New Year's Wishes

This year has slipped away and 2013 looms ahead. The last day of 2012 will find me admitting to another birthday. Unfortunately, my driver's license, the one with the picture of me that looks exactly like Charlie Brown with hair, will not let me deceive myself about my age. The years seem to be coming and going at break neck speed these days. They bump and twist along and I am eternally amazed to reach the conclusion of the year all in one piece and on my feet.

In our family, one of our movie favorites is Parenthood, with Steve Martin. As the children have become adults and parents, they have learned to appreciate the pearls of wisdom buried in the dialogue, much more.

In the movie, the tiny aged grandmother said, "In life, some folks like to ride the roller coaster and some like the merry-go-round...I never cared for the merry-go-round, it just goes round and round." When I first heard that statement, I thought Right! the roller coaster is much more exciting. I never liked the clickety-clackety pulling up to the peak, but I loved the breath taking thrill as you eased over the top and whizzed to the bottom curve. These days, I am not really "up" for those highs and lows and bottom dropping out rides. On the other hand, I still don't like the monotonous merry-go-round.  And I always hated the ferris wheel. That perilous, swinging lift away from solid ground, up into the sky leaves me with far too little control. No thanks, I prefer my feet on the good old earth. The great thing about the life amusement park is that you have lots of choices. You can ride anything you like or you can choose not to ride one single creaking apparatus.

Maybe I am not a young girl and have ridden my last roller coaster. Although, one never knows. I remember my grandparents taking the teen aged sweethearts to the big Texas State Fair. I can still hear in my memory the squeals and laughter of my grandmother and see my grandfather holding on to his Stetson hat, as we all rode the huge lumbering roller coaster. I may have my feet on the ground, but I am not giving up the sights, sounds and tastes  of life as it churns on. Another year has become history and I see a new one rising, like a big red sun. A quote that I like is; no matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future. This is true, every new year, every new day is a fresh opportunity to seek joy.

Around these parts, following a bit of two stepping or just friends and games, we eat black-eyed peas at midnight for luck and toast in the New Year.  Whatever  your celebration, may it be safe and enjoyable. May your friendships light your way and your enemies stump their toes in the dark.

Happy New Year! JO

Thanks

Thanks so much to everyone that followed the book tour of The Days After (Big River). To the winners of the giveaway, congratulations.

I especially appreciate the great work of Shelly and Fire and Ice Book Tours. Seeing my book on all of the blogsites was a wonderful experience. The many bloggers were gracious and welcoming.  I hope that some new readers have discovered my books.  

My best regards to old friends and new readers. JO

Prepping for the Perfect Christmas

From the time that I was just a girl, I believed every year that there was going to be a perfect Christmas and I waited impatiently for that day to come. As I got older, became a wife and a mother, I decided that it was my job to create that perfect holiday.  I admit that I am not the brightest bulb on the string of tree lights, it took quite a while for the reality to sink in.

Christmas, even if you are the biggest of believers, is just another day of life. Yet, with all the weeks and weeks of hype and anticipation and jolly ho-ho! we are somehow led to think that there will be magic and life will stand still for a few sparkling moments. The truth is, because of those false expectations and the notion that evidently the rest of world must be basking in Christmas cheer, all the everyday problems become magnified to the not so cheerful.

The real Christmas is the one when you  are so excited to introduce little Suzy to Santa, but all she sees is a huge hairy man, laughing menacingly and she screams her head off.  Perhaps the one when your teenager broke up with her boyfriend the week before, she wears black, one of her eyes is tear swollen shut, she does not acknowledge the existence of anyone and obviously has developed some foot condition, as she drags around like a zombie all day. The dog has eaten all of the fake candy tree ornaments and now is scarily hunched over and gagging on someone's coat.

It has snowed up to your butt cheeks and you hope that grandma doesn't cause a ten car pile up trying to get to your house. Over the years, there is a drinking incident or two from a depressed relative. Of course, this festive time of year is the perfect time to make startling announcements to family and friends. So, in the spirit of this, someone you love "comes out of the closet"...busy as you have been, you did not even know that were in the damn closet. And then, there is all of the food disasters that can happen to the big perfect dinner and the flu.

These days, to add to the utter joy of the holidays, there is all of the politically correct, don't offend anyone bulls--t!  If a clerk at the store slips up and tells you "Merry Christmas", they apologize. I mean, heaven forbid that we talk about why we are out here spending money we don't have, to buy people gifts that they don't want. Bless all of our hearts; we are free to believe whatever we want, just as long as we stay in the closet with it. 

You get my point? How do you plan for the perfect Christmas disasters? My sage advice is RELAX.
Enjoy my favorite recipe...the 24 hour drive thru, have lots of wine (add a bit to the gravy), laugh about the minor catastrophes and like Scarlett O'Hara "think about the rest of it tomorrow". Loudly say Merry Christmas to whomever you please, with a smile. If you offend someone, it might just make your day.  There is one magical thing, it will only last one day and then be gone. Life, of course, will continue, with all it's little stinky problems. At least they won't be all covered with glitter and bows and you won't have to pretend that they don't smell.

MERRY CHRISTMAS....or what-ever. JO

Alpha Males

There's a lot of talk lately about the Alpha Male. Rose Wynters, a current bestselling author of paranormal, dystopian, werewolf and plus sized romances says,  "We all know an alpha…. They are the guys that seem to always get the girl, the guy that is cool without trying and always on their game. They are cool, calm, and in control. They are James Bond."  That sounds very accurate to me, they are the stars, the heroes of many genres of fiction.

Nearly forty years ago...yes, you read correctly, forty flippin' years ago...I was alive, I was young, I was deep into multi-tasking before anyone even knew that it existed. My friends and I, all of us young wives and mothers, between trips to the school, PTA, dirty laundry and dirty dishes were totally infatuated with reading historical romances.  On our limited budgets, we frequented the used bookstores, passed the coveted paperbacks around, shared and impatiently waited our turn to read the next wonderful fantasy.

The 1970's spawned authors such as Jennifer Blake (who still writes), Johanna Lindsey, Jennifer Wilde, who was actually a man and wrote such titillating titles as Love's Tender Fury. The Alpha Male was the king of these romance novels and as far as I am concerned the queen of writing him was Kathleen Woodiwiss. I still have a row of paperback books on the shelf in my living room by this exquisite writer. I was sad, when she passed away a few years ago. She was faithful to historic settings and events and her characters were rich and made the reader want to live in the story.

I enjoyed reading so many of Kathleen's books.  I always said that my favorite leading man was Wulfgar, in the novel, The Wolf and the Dove. The book was set in medieval times and I fell in love with the Iron Wolf of Normandy from the moment he rode astride his big stallion into the lady Aislinn's castle keep. All those years ago, one of my little darlins' scratched around with a red pen on the very page that describes this scrumptious male, but I managed to still read his description; He stood tall, at least two hands higher than herself though she was not of short stature. His tawny hair was tousled and streaked by the sun, and though the long coat of mail was heavy, he moved with an easy strength and confidence. ......His eyes were wide set and the brows well arched above them, when as now he was angered, they drew down and blunted his long thin nose and lent to his face the look of a hunting beast. His mouth was wide, the lips thin yet finely curved. A long scar that ran from his cheekbone down the line of his jaw line grew pale and the muscles beneath it worked as he ground his teeth in anger.
Sigh-h-h.

M. Woodiwiss and all of these authors wrote the "Alpha Male" to perfection. They also, of course, as was the way of the times, created a sexual tension that made you just about want to pull out your lightly teased hair. And we, young, vital female inhabitants of marriage would secretly gossip and discuss the books and giggle with our scraps of teenage dreams, "Do you think they are ever going to actually do it!?" These authors would tease and string you along, make you wait breathlessly all through hundreds of pages for your pair to consummate their love.  And when you finally got there and finished the story, you hungrily wanted the next book to read.

The term "Alpha Male" may be a current catch phrase, but the real and fictional incarnation is certainly nothing new. 

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