Change - It's good even when it hurts.

Gosh, it's been thirteen months since I've updated my blog. Briefly, it's been one heck of a year. But I'm back on track and anticipate the coming year with the growth, challenges, and surprises it will bring. Our family dynamics have changed with the maturing of our three grandsons, and I am grateful for the love and joy they bring to our lives.

My writing has changed direction a bit, as I am focused on my first novel, as well as a fictional short story for an anthology which will be published sometime next year. But my first love is writing Memoir. Joining a critique group a few months ago has been challenging. It helps me see what I need to work on, throw out, and improve, but the reinforcement, encouragement, and camaraderie is invaluable. If you are a writer, I encourage you to join a writers' support group or critique group that fits your needs. We need to leave our solitary offices and meet regularly with other writers.

Have a wonderful fall and coming winter season  Talk to you soon. I promise. . .

Ode to Fall

Creatures of the Night

As night falls, I hurry home

switch on lights, close doors
to the cold night air
and imagine the Boogey Man
outside, in the dark,
ready to pounce.

Sundown comes
filmy clouds drift
across the blackened canvas
to kiss the star-dappled sky
painted purposefully, perfectly
by One more skilled than any mortal.

On velvet pads

nightlife crawls over wet grasses,
along woody branch,
through their realm
unseen by man
one hundred times as large.

Why fear what is hidden?
Nocturnal life lives in twilight.
Where I stumble, predators are agile.
Cats fleet of foot, owls dive with
unblinking amber eyes opened wide;
they survive another day.

Invisible world could teach me to trust,
to open windows and doors,
tiptoe outside, breathe night air,
creep over damp soil,
look under leafy screens,
meet creatures one thousand times as small.

To appreciate lesser inhabitants

may be contrary to human logic,
but to embrace the universal plan
set in motion purposefully, perfectly
by Him eons ago
is worth the endeavor.

Between Holidays - Suspended Animation

It's hard to put into words, but I'll try. The week between Christmas and New Years always holds me in a state of suspended animation. I can't help but feel something's coming, something big - right around the corner; like Tony sang about in the musical, West Side Story. 2011 has been a year of surprises, change, challenges, happiness, and hope, with the promise of more to come.

People ask, "What are your plans for New Year's Eve?" We plan on going out to dinner, not partying, just the two of us enjoying each other's company and then coming home, in the event family stops by. Family, that's what it's all about, for us anyway.

As each new year approaches, I marvel at how quickly time seems to fly by; and as far as New Year's resolutions, I guess they're the same as my day to day goals. I have a big stack of books to read, several writing projects to finish, family to spend time with, and the outdoors to explore.

I'll finish by wishing everyone, many I don't even know, a very Happy New Year and blessings for 2012.