My new book, Finding A New Normal, is now available online at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/306187 Smashwords has the book in formats for your nook, kindle, and other popular ereaders. It should be available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other online outlets in the next few days.

Send an email to altonbrit@gmail.com and I'll send you a code for a free download. I just ask that you read my book and consider giving it a review at www.smashwords.com

I've wanted to write a book for years. I'm finally doing it. I invite you to follow my progress with this book and many more to follow. I plan to use Alton Brit for a pen name. I hope you decide to keep tabs on me as I follow my dream.  You will find me listed at your favorite ebook seller site soon.

-AB

Blog: http://altonbrit.blogspot.com
Facebook: Alton Britt
Twitter: @altonbrit

Google Maps

I had two interesting experiences with google maps in the past few days. On Saturday, I traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, to attend the Aledo Texas High School Graduation on Monday evening. My niece was an honor graduate on Monday night. Saturday, I was ready to put google maps in the dog house. Somehow, after I told my droid X where I wanted to go, the destination got changed and we arrived at our location which was about thirty miles from my brother’s house near Aledo. Today all was forgiven. At Gurdon, we had to leave I-30 due to an accident on the road ahead. Thanks to google maps, we were able to find an alternate route thru the country side and avoided waiting with all the slow moving traffic. Along the way, we happened upon an old iron bridge and a photo opportunity. I will be giving google maps another try later, but next time, I will double check my destination.

Isn't Arkansas Weather Great?

I love living in Arkansas. I was born here and have lived here for all but three years of my life that I lived in Anchorage, Alaska. I believe I appreciate life here more now than I did before Alaska because I made the decision to move back. After those three years in Anchorage, I vowed to wear shorts outside every month. This week, I haven’t been tempted to fulfill my vow for February 2011.

We live our lives at such a hectic pace, at least until the first snow flake falls. Then, in Arkansas, everything comes to a slippery, sliding halt. During three school years in Anchorage, our sons missed one day school due to snow. It was so different. Snow events like the one yesterday are mere inconveniences when your city is prepared. We, in the south, are not ready, so we have days like yesterday and today.

With any luck, by Tuesday it will all be gone and we can either look forward to the next snow or dread the same.

This is my first time to blog using my new BlackBerry.
I'm still trying to get used to the layout of my Pearl flip phone.
I typed much faster in high school.

There is a dog in my bed!

Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m talking about a real dog. She is seventy-six pounds of canine energy that has completely changed life around the old homestead. John got married. Jeff moved out. For a while, we were empty nesters. While Jeff was out of the house, he got Maggie. . Jeff came back. Maggie is somewhat Labrador Retriever and somewhat something else. She was so small and cute and adorable when we first saw her. By the time Jeff moved back home she wasn’t so small, but still cute and adorable. She has chewed up a couple couch pillows when she got bored, but by and large she has been a good dog.

When I met Fran, she was afraid of dogs, especially large dogs. During the first twenty years of our marriage, nothing changed. Then she met a little white dog named Sandy. For some reason, they developed a connection that continues today. Maggie was at least as big as Sandy when she and Fran met. By the time Jeff moved back in, Maggie was becoming a big dog. Jeff moved back home in March and it was too cold for Maggie to live outside in the house Jeff built for her. The weather warmed up, and so did Fran’s heart. During the summer it was too hot for Maggie to live outside. She is now a seventy-six pound lap dog. Maggie is most content when she is within your reach. If you are sitting on the couch, she is likely to jump up in the seat beside you so that you can pet her. Maggie eventually learned to jump up on the bed and she now thinks it is her bed.

Maggie is much calmer now than she was when she first came to live with us. There are times when I think she actually understands us when we talk to her. I know she likes us. She tries to lick us to death.

Some day Jeff and Maggie will move out again. We sure will miss them.

Happy New Year!

It is winter today. Saturday it felt like spring. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. From June 1993 until June 1996 our family lived in Anchorage, Alaska. It was a tremendous experience to live in “The Last Frontier” for three years. There, we experienced winter from early September to late April. The boys learned to ski, skate and play hockey. We lived through one winter with 120 inches of snowfall. I spent a month in Fairbanks where the temperature never got above minus 30 degrees. We enjoyed the winters after we adapted.

The summers were glorious with almost continuous daylight. We rode our bicycles along trails throughout the city and along the coast. The boys and I hiked the Resurrection Trail across the Chugach National Forest. We rode in a car loaded on a flat car of a train, past seven glaciers, through tunnels to a town that was served only by rail. We saw some beautiful sites. We walked across glaciers, skied past moose and fished for salmon in Resurrection Bay. It was awesome.

We saw the Aurora Borealis overhead when you could hear the electrons popping. We watched the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. We watched Independence Day fireworks when it wasn’t even dark.

Looking back, we will always cherish our time in Alaska, but when we had the opportunity to return to Arkansas, we took advantage of it. During three years very close to the top of the world I saw more snow than I care to remember. When we returned, I resolved to take advantage of the occasional warm days of Arkansas winters. I resolved to wear shorts outside at least once every month, just because I can. Last Saturday should have been my day for this month. I missed it. As I looked outside today I saw icicles on everything and had no desire to venture outside in shorts. Thank goodness there will probably be another warm day before the end of the month, maybe even before the end of the week. Don’t you just love it? I do.

I moved back to Arkansas because I wanted to. The first thirty-five years of my life, I lived in Arkansas because I was born here. The past thirteen years I’ve been back in Arkansas by choice and that choice has made all the difference. Being away for a time as helped me to appreciate life here much more than I ever did before.