2012, Changes

Is that Two Thousand Twelve, or Twenty-Twelve? The second sounds more hip, but the first is most correct.

I've decided to re-start this blog. It's been a peculiar time since I quit. The main thing I'm ready to discuss is the fact that we have moved, lock, stock, and a partial barrel, to the mountains. I have mixed feelings about it, but a big move like this always takes some getting used to. I miss the Buffalo Wallow -- its space, the storage, the huge kitchen, all its conveniences, and the little things like a gazillion exterior electric outlets. I don't miss Cuero, the gas & oil boom, trucks roaring around at all hours, the humidity, the work involved in keeping up that place, the snakes, the bugs, or the stickery plants. I miss my cat, miss him immensely. I think I would be sad there now without him, would constantly be on the lookout for him in his usual spots. I miss the hot tub, sipping wine there and looking at the stars with my darling. I miss my dad. I don't miss the narrow-minded people, or that godforsaken WalMart. I miss having a town the size and convenience of Victoria within 30 minutes. But I never was able to sustain any writing at all during the time we lived there, and I have a new feeling about that here.

We have just come through some hard winter weather, and we're on a steep learning curve when it comes to living where it can snow 15-inches in a single day. The SO has lived with snow before. Yours truly not so much. I'm finding out about layering, snow boots, icy driveways, dripping roofs, slushy roads, and hungry wildlife. We've been putting out alfalfa cubes for the deer, and the bird feeders are constantly being re-filled. I now keep an ice pick on the deck to crack a hole in the birdbath so our feathered friends can have something to drink.

We slogged across the street to a Christmas Party a few weeks ago, dressed up fancy, with snow boots and my party shoes in a bag. Changed shoes on the host's doorstep and stuck my boots with some others behind a porch statuary. Some of the guests were in their stocking feet. One lady had brought her mules from home to change into. Looked kind of funny, everybody dressy with alternate footwear. Then on Christmas Day we slogged the other directions, to a different friend's house for dinner. That time I did the stocking feet thing and was the only one who did. We had a snowman contest. Our Trevor won. We named him Trevor because of the Aussie hat the SO put on his head. He is melting as I write this, has already lost his eyes, nose, mouth, and his buttons. We took off the hat and scarf on New Year's Eve. He is kind of pin-headed now. The four-foot long icicles hanging from the roof melted in the Chinook wind that passed through here over the weekend. We've nothing but sunshine in our forecast. But there is still plenty of icy snow on the ground. The predominate color outside is white.

On a writerly note (and I do intend to blog more about writing from here on), THE PASSION OF DELLIE O'BARR is being converted to Kindle and eBook at the present moment. This process requires that I re-read and edit any mistakes made in the conversion. I'm finding a plethora. But I'm also finding that I really like this book. It's been a long time since I've read it, and it's always been the one I had the most trepidations about, possibly because it was written during the time my mother was dying of cancer. There is a darkness to the book, it's true, but overall it is as good or better than other books I've written. I always wanted to write a screenplay of this story, and even have something like 20 scenes already done. I think once I get this back to the people doing the conversion, I will have a go at continuing with that project. Not so much because I'm hot to try to get something produced, but because it will be fun to revisit this story and to try my hand at a new way of writing. More to come on this, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, I have high hopes that 2012 will be a better year for those people around me whom I love, particularly my SO. I am quite certain that the new year will present its own challenges. We never know the path that life will present to us. Sometimes the turns can be sharp and treacherous. We just have to take extra, special care.

Onward ....