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A few hours later (I still hadn't seen them), someone rang our bell. It was a couple--neighbors from down the street who wanted to introduce themselves and extend a last-minute invitation to their annual Christmas party.
The neighbors? The ones with the firewood (weird coincidence, isn't it?). He's the principal of a local school, she's a teacher in the school, and I met one of their colleagues, who teaches sixth grade language arts. When I told her I write for children, she wanted to hear every part of my story--what brought me to writing, what I like writing most. She told me she'll tell some of my story to her students after the holidays.
And as we got ready to leave, the principal and language arts teacher asked if I do school presentations. Not yet. But they're on my list of things to start doing.
I think a door just opened.
Has life delivered any little surprises to you lately?
I was driving a 300 mile trek on a rare blood run through small towns ... and feeling a little down (all of my loved ones that I have lost have been during the Christmas holidays ... and my books are doing poorly.)
ReplyDeleteGod should have given me a wedge of cheese to go with my whine. Instead, as I turned a bend in a lonely country road, I spotted the sign in front of a small church : YOU ARE A SPECIAL PART OF GOD'S HEART & YOU ARE NEVER ALONE.
I teared up and said THANKS. Though I'd pass it on. Come check out my French Quarter Christmas ghost story. It at least has a haunting photo from one of my friends. MERRY CHRISTMAS, Roland
Alison,
ReplyDeleteYou should go ahead and do a school visit! You have plenty of material, both published and unpublished. You can talk about writing and the life of a writer. I say go for it! A door DID open! :-)
Hey, the door is open - run through it now! You can do it.
ReplyDeleteRoland, thank you for passing it along. I think we all need to remember that now and again. Merry Christmas to you, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie and Alex! I figure I can either talk about writing or do something more content-based. I told them to think about what would fit with their curriculum. We'll see what happens.
Hi, again, Allison :
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my tongue-in-cheek post today. You asked for a reference guide to the polar shift theory. I had it but the men in black took it. LOL.
Actually, being the researcher I am, I even try to have hard science as a foundation for my satires.
Charles Hapgood is now perhaps the best remembered early proponent of the polar shift theory. In his book The Earth's Shifting Crust (1958) ( includes a foreword by Albert Einstein :
Foreword to the First Edition
by Albert Einstein
"I frequently receive communications from people who wish to consult me concerning their unpublished ideas.
It goes without saying that these ideas are very seldom possessed of scientific validity.
The very first communication, however, that I received from Mr. Hapgood electrified me.
His idea is original, of great simplicity, and—if it continues to prove itself—of great importance to everything that is related to the history of the earth’s surface.
A great many empirical data indicate that at each point on the earth’s surface
that has been carefully studied, many climatic changes have taken place, apparently quite suddenly.
This, according to Hapgood, is explicable if the virtually rigid outer crust of the earth undergoes, from time to time, extensive displacement over the viscous, plastic, possibly fluid inner layers.
Such displacements may take place as the consequence of comparatively slight forces exerted on the crust, derived from the earth’s momentum of rotation,
which in turn will tend to alter the axis of rotation, which in turn will tend to alter the axis of rotation of the earth’s crust."
NASA’s website features a map showing the gradual northward migration of the north magnetic pole in the past century and a half.
Since more than double the time interval has elapsed since the last reversal, compared to the time lapse between the previous two pole reversals,
some believe we may be overdue for the next north-south flip.
It is not only the direction but also the strength of this magnetic field that is a concern.
In the time of dinosaurs, at an estimated 2.5 gauss, it was eighty percent stronger than it is now.
This may have been one of the reasons such gigantic life forms thrived.
It is now accepted that a catastrophic event ended the reign of giant reptiles.
However, they did not re-evolve to equivalent dimensions. And the disappearance of mammalian “mega-fauna” in more recent times is still considered to be a mystery.
The mastodons and mammoths would have towered over modern elephants. Why are there so few large terrestrial animals today?
Something to think about.
Once the scientific community was sure the world was flat when common sailers knew from the way their view of the horizon worked, it had to be curved.
But my post was tongue-in-cheek. Still it is frightening to think Hapgood might be right.
Yet I am a firm believer that we will never suspect what truly takes out the human race. We will be like the dinosaurs, staring up in incomprehension of what is taking place.
Enjoy the moment, yet prepare as if we would live a century, right?
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and caring enough to chat in my cyber-home for awhile,.
MERRIEST OF CHRISTMASES!! ROLAND
Burning firewood contributes to terrible air pollution.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fantastic coincidence and you should definitely grab hold of these new opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing some unexpected coincidences and things turning into my favor lately.
Happy New Year!