HUGE - a Rant

Huge - 22 times in 374 pages. Aargh! That is an average of huge once every 17 pages. It was a huge man's shirt; huge towering man; huge ... mansion; huge room; huge eyes; huge room (again!); huge ebony bed; huge headboard; huge desk; huge tension; huge fist; London was huge; huge eyes (again!); huge buildings; huge ... house; huge brick stable; huge salon - and finally! a" huge understatement" (bit of irony there).

Oh I itched to take a red pen to every huge in that otherwise entertaining historical romance. The writer created passages of descriptive prose smoother than ice cream and lovelier than a rose. Her characters grew in depth and maturity. Her plot twisted nicely without flagging. Her settings contrasted beautifully, and one of them was interesting enough to be almost another character.

But. Huge. Yikes - please add "huge" to "teeming" on your list of words that are inappropriate or overused, and avoid it like the proverbial and hackneyed plague.

The bears excellent adventure

So yesterday Pandababy and Goldibear set out to get studded tires on their bear car. Simple, yes? Not. The tires were not here, they were still in the storage unit from when the bears moved.

First challenge: the car without studded tires would not go up the icy incline to storage. Enter bears, bundled up against 18 degree weather, carrying four tires down hill, across intersection in freezing bear-town.

Look, mama bear, look. See the funny bears carrying their tires? Where is the rest of their car, do you know? How could it possibly be, that tires is all they have left of their car? Oooh, see the lady bear fall down. I think she bounced at least three times. My, is it slippery out there, or what?

Once the tires were in the car, challenge number two - how to drive from storage to tire store and arrive un-dented. Oh My! See the pretty red pickup spinning through the intersection! Go, red pickup go! Just don't hit us bears, please. Whew! that was too close for comfort.

The bears shared a pot of honey at the local Smack-Donalds, celebrating the successful installation of four studded tires. All's well that ends well, or so they say. So this evening, a storm bigger than the one we just experienced is due to visit us. I think Pandababy willl just turn on the electric fireplace and wait this one out.

Sunset and Snow Fall

We've seen entire winters go by with no snow here in western Oregon, but this year is looking white already, with more snow on the way. What a difference a day makes to the view from our windows.