mary e. pearson

I have been laying low in the blog world lately, but trying to drop in when I can to hear what is going on with friends--and strangers. If any of you have had any news, feel free to shout it out here again in the comments. I know I have missed a lot. 

It's a cold windy day here in California which is kind of nice. We had Santa Ana winds just a few days ago and this feels more like Christmas. Nearly all the leaves have been blown from our liquid ambers and our backyard has a golden carpet of leaves.  I love that, though it does make finding doggy treasures a bit of a challenge.  All the prickly balls (those tiny round spots on the trees you can barely see) have been shaking seeds loose like crazy and the mourning doves are grazing in the yard, while keeping a watchful eye out for Hunter.  He rarely chases after them anymore though, since he's never caught one.  Thank goodness
 

 

While I was picking up the above mentioned treasures I saw that my camellia bush had bloomed.  My first!  It was a nice surprise. 
 

I just got this bush this last summer.  I have never had luck with camellias before but thought I would give it one more try.  I guess, as with writing, persistence is key in the camellia world as well.  Anyway, the bloom left me smiling and feeling better, because, well,  I am not feeling so great.  Yeah, I know a lot of viruses are going around but I think it might be from a shock of my own making. . . 

About a week ago I bought a new bathroom scale.  I was at Costco and they had these shiny, blinking, do-everything scales and I knew our bathroom scale was a "little" off and getting rusty around the edges so I got one.  Holycanoli.  When I got it home it had the nerve to say I was a full FIFTEEN pounds heavier than my old scale.  All these years my doctor's scale has been right?  Ignorance really is bliss sometimes.  I am tempted to go dig my old scale out of the recycling bin.

But just in case it is not Scale Sickness that is making me cough and my throat raspy, (and I was finally unable to dodge the virus bullets that have been flying around me) I am drinking OJ and sucking on coldeze.  Luckily, yesterday I finished my Christmas shopping (thank you very much.)  While I was out shopping and beginning to drag I passed a woman who was skipping and swaying and waving her arms to a tune that only she could hear.  Though I am sure some of the shoppers gave her wide birth, her joyful body language made me smile and made my feet a little less tired.  You never know what momentary joy you might bring to a total stranger.  

So that is what I wish for all of you--small moments of unexpected joy.  The little stuff.  Which really is, in the great scheme of things, the big stuff.  Here is a smile for you all--a toilet paper roll angel made with small hopeful hands. 



So give me a smile back.  Some good news, or something that made you smile or laugh.  If a skipping lady can make my feel less tired, maybe a few more smiles will counteract my Scale (cough) Sickness.
 

I've been a little overwhelmed with my "to do" list--so much going on.  One problem with this list as long as my arm is that it was all banging around loose in my head, so I tamed it a bit by writing it down in orderly fashion--that at least makes it seem less chaotic even if it isn't. 

But then between scribbling and doing  I got  this review from a bookseller for The Miles Between, and this reply to a post on my blog from a librarian--and heck, I stopped caring about my "to do" list at all : )  I wish all Mondays were like this.

Finishing up Monday with a smile on my face. (even if my list is still a mile long)

. . . EVERYONE is Irish!

And I am celebrating my Irish roots, the Nolans, and the Rileys.  I have a bit on each side of my gene pool--the green sides. I'll make the traditional corned beef and cabbage too. But I think I will pass on the green beer.

Did you see the White House fountains? I hope Michelle told the girls that the leprechauns did it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I've loved reading all the "simple smiles" over the past couple of days.  It was good too, to see some friends surface who I hadn't seen in a while.  Keep those smiles coming.

Today a friend sent me this article about publishing:

http://julieannelong.typepad.com/julie_anne_long/

This part here reminded me a bit of my talk at NCTE where I spoke about relationships:

" . . . that we’re profoundly social beings and . . .  We need common experiences—indeed we seek them out. It’s part of who we are."

Amen to that.  Look at all the social communities we have.

and this part cracked me up:

"And frankly, if publishing isn’t making you a little neurotic, you’re just not paying attention."

I figured my writer friends here would appreciate that.  Maybe even smile.

The whole article is fascinating and provides much food for thought.

Bottom line:  write!

Recently, melissawyatt , alixwrites and onegrapeshy posted some pictures that made me smile. 

So in that vein . . .

I visited the island of Burano in Italy  this past September and I swear that whole town makes me smile.  It is hard not to feel cheerful when you walk down its streets.  Color is bursting everywhere!  This is a typical house:


My house is beige. Ho hum.  And every house in my neighborhood is some version of beige.  Boredom reigns, courtesy of the HOA.  When I was growing up I lived in a tiny post-war cracker box house that had several colors over the years.  Pink.  Green.  Blue.  And the my neighborhood was a crayon medley of colors.   My best friend's house two doors down was aqua.  It was easy to tell someone where you lived.  "Oh yeah, we're the pink house in the middle of the block."  There was no HOA where I grew up.  If you didn't like the color of your neighbor's house, tough bananas.  Deal with it.

And look at this bright blue house on Burano.  The white cat becomes a piece of art against it.  My neighbors would kill me if I painted my house that color, but oh, I would love to.  When did boring beige become the rule?


When I was in San Francisco recently visiting some schools and bookstores, I was on the freeway with my media escort and I spotted a neighborhood up on a hill that looked out on the bay with a few brightly colored houses and a few more that were flirting with splashes of color.  It was so pretty and it reminded me of this island town.



How can you walk down a street like this and not smile? Yeah, I wish my neighborhood looked more like this.  I think I might go for a bright blue and yellow house.  Or maybe pink. 

If you could paint your house ANY color, what would it be?