March 9, 2012

Why is everyone talking at once?

Call me old fashioned, but I want to hear what other people have to say, which is why I hate it when I hear voices talking over each other.  It’s disrespectful.  It’s impolite.  It’s deafening.

But, of course, that’s the point.  Those voices don’t want to hear other voices.  They think theirs is the only voice that matters.  It’s the only one that’s right.

Did I peg it?  Is this what’s wrong with our political system right now?  And I’m talking both sides of the aisle – so if you’re going to accuse me of being a leftist from Massachusetts, save your breath.  I’m one woman who believes in freedom for all.

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March 5, 2012

The how-to of collecting maple sap

Have you ever had pure maple syrup?  Once you have, the other never quite works for you again.  Pure maple syrup is deep in color, rich in taste, goes down slowwwww-ly, and lingers wherever it lands.  It is sweet without containing the kinds of processed sugars we’re told to avoid, which makes it a super treat.

I’m a native New Englander.  My first childhood memories of pure maple anything were of the little maple sugar candies that my parents brought back from vacations up north.  These came in a box of four or six and were shaped like pine cones, maple leaves, or trees.  Put one in your mouth, and it melts, just like that.  I have newer memories of maple products, but more on that in a sec.

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March 2, 2012

A glow-in-the-dark passie? You’ve got to be kidding.

Let me be clear.  I hate the look of a pacifier in a child’s mouth – hated it when my kids were little, hate it now that their kids are little.  I like seeing that little mouth and hate having it hidden.  I also like the convenience of a thumb.  Pop it in, take it out and smile without worry of dropping it on the supermarket floor.

That said, I saw the bright side of passie use during our last visit with our nine-month-old granddaughter.  We were having a birthday dinner, nine of us eating after the baby was asleep, and, naturally, there were bursts of noise.  During one, the baby woke up and began to cry.

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February 29, 2012

What is a BFF?

Do you have a BFF?  Nicole and Charlotte, of Sweet Salt Air, are that – at least until Charlotte confesses to having wronged Nicole in a totally reprehensible way.

Nicole is devasted.  “I thought you were my BFF,” she cries in the scene I just wrote, and goes on to say, “A BFF is supposed to be loyal.  She’s supposed to be honest and considerate and generous.  She’s supposed to sacrifice something she wants if she knows that getting it will hurt the other.”

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February 27, 2012

When to take the car keys from elderly parents

I need to write about this, if only to get it off my chest.  There was a piece on Nightly News recently – actually, it aired on February 16 and has haunted me ever since.  How do you know, Brian Williams asked, when the time comes to take the car keys away from elderly parents?  Dr. Nancy Snyderman was the medical expert here, and she sited statistics on the number of auto accidents among elderly drivers.  She also talked about why this happens – slow response, confusion, deteriorating spacial judgment, and so on.  The focus of her piece, though, was an interview with a 94-year-old man who had made the decision, with his family’s approval, to limit his driving to daylight and his own neighborhood.

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February 22, 2012

Where does the dock go in winter?

We were at the lake last weekend, looking out our windows at the winterness of it all.  Winterness?  Try bleakness.  There isn’t much snow this year, and the lake hasn’t frozen thickly.  Local officials actually had to modify the rules for the annual ice fishing derby weekend, because the ice wasn’t thick enough to support the stores and restaurants, trucks and buses that occupy the frozen bay during this event.  Typically, the ice is 18” thick by now.

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February 16, 2012

Instant gratification

What does it for you?  Is it a scoop of peanut butter straight from the jar at nine at night?  A pithy few words shouted at the driver who cuts you off?  For me, it’s a quick knitting project.

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February 13, 2012

The humiliation of airport security

I fly often and am pretty immune to security demands, but yesterday was the worst.  My husband and I were going through security at Reagan National in Washington, D.C.  I had loaded the bins with my coat, my scarf, my boots, and my liquids.  When I approached the scanner, the security guard (male) indicated that I should remove my sweater as well.

The sweater – oversized in that it fell to my thighs, but not thick – was my clothing.  Beneath it, I wore thin leggings and an even thinner layering tee shirt.  I would never, ever leave my house in the leggings and tee shirt alone.

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February 8, 2012

How emotional am I writing my characters’ emotions?

I’m on a Sweet Salt Air roll, so this blog won’t be long.  But I’m asked this question often.  Do I feel what I write?  If my characters are shocked, do I feel the shock?  If they’re heartsick, do I cry?  And yes – someone recently asked this in a blog comment – if they’re aroused, am I?

You wouldn’t ask any of it if you’d seen me this week.  I’ve been writing three consecutive scenes in Sweet Salt Air, each pivotal to the plot, each filled with high emotion, and I’ve been wringing my hands, pacing the floor, writing with my heart in my mouth, waking at night with my characters’ worries.  We’re talking betrayal, heartache, and fear.  You may read it in passing, but I live with it.

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February 2, 2012

Downtime

I did nothing last weekend.  Nothing.  And it was hard.  I am fully serious when I say that.  I’m not used to doing nothing.  I kept jumping up,ready to do laundry or pay bills or check email or blog.  For me, doing is a visceral thing.

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