Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here soon.

Little Smokie

Rocky

Here we are beginning a new week. The weather has been lousy this weekend and I have had a quiet time with Lexie and Smokie, my sister's dearly loved pup. Smokie is now twelve years old. The years fly by. I remember when she was a sweet little puppy who loved to bite Rocky's neck, his ears, the backs of his legs when she had those sharp baby teeth. He was such a gentle fellow he never even growled at her. He is gone now, she is the older one and my Lexie is the younger. They get along beautifully. I think Lexie loves Smokie. Recently when I put down a full water bowl for them, Lexie began drinking but when Smokie tried to drink also, Lexie stepped back and let her have all she wanted. Animals have their own way of communicating and showing their affection and respect for each other.

Lexie in the sunshine

I spent this weekend sleeping mostly as I am enduring a spell of nerve pain. I had wanted to attend an outdoor ceremony for some of my fellow writers and friends who wrote and published picture books for children. The publisher and illustrator came to Young Harris, GA to the library where she placed a beautiful mural on the outside wall. Each book by the local authors is represented on that mural.

Visit  www.muraltrail.com  to learn more.  Doreyl Cain is the illustrator of these large murals and her company installs them in places where they can be seen twenty-four hours a day. We have one in Hayesville, NC. You can see it on the website. 

My most recent memoir class has ended. 

We had a great group of students, and I think they are motivated to continue to write their unique stories. I plan to hold another series of classes in the spring of 2022. I teach online and find that works really well for me. I have had to experiment and learn new ways to reach my students, but they seem to enjoy the experience and that makes me happy.

Next Friday evening at 7:00 PM, I will host Writers' Night Out on Zoom. 

Our guest will be Ed Southern who will talk about and read from his new book, Fight Songs. Ed is the Executive Director of the NC Writers' Network and author of several books. You can read my interview with Ed on the Netwest Writers blog.  https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2021/10/glenda-beall-interviews-ed-southern.html

The book is about how sports affect people in the south and how the pandemic affected fans during 2020 when we had lockdowns and other restrictions. I am not a sports fan but this book has humor and also hard facts and even ugly facts about our beloved southland. 

I continue to have work to do with my job as NCWN-West program coordinator. I like to be busy with work I enjoy. I also plan to submit more of my poems and stories for publication. That is not fun.

As we look forward to the holidays, I wonder how our country will deal with the pandemic still going on. I was told that we had 14 cases of COVID last week and that means we have a healthy county. I guess I won't consider us to be healed until I hear that we have no cases of this virus among us.

I have had all my shots, my booster, and my flu shot so my vaccinations are up to date. Still, you will not find me out in a crowd. I will try to buy locally, but I am already ordering by mail. It isn't the gift but the giver that matters to me. I am as thrilled by a sweet card as I am by a present. 

I hope you, my friends, have a safe and healthy holiday season. Leave me a message or send me an email. I love to hear from you.