I’m spending a couple of weeks in the area I lived most of my many, many years. MBW and the HA preceded me by almost a week. (It was to have been a full week, but that unwelcome visit from Beryl set back the departure a day.) I will be dropping them off at the airport in a couple of days, then spending another week here myself. The HA was able to enjoy several days with her grandmother, down on the Northern California coast, then get together with several of her old friends. In fact, as I write this at my Aunt and Uncle’s house on the foothills of Mt. Hood, she and a couple of other little girls are enjoying the morning after a sleepover. (A sleepover that was to have been in a tent, that I sweated and grumbled through setting up for more time than I care to admit, but that was abandoned shortly after dark because of the scary noises. And a bug. I think there was a bug involved.)
MBW has been under the weather, and so was unable to complete most of the plans laid months in advance. But she is a trooper and knows how to roll with the blows fate deals out.
I have been setting up my laptop at a client’s office, getting work done, having some in-person meetings. More of that will come. This is as much a business trip for me as an exercise in nostalgia. But I’ve indulged in that as well, driving by the old house, having dinner with former neighbors. Hitting a couple of watering holes I used to frequent. I have plans to get together with friends in the coming days during the evenings. And, with any luck, I’ll make a trip to Powell’s Books. (More on that next week, I hope.)
I haven’t forgotten my avocation. I’ve been working on the second draft of book two of the (working title) Twilight Galaxy series. My goal is to complete the second draft by the time I return to Casa Lizzi, then get back to writing book three. (Oh, and figuring out how to pay for a new roof. Thanks Beryl.)
Well, I rambling. Enough. If you are looking for something fun to read, pick up my crime/S&S novel Thick As Thieves. (Don’t buy the version with the red cover. Get the brown cover.)