The weather here is a bummer tonight. We have snow on the ground, along with a 15MPH wind and temperatures which will drop into the low teens. But, that just makes it seem more snug here inside the Green Retreat. Things are not so green outside at the moment, however.
Winter used to depress me when I was younger. Somewhere amidst all the trials and tribulations of my life, I got to the point where it just quit bothering me. Why? I don't know but I suspect that I merely became a bit more resilient to ...life. As the saying goes, "Suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character". Also I have learned that regular exercise helps your mental outlook. When the endorphins kick in during exercise, it's a good thing for one's mood.
I started reading a new book yesterday. The title? Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin. I had heard so much about the T.V. series that I felt I should try the book. Frankly, I have yet to see any of the series on T.V. but I didn't let that stop me. I bought it as an ebook, by the way.
I'm glad to see that ebook prices have moderated somewhat. They were ridiculously high before and you long-term readers of the blog know how I feel about that. I think that Indie Authors like myself have something to do with that result.
The Game of Thrones has been good so far but I'll refrain from talking about it to any extent. At least until I finish it. By the way, if I finish a book and it is not very good, I typically won't mention it again because I like to give positive reviews. Like Mom says, "If you can't say something good about someone, don't say anything at all."
We went out to the woods to look for tracks the other day. Man, the woods are bare in the winter! One of the great things about tracking is ...mud holes. Yes, mud holes have value. Animals like to drink from them, if there is no fresh water nearby. Also, animal tracks show up really well in soft mud. The picture above shows what I believe to be a turkey track. Then, in the photo of the mud next to the water, is probably an earthworm track? I don't really know. Heck, it could be where a turkey drug his feathers through the mud. I do know that a snake's track undulates, so it wouldn't be from the passing of a snake.
Tonight I watched an old movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. It's called You've Got Mail. I expect that y'all have seen it many times. In this Romantic Comedy, Tom plays Joe Fox, the owner of Fox Books, a huge chain that is driving Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) out of business. She owns a small book shop in New York. The two rivals dislike each other in real life, but are, unbeknownst to them, flirting in an on-line chat room. Though they both are having a relationship with other people, they fall in love on the internet, which would seem ridiculous to me. At least, until I stop and reflect on the fact that I personally know of three married people who have lost a spouse to someone that their spouse met on line. So, not so far-fetched after all.
A small amount of our enjoyment of a particular movie or book seems to be related to our experience. For instance, when Kathleen goes out of business and loses her livelihood, it took me back to the days when the nuclear power industry suffered through the Three Mile Island disaster. I, and many like me, lost their career and had to seek another one. All the studies, training and years of work were just cast aside and it was time to wallow in self pity or get off your butt and start over.
So, after fighting my way from the worst imaginable jobs to a good career, I had to go back to the bad jobs again. I found that I didn't handle it too well. I did manage to build a second career, eventually. Really, you could say I built a third, but I won't go into that. Anyway, I related to Kathleen Kelly a little bit. I also found the book industry theme to be thought provoking. You have the big chain forcing out the independent. I thought about how the big chain's domination was relatively short-lived. Ebooks are certainly effecting the big chains in our current world.
Life has a way of giving out doses of humble pie on occasion. I am far from being a tower of strength or an example that anyone would want to follow. But, I do know that we may have to drink from the mud holes of life, hoping that we will come across a nice clear lake somewhere down the road. Maybe, in so doing, someone unknown to us can follow our tracks to the fresh water. Good night from the author's green retreat.
I'm CE Wills.
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