NO EXCUSE!

Well...there never was an excuse. I write good stories - (if I didn't like the way there were I'd write them differently). My Writers' Group folks like my stories -- and being "real writers" offer brilliant suggestions and helpful criticisms which are as gifts to me.

Then my Husband, he who thinks of everything, pays attention, and makes my life truly the best it can be in all ways (I think in the vernacular, that's "a KEEPER"), gave me a present. And this present removes any excuse for not writing in every odd moment available, regardless of where I am, or when.

Now, a couple of years ago he gave me my cherished laptop, which is a dream. I love it more than anything (but not .000001% as much as I love him, needless to say). Daisy (yes, I name everything, and she's a Dell) has given me so much FUN, and more than having access to the innerwebs, a source of wonder to my 66-year-old self, Daisy allows me to write whenever - and WHEREver, I want.

My first purchase with my first earned money, was a portable typewriter so I could go sit down by Lake Harriet (no relation) and write. Of course one can write anywhere, and "#2 Ticonderoga Word Processers" never run out of power or anything. But with Daisy I've spent happy hours at Panera or Atlanta Bread or the library........amazing.

Of course, being a spectacular laptop, Daisy is fairly large (lovely BIG monitor screen) and a bit heavy. Now, Mr Dearling has given me a wonderful bag which holds Daisy (safely) and all my files, a few books, all necessities and even a skein or two of yarn and related effluvia. AND it has wheels; doesn't hardly get better.

Currently, mine is a house of Mourning; this afternoon I am burying my dear friend of 38 years and I will be following the custom of shiva and spending seven days quietly; I may not be doing much writing and I won't be blogging after the ceremony (for the seven days). But I have to mention something because I'm so pleased, and my friend would be tickled for me (now see, I think she IS - yes, I believe in the deceased being "with us").

Our anniversary was Sunday, and although I spent the day with the rabbi and at the funeral home with my friend's partner, my cherished husband gave me my anniversary present anyway. (I gave him his present too - a book. It's one he really wanted, but HE is the giver of GIFTS.)

My gift is a little sister for Daisy -- a netbook! Yes, I have an extremely portable, tee-tiny little laptop, to literally carry in my daily tote with my daily stuff, where she'll not even be noticeable. (Yes, "she" -- HERMIONE.) So if I just want to jot something, or have a quick idea, or want to work on something while waiting for something........I'll have Hermione. Brilliant!

Did I ever mention that my 4th grade teacher told us "one day, you'll have adding machines and typewriters you can carry in your pockets". Well, Hermione is JUST past fitting into my pocket, but fits in my daily tote bag; she's about the size of a book, and much thinner.

And get this: Hermione has....SEVEN HOURS' WORTH OF BATTERY POWER!! (And I've tested her, she really does; turning down the brightness of the screen and doing a few other things bumps it up to eight hours. So I don't even need to take my wonderful rolling case.

Replacement for Daisy, you say? OH NO, not by a looooong shot. But for perfection of convenience for the little things, the moments - can you imagine?

My teacher was a visionary.

(And my beloved, my darling, my husband....no single word can express my gratitude; I take some comfort in knowing that you know.)