Writing and Reading

Ever since I started writing seriously, I have a hard time finding a novel I enjoy reading. Either the plot is weak or non-existent or the characters aren't fully developed. The two books I enjoyed the most this year are The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck and Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Research takes up quite a bit of my time, not to mention all the magazines I get each month. So, I don't have much time to read fiction, and when I read a book I want it to be good. But since I'm writing myself, I find myself dissecting each book instead of just losing myself within its pages. Life is too short to read something I don't enjoy. But my tastes have changed over the years. What I enjoyed at age 20 puts me to sleep now. I guess it's normal to change interests over time. One thing is certain: I still love to read.

Musings on a blustery day

A friend of mine invited me to join the German version of facebook. Curiosity won the better of me and I signed on today. Of course, I first checked the pages of the people I knew on her page. My brother's page was particularly fruitful, since I could not only check on our common friends, but also what his kids are up to. No sooner had I filled out my profile, that I was already bombarded with requests from class mates - and some people I didn't even know. You can waste a lot of time on such a site, but I guess it is a great place to find long-lost friends.
On the homefront, we almost ran for the hills last weekend when we heard Christmas music on the radio. We haven't even bought pumpkins yet. Of course, when we saw how much pumpkins cost this year, we went to the farm market next door and spent the money on food.

A Trip to Moraine

On Saturday, we took advantage of the great weather to go leaf peeping at Moraine State Park. The leaves looked even worse than at home and I did not even unpack my camera. Even the little cove where I took gorgeous shots last year looked different. The low water level showed so many dead trees sticking out of the water that it looked almost depressing. We picked up a map of the park and scouted out a waterfowl observation deck. It was a beautiful deck with a view on almost 50 Canada geese, three blue herons, and several coots. A birder told us that in three to four weeks there should be plenty of migrating birds there. We vowed to return.
My knee is still hurting, and so it is probably a good thing that we're not having much of a fall. Otherwise, I would be upset that I was missing something.
At home, our hillside is getting pretty bare already with many trees just dropping their leaves. Yesterday, my husband spotted the first white-throated sparrow. Can the juncos be far behind? If we needed another sign that winter is looming ahead, this was it.