Elk Cove, Part 2

View from our room, Elk, California. Nice way to spend Thanksgiving!

Sunset at Elk, California, south of Mendocino.

Elk, California, on Turkey Day, Part 1

Steve and I spent Thanksgiving at the Elk Cove Inn, south of Mendocino, on the coast of Northern California. No cell-phone coverage, no T.V., just two days of hiking, reading, eating and sleeping. Part 2 tomorrow!

Sustaining Life on Earth

Stewart Udall, a former Arizona congressman and secretary of the interior from 1961-1969, spoke to students at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, circa 1984. Steve was a wildlife biologist at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge then, and he had the opportunity to take Udall on a tour of the refuge, where they did a little bird watching and pipe smoking. Even today Steve calls Udall "one of the best secretaries ever."

On March 31, 2008, Udall wrote an essay for High Country News, "A Message to Our Grandchildren," an excerpt of which follows here:

Foster a consciousness that puts a premium on the common good and the protection of the environment. Give your unstinting support to all lasting, fruitful technological innovations. Be steadfast enemies of waste. The lifetime crusade of your days must be to develop a new energy ethic to sustain life on earth.

Be steadfast enemies of waste. This, more than anything, resonates as we fill our landfills with cell phones simply because they're dated. (I've taken a lot of ribbing over my own cell phone, which is so old it's now "retro." I've refused to buy a new one, because this one still works...even if it means my friends and family abandon me each time I pull it out.)

I want to continue to strive to be a better steward of our land, which means I've got to do a better job in areas where my commitment is lacking: continue to reduce my use of plastic; take shorter showers and shallower baths; and eat the lettuce in the vegetable bin before it turns to mush.

Over the Pass on Amtrak

Here's a shot Steve took from his Blackberry while riding over the Sierra Nevada; he loves traveling by train, hooking up his laptop and staring out the window. I traveled with him once, from Washington, DC, to New York City. Depending on where you're going, the scenery is quite spectacular -- including all that grafitti on the buildings just outside Philadelphia. The mountains, he assures me, are prettier.

2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

I'm entering my historical novel in the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, competing with 10,000 other hopefuls. Last year's winner was Bill Loehfelm, who wrote FRESH KILLS, a "powerful mystery debut."

Contest submission period begins February 2, 2009, at 12:01, Eastern Standard Time.

Check out the details here.

Obama Leans in for a Hug

Here is my good friend, Lynn Straus, posing with Barack Obama in Chicago. Thanks to Lynn's tireless efforts -- and so many people like her -- we've got a good man in the White House, and a chance for significant change.

You, Too, Can Be Wildly Successful!

My mom recently made a gift subscription to me of Reader's Digest, a magazine covering material that generally appeals to an older audience. But occasionally there are pieces aimed at younger readers, too, like this month's Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell, author of THE TIPPING POINT and BLINK -- books that discuss, respectively, "how ideas and products catch fire, and why gut decisions are often better than well-thought-out responses." His new book, OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS (Little, Brown), is about "people whose achievement exceeds every expectation."

Gladwell speculates that these wildly successful people -- Bill Gates, for example, or The Beatles -- have talent, yes, but they also spent a significant number of hours mastering their crafts before hitting the big time. "The magic number for them, for Mozart, and for so many outliers, as I call them, appears to be 10,000 hours."

As a writer who has spent six years on her craft, and who has written two novels and landed two agents, but who has still not sold a book, I wondered where I stood in that equation. Naturally, I penciled it out:

52 weeks x 5 days a week = 260 writing days per year.

260 days per year x 6 hours per day = 1,560 writing hours per year.

1,560 hours per year x 6 years = 9,360 writing hours.

Which explains why I haven't yet made it! By my calculation, I've got to put in another 640 hours before becoming as wildly successful as The Beatles!

Now, that's something to shoot for.

Save the Date

The 12th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count -- sponsored by National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- is slated for February 13-16, 2009. Participants in the 2008 count submitted more than 85,000 checklists and identified 635 species. With your help, organizers are hoping to break those records this year, so give them a hand by adding binoculars to your Xmas list and marking your calendars now!

Cedar Waxwings -- The Mark of Zorro

A group of about 20 cedar waxwings popped in this morning on their way south. Steve shot this photo in the backyard at 8:30 a.m.

Nearing "I Do"

Jena Thompson and Jeremy Meredith on the beach in San Diego. John Gonzalez, officiant.

J & J's Big Fat Beach Wedding

Crazy few days, having just returned from San Diego, where our oldest daughter Jena Thompson married Jeremy Meredith on Saturday, November 1. Beach wedding was beautiful and vows heartfelt, and music was outstanding -- Ira Gonzalez performed at the wedding itself, and then at the reception, along with his brother John. Local rock cover band, The Trip, played at the reception.

Fantastic fun -- even for passersby; Steve and I were taking a breather outside when we noticed a guy (22 or 23, maybe) on a bicycle who had stopped to take in the festivities. Band was playing "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield, and bike kid was really digging it, pumping his fist in the air and singing along. After the song was over, he drove past, grinning and yee-hawing, telling us how awesome it all was.

We thought so too.