Quote, New Contest, and Miscellanea

You may or may not know that I run two daily (now there's a joke for you) quote groups on Yahoo! -- Writers Daily Quote and He Said She Said. I've often wanted to start one for those more general quotes but I seem to have enough trouble juggling what's already in motion. This might be exactly what I've been looking for.

Never complain. Never explain.
--Katharine Hepburn

Good in theory but I'm not certain it's sustainable in the real world of hurt feelings and long memories.

How about a new contest? Ten winners, ten copies of Shore Lights -- winners chosen on Saturday night same as always. Please enter! I need shelf space desperately. Send an email to me at barbarabretton AT earthlink DOT net with SHORE LIGHTS in the subject header.

Hmm. I put miscellanea in the title, didn't I? I'm trying to think of something miscellanea-y enough to qualify but I'm coming up blank. Weather: good. Air conditioner: working. Writing: not bad. Knitting: going well.

I went to the mall today for the first time in quite a few years. I kind of fell out of the mall habit. Too much everything, if you know what I mean. Especially when it comes to choosing gifts for special people. I find myself wanting to get the process over with as quickly as possible when I'm trapped in a crowded mall. When I shop through catalogs or on-line, I take my time. I think deeply about the person I'm buying for, thumb through the brochures, click from site to site, take my time finding exactly the right thing to make the giftee happy. You won't be surpried if I tell you that the fall clothes are out, will you? I didn't think so. Oh, how I used to look forward to the August edition of Seventeen Magazine, the big glossy back-to-school issue filled with color photos of pretty teenaged models in plaid skirts and knees socks and shiny straight hair and big smiles. Sigh. I was a Catholic schoolgirl with a uniform and saddle shoes and curly hair that did what it wanted to do whenever it wanted to do it.

How I loved that magazine and those models. If you were a teenager in the 60s you might remember Colleen Corby and Terri Reno. They were our Gisele and Kate. Many years later I did some freelance writing for Seventeen. You can't imagine how happy it made the fifteen year old girl who still hides deep inside.