A Writerly Kind of Holiday

I've been gone a long time. First, it was pre-holiday. Then it was holiday, travel and family. Then it was a huge storm that knocked out our power.

First I want to report that Santa was very, very good to this writer. I got two (2!) Scrabble boards- a plastic swiveling travel kind, and then a heavy duty wooden one for home. My girls bought me a nifty Scrabble dictionary which is chock full of great words like "aa"(rough, cindery lava) and "qaid" (Muslim leader). Very handy. I also received a gorgeous Levenger library stand, complete with Oxford American dictionary. And it comes with its own pretty little domelike magnifying glass, perfect for geezers like me who can barely read a phone book anymore.

While we were rained in up at Tahoe, we played multiple games of Scrabble. My daughters were very trepidatious about playing against me, but we did it "open book" (with the Scrabble dictionary for help) and the scores came out amazingly close. And they were shocked at how fun it was. I was shocked and happy at how much they liked it.

Then, we played Twister, and they whupped me. I also got to read a new book: Wild Dogs by Helen Humphrey, which I ended up liking very much. I began a short story that I've literally tried to write a dozen times over the past years, and it's never quite "taken." Maybe this time.