Thursday, January 31, 2008

How's your weather?

It's only two days until that little groundhog pops his head out of the hole in Pennsylvania and determines what the weather will be like around the entire country. Amazing, isn't he?
Here in eastern Washington, it's hard to believe we were getting plummeted with snow just last weekend. Where I live, we don't typically get a lot of snowfall, but we had been buried under about eight inches of the white stuff most of the week.
Yesterday afternoon it warmed up and the wind started blowing. Every thing is in melt-down mode now. Every time I look out the window, more snow is gone. I have no idea where all the water is going to end up!
As for the groundhog, I don't know what his prediction will be, but I'm saying we will have an early spring! I'm tired of winter and I'm ready to see my flowers bloom.
How about you?

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

East of the Mountains

I just finished reading the book "East of the Mountains" by David Guterson. He is one of my favorite authors and this book takes place in the area near where I live. I recognized a couple "names" mentioned and I have seen many of things he describes.
Ben Givens is dying. He has terminal colon cancer and he wants to spare his daughter the agony of watching him die. He decides to go back to his roots -- east of the mountains -- and commit suicide. His plan is to make it look like a hunting accident.
However, circumstances keep getting in the way, causing his plans to be put on hold. In the meantime, Ben looks back over his life and talks about some of the key moments -- i.e. his stint in the service during WWII, meeting and courting his wife, why he decided to become a doctor and others.
If you want to know how the book turns out, you'll have to read it for yourself. I'm not going to spoil it by telling you the ending.
This book is so poignant, romantic, touching and carries a lesson for us all.
From now on, I will look at this land I call home with a different perspective.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Who am I?

Now that I've told you what my blog is about, I'm going to introduce myself.
I'm a freelance writer living in Washington state. I've done a variety of different types of writing over the years and I've actually won some awards along the way.
I have a wonderful husband. We've been married since 2003 and he is very, very supportive of my writing goals.
DH has four children and I have three. We have a team of grandkids, too, that keep us on our toes.
We have many hobbies in common, including hiking, rockhounding and camping. We both LOVE to read.
I'm also usually busy creating something in cross stitch or knitting.
OK, it's your turn. Who are you and what do you do for fun? (Remember, this is a clean blog. Don't ruin it for others by posting your spam or porn. You'll quickly be blacklisted!)

Welcome!

Well, I've finally done it. After putting this off for some time now, I finally took the plunge and joined the blogging community. Now, I hope others will join me as I discuss books I'm reading.
That will be the main focus.
However, I have a variety of other interests and I'd like to hear people's thoughts on writing, cross stitch, knitting, rockhounding, hiking, camping.
We can talk about anything here, AS LONG AS it's clean. No porn, no spam, no dating inquiries.
I want this to be a site where you would be comfortable with your teen-age daughter reading it.
So, welcome, and I'm anxious to hear from you.