Zona

November is coming to an end and it has been one of the more interesting months of 2006 for me. Sabrina, my second grandchild, was born on the first. My third child turned the magical age of 18 and reaches for independence. It's an independence, that only us old folks realize is actually the dawning of real responsibility. A step away from childhood and into many years of adulthood and the beginning of having to provide.

I traveled home again and to Vegas which was wonderful because I have not seen my mother in such good spirits since the passing of my father. She loved the trip and a woman who did not want to travel for fear of returning to an empty house is now in a dilemma because she now wants to travel but can't decide between London and Amsterdam.

The election results showed once again that when the rest of the world thinks of Americans as complacent and not caring, we jump up and surprise them. We're the best bounce backers on the planet. Never count us out.

Thanksgiving always proves to be a lot of work for a big meal that I don't enjoy fully until it's the next day's leftovers reheated with little effort in the microwave.

Then it snowed.

I grew up in Arizona where we counted the days of winter on the fingers of one hand. What makes me laugh about it now, is that every year winter catches Canada completely of guard and chases it up on a chair much like a mouse chases a timid woman in a cartoon kitchen.