Melani Blazer

It’s been a busy life. I suppose a lot of you can say that, especially this weekend. We’re always advised to “Stop and smell the roses”…but well, roses aren’t exactly in season. This weekend I smelled turkey, ham, pecan pie. I watched the warmth of a flickering candle and listened to my family talk over dinner. I heard my cats meow in eagerness when I held up the cans of turkey 9 lives.

While my life was still crazy with way too much to do with too little time to accomplish it, I did totally appreciate those moments.
Today we headed out for a walk. I thought we were heading to a park we often visit for a quiet walk. We bundled up and even let the 16 yr old drive us.

The husband navigated and I knew immediately we weren’t going somewhere I recognized. We ended up at a “wildlife reserve” had sparse parking and was mostly unadvertised. We parked and got out. I have to admit I was skeptical, but the trails were short, but well marked. The brown, red and yellow oak leaves covered the path and gave us the feeling of walking through an untouched wilderness. Within moments we couldn’t see the parking area and became immersed in raw nature. Within moments of our walk, it began to snow lightly, just enough to turn an already mystical adventure into a virtual faerietale. Maybe we were caught in a snowglobe.

Farther in, the husband and daughter caught site of a majestic whitetail. Later I saw movement deep in the trees, but couldn’t tell if it was the same deer or something else. It was about that time the snow became heavier. As we stood, straining to see miles into the untouched forest, we realized we could hear the snow hitting the leaves around us.

It was as if God (or Mother Nature) had whispered “stop and listen to the snow fall”. Not an obvious sound, of course, just a whisper, but one that often goes unheard because we’re so busy with everything else.

We were gone for an hour, maybe hour and a half tops, but we’d traveled far–into another world, the way I see it.

I’d originally planned to blog about finally getting time this morning to type in some of my handwritten writing and philosophize about how what I was writing was affecting me, but this seemed far more inspiring.

So when you get a chance, stop, and listen to the snow, smell the roses, or pinecones, or listen to your kitten purr…or something else that you don’t think must about, but would miss if it were gone.

I’m missing. My brain is missing, money is missing, time is missing. I’m standing, okay, sitting, here, going… it’s what date? I’m supposed to be doing what and have accomplished what?

I’m not complaining and won’t make excuses, cuz frankly, I don’t know what I’d say. I’ve just got way too much on my plate and sadly, blogging has fallen off the priority list. I’m not even getting computer time to write, so I’m filling up journal pages by hand and eyeing up that *can’t remember the name now* focus/fly thingy that’s a pen that stores what you write. Tho’ I’ll need to do more research before I officially put it on my Christmas list. Would be nice not to have to transcribe the 40 or so pages I’ve filled.

Anyhoot, off to work with me. Short, but extremely busy week. If I don’t make it back, you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

I just learned ANIMAL PLANET is working with WWF (World Wildlife Fund, Inc.) to make an effort to save the endangered animals.

With our help, Animal Planet will donate up to $100,000 to WWF.

What do you say???

Head on over HERE and cast your vote. You don’t have to pay anything, subscribe to anything or linger on a page for more than a moment. Click your favorite animal or pick one randomly. Be sure to go back, as you can vote once per day. If any of you have kids, have them pick, and make sure they know what good they’re doing for those beautiful animals.

Oh, how I hate thee, let me count the ways.

You’ve been lurking around the room for several days now. You said you were lured by the scent of cold, stale dread and guilt. I know now, the only thing that will keep you away is the sound of me typing into the keypad of my laptop. I’ll have to remember that for next time.

I know everyone’s dealing with outside stress, the onset of cold/flu season which seems to have a real vendetta this year, but I have been working. I added over 1000 words, probably closer to 1500 last night, typing in the handwritten pages of my journal, where I’ve been scribbling away. There’s still a dozen or so pages yet to be transcribed. While I don’t think I’ve hit the 1000 words a day goal, this hasn’t been an ordinary week and I’ve done the best I can.

As of today, right now, my “input” word count is 20,648. I started with 14,711. It’s not brilliant progress, but I’m not upset with it. You shouldn’t be either.

So take your whip and menacing look–and your sweat–and go find a naughty author who’d rather be playing solitaire or mindsweeper than writing. You know they’re out there.

Edited to add: 11-8-07 Count now at 21,717.