Yeah, so it's Christmas (or Christmas Eve, anyway) and we're out in the formica-finish sprawl of LA (Studio City, actually) to spend the holidaze with our kids, and it's freaking gloomy and pouring rain and the wind is blowing like crazy and I just heard a blessed flood alert come over my cell phone like the dive alarm on the sort of tiny submarine you might expect to find as a kid's prize in a box of Shredded Wheat. Does anybody eat Shredded Wheat anymore. I mean like my mom used to serve it up with sliced bananas, a little bron sugar and WARM milk. Just the thing for crappy weather.

But it was nice a couple days ago and one of my son and daughter's writer/media friends was kind enough to lend me his in-need-of-exercise bicycle on Monday so's I could take a nice ride and enjoy some more California-typical weather. Lovely. And if ever there was a time, place, ambience and environment that seems just perfect for chilly, inhospitable weather, this is surly the perfect one. We're all cozied up together and have watched some great old movies and played a few games and read a bit (real recreational reading, too!) and I even worked a bit on the final version of the new book. We went to the teeming freak show/monkey jungle of the Burbank Whole Foods yesterday (a true madhouse, followed by a cleansing visit to Trader Joe's) and laid in a supply of eats to hold us--in healthy, California style for a few days--until the rain, wind and leaden skies have passed. And we're all loving it. I'm making salmon with ginger & cinnamon with some sort of green stuff and my delicious sweet potato & carrot side dish tonight and chicken-in-a-bag (I already passed on the recipe a few e-blasts ago) on account of all the stores were sold out of turkeys., Oh, well.

But this is wonderful & enriching down time for us, and we're hoping that you're enjoying the same sort of thing with your favorite & most cherished loved ones. All the very best to all of you.

Share the joy and enjoy the ride!

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