Through an Author's Eyes - Part 12

Good morning!

It's a cold morning here. There are 4-5 inches of snow on the ground with possible drifts a bit higher. I didn't go beyond the porch yesterday where I put some food out for the birds since it only reached 17º F. But today is supposed to get sunny. Already I can see clear sky and just patches of clouds. Of course it's not supposed to reach beyond the low 20s, but at least it will be sunny. You see, we got sleet Tuesday night, then light snow and wintry mix Wednesday. Then snow Wednesday night, and light snow yesterday.

I spent a bit of time this week getting ready for the Widows' Luncheon that was supposed to happen Saturday, but we are having to postpone it until after church on Sunday since the roads won't have time to clear before Saturday noon. I have to call all the widows today and see who can come. I am hoping and praying they can all still come. This is a very special event that they don't want to miss. It's when they get to find out who their secret sisters were. And the secret sisters can sign up for a new widow if they want. Everyone looks forward to it. Anyway, I was making corsages, and name cards, and getting table clothes and napkins, and figuring out what decorations I need to take.

Let's see, I've also been writing. Monday and Tuesday were both 2k word days. And Wednesday and Thursday were both 1,500 word days. Not sure what today and Saturday will be. :D 

Enjoy this next part of the author story. Things are going to get a bit more interesting. But that's all I'm going to say.

Through an Author's Eyes

Part 12

 

    “Yep. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything else.” He looked about him at the wide open space, the towering peeks of the mountains, the cattle grazing in bunches or in small groups of two and three. The calves frisked about, tails up and heels kicking the air. Taking off his hat and running a hand through his light brown hair, he smiled. After settling his hat firmly on his head once again, he said, “Ranching is my life, Annette. Dad does it more as a hobby, something to do when he needs a break from writing, but me? Well, I think I’d go crazy in an office job or even living in a town as small as Cats Claw. Nope I reckon I was just born to be a rancher. Cattle and horses are my life.”
    “With a certain girl too,” Annette added softly, her eyes twinkling.
    The color on his sun-tanned cheeks deepened just a bit. “I reckon. What about you? Do you plan on writing all your life?”
    Pursing her lips thoughtfully, Annette rode in silence for several minutes before replying. “I don’t know. Right now I write because I have stories that fill my head. They crowd in and if I don’t write them I get overwhelmed. I would like to do other things, try new experiences, like coming out here, but I have to still write. Someday maybe I’ll get married and have a family, if that’s what God wants, but I don’t know how I would be able to keep writing and take care of a house and children.” She shook her head. “Maybe if the stories would stop coming I would be more interested in doing something different. I don’t know. All I know is that right now I have to write.”
    Levi nodded. “God has given you a talent and a way with words, Annette. Don’t try to give it up unless you are sure that is what God wants. There is a sad lack of good, clean christian books out there. You are helping fill that void, giving your readers a taste for something better, something higher than the fluff and twaddle most authors are turning out these days. Keep it that way!” There was no time for Annette to say anything for Levi reined up and said, changing the subject, “This is the last fence line. We’ll turn here and head for home. Feel like a fast ride?”
    Annette gulped. “I’ve never gone faster than a  . . . oh, whatever it’s called. Are we going to gallup?”
    “Yep. Come on, let’s ride!”
    When Levi’s horse started off, Mouse, not to be left behind, started so suddenly that had Annette not been holding on, she would have ended up in the dirt. It took only a few minutes to realize that a gallup was smoother than a trot and Annette soon had the rythum and felt as though she were flying.
    Before they reached the final stretch, Levi slowed his horse and Annette did the same. “We’ll walk them the rest of the way so they can cool off.”

    Savanna was waiting for them at the barn and helped Annette unsaddle Mouse. “Where did you go?”
    “We checked the southern fence line,” replied Annette sounding very knowledgeable. “Only had to fix a small section. The cattle are looking good though.”
    Halting with the saddle and saddle blanket in her arms, Savanna stared at her cousin. “What do you know about cattle?” she asked.
    “Not a thing really,” Annette laughed. “But they did look good. And Levi didn’t say anything about there being a problem, so I figured they must be looking good. Writer’s have to make assumptions about things some times you know. And sound like we know things we have no idea about.”
    Savanna rolled her eyes and carried the tack in her arms to the other room.

    When she wasn’t riding her horse, Annette was busy with a dozen different things. She would help prepare suppers in the large kitchen, curl up and read in the cozy, well stocked library, talk writing with her uncle, and made a trip or two into town with Savanna. They hadn’t been to Boring yet, and Annette wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. In spite of all the busyness of the ranch, she found ample time to write. Sometimes it was up in her room, other times it was on one of the large porches overlooking the vast ranch. Her favorite place was the back porch where she could see the mountains and often she would be found just sitting, her fingers stilled as she gazed at the peaks, traced the tree line, watched an eagle soaring on a current of wind, or followed the rocks which formed the upper parts of the mountains until they disappeared into clouds.
    “You’d better get that hiking trip planned and put into action,” Uncle Cleveland remarked at the dinner table not long after Annette’s ride with Levi. “We don’t want Annette trying to hike them alone.”
    “I wouldn’t do that!” broke in Annette.
    “No, she’d just get lost up there in her thoughts,” Savanna teased.
    Annette colored, but didn’t deny it. Ever since she had first caught a glimpse of the majestic mountain peaks, she had longed to be up among them.
    “I hope you let me come along,” Jaina, who had come over for supper, said. “I love mountain climbing!”
    “Perhaps later this week,” Levi began. “I’ll call Judah and see what they have planned.”
    “Bethany wants to go when we do,” put in Savanna.
    Annette sat in silence listening to the plans being made around her. Soon, soon they were going to be going up to the mountains. She could experience the Rockies as she had the Appalachians. Oh, it would all be delightful. And perhaps– “Can we go early enough to watch the sunrise from up there?” she broke into the conversation to ask.
    Levi raised his eyebrows. “We’d have to leave mighty early to do that.”
    “All the better!”

Did you get any snow this week?

Have you ever been hiking in the mountains?

Would you rather read, write, or explore?