Gulf Shores

Gulf Shores
Photographer Patricia Gulick

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

11/28/17 RMB Happy Birthday!

11/28/17 RMB Happy Birthday! 

Happy Birthday Rita Mae Brown,

It is a cool, crisp morning here in California and I’d bet it is even cooler in Virginia. I hope this day brings you all of what pleases you most, moments of laughter and of peace, birthday greetings from those that matter most to you, and some really good cake!

This day reminds me of the trip your father and aunt took to bring you home as you described it in Rita Will. What an adventurous way to begin your journey. 

Cheers to you on your special day,


Loraine

Monday, November 20, 2017

11/20/17 RMB Happy Thanksgiving Week

11/20/17 RMB Happy Thanksgiving Week

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Happy Thanksgiving week!

A text from my nephew appeared on my phone the other day. It displayed only an image of the lineup for the Kentucky Book Fair. It was a poster that he spotted with photos of the authors, including one Rita Mae Brown. A rare pang of jealousy reared its dragon like head and poof’d smoke over me making me wish that, like my nephew, for this one weekend, I lived in Kentucky.

Here in California, I just finished reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohllben.

Last week my sister/roommate and I spent a weekend at our other sister’s home (the nephew’s mom) in Orange County. We celebrated an early Thanksgiving dinner and sister time.

This week I will travel to the high desert in 29 Palms to visit and celebrate the holiday with Teddy and the friends who are her desert family.

So here is what I am thankful for this week, this year, always…Authors, like yourself, who bring nature a little closer to us. The animals in your stories, the trees Peter studied, these are wonderful ruminations for the mind to explore.

I’m thankful for family, not family by blood, but by choice, because family that share DNA, must still choose to be the kind of family I’m thankful for, the kind that supports each other and drives or flies hours just to share a dinner and moments together. If some happen to share microscopic markings, great, but the strongest of bonds are made by the heart, mind and soul.

There is a strength in circles, the ones we place around us hold us up. My nephew, who owns an important part of my heart, sent that photo, because he knows me. And because he knows me, he knows of you. And that made me as happy as anything else. I like my circle and I’m glad you are in it.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Loraine