner?

Don't get me wrong - I'm not giving up my blog. I enjoy this and will keep on. But if the hosting companies, which, I admit, owe me nothing because they host it for free, continually make changes that force me to use up my precious time to learn stuff I don't care to learn, I have to wonder what I am gaining.

The computer eats my time as it is. I sit down to write and the next thing I know I've lost an hour reading email or news stories. Technology is no longer my friend.

Maybe we should all take a lesson from the girl in The Roanoke Times article, and step back from the gadgets and re-engage the world and one another.

Steamrolled!

Friday night, my husband and I took my mother-in-law to the Roanoke Civic Center to see Mannheim Steamroller. Her birthday is coming up and this was an early birthday present.

I am not sure, but I think it might have been her first-ever concert. My husband seemed to think this was the case.

The show was in the Performing Arts Theater, which is a huge auditorium. We had seats near the rear because we didn't decide to go until recently, but they were still fine seats.

Mannheim Steamroller has been around a very long time. The group was started by Chip Davis, who has split the group into separate troupes for touring purposes. We saw the East Coast crew.

Davis began producing classical music albums in the 1970s, but the group found its greatest success in 1984 after it began recording Christmas music. A coworker gave me a tape of their music in 1986 and I have been a fan ever since.

The troupe we saw last week had some very fine musicians. I was particularly taken with the flute player and the violinist. Both were women and they were excellent.

Books: The Little Friend

The Little Friend
By Donna Tartt
Copyright 2003
Abridged Audiobook 6 hours
Read by the author

Sometimes I wonder why I pick up particular audiobooks. This one read like a mild mystery on the blurb. In a way it was, but then again, it wasn't. This was a book that in many ways was quite an indictment on today's society.

Harriet is 12 years old. When she was four months old, her brother, Robin, died in a mysterious incident in the family yard. He was found hung from a rope. However, no one was ever convicted of a crime.

The death sent her mother spiraling into a depression. Her father took a job in Nashville and left their Mississippi home, leaving her mother and nursemaid Ida to raise Harriet and her older sister Allison.

Since Harriet is raised virtually unsupervised, at 12 she is willful and, frankly, mean. I had a hard time feeling sorry for the character, though I think I was supposed to.

She decides she will find out who killed her brother. She thinks that if she solves this mystery, her life will be better.

Her sleuthing, though, leaves a lot to be desired. She determines that Danny Ratliff, now grown, killed her brother. She bases her knowledge solely on Ida's word and on the fact that Ratliff grew up and still lives on the wrong side of the tracks. He is, in local parlance, white trash. So of course he must have killed her brother.

This insane logic drove me crazy and it made it hard for me to enjoy the story. Not only was Harriet sure that Ratliff was the murderer, she decided that she had to kill him in order to obtain retribution. This kind of thinking is so out of line with my own value system that I had a very hard time with it. I am not much on an eye-for-an-eye at any time, but to want to kill someone just because you're sure of something, whether it's logically true or not, is just plain wrong.

Her determination leads her to peril and misadventure, none of it particularly pleasant. She even nearly kills Ratliff's grandmother, but shows little remorse over this mistake.

This book offers a lot of things to think about. For example, do you believe in vengeance? If so, why? And what happens if the wrong person pays for a crime he didn't commit?

The book is full of class issues, too. Harriet's family is old money, genteel folk who are no longer wealthy but still have social status. The Ratliff's are painted as drug-dealing ne'er-do-wells, but the author, thankfully, switches point of view to show how much they care for their grandmother and gives them a little humanity.

I just wish I had felt a little more love for Harriet. I found her impossible to like.

I Smell Covington

The other day, I stepped outside to enjoy the still, crisp morning air.

A foul, fetid odor greeted my nose. The smell was something like sewage brewing in a coffee maker and I hurried back in the house before the polluted air could trigger an asthma attack. I recognized the stench instantly. I could hear my mother's voice echoing in my brain. "I smell Covington," she was saying. I remember her saying it many times when I was a child.

It has been a while since I smelled Covington, but when I was growing up in the foothills of Caldwell Mountain, I found the odor wafting from the paper mill in that small, rural city to be quite strong even though it was an hour's drive away from my childhood home. Many mornings you could hardly stand to walk outside without retching because the air currents had brought the scent of the industry straight into our valleys and left it there.

Since I moved away (granted, just six miles but apparently enough to make a difference), I have rarely smelled the paper mill, which is now owned by MeadWestVaco. The papermill has been there since 1900. According to Wikipedia, in 2002, MeadWestVaco as a whole (it's a big company with mills and offices and plants all over the United States) was listed as the 57th largest polluter in the US.

I thought perhaps I no longer smelled Covington because better environmental controls on the paper mill in the last 20 years had kept the place from gagging people for a hundred-square-mile area. And this might be so, since, according to Wikipedia, the company has taken steps to ease its environmental impact. The EPA lists pages and pages about the plant on its website if you do a search for it.

The papermill employs about 1,500 people in the Covington area. Covington is in Alleghany County, which was once part of Botetourt County and now lies next door, but further back in the mountains. It is an interesting place, as I have been there a few times.

Covington began as a town around 1817 or so. It became a small city in 1952.

Just so you know, not smelling Covington is just one of the reasons why I am glad there is an EPA.

Black Friday Morning, Part II

After I finished my errands at OfficeMax on Black Friday morning, my initial thought was to head back home, but Kmart was right around the corner. Their Black Friday ads had listed some Chicago Cutlery that I thought would make a nice present plus I had seen something I thought I might get my husband. My foot seemed to be holding up well and wasn't hurting so I drove over there.

Kmart is located in what used to be CrossRoads Mall. CrossRoads Mall was one of the area's first shopping centers. I can remember when it was wonderful. This time of year, they put up a display of flying reindeer, complete with Rudolph, and the deer were actually real stuffed deer that someone hung from the ceiling. The mall had a fountain where people threw pennies. The stores were nice, bright, and full of new items. However, the mall began losing its anchors when Valley View (which is but a mile down the road) was built, and it began turning into a weird place.

The Kmart store was not too bad when it opened but it has gone downhill to the point where I very seldom go in there. I personally think it should close.

After my Black Friday morning, it doesn't matter to me what they do with it. I will never go back in that store.

The parking lot was rather full and I drove around twice before I found a space that was close enough for me to handle with my broken foot. I leaned heavily on my cane and went in the store. There was not a single shopping cart in sight.

I hobbled back outside and walked about 50 feet to get a cart. The parking lot had a number of men wandering around. They were obviously homeless. One was picking up cigarettes and sticking them in his mouth. The other was sitting on a bench muttering to himself. Another stood with his arm wrapped around a tree in the parking lot median.

I hurried back inside as quickly as I could.

The store was quite full. Apparently a lot of people had seen the advertisement and liked what they saw. The Chicago Cutlery was sold out, which did not surprise me. A few other items I'd made note of as being good deals were also gone. But it was a little after 9 a.m., after all, so it was to be expected.

The item I wanted for my husband was located at the rear of the store, and there were three left. I picked one up and put it in the shopping cart. It had a security tag wrapped all around it.

Then I wandered around a little more, picking up a half-dozen two-liter bottles of Dr. Pepper that were on sale and a DVD.

The checkout line was very long. In general, I feel sorry for retail people at this time of the year. They have to work odd hours and put up with people like me. I know the public can be rude and horrid. I spent a year working retail. It was a good experience but not one I am keen to repeat.

Anyway, I smiled at the checkout clerk when she caught my eye while I was in line, and she looked tired but smiled back. I thought it bode well.

I was wrong. I got up there and I gave her one of the Dr. Peppers. "Please charge me for six of these," I said, pointing to the remaining items in my cart. I handed her the other items.

"Where's your KMart loyalty card?" she asked.

"I don't have one," I said.

"You need one," she said.

"What is the point of it?" I asked.

"You get some money back," she said. "All I need is your phone number. It's easy."

She brought up a screen on her register. "What's your name?" she asked.

I stood there thinking, she said all she needed was my phone number, but I gave her my name.

"What's your email?" she asked.

"I don't have email," I said. I never give out my email. I receive enough junk already.

"What's your zip code?" I gave it to her, but I was still thinking, that's not my phone number.

"What's your phone number?" she finally asked, and I told her.

"What's your email?"

"I don't have email," I repeated.

"If you don't have email, you can't have the loyalty card," she said.

"Then I guess I don't get a loyalty card," I replied. "Can I still buy this stuff?"

She rang me up then, but after I paid, she rudely slammed the item I was purchasing for my husband into the cart. "Could you please remove the security tag," I asked her.

"I can't remove it. You'll have to go to customer service."

This angered me off, I confess. Customer service had a line a dozen people deep and I'd just stood in line for a long time to pay for this stuff. By this time my foot was starting to ache and I needed a drink of water.

I hobbled over to customer service. One woman was waiting on people while another was standing behind the counter doing nothing obvious. I called to her. "Ma'am, they said I needed to come over here to get this removed," I said, holding up the item and pointing to the security tag.

"I can't remove it," she said. "I don't have the key. You need to find Adele."

"Excuse me? How am I supposed to do that?"

"You need to find Adele," she said again.

All of the people in customer service were looking at me by this time. I had my cane in my cart, and I lifted it up. "Am I supposed to walk all over the store looking for this person?" I asked. "I have no idea who Adele is."

"We'll call her up here," the woman huffed.

I waited. And waited. One woman who had heard me talking to the customer service person suggested that her husband could cut the security tag off with his pocket knife. Another said I should just go on out of the store with it; I had paid for the item and it was mine.

I asked the customer service person, who was still standing around doing nothing obvious (I guess she was a manager), what would happen if I walked on out of the store with the item.

"I'll have you arrested," she said.

The woman behind me gasped when the customer service person said this. As you might imagine, the idea of being arrested for shoplifting when I had already paid for the item was beyond the pale. I was perfectly livid by this time. The line was continuing to move. I was about two people away now from the customer service woman who was actually processing people.

I caught the other woman's eye. "If I get to the front of this line, " I said, "You're going to refund my money for every item in this cart."

Just then someone with the key to the security tag miraculously appeared. She did not ask for my receipt; she just unlocked the security tag.

I got out of that store as quickly as I could.

I will NEVER go back to the Roanoke Crossroads KMart store again.

Black Friday Morning, Part I

I do not generally go to Black Friday sales. There is nothing out there that I am keen to own or give away, generally. I look at the ads hoping for ideas but that's about it.

However, yesterday, after pouring tea on my Microsoft Natural Keyboard and watching in dismay as it fizzled out, I knew I would need to venture out this morning. While I had an old keyboard I could get away with, I had plans to work on my thesis plus I had a paper due on Tuesday. And I knew that a bad keyboard was not the way to spark creativity.

So I rose at 6 a.m. and left the house at 7:45 a.m. My goal was OfficeMax, because it was the most accessible. I put on sturdy shoes and left my broken foot bootie in the car, but carried a cane because I have a horrid limp and cannot put all of my weight on my foot yet.

For those who don't live here, our major shopping area is called the Valley View Mall area. The traffic engineers who created the routes in and out of the area had to be some of the most idiotic on the planet. Traffic backs up literally for miles as people try to get in the place. You can sit for an hour in the parking lot trying to nudge your car an inch into the highway in hopes someone will let you out.

I avoid Valley View unless it's 10 a.m. on an innocuous Thursday. Which means I don't shop there at all in December, generally speaking. Unless OfficeMax did not have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, I had no plans to go that direction. However, if they did not, then I would have to, because Best Buy and Staples both are located in the mall area.

OfficeMax, however, is located away from that traffic nightmare and is off to itself. The store has been in Roanoke a very long time and, I confess, it is not a favorite. The merchandise is fine but I  have had issues with the staff in the past. They either don't help me when I need it, or they mess up when they are checking me out, or try to force warranties on me I don't want. So I don't shop at OfficeMax much.

The parking lot at OfficeMax was not full when I arrived around 8:15. The store had more people wandering about than normal, but it was not crowded. I leaned on a shopping cart and hobbled through the aisles. I quickly found the keyboard and then, because I had a 20 percent off coupon, I picked up ink pens and notebooks, and a telephone answering book to use for messages for my husband. A very nice girl I'd never seen working in there before tried to sell me a coffee maker and gave me a cup of hot cider. I asked if the coffeemaker would work okay if you have hard water (lime water). She didn't know and couldn't find any information on the box. I thanked her for her help and told her I'd see if I could look it up on the Internet.

I ran into an acquaintance and we talked county politics for a while as we stood in the notebook aisle. I hopped over the checkout and was waved over by a sales clerk I've had unfortunate dealings with in the past. I hobbled on over to him as he was free and the others had lines.

He talked very quickly and as he rang me up he said he was giving me an extra year's warranty on my keyboard because that was what they were doing today but it would be on the receipt as a charge. Only he wouldn't charge me for the telephone answering book because it was about the same price. Plus I would get my 20 percent off.

Huh? I asked him to explain again.

He nattered on about what a good deal the warranty was and would I please pay now and thank you very much. He stapled the receipt to the unwanted warranty papers and dropped them into the bag. I put the bag in the cart, still confused as to how I ended up with a warranty I didn't want or ask for. "I am not sure what just happened here, but I think somehow I bought a warranty I didn't want," I muttered.

"I did you a favor," he spat. "I can ring it all up all over again if you want."

I ignored him and walked out of the store. At my car, I pulled out the receipt. He did not charge me at all for the telephone book, as he said, but that also meant that should I have wanted to return it, I could not, because there was no listing for it at all on the receipt. In fact, had some other sales associate stopped me on the way out and asked to check my bags, I could have been arrested for shoplifting.

This was not the way to go about "giving" me a warranty. I am not an accountant, but letting customers walk out with items that aren't listed on the cash receipts does not seem like the appropriate way to check people out of the store. Had I realized the item wasn't on the receipt, I would have made him do it all over again.

I was a little perturbed about this. No wonder I don't like this store, I thought to myself. I will have to remember not to come back.

Then I decided to go to KMart, which was just down the street and still not in Valley View.

This would prove to be a mistake, as you shall read about next time.

Thanksgiving Thirteen

Run turkeys, run!

First thing this morning, I dumped tea down my keyboard and it is acting erratically. So Happy Thanksgiving to me, and Merry Christmas to myself early because it looks like I will be buying a new keyboard PDQ.

Anyway, I had hoped to be more original, but after that disaster I can't think straight so here are 13 things I am thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day.

1. My wonderful husband. He's a terrific man and we're still in love after all of these years.

2. My health. Well, my health is not the best but I know there are people worse off so I am very grateful for the health I do have.

3. My brains. I'm a pretty smart ol' woman sometimes, though I am often accused of thinking too much.

4.  My family. Sometimes they are really a pain in the you-know-what but they're mine.

5. My writing. Even if I am not doing a lot with it at the moment and finding what I am attempting to be damn frustrating, I am thankful that I have the ability (well, sometimes) and that I like doing it.

6. My education. I am very glad that I know stuff and that I love to learn.

7. The Blue Ridge Mountains. I have a lovely view and I love the mountains. They offer me majesty and a reminder to be humble every time I look out the window.

8. My husband's employment. We are very lucky.

9. Our home. It is a small house by some standards but it not just a house, it is a home, full of love and laughter, and I am very content within these walls.

10. My friends. This should have been higher on the list but I had to switch keyboards in the middle of this and lost my train of thought. Anyway, I would be lost without my friends to keep me on track, and I am so very grateful that I have people who love me and whom I love.

11. Chocolate. Okay, don't laugh. This is so different from the other things. But I really, really like chocolate.

12. The Internet. It has changed the world, not necessarily for the better, but I enjoy it and I have made many friends I would not have otherwise, including you, dear reader. So I am also very thankful for you!

13. The world. I am really grateful to all the world, in spite of its many issues and concerns. She's a good ol' earth and I love her dearly.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

May you be blessed on this and every day.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 217th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Sleigh Ride

This morning I woke up to the song Sleigh Ride (thanks to my once-favorite radio station which has been playing Christmas music for TWO WEEKS prior to Thanksgiving), and I was suddenly cast back to my high school years.

I played flute in the high school band. I started playing in the 6th grade at Breckinridge Elementary School, and then we went on to Botetourt Intermediate (now called Central Academy), where we had two years with a man whose real name I can't remember but we called him "the toad" privately.

During the seventh grade I broke my arm and had to miss about eight weeks of playing time because I was in a cast. I had to be there anyway but it was certainly boring.

Anyway, I became a high school freshman and off I went to Lord Botetourt, where Band Director George Lowe apparently loved the song Sleigh Ride, because every October we started playing it again.

The version we practiced was supposed to sound like the one below. Only of course this is the Boston Pops playing, not a high school band. I guarantee you we sounded nothing like this.

Our little high school band had about 60 members. I think there were about eight flute players, and I was usually either second or first chair most of the time. First chair person got to play the piccolo, which had it's own little line on the score of this song. It makes those high trilling little sounds.

Each year we marched in several Christmas parades. We wore horrid red and black wool suits, huge furry hats, shiny black shoes, and white gloves with the fingers cut out of them so we could play our instruments. We marched in the Fincastle, Vinton, Salem, and Buchanan parades that I remember, and possibly others. It was always extremely cold and windy and I usually became ill after the parade season ended.

Anyway, that's what was on my mind at 6 a.m. this morning. I don't have my flute anymore, which is a pity. The pads rotted out and when a coworker's daughter expressed interest, I gave the instrument to her so she'd only have to pay to have the pads fixed and not buy a whole new flute. I don't know what happened to it after that; the friend has long since moved away and we've lost touch.

Maybe I should buy another one and see if I can remember how to play it.

Down by the Pond

I took these photos in October.

There is a boat in this picture. Do you see it?

The sun creates a fairy walk. I could dance across the pond if I had magic shoes.

Cattails along the bank.

Fencing kept me from walking out across the dam.

Fence row leading down to the water.

For What It's Worth

I am very disturbed by the video coming out the Occupy movements.

It is not the Occupiers who disturb me in the video. It is the police actions against them that I find most distressing.

The videos of police spraying pepper spray on students who blocking sidewalks at Davis in California is particularly troubling. You can see a short video here and a longer video here. The longer video gives a clearer picture of what was really going on, the relative passivity of the students, and the police actions.

The students and faculty at Davis have called for the resignation of their chancellor. I have no idea if that is appropriate or not; they will have to decide that.

The chancellor took a very long walk down a quiet path on the night of the pepper spraying. A video of that is here. Well worth watching.

If students are raping and beating people, by all means, arrest them. If they're congregating on the sidewalk, that's pretty harmless. It doesn't warrant violence.

Of course I am not there, I can only go by why I've seen and read, but from all indications, there was no need for pepper spray. As far as I'm concerned, the police could have sat down and waited out the students a while. There is never a need for violence against unarmed citizens. We are supposed to be above this in a civilized country.

Are we a civilized country? I'm starting to worry and wonder.

These are not "left" and "right" issues. Regardless of what "side" you're on politically, the process is flawed. Capitalism is not democracy and it does not equal democracy, and the sooner people realize that, the better off we will all be. Purchased votes in Congress do not, by any stretch of the imagination, create an equal playing field for anyone. This is part of what the Occupy movement is about.

One thing to note is that US media is not mentioning is that these Occupy movements are taking place in other parts of the world right now, including England and other areas of Europe. The unrest is great. It's like someone turned a switch.

You might also want to read some other articles about this and related issues. I guarantee you that unless you're looking at multiple news sources, you are not getting the full story.

Check out:

Supercommittee Failure One Reason Why Occupiers are Marching

Occupy Wall Street at a Tipping Point

The Turning Point: The Moral Example of UC Davis Students

An article about police beating up poets at Occupy Berkley

A UC Davis student's story

Davis Police Officer is honored US Marine

Campus Police Chief put on Leave

Exploiting Consumers is the Purpose of Banks

Right-wing journalists beaten by police; assisted by Occupiers

White House Shooter NOT with Occupy Movement

175 arrested in protests on day after Zuccoti Park cleared

Occupy Movement Not Capturing Americans' Attention

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/07/one-per-cent-wealth-destroyers

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/buy-nothing-day-adbusters-role-in-the-global-occupy-movement-6263205.html

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/161545/retired-philadelphia-police-captain-ray-lewis-arrested-at-ows-calls-nypd-rationale-a-farce/#2

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-6264091.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/15/occupy-london-city-of-london-corporation

http://www.thenation.com/article/164497/capitalism-vs-climate

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/12/st-pauls-canon-occupy-protest

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/27-6

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/11/21/occupy-toronto-court-decision.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/10/12/occupy-tokyo-hmm-maybe/


And a little 1960s mood music:

For What it's Worth - Buffalo Springfield (Stop, hey, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down)

Good Eatin'

Last night we went to the Coach and Four for our anniversary dinner. I starved most of the day on Saturday in order to save up my Weight Watchers points.

The Coach and Four has been in business since 1977. It is one of the few nice restaurants left in Roanoke. It now has a bar with a TV, like most of the restaurants in the area do, but it still has fine dining in the rear.

On a July night in 1983, my husband pulled a ring box out of his boot while we sat in a booth in the back. Then he got up and then down on a knee by the table and proposed to me.

We married four months later (which even then was inadvisable for a big wedding of 350 people).

So almost every year for our anniversary, we go back to the Coach and Four for our anniversary dinner.

My husband had prime rib, a baked potato, and bread.

I had a chicken breast in a honey-ginger sauce, rice, and mixed vegetables.

Then we splurged and I had a piece of chocolate-caramel pecan cake and he had a piece of New York Style Cheesecake.

I tried very hard to be good and managed to leave a fourth of the cake on the plate. I don't want to jeopardize my weight loss efforts.

As you may know, with Weight Watchers you have daily points and a pot of weekly points. I rarely use my weekly points, and then if I do only one or two of them. The cake took me over into the weekly points by at least 14 points, but I still stayed within the points allowance for the week. I even weighed this morning and had lost a little bit (though not a lot). With Thanksgiving coming, we'll see how the scales look next Sunday. I think over the holidays my goal will be maintenance of where I am so as not to gain any, and consider any loss a bonus. It is tough to diet at this time of year.

We also decided we should go to the Coach and Four more often. We usually save it for special occasions but the food is good, it's relatively quiet, and the prices are right for the food you eat. But we are thinking now we will add it to our rotation of restaurants and try to hit it more frequently.

After the meal, we came home and watched a movie on HBO, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was the only thing on we had not seen.

It was a very nice evening. Now we start on year 29 of this marriage!

28 Years

Twenty-eight years ago, on another Friday, I said my "I dos" and became a Mrs.

It's hard to believe, really. Such a long time! But it seems like just yesterday.

Here we are then!

Open wide!

Here we are now.

I can't believe we're heading on the other side of the hill now, my love and I. We've had some interesting times. He has remained a steady force in my life and a big constant.

He joined the fire department six months before we married. Prior to that he had been helping his father with his backhoe business and his farm. He continued to do both of those jobs, too, while working at the fire department.

He moved up the career ladder there and is now a Battalion Chief. I am so proud of him. And he has continued to work those three jobs all this time.

We built a home together, literally, and have enjoyed living in the same house for 24 years. I worked my way through school, first getting my BA at Hollins in 1993 and now I will have my MA next year.

Our biggest heartbreak was our inability to have children, but we have our siblings' children to love and pamper. I tried to open my heart to the world and offer up information through my writing. I think I was successful at that for a while. Maybe still, I don't know. He's been a kind of dad to the whole fire department.

It's been a good, quiet life, and I am grateful to have lived it with him.

Thanks baby!


(P.S., The last picture is actually two years old, but I don't have a more current one with both of us in it.)

Thursday Thirteen

Today I thought I'd share with you some noninvasive health tips.
Acupressure points are places on the body that you can press or massage in order to relieve symptoms. They have been used for thousands of years on Chinese Medicine and go hand in hand with acupuncture. This is the same principle that some of those wrist bands use for motion sickness; they are pushing on particular points.

To use these pressure points, you should massage the area with a firm pressure for at least a minute. It might hurt a little.

Frequently you will find that the pressure point is more tender than surrounding areas. That is a good indicator that you are massaging the right place.

Here are a few that I use:

1. To relieve leg cramps, pinch together the ridges between the end of your nose and your upper lip. Hold it for a few seconds - it might hurt just a little - but your leg cramp will instantly release.

2. To help a headache, pinch the web of skin in between the thumb and first finger.

3. You can also help a headache by pressing points on each temple.

4. The spot right in between your eyebrows just above your nose will release tension and pressure in your sinuses. It also helps with anxiety.

5. For lung issues (coughs, congestion, etc), massage the area just beneath your collar bones.

6. For sinusitus, massage the area behind each nostril.

7. Sleeping issues can be addressed by massaging the points directly beneath your skull along the backside of your spine. Massage down toward your shoulders.

8. Relieve heartburn by massaging the area halfway between your belly button and your breastbone.

9. Treat allergies by pushing on the area between the big toe and second toe. You can also treat them by pushing on the area on the outside of your arm just above your elbow joint and below the muscle.

10. Anxiety and nervousness may be treated by pushing on the inside of the arm, in between the bones, about three fingers above the wrist line.

11. For asthma, push on the center of the breastbone, midway between the breasts.

12. Earaches may be treated by massaging the area at the front of the ears.

13. For general overall health, massage the entire ear. It has points that relate to all of the body systems and stimulating it will promote well being.

I am not an acupuncturist, doctor, or medical practitioner, so try these at your own risk. I see an acupuncturist and have read up on acpressure, and as I said, I find some of these spots beneficial. But I urge you to research your condition before using them. Pregnant women probably shouldn't try any of them at all.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 216th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Outside, Looking In

Brown leaves blow against glass tap silently for entrance.
Titmice shuffle, hoard beechnuts,
eyes squinting, wary.  Inside
a summer cabin safe from snow
and ice, the rocker sways
in winter's draft, unconcerned.

Wolves whine, tails tucked,
and run from the night. 
The hearth and ashes heave
with life; the rug lies bunched
in a corner, warm as a cub
in sunshine. A lamp lights
a rolltop desk.  On its top
a book lies open, pages
smudged with damp caresses,
the back worn down with care. 

The clock chimes time
to twilight, its white face
a somber hour, safe
from outer waters
which try to rust its gears. 
At the door, the lock
clasps firmly, holds
when the knob is twisted.

In the wind, leaves
around me, my face tight
against the window,
I stand, guarding empty
havens, outside,
looking in.

****

I wrote the above poem back in the 1980s, while I was an undergraduate at Hollins. The somewhat desolate day and the oak leaves clinging to the trees made me think of it. I may have revised once since I first wrote it, but I have made no changes to it in years. On reflection, I don't think it's the best poem I ever wrote, but it isn't the worst, either. I think I liked it more when I was younger and in a different place in my life.

The Sun Rises Over the Shed

Sunrise, Monday, November 14, 2011 6:50 a.m.

Closeup of Sunrise, Monday, November 14, 2011 6:50 a.m.

Thesis Dreams

I dreamed about my thesis last night. Or rather, about not writing my thesis.

For those who may not know, I have to write a thesis in order to obtain my masters of arts in liberal studies degree at Hollins University. It is the last thing I have to do. It must be at least 50 pages long and it must be completed in March.

It has been haunting me since I returned to school in February. So it is no wonder that now I dream about it.

In my dream, I visited someone named Mary Prophet, and she told me to go see Dr. Charles Fuller, the pastor at the chapel, because he would help me. (Local folks who have lived here for a while will recognize the name. A pastor at one of the churches in downtown Roanoke had that name; he used to do God's Minute or something like that on the radio. I have no idea why the name came to me in this dream.)

For the longest time I wandered around the Hollins campus trying to find the chapel, and along the way I realized the problem wasn't that I couldn't write, but that I was fearful of writing things that would bother other people, like if I wrote about something terrible I did as a teenager it would tip off my mother that I had done that bad thing, or what-have-you, and as I pondered this new revelation, I finally found the chapel.

A big burly man stopped me and asked me if I had an appointment to see Dr. Fuller. I said no, but Mary Prophet sent me. He bade me sit in the entryway on a very hard bench, and he disappeared and then came back. I told him he looked like a Gestapo policeman, and he folded his arms and said, "Hmmph."

Then a very small man tossing flowers behind his back came in, and the Gestapo man nodded and said there he is. And I was surprised because Dr. Fuller was absolutely crazy; he was like a nice version of Gollum (from Lord of the Rings), with a bit of Yoda (from Star Wars)thrown in for good measure, and he talked about his daffodils. A small child was also with him, a young boy about 9. The man prodded me forward, and Dr. Fuller looked at me expectantly, and I finally told him I was having trouble with my thesis.

"Smell the flowers!" Dr. Fuller cried, and he ran away. The small boy took my hand and led me toward the gate.

"Why doesn't anyone know about this? This isn't right," I asked the boy as he led me away. I was distressed that this man who was supposed to be helping me and other people was, for all intents and purposes, a lunatic.

"We have to keep our secrets," he said.

"But this isn't a good secret," I cried. "This hurts people."

And the boy nodded, shut the gate behind me, and I stood facing a daffodil-covered meadow at the edge of a forest.

Books: Long Time No See

Long Time No See
By Susan Isaacs
Copyright 2004
Audiobook 6 hours
Abridged

Judith Singer is a Doctor of History with a penchant for solving crimes. When we catch up with her, it has been 20 years since she last solved a crime.

I love that this heroine is 54 years old. She is widowed and lives alone. She has an old love affair in her background. She serves on the local library board.

In this mystery, she decides to try to figure out what happened to a missing woman. Courtney Logan disappears on Halloween. Her body turns up in the family swimming pool in April. The police are sure the husband did it, mostly because his father is a local mafia dude. Fancy Phil, the mafia dad, decides to ask Judith for help after he learns of her interest.

She follows the clues and eventually figures out the crime. Along the way she rekindles an old love.

A nice, smooth novel with an intriguing character!