Day before yesterday I decided I should drive to California and climb Mount Whitney. Immediately.

Whitney is 14,500′ tall and the highest point in the US outside of Alaska. A significant portion of book three of my Christmas fiction trilogy happens there and as I reached that point in writing the book, I realized that I needed to know the mountain first hand to continue writing.

So this trip is really just a research project.

We leave Sunday afternoon, if all goes according to plan. Back Wednesday or Thursday. I’ll let ya know how it goes….

Ya gotta love your friends. I mean really, really love them! Don’t you? I sure do.

I notice, however, that there’s a fairly wide gap between those I consider my close friends and the many other people I know and spend time with. It’s not just that we have a lot in common. It’s not just that they’re smart and good and open and happy and fun. My close friends know something about the art of being true friends.

They know that being a friend means doing something about it, being there for each other when needed without a second thought. Somehow there’s no contradiction in the fact that we may lose touch for years and our friendship doesn’t deteriorate. They see the good in everything and dwell on that, and that makes life ever so much more beautiful than it already was.

I just glanced at my profile on a social networking site and read through the comments left by various friends there. It made my day and now I’m going to share their comments here. To all you guys and all my other well-loved friends out there (you know who you are!), I want to thank you for being who you are and doing what you do. Thank you ever so much for making my life a quality experience. I value you above nearly all else. Continue Reading »