Putting away the Christmas Decor and looking forward to 2024

Here we are in February, 2024. I began this post in January but did not complete it until now. So much to get to and get done it seems. 

I finally took down the Christmas decorations in my apartment. I miss my fireplace mantel so bright, and cheery.

I continue to unpack boxes I have moved here from my home in the mountains.  

Next, I will bring some of my furniture here although there is not room for much. I need places for storage and for books. I have come to enjoy the smaller living area and being uncluttered. But I need office furniture like a good desk and file cabinets. 

I went out on the deck one afternoon and I surprised a herd of deer crossing the yard down by the lake. There were six of them and they stopped and watched me for a while. I stood still and talked softly to them. After a few minutes, they moved on across to the neighbor's yard. With my bird feeders busy all day and the ducks quacking on the lake, I almost feel like I am in the mountains where I spent the last 29 years. We have a herd of deer there that come down near my house every afternoon. 

I could not ask for more than I have here at my future home with my sister and brother-in-law. 

Wildlife, the lake, and family right upstairs. Today I cooked a meal for them and for me. I like to do that so I don't have leftovers. I am learning to use the Air Fryer and set off the fire alarms. But I will continue to cook with it after watching a video on YouTube. I think it will be handy for me to cook small amounts in a short time. Do you use an Air Fryer?

Tonight Gay and Stu will go to a play and I will be fine here with Lexie. They don't feel obligated to invite me to go with them every time they go out and I don't usually want to go. I have so much to keep me busy

My writing classes which began in January are very interesting. I have six students which is just right for a two-hour class.  They are bonding and are excellent encouragers. They voted to hold another course in March. I will teach on Tuesdays, 6 - 8 PM on Zoom.

With Microsoft updating and changing, I am having to learn more new things, and that irritates me. Time is the most valuable commodity I have and I hate to waste it learning to use something new when I was doing fine with what I had.

I have also been working on revising some short fiction I hope to publish. My editor is wonderful and so helpful. She suggests I find better titles for my stories. I agree. Titles have always been hard for me.

Glenda sitting at Pat Conroy's desk in Beaufort SC. 

I envy writers who are married couples. They can help each other by reading and making suggestions. Pat Conroy said he always sent the work he did that day upstairs at night for his wife, who is also an author, to read for him. And she had him read her work. Just asking family members to read your writing does no good. They are not going to tell you if they don't like it and often if they make a suggestion for a change, you know they do not understand your purpose in the work. 

I listened to The Boys in the Boat on Audible and enjoyed it tremendously. I am listening to Barbra Streisand's memoir and loving it. She narrates her book and that makes it even more interesting. She is quite a woman who made her way when men did not want to work for women directors, and often directors became angry when she made suggestions on ways to make a film. She has a reputation of being hard to work with and now that I have heard her side of the story, I understand why she was considered that way. Barbra is such a smart woman and such a perfectionist she wanted anything she was a part of to be the very best it could be. Her talents as a singer, an actor, and a director are beyond what most of Hollywood could produce. 

I realized recently that I like myself better at this stage of life than I ever did before. I wonder if that comes with getting older. Does everyone feel this way? 

I am seeing doctors for several medical issues, but I seem to be dealing with it better than most. I laugh much more because Gay and I have the same kind of sense of humor and we laugh lots when we get together. Lexie makes me laugh with her antics and Stu always has something funny to say.

I hope you, my friends, are doing well with the cold weather or hot weather depending on where you live. When I think of so many people in this world who are suffering war, natural disasters, and loss of loved ones, I am grateful for the life I have.