Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen Things In My Life Beginning with "G" (In No Particular Order)

1. Grandbaby. Oh, come on! Surely you're not surprised. 2. Goody Goody Gunshots, coming to a book store near you on September 2!!!!! 3. Gasoline Prices. Again, no surprise here. And don't get me started talking about the oil company executives!!!! 4. Gavel. I have one with my name engraved in it. How's that for a useless bit of trivia??? 5. When I was a very little girl living in Montana, I used to get nosebleeds frequently, and for no discernable reason. My mother took me to the doctor, who decreed that the blood vessels in my nose were too close to the surface. After that, my mother used to swab my nose with the glycerine-soaked end of a cotton swab. If you have never had your mother shove the glycerine-soaked end of a Q-Tip into your nose and swab around, you're missing an experience! 6. My mother once went to a chiropractor who thought that goat's milk was the one secret ingredient that could cure all of the world's ills. When I told him that there was a definite (and not necessarily positive) difference between the taste of goat's milk and that of cow's milk, he told me I was crazy. He swore up and down that it was impossible to tell the difference. Frankly, I don't think the man had any taste buds. 7. God, who brings me all good things in my life, and who has carried me in His hands on more than one occasion. 8. Golden Gate Bridge. I'm going to San Francisco in a week, and it's the first time I've been back for any length of time since my parents lived there. They didn't live in San Francisco, exactly, but in San Mateo, on the peninsula. I remember going to the city once, long before my parents moved there, and getting sucked by traffic onto the Golden Gate Bridge over and over again while my dad tried to find a hotel for us to stay in. It kept getting later and later, but traffic never thinned. The rest of us fought the giggles. My dad just kept getting more and more frustrated. 9. Giggles. Ever come down with a case of the giggles? They always hit at the most inappropriate times, usually when you're in a place or a situation where you should remain silent. I remember once when I was probably 12 or 13, my mother and I got the giggles while we were at the library. This was back in the day when libraries were truly, truly silent, so even our quietest efforts to pull ourselves together echoed off the vaulted ceilings. I don't even remember what we were laughing about now, but that's the best thing about the giggles. They come upon you without reason. 10. Granny Smith Apples -- just about the finest apple ever created. If you ask me, apples have no business being red. 11. Great Salt Lake -- Along the western edge of the Salt Lake basin lies the Great Salt Lake. According to thefreedictionary.com, it's the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere, the fourth largest terminal lake in the world. Water flows in, but it doesn't flow out. It evaporates here in the middle of the dessert, leaving a deposit of minerals (salt) behind. It covers an area of about 1,700 miles, although that fluctuates a lot since the lake is so shallow. It is not like other lakes. There's no recreation on it, there's no life in it except brine shrimp, and there's no real reason to spend time near it, if you ask me. Bottom line? It stinks! 12. Gumbo. Okay, this one isn't in my life, but I'd like it to be. I'd love to get my hands on a really good recipe -- not too hot. Not too difficult. 13. My cousin Gary, who passed away unexpectedly on September 23, 2006. Here's to you, bud!

Wordless Wednesday

Thursday Thirteen #8

Thirteen Things in My Life Beginning With "F"
(in no particular 0rder)

Just realized that I hadn't completely finished this blog post I started on Thursday -- so here it is, slightly late.

1. Florida -- which is where my daughter, her husband, and the Wonder Baby live now. It is also where I just came home from after a heavenly two-week visit. It is also where I am planning to move, just as soon as it's practical, despite the humidity and the bugs and the gators and the snakes and the bugs.

2. Family -- Top on my list of important things/people. Kids, the grandkid, my sister and brother, nieces and nephes, my mother. Dad too, even though he's no longer with us. Cousins ... Do I have cousins! Aunts. Uncles.

3. Friends -- Can't get through life without a few.

4. Fry Sauce -- without which I cannot eat french fries. For those poor souls who have no idea what fry sauce is, it's usually mayonnaise and ketchup, sometimes with a dab of barbeque sauce or something else to give it zing.

6. Faint -- A feeling I've been fighting for months until I finally learned that I was suffering from anemia. Now, after a month of iron supplements, I no longer feel as if I'm about to pass out all the time. I'd almost forgotten how it felt not to feel as if I was going down for the count.

6. Faith -- An element that's of ever-increasing importance in my life.

7, Freedom -- I don't think you can have a family member in the military without thinking about freedom .... a lot. I'm grateful for it. I thank our founding fathers for fighting for it. I thank my dad, my uncles, and my son-in-law for putting their lives on the line for it. I try not to take it for granted.











8. Father -- Mine passed away nearly two years ago, and I still catch myself wanting to forward an e-mail i think he might be interested in, or thinking I see him in a parking lot when I'm out running errands. I miss him.

9. Fiction -- Of course. I mean, it's what I do!!!

10. Firewalkers -- The name of the group of my closest friends, who are also a critique group on occasion. I say on occasion because I don't remember the last time all four of us were producing pages in a new manuscript simultaneously, and especially during the past couple of years of pregnancy, various battles with cancer, depression, and moving, nobody's been at the computer long enough to even e-mail, much less write. But we'll get back there. I have faith.

11. Forgetfulness -- According to my kids, I have the world's worst memory. I think they may be exaggerating a bit ... but probably not by much :(

12. Forsythia -- One of my favorite bits of flora in the world. It blooms in early spring, and it's bright and cheery and full of hope and promise after a long, cold winter. When I was young and newly married, my then-husband planted three of these in the back yard where I could see them from the kitchen window.

13. Fuel Prices -- Ridiculous. Absolutely unacceptable. And since I'm not alone in this one, I'm not going to say much more.

Wordless Wednesday -- They Start a Little Younger Every Year!

Brought to You by the Letter "O"

Oh, the possibilities! The things that come to mind when I think of the letter O. Like ....

Well, like origami, for instance. What do I know about origami? Absolutely nothing! Except that it's the art of folding paper into oddly intricate shapes. Don't get me wrong, I think it's kind of fascinating. I don't know if I would have the patience to turn a piece of paper into an angel or an armadillo or a six-pointed star box, but I admire anyone who does.

Being a huge fan of the panda, I think I'll make this my first attempt. I may not get to it for a few days (or weeks), but I'm going to give it a whirl.

Of course, now that I say that, I've just about obligated myself to try. Which kind of annoys me, because I hate feeling obligated.

Holy Disappearing Author, Batman!

March? My last post here was in March????? I'm hugely embarrassed. As some of you know, I'm deeply involved in some time-consuming work for a writing organization this year, so my time is rarely my own. Add to that a bone-deep exhaustion that just would not go away and what do you get? An author who appears to have dropped off the face of the earth. Thankfully, it appears that we've finally identified the cause of my exhaustion -- not depression as the doctors have thought for the past 4 years, but anemia. Amazing how an iron supplement can do what all the anti-depression medication in the world cannot. :::sigh::: Anyway, I'll try to do better. Honest, I will.