Sunday Brunch Post - Second Breakfast

Okay, and now we come to Second Breakfast, in honor of our Hobbit Friends, and also our rascally writer brunch host, who was out of town last week. This is the second edition of Sunday Brunch with Friends.

Today we’re talking about winter holidays. I know, I know. You all understand that I come to winter from a completely different perspective. We have a mediterranean climate where I live, and there really isn’t any winter to speak of. I can go to the beach to surf (in a wetsuit) or the mountains to ski today. That’s how we roll. Where I live it’s between 60 degrees and 90 degrees 80% of the year.

Last Sunday Brunch Winner: Kate!

Not really all that excited to have no seasons, but I was born here. There are wintertime activities though, all over (besides holiday shopping) and today my pals answer the question:

What’s your favorite winter pastime?

Share your own favorite winter pastimes in the comments for a chance to win ebooks from these lovely authors. Just comment for a chance to win!

Snowfall.

At a time when most of the country has been inside shivering and cursing Jack Frost due to the mysterious (and apparently imaginary) phenomenon of the polar vortex, winter, for some of us living in bi-seasonal California, still holds its glittery appeal.

When ZAM posed this question I was suddenly sucked through time, experiencing a shuffling of memories, all variations of me walking down snowy roads, in either the soft lux of daylight or in the pitch of a blanketed night…but in every scene, my head is thrown back, arms flung wide, my tongue stretched painfully past the point of resistance, straining to catch each fat goose-downy flake drifting by.

It doesn’t matter if the memory is from a frosty Salt Lake City night at age five when the snow was so high that the paths we wore through the backyard banked at our shoulders; or when my own girl was three—swimming in an outdoor heated pool at Lake Tahoe in early February, the snow falling in our hair.

Snowfall is Magic.

I don’t care how paltry the winter offering is; just standing outside in the drifting silence is enough to make my spirit soar.

On the ground, snow becomes the material of adventure or exertion—depending on age, inclination, and responsibility…but the stuff fresh from the sky is a wonder and I would give almost anything to be there in those moments with you, my frozen US friends—catching snowflakes. – Author LE Bryce

Thank you Zam for including me in another Sunday Blog. My current release is Snow Globe, a short about an artist looking for his own piece of winter magic. [Editor's Note: I can't tell you how much I LOVE that cover. I just want to feed them hot soup!]

You can find it at  Dream Spinner Press or  Amazon.com.

~*~

Winter. Ahhh. You know what the most awesome thing to do in the winter is? Not be hot. Now, before you all say, oh K.A., you’re always hot—and thank you very much, but that’s just the writing talking—I’m really talking about the outside temperature. I love being bundled in warm clothes, snuggling down under the weight of blankets with a good book or with someone to inspire a good book in me. Err, with me?

And I love the muffling, insulation of snow. I love to stand in the woods and watch it fall, listen to the whispers of it as it deadens sound and makes everything a beautiful black and white picture with only evergreens and cardinals for splashes of color. I could stand there until I freeze.

Oops, I think I may be channeling Wallace Stevens there.

So then it’s back into the house under the fluffy, fuzzy blankets with tea and a good book. You know what else is awesome about winter? No one ever says, “You’re going to stay inside and read on a day like this?”

Yeah, so come on do it with me. Comfy surface? Check. Blankets? Check. Hot beverage? Check. Book? You don’t have one? Well, leave a comment with your favorite winter activity and one will be randomly selected for a ten dollar Amazon gift card. Now, go forth and snuggle. [Editor's Note: COOL! A Givaway. Go forth and Comment!]

Bad Attitude is available at  Samhain  Amazon   ARE   B&N

[Editor’s second note: Check out what’s coming April 15th, one reason to LOVE Tax day this year:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~*~

Winter?

We have winter in So. Cal?

Seriously, I was riding around with the top down and wearing short sleeves on Christmas Eve. The week of New Years, I sweated through my leathers when I rode my Harley to the office. Winter around these parts means it just gets a little rainier.

So, not so much winter, but the holidays in general. I love gearing up for them. Thanksgiving and Christmas and then on to New Years. Walking through the stores with all the snowy displays that are so out of place when it’s 80 degrees outside. Watching a Charlie Brown Christmas for the 10,000^th time. Putting up all three trees (yes we have three full-sized trees throughout the house). Holiday meals. Get togethers. Finally, chowing down on LA Street Dogs while standing on Colorado Blvd. watching and smelling the floats of the Rose Parade as the punctuation mark at the end of that festive rollercoaster.

If it rains, well then that’s an excuse to huddle inside with the dogs, cats and kids and watch movies. We play a lot more poker, having friends over for that, since it’s in between sports seasons – which everyone’s kids are involved in.

The weather is similar, but “winter” does have a different vibe than spring or fall. ~~Author James Buchanan

Purchase Laying Ghosts  Amazon   ARE   B&N

 

Sunday Brunch Post - Second Breakfast