Hopscotch

Go, Granny, GO!

Been thinking a lot about spice lately. Yep. Spice. You know, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves (yes, even cloves...bleck!). Blame it on Christmas. When the holidays roll around, I start wanting spicy things: gingerbread, spiced (or spiked ;)) cider, chai. We made chai last night. It was the bagged kind; Holiday Chai it's called. We added some heavy whipping cream and some sugar and yum-yummy was it good! I'm glad I got over my chai-a-phobia. It tastes like Christmas in a cup!

Perhaps I'm thinking about spice because the next location in our culinary journeying is the Middle East. I've been thinking of the best way to do this, seeing as the Middle East is a very LARGE area and we have a very small month in which to explore it's culinary wonders. So. Instead of bouncing from country to country, how about if we look at Middle Eastern dishes in light of the holidays? Sounds groovy to me!

I promised you an update on the NaNo novel. I finished (*confetti*) and it's over 50,000 words (*trumpets*). Funny story: I finished the book by writing a rather detailed outline, spilling out the words as they came, untangling plot lines and character mishaps as I went. And I discovered, shock and amazement, that it's not a stand alone. THIS story is: it has a beginnings, a middle and an end. BUT, and this is a very big but, a character who decided to pop up in the middle of the tale (no, not the little girl I told you about before. A shape shifting cat named Finn), just HAD to go and complicate things. So now, my characters not only await my editing genius (*cough* struggle and random cursing *cough*), they also wonder just what the heck am I going to do to them next? Ah, the joys of prime exocutioner...torterer...author.

I feel like there's something I'm skipping, and not just the square upon which the stone landed. Ah, yes. I think I let slip a teensy-weensy little teaser last Friday. Something about a new blog? Yes, I know, I'm crazy. But someone (I can't recall who and for that I am very sorry) once said that blogs are like little pieces of ourselves. They allow us to be different aspects of a whole. I like to look at my blogs as rooms in an old English country manor. Just when you get comfortable in one-the fire lit, the brandy poured- someone suggests you go down the hall. Or you pull a book from the bookcase and a panel opens to a stairway and mysteriously lit torches.

The new place will concentrate on all things writing - my writing, the writing of others, writerly wisdom, prompts, rantings, ravings and rejoicings. I really (REALLY) would LOVE for you all to join me over there. I won't be posting quite yet. I'm going to let the holidays flitter me into January before I consider committing to more postings. I do have the drapes hung and the rugs laid. The walls have been given a coat of paint and the moves are just now placing the marble statues around the pool. Wander over if you like. Some of you already have and I thank you very, very much! There's not much to see just yet, but when things are settled, I invite you all over for a cuppa, be it tea, coffee, cocoa, spiced cider.

Or chai.