I am alone in my house…well…the three dogs are here. But no other people. This is extremely rare! I have a husband that works out of our house, and so do I. Then I have five children. Two are still home, but the grown children visit, and now they bring their kids too. My niece was living with me for nine months, but she went back to her Dad’s yesterday, (Thank God in heaven, but that’s another story!) So here I am, alone at last, which just NEVER happens.

I love solitude. I love quiet. I have the blinds pulled, and I’m sitting in the gloom, writing, meeting a deadline. I took a break to have some lunch and decided to visit eons to see what’s going on around here. This is how strange I am, instead of enjoying my tomato sandwich and iced coffee, I’m blogging! Ha!

For me, being alone, whether here in the house, or driving in the car, or while taking a walk in the oak forest near my house provides a time to recharge, to think.

I’m amazed by the noise that people invite into their life. We have these neighbors, they’re up on the hill, about a half an acre away from us, and every time these people use their backyard, or go swimming in their pool, they play the most obnoxious music. So loud that we can here it inside our house! Don’t they want to hear the birds? Don’t they want to listen to the wind?

And even when I rarely run into someone on the trail, they’re plugged into the I-Pod. Why? I listen to the sounds of the forest, which might not be a bad idea, since we have bears and cougars around here!

Anyway, I like to be alone with my own thoughts. In this day and age that makes me a freak.

When my kids and my husband are home, there are usually four computers humming, TV’s blaring, and loud music playing.

Right now, all I hear is the hum of the air-conditioner, and the sound of ice cubes falling out of the refrigerator’s icemaker into the receptacle. And, the sound of three dogs snoring.