Blessings all weekend
Okay, wow. What a great weekend I had. First off, the editing job I did for another writer helped him finally get his memoir published. It's such an amazing feeling, gang. It's been several years since I was able to help another writer get published -- there's nothing that feels quite like it.
Also, I got to spend a couple hours chatting yesterday with a writer-friend in NYC that I haven't been able to really catch up with in quite a while. She has a killer novel underway, gang. It's been a long time since someone read aloud to me (either in person or over the phone) from a work in progress that really knocked my wee bonny little socks off. So cool! What an exhilarating feeling. (Plus, she said, "You know I'm hosting a couple more readings next year (in Manhattan). You should really try to get here for one of them and participate." Suddenly, the way she said it, it seemed so doable, you know? If only I could squelch my desire to stay at the pricey Warwick Hotel -- with perhaps a slightly better view than last time! ha ha. But I'd take the same damn room again, actually. I love the Warwick so much. Anyway. I put it in the mix -- go back to NYC next year and participate in a reading.)
I also found "a good home" for that insulated cat house I bought a couple years ago for Bandit -- my little feral kitten. He wound up dying in the Spring of '09 right after I got home from Los Angeles, which of course broke my heart. But he survived the winter in that little insulated house. An older couple I know casually had a gorgeous little feral kitten wander into their lives and now that the weather is getting colder, he needed some kind of shelter. So, voila! Yay. You can guess how happy it makes me to know that one of God's little creatures might have an easier time of it this winter.
And Saturday morning, I got to spend several hours with my lovely friend from Bosnia. (I actually have 2 friends who are war exiles from Bosnia. One is a woman who lives around here, the other is a man who lives in England.) It was so nice to see her again. It is always such a joy to be with her. This time, she helped me clean out this older woman's basement. It hadn't been cleaned in about 30 years and the woman is much too old to do that kind of job herself. My girlfriend and I have been making plans for a couple years now to go to the Adriatic Sea and stay in my other Bosnian friend's mom's vacation home (for free!). Saturday we were up to our eyeballs in dust and dirt and cobwebs for about 5 hours. And my gf looked at me at one point and said, "Hey, I thought we were supposed to be going to the Adriatic Sea? Why is it that all we're doing is working really hard?" It was kind of funny at the time b/c by then both of our backs were just totally killing us and we were covered from head to toe in dust. But it was so much fun just being together, even in the dirt & dust.
And you know what else? As part of this local program to help home owners of older homes deal with the soaring utility costs (my brand new free Frigidaire was part of that program), an HVAC company came out and did all kinds of free work on my heating ducts and on my furnace and they also installed a new digital thermostat. (ALL of this for free -- plus another company is coming out to give me new insulation and work on my windows, etc.) Anyway, I turned the heat on yesterday for the first time this fall and could not believe how well it worked. It is just unreal. I have it set at 66 and it is totally fine in here. For the last 4 winters, I've had to have my heat set at 78 in order to feel any heat at all, plus I had 2 space heaters running almost constantly.
It is really just amazing how great my life has gotten, isn't it? And so quickly... (Plus, it's too early to predict any outcomes, but another editor is reading my Valentino novel and is "excited" about it. We shall see!)
And I must tell you that watching endless episodes of Bridehead Revisited (see post below) makes for some truly luxuriant and opulent dreams, gang. There were only fragments remaining when I awoke this morning, but I was dreaming in splendor all night long. It's a nice way to wake-up.
Another of my short stories is now officially en francais, folks! I got the translation over the weekend for my story "August on the Lake." I think it will be coming out in Paris before the end of the year. I'm not entirely sure about that, but I'll keep you posted...
Have a wonderful Monday, gang, wherever you are, okay? I'm thinking of you; sending you all the best thoughts I can muster. See ya! Thanks for visiting.
Also, I got to spend a couple hours chatting yesterday with a writer-friend in NYC that I haven't been able to really catch up with in quite a while. She has a killer novel underway, gang. It's been a long time since someone read aloud to me (either in person or over the phone) from a work in progress that really knocked my wee bonny little socks off. So cool! What an exhilarating feeling. (Plus, she said, "You know I'm hosting a couple more readings next year (in Manhattan). You should really try to get here for one of them and participate." Suddenly, the way she said it, it seemed so doable, you know? If only I could squelch my desire to stay at the pricey Warwick Hotel -- with perhaps a slightly better view than last time! ha ha. But I'd take the same damn room again, actually. I love the Warwick so much. Anyway. I put it in the mix -- go back to NYC next year and participate in a reading.)
I also found "a good home" for that insulated cat house I bought a couple years ago for Bandit -- my little feral kitten. He wound up dying in the Spring of '09 right after I got home from Los Angeles, which of course broke my heart. But he survived the winter in that little insulated house. An older couple I know casually had a gorgeous little feral kitten wander into their lives and now that the weather is getting colder, he needed some kind of shelter. So, voila! Yay. You can guess how happy it makes me to know that one of God's little creatures might have an easier time of it this winter.
And Saturday morning, I got to spend several hours with my lovely friend from Bosnia. (I actually have 2 friends who are war exiles from Bosnia. One is a woman who lives around here, the other is a man who lives in England.) It was so nice to see her again. It is always such a joy to be with her. This time, she helped me clean out this older woman's basement. It hadn't been cleaned in about 30 years and the woman is much too old to do that kind of job herself. My girlfriend and I have been making plans for a couple years now to go to the Adriatic Sea and stay in my other Bosnian friend's mom's vacation home (for free!). Saturday we were up to our eyeballs in dust and dirt and cobwebs for about 5 hours. And my gf looked at me at one point and said, "Hey, I thought we were supposed to be going to the Adriatic Sea? Why is it that all we're doing is working really hard?" It was kind of funny at the time b/c by then both of our backs were just totally killing us and we were covered from head to toe in dust. But it was so much fun just being together, even in the dirt & dust.
And you know what else? As part of this local program to help home owners of older homes deal with the soaring utility costs (my brand new free Frigidaire was part of that program), an HVAC company came out and did all kinds of free work on my heating ducts and on my furnace and they also installed a new digital thermostat. (ALL of this for free -- plus another company is coming out to give me new insulation and work on my windows, etc.) Anyway, I turned the heat on yesterday for the first time this fall and could not believe how well it worked. It is just unreal. I have it set at 66 and it is totally fine in here. For the last 4 winters, I've had to have my heat set at 78 in order to feel any heat at all, plus I had 2 space heaters running almost constantly.
It is really just amazing how great my life has gotten, isn't it? And so quickly... (Plus, it's too early to predict any outcomes, but another editor is reading my Valentino novel and is "excited" about it. We shall see!)
And I must tell you that watching endless episodes of Bridehead Revisited (see post below) makes for some truly luxuriant and opulent dreams, gang. There were only fragments remaining when I awoke this morning, but I was dreaming in splendor all night long. It's a nice way to wake-up.
Another of my short stories is now officially en francais, folks! I got the translation over the weekend for my story "August on the Lake." I think it will be coming out in Paris before the end of the year. I'm not entirely sure about that, but I'll keep you posted...
Have a wonderful Monday, gang, wherever you are, okay? I'm thinking of you; sending you all the best thoughts I can muster. See ya! Thanks for visiting.
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