Grumpy Sunday

What went before: About half-done with entering the corrections/rewrites/removing scenes/shifting scenes. Hope to be done with that part tomorrow.

It is very nice in my office with the curtains open and the breeze coming through.

I need to go wash some dishes before Happy Hour descends. I’ve got some mail to tend to, after Happy Hour, then finding something to eat. I’m tending toward grilled cheese to tell the truth. Grilled cheese is always in order.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

Sunday. Sunny and not as cool as I’d like, but nor too hot. Windows are open. Heat pumps are on “fan.”

Really lousy night. Finally got to sleep around 4am and woke on my own a little after 8. This has put me behind schedule, and, also? I’m cranky.

Breakfast was hummus and naan, with grapes. Tea brewing now for second breakfast of half a blueberry muffin, because I’m still losing weight, and that’s …. disquieting.

I don’t know what lunch will be. Ice cream, maybe.

Cat fountains have been changed out. After Second Breakfast, I’ll cope with my other duty to the cats and take a walk, then I will be free to get with the WIP.

How’s Sunday at your place?

Tali, enjoying yesterday’s free-flowing air:

The tyranny of small things

What went before ONE: Duty to the cats performed. Walk walked. Reading of WIP done.

Very pleased to see that it’s nowhere as awful as I of course assumed it would be. Needs work, but who among us does not?

Next steps are adding corrections and moving pages as noted on the hardcopy, making Yet Another Chapter-by-chapter, and then as a reward for the Long Clerical Schlepp, I get to write new words.

Have an appointment for a potential cleaner to come by next Tuesday, take a look around, and give me an estimate, so *that’s* in train.

Right now, I need to do some kitchen-y things, like getting honey into the syrup dispenser, and cutting up the yam for skillet yam-onion-and-garlic. After which, it’s back to work.

The day remains very pleasant, and the windows remain open, which is so very nice. I get tired of Station Air, even though some days it’s for the best . . .

What went before TWO: Summing up: Yesterday afternoon, someone shot a motorcyclist dead on the Roosevelt Trail at the Windham Shopping Center, subsequently taking off in his car.

The Windham police hit the FEMA all-call, which hit Every Cell Phone In Maine, and a bunch in New Hamphire, too, with a godawful shriek, to let us know that there was a shooter on the run, and instructing everybody everywhere to shelter in place, lock doors and windows.

As of 7pm the suspect was reported “located” and the shelter-in-place lifted. The Windham police apologized for hitting the Big Red Button instead of the Smaller Red Button to the right.

What went before THREE: Tools down now, I think, rather than get sucked in to going all night. Tomorrow, I have more (LOL . . . yeah) correx to enter. I’ve already deleted +/-3,000 words, so there’s that.

Coon Cat Happy Hour is up in a few minutes. I will, regretfully, be closing the windows and going on to Station Air before I draw a glass of wine and do a little bit of reading before dinner.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

Saturday. Sunny and still cool. Windows are open; Station Air is off.

Trooper has had his gravy, whined for and received a bowl of gooshy food, which he proceeded to ignore.

I? Have already been to and come back from the walk-in clinic, and I was honestly embarrassed to be there. I had gotten an earring stuck in my ear, and since I can’t see the back of my own ear, there we are. Long story short, the post had bent down, and since it wasn’t straight, it couldn’t come back out the hole in my ear. So, now I have a pair of earrings I probably shouldn’t wear, which is kind of too bad because I liked them.

The nurse was extremely good-natured, and told me they see lots of earring problems, which — almost 60 years of wearing earrings and this has never happened to me.

Anyhoots, back home now, tea to hand (breakfast was a Kodiak blueberry breakfast bar on my way to the clinic), and it’s time to get with the WIP.

And how’s Saturday treating you?

Let’s take a knife and cut the world in two

What went before ONE: Man, TJMaxx was like Wonderland this morning! Looking better than it has in a LONG time. I scored a bamboo three-shelf unit to got into the bottom of the closet to hold shoes and the like. This should also make it more obvious when Rookie had invaded the closet, though I’m sure he’ll work out a Stealth Procedure pretty quick.

Also bought a syrup dispenser, which answers my honey dispensing problems — and spare shower curtains, and coasters, and a pair of kitchen shears to replace the pair that rusted.

Honestly, the trip was notable by what I didn‘t buy.

Halloween was everywhere, naturally. Insofar as these things may be, classy Halloween. I had gone into the store feeling v. sad because the former JoAnn’s next door to TJMaxx is going to be one of those ghastly (and not in a good way) Spirit of Halloween stores, but I left TJMaxx feeling — energized.

Retail Therapy for the win.

One of the things I didn’t buy was a sit-up-in-bed and read pillow — you know the ones? They have a chair back and little soft arms, and the whole thing is a pillow? The ones on offer today were covered in fleece, which I suspect may be too much of a good thing. But that got me thinking — who uses one of these to read in bed and how does that work out for you?

Trooper has had the rest of the can of gooshy food I opened for him this morning, and it’s time for me to get my snack and to pack a sandwich to take with me, so I can take my meds on time.

No, the excitement never DOES end.

What went before TWO: Mission(s) accomplished with only one, and very slight, necessity to refrib the chanimeester, so that’s nice. If anyone local-ish wants a signed copy of Diviner’s Bow, there’s one at the Augusta BN.

Trooper demanded that I feed him immediately I returned home, so he’s in the bathroom, chowing down. After he’s finished, I’ll do the clean-the-bathroom thing, and look to start writing after I get home from having my hair cut tomorrow morning.

I note that the outdoor computer-driven machines are faltering under the heat. Took three tries at two different pumps before I could refill the car, and then I couldn’t get a receipt. Nor could I wash the windows, because someone had taken in all the squeegees and all the fluid wells were dry. I grant that this last is not a machine failure, but — grrr.

What went before THREE: I begin to see an error in my Life Plan. No kids = no grandkids. No grandkids = no help with the housework and the weeding.

Of course, people may not put their grandkids to work anymore. I cleaned my grandmother’s house and weeded the garden.

Yeah, I’m gonna have to find somebody to help me out around here, though I am kinda getting frustrated with the whole business of hiring somebody, settling down with them, and they need to move on.

And, no, not an option to move to a smaller place. I hear that some people, when they lose a partner, are driven to get rid of the house, because the memories that have soaked into the walls are just too painful.

I’ve tried on the idea a couple of times, but honestly, I don’t want to move out of this house. It’s a comfort to me, in that it does remind me of who and what we were, and what we’d accomplished, together.

And with that said — I’ll go put the bathroom back together.

. . . the cats, by the way, are of the opinion that I’ve lost my mind. “What’s she doing?” “Why isn’t she sitting down and rattling papers?” No comment on Charmer the robot vac, who has never gotten the respect he probably deserves from the cats.

And I hear Trooper announcing that he has eaten what he pleaseth and must be liberated from the bathroom neeOW!

What went before FOUR: And in other news, I found the earring back I lost a month ago.

What went before FIVE: So, that’s enough fun for one day. The cats get an early Happy Hour, I get an early dinner and a couple hours on the couch to read.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

What went before SIX: So, here’s a story. A Maine Republican, off his own bat, writes to the provinces of Canada fartherest removed from Maine, to . . . tempt them to join the US. In doing so, he attacks the Canadian form of government while promising freedom and respect.

British Columbia is Not Amused, responding in part that the lawmaker’s undated memo “lands more as a manifesto of arrogance.”

My source is the Bangor Daily News, linked, but might be paywalled. Link

This reminds me of All The Lonely Guy-Children who write that they deserve a woman, and then go on to demonstrate such contempt for women that you’ve gotta wonder why they even want one.

Thursday. Cloudy but still warmer than I like.

Trooper has had his meds-in-gravy, and a few mouthfuls of gooshy food.

Had another good night’s sleep, making four in a row. The tired feeling ought to be going away pretty soon now, right? RIGHT?

Breakfast was leftover ginger chicken. Lunch will be salad and something. Fish, I guess.

Haircut coming up in an hour and also I need to remember to stop at CVS for — checks notes — lidocaine patches. Hmm.

Upon my return, I will perform my duty to the cats, and do the banking. After lunch, I will reunite with the WIP.

I’m doing a cost-benefit on a glassworking course that’s being offered through adult ed in the fall. It’s stained glass, which I’ve never done, and God She knows, I need another suncatcher in this room, but, fee and materials, the cost for the class is hitting right at $200.

Still reading Stone and Sky and having a good time. Haven’t heard back from the Corning Museum, but then? I didn’t expect to hear back from the Corning Museum.

What’ve you got on the schedule today?

Today’s blog post title brought to you by Mr. Langston Hughes, “Tired.”  You often see the first four lines quoted, but very rarely the last four.

“I am so tired of waiting.
Aren’t you,
for the world to become good
and beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
and cut the world in two—
and see what worms are eating
at the rind.”

Out-and-about Day

What went before:  So, back from needlework, where a good time was had.

Tomorrow, I have that 1:30 appointment in Augusta and I also have errands to run. I may just run the errands in the morning, before speeding off to Augusta, and get with the manuscript when I come home. Thursday morning I have, thank ghod, an appointment to get my hair cut; after that, I am Unscheduled until next Tuesday.

Right now, I need to wash a few dishes, find something to eat, then read for a bit — Stone and Sky, in case anybody’s wondering. I’m hoping for another good night’s sleep, ’cause I’m walking the crinkly edge of Very Tired. Also, I have two coon cats on my lap, helping me write this.

Tali would like you to know that her kid brother is a rat. Trooper would like you to know that he ate two envelopes of gravy and half a can of cat food today, and now wants to see what on earth that Peter fellow is about. Honestly, you can’t leave that man alone for a minute.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

Wednesday. Sunny and heading for hot. AQI is in the 90s.

Breakfast was half a blueberry muffin and cottage cheese. Lunch will, I suspect, be taken in several parts.

Trooper has had his gravy-with-meds, and a few mouthfuls of regular gooshy food.

My tasks today are errands in-town, and a medical appointment out of town. I guess I’ll finish off the day by cleaning the bathroom and running a vacuum or two.

I had another good night’s sleep — three in a row — with very busy dreams.

Other than that — and aside a mad case of the Zooms afflicting Rook, who passed it to Tali, who tried to pass it to Firefly, who bonked her in the head, thus releasing the Zoomfairy to other business — there’s really nothing more to report.

How’re y’all doing this morning?

this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

Tuesday. ‘nother hot one, so say the weatherbeans. The AQI isn’t perilous, but it’s not pleasant, either.

Second good night of sleep in a row. I could get used to this, though I’m still a bit groggy, which I suppose indicates that the sleep debt has not yet been paid off.

Breakfast was a bialy with the last of the cream cheese and grapes. Second cup of tea to hand. Lunch — who knows. I have frozen dinners, or I could DoorDash — can’t skip, though. The late adventures have dropped me to slightly below my preferred lower weight limit of 160, so — no cheating.

My Big Plans for the day are!

1 Get the trash and recycling to the curb
2 Dispatch one’s duty to the cats
3 Call for a haircut
4 Work on the WIP

There’s needlework, which I missed last week. I’d really like to go this evening. I suppose I’ll see what the day has made of itself, after lunch before I make a decision.

All that said! What are your plans for the day?

Today’s blog post title brought to you by ee cummings, [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

Firefly and Rookie planning last night’s entertainment:

like a tiger’s great-grandfather

What went before: And that’s the Author’s Afterword for I Dare written. I’ll go through it again tomorrow morning, make whatever changes seem good, and send it in before I get back with the WIP.

The plan for the rest of the evening is to go to bed early, and re-establish my fractured schedule tomorrow. Oh. And do the laundry.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

Monday. Ruthlessly bright and already warm. We are under a Heat Advisory, today and tomorrow.

Station air is ON, and all curtains closed.

Breakfast was half a blueberry muffin and plain yogurt. Lunch may be Door Dashed. We’ll see.

First load of laundry is drying; second is in the washer.

I actually slept well last night, which isn’t something we’ve seen for a couple of weeks. I could really use a good run of Actual Sleep, as I walk the Tightrope of Exhaustion.

It comes about that I’m going to have produce the habit of having honey in my tea. There are reasons and they are good ones, however, absent an occasional spoon of honey in peppermint tea (which is AWEsome), I drink my tea as my coffee before it — black. Honey itself is not the problem; Steve left me several three pound bottles of very fine honey from a local apiary (this is aside my baking honey). My problem is that — it’s hard to manipulate a three pound bottle of honey to get a spoonful into a mug, and, also, that honey is — sticky. And it drips.

I have for the moment decanted a small portion of honey into a well-sealed glass jar, which makes it easier to dispense by the spoonful, but I feel I ought to look about me for a method that might be less drippy. Shopping!

Aside the laundry, and one’s duty to the cats, the to-do list includes reading the Author’s Afterword, making such corrections as may be needful and sending it along to Baen. I will devote the day after lunch to my poor, long-suffering WIP, and to staying out of the heat.

What are your plans, today?

Today’s blog post title comes from Pablo Neruda, one of Steve’s favored poets:  “Cat’s Dream“

I could hide ‘neath the wing of the bluebird as she sings

What went before: Done, compiled, and gone.

All that’s left is to write the Author’s Afterword.

I believe I may do something irresponsible and have an early glass of wine and watch Wandavision.

Monday. Slightly cloudy, and cool at the moment, and the windows in my office are open for the cats, and fully occupied. They’ll be closed later, when it gets hot. That’s the windows, not the cats.

Trooper has had his first envelope of gravy and is asleep in his box on my desk.

Waiting for my tea to brew. First breakfast will be Skyr.

Today is Chores and writing an afterword. I Dare of course was the Seventh Book — the last in the orignally-planned series. I’m now working on Book 28.

I watched . . . three? episodes* of WandaVision last night and I’ll be continuing. I finished Dr. Who last week, I guess, and I have come to the conclusion that I Do Not Get Dr. Who, which is fine. I believe it consistent with other conclusions in re Dr. Who that I made in the past.

My intention had been to cancel Disney after I finished Dr. Who, but it renewed for the month before I finished, thus WandaVision, which makes much more storytelling sense to me than the Doctor, for all he’s cute as a bug.

It’s been my policy of late to avoid Marvel movies, because My Ghod and Little Green Apples (apologies in advance to all who think they’re the bee’s knees) they’re irritating. I think the last Marvel movie I saw with Steve was Captain Marvel, in an empty theatre — and it was fine. And we did watch Black Panther here at home, somehow. But a little of Tony Stark/Cap/The Hulk/Thor/etc goes a long way, and the flipflopping characterization — never mind. Just went off Marvel movies, is what I’m saying. (I also went off Star Wars movies. Three was more than enough.)

All of the above is to make the point that I have no idea who Wanda — or Vision — are in the universe outside of the sitcoms they’re hiding in. I DON’T WANT to be told who are they, or their backstory, because, so far at least, the story is interesting on its own merits.

So! While Disney has my money — are there — how do I say this? — any other Marvel movies that are Interesting, Not Irritating, and Don’t Hinge Everything  on an intimate knowledge of 400 interwoven films? You may include Marvel projects, as long as they meet the criteria Thank you for your recommendations. I realize this may be a touchy topic, so I also thank you for your continued civility in any discussion that follows.

(I realize the above may sound snooty from someone working on the 28th book in a long and involved universe, but visual storytelling frustrates me at the best of times; I depend on text to remind me of important events/people, and I use text to remind readers of same. Film is all forward motion. Also, why are the damned things so dark? Ahem.)

My Disney Watchlist, which may or may not give a range: (Encanto and Free Guy: I already watched these, but I may want to watch especially Free Guy again.) Shang-Chi, Mulan live action, Ms. Marvel, The Light Shop, and two Fantastic 4 movies (no, I don’t know why).

I think that’s all that’s going on at the Cat Farm today — chores and more chores.

What’s happening at your house?

Today’s blog post title comes to you via WandaVision and the Monkees “Daydream Believer”
________
SPOILER:
.
.
.
.
The twins have just been born and Vision is starting to smell a rat.

 

Still workin’

SNIPPET from I DARE:
“Tell me, if you would,” he said, “who is this puissant enemy with which Captain Robertson has beguiled my poor Yxtrang?”

Val Con lifted a brow. “I thought they were yos’Phelium’s Yxtrang?”

“One feels a lingering tenderness,” Daav told him earnestly. “They are such good children.”

What went before: I really need to get over the feeling of personal failure because I can’t do what two strong young people could do, or even two elder people who had been Doing Together so long, it all got done, and looked effortless, too.

I’m not going to finish this today. I’m probably not going to finish it this weekend. Which means I won’t be able to write on Monday, and I’m really cranky about that. I am so damned tired of the stop-and-start on this book. It seems like I just get going, when I have to stop to do something “more important.”

Not to mention that all the other things — the bed made, the cat fountains swapped out, the dishes washed — aren’t done, too, and it’s not because I’m a slacker, despite what I learned at my mother’s knee.

Argh, damn, and blast.

OK, I need a Plan.

I’ll work on the correx for another hour, then I’ll call it a day, make the bed, load the dishwasher, find something to eat and a glass of wine. Tomorrow. I’ll get up early tomorrow, and hit the correx again. I’ll use my breaks to swap out the cat fountains. Maybe I can get this done tomorrow. (Yes, yes, it’s not due til the 12th, but if I finish it now, then I can get back to writing without having to interrupt myself, ref stop-and-start, above.)

And the house still looks like a bomb hit it, which shouldn’t be a surprise, because it looked that way, too, when there were two of us working. It’s what happens when you work and live in the same space.

deep breath

Another hour, then done for the day.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

And then there’s the bit where Pat Rin goes in to the portmaster’s office, thinking like a punk kid, “So what’s she gonna do, pull my license?” Only to find out that flying without a license is A Thing.

Sunday. Taking a break.

I was up early and hitting the pages. Still miles to go.

Breakfast was oatmeal. I got salad makin’s for lunch, including tuna, so that’s good.

Nothing much else to report. If anybody wants me, I’ll be in my office.

What’s everybody else doing today?

Cat census:

First Friday and Saturday, too

What went before: So, it turns out there’s a Method to First Friday. It’s advertised as “from” 5 (or 5:30; advertising is a little squishy on this point) to 7:30. What that means is that, some bands will be starting to set up around 5:00 and the restaurants will be open, so you should go have something to eat, nice glass of wine, and then, eh, 6/6:30ish, you perambulate around downtown, and then, around 7, you wander down to Head of Falls, where the music will be happening. Music starts at 7:30 and goes to 9/9:30.

Obviously, I did not make it that far, which is too bad because the band was the Atlanta Rhythm Section, which wouldn’t have been terrible to listen to. There’s a beer garden set up at Head of Falls for the concert and a food truck from The Proper Pig. And I kinda didn’t want to be one old woman in a crowd of folks some of whom had had too much beer.

I did revisit the Langlais exhibit and took in the Dark Was the Night and Bright Were the Stars exhibit. I stopped by the reception — yes, there were cookies and also fruits and cheese and crackers.

I meandered around downtown, and I found out that there’s a rock store. Yes, a rock store; it’s been there about three months, I’m told. I of course bought a rock (yeah, I know, but, hey! It’s flourite, which is an amusing rock, in that it flouresces). I also stopped in Old Soul Supply, Oliver and Friends Bookstore, and Holy Cannoli, where I listened to a folk group for a couple of songs before I moved on, hoping for music in the Green Block, but — not yet. So, I came home, educated and more or less relaxed for having done something different with my afternoon and early evening.

I have about 15 more pages of I Dare to finish proofing — which I’ll do tomorrow.

For now, the cats have had Happy Hour and I’m going to go pour myself a glass out of the Nice Bottle I opened last night to share with Steve.

And that’s the First Friday Report.

Intermission: Oooh, nice echo of the prologue: “I won’t hurt him.”

And my favorite bit in the whole book, though there are so many good bits:

“My lifemate and my oathsworn are blameless. I claim all.”

“Ever more terrifying,” Val Con returned, lightly, deliberately, in the Low Tongue. “Pray reveal at once the horrific crimes of which they are innocent.”

Saturday. Sunny and predicted to a nice-ish day.

Breakfast was toast and cottage cheese and grapes. Lunch will be something easy. I have choices, including a Door Dash account, if it comes down to desperation.

I did not sleep well last night; doubtless the late few days of High Living are catching up with me.

Today’s to-do list includes one’s duty to the cats, finishing the proofing of I Dare, swapping out cat fountains, and straightening up the house, which has become slightly shell-shocked, doubtless from the High Living referenced above. It’s possible that I’ll throw it all over and go back to bed, but not really likely.

My Solid Goal is to get back to the WIP — remember the WIP? — on Monday, so those things that must occur in service of that goal, including turning in the correx for I Dare, have to happen this weekend.

Arrived in yesterday’s mail is news that the Subaru is included in a class action suit referencing failures in the EyeSight Driver Assistance subroutine. The suit appears to focus on the braking protocols, of which I have no complaint. I had hoped that it would be something to address the Concerning Issue of Eyesight turning itself off in downpours where human eyes are basically useless, and the pilot could really use some help staying on the road and not running into the back of a semi. OTOH, I haven’t been to the website yet. That’s actually pretty far down on the list.

Also, just at a tangent — and I’ve made this argument before, so nothing new here — if you (universal you) break the law, you must pay the penalty for breaking the law. It does not matter who you are, who your dad is, what political affiliation you hold, if you have fifteen houses or live in a cardboard box in an alley. Break the law, pay the price. That’s, like, one of the foundations of our society: that money and influence do not alter the functioning of Law. This is why Justice is blind.

So, my second up of tea is gone, and I guess I’d better get to work.

Who’s doing something exciting today?

My beacon’s been moved under moon and star

What went before ONE: All righty, then! Duty to the cats accomplished; walk walked; vacuuming and mopping done; grapes and cheese had for second breakfast; realized that every word I wrote yesterday is unnecessary, sigh, though the exercise did demonstrate what was necessary. Next up is my lunch, which will be a frozen box, because that’s exactly how ambitious I’m feeling.

I did not put my latest embroidery into my book — won’t fit for one thing. Instead, I sewed it to the hoop and hung it in the bedroom, where I’ll be able to see the Ribbons every day.

People want to know where I got the pattern, answering being “From a friend who was reducing her stash by increasing mine.” But! If you search of “Tales from the Hoop” you will find the Etsy shop from which it was purchased.

Trooper nagged me for food throughout all of the above, and I did serve him, but he’s not actually eating food today, just ordering it.

The weatherbeans that it’s 82F outside and the AQI is 154. We are, yes, on Station Air.

This has been your mid-day check-in.

What went before TWO: I have no idea how many new words I wrote today. Somewhere north of 1,390, but since I had to frog a scene — like I said: no idea.

The WIP entire now weighs in at +/-64,540.

In Other News, the page proofs for the anniversary edition of I Dare (first published by Meisha Merlin in February 2002) have landed and need to be back to the publisher by August 12. It’s printing out even as I type this.

Word production on the WIP may slow somewhat. Also? Reading I Dare at this juncture is going to be Interesting in several ways.

I Dare of course was the seventh book of the seven book series Steve and I had initially intended to write, and is also the book that introduces Theo Waitley.

Good thing I bought ahead on Irish Breakfast Tea.

We have entered the Time-Space Continuum known as Coon Cat Happy Hour, so I’ll be getting up to serve in a minute.

Trooper has begged for food constantly today, and rejects all but bisque. He has eaten three envelopes of bisque, so that’s at least something. I am . . . not quite very worried. Not quite.

And on that note — everybody stay safe.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

What went before THREE: Oh, Skydance’s conditions-of-sale guarantees actually helps me make sense of the farewell monologue from the host of After Midnight, in which she says she had honestly expected that the network would replace the host, not shut down the show. But the show’s executive producer was Stephen Colbert, and the host was a female stand-up comic about whom I know nothing, but that is, honestly, Just Me. She seemed very genuine in her opening remarks, including the thanks to her team and her guests and educating the audience in exactly how much work goes into putting on a show every. single. day. She remarked several times that people had said she was the only person who could have pulled this show off, and that, no, there were many many talented people who could have done it, some of whom she had been certain would be tapped for her replacement. (To be clear: she had decided, after two years, to leave TV and go back to her True Calling, doing live Stand Up, so she tendered her resignation, believing she would be replaced as host.)

It’s an interesting commentary. You can find it on Youtube.

But, Skydance! Skydance, as part of the conditions of sale has sworn to root out those in the former Paramount/CBS organization who are female, disabled, mean or sarcastic to little men with no souls, and abolish wokeness in all its flavors.

And, yanno, that’s not scary at all.

Is it?

Sunday. Sunny, breezy, and not warm yet. My office windows are open for the cats, but I expect I’ll have to go to Station Air mid-morning. We still stand, or, yanno, sit, beneath an Active Air Quality Alert. Apparently a Dark Plume of Particulates is extending itself over the region. Huzzah.

I slept for 7 hours and 44 minutes, it says here. Trooper did not smack me in the face, once. I attribute this miracle to sleeping with the covers pulled over my head, which was made possible by the cpap machine. Finally I find a good side to the damned device.

I’ve been kinda mooching around since I got up, doing the Sunday Slow Rise. It’s been . . . different. Different is good, I’m told.

Breakfast was homemade whole wheat toast, cottage cheese, and grapes. Lunch will be I Have No Idea. I will say that my experiment of meatballs and red sauce over bread the other day proved that this concept, um, needs work. Sadly, I have meatballs and red sauce left over — and absolutely no motivation to eat it.

As mentioned last night, the page proofs for the “anniversary” edition of I DARE (tradepaper, it says here, and I’ve written for confirmation that this is so), have landed. That’s 433 pages and 16 days, which means I need to Absolutely Read 27 pages a day. I’ll try for 50, because that will give me wiggle room, in case the sky falls and I can’t read one day.

Because my office is in Middle of Book Chaos, I’ll be setting the proofreading project up in Steve’s office, which ought to confuse the cats, so that’s worth doing.

So, recapping — Today’s to-do includes one’s duty to the cats, finding something to eat for lunch, proofing 50 pages of I Dare, and, should there be time and brain power, writing new words.

How’s your Sunday treating you?

Today’s blog post title courtesy of Golden Earring, “Twilight Zone.”

For rosebush fans, proof of life: