Pacific Specifics

  I have several ideas for books that I want to write. I came up with a new variation today, and it's practically writing itself. A friend said they were going to write a book about growing up in Ireland, but a kid's book. It reminded me that I really wanted to write a book for kids. I have one written, I just haven't chased down the illustrations, and now it's buried in storage in Utah. It is called Mental Monster Madness. It's about how emotions can be so strong and sometimes fierce, and we have to tame them. I would love to have my current grandchildren draw pictures for it! So I guess this would be my second book for kids. It's kind of an interactive book. Where I say something about me, and then ask a related question. Like: My name is Suzette. What is your name? Basically a book just for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A simple book for the 3-7 year old age group. If my Grandmothers had written a book like that, I would have loved it to pieces. ...

  What a day. First of all, I slept in. Don't be jealous, I slept in because I woke up at least 6 times last night. We have a wonderful bed here with great pillows, I don't know why I have a new trial of not being able to sleep through the night. I got up at 4am and closed the door so Ron could sleep while I made myself a cup of raspberry hot chocolate. It was still dark out when I went back to bed. But the aspirin and essential oils were helping with the toothache.   The first thing we did was go to downtown Seattle, on the waterfront. We strolled along. I loved the way it smelled. The first cool thing I saw was a dozen people fishing off the wharf for these squid things with no tentacles, and really big distinct looking eyes. They were about 6-10 inches long. Often they would squirt water as they were hauled out of the water, sometimes getting the people with the poles. It was crazy. Then we walked around and enjoyed the sunshine. Sunshine on the water is beautiful. In Co...

  I have tried living life being steady and normal. It turns out, I really like having my fair share of Day 1 stories. Day 932 stories have their place. It's just that I learned which kind I prefer. I am 17,240 days old today. It's amazing what you can look up on the internet. If I had looked it up earlier, I would have made big plans for the 17,000 mark that was earlier this year. No, it's day 228 of the year, so my milestone would have been last December. I think. No more math.   We are close to Seattle. When I step out of my front door I can see the tall city. We live on a hill, and it's pretty awesome. It's so fantastic to have our own place. I unpacked everything the first night. Which is everything that we had in the car, so it basically didn't take long. How much do you need for 8 weeks? I can't tell you how terrific it felt to open a drawer and put my things in it. And then go back and open the drawer and find what I need. A simple and pure joy of ...

  I'm editing a mini-biography for a dear friend of mine. She talks about her childhood, and it means more than ever to me since the land of my childhood is close by. In some ways I would say that I have ignored my childhood as an adult. Not because it was so difficult, but because it was not pertinent. Life wasn't horrible, and it wasn't all fantastic. My friend asks: what was your childhood like, what feelings does it conjure up? My childhood seems very vague in many ways. How do I summarize my childhood? It was fun. It was going outside and walking beaches and spending time at Grandma's house. It was morphing from ultra shy to standing in front of the auditorium for graduation, as one of the emcees. Sometimes I wonder if I use my bad memory to forget all the bad things. It's a choice though, you know? To dwell on the good or the bad. To become bitter or become better. It's the difference between past emotions and emotions the are constantly recreated from th...

  This is something that I usually talk to with my closest friends, that's what they are there for, right? But right now I have a bad cold. At the moment talking is not on my list of favorite things for my throat. So I write. The problem is, I'm looking for insight and advice. Here is my quandary.   Next month if all goes well, I'm going back to where I grew up. Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada. I want to show my husband where I grew up, and I want to see if I can revisit some old memories. Part of it is that my memory is like watching a complicated movie fifteen years ago that you watched while trying to tend to a two year old. You remember it was good, but not much else. You know there was a deeper plot, and it's worth watching again. I was walking across the road when I was six years old, and hit by a car. I'm jealous of people who can remember all kinds of clear details about their childhood. I'm not one of them. I was born and raised between Victoria...

  October 9th was the next date of departure that we chose. A week after we had turned back on our first attempt. When we woke up that morning we heard about 14 wildfires that had started while we slept. We were in Apple Valley, in Southern California and planned to take the 101 scenic highway north along the coast. We ended up taking the 5 interstate freeway because the fires were either closing or had the potential to close parts of the 101. The first day things were wonderfully normal, and we stopped in San Luis Obispo for the night.   October 10th we drove past many of the fires. I looked up the fires on the map as we drove through Sacramento. At one point there were seven fires on one side, and 8 on the other. The fires were not close enough to see, but there was enough smoke to block the sun. It was a cloudless day, but the sunshine disappeared. The sun was an orange circle in the afternoon sky. We spent the night in Medford, Oregon. The scenery was amazing starting at...

   The more I write, the more I see the intricate psychology of writers. I love my writing community, and knowing that I belong.   What should I write about today? Isn't it supposed to be important to have something of value to say?? What has been my latest travels? That's always a favorite topic of mine. The last travel was the 7-8 hour drive from Apple Valley in California over to the coast and go north to Santa Barbara. Oh, it was such a nice day for a drive. We had the car packed perfectly. The ocean was beautiful. We saw some cool things like the city of Los Angeles, and a ship so big that in the distance Ron thought it was an island. I saw another gorgeous moon rise quickly followed by a sunset. The Joshua trees turned into weird shaped things that were filled in by a black permanent marker. The moon came up and traveled through the pink and purple layers of the sky as it faded from the light. It was amazing. Then we got a call to turn around, because the job we...