In The Garden

Today’s post title comes from the name of the Dolores Riordan song currently playing. Because music is inspiration, or something like that.

This week’s big thing: I have discovered oat milk. It has calcium added AND fiber naturally, plus the carb content makes it sweet with a depth that blends ridiculously well into flavored tea hot or iced. So I’ve been enjoying a bit of it daily since this time last week. It isn’t replacing milk for me, but I really don’t like the smell of milk as it warms after being mixed into anything, so this is a game changer for my regular ill-defined need of “I want tea but also a sweet drink but also don’t want much added sugar”

Anyway. I’ve also rediscovered roasted chickpeas. I stopped buying them back around pandemic year when the supplier of Big Bags stopped making those in favor of overpackaged “snack packs” AND jacked up their per ounce prices to hahahahNOPE levels. I found a different brand that makes 5 ounce packs, which is still overpackaged, but at least holds 4 or 5 servings instead of ONE. So I now have three crunchy treats to rotate—cashews, pistachios and salty Biena chickpeas.

Today is Glass Pumpkinfest day at the Morton Arboretum, so I don’t know how much focus I’ll have beforehand. I paid some bills, did some emailing and chatting, checked some files, did my daily puzzles, and pacified the cat. And I got all my new Zig Zag Claybourne books downloaded & then side loaded into my Kindle app.

So there’s my Halloween treat sorted, at least.

Gonna go rant a bit on WTF now, then look into collecting the email addies for my volunteer alpha readers so I can make an email template and out the first few scenes of Two Angry Women Bond Over Cats, hereafter known as TAWBOC.

The playlist has progressed to Gimmee Three Three Steps. Time to go. That’s it for now.

entirely expected delays

So I was going to write a post Sunday, but I was tired after all the peopleing over the weekend, (and the hotel bed that was not great and the nois AC that was not great) so once we got home I watched TV and ate snacks and played on my tablet. And took some walks with Spouseman.

Then I was going to write a post Monday, but I woke up with a horrible case of Why Bother Who Cares, which I knew INTELLECTUALLY was the inevitable crash after a long and extremely enjoyable weekend in the company of Too Many Other Humans, but emotionally I was still stuck in the Land of Blah.

So I did not desk. I did put out all the outdoor Halloween decorations, and I finished the Backyard ditch-path-rain-drainage project, at least enough to go on with. I finished the decorating part just in time for the first of the long-delayed Autumn Rains to begin falling, and finished the ditch-digging part in the rain, which was much more pleasant than it might sound, being that it was still hot out, and I was beneath the canopy of the redbud tree so I didn’t actually get too wet.

There was also a rainbow.

And then I was going to do my usual “start the workday with a quickpost” today, only today started quite early with the quarterly Mouse Patrol due anytime after 7AM, which of course meant being up and functional at 7 even though as usual, Mouse Patrol Guy arrived around 8:45. So I ended up doing easily-interruptable activities all morning and then dove right into the actual desk work once I sat down in the office. (All the sheets and towels got laundered, and I did some organizing and tidying.)

Desk time was a major vidtory, though—I have an actual shop page on my website.

Yup, you read that right, kmherkes.com now has a bookshop page with ebook direct purchase AND links to the direct paperback purchase ecommerce pages hosted by my distributor, who can ship books much more easily and cheaply than I can.

Anyway. That took some doing.

Lastly, I was going to do my Official Weekly Blog tonight at work but ended up having a meeting with The Boss first thing (good meeting, regular update & checkin, just not on the dy I expected it) and then had a great chat with a co-worker during the time I would usually write.

Might get it done tonight, might not. Probably not. I’ll probably watch a bad movie, have tasty food and pet the cat. That’s a good way to wrap a successful day. Blog will happen tomorrow, though. Blog, and chili.

Because it’s finally cold out, which means it’s chili season!

That’s it for now.

How quickly time flies

So, yeah. I’m writing this at 02:43 local time (only 1:43AM at home! EARLY!) because I am determined to keep up my regular writing streak even though I’m busy with family events and traveling and website enhancement obsession and other general avoidance issues. Ta dah, I have written!

What have I been doing instead of recording my daily minutia? Finally working on getting a store onto my website and then…so much talking to people. Meeting new people, re-meeting family and their extended social circle I haven’t seen in days, weeks, months, or years even. (depending)

So. Much. Peopling. And all this was after it being Big Grocery week, working a different shift than usual on Monday, going into the Big Shoulders City to go out to dinner with some of the aforementioned family on Wednesday, and then Pantry Restock Part 2 on Thursday, with bonus Winter Holiday gift discoveries that have now been squirreled away into a clever hiding place.

Side note, I feel ridiculously clever for setting myself a “wrap presents” calendar alarm for Solstice with a reminder of what I got Spouseman and where the packages are hidden. I’ve only ever forgotten/lost one present and discovered it shortly before his birthday, but I felt bad enough about it I never want it to happen again.

But I digress. My point is, I am crackly and flaking around the edges from all the social interaction and travel stress. Only melted down once, on the highway drive to Current Location. Pretty good, especially considering I was also low on calories and hydration for the day at that point as well.

Once we got checked in and decompressed, we found a delicious franchise boba tea place around the corner from our hotel. Snack time! Walked around, saw sights, did The Peopling, and then came back to the hotel room where I continued on the website enhancements project.

The ebook section is up and running and kinda works. I’m pretty stoked. This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to getting a working store page. Next step is getting the payments part set up, but that is definitely gonna wait until I’m home again.

But still. PROGRESS.

Anyway. Now it’s ridiculous late, and tomorrow will be a looooong day with a football game in the middle of it, so I should get a nap in before the fun begins.

That’s all for now.

End of September

Had another impromptu Friend Meal today, breakfast at Honey Biscuit with three good friends from my Borders days. Great to catch up. Theme of the “how are you doing?” segment of chat was very much a collective exchange of, “Oh, pretty good except for the overwhelming existential dread.” Which is life in Fascist USA these days.

Anything more on that is better suited to the WTF section. Rest of convo (which ran about two hors, we do know how to TALK, yes we do) was about family, Kids These Days, favorite grocery stores, most hated apps, technology gripes, health stuff, and etc. It was both noted and accepted that yes, we sound like old women—damn it, because we are, so we’ve earned it.

It was really nice to start the day by getting out for a long walk. Every time I do that I feel good afterwards, so every time I think, “I should make this a habit,” and every time I forget. I really need to remember how good it feels.

Have now made tea, paid some bills, checked on finances, and renewed a couple of memberships. Daily games have been played, items added to the to-do list, grocery list updated, and music is playing. Pretty good day so far.

Plan? Continue the writing. Start contemplating the things I want to get done before WindyCon. Water the plants. Figure out how to put chunks of writing into emails for alpha readers.

That’s a good long list. Gonna get to it.

WTF Weather

No, seriously, it’s 86 degrees outside today. Leaving the AC off because, welp, it’ll be 60 degrees tonight, so as long as I open the windows at sunset and close them before 9Am it stays nice and cool inside…

But anyway, the heat and drought are playing merry hell with my plans to finish the back wilderness trench. The clay soil isn’t too hard to dig, since it’s actually dry enough that it breaks apart, but it’s too damned hot to be shoveling for long. So I do a couple of scoops at a time every couple of days.

I did laundry today instead. Not all the laundry. I’ll save the “sheets and towels” loads for after the weekend with family. There are lots of ways to measure prosperity. One of mine is “Throw one batch of towels and sheets into the wash and still have clean sheets on my beds and clean towels in the bathroom.” I spent many years owning only two sets of sheets and two sets of towels, and it was fine. But now it really feels decadent to have EXTRA.

Anyway. That’s been it for Useful Work. Hummingbirds got fresh sugar water yesterday, and plants will get watered tomorrow AM. Tomorrow is also shopping day. (sigh) Pantry restock needs doing, and I’m also low on milk. So. Away I shall go to All The Stores. Or at least Costco and the Big Fancy Jewel that still carries Alternative Proteins.

But tonight it’s Swapped Shift time at the library for me, followed by some tasty rice bake. in front of Black Sails. And hopefully more & better sleep than I got last night. Weird deliberately disturbing movie was weird and disturbing.

That’s it for now.

Sept 28

Welp! Weekend report time.

Friday evening was a Dining Adventure (tm) Friends decided to try out a new boba and ramen restaurant, part of a franchise called Taichi Bubble Tea, and all the Mount Prospect team showed up to represent. It was right at my limit for Large Group Restaurant Events (8) but much fun was had, many menu items were sampled, and 2 pounds of leftover ramen came home for future lunches.

Saturday morning shift at the library was a delight. A lot more traffic than on a weekday evening. Higher energy, too, and a different vibe. Nice bonus was that I got to see a lot of co-workers I don’t see very often.

Ramen was just as tasty the second time around for lunch. I started a new book and sat in the sunshine, and it was glorious. After that I was feeling antsy and unsettled, so I played in the yard the rest of the afternoon.

I watered the trees because it’s been dry-dry-dry for weeks now. Picked a bunch of tomatoes from the vines I’ve been neglecting/leaving to the squirrels for two weeks. Brought in over 1.5 gallons of ripe tomatoes and composted another half gallon of nibbled/sun-split/overripe ones. Washed all the tomato bits off the patio, and root-pruned two more of the coralberries. Felt good to be out in the sun and fresh air.

Leftover pizza for supper in front of Black Sails, and then I played games in front of a movie theater(Now You See Me 2) while Spouseman read the rules to a new roleplaying game and played Warframe.

Sunday! finished bacon and bagel for breakfast, then hit th farmer’s market for a restock on herbed spread, smoked mozzerella sticks, cucumbers and apples. Did more reading, enjoyed the sunshine, watched humminbirds, and listened to cardinals fussing. Took a walk to Straw & Bubbles and got some boba tea. Spouseman decided to try the Bingsu shaved ice treat. (warm day, been thinking about trying it for literally months, if not now when, so why not?—that was the thinking.) Mango.

Bingsu is cold and sweet and dairy (it isn’t just ice, it’s like, shaved frozen condensed milk, I think) but somehow doesn’t hit the too-rich, too-sweet buttons that ice cream hits. So that was a lovely dessert discovery. It’s still super-sweet, though. Suffice to say that’s all I needed for lunch.

Had some chips and salsa later with most of my tea as a snack while I sat and did more reading, and some puttering around with graphics ideas. The closes I came to Productivity (tm) was brushing the cat, and helping make supper.

Italian Rice Bake. It’s one of my many favorite pantry meals (made mostly or entirely from shelf-stable/frozen ingredients) It is extra tasty, and it makes 4 or 5 nights worth of meals in one go. So we had supper for tonight, plus Monday and Tuesday, and two meals worth went into the freezer.

What’s in it? ! big jar pasta sauce (spicy vodka carbonated this time) 3 cups uncooked rice (after bing cooked up, obvs) couple handfuls shredded mozzarella cheese, and 4 Italian sausages. I like the faux meat kind because they’re ungreasy, don’t need to be cooked before throwing them into the casserole, and well, they taste yummy. Some parsley, some red wine, some diced up tomatoes, mix it all up in a big bowl and throw it into a buttered 13x9 pan with a little parmesan shaken on top. With the last of the cucumber salad on the side and a nice glass of wine, it made for a fun wrap to the week. I watched Thursday Murder Club while Spouseman had his usual Sunday night online superhero game.

And then I watched Leave The World Behind. I see why it won so many awards. Phenomenal cast putting on fabulous performances, top notch screenwriting, direction, editing, visuals & production, sets, soundtrack, and a bag of chips.

Did I like it? No. I was impressed, and can admire it for many reasons, but like it? No. And not even because it was unsettling. It was designed to be unsettling. I’m good with that part. It’s that it was so very…okay, look. It’s science fiction written for people who “don’t do scifi.” Every second just dripped with Meaningfulness and Messaging and every line of dialogue and plot element oozed with Literary Purpose. And that, my frenz, will get a big thumbs down from me every time.

All that Dramatic Importance is, AFAICT, true to the original novel (side note: I applaud every change the move made from the book, which I read in summary bc I suspect I would find unreadable in full. But. I. Digress.) but that doesn’t make it any more palatable. I will not list all the things that grated on me. Just one: FFS what is it about middle-aged American male Literary Writers that they LOVE making a pubescent female character the symbolic center and moral touchstone of their stories? (and make their mothers be Disney mothers…but that’s two and I said I wouldn’t start a full rant here.)

ANYway. I have a high tolerance for my fiction hitting me over the head with its mesaging. I read all of Thomas Hardy on purpose, voluntarily, FFS. But I might get annoyed when material that basically puts a shiny coat of pain on tired, old stereotypes and tropes I have seen done with a thousand times more subtlety gets huge buzz and major accolades for it.

Might have to watch a cheezy SyFy apocalyptic movie to clear my mental palate. So to speak.

And this one got really long, huh? That’s all for now.

Sept 26

Yah, okay, I did sleep late. I made myself bacon for breakfast, had a raisin bagel with cream cheese, and then…the plans kinda fell apart, thanks to multiple text conversations, changing library work schedules, plans for a short-notice get-together tonight for bubble tea and ramen at a new, local counter service restaurant, and also the cat sat on me.

What have I accomplished? Welp, I collected screen shots showing the hex codes for some color palettes in reds, blues, and golds, pictures of flame tests for strontium and strontium chloride, read about how to froth oat milk using an immersion blender, and looked at a bunch of laptop backpacks.

Took a neighborhood walk and successfully did not stop at the bakery for cookies I don’t actually want. I also did get my daily puzzles done, but it’s not like that takes hours, even if I do two or three extra Knotwords puzzles at 10-20 minutes a piece. And now here I am.

Haven’t bothered with lunch because I ate breakfast at 10:30 and will be eating supper early. Might grab a little snack, though.

A Prince & Macy Gray playlist is rocking in the background. The windows are open and all the birds are singing away outside. Hm. Perhaps I should visit Netgalley and actually download the books I requested that got approved. And I will post one of the book graphics I made earlier in the week.

Yes. That feels semi-productivity-itch soothing activity. And then, some reading I think.

That’s all for now.

Sept 25

Well, hello, Thursday evening. How did it get to be night already? I really can’t blame the time of year. It' does get dark earlier, but it doesn’t get LATE any earlier.

I just got all distractibmpated and didn’t remember to post anything until now, and that’s after getting up EARLY, too.

So it’s been a good day all around. Got up in time to move the ar out of the way of the concrete installers who arrived promptly at 8AM. The get up early part was complicated by a cat who insisted on sleeping on my legs almost all night, and weather that made “cat on legs” a progressively less comfortable situation no matter what position I laid in. He eventually gave up and went to stand on Spouseman’s chest for a while, before finally stretching out to sleep properly.

So, low sleep night. Early rise. Brisk walk in teh glorious fall sunshine with clouds making the early sky really dramatic. Yogurt and crunchies with strawberry jam, because I am an unrepentant weirdo, and then—brace youselves, friends—I FINISHED TACKING TOGETHER MY FAUX SHOJI DOORS.

It’s not like I’ve had the iron I needed for doing this task for three weeks now, or something. Oh, wait.

Anyway. Veneer strips have been added to the backs to hold the tops and bottoms to the main bodies, with nails added for additional structural support—and spacers on two of them so they’ll stand vertically desipte there being moldings at the floor level. The only remaining step is to put some clear velcro on the walls for attaching them in different places depending on whether I want to hide the napping nook or have it open or block it partially due to sunlight needs.

I did that while the concrete work on the driveway was going on. Tampers are loud and distracting. So are cement mixer trucks. Both were deployed over the course of the morning. Once they finished and I finished my project, it was time for a neighborhood walk and some tasty lunch (cashews, apples, cheese, and fresh basil with a few pita chips, plus tea of course.)

That’s where I’d planned to do writing, but instead stalled out for a couple of hours. Chatted with friends online, listened to birds (I have an ID app, Merlin, that tells me what I’m listening to, and hooee, sometimes it is glorious to live in the future, lemmee tell you.) And I read some interesting science articles, about Long Covid, about some kind of radioactivity event in Indonesia that’s flying under the radar, about weather in the Atlantic, and some other things.

BUT then I wrote! Finished a scene, started a next. Very pleased with myself over that.

And now I’m at the ‘brar doing my 3rd of FOUR shifts this week. Really looking forward to cheap pizza, cucumber salad and another few episodes of Slow Horses. I’ll be caught up to the current season by the end of day tomorrow.

What will tomorrow bring? Not sure, but it won’t involve coming to the library. That’s not until Saturday, which will have another early morning wake-up for a morning extra shift.

So tomorrow I shall sleep late. That’s my plan and I’m sticking to it.

Sept 24

Backstory: updated the Official blog, rewatched more Slow Horses, fell asleep in front of Slow Horses, slept most of the night on my cushy gray person-bed in front of the fireplace, zero regrets.

Today: heard back from the concrete replacement people. Person. Whichever. The repair is due to begin tomorrow 8 AM. Which means I have to get up a bit early to move the car off the driveway, so that we will have a vehicle on the OUTside of the repaired patch that won’t be able to support a vehicle for at least 5 days. (weather dependent)

Took a lovely walk around the neighborhood between breakfast (yogurt n crunches again) and lunch (hummus, cashews, pita chips and a 1/4 of a hugeass Cosmis Crisp apple) More trees are coming down. Between the ash borers and the drought, it’s been a bad year for a lot of hardwoods. I suspect we’ll lose even more next year.

I sat down at the desk early, but then got sucked into playing with graphics rather than writing. Which, yes, is A Problem, but also not, because it does need doing, at least to a certain extent. And it’s super hard to focus here at home knowing that (1) I have to go into work 2 hours early and (2) one of those hours will be off-the-clock but still at the ‘brar with my laptop. Which is more or less perfect writing conditions.

I got my puzzle obligations done, I have played with the cat, and I have cleaned some things. And I’ve worked on the grocery list for shopping (probably) tomorrow. That’s a nice amount of checkmarks in the daily chores column. And now it’s time to pack for work.

Sept 23

Welp, the Rapture didn’t happen, or else took so few people no one in a position of authority to report it has noticed yet. Today is also the first full day of autumn, and the weather cooperated with a soft, gray, damp, cool morning followed by a hot sunny afternoon. Very on-brand for September.

I was supposed to have the day off froth ‘brar, but the person I swapped shifts with suffered an accident at their other job, sooooooo I’m working tonight at the brar after all. Tomorrow there’s some extra training and a department meeting as well as my usual shift, then I’m working the swap Thursday AND I’d already agreed to an extra shift on Saturday. Guess it’s gonna be an “all library all the time” week!

I’ve been mainly restful today. Finished a book reread in preparation for the current book (historical fantasy M/M/ romances) did my puzzles, puttered in the yard a bit, and did a bunch of extra puzzles. And paid bills and checked on other financials and did house chores. Ya know. Just some of the usual “everyday but not every day” kinds of things.

Breakfast was yogurt and crunchy Grape Nuts, lunch was cheese, nuts, apples, and basil leaves plus some pickled Juliette tomatoes. Beverages of the day: one pot Darjeeling decaf and one decaf Mango. I have one sugar cookie left of the handful I snagged at the football game Saturday but didn’t finish. They are entirely adequate, but I think I shall make myself some Real Cookies soon.

There needs to be a grocery run soon too. So I guess I should check the lists. I know we ran low on the boxed taters that usually get paired with sausage for Eazy Panry Meal #172 (I’m making up the number in case you can’t tell) because Spouseman improvised last night with boxed rice meal and sausage bake instead.

BRM&SB was quite tasty and will be repeated. Meanwhile, that’s got supper sorted for tonight, too. (The last of the cornbread and tangy cucumber salad will be my contributions to the plating.)

So all that’s left for today is to putter with the writing a bit, and then do my weekly blog update. Which All The Experts assure me I should never be posting around midnight on a weekday, but oh, well. I’m not doing anything else commercial correctly, why start there, amirite?

Anyway. That’s all for this for now.

Sept 22

Backstory 1: Thursday was a refresher lesson in “communications differences between ADHD time-blind me and my non-ADHD spouse.”

When I hear “leave at 2 PM, I think of that as—at best—walk out the door at 2 PM. Himself thinks of it as “be on the road by 2 PM.” So, there I was, not so quietly panicking about being late to an event 2+ hours away in a later time zone, because I wanted a lot more time cushion built into the schedule. And there he was, being annoyed that despite me saying we had to get ready much earlier than he planned, we only left the house 25 minutes before he originally expected. As it turned out, traffic was gobsawful bad to the tune of an extra hour on the road, so every minute did help.

We were not late, despite it all, but we were rushing to get checked into the room, quick-changed clothes and rushed down to the event. We did arrive 10 min after the projected start—but it was a dinner event, and seating always takes a while.

Anyway, I take a wee bit of credit for the 15 min cushion. And so it was a reminder for Spouseman that he needs to explicitly talk back from this concept of a rollout to the “when do I start getting ready” point that’s necessary for my non-panicking. My learning experience was that I need to speak up sooner and more emphatically when I think the travel time cushion is not adequate to meet my better-too-early-than-late anxiety needs.

Best of all, we weren’t late to dinner and had a great chat with some fabulous folks after supper was over.

Backstory 2: Friday and Saturday full of things interesting to me but not easy to explain without getting into MUCH more backstory than a blog is designed to convey.

The shortest version is that due to complicated in-law family reasons, over 15 years ago I ended up on an advisory council for the library at the university I attended back in the dark ages of the 80’s. I’m still on it. They meet at least twice a year. We get wined & dined, receive updates on What’s Going On At The ‘Brar, and What The University Is Doing. We hear student and faculty presentations on Timely Topics, and the meeting always ends with an afternoon or evening on the club level of the stadium during a football game. Where informal discussions of all kinds happen.

ANYWAY. This fall’s presentations were all very social justice related, and the formal officer talks were all about how the university is dealing with the political hellscape—financially, philosophically, and socially. I was shocked to learn how many of the powerful people on this council were shocked (SHOCKED!) to learn how many private prisons there are in this country. It was one of the student investigations. Another student was examining the causes and inequities of the immigrant culture in his home country of Singapore. The third—IIRC—was looking at congruences between the politics of North and South Korea and those of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during the Troubles.

So anyway. It was all very interesting, and much to my surprise, our team also won the football game despite a couple of bad moments early on and a 90 minute lightning-and-rain game delay. It was a good time. I learned things, I had some great conversations, ate more meat than I normally eat in a month, and got to visit a fantastic place called Granor Farms.

But all the excitement did leave me utterly and wholly exhausted; my brain was feeling like used-up bubble gum by the end.

(I should mention that was partly due to this year being FOUR straight days of peopling from morning to night instead of the usual three, since the council meeting started off with a Chicago visit to the Newberry Library on Wednesday. Which was awesome, and I now have a reading room access card out of the deal, so BIG SCORE THERE. But. EXTRA Exhausting.)

The tiredness is at least partly physical. I got in sooooooooo many steps between the downtown trip (walk to train, walk to venue, walk to restaurant, walk to train, walk home…) Then all the flitting from campus event to event plus nostalgic wanderings.

I plonked my butt in the beanbag chair and did not move for HOURS after getting home on Sunday. And then basically did the same thing today.

That brings us to now. It’s end of Monday and I’m starting to feel like a functional human again. In a fortuitous turn of events, one of my co-workers asked if I could swap my usual Tuesday shift for her Thursday shift, so tomorrow I can continue to recover. Huzzah! Everybody wins.

The closest I’m getting to “plans” are to do an obligatory post-big-peopling-event Covid test Wednesday AM, and (assuming all’s well there) investigating the possibility of getting my annual flu and covid shots Thursday at the pharmacy.

Last night was chili and boxed cornbread thanks to my obsession with patty supplies and cooking in big batches for freezer storage. I suspect pizza is on the menu for tonight. It’ll be something simple, for sure. Then there will be some reading and another early night.

That’s it for now.

Made it to the middle of the month!

Backstory (yesterday) Monday was a rest day mostly, thanks to the Sunday overnight binge through The Pitt, which it turns out won a bunch of awards Sunday night right before I was watching it. Coincidence? Undoubtedly, but it tickles me to know it anyhow. I read Bryony & Roses, sampled my two new decaffeinated teas, and finished a scene in the Stray Cat story. Supper of leftover pizza and fresh garlic bread in front of the first two episodes of Black Sails, which I’d seen long ago, but Spouseman has decided he wants to watch. And I dyed my hair, in preparation for doing many peopling things later this week.

Story (today) Broke into the yogurt for breakfast, picked tomatoes, baked the cookie dough I made last Friday, and cut Spokesman’s hair. He returned the favor by giving me a trim around the sides and back so I am Socially Presentable. I’m waiting until after all the peopling (but before Windycon) to do the seasonal buzzcut. That way I can push the midwinter cut until after the new year and not have to deal with haircut stress and holiday stress at the same time.

Lunched on leftover casserole, pickled the tomatoes I cooked, and did my daily puzzles. And now I’m at the desk, with the Chicks playing, and a fresh cuppa tea, ready to tackle some more fiction writing.

Or not. Time will tell. Tonight there will be a meal of the Last Of Last Week’s Leftovers, and more Black Sails, and then four days of Peopling. Tomorrow is a tour of The Newbery Library plus Fancy Supper at a steakhouse on someone else’s dime. The tour doesn’t start until afternoon, so we’re planning on training into town early and catching a snack at Frontera Grill.

It should be a good time. I’ll report on it, of course. That’s all for now.

Sept 14

Backstory: Welp, it’s been a whirlwind couple of days. Friday was the second Introvert Refuge Open House, wherein a half dozen people came over. Computer repairs and Minecraft occupied the dining room table, several books were cracked open, writing happened & a little knitting got done during quiet hours along with multiple discussions breaking out. Custard, caramel apples and a sampler pack of stromboli provided sustenance, and Brother Bear played in the viewing room after food.

Once again gaming was considered but did not happen, but I think momentum definitely built. Next open house is planned for Friday October 24. I expect it will be cool enough for a fire on the patio, rain permitting, of course. And Kpop Demon Hunters will 100% get shown. Because everyone needs to see that flick. E-V-E-R-Yone.

Then came the Saturday Of My Niece’s Baby Shower. She’s 7 months+ along, and I gotta say, of the limited number of showers I’ve attended, this was by far the most enjoyable. (Which is to say I enjoyed it, as opposed to ‘I want to go to show support but may need a week to recover.”)

No Mandatory Fun activities but plenty of entertainments available (tarot card reader, multiple “guess___” stations set up on tables) No organized group anything, actually. Food and drink available and plentiful but neither formal nor fancy. Introductions made to people it would be meaningful to introduce, but not a single hint of typical Must Make Small Talk With Everyone To Be Polite social pressure. Just a variety pack of people gathered together to celebrate the about-to-be parents and enjoy their company. The hosts’ home had a rooftop outdoor gathering space, and the weather was cooperative, so I wasn’t even twitching about Group Of Strangers exposure.

Still felt wiped out when we got home, and it was a longer day that it might’ve otherwise been due to taking the train down and back, with lots of walking beforehand to kill time and not arrive early, but much good chat was had, people were met that I hope to meet again.

A thing I am learning is that vague “we should get together” ideas will never happen unless those Firmish Plans are made before leaving a face-to-face. So Spouseman and I are now committed to having a board game night with fam here at Herkes House in November.

Once we got home, Spouseman and I crashed on the couch with leftover pizza and a viewing of Sneakers, because it had been a long time since we’d seen it, and it’s an underrated classic.

Which brings us to today. Breakfast bagel n cream cheese on the patio, accompanied by the this-year’s baby teenaged squirrel who has been sampling the tomatoes for a month or so. He’s ridiculously cute and utterly without fear. Farmer’s market for cucumbers that I will put into vinegar solution tonight or tomorrow (the last batch went bad in the fridge cuz I forgot about them, ooooops) and a stop for celebratory boba tea. This afternoon I’ve done a my weekly book promo graphic, participated in a couple of writing prompts, and read a novella.

It’s probably horribly egotistical to compare my writing to the works of someone who’s won multiple major awards in my genre, but for reals, the fae-adjacent world of Thornhedge— T. Kingfisher’s spin on Sleeping Beauty—reminds me a lot of my story Salt and Stone. Like, a LOT, and in good ways. Not the style, exactly, and certainly not the world-build itself, which is solidly in the traditional vaguely-post-medieval school of once upon a time, but the, hm. The vibe, I guess. Too dark around the edges to be cozy, too cozy to be gritty, and richly sweet at the core.

ANYway. I’m writing today, and it feels good.

That’s it for now.

I should write about this date…

...but I’m not gonna.

Possibly later on the WTF page, which is getting a bit of a workout thanks to living on the Dumpster Fire timeline where people who view empathy with disgust and think a certain number of gun deaths are a fair price to pay for unregulated gun ownership get medals for <checks notes> being assassinated. Maybe in front of their children. Prolly not, tho. It’s a lovely day, and I’d rather do other things.

I have met with our new house sitter and walked through the important stuff like the cat’s feeding schedule, cat box cleaning system, how to work the hot water dispenser, and where the TV remote lives. All important things! I need to write down various important information so I can leave her a cheat sheet. That’s on today’s list.

Book gifts for my niece’s upcoming baby shower have arrived and been inspected, all are exactly in order. I wish I could’ve ordered them from a local shop instead of The Evil Empire, but timing is everything, and the shower is Saturday. (Plus I did need more supplies I cannot find anywhere else in the US, so there was going to be a delivery anyway. Of such rationalizations are made our modern lives, compromised in some ethical arena no matter what.) ANYway. I shall endeavor to buy the next rounds of books for baby (and possibly parents too!) at one of the many awesome Chicago bookstores.

The books came boxed with paper instead of bubble wrap. Pippin was disappointed, but I am pleased. I now have the last element needed for the next phase of Fake Shoji Door construction, namely, seeing of laminate on the back is enough to hold them together after the resizing. The instructions say to iron on the cotton setting with Kraft paper between the iron and the strips. I got the borrowed iron last week. And now, Kraft paper has been obtained!

There is also writing on the schedule, and cucumbers waiting to be turned into salad, and perhaps some cookie dough to be made. It’ll be stinky hot again the whole next week, but the nights should be cool enough to balance it out. Not a drop of rain forecasted, though. If that doesn’t change, this weekend I’ll have to be watering all the trees and shrubs.

But now, I have puzzles to complete, and then a walk to take in the sunshine. Carpe fresh air.

And that is that for now.

Another day another post

Gonna start just using dates for post titles if I’m not feeling it.

Backstory: had a great workday Monday with Dex in the office. (resheduled from planned Tuesday visit) Did moar administrative things, like finally submitting my “Yes, Meta and Anthropic scraped 6 of my books for their AI text eating monster, here are the titles and ISBNs) form. Also got my formatting issues with the blog main page worked out, did more work on my Patreon dashboard to get rid of the annoying pop up reminding me the “upgrade” was available, and fixed some other little internet things that needed tending.

Why so late with filling out a thing so I could maybe get money? It was a form. I hate filling out forms. It was a form that required collecting and collating information. Even more hate. BUT IT IS DONE. Cue ecologically safe ballon drop and non-microplastic glitter toss.

Prologue: Tuesday was a day of puttering around in research rabbit holes and playing with graphics. Because Rough Passages is now in the Indie Author Select program, I have permission to add the cute 'l’il badge to my covers and promo material. So I made a little promo graphic for that, posted about it, and got into a couple of unrelated conversations online. That took me up to Work Shift, where I wrote my weekly writing focused summary blog post for Main Blog and posted cat pics.

Hm. I should put the “Rough Passages is now all fancy in Biblioboard”graphic as the splash image on my blog page, now that August is 2 weeks over and the sale ends tomorrow. Yay for good timing.

Plot: Did some research on kids books, as I am going to a baby shower soon where guests are requested to gift kids books they love instead of the usual WTFery or consumables like diapers & bottles. So, yay for books. I would’ve gone to a local bookstore to buy them, but, welp, last minute. Most weren’t showing on-hand at any local stores anyway. So. It’s a mix between books I actually loved as a wee’un, books I loved for kids from bookselling days, and a couple of books standing in for books I. loved that I would 100% never suggest to anyone now. (gifting the awesome modern World Full Of Stories, NOT Kipling’s Just So Stories or any of the Lang Fairy Books. Those might come later. When kid is older. Only after discussion with parents.)

Watched Kpop Demon Hunters last night. 10/10 will watch again, getting the soundtrack ASAP. Spouseman loved it too. So wholesome it freaking squeaked.

Today is laundry day. Three loads down, one to go. I had tasty Hawaiian bread toasted for breakfast, and cheese n apples are on the menu for lunch. Supper will be night two of sausage n tater casserole, one of my all time favorite comfort meals, and I’m looking forward to an evening of playing with my cat games on my tablet. Between now and then, I want to add some to the Izzie & Nora story and poke at Treasure Haunt a little more. I got an email that the agent is now reading Ghost Town, so…that world may take front burner in the brain soon. We’ll see.

And that’s that.

End of the Weekend

I have been quite busy doing a whole lot of nothing, and it has been a delight from start to finish.

Slept late, cleaned the bathroom because it was on my chore list, then read until brunch time, brunched on cinnamon raisin bagel n cream cheese with baked apples and bacon, and took a circuitous walk around the neighborhood ending with celebratory—because anything good is celebratory these days—boba tea. And a croffle, because the nice folks who run the place gave us one. They’re too rich for me, but was fresh, and a plain one, so the quarter of it I nibbled before Spouseman finished it was Quite Tasty.

Wrote the Very Important email about upcoming Friday Introvert Open House, did more reading, then some writing in the Story That Refuses to be named. Spouseman retrieved me from the office at 8, we had late supper of tuna salad, garlicc bread and wine in front of the Wednesday Season 1 rewatch and start of season 2…and that was that.

Today has been even lazier, if such a thing is possible. Bagel for breakfast, two pots of tea, snack mix and cheese, and most of Goblin Emperor reread while sitting in sunshine. I did water plants, make new hummingbird food, and play with the cat. I also surfed real estate sites (there’s a missile silo in Kansas for sale) and looked at adoptable cats. It’s fun to look at all the houses I do not wish to own and bittersweet to look at all the cats I would love to buy if only I had infinite space and money.

Thinking seriously of fostering, though. A couple of shelters are promoting that. Time will tell.

And when I hit a break point in all that important activity, Spouseman and I went for a looooong walk on the north loop, the route that takes us through the neighborhood on the far side of the main east-west road in town. Now we’re home, hydrated, and I’ve read a bit more. Time for supper and more Wednesday and then falling asleep on the couch.

It’s been a fabulously relaxing couple of days, full of a contentment that’s deeply unfashionable.

I love being in my house. I love my yard. I love my comforts. People say they go on vacation to “get away from it all",” as if being at home is somehow inferior. And maybe it is for other people. Me, I love travel, but not because it’s comfortable. I love it because I love new experiences. But ALL experiences during travel are new. Adventure is where you find it. I don’t enjoy scheduling my New Experiences. I prefer to just wander around and let them happen.

And I don’t have to be somewhere exotic or be surrounded by Exciting New Strange Things I’ve Never Seen to feel happy and contented. Give me a book, some movies, my comfy sitspots, sunshine, and snacks, and I’m set.

Anyway. That was a digression, but I think i’m done now.

Onward!

Friday already, WTF

Not really surprised, but damn, this week flew by.

Backstory: Thrusday was a day of shifting expectations. I thought it would be a rise&shine work at the desk day, but I slept badly thanks to weather changes, and then Spouseman got a surprise half-day off from the New Project, so things got all spontaneous.

Started with a long achy-joint soothing bath in the morning because I have a freaking fantastic bathtub, and I COULD. Then after breakfasting on the last of the cinnamon bagels in the fridge, I used up the last of the apples from last season to make apple cake.

Because baking is therapy for me.

Trying a shortcut of dissolving the salt and baking powder in the melted-butter-egg mixture turned out to be a bad idea, as it’s evidently acidic enough to set off the baking powder. MUCH FIZZ! Cake still came out tasty, but a bit heavy. Ah, well. Now I know why all the dry gets mixed separate. Which I probably knew already, but Home Ec. was a long time ago, and I flaked on that bit of kitchen chemistry until it was happening before my eyes.

After the baking, Spouseman and I skipped away to the Botanic Garden for a long walk in the glorious cool autumn weather, followed by late lunch at one of our fave delis. The whole excuse for the excursion was to restock on bagels n cream cheese, so we did that, too. I now have cinnamony goodness in three different forms, plus a fabulous coffee cake to work through before I even touch the bagels. raisin sticks or cinnamon-sugar balls. Not that I live for food, but I do need food to live, so I might as well enjoy the flavors, right?

ANYway. Thursday night Spouseman hosted a “Play a miniatures game on the big basement table so it doesn’t feel neglected” visit with a friend, while I did some writing and then watched the last of the current Strange New Worlds season. Ep 9 was a weird mashup of Enemy Mine and the TOS Gorn vs Kirk episode, and I dunno if it was good, because it was an all-Ortegas all the time episode, and welp, I can watch that all night long and twice on Sundays.

Prologue: Today is also a day of shifted expectations. Planned friends visit is postponed to next week. Morning became games-and-reading limbo time. I walked Spouseman over to his lunch meeting, and now here I am.

Plot:

Lunch first, I think, as the day is more than half over. Then I need to write an email to the folks interested in Introvert Day Take 2. I also need to do, um, some other things I’ve already forgotten because I didn’t write them down early enough. Bah. Fingers crossed I remember later. Finishing the Fauxji Door project is still on the list. I have an iron, so it’ll be soon, but not today, I think. And someday soon I need to go pet Apple products in person so I can pick a new laptop. And I did make good progress with Nora & Izzie Get To Meet Each Other yesterday, so that’s itching in my fingers.

Other things on the horizon: looking into Covid and flu vaccination (what a clusterfuck that shall be) being home for heater maintenance, buying a book for an upcoming baby shower, and more baking.

Right now I have a Dar Williams playlist blasting, the sun is out, it’s windy and blustery cool, and life is good for this moment.

So that’s a wrap for now.

Lookit me, writing again

Prologue: Pippin sat on my leg just as I was planning to go to bed, so I ended up washing a few more episodes of ST:SNW than I intended. Which led to sleeping later than I intended.

Backstory: Today has not gone at all as I planned, but that’s okay. It is cool and cloudy as I expected, and the drear makes me sleepy. Breakfast was a cinnamon raisin bagel and some cottage cheese, because I had cottage cheese. I planted lettuce seed and watered the rosemary cuttings just in time for the drizzle to start. Took a walk with Spouseman in between bouts of drizzle. It’s raining hard up northwest where two friends live. Fascinating how different the weather can be only 20 min apart.

Chewy order arrives, so I tried out two new slicker brushes on the cat. Neither is great. One is so bad it’s going straight into the donate box. Pippin and I BOTH hated the sound and feel of it. The other will be fine for combing the carpet after a big brushing session, and since that’s the main reason I ordered a new brush, it’s not a wasted investment.

Otherwise productivity has been limited to cleaning out a few things from the fridge, putting away the paper towel that I forgot in the car yesterday after shopping, and tidying up the pantry closet a bit. I am thawing out the last of last year’s apples to bake them up before this year’s apple season starts. Supper will be the last of the chili for Spouseman and sides plus chicken salad for me. Plus some kind of apple bake for dessert.

And I got this post written. Now it’s time to move onward to other desk things.

It’s Stealth Monday again

Prologue: spent the Labor Day holiday enjoying life by not laboring much at all. Biggest accomplishment was reading up on Labor Day, posting about that and how much it makes me wish history was taught differently (gore and gossip FTW!) The post got a dozen Fediverse boosts. which is about as close to viral as I ever go.

There was also a long walk, a visit to the local grocery for some impulse deli foods and bread rolls for the making of garlic bread later. The day started and ended with a lot of sitting outside enjoying the continuation of Ridiculously Perfect Weather. By which I mean, we sat outside after dinner and enjoyed a fire in our firepit. The sky was super clear, the moon was half-full, and the tree frogs in the back serenaded us the whole time. It was awesome.

Backstory: Today was a shopping day, so after breakfast and mandatory cat pacification time, I headed towards the Lands Of Commerce. First stop was Menards for the things I forgot on the last trip, namely drain cleaner, new outdoor trash can for holding cat box deposit. Also on the list: firepit supplies, since building the first fire of the season demonstrated that we were low on firestarters & kindling.

Next <drumroll> Costco. Evidently everyone in the world shops at our Costco on Tuesday before lunch. Parking lot was FULL. So imagine my surprise when I turned down an aisle planning on driving to the far, far end only to have someone pull out of the rock star space right by the entrance. Yes, I parked there. Not turning down gift luck, noperino. I found all the things I needed to buy and resisted all the impulse possibilities…except for the babybel cheeses…and the oat milk…and a fun weird new brand of crackers to try, and was through the checkout line in no time. Costco runs a mega efficient checkout line, gotta say.

Shopping always tires me out more than I expect. And it always takes longer than I plan, because I forget that putting away groceries takes so much time. But everything got put away in good order, I made myself chicken salad using the canned chicken I’d just restocked, added other delicious sides like blueberries n cheese from the farmer’s market, and scurried off to the office with it all.

I planned to do some desk time after lunch, but I sat on the couch to finish the chapter of Goblin Emperor I’m rereading, and, welp, the cat sat on me. So I had to brush the cat and then take a nap, because I was tired. SO TIRED.

Plot: Now I’m at the library, helping people get to the counter where Circulation is handing out the One Book One Village title for the year (Remarkably Bright Creatures, yet another mystery-adjacent/mystery-lite cozy literary title. Will I read it? Of course. Eventually. It’s not like it will take long.)

Had my monthly meeting/chat with my boss, discussing life, the universe and changes coming to our department in the month ahead. I put up my spooky season lights in the cubicle (green n purple battery mini lights) because it’s now fall so I can do Fall Decor Everywhere. Between nap and work I scheduled our annual heather maintenance and renewed our maintenance contract, which required A PHONE CALL, so that’s probably my productivity for he rest of the week.

After library shift I plan to finish the last of the chili I made this weekend, plus corn on the cob and garlic bread I cooked yesterday, and then I will wrap up rewatching ST:SNW S2 before I fall asleep.

Writing? My fingertips have been shredded yuckiness the last couple of days, but they’re getting better, (look, I’m typing this!) So…writing tomorrow is the plan. Tomorrow with cooperation from body there will be work on “Izzie and Natalie Bond over Stray Cat,” and maybe even some words for Deena and Fletcher and Bazel. We’ll see. It’s going to be cooler, and there may even be rain before the day is out, so a lot depends on how long my joints will tolerate sitting at the desk.

And that’s that.

On the Eve of Fall

Weekend!

Backstory:
I did nothing productive Saturday. Slept past 9AM after accidentally spending most of Friday night on the couch with the cat. Yes of course I blame the cat. I finished watching the stupid Grimm show at last and embarked on a rewatch of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. (So I can finally start watching Season 3!) Breakfast was indulgent toasted Hawaiian bread with jam AND BACON. Dawdled around the house with my books and tablet games until past noon, then went on a Very Long Walk with Spouseman. We wandered along a route very much less-taken, and ended up at Cap’s Ice Cream.

Cap’s used to be Cappanari’s but they rebranded. I suspect someone convinced them Cappanari’s was too hard to spell for good web search/map search results, which is very much true but still sad.) ANYWAY. Their ice cream is super tasty, but I have made my peace with not really enjoying ice cream. I had a very tasty naked waffle cone instead because I LOVE waffle cone cookies. Spouseman had a double-kiddie scoop which is the same price as a regular small scoop but with two different flavors. Cosmic Cookie and something deadly chocolate. We then meandered past Straw & Bubbles on the way home and got boba teas for enjoying later.

I do love me a tasty boba tea.

Once home and hydrated I sat in the sunshine and did more reading until it was time for supper. Leftover pasta, cucumber salad, and a long walk aftrwards under bright quarter moon. Then I watched TV and played games all evening. The windows were open, crickets and tree frogs going strong, and the cat snoring away next to me. No regrets.

Prologue:
The morning more tasty toast and bacon was consumed. This exciting start to the morning was followed by a trip to the farmer’s market. We arrived too late to restock on smoked mozzerella, but got two other tasty cheeses, then grabbed the last blueberries of the season plus fresh veg for various meals to come.

Now:
Freezer chili is in the slow cooker, ingredients for blueberry scone baking have been collected for later, and while I’m writing this, Spouseman is mowing the lawn with our oh-so-quiet electric mower. I’m gonna write Real Blog, with a report on Bring Your Book Club test run and other writey-related things, and then there will be supper, another evening walk and moar TV.

What’s freezer chili? It’s black bean chili made with whatever leftover sausages, pork, turkey, or chicken has collected in the freezer meat drawer, plus tomato paste, chili powder, cumin n other spices, onion, garlic, some broth, some beer…you know, the chili basics. This batch is an experimental combo. Two different brands of brats and vegetarian breakfast sausage. Also jalapeños, frozen corn, carrots, and diced fresh tomatoes because the plants in the garden boxes just won’t stop producing.

Plans for tomorrow are vague beyond “water the plants, avoid the news, move around a bit, and enjoy the six-year anniversary of moving into this house. Convenient, moving right after a major holiday. Makes it much easier to keep track of the date.

And that’s that.