Happy New Year

Up here in Michigan, where I'm spending the holidays, the skies are gray. The skies tend to be gray in Michigan in the winter, which is why I moved to North Carolina. In 1980, which was the last winter I lived here, the temperature never got above 17 for the entire month of January, and from Christmas to Valentines Day the sun never shone.

But there can be beauty in the gray of winter, especially on the river. I found the shores at Lake Erie Metropark to be especially lovely. I give you this picture, and my favorite William Stafford poem, as a gift for the new year.



Ask Me

Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say.
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.

Makin' a list...

Things to do today:

1) Clean out car (it still has beach stuff in the back seat)
2) Hit the liquor store for a few bottles of Dulseda, a dulce de leche liqueur. Yum.
3) Launder
4) Wrap presents
5) Pack
6) Load newly-cleaned car back up
7) Send email to the cheezburger folks suggesting that next year they offer lolcats Christmas cards, because I would definitely buy this one:

From the Department of Shameless Promotions:

I know I don't have a whole lot of visits to this corner of the internets (except for all those people who are looking for the entire text of Tony Hendra's satire) but to those of you stick around to read the posts, many thanks.

Now I need you to do one more thing.

I need you to click over to Jackson Street Books and order a book or two from Dan and Tammy. They are independent booksellers and as you can imagine, it is not easy being an independent bookseller these days. And they are good people who are trying to make a difference in their neighborhood in Seattle. But times are tough and they are facing some major decisions about whether or not they can continue doing the work they love.

I have ordered all my books from them for the past two years and it couldn't be easier. You can contact them through their blog, give them your titles (and if you're really a Good Person you will give them the ISBN numbers that you have gleaned off amazon.com -- stick it to the man! ) and your credit card number. They will have your books to you in no time and they will have been packed with love.

So if you're like me and don't have a local independent bookseller in town, help out Dan and Tammy. You'll enjoy reading so much more!