I slipped into a parallel universe. That's the only way to describe it. :)

I had every intention of doing everything I usually do in a day. But it just didn't happen. (Well, beyond normal care and feeding of the animal kingdom, anyway.) I never got dressed, actually. I mostly just sat around and stared at things. :)

I did one constructive thing yesterday, and that was a beeswax collage, incorporating one of my own drawings. Attempts to photograph the great big turkeys swaying in the branches of the little bitty trees were not successful. I am undaunted.

Today, I'm back from the other universe. I plan on dressing, writing and generally moving on with my life.

If I'm going to be doing some version of time-travel, though, I'd really rather go back to the Arizona Territory and hang out with the original McKettricks...

When Mary Ann and Larry told me they could see our large flock of wild turkeys swaying in the limbs of the small trees in front of my house of a morning, from their place across the road, I thought they were pulling my leg. You have to see these birds in person to believe how BIG some of them are--as in, none of them are in any Thanksgiving danger because they wouldn't fit in anything smaller than an industrial oven.

The front of my house is lovely, and it does overlook the pasture, where the horses are, or will be, after the Canadian Wrangler brings them their room service breakfasts in their snug stalls and turns them out to take the air :) Most of my life is lived at the back of the house, as my office, studio and kitchen, and in summer the deck garden, are all on this side. So, although the turkeys regularly parade past the fence and down into the draw, thus driving my Yorkie bananas with excitement, I have not noticed them trying to nest in my relatively small trees. It's a sight, I'm here to tell you. I got a phone-camera shot this morning and posted it to Twitter; I plan to get better pictures next time, with my other camera. (These robins on sterioids fled soon after I opened the front door.) In the meantime, the large brown blobs in the tree limbs ARE turkeys.

Trust me. Would I lie to you?

Never.

This has to be some kind of record for me. As of yesterday, I have a 4 foot Christmas tree set up in my office. It is white, with pastel lights, and it looks so pretty in the dark. (I have always loved the way Christmas trees look in the dark.)

Why so early? Well, I'll be in Las Vegas for three days during the rodeo--Harrah's and my wonderful publishers have teamed up to put on the most amazing promotion for my books and for me. I will be giving you lots more details as I get them and also tweeting pictures like mad, once this begins.

That's reason one for putting up the tree early.

Reason two is, I'll be leaving for Santa Monica to spend the holiday with my daughter and future son-in-law on December 21. On the 23rd, we're going to Disneyland to see all the lights and decorations--watch for tweets on that, too.

In the meantime, I want to look at shining Christmas trees, without putting up the big fifteen footer that usually goes in the living room. Ergo, I purchased two prelit white trees (one is for my bedroom) and ornaments in silver and aqua.

I'm into enjoying Christmas this year. :)

We might even have to downgrade my personality type from A-minus to B-plus.

Or not.

I spent the whole weekend relaxing. Painting. Reading. You get the idea. In fact, I became SO relaxed that I'm running late with just about everything, including this blog.

My original intention was to work this weekend, as I am so close to finishing "Garrett". Instead, I played with art supplies and allowed the Writing Muse to rest. Now, the Muse is ready to create, big-time.

I'm onto something here.

Maybe instead of being a Type-A personality, I can ratchet it down to Type-A-minus.

Stranger things have happened.

Stay tuned.

Okay, it's only an inch, scheduled to start coming down at mid-day, but I'm excited. YES, I said 'excited'. After all, snow is beautiful. (Repeat after me, snow is beautiful, snow is beautiful...)

Cold weather has definitely kicked in--all the horses have new blankets to keep them snug when they're out in the pasture during the day. Sadie-beagle wears a blue fleece coat to and from her exercise therapy classes. Bernicie has a red one, but she hangs out here with me most of the time and doesn't need it.

Today, I'll be working on "Garrett"--the process, though rigorous, seems almost magical. I sit down at my desk in my lovely office and close my eyes for a moment, and suddenly it's as if I'm in Blue River, Texas, in the middle of the action.

I can't believe they pay me to do this.

:)