I remember the Quarantine signs.

Quarantine was a word that struck fear in our hearts.  That was back in the days of Nickerson.  Mumps, Measles, Diphtheria, Chicken Pox and then came Polio.  I do not know what all we were quarantined for back then, but it was just common knowledge, that if one of the kids came down with anything, the whole house was isolated.  You did not have to ask anyone, you just did it.

You should know this upfront; I never had any of the childhood diseases.  I was born with the constitution and the immune system of a horse.  While the other kids languished  on their sick beds, I carried on my life as normal, although I could not leave the house because I would be a "carrier."  I have a theory on why this was.

I was never laid low by the childhood diseases, but I was constantly in the sick bed with inflamed tonsils.  My tonsils would be so red and swollen, that mother worried I would suffocate.  Finally, at the ripe old age of 10 or 11,  my tonsils were removed.  I often envied the kids who got measles, or chicken pox because they got to eat canned soup and all that good stuff.  The only thing that seemed to sooth my inflamed tonsils was ice cream, which we rarely had.  (But when we did have it, it was homemade!  It was made in the crank ice cream maker with heavy cream, lots of sugar and eggs and fresh peaches.!)

I am following the CDC guidelines and not going out.  I see this is letting up in China where it started, so that is good.  It will no doubt subside here at some point.  At least I hope so.  In the meantime I just remain hopeful.  I am a hoarder by nature so the larders here are full.  My mother was a hoarder before me as was my mother-in-law.  It traces back to the poverty we endures way back when.  MIL was the worst I have seen.  If there was a tablespoon of anything left, it went into a piece of Saran Wrap and was stashed in the freezer.  I have been known to throw that little tidbit away!

So here I set, alone in my house, with lots of time to write and guess what?  I have writer's block.  I can not think of a damn thing I want to share with anyone!  I guess this is just the curse of old age.  It has taken me 3 days to write this much.

So, I am going out and do chores, then drive over and drop off a package at the drugstore and then come home.

Have a good one!

Chapter One...The Ant Lion's Den

I am setting here looking at Chapter Two...The Ant Lion's Den,  the novel I started almost 2 years ago when Sherman was first diagnosed.  I had a good start on it, but at that time Sherman needed me more than the world needed another novel.  So I put it on hold.  Then he extracted a promise from me that I would write the story of Sherman and Lou had life been different.  He outlined it for me and in the book, we met, fell in love and lived happily ever after.  In real life he died shortly thereafter.
But a promise is a promise and I put the novel aside and began the perfect work of fiction and the world's greatest love story.  I failed in my mission and ended up writing a true story where we did indeed fall in love and he did propose 10 days before he died on Friday the 13th.  The book has been finished and forgotten now for over 8 months and I stare at the blank page of  Chapter Two and my mind is a complete blank..I reread what I have written hoping something of the brilliance I felt when I started it will resurface, but nothing happens.
What I am thinking of is a scene in my mind from 50 years ago when Debbie was a wee tyke and I found an old typewriter at a rummage sale for $2.00.  It was a small Royal and after I took the toothbrush and cleaned the letters and replaced the ribbon, it printed pretty legibly.  But there I sat, staring at the pure white paper that waited for me to fill up up with all the thoughts in my brilliant mind.   But it never happened.  I spent the next 50 years waiting for my stellar mind to unleash a torrent of words that would make the world fall at my feet.  But they never came.  The old Royal gave way to a nice aqua typewriter in a case.  That gave way to an electric, which was replaced by a word processor and that was traded for a computer.  And I went through a string of computers and different word programs before I poured my heart and soul into Chapter One...Loose Ends.  I was on a roll, but now I am back to staring at a blank sheet with a cursor blinking and calling me.
Someone told me I should unplug the phone, lock the door, turn off the ebay computer and concentrate and it will come.  Well, that ain't happening now, is it?  I do think I will take a nice long walk the next day that is decent.  May go up to Beulah for that.  Something about just me, God and the open sky above that inspires me.  Maybe I will not finish Chapter Two...The Ant Lion's Den, or maybe I will. Maybe I will come up with something else.  I do know that I love to write and it is a part of me that needs to be functioning.  I know this blog is writing, but I mean something that I can build out of my mind that is not real, but seems that way.  Know what I mean?
Just my thoughts tonight.

There is a genius inside me and it wants to be free!

Every time I set at this keyboard I think, "This  is the day I shall write something  that will actually change the world!"  Maybe not so much change the world, but at least make a little bit of difference in someones way of thinking.  I keep thinking that today is the day that I will write something that will at least be remembered, if not for a long time at least until you are through reading what I have written.

Maybe I have writer's block!  I have heard of that and I guess it could be possible.  I set here looking at the leaves on the Cherry Tree, sipping my coffee, staring at the screen and nothing happens. Well, actually something is happening!  What is happening is that I am typing like a fool  and the letters are appearing very slowly.  See I am done typing this line and it is just now putting up the word "fool".  Now I wait for it to finish so I can go back and redo the words I spelled wrong or where I hit the wrong key, which happens with amazing regularity.  No wonder I am frustrated!  The best part of all of this is if I will just walk away, when I come back it will no doubt be functioning like it is meant to and all my stress will have been for nothing.

Instead I set here like an idiot and continue beating my brains over nothing.  I give up!  We had quite a little storm out here last night.  Scared the ducks and geese and, beat my trees, bushes and garden to a pulp.  At least it did all this before I had vegetables that were almost ready to eat.  That is what usually happens!

Ok, I am off to get ready for church.   You all have a nice day and I shall check in tomorrow or the next day.