Virtual Christmas

A few years ago, during the financial crisis, most in our family were unable to spend much for gifts. We agreed to give the kids smaller presents, but the adults were in a quandary.

Larry grew up with a large extended family. All the kids got something small, but lots of gifts. Auntie Wanda, who worked in a bank, gave each child a crisp, new two-dollar bill. Uncle Francis brought them each a shiny silver dollar. (Kim still has some of hers.) Auntie Margie loved finding loud and crazy socks. She’d shop all year for them. (And Kim insisted on wearing them—with everything.)

Since Larry’s dad was one of six, and most were married with kids, we often had forty or more on Christmas Eve. Dad was the youngest and was sixteen years younger than his oldest sister. We loved having kids and adults of all ages, and we welcomed a new family member every few years.

The adults drew names for gifts with a $20 limit. This meant each couple only had to buy two adult gifts. Names were drawn on Thanksgiving, but we weren’t particularly strict about sticking with the names as drawn. Much horse trading occurred between that date and Christmas Eve.

Everyone knew Cousin Gerry loved getting Larry’s brother, Casey. Both were pranksters, and Gerry loved giving Casey off-the-wall gifts.

One year, she gave him a large box. When he opened it, the only thing inside was a clue to the next gift. She routed him all over the house until he finally located the small box in the center of her cookie plate. It held a $20 bill. Another year, he received a coffee can filled with change embedded in the most awful mixture of white glue, peanut butter, chocolate syrup… Well, you can imagine. He had to run the whole thing under very hot water before he was able to extract his $20 in change.

I always loved getting Auntie Margie. She had very definite tastes, and most of the rest of them found her challenging. What a coup when I was able to please her, and I did so often.

For many years, we hosted the entire family, but as the older generation died out, and the ‘kids’ grew up and moved away, the group grew smaller until we were left with only our immediate families.

As Christmas of 2009 approached, some of us were faced with limited resources. My sister-in-love, Lucy, had just started a new job. Casey’s company had folded, as had mine. Kim had moved to Texas for work and was no longer working two jobs. Our niece, Carrie, and her husband were leaving right after the first of the year to move to Utah. In short, times were financially challenging, and money was tight.

A coworker was faced with the same situation in her family. She had just gone back to work after nine months of unemployment. (I had gotten her a contract job at the same place I was working.)

Her family decided on a virtual Christmas. The rules were simple:

·         Decide what you would give each family member if money were no object and without any restrictions.

·         Write a note to each person, along with pictures or other enhancements (web pages, etc.) to let them know what you’d give them and why.

·         Put your virtual gift in an envelope, and put it on the tree on Christmas Eve.

Everyone took the challenge seriously. And the gifts we received that year far surpassed any material gifts we might have gotten.

I have kept my virtual gifts locked carefully away along with the birth certificates, marriage certificate, and all the other valuable papers. They are that precious.

Kim ‘gave’ Larry a trip to outer space, complete with photos and a web page. I ‘got’ a house in Hawaii.

My brother, who is a classic car fanatic, ‘gave’ Larry a woody and me a ’57 Thunderbird—my favorite car of all time.

Carrie and Loren had just bought a new house in Utah, so they brought the map of their neighborhood. Their ‘gift’ was a house of our choice so we could be near them.

Larry’s gift was a trip to Hawaii for the whole family. His gift to me was to retire and travel to all the places on my bucket list: Machu Picchu, England, Scotland (again), New Zealand (again, Italy (again), and Hawaii (always). Oh, and he’d go along.

My gifts were all intangibles. To Kim, I ‘gave’ happiness. To my brother, confidence, and so forth. Larry’s gift reads as follows:

To Larry I would give JOY

In God and your faith

            In your work and your play

                        In your family and home

                                    In love and marriage

You are the greatest blessing in my life.

            If I could do it all over again,

I would. You taught me how to laugh

            And play and love (the best parts).

I love you.

We haven’t done it again, but someday, perhaps, we will. I’d recommend it to anyone, whether or not finances are an issue.

My virtual gift for you? A joyous and blessed holiday season and a prosperous New Year. May all your fondest dreams come true.

Thanksgiving Aftermath

A tradition in our family is my sister-in-love cooks the Thanksgiving turkey, and I take the carcass home for soup. I usually make mulligatawny since it’s my favorite.

 Because I had so much stock this year, I filled my big soup pot and made a triple batch. We ate some for dinner, and it was really good.
When it was cooled, I decided to freeze some for later. I used freezer bags because they take up less room than bulky containers. I’ve done it this way successfully many times before. I made sure to get most of the air out of the bags so they’d take up less space.

I put one on a small baking sheet so it would freeze flat and stuck it in the freezer. Then I set the second on top of the first. It slid off, plopped on the ground, and opened. Turkey soup EVERYWHERE!

Larry heard my scream, followed by cursing, and came to investigate. While I used paper towels to pick up the big pieces, he grabbed the dust pan and scooped up large quantities of fluid and chunks. Between us, we finished off half a roll of paper towels, but we got it all up, including pulling out the refrigerator. (I hadn’t cleaned behind there for a while, so it needed mopping anyway.) Then I washed the floor and used the steamer to assure it was clean and grease-free.

However, I still had half a bag of soup plus more in the pot.

I was sick of the smell by now, so I decided to freeze all of the rest. I got a new bag, filled it, and double checked it to make sure it was sealed.

I wiped the outside to be certain all the grease was gone since I suspected it might have been the cause of the first mishap. I grabbed another small baking sheet so this one also remained flat. When I set it down on the freezer shelf, the seal burst and the bag vomited all over the inside of the freezer!

We spent the next hour removing and scrubbing the contents.

Everything had to be taken out since the soup had made its way to the bottom, splattering on the way down. Fortunately, the food was well-wrapped, and we didn’t lose anything else, but the mess was nearly overwhelming.

When we finished, I still had two freezer bags of soup, although one had shrunk considerably. I put the remainder in yet another bag, made sure Larry verified it was sealed, placed it on the baking sheet, and got it at last into the freezer.

I still have about a quart of turkey stock left. Once I get the courage, I’ll put it in a sealed container (not another bag), and it will also go into the freezer. I won’t be making soup again for a while!

 If you’re brave enough, here’s the soup recipe:

Mulligatawny Soup

Sauté:

1 med. onion (I use dried onion since Larry can’t eat onions anymore.) in
1/4 cup butter (Or margarine, or whatever)

Add:
1 med. carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 bell pepper (green, red, or yellow), seeded and diced

1 med. apple (I like Granny Smith or Fuji), pared, cored, and diced

1 cup diced or shredded chicken (Turkey works just as well.)

Stir in gradually:

1/3 cup flour

1 tsp. curry powder

1/8 tsp. mace

2 whole cloves

1 sprig parsley, minced

2 cups stock (chicken, turkey or whatever)

1 cup cooked tomatoes (I use canned diced ones)

salt and pepper to taste

Simmer for half an hour or longer. Serve hot.

I adjust the quantities depending on how much stock and meat I have. It’s really good on a cold, overcast day. But I think I’ll stick to the canned variety for a while!

Me Write Science Fiction? – Larry Collins, Guest Blogger

I have always loved reading science fiction and fantasy, starting with Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells when I was in grammar school. Then later A.E. van Vogt, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

In the 1950s, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, originally written as one super-long book, broken into three parts by the publisher, led the fantasy realm into what has been dubbed “Epic Fiction” and “Myth Arc” books.

The 1960s and 1970s exploded with myth arc. It is similar to a standard story arc but is larger than can fit in a single book. It demands sequels. Think the Shannara series by Terry Brooks, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, or the Well of Souls series by Jack L. Chalker, all of which I have read and enjoyed.

The 1980s and 1990s saw more character-driven stories. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling is an example. An epic battle between good and evil is the overall myth arc plot, but how the characters, like Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, change and grow are what make each book interesting.

Okay, So if I like the sci-fi genre, why haven’t I written it?

Science fiction and fantasy usually involve some epic theme: save the world or the universe. I don’t write big themes. My stories tend to involve a small slice of life. In my mysteries, the protagonist solves a murder or saves a friend, but not much more.

As Carl Sagan wrote, "To make an apple pie, you need wheat, apples, a pinch of this and that, and the heat of the oven. The ingredients are made of molecules—sugar, say, or water. The molecules in turn, are made of atoms—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and a few others. Where do these atoms come from? …the Big Bang, the explosion that began the cosmos. If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

I feared writing science fiction required me to invent an entire universe.

Other types of fiction don’t have those requirements. If you’re writing about the old West or the Civil War, the terrain and characters you’ll meet are well known. If you’re collecting characters from present day, you need only to look to the personalities around you. But if you’re making a futuristic universe and populating it with alien species, you need to make all up. Or so I believed.

In our weekly critique group, one of the authors started a young adult science fiction novel. She had questions on how to portray certain events or define an alien landscape. I was able to help her with examples of how other writers handled similar situations.

I realized, as Joseph Campbell said of the hero’s journey, “…we have not even to risk the journey alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path…”

So it is with writing sci-fi. I write my own story, told in my own words. But the concepts of time-travel, faster-than-light spaceflight, or alien encounters are well-known. Readers are familiar with them. I need not re-invent everything.

I’ve finally started a sci-fi story, but in mine, the protagonist sets out to save his kidnapped brother. Another character finds a family. And neither saves the universe. Now I find I’m enjoying writing science fiction as much as I have enjoyed reading it.

The Elephant Parade Has Left Town

Last night, the three dozen or so Asian elephants in the Elephant Parade were auctioned off. Today they will go to their permanent homes, and our town will go back to its pre-pachyderm invasion.

They arrived in August with a ‘parade’ up the sand and throughout Doheny Beach. I must confess, I wasn’t sure about the event at first, but after seeing these beautiful works of art, I was enchanted. Even our Japanese daughter, Yuko, got to enjoy them on her brief visit.

Next, the parade moved throughout the city. On our morning walks, we went by about eight of them, and our routine started to include greeting each one as we passed. In addition, on our way to and from the marina, we drove by three or four others on street corners. Sometimes we stopped by the Ocean Institute to check on Jack, the one decorated like an airplane.

During the months since, we located nearly all of them and visited. Each time, we were impressed by how charming they were.

Last week, the herd was rounded up and transported to Lantern Bay Park, where we went each day to visit them again as a group. On Saturday, a huge community gala was held as a final farewell to the gentle giants.

Last night they were auctioned off, and we hope they raised a great deal of money. We bought the book and three of the miniatures, one to keep (Gentle Guardian, the angel one above) and two for gifts. (Those are a secret.) Only ten of the three-dozen were available for purchase in the tiny form, but they included some of our favorites.

Unfortunately, Larry’s favorite, California Surpher, was not among them.

However, rumors abound that several, including this one, may have been purchased and will stay here in town.

We are very grateful for the visit of the Elephant Parade to our city. Every time we saw them, we had to smile. And we will continue to smile whenever we think about them. 

ABOUT THE ELEPHANT PARADE 

This is a worldwide movement called the Elephant Parade, created to save the Asian elephant. These majestic creatures are nearly extinct, and this art installation is intended to raise funds to help save the species.

A different city sponsors each event. Dana Point was chosen as the first US city to participate. Local artists as well as those from around the world (about a third from Asia) decorated the elephants. Each is about five-feet tall, the actual size of a baby elephant. They are displayed in each location for several months, and then they are auctioned off. All the proceeds from the books to the fundraisers to the miniatures to the auction go to the fund to save the Asian elephant. So far, they have held events in Singapore, London, Emmen (Netherlands) and Dana Point. We're proud to be the first place in the US to host them!

But we're sad to see them go.

Did you see the parade? What did you think? Would you like to buy a miniature like we did? Ten of them are available here: http://westlandgiftware.shptron.com/c/collections_elephant-parade

Come to EPICon 2014!

Every year since 2006, we have attended EPICon, the annual conference for EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition. Why do we go year after year? Here are a few reasons:

EDUCATION

EPICon features speakers on all aspects of publishing, focusing particularly on the publication of ebooks. The EPIC membership consists of e-publishing professionals: published authors, editors, publishers, cover artists, publicists, agents, marketing experts, etc. The workshops presented are intended to provide information to the attendees about the current state of the industry. Since it is a moving target and has been for the past ten years or so, we stay current. We’ve never attended without learning something. 

NETWORKING 
We met two of our current publishers at EPICon. We were able to get to know them personally before we submitted our books to them. They remain close personal friends as well as our business partners. I also met one of my writing partners at EPICon 2006. She has been part of all five of our romance anthologies, including The Art of Love published this past September. She’ll be included in number six, as well.

MEET THE AUTHORS
For readers, this conference provides a chance to get “up close and personal” with lots of published authors. At meals and during free time, these folks are available to chat or question. Even I have been able to get to know some of my favorites, like Holly Jacobs. I’m a bibliophile (that’s a book junkie), so I read more than I write. Finding out what motivates my fellow writers has been one of the great blessings of attending this conference every year. And I’ve found new authors, as well.

PITCH OUR WORK 
We’ve been able to pitch our latest work to several different editors and publishers. This year, EPICon will provide even more opportunity for aspiring authors with “Speed Dating With Editors.” Each writer will be given a couple of minutes to pitch their work to editors from several publishing houses. This is a unique opportunity most aspiring authors never get. So if you’ve always envisioned yourself as a published author, here’s your chance!

FORM RELATIONSHIPS

This is probably the main reason we attend. Over the years, we’ve formed quite a number of lifelong friendships. These folks are our supporters, colleagues, and most of all, friends.


If you want to ask any specific questions about the 2014 EPICon, email epicon@epicon.com.