It's Elementary

When you hear deerstalker hat, cape, pipe, magnifying glass, and London, what comes to your mind?  If you said Sherlock Holmes, then you’ve read the exploits of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous literary character.  This month marks the 125th  birthday of Detective Holmes.

Some of us, most of us, who write keep our day job because the income from our efforts on the keyboard couldn’t keep a bird alive.  And my little bird, Crash, would surely like to be kept alive.  However, Arthur Conan Doyle was a doctor (not bad for a day job), but he wrote stories to bring in extra income.  Would that we could be so lucky as to strike gold with a character like Holmes!

What was different about Sherlock Holmes?  Doyle introduced him as the first detective to solve crimes based on scientific methods.  You could say he became the first CSI agent.  CSI London?

I visited 221B Baker Street in London.  It was difficult to walk around the apartment, stand in front of the fireplace, see books and a pipe on an end table, and realize this was the apartment of an imaginary character.  Maybe the apartment was a product of my imagination as well!

Holmes solved his cases by observing.  Little things most people wouldn’t see, he took note of and filed away in his ever-inquisitive brain.  I’m happy not being too observing, that way I don’t see the dust on the picture frames.  What I don’t see, I don’t have to clean. But I wouldn’t mind having a few more filing cabinets in my brain to store things; maybe then I’d remember where I left my keys or what I came into a room for.  Sherlock Holmes, I’m not.  It’s elementary my dear ….      

A Few Things to Be Thankful For

As a child in Vermont, the only things good about November were my birthday and Thanksgiving.  Past that, it meant winter was coming and I absolutely hated winter.  My dad would go deer hunting but always made it home in time for my birthday.  Now that I'm in southern California, winter doesn't hold the dread and fear that it once did so now I actually enjoy November.

I read recently that we're the only country in the world that sets aside a day to be thankful for the blessings we have.  Isn't that heart-warming?  We may grumble about the economy, the price of gas, and the politicians, but I would rather live here and grumble than live in any other country in the world.  I have a feeling our problems would seem minor compared to what residents of other countries go through.

I, for one, am thankful that I have fingers that still work a keyboard, a mind that can still think rationally, and an office in a warm house in which to work.  I can write what I want and no one is going to censor me.  I have the latest technology at my fingertips to produce books or communicate with people around the globe.  This is a wonderful time to be living!

I have a family I love and who loves me.  My deepest thanks this year is that my daughter and her husband are around to enjoy Thanksgiving, after surviving a horrific motorcycle crash in June.  Every week that goes by, we're now at week 21, is one more week I've been able to talk and Skype with my daughter.  The situation could have been so different!  My children, my two daughters and my son, mean the world to me.

I have friends, near and far, that are dear to my heart.  My friends out here are my support since my family is all back East.  My writing friends and my church friends are more like close family than friends.  I have been truly blessed.

My husband is a love who is planning something special for my birthday.  I did right when I married him because he likes to cook more than I do and he does the dishes!

As you celebrate on Thursday, remember all you have to be thankful for--from the incredible country you live in to the fact that your eyes work and you can read this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thought for the Day:  I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof! John Adams