February in Georgia can be a really cold month or there can be days where it's in the 60's. It's always so startling to see the bare winter trees and beneath them, daffodils shooting up through the ground. I was walking yesterday and noticing all the daffodils and I thought to myself how much they look like spiky green hands, pushing up through the soil.
I wish I had a better camera so this would look better. One of my friends on Facebook posts a lot of short poems and the images are always wonderful. Maybe one day I can add "meme writer" to my resume but that day isn't here yet.
The second issue of the Blue Mountain Review is now available. I have an article in there on page 103, about my friend David Moore, head of Historic Oakland. Check it out!
I was excited to get an e-mail from editor Ingrid Hall about an anthology I contributed to [Our Day of Passing: An Anthology of Short Stories, Poems, and Essays] that's doing very well as an e-book on Amazon.
"Super excited to be able to tell you that Our Day of Passing has hit #1 in the amazon.com bestseller rank for comparative religion and #2 for reincarnation. Let's all have a HUGE push to get it to number #1 for reincarnation too! I have also just checked amazon.co.uk and we are #1 for religious studies over here!"
My essay isn't about religion or reincarnation but it's still fascinating to me how this book has been categorized.
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I am reading a book I first read when I was a teenager, Christy. Wonderful book. When I lived in East Tennessee [1971-93] I was fascinated by the culture of people who lived in the mountains. This book really captures the spirit of those people. Most of them are descended from Scottish immigrants who came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries, which is when some of my ancestors came, so it's fascinating to me.
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I made Mother a pimento cheese sandwich the other day. She left it on her desk in her room, covered up, while she went to the bathroom. Lola grabbed that sandwich and ate it right off the table without making a sound. Lola came in the kitchen a few minutes later and looked up at me, wagging her tail, like "gimme a snack!" Mother hollered at me to come into her room and pointed at the plate on the floor, laughing. I wanted to fuss at her but it was too funny.
She got a cookie off the kitchen table the other night.
We forget how LOOOOOONG she is because her little legs are so short. [Lola, not Mother]
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Michael is helping a lady move this morning. He was out very late last night, and didn't get much sleep, although I warned him he would be needing a good night's sleep. He has never helped anybody move. I have -- many times. It's exhausting under the best of circumstances. He's being paid [and two of his friends are] to lift furniture and boxes into a truck.
I texted him last night and said to come home and get a decent meal and a decent night's sleep. He doesn't listen to me.
I vowed when I moved into this house 11 years ago that I'd never move again if I could possibly help it. We lived in 5 different houses in 2 different states when I was a kid, then I lived in 7 different apartments over the years before moving into this house. It took months to consolidate Mother's household stuff and mine and we ended up giving away a lot of things. I purposely didn't give everything away because I was thinking the kids would want things when they got their own places. We have enough pots and pans and dishes to stock 4 kitchens.
I actually found a meat thermometer in a drawer that my brother gave us years ago and we had promptly misplaced it. Yes, the kitchen is THAT big.
It's hard for me to believe I have lived in the exact same place for 11 years. That's a record, in my life..
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It has been a productive week. Got my taxes done, and Michael's, and I'm working on Mother's.
Stay warm...
