Welcome in??? Have you been greeted with those words when walking into stores or restaurants lately? “Welcome in” to what? It just sounds strange to me and I’m not sure where this trend originated, but it arrived in SoCal this year and I wish it would make its way to the nearest exit SOON. This article on Eater.com from 2024 has some thoughts.
August is nearing and that means the Perseid Meteor Showers are here, with peak viewing on August 12 and 13. Now that I’m retired and not tied to a work schedule, maybe I’ll set an alarm for the middle of the night and sit on my front steps to watch the show. When I was twenty-one, my mother and I moved cross country in our LTD Ford station wagon, all our earthly belongings piled in back. One of my fondest memories from that journey was the only night we actually pitched the two-person tent – outside Williamsburg, Virginia, we lay out in the late-night breeze, watching meteors streak across the sky, wondering where this adventure would take us.
Happy Mare’s Birthday Eve Eve! Let the birthday weekend begin!
Writing
And the line edits continue… and continue… This process, reviewing each line to make it as clear as it can be, is grueling. This is the time you finally have to replace all those words that weren’t quite right, definitively research “facts” you’re 99% sure of, and execute the tragic demise of your darlings. I’m up to Word page 46 of 192. Admittedly, life keeps lifin’ and I’m not always able to devote as much time as I’d like. But, slowly but surely, it’s coming along.
Reading
Take Me with You by Steven Rowley
Why I read it: I loved The Guncle and the premise of his new book, Take Me with You, sounded like a journey I wanted to take with him. If you’re interested in the story behind this story, here’s a People article about Steven and his husband, Byron.
Plot: What would you do if you watched your spouse/loved one walk into the beam of an alien spaceship and vanish? Feeling abandoned, Jesse goes into denial as he struggles with Norman’s disappearance, while Norman’s sister, Lally, needs to find him so she can move on with her life. Jesse, who never knew his father, and Lally, who lost a brother at a very young age, are both searching for answers and connection in very different ways.
What I liked: So many scenes stand out in my mind but you need to discover them yourselves. Without giving anything away, here are a few: Jesse goes to the Integratron, a real place near Joshua Tree, for a sound bath session ~ A middle-of-the-desert observation of the Milky Way that leads to one of the most bizarre segments of the book ~ The wedding of one of Jesse’s comedy students ~ A disastrous dinner party. And you know me, I love interesting peripheral characters and there are plenty here to enjoy! And the last few pages… well, break out the tissues.
I also read Whose Body in the Library, Eva Gates 13th Lighthouse Library mystery. The first twelve books featured Lucy, the assistant librarian at the Bodie Lighthouse Library. This new story introduces a new main character, Nichelle, who, like Lucy in the first book of the series, comes to Nags Head, NC, to start a new life. Don’t want to throw out any spoilers, so suffice to say, I thought it was an interesting way to keep a popular series going.
Streaming/Watching
I’ve been watching a fascinating series but I don’t want to comment until I finish the last available season. And we finished our fourth or fifth full series watch of Numb3rs, so now we’re watching the Bruce Lee Green Hornet series (The Husband’s pick 😊). We may do the full series of Nash Bridges next. We’ve seen most of the episodes but not in order…
Be kind to yourselves and each other. Till next week!
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Meteor photo: Photo by Олег Мороз on Unsplash
I'm Writing As Fast As I Can 