Holiday letters

I did it! I wrote a holiday letter, mainly to family members I have not seen in a while. I vowed I would never do a letter, but it was fun, and I don't know why I waited so long to try this approach.
Of course, I have no idea what the recipients will say when they get them. I did try to keep the downside info to a minimum......
There's a clever column about holiday letters on The Buzz Media, http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/the-annual-holiday-letter/. Check it out.

Trip to Smith Mountain Lake

Went to Smith Mountain Lake today working on stories for Discover SML magazine, and, as always, the outing turned into a bit of shopping trip when we stopped at the Homestead Creamery store and Boone's Country Store...Ice cream, apple butter (both Ann's, made in Botetourt County, and Jamison's made in Roanoke County), and canned beef and pork from Homestead; coconut pie, bread, other goodies from Boone's.
Boone's is one of the oldest businesses in the area, opened 36 years ago. Wow! What a neat place with its foodstuffs and sewing materials.
Both of these are a worthwhile trip for anyone. So is visiting Upper End Again, the consignment shop near Halesford Bridge run by Evelena Mullens.
Real treat also to visit Pacabella folks (www.pacabella.com) and see the alpacas as well as the friendly owners.

Lessons learned from being snowbound

Sometimes all it takes to refocus us is to force us into inactivity. The snow (and a bit of illness) that have kept me indoors these last few days had a real effect on my decluttering plans.
Instead of dreading culling from the wall of bookcases, I just do a couple of items at a time and put what is to go into its proper "to go" bag--for the AAUW book sale, or for the Rescue Mission Store, or to mail to family member or trash.
Amazing what we don't get rid of, isn't it? Why do I need the manual for out-of-date software? Or, an anthology with type so small I cannot read it with a magnifying glass?
Let's see how it goes, but I'm betting the progress will be impressive and the procrastination diminished!

A 'Best' Christmas

What a beautiful day this has been. By 10 a.m., I had Skyped with my daughter and son-in-law in Switzerland and my grandson and son and daughter-in-law in California and spoken by phone with my mother and sister in Florida. We weren't together, but we were.
Christmas music played and snow drifted down, and I felt blessed although it has been one of the hardest periods of my life. My rheumatoid arthritis has been teaching me humility big time.
I was not able to do complete Christmas shopping, and I still have not sent out cards, but it has been a beautiful time.
Life is learning....I'm learning! As long as I can be with people and nature, such as the beautiful birds at the feeder outside the window, I am having a good day. I am blessed by the wonderful students I see each semester at college and maybe even influence a few.
Merry Christmas!

Daylilies--beauty and short life

Why do daylilies have the ability to both aggravate and captivate? These flowers grow like weeds, pushing their way into every bit of space possible.
But, then they bloom. And, what beauty! Insects love these strange flowers that blossom so boldly during the day and curl in to sleep at night.

This year, I clipped some lilies in various stages of bloom and brought them inside. They stayed beautiful, opening one a day as they dropped the finished bloom.

Post 1 for a library project

Have you used EasyBib? No, it isn't what you stick under a baby's drool. EasyBib is a bit of software that helps a writer create parenthetical and Works Cited citations. But, hey, it is not easy because the premise is "garbage in, garbage out." According to Wikipedia, this saying, "Garbage in, Garbage out'," was the product of "George Fuechsel, an IBM 305 RAMAC technician/instructor in New York, [and was], soon contracted to the acronym "GIGO" (Wikipedia).

Word 7 also has a bibliography function that works similarly. Over the next few weeks, I will master this like my English 111 students needs to so that we can speak the same language.

The Works Cited entry for the "garbage" entry would look something like:
"Garbage In, Garbage Out." Wikipedia. 24 Mar 2010: n. pg. www.wikipedia.org. Web. 6 Apr 2010.

I'll check my Little, Brown Handbook and update on this in the next post.

Getting up to speed again

I've promised I will get active with this blog again, especially we have survived the most challenging winter in a long time and now have stormed into hot weather with no spring respite.

In a couple of days, I will tell you about an author I have discovered some 20+ years since he wrote the books.

Books. Wonderful things.

More soonest.