Palm Trees and Snow!

Everyone awoke this morning to a spectacular sight that I believe is found only in Southern California.  Snowcapped mountains with palm trees in the foreground.

A winter snow storm swept through SoCal the last few days (yes, it really does rain in California), blanketing the mountains that surround Los Angeles and neighboring towns in snowy splendor: peaks with exotic names like San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, San Bernardino (not all of our mountains are so beautifully named for saints – we also have Mounts Shasta and Baldy).  But they are breathtaking sights, made all the more astounding by the fact that one observes them through the fronds of tropical palm trees.

Exercise and the Writer

Like most people with desk jobs, I have to make sure that I get up and move my body every now and then, or I will sit here all day and turn into a spud.  My favorite exercise is walking.  Outdoors, indoors, all around town – however I can get my daily five miles in.  But – and this is the crucial part – only for a long as I am entertained or can put the time to otherwise good use.  I listen to books on tape or old radio shows, or I dictate a chapter, a character sketch, or letters to family and friends.  After about two miles, however, my attention drifts and I start getting itchy to return to my desk. 

Setting the Record Straight

Much of the fun of writing a novel, for myself at least, is doing the research.  I have a passion for history and I especially love discovering odd facts (did you know, for example, that Mata Hari’s real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle and that she was executed for espionage in World War I?).  And I am always eager to share these nifty discoveries with everyone, which is why I am a stickler for accuracy.

A Nice Cup of Tea

A few days ago, some rather remarkable material began to fall from the skies over Southern California.  We all rushed outside, of course, to discover what this wondrous stuff might be, and we later learned on the news that it is something called “rain.”  Marvelous invention, rain!  Overnight, those brown hills out there have turned green.