Gearing up for NaNoWriMo

I want to get two more posts in before November 1. I hope Katie has installed all I need to write the novel on steroids. I was lettering away on my jet flight last evening in my lime green notebook about the trip. I practiced on word pad just to get better acquainted with my keyboard on the first plane out of Ontario, California to Houston. Practice keyboarding and storytelling.
Today was jet lag and just a bit of missing wonderful sunshine and family. Transitions. Mostly the sunshine because I came home to my husband and other daughter, my dog and cats, all glad to see me. 12 hours traveling created tension in my body. I recovered.
After a very late breakfast at the Diner in W. Middlesex, driving around the town and cleaning my parents' grave, the sun filtered through light clouds. I wanted to walk my dog. Forty degrees and no wind, made me think a sweater and lighter jacket would suffice and mostly they did. Just wish I had dug out a hat.
The park felt empty on the later Sunday afternoon. The trees, mostly bare, let more of the weak sunlight to the ground. We met a black dog with a knitted striped sweater jacket. A country dog new to the park showing off the new jacket from the neighbor, drool mixing with my dog's drool, happy to be in the park again. This dog, smaller than Harrison, let me pet her soft, shiny coat.
We glanced at Camo running circles with her long retractable leash. Her mistress calmly walked along behind her. Camo has lots of energy. No matter the weather, she is taken out every day.
Mostly though, the park is empty. With the nip in the air, Harrison, moves quickly, too. The leaves of red, pale yellow and brown piled under our feet. The huge red tree of two weeks ago is empty of all its leaves now. The air sounds quieter. The far off noises are faint.
I think and think about this month of novel writing ahead of me. Will I be able to blog? So much happened even this past week. I shared my lap top with my daughter and I loved being with my niece and her family. I could have made the time, sneaking off to the camper to write, but chose to be with the kids who will change by the time I see them again. I love those little people. Grace, long body and blonde hair, coming into her own person at six. Owen, a sweetheart, that can be very stubborn. Not a mean bone in his body, but he is still learning about getting his own way. He walks around with his hands on his hips and I think of my dad, my brother, my dad's brother and a distant cousin. How do these Lewis men share that trait? Owen is three, never met any of those men, yet there is that blood connection.
I think of the USC campus and the whirring of the students, on feet, on bikes, on skateboards. The blue skies that seem to never end. The smells of garlic food from the food courts, the rubber from the hundreds of bikes parked all over the campus. The newness of the buildings, yet the New England feel- also at UCLA. The old trees, the crooked sycamores, the straight pines, a hint of yellow in some of the leaves.
The ride to Big Bear, climbing thousands of feet through curves and hair pin turns. The vegatation adapting to each new foot of altitude. My ears popping and the sinuses pushing against my skull. When we arrive at the cabin, my legs ache to stretch. My ears hear the haunting sounds of wolves in the distance. I have never heard that before.
The night sky in the desert, even with the stadium lights, are vast. I am limited in my praise of the Lord. He stretched out His hands and made it all and named each star, calls them by name. My brother-in-law wished he had my belief.
So I hope as I write for NaNoWriMo in November, I can still write for you. New challenges. If you pray, pray that I can meet this goal of 1667 words a day. No editing, just writing. I love revision, so to just write will be different. Revision will come in December.