Do you ever wonder about the connections our minds make?

I was thinking about Thanksgiving--and who isn't, since it'll be here in a few days, along with the relatives, the cooking, the dishes, and hopefully, yes, the thanks. The first connection was obvious: a turkey. And from there, my mind made all kinds of personal connections.

Turkey made me think of the wild turkeys that we used to see in abundance around our little family house in the Pocono Mountains. When I was younger, we had flocks of turkeys around the house year round (funny how they always seemed to be scarce around Thanksgiving and then flaunted their presence again in early December. Smart turkeys!) along with white-tailed deer and black bear. For a city kid, this was always amazing to me.


The wild turkeys--or current lack of them that we now experience--made me think of dogs. A few years ago, a couple bought the lot next to our house and built practically right on top of us. We lost much of our surrounding woods, but even more importantly, we lost all of the wildlife we enjoyed (even though I admit I was both thrilled and terrified when the bears came sauntering down our driveway...) because they have this crazy yellow lab--named "Princess", of all things--who chases off every moving thing she can find...Including my 19 year old cat who could barely walk, but that's a story for another blog (he did survive her attack).

Then I thought of how my pre-school age son seems to have developed a bit of a fear of dogs. We were going to visit a friend's house the other night, and he asked if she had a dog. When I said no, he was much relieved and told me he doesn't really like dogs. And that made me a little sad, because I believe that pets can be such great parts of our families.

Living in a Manhattan apartment, we're more cat people than dog people, but I like dogs a lot (unless they outweigh me and, then, they're a little intimidating). And that made me think about this tiny little Siamese cat we had who used to like to walk outside of our apartment and roll around in the hall in front of the elevator.

Once, she was doing this and the elevator door opened, and there was a huge Afghan standing inside. She marched right up to him and gave him a sniff! No fear in that little cat.

So, then I thought about my friends who have dogs, which then made me think of my authors who have dogs, which then made me think of Elaine Fox who is a true dog lover and writes the greatest mix of contemporary romance and dogs. Which Then made me think of her new book coming out on Tuesday, November 25th...

BEDTIME FOR BONSAI is an absolutely delightful, sexy, fun story about a woman who had always wanted to have a baby but her ex was not the right man for that endeavor, so she got a dog instead. Luckily, her dog finds the right man for her and lets both of them know it. It's the perfect fun-filled, heartwarming and romantic tale for the holidays.

All of this brought me full circle to marveling at how our minds work! So I wonder, what kind of connections does Thanksgiving trigger in your head--and how do you find your way to romance from there??