Blog – Page 56 – Sharon Lee, Writer

Interesting Times

What went before: Northern Light Hospital (a non-profit hospital), which is less than a mile from my house, and one of the several reasons we were so very pleased to find this house when we did, is closing on June 11. My PCP, cardiologist, womens health, and other specialists are of course all attached to that hospital. News story here.

Friday. Cold and cloudy-ish when I got up. The sun’s making some inroads now. The weatherbeans are putting their chips on 50F/10C.

First Breakfast was a cup of cottage cheese. Coffee and a scone for early Second Breakfast. If I do this right, I might be able to squeeze in Third Breakfast — and there’s lunch solved.

Trooper is back from the vet. We have mixed news. He was to have had his rabies vaccine and general wellness check today. Despite the fact that I see him eating, and his interest in All the Goodies at Coon Cat Happy Hour, he’s lost weight since I took him in for his anxiety, last month.

Here at home, I haven’t been able to alleviate (or identify a cause for) his ongoing anxiety. (I don’t think he’s reading the news, though I guess Firefly could be keeping him up to date.) His blood work from the previous visit was “normal” (Vet: “Because of course it is.”) His vet pronounces him “frail.” Because he’s a cat, and even more stoic than most cats, we can’t tell if he’s in pain. If he is, it’s generalized and not specific. All that considered, and being unwilling to put him under the systemic stress, the vet did not give him his rabies shot. She did give him a shot of Solensia, which is a pain reliever used for things like arthritis. I’m to watch him, of course, and report back next week.

So, that. Good thoughts for Trooper, if you have them to spare.

Now that I’m home, I intend to stay home for a couple days and spend some Quality Time with my manuscript. It’s possible I can sneak in a drive to the ocean on Sunday or Tuesday.

ASL class was fun and interesting. We are a motivated group, good-natured and easy-going. I have homework, including working out how to spell my parents’ names, which at least this time my security clearance is sufficient to allow access to that information. (In first grade, when Sister asked me what my father’s name was, I said, “Al.” There was a pause before she asked what my mother’s name was, and I said, perfectly confident, “Hon.” And that’s how I wound up standing in the front of the classroom with my hair stapled to the bulletin board.) Also, counting 1-20, and vocabulary words.

I may register for the second session, which starts immediately after this one ends, though I’ll have to miss the last class by reason of traveling to BaltiCon.

. . .and the sun is now sufficiently high in the sky that the frost on the deck has melted and is starting to evaporate.

I finished reading the 8th Lord Julian novel last night, which I think catches me up there, and started reading The Tomb of Dragons.

What are you reading?

Second Breakfast Cat Census:

Books read in 2025

20 A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19 The Thirteen Clocks, James Thurber (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny’s Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9 House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

How we make cat food

What went before: 960 new words, plus some throwing around of ideas, and bringing up to date of the Weird Word List.

I washed the towels. Now I need to fold them and put them away. Oh, and take the extra bread out of the freezer, which I never did, though I said I was going to.

Thursday. Grey and gloomy. Warm, but not as warm as yesterday.

Breakfast was PB&J on toast, first cup of tea is almost done. Lunch will be — um.

Errands this morning, homework review, and ASL class this evening. Those are what’s on the schedule. Oh — and I should call the cardiologist’s office. The phone’s need for constant reassurance is going to drive me bugs long before we hit Day 30.

Last night, I just went straight to bed after the evening meal. I took a Yeti cup of chamomile tea with me, and my tablet. I was immediately joined by Firefly and Rook, who stayed with me until I turned out the light about an hour later, so that was pleasant.

It occurs to me that last year, I was able to accomplish miracles on four hours’ sleep because I was driven by the energy that’s released when the world blows up. That energy has long since dissipated. Now, I’m tired all the time, and frequently confused in my purpose. And there’s twice as much to do — or at least, the same amount to do, but with half the staff. The cats are of course a comfort, but their advice in almost every stressful situation is to take a nap. They’re not necessarily wrong, but, then, they don’t have to pay bills, or even buy cat food.

Tali is now on my lap, purring, and bumping the keyboard away with her head. I have just repeated the “This is a keyboard; it’s how we make cat food” lecture for the umpth time. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t believe me.

And off she goes! I’ve put the kettle on to boil for my second cup of tea.

What’s for lunch at your place?

In which sleeping well is its own reward

What went before: So, I pulled the trigger on my Garmin watch this afternoon after I came home. After warning me that it could be Several Days before my package would be mailed, I have a shipping notice and the news that I should see my Item by March 17, so Happy Five Years Cancer Free to me.

I sat with the manuscript a bit, but got no new-word-writing done to speak of. Tomorrow, I have “nothing” on the schedule, so I will try to buckle down and actually get some work done.

I have one more thing to get out into the email lanes, then I’m done for the day.

Trooper, alas, has caught on to Spring Forward. He is even now positing that it is Coon Cat Happy Hour, which — it will be Old Time Coon Cat Happy Hour in just 1/2 hour.

That didn’t last long.

Chorus: Now’s the time to preorder your signed copy of Diviner’s Bow from The Uncle. Here’s how.

Wednesday. Sunny and cool. The ‘beans are calling for Cooler Than Yesterday.

Breakfast was homemade wheat toast with cream cheese and grapes. My first cup of tea is with me here at the desk.

The loaf of bread is almost gone, so one decision on the day is whether I’m making a new loaf today or defrosting the Extra. Lunch with be chicken patty on a roll with a slice of cheddar — a chickenburger! — and whatever veggies seem good at the time.

I didn’t go to bed last night as early as I had planned (mostly because Tali had actually come to my lap and gone to sleep while I was reading, and I didn’t want to leap right up and disrupt a Milestone), but I did sleep past 7 this morning, so, go me (and Firefly and Rookie who both slept with me), for 8 hours plus of sleep, and I feel much more The Thing today, with a noticeable lack of I ache all over, which is a relief all by itself.

So, the heart monitor is annoying, though not for the reasons you might think. It’s tiny and weighs pretty close to nothing. The phone part of the package runs Hot Pepper (Android 12), which isn’t that many generations back. I think the Pixel 9 in my other pocket runs Vanilla Ice Cream (Android 15).

However, the phone is desperate for attention, and it every so often gets up on its hind legs and triggers the alarm for Poor Skin Contact! Which is my cue to reboot, which mysteriously solves the problem for another three hours or so. Aside that, I do have to be careful about cats who want to sleep on my chest, and also Rookie, who thinks that Thing Two (the spare unit that’s kept on the charging cord on the night table) is some kind of weird cosmic spider that needs Serious Killing.

I have some letters to answer today, including a request for a “good” picture of Steve to be included on the page dedicated to the Steve Miller Memorial Poetry Contest. I have … a few … pictures of Steve, but none from his Performing Poet Period, that having predated my intrusion into his life. We may have to go with a paper plane, if I can find that one.

Other than that, I’m really wanting to do some work today, so maybe I’ll take the spare loaf out of the freezer, after all, in the spirit of limiting distractions.

What are you doing today that’s fun and/or interesting?

Ah. Paper plane:

Want a signed copy of Diviner’s Bow? News you can use

The Uncle has begun shipping Diviner’s Bow with its very handsome signed bookplate. So, if you want a signed hardcover, now isn’t too soon to order, and the Uncle is going to make it Extra Easy for you to get your book.

If you ordered a signed copy of Ribbon Dance from Uncle Hugo’s last year, and your payment information has not changed, all you have to do to get your copy of Diviner’s Bow into the mail is this:

Write to unclehugoATaolDOTcom. State your name, that you purchased Ribbon Dance last year, that your payment information has not changed, and how many copies of Diviner’s Bow you would like to receive.

The Uncle will do the rest.

It really doesn’t get any easier than this, so! What’re you waiting for?

Sharon Lee

There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole

What went before: 1,266 new words — not too bad for a woman who thought she was going to sit down in the comfy office chair, open the laptop and — fall asleep.

I b’lieve I will be ordering in a Garmin tracker. The insurance may pay for it, and even if not, the stress of the sporadically working FitBit is — stressful. And it’s something I can do something about.

The insurance bill for the car and the house has landed, so I’ll be writing that check before I use the money for something foolish, like buying a dozen eggs. Couple other pieces of snail that I need to deal with came in, too, though nothing particularly urgent.

Tomorrow, I need to go visit the cardiologist so they can glue one of those heart monitors to my chest for 30 day. Yes, yes; I did do this before. The doctors are bored. Or fishing. It would be nice if they got bored of fishing.

I note that I am Out of Cookies. That was careless of me. OTOH, maybe I’ll make scones tomorrow morning, so I’ll have something nice to eat with my tea when I come home from the cardiologist.

And that? Is all I’ve got.

Until. . .

Tuesday. Glowering and cold at the moment. Beans are calling for a high of 51F/11C. We’ll see.

In the meanwhile, breakfast was homemade wheat bread toast, cream cheese, grapes. As I remarked to Rook, who was sitting on my lap at the time, “These grapes ain’t nothin to write home about, so it’s a good thing we’re already here.’

I’ll take the trash and recycling to the curb as soon as I finish my first cup of tea and find my shoes.

Oven heating for scones.

My arm that received the booster shot hurts. I realize belatedly that it is my left arm. I’m usually more careful than that, but — can’t really get a re-do. And thinking about it — I kind of ache all over, which I ascribe in equal portion to the COVID shot and fifteen trips up and down the cellar stairs in service of getting things to where they needed to be.

After I put the trash out, get the scones in the oven, and do my duty to the cats, I’ll look over what I wrote yesterday, and add in all the names that I had forgotten since the last time I used them.

The cats felt that 5 hours and 10 minutes of not-particularly-restful sleep was enough for me. On the one hand, I would have liked more sleep. On the other, I was having some very anxious dreams, which makes me feel like that guy who complained the food wasn’t very good and the servings were too small.

All that said, I’m angling to go to bed early tonight, given that the Things I have to accomplish are inconveniently timed for fitting in a nap.

It’s good to have A Plan.

How much sleep did you get last night?

____________
Right before he started chewing on my head — that’s head, not hair — Trooper gave me to understand that There Was No Food In the Bowls. As we see here, Trooper was exaggerating slightly:

Oh, today’s blog post title brought to you by Odetta and Harry Belafonte, “There’s a Hole in the Bucket.”

Now it’s Monday morning

What went before: I may have straightened out the timeline. Maybe.

In other news, I wrote about 1,000 words, recasting a scene impacted by the timeline kinks.

The cats are *not* demanding Happy Hour, and I’m wondering if I just out to let it run out to new-8:00. Hmm.

Also — I re-re-re-&c-read The Thirteen Clocks, which is every bit as silly and beautiful as I remembered.

Monday. Snowing. Of course, it’s snowing.

Breakfast is oatmeal with cranberries and walnuts, with tea. Lunch will have to take care of itself.

COVID shot at 10:30, followed by foraging, since I’ll be in the grocery store, followed by We’ll See How It Goes.

Nothing really more to report.

What’re you doing today?

Cat pictures in lieu of content:

Books read in 2025

19 The Thirteen Clocks, James Thurber (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny’s Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9   House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

Time is for dragonflies and angels

Before we get started, a Shout Out: Karen Rix Krah, if you are within the sound of my voice, please email me! Thanking you…

What went before: Boy, that sweet potato was good. One of the “Japanese” sweet potatoes, with the purplish skin and the white flesh.

I am currently rearranging the drawers in the pantry so I can centralize my baking stuff, and get to it more easily.

When Steve got taken with the need to rearrange things, or clean the house, he would say, “I’m writing — no, really I am.” And it did more often than not turn out that, next day, or that night, he’d be hitting the keyboard.

So, yanno — I’m writing.

Rook came out to the dining room to eat a few crunchies and keep me company. He’s gone back to the jetpak in the living room. Tali and Trooper are in my office with me, and Firefly is spending the day in Steve’s office.

Some Hours Later: OK, the pantry makes more sense to me now, in re having all the most-used baking things in one accessible drawer instead of some way over my head, some more way down there, and the rest at waist level.

Firefly and Tali were having a game of tag — not sure where Tali is at the moment. Rook is playing with his robot mouse. Trooper is on the co-pilot’s chair with interested ears, trying to figure out What That Kid Is Doing without, yanno, actually getting up and looking.

Sunday

The Early Report: The cats woke me at 6, according to the bedroom clock, which I’ll need to change later. It was of course 7 and probably they’ve done me a favor, but I’m not feeling the love at the moment.

First cup of tea in hand, and I in my robe am sitting in the comfy office chair under a heated blanket, blinking owlishly at the sun rising over the Long Back Yard.

Oof.

Can we just choose one, please?

Later: Sunday. Sunny and chilly. Going to make a sprint for 40F/4C. So say the weatherbeans.

I did sit in the comfy chair, under the heated throw, for an hour, drinking my tea, and staring out the window, which I intend to recommence shortly after I finish writing this dispatch to the internets.

Breakfast was pb&j on an English muffin. Second cup of tea at hand. Lunch will be chicken and veggies. (Though I don’t usually report on the evening meal — last night I had a grilled cheese sandwich and It. Was. Awesome.)

I’ve stripped the bed and have made the Command Decision to retire the flannel sheets for the season. So, that’s A Thing.

And — always aside from one’s duty to the cats, and of course, remaking the bed — that may be all Real Life gets out of me today. I have got to fix this damn’ timing issue, or order in another barrel of handwavium. Or, yanno, both. Can’t have too much handwavium in Da Biz.

How’s everybody feeling today?

Bonus: For the folks wondering if I’ve “grown accustomed.” TED talk from Nora McInerny. It’s short, and in my admittedly limited experience, accurate.

Today’s blog post title brought to you by the sainted Mr. James Thurber: The Thirteen Clocks, which, if you haven’t read it — do that. No, I mean now.

Books read in 2025

18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny’s Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9   House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.