Adirondack High

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Blogger stripped me of my archives and past posts and photos! Arggh!

More than three months of silence. Sigh. All because life is so full I just can't keep up with everything I like to do.

Since I last wrote in mid-September, I've been immersed in all manner of things, proving that a major move to a totally new place brings all sorts of surprises if one can be open to them.

Christmas Eve. It will be six o'clock soon. Ken and I are in the living room, the six-foot, rather scraggly balsam fir, which I chopped down two days ago, all lit up. Ken's reading and is curled up with Sophie. The gas fireplace is roaring. My friends are all involved with their families and extended families and that gives me the space and the time I crave for reflection. I've been waiting for this island of time, with just the two of us, and no phone calls, no e-mails, no neighbors dropping in--just peace and quiet. A nice change.

And what has gone on in the last three months? I'll list the highlights to help me reflect:
1. The three-week Monday afternoon Leaf Art Workshop with children from Indian Lake and Blue Mountain Lake.

2. A very busy fall foliage hiking season with Adirondack Safaris. The foliage was gone by the 12th or so, and that proved the end of scheduled trips. Once hunting season started on October 22, there were no calls for safaris.

3. Being homesick for fellow Unitarian Universalists after a disheartening meeting with a group of conservative Christians (I was asked to speak on what it was like to be a woman hiking guide), I put a notice in the Adirondacks local paper in the hopes of gathering UUs for fellowship. The first week the ad attracted about five people. For several weeks, we got acquainted at Trapper's Tavern in North Creek over dinner and had a fabulous time discussing politics, the Adirondacks, the environment. As the word got out, more people were drawn in, particularly many atheists in the area. After all, one doesn't need to believe in God to be a UU. Now we have about 15-17 people who come regularly to our meetings. We're now too big to meet at Trappers, so we meet at the Tannery Pond Community Center and eat pizza while holding our discussions on all sorts of topics, such as global warming, war, and peace.

4. In November, I had the time of my life leading a community project: The First Annual NaNoWriMo in the Adirondacks. In case NaNoWriMo hasn't caught up with you yet, the term stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is held in November each year. It's an international phenomenon. I posted flyers everywhere, got the editor of the paper to do a story, and talked it up. We managed to get ten people to sign up to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. And, miracle of miracles, five people finished! Three men and two women. Yes, I was one of the two. We had write-ins all over town--at Cafe Sarah's, at the Black Mountain Restaurant, at Tannery Pond, and we did a road trip to Glens Falls--to the Starbucks and to Red Fox Books, the new independent bookstore. We celebrated completing our novels on December 1st at a party that our friends and family attended. A really fun, rewarding experience.

5. I'm involved in environmental activism--that's really complicated when it impinges on the town of Johnsburg issues. More on this at a later date.

6. All fall I had writing jobs to squeeze in. Now I'm confronted with a bunch more, including revisions on two of my children's books--the one on JFK and one about Andrew Johnson. More to come on the writing front.

7. Business has been deader than a doornail this month because there's been absolutely no snow. Flakes have been in the air, but they haven't amounted to anything. Lesson: Tourists do not come to the Adirondacks in the winter unless there's snow.

8. I've had a ghastly sinus infection that's been dragging me down since late October, and there's no easy solution to fixing that, it seems.

And that's about it. I spend much of my free time writing, so haven't had a chance to do some things I love to do. I'm reading, but not enough to satisfy me. I'm also yearning to do some artwork--pastel painting, mostly, and quilting.

Sophie had a makeover early this month. She looks so beautiful! I'll have to post a photo.