Desert Dreams

Smell of the desert after a rainstorm ... sage, pinon, wet rock.

Azure sky ... red earth ... brilliant green of the palo verde.

Vistas so high and wide you can see forever.

Canyons so deep only the noonday sun reaches the bottom.

Gurgle and splash of a hidden desert wellspring.

Sharp jagged purple mountains against a pink sky at sunrise.

Black silhouette of a palm tree against a tangerine sky at sunset.

Incense of a mesquite campfire.

Midnight blue sky sprinkled with millions of tiny winking lights.

Moon so bright it throws shadows.

Violent show of lightning.

Bite of desert frost.

Sweetness of palm dates born of a blazing sun.

A land of harsh and spare beauty.
Some days I miss it so much ... it hurts.

How to amuse yourself while commuting ... A Thursday Thirteen on Monday

Well folks, it's that time again. Yes ... I just had one of my quarterly commutes into and out of hell (L.A. traffic for those who don't know what I'm referring to). So of course I've got to unload by blogging about it. Since I try to turn anything unpleasant into something at least tolerable, I thought of ways to "play" while driving. What follows is a brief list of things you can do to amuse yourself while commuting in bumper-to-bumper traffic:

1. Listen to Old Time Radio shows on XM Radio.
2. Bring favorite coffee drink to enjoy in the car.
3. Pretend that you're just sitting around enjoying your coffee (since all you are doing during most of the commute is "sitting around"; this delusion is helped greatly if you have comfy car seats).
4. Compose blog posts by talking into a hand held tape recorder during the "not moving" times.
5. Work on other writing projects like novels/poems/short stories using that hand held tape recorder.
6. Scare the person in the car next to you by smiling when they look over at you.
7. Further scare the person in the car next to you by "toasting" them with your coffee cup.
8. Leave room for the 18-wheeler trying to merge over to one of the right 2 lanes where all big trucks belong (many of the freeways have left lane merges from other freeways leaving big trucks to work their way over to the right hand lanes).
9. Flash your headlights for the big truck so the driver knows he has room to move over in front of you (especially cool if the driver blinks his running lights to say "thank you").
10. Get in your ab exercises by doing abdominal squeezes (just think what a flat tummy you could have if you commute regularly!).
11. File your nails during the traffic stand stills (I can usually get at least one nail filed for each stand still).
12. Dust the car dashboard during "not moving" times (this should really be limited to the driver's side).
13. See if you can find the traffic report on AM radio when you see the traffic news helicopter fly overhead (just think ... you're part of the news!).

Feel free to add to this list in the comments section and happy commuting!

Thursday Thirteen: Meet the Blogger

I've been having a bit of trouble writing lately, so I looked into a variety of memes and prompts to help me through this period of writer's block. I thought I'd put the Thursday Thirteen meme to work this week. Some of you know me personally, but many of us have never met and you only know me through what I reveal in my writing here at Tip of the Iceberg. And I don't reveal too much! So this week's Thursday Thirteen will serve the purpose of providing a bit of information to help you put together a picture of Terri B. If I ever bother to sit down and figure out how to get the pictures from my camera onto the computer (not hard I'm sure), I'll post a current picture of myself (though I am partial to the picture of 4-year old Terri B. attached to my profile).

1. I've made the bed every morning for the last 3 months. This is a big deal. Really. As I've mentioned somewhere else on this blog, I'm not a terribly disciplined person. Focused, yes. Disciplined, no. I've rarely made the bed for the 25 years I've been married. I made the bed all through my childhood and continued this habit even while living in a college dorm. It was only when I got married that I quit this habit -- not sure why. Recently my general lack of discipline started to bother me so I vowed to work on this area of my life a piece at a time starting with this "messy." The house looks so much tidier with the bed made! I had no idea how much difference this would make, but it is quite noticeable. The big payoff is the increased motivation to take care of other household duties. Who could have known that making the bed would do all this??


2. I've been married for 25 years to the same wonderful man.


3. I met my husband at university. I was wandering around campus one evening with a friend and we heard a band playing. We followed the sound until we found the origin of all the noise. My now husband was playing guitar with his band. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Two years later we were married. He still plays guitar.


4. I have 3 granddaughters. I skipped parenting and went straight to grandparenting. Well ... that is not completely true. I parented and continue to parent, but because of circumstances I've never felt comfortable calling myself a mom. Grandma, on the other hand, feels completely natural. Perhaps I'll write a bit more about this around Mother's Day.


5. I'm short ... 4'10" to be exact. But I tell people that I'm 5 feet.


6. Most people don't realize how short I am until they are standing right next to me. My proportions help camouflage my short stature.


7. I recently got my weight down to a healthy level. I gained about 25 pounds over a period of 25 years. This was a slow weight gain that was easy to ignore until recently. I didn't like the way I felt carrying this extra weight, I didn't like the way I looked carrying this extra weight, and my doctor was not happy about the extra weight. Now that extra weight is gone and I can't tell you how much better I feel.


8. I'm a librarian and, no, I did not choose this profession because I love books ... even though I do love books. I chose to become a librarian because I like to connect people to the information that they need. It's a world-wide-web-of-confusion out there and I get satisfaction from helping bring some order to the chaos.


9. I have a "book problem." I have altogether too many books in my personal library. I'm working on this problem. I'm learning to pass along many books after I've read them. I've also been trying to make better use of my public library card -- you'd think this would be a no brainer for a librarian.


10. I didn't get my first car until I was 37. What I should say is that I didn't get my VERY OWN first car until age 37. My husband and I walked/biked/bussed everywhere for the first 2 years of marriage. We then bought one car and remained a one-car family for the next 15 years.


11. My car's name is Sophie.


12. I've cycled in 2 different century rides. For those who don't know about century rides, this means riding a bicycle on a pre-arranged 100-mile route in one day. Yup, I did it.


13. My favorite vacation involved a 2 week long tag team bicycle ride up and over the Colorado Rockies with my husband. A typical day would start out with husband on the bike. I would drive ahead about 45-50 miles, then wait by the side of the road and enjoy the beautiful alpine scenery and do a little reading. Once husband reached the waiting vehicle, the switch would be made. He would take off in the car and I would ride until I found him by the side of the road enjoying the scenery and reading. All went well until I got wrapped up in the beauty of the drive on the Million Dollar Highway and drove ahead about 70 miles without realizing how far I'd gone or how high in altitude I'd climbed. I waited by the side of the road. And waited. And waited. Finally, I saw husband in the distance steadily pedaling up the mountain to the waiting vehicle. He stopped next to me gasping for air and unable to speak (probably a good thing for me). Not surprising since I was waiting at the top of Red Mountain Pass at an altitude of 11,018 feet. Oops.