So it goes...

At last, I've reached Christmas break. I thought I'd never make it. Long days leading up, coupled with the stresses of the holiday prep. I sit here with my Swiss Miss poor-man's hot chocolate and watch the snow pile up. Whoopee! I went to writing class tonight. There was 4 of us, including the instructor. It was 2 more than I expected there would be, actually. A nice, quaint group, which was a nice change. There is a new woman in class who is trepidatious , much like I was when I first started showing up. Not sure of her place yet. Brought some poems tonight. Good stuff. She started off by saying they were probably not very good, but you know what? They were. That is what I love about this group. It is SO supportive to the cause. The cause of writing, that is. People offer criticism with the best intentions at these sessions, and it is so helpful. Just to hear someone tell you what they liked about a piece, alongside of what they didn't like, or what confused them. It ...

I sit by the furnace vent, with the laptop's lithium battery warming my knees. We got a 7" snowfall today and I got to try out my new (used) snow blower . Now, I'm he world's biggest critic of all things powered by a gasoline engine. They're loud, overdone, and emit enough exhaust in a single session to wipe out a village of asthmatics. I always cursed them upsetting my shovelling peace, where all I heard was my labored breathing. Everything changed during the big sell-out. I'm so ashamed. I've become what I loathe. It's like aliens have taken over my body during the night. They started out by brainwashing me into thinking that these machines are man's friend. Soon enough I'll have a pot belly and keel over dead while blowing snow, because I'm out of shape from not shovelling snow. Oy ! Such a tangled web we weave. In the meantime though I am going to have to say that this machine will make my life much simpler. As I was out there last nigh...

It is upon us now isn't it? Winter has descended with an iron fist and let us know it hasn't forgotten us. We were spoiled by an extremely mild November, so I've kind of been in denial. No more denial for me. Tomorrow I'm going out to get some gas for the snow blower. The sell-out is complete. I've become a complete suburban chump with a snow blower. What's next, an Escalade ? Sarah got a new laptop on Thursday night. It's a sweet Toshiba running Windows 7. Lucky. I wish I had one. :-( Oh well, the Craigslist cast-off Dell I'm typing this on will have to do. Some should have it so rough. I went out with the kids today and got a Christmas tree. We were mock-singing "Go tell it on the mountain" with Frank Sinatra on the way there. It was corny, but family fun. The kind of stuff one of us may remember. Or not. The writing workshop continues to work for me. I enjoy the heck out of it and it stretches me every week. I've just signed up for my ...