Woke up to an inch of snow in Dixie! But it's starting to become slushy, and probably won't last long. However, there's predictions for a hard freeze tonight, and MORE snow...so, this may turn into a mess if nothing else. We occasionally get snow here, as well as a freak ice storm, sleet. I hate sleet, since we have lots of pines and evergreens, a magnolia in the front yard, and the ice can ruin these trees. At any rate, I don't know if we'll go on our usual Sunday drive today, but the streets do look safe and clear.

I went to the library yesterday and instead of looking for fiction (which I've lately grown tired of) I found memoirs and journals and biographys. Last night I read over half of a book entitled, "The Last Gift of Time -- Life Beyond Sixty" by Carolyn Hellbrun. I thought I might as well start preparing for my old age!, and this looked interesting. Hellbrun is a former professor of English, as well as a published author (she wrote the Amanada Cross mystery series). Anyhow, this is a great book! She's honest, very candid -- and that is what I've been searching for in my reading. I grew disgusted with the sentimental, unrealistic pap of mainstream fiction lately, and have tried to find more honesty in books, and other reading material.

Here's one brief excerpt about her retirement from being a professor: "I entered upon a life unimagined previously, of happiness impossible to youth or to the years of being constantly needed both at home and at work. I entered into a period of freedom, and only past sixty learned in what freedom consists: to live without a constantly, unnoticed stream of anger and resentment, without the daily contemplation of power always in the hands of the least worthy, the least imaginative, the least generous."

Ah yes, I DO understand that fact. And it's why I DO cherish my own freedom, to do as I wish...not be enslaved in the working marketplace. Nor to have the burden and demands of offspring -- which is a never-ending obligation.I am very fortunate not only that I am AWARE of this wonderful freedom I have, but also that I decided to prepare and take advantage of it starting in my early 40s instead of waiting till 60!

Now for a news excerpt:

Man accused of abducting girl he met on Internet

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man accused of abducting a 13-year-old girl he met over the Internet was arrested Friday after FBI agents found the girl restrained inside his northern Virginia home, federal officials said.

The girl slipped out of her house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after a New Year's Day family dinner and was picked up by Scott Tyree, 38, and driven to his home in Herndon, Virginia, authorities said.

When oh when will people realize that the internet is just another medium for STRANGERS to meet? There's no way to know if that amazing person you're chatting with is an evildoer...so better be cautious, better to be safe than sorry.

That's all for now. I'll close with this line from a past popular song: "All we are is dust in the wind..."