Not that this hasn’t been a good time to have a blog break (it has been a wonderful time to take a blog break, as it happens), but just so you know, the absence of posts has been due primarily to a computer-related problem, not anything more dire. I am writing this on someone else’s computer, which I’m borrowing for a few minutes just to check in and say, ‘howdy, we’re doing all right, except for anything related to me being able to get on the internet’.
On the upside, I’m getting a lot more reading done than usual. I would particularly like to recommend to you William Wilberforce’s book on “Real Christianity” or “A Practical View of Christianity.” (It was published under a long title, and reissues have tended to come out under various abbreviations.) As I understand it, it was an international sensation when it came out, and was widely influential. I’m only partway through, but I’m already classing it with Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Like C.S. Lewis, Mr. Wilberforce seems to somehow ‘have my number’ even though he was writing before my time.
In other news, we had a nice, quiet, white homebody Christmas. We stayed home, and fielded phone calls from near and far. We heard from a business friend we hadn’t heard from in something like three years. His wife was at work and he was home alone, and got an urge to go through an old address book and see if any of the phone numbers still worked. It was great to hear from him. We also heard from a man who shall remain nameless, who had scrimped and saved to get his whole family gathered for Christmas this year, and who was calling old friends to say he was counting the hours until they’d all go home again. Heh. He was still merry, after a fashion, but reality wasn’t living up to the dream, and he was seeking good cheer where he could find it, I guess…
We’ve had a nice, snowy winter so far, all in all. And it just keeps coming down. Until today, it’s been pretty moderate, not too much new stuff until the old stuff melts or settles some. Today was the first day I felt a need to shovel snow from the driveway. Note to self: A woman who likes to feel like she’s halfway intelligent and semi-competent would do well to remember to get the snow shovel out of the shed before the back yard is deep enough in snow to overtop snow boots…
It’s a good thing I laugh at myself easily. I do give myself ample reason…
In that same vein, the other day I went out the door on the way to the post office, slammed the door behind me, and found myself leashed to the house, because, ahem, I had slammed my flowing skirt in the door. Which of course I had locked. Note to self: Kindly remember to keep your house key in an easily accessible pocket.
The whole procedure might have been easier if I hadn’t been laughing so hard, but, in short, I had forgotten to move my keys from my dress pocket into my coat pocket, so I had to, while lashed moderately tightly to the house, dig under my coat, fish out my keys, and then unlock the door while twisting around to the extent of my ability to twist. By the time I was done, I was nearly ready to call for help, should any passersby be within earshot but not able to see that I had a problem. But that didn’t prove necessary, and it has been a fun story to tell. Believe it or not, a clerk I told it to was able to top it. She countered with the story of the day she accidentally closed the cash drawer on her blouse, and found herself helpless in front of a long line of customers…
No, I don’t think all of us going to tight clothing would help. We’d still find some way to get messed up, and some of us would be eyesores in the meantime. Not to mention the modesty thing…
For those of you who are local, my second novel should be out for sale soon. We (my husband and I) were spending part of my unplanned blog break smoothing over the rough spots on Why We Raise Belgian Horses, and getting it typeset. It will be available online soon, too. For those of you not familiar with this little project, I’ve been gathering encouragement but no contracts from publishers since 2001, and we finally decided to go ahead and print up a few books on our own, rather than keep making the rounds of publishers. Life’s short. (And I’ve got eight books I’d like to get out, so I can concentrate on writing something else.)
In closing (did I mention I’m borrowing someone’s computer for a few minutes?), have you ever seen a dog running under the snow? No, really.